"HAHA, You thought I didn't see you? I was just waiting for you to come to your death!"
'NO! JANE! DIANA!'
Ken screamed in his mind while his face distorted in pain. His bloodlust flared without restraint, targeting Aiden solely as its thickness almost made the man choke.
His killing intent rose to heights it never rose before, and he didn't hold it back. He activated the single version of the Paralyzing Mode of his Mind-Poisoning Domain and wished he could kill this man a thousand times.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
Aiden saw Ken stand in front of him and behead him with a quick draw of his sword. Weirdly enough, Aiden saw the scene of his head rolling off his shoulders from a third-person point of view.
The scene went backward, and instead of beheading him, Ken pierced his heart. Aiden watched it all happen over and over again; Ken burning him, Ken cutting him, Ken crushing him.
It was the next mastery realm of Paralyzing Mode; Ken mastered it without noticing. While in the Small Success mastery realm, Ken's target hallucinated a bloody, tragic battlefield, in the Big Success mastery realm the hallucination added a personal layer, making his enemy see Ken killing them repeatedly a thousand times.
Aiden could still discern the real Ken from the ones he saw in his hallucination, as the fake ones seemed ethereal and demonic. But the trauma was enough to freeze Aiden in his place for a few moments before he could materialize his nascent soul and assist his mind to break the illusion.
Ken was already close to him because of the One Step technique, and with a swift swing of his sword, Ken beheaded the man, killing him and putting an end to the battle.
He breathed heavily, unable to calm himself down from the recent events that took place. He blamed himself for getting the girls killed. If he acted first without letting Jane try to save Diana, both could be alive now.
'It's not my fault, it's his! He didn't follow the rules and attacked! It's all because of Four Seasons Sect!'
Ken was sinking into self-blame and despair, and his bloodlust came out unrestrained.
'I will kill them all! I will kill them all!'
His only escape from blaming himself was blaming it on his enemies. He wanted revenge on Four Seasons Sect with this twisted logic and took out a fifth-grade Qi Absorption Pill to replenish his Qi.
His core sucked the Qi in the air in thirst as he rushed toward the entrance of Four Seasons Sect according to the map of the Outer Ring he received. On his way, he slaughtered all the fourth-stage cultivators he met.
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In Divine Sword Sect:
"Guys, did you hear that? A fourth-stage disciple that came from another sect for resources turned crazy! He is standing on a mountain's peak in front of the entrance to Four Seasons Sect and declared a challenge against all their fourth-stage cultivators!"
In Divine Sword Sect everyone was talking about the madman. They all wanted to go and watch, but they couldn't get that far into the enemy territory and say confidently they can come back.
"I heard he was only a child according to his stature, but he is wearing a menacing red demonic mask that covers his face. Rumors say he is super strong and Four Seasons Sect lost every disciple they sent to fight him!"
"Someone told me that this kid fought for three days and three nights straight without resting!"
Everyone was excited about the news. Although Ken wasn't truly from their sect, he was killing their true enemies. Furthermore, he wouldn't be able to return to his original sect after his actions, as no sect out of the top 5 could handle the repercussions of slaughtering the disciples of Four Seasons Sect.
"Senior Brother Tyson told me his master took him to watch the fight. Apparently, a lot of elders are watching the show and enjoying their enemy's plight."
"It must be nice to be a direct disciple of an elder at the eighth stage. I'm jealous, I wish could also go to watch the fight."
Four Seasons Sect couldn't even break the vow and send someone above the fourth stage without opening a full-blown war. Even if they did, they'd lose face by admitting they had no fourth-stage cultivator that could stand up against the enemy.
"I heard he killed over a thousand enemies!"
"That's it? Just an hour ago someone said it was 10 thousand."
"No way, I heard he killed over 100,000."
The rumors turned more and more ridiculous and exaggerated, but they carried some truth in them.
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In the Outer Ring of the Central Zone:
Two elders stood in the sky, completely concealed and untraceable. They both belonged to the Serene Lotus Sect, and their names were Elmer and Theodore; they oversaw their sect's operation to disturb the war between the other top sects.
"Let's kill this kid should we have the chance. He is too powerful for his stage, and he isn't even at the peak of his stage."
Elmer told his friend while the pair watched the kid fighting on the ground tirelessly. The battle went on for three days now, and although they noticed him taking Qi Absorption Pills and that he was standing inside a Qi Gathering Formation, he should've gone out of Qi by now.
The weird thing was that he really did go out of steam the day before, but somehow instead of collapsing, he regained his footing and his stamina and Qi started growing.
"I don't think we need to kill him. We never heard about his existence before, and you know the petty trick those two sects use."
Theodore objected to his friend's words, hinting at something. Elmer pondered for a few seconds before raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"Are you suggesting he isn't an actual disciple of Divine Sword Sect?"
"Exactly. We can poach him to our sect instead. I'm sure he knows he can't go back to his sect, and if he doesn't, we can explain it to him."
They knew the geniuses of their competitors, and this kid wasn't one of them.
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