Scheming

Xu Changqing quietly observed his surroundings, then took a small bite of the food. A cold glint appeared in his eyes.

Slowly, he raised his head and noticed everyone around him staring at him.

"Big brother, what's wrong? Is the food not good?" a young girl asked with innocent, wide eyes.

"We killed the hen we raised for many years. We only get to eat this once a year, how could it not be delicious?" A boy with acne on his face picked up his bowl of chicken soup, puzzled, and took a large gulp.

He found nothing wrong with it.

He looked at Xu Changqing with a strange expression.

Xu Changqing smiled, stood up, and walked over to the three children. He gently patted their heads and said, "How could it be? The food you made is delicious."

At this moment, a change occurred within him. In unseen places, dark threads began to coil around him.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, Xu Changqing exerted force with his hand, directly crushing a little girl's head. White and red splattered across the table, and a pillar of blood shot upwards, drenching the entire room.

It felt like some kind of poison was spreading within him, making him believe the food must have been the problem.

However, it didn't seem to affect him.

Everyone froze, their eyes wide. They pointed at Xu Changqing, trembling, their mouths agape, trying to say something but unable to make a sound, as if something was stuck in their throats.

"You... you..."

The middle-aged woman pointed at Xu Changqing, her entire body shaking.

Several children were still held by their heads by Xu Changqing, but then they exploded one after another. The once warm room instantly became blood-soaked, the pungent smell of blood spreading and assaulting the senses.

"Stop pretending," Xu Changqing sneered, then waved his hand, and the entire house exploded.

He now realized that from the moment he sat down, the entire world had felt a little off, though he hadn't thought much of it at the time.

It was as if the entire town's scene was staged for him, intended to interfere with his mind, or perhaps to disrupt his state of mind.

What were the chances of such a coincidence?

On the Emperor's Path, although there were Ancient Life Stars, there weren't many mortals or weak individuals. Most would have some form of strength.

Yet, this town was almost entirely populated by mortals without cultivation, and even the strongest among them were only in the Dao Palace realm.

Furthermore, the food he ate was detrimental to the body, causing black threads to appear within him. These black threads could obstruct his meridians, making the circulation of his divine power or cultivation methods sluggish.

But it wasn't a major problem.

"What am I pretending?!"

The next moment, the middle-aged woman saw the bloodstains and scattered brains all over the room. Terrified, she collapsed to the ground, crying hysterically, clutching the headless corpse and weeping.

Such adorable children, how old were they? How could he do such a thing?

"I'll kill you!"

The old man wasn't paralyzed by fear. He grabbed a cleaver from the kitchen and swung it directly at Xu Changqing.

Tears streamed down his face, his eyes bloodshot, his entire being like a vengeful spirit crawling out of purgatory.

"Clang!"

However, the cleaver struck Xu Changqing with a sound like metal colliding, not even producing a spark or leaving a mark.

Xu Changqing's eyes were cold. He sidestepped, extended his right hand, brought his thumb and fingers together, and flicked it at the old man's head.

With a "bang," the head exploded like a watermelon dropped from a rooftop.

Next was the middle-aged woman he was holding. Her head also exploded.

This left Xu Changqing bewildered. These were genuine mortals. How could they have drugged him without him even noticing?

"Ching!"

Suddenly, a terrifying sword light appeared in the void. The light was incredibly brilliant, illuminating the entire night sky. Everyone in the town froze, then saw the house explode, sending large amounts of bloody rain into the air.

"Pfft!"

The sword light was incredibly fast, so fast that Xu Changqing didn't even have time to react. It plunged directly into his shoulder, and blood splattered.

Then, his entire shoulder was pierced by the light, and his arm fell off, blood spraying out.

After the initial strike, the sword light reappeared, this time targeting Xu Changqing's neck.

But he was already on guard. He picked up his severed arm and reattached it to his shoulder, circulating a healing secret art to mend the wound.

His cold eyes were like hawks in the night, fixed on the void, but he couldn't sense any presence.

Even when he activated his physique's abilities, he couldn't detect any emotions around him, nor any fluctuations of the Great Dao Laws.

It seemed his opponent was an extremely skilled stealth expert, striking with lethal intent, revealing no flaws or traces, and suppressing their emotions to the extreme.

In an instant, Xu Changqing had analyzed his opponent's strengths.

Looking at the messy blood on the ground and the still-bleeding corpses lying nearby, his eyes were devoid of emotion. If he had killed the wrong people, so be it.

"Boom!"

He leaped violently into the sky, standing under the moonlight, his white hair fluttering. His cold gaze swept over the pedestrians below. The brilliant mortal world stretched out, and many mortals looked up at him.

His eyes revealed fear, but more so, reverence.

"Wow, big brother can fly!"

"So amazing, when I grow up, I want to fly too!"

Some children playing in the mud, upon seeing the white-haired man under the moon, their eyes immediately lit up, and they cried out in surprise.

"Ching!"

But the next moment, the incomparably vast saber light covered the entire small town.

"No, don't!"

"We didn't do anything, why do you want to kill us?!"

Countless screams echoed. The millions of living beings in the small town turned into blood mist, and the surrounding houses, vegetation, everything, turned to ashes.

"Boom!"

Dense long sabers appeared from the void. With a "ching" sound, the sabers attacked the void indiscriminately, covering the entire area. The very fabric of heaven and earth trembled, and a blood moon phenomenon appeared in the sky.

Xu Changqing's expression was extremely cold. He felt no guilt for the mortals he had killed. This was the terror of cultivators.

But there was no other way. He would show no mercy. As long as he achieved his goal, he would stop at nothing, even sacrificing all living beings if necessary.

Moreover, he would rather kill the wrong person than let the right one go.

"Clang... clang..."

Under the moonlight, countless milky-white long sabers flew out in all directions like rain, sparks occasionally splashing in the void.

Xu Changqing sensed the enemy's location with his eyes closed. In the moonlight, in the dead of night, his white hair fluttered, and white mist emanated from his body. White ripples vibrated outwards, suppressing all other powers.

His divine sense swept across the entire area like a tidal wave. Finally, in the void, he sensed a faint fluctuation of a Saint King.

Without any hesitation, he directly unleashed the Heaven's Will Saber Art, locking onto the target.

"Ching!"

Vast and boundless, the saber intent churned like a vast ocean, with surging waves. Thousands of saber intents swept across heaven and earth, illuminating the entire night sky in an instant.

"Pfft!"

The next moment, a void somewhere cracked open, revealing two drops of blood and a dull thud. However, the injury was not severe.

Under the moonlight, the small town that was once filled with countless lights, and the densely forested mountains, had now become a scorched earth stretching for a thousand miles. It was an endless desert, with countless cracks and lava erupting everywhere.

To the southeast of Xu Changqing, a figure fell from the sky. His Primordial Spirit covered the entire area, instantly locking onto the figure. The Supreme Heartless Body exerted a suppressing force, crushing the opponent's Great Dao and forcing their aura to remain exposed.

"I didn't expect you to force me out in such a way," the figure said in a hoarse voice.

Even if he ran, that kind of attack was like a Heavenly Tribulation constantly locking onto him; he couldn't dodge it at all.

He had thought that Xu Changqing wouldn't dare to kill mortals, so he had acted within the town, intending to make Xu Changqing hesitate.

As for those mortals, they were real living beings. Why were they gathered so lively? He had even set up a grand formation to confuse all the mortals, making them gather together.

He had heard that Heavenly Demons were ruthless, inhuman, without family or friends, and certainly no followers. They always fought and killed alone.

He wanted to use the mortal world's mortal desires to influence Xu Changqing's State of Mind, and when he was lost in thought and reminiscing, he would strike.

If he could kill, he would kill. If he couldn't, he would use some dirty tricks to make him an enemy of the world.

He hadn't expected to miscalculate. If he couldn't kill the Ruthless one, then he could only do that.

And that strike was simply impossible to dodge. It seemed he had to be cautious.

He had to leave immediately after completing his objective and absolutely avoid a protracted battle, because he couldn't defeat the Ruthless one.

The figure thought to himself.

"Swish!"

But the next moment, Xu Changqing disappeared, appearing directly beside the figure. His speed was too fast.

However, the figure was clearly a little faster. As Xu Changqing's right hand slashed over, he actually disappeared.

But it was in that instant that Xu Changqing saw the man's appearance.

He had blue hair, black demonic markings on his face, and was a man with a somewhat sinister and charming appearance. He looked slender and was extremely fast, so fast that even Xu Changqing couldn't catch up.

"Hahaha."

"Your actions will surely be scorned by everyone. To attack mortals with the cultivation of a Saint, this will be a lifelong stain on you!"

Xu Changqing watched as the blue-haired man laughed and disappeared, seemingly intending to escape.

"Hoo!"

The next moment, he directly took out the Demonic Banner, gripping the flagpole tightly with both hands. He waved it in mid-air, dancing the dark red banner under the moonlight, looking extremely eerie.

Various dark shadows flew out from the banner, and the world was instantly filled with wails and ghostly cries.

"I predicted you would do this long ago." The blue-haired man, who was fleeing, saw this scene and his smile grew even more intense. He held a cubic stone in his hand, as if recording this moment.

A top Heavenly Pride, capable of making a Saint King bleed with a single blow. For such a person to hunt mortals and cultivate Demonic Cultivation Techniques, refining mortal souls into puppets.

If he were to become an Emperor, would he then kill all living beings for amusement?

At this moment, the blue-haired man's objective had been achieved. He spread this image, causing the entire starry sky to hunt him down.

Even if those people knew Xu Changqing was being framed, so what?

Gather all their energy to eliminate a great enemy on the Emperor's Path. Who cares if it's true or false?

In the end, Xu Changqing took out many treasures to intercept that person, but the blue-haired youth still escaped.

The blue-haired man possessed something unknown that made him incredibly fast. Even if all escape routes were sealed, he would still slip away.

"Movement Secret Art?"

Xu Changqing was somewhat puzzled. If he possessed the Movement Secret Art, it wouldn't be strange for him to escape his blockade, as it was a secret art renowned for its supreme speed in the world.

That person didn't fight him. If he had fought him, the Movement Secret Art wouldn't have been of much use.

Even with Xu Changqing's confidence, he couldn't possibly compare to the Movement Secret Art at his current level, especially with a self-created secret art.

As for the blemish the blue-haired man mentioned, Xu Changqing didn't care at all.

It was just a blemish. When you are strong enough, what does a blemish matter? Will anyone even discuss it?

Even if they did, so what? Could their discussions kill him?