I Accept This Karma

If this had merely been a test to assess spiritual roots for taking disciples, there would never have been such murderous intent.

He had clawed his way through piles of corpses for half his life. He knew this scent too well. They had come to silence everyone.

But this was only an ordinary village. How could it have invited the calamity of village-wide extermination...

Suddenly, Su Yueli's mention from years ago of her close friend, Shen Huai'an, flashed through his mind. Shen Huai'an possessed a Heavenly Bone and had been taken into the Azure Moon Sect.

For such a genius, certain unspeakable ties had to be severed before he could truly cultivate the Great Dao.

"Severing Mortal Ties..."

Lu Chen's expression darkened. Cultivators wiping out a genius's mortal acquaintances to preserve that genius's state of mind—he had heard of such methods during his travels in his early years.

He had simply never expected the butcher's blade to hang over this remote mountain village today, over his disciple's head.

At that moment, within the mountain village.

Two cultivators looked at the villagers kneeling all over the ground, their foreheads pounding the earth like pestles, disgust filling their eyes.

The cultivator in green robes spoke coldly. "Who in this village is Su Yueli?"

The villagers looked at one another.

"Immortal Master... are you looking for Yueli?"

"Why are you looking for her? Could it be that you found out her spiritual roots were missed back then, and you've come to take her to the heavens to become an immortal?"

Whispers rose through the crowd.

The cultivator in white robes frowned, clearly out of patience.

With a flick of his finger, an invisible Sword Qi sliced through a man's thigh.

"Ah—!" The man screamed and collapsed, blood instantly staining the muddy ground red.

"Silence. Another word of nonsense, and you'll shut your mouths forever." The white-robed cultivator's gaze was ice-cold.

Only then did the villagers realize something was wrong. These appeared to be uninvited guests.

Fear spread swiftly. Second Pebble hid at the back of the crowd, his legs going weak as he watched.

He was still worried about Su Yueli, but he thought that if they angered the immortals, everyone would lose their lives.

"Im... Immortal Master!"

Second Pebble gathered his courage, his voice trembling. "Yueli isn't in the village. Twenty years ago, she followed that martial artist Lu from the mountain to practice boxing in the back hills. She came down to collect a letter two days ago, and she's probably gone back up the mountain by now!"

"Up the mountain?"

The green-robed cultivator snorted and looked toward the mountain ridge in the distance. "Go."

Two streaks of light shot up from the ground and flew straight into the depths of the mountains.

Watching the immortals depart, the villagers collapsed to the ground, drenched in cold sweat, feeling as though they had taken a trip through the gates of hell.

Blackwind Ridge, Cliff Plateau.

The streaks of light landed and transformed into two cultivators clad in Daoist robes.

Lu Chen stood hunched beside a shattered boulder, as though he had been waiting for them.

"A mere mortal, yet your life is quite tenacious."

The green-robed cultivator swept Lu Chen a glance. Sensing the withered blood and vitality within him, he did not even have the interest to draw his sword.

"Old thing, where is your disciple, Su Yueli? Hand her over, and we'll leave you an intact corpse."

Lu Chen raised his clouded eyes and suddenly gave a cheerful laugh.

"Two immortals, coming from thousands of miles away to this godforsaken ravine to kill a mortal without spiritual roots for the sake of your Dao foundations. You've worked hard indeed."

The moment those words fell, both cultivators' expressions changed in unison. Their flying swords instantly left their sheaths, pointing directly at Lu Chen's throat.

"How did you know?!" Killing intent surged from the white-robed cultivator.

Lu Chen ignored the blade pressed to his throat and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"This old man may be close to death, but my mind has not gone bad yet. What else could make two Foundation Establishment cultivators do such dirty work, if not severing the mortal ties of a peerless prodigy found once in ten thousand?"

Leaning against the stone, Lu Chen spoke evenly, every word piercing the heart.

"You two, are you certain that after killing her... when your prodigy emerges from seclusion someday, he truly won't blame you at all?"

The sword halted.

The two cultivators exchanged a glance, a trace of apprehension flashing through their eyes.

Lu Chen knew that he had won the first move in this battle of minds.

He understood these lowly cultivators who acted as dogs for those above them far too well.

"Since the order was to pull up the weeds and remove the roots, that prodigy is naturally being kept in the dark right now. But if one day his cultivation reaches great heights, and he recalls his old friends and uncovers the truth..."

Lu Chen stared at them, a mocking curve on his lips.

"At that time, the one who gave the order will be safe and sound due to his lofty position. But you two executioners, the ones who will take the blame for the sect—guess how a prodigy with a Supreme Heavenly Bone will deal with you? Will he grind your bones to dust?"

Cold sweat slid down the green-robed cultivator's forehead.

The hierarchy of the cultivation world was strict. They had seen this sort of settling accounts after autumn, using underlings as scapegoats, far too many times.

"You are merely a mortal, yet you know how to sow discord."

The white-robed cultivator gritted his teeth, but the hand gripping his sword had visibly become unsteady. "If we do not kill her, returning to the sect now will mean a capital crime!"

"There is a solution."

Lu Chen let out a long sigh. "What you need is only for those mortal ties to be cut. So long as that person believes she is dead, or can never find her again, the mission will be complete."

"I will bear this karma for you. I will carry this black pot for you."

The two cultivators froze. "What do you mean?"

Lu Chen turned around and looked toward the village at the foot of the mountain.

"I am a martial artist who suffered a cultivation deviation. I went down the mountain and slaughtered the entire village. You can return and report that when you arrived, the village had already been reduced to ashes by me, and Su Yueli also died by my hand. With all witnesses dead, there will be no proof."

Lu Chen turned back to look at the two lofty immortals, his expression complicated.

"As for my disciple, spare her. She is a mortal without spiritual roots. We mortals live less than a hundred years. She has already passed half her life and could grow old, fall ill, and die at any moment. A person near death will not affect your sect's prodigy for long."

"As for karmic retribution, I am her master. After slaughtering the village, I will kill myself on the spot. The karma between master and disciple will be completely settled here."

The wind seemed to stop as the two cultivators stared at the old man, whose oil had run dry and whose lamp was about to go out.

They weighed the gains and losses.

Kill him, and they might become an outlet for the young sect master's anger in the future.

Spare him, let this old man slaughter the village and take the blame, leaving no evidence behind. They could report back to the elders, and if the young sect master investigated in the future, this mad martial artist would take the blame.

Besides, a mortal lifetime was no more than one closed-door cultivation session to a cultivator. It was of no consequence.

No matter how they calculated it, this was a deal with ten thousand benefits and no cost.

"Fine."

The white-robed cultivator put away his flying sword, his gaze indifferent. "If you dare play any tricks, not even an ant within a hundred miles will survive."

Lu Chen nodded and walked down the mountain path step by step, his expression growing increasingly savage.

Only when he reached the foot of the mountain did he stop. Looking at the village in the distance, smoke rising from its cooking fires, his heart twisted with pain again and again.

Twenty years ago, he had been gravely injured and on the verge of death. It was the old village chief who had carried him back, and this village that had taken him in.

Lu Chen had acted openly and honorably throughout his life, never killing the innocent.

But today, he had no choice.

His disciple had no spiritual roots, yet she suffered from a strange illness that even cultivators feared.

For twenty years, Su Yueli's appearance had never aged, her youth forever preserved. Lu Chen did not know what it was.

But he knew that Su Yueli was very likely the only person in this world who could break through the lifespan limit of the Tenth Realm of the Martial Dao and reach the end of the Martial Dao.

So long as she lived, the Martial Dao would not be a dead end.

"I'm sorry..."

Lu Chen closed his eyes and swallowed the bloody taste in his throat.

When he opened them again, he was no longer the kind master, but the martial artist who had once slaughtered his way through enemy lines amid heaps of corpses.

Boom!

His withered blood and vitality were forcibly stirred. Lu Chen became an afterimage and crashed into the village entrance.

There was only slaughter, only utter destruction.

The first to die were several men at the village entrance. Before they could even see who it was, their throat bones were smashed apart by a single punch.

Blood splattered across the earthen walls.

"Murder!"

"Run! This old man has gone mad!"

Terrified screams tore apart the tranquil afternoon.

Lu Chen did not pause for this. A Second Realm martial artist dealing with these mortals was as simple as crushing ants beneath his feet.

One punch caved in a villager's chest.

One kick shattered the spine of a fleeing farm woman.

He could not hear their pleas for mercy, nor the cries of children. He forcibly sealed off his hearing and moved back and forth through the village like a killing machine devoid of emotion.

Severed limbs and broken arms lay everywhere. Blood was everywhere.

The two cultivators hovered in the air, coldly watching this spectacle of mortals slaughtering mortals, mockery on their lips.

"Uncle Lu... why?"

Beside a pile of firewood, half of Second Pebble's body was buried beneath a collapsed earthen wall. Blood spilled from his mouth as he stared at Lu Chen, who had walked up before him.

He could not understand.

Twenty years ago, his father had personally brought Lu Chen a bowl of water.

Why had this good man, who taught Yueli boxing, become a god of slaughter?

Lu Chen looked at Second Pebble, his hand trembling slightly. But he could not stop. Two pairs of eyes were still watching from the sky. If he showed even a trace of mercy, Su Yueli would be dug out and her bones ground to ash.

"In your next life, be reborn as a cultivator."

Lu Chen's voice was hoarse as he raised his foot and crushed Second Pebble's neck.

Crack... the final crisp sound echoed through the village.

All one hundred and thirty-four households in the village, along with every chicken and dog—none were left alive.

The thick stench of blood surged into the sky, staining half the heavens red.

Lu Chen stood amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, soaked from head to toe in gore like an evil ghost that had crawled out of hell.

He raised his head and looked toward the two cultivators in midair.

"I will bear this karma."

With that, Lu Chen took a deep breath and raised his trembling right hand.

He gathered every last trace of blood and vitality, then struck his own crown with his palm.

The sound of his skull shattering was dull. Lu Chen's body swayed, then he fell backward into the blood pooling across the ground, dying with his eyes still open.

Until death, those clouded eyes remained fixed in the direction of Fengling City.

"Disciple... live on. Go and see what scenery lies at the end of the Martial Dao..."

The wind rose, swiftly scattering the stench of blood.

The green-robed cultivator in the air sneered. "That old dog knew what was good for him. Let's go. The flies are all dead; we can return and report."

Two streaks of light tore across the sky and vanished into the clouds, leaving behind only chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

And a martial artist who, to protect his disciple, bore the infamy of slaughtering a village and died steeped in sin.