A Demon's Ruthlessness

Yaan's routine became increasingly intense over the following months, unlike that of any other Qi master in the sect. Everyone was cultivating diligently with the competition upcoming within just three more years, but Yaan's training was simply too different.

At first light, he would wake up and head to the first layer dungeon, executing twenty mortals every single day. Great Elder Wan even had some mortals transferred across from other prisons so that he was able to maintain this extreme quota. There was no helping it though. As Yaan's cultivation level increased, so did his need for slaughter aura if he wished to see improvement to his realm.

Once every 5 days, Yaan descended to the third layer dungeon and battled against a Qi Gathering realm prisoner of the sect. At first he fought unarmed early stage beginners, but he soon moved on to armed early stage Qi masters. As he became accustomed to fighting in these death-matches, he started fighting those at his own level, the Mid Qi Gathering realm.

Unarmed, then armed, then increasing the cultivation level of his opponents whilst battling them unarmed again. Like this, Yaan slowly increased his confidence in battle and was able to gather a significant amount of real combat experience. Not only that, but killing these Qi masters and refining their slaughter aura was assisting the growth of his cultivation realm substantially.

After refining the day's slaughter energy, he would spar against his teacher for between ten and one hundred rounds. Finally, after completely exhausting himself, he gouged himself on demonic beast meat until he felt sick.

Within a year, his cultivation rose to the Late Qi Gathering realm. By this point, Yaan was fighting against Peak Qi Gathering realm Qi masters armed with an ordinary weapon of their choosing.

As he faced his opponent, his grown out soft black hair hung down to just below his shoulders. He initially intended to keep his hair short like it was back in Lightstone village, but Rui made the point that if he ever needed to disguise himself, having long hair was advantageous, since it could be restyled or even cut off completely.

Clash!

Yaan raised his sword and stepped back lightly, defending against the downwards strike from the extended spear. The spear pole slid down the sharp blade of his sword, causing the Qi master to stumble to the side.

The man gritted his teeth and watched helplessly as Yaan slashed down towards his neck, an eerily calm expression on his childish face.

'If I'm going to die, then I'll take you down with me!'

Chi!

The crazed man actually didn't try to dodge Yaan's attack, but flipped his spear and stabbed backwards towards Yaan's body. It seemed like Yaan had no chance to dodge, and indeed, the spear embedded itself directly into his chest!

'Huh?'

The man's final thought was one of confusion. His head slid away from his neck and his dismembered body fell to the ground, unable to comprehend why his opponent was still standing as his life faded away.

"Tch. I was careless." Yaan frowned and stared down at the bloody mark on his chest. The spear had indeed managed to stab into his chest, but it only stabbed through half an inch of his flesh.

Any normal Qi master would have died from this attack, but to Yaan it could barely be considered a scratch. The reason for this was simple; his body had now reached the peak of the 1-Star realm!Such a hastily thrown attack could never prove fatal. To have any chance of bringing him down, it would require a frontal attack with maximal strength to a weak point of his body,

Thanks to his teacher supplying him with an endless amount of demonic beast meat, Yaan had been able to rapidly increase the strength of his body. Because of this, his demonic body achieved the peak of the realm before his Yuan Qi.

He ran into Elia again on his way home, but unlike one year ago, he responded to her politely with a smile. Making the excuse that he needed to cultivate, he left without saying too much. Elia watched as he left, then sadly shook her head and turned away. She had thought that by entering the core sect, she and Yaan would be able to become friends again…

Yaan didn't seem to share the same sentiment.

He would always greet her with a friendly smile, but the look in his eyes told her that his heart wasn't in it. She noticed that he acted this way with most people, as if his gaze was always fixated on something else entirely. She felt sad towards this development, but there wasn't much she could do. She could only hope that eventually, Yaan would return to how he once was.

Yaan arrived at his teacher's home and waited for a servant to escort him inside.

His teacher lived in a small temple with a few select servants. The temple was secluded from view by a ring of luscious trees, secluding the temple within 300 feet of private land. Inside this enclosed space was a beautiful world, filled with medicinal herbs, cherry blossom trees, quaint streams and even a small lake. Yaan's eyes landed on his teacher, who was meditating on a small island in the centre of the lake. He waited patiently for his teacher to finish.

Half an hour later, Great Elder Wan opened his eyes, then swiftly crossed the lake with his body alone. His feet trod across the water surface, a miraculous sight, but one that Yaan had grown accustomed to by now.

Over the past year, Great Elder Wan had slowly undergone an unexpected change. His feelings towards his disciple were becoming increasingly complicated. Originally, he only took Yaan in with the intention of using him as a vessel for his own gain. When they first met, he never really considered Yaan to be a true sect member, instead thinking of him as a 'mere demon'.

But after witnessing Yaan's growth, his unexpected diligence and serious talent in certain areas, the Elder couldn't help but appreciate that this boy was actually worthy of being his disciple. Now that they had spent some time together, his heart couldn't help but waver. He knew that he needed to steel his heart and endure. He didn't wish to let empathy or compassion hold him back, but this was easier said than done. He was not a demonic cultivator after all, this situation where he was lying to his disciple, this boy he had grown to care for, led to an inner turmoil slowly arising within his heart and soul.

"Hmm, an injury?" He glanced at Yaan's chest in surprise. It was rare for Yaan to have any troubles with Qi Gathering realm Qi masters these days.

"I was careless…that man was determined enough that he tried to take me down with him."

Great Elder Wan nodded in understanding. If someone was determined and ruthless enough to die with their opponent, then this could indeed lead to the downfall of someone stronger than them. It was rare to encounter people like this though, which was why Yaan had been unprepared.

"Remember to never underestimate anyone, Yaan, no matter their level. In this world, recklessness can lead to death."

It might seem strange that his teacher would care so much about Yaan's combat ability when he only needed Yaan to reach the Demon Core realm, but that was because he had developed a secondary plan involving his student. He realised that if Yaan worked hard enough, he could perhaps reach the True Yuan Qi realm before the date of the inter-sect competition in three years time, giving him the qualification to compete!

Of course, Yaan would be unable to win such a high level competition at his young age and entry level cultivation, but the sheer fact that a 12 year old child could compete at all would be a massive shock to the other factions. Plus, it would also boost Great Elder Wan's status even further within the sect.

A 12 year old reaching the True Yuan Qi realm was unprecedented in the Greenwood mountain range. Even an extreme talent couldn't hope to achieve something like this!

Yaan spoke to Rui about this a few weeks ago. Her response was blunt and realistic as always.

"If you can enter this competition, it will be a double edged sword. On one hand it will draw much attention to you, increasing the risk to your life with the additional potential of assassination from other organisations. On the other hand, this sect will definitely invest heavily in your development, giving you whatever you need to cultivate."

"So what should I do?" Yaan asked her uncertainly.

"You should aim to participate in the tournament. The demonic path is fraught with dangers, only by embracing risk can you hope to reap the reward. Doing this, the level of risk is still well within the acceptable level, so you should at least try."

To follow the demonic path was to be ruthless both to others and to yourself. Being ruthless towards others was one thing, but treating themselves with this same ruthlessness was where many demonic cultivators fell short.

"Yaan, let's begin."

"Right." Yaan nodded. He walked three steps away from his teacher and took up a fighting stance. Holding the sword in both hands, he narrowed his eyes and prepared to battle.

Whoosh!

Both of them stepped forwards simultaneously, almost mirroring one another.

Clash!

The swords clashed together, creating sparks between the refined steel blades. The initial clash broke apart, before both Yaan and Great Elder Wan released a flurry of attacks towards the other.

Great Elder Wan was still suppressing his cultivation and relying entirely on his mortal body to battle, but he was now forced to his limit in order to keep up with Yaan. Sometimes, Yaan gripped the sword in both hands and struck hard. Other-times, he held it in his right hand to gain reach, or used his empty left hand to turn his body and generate a fast strike.

CLANG!

After an extended stalemate, Great Elder Wan was forced to take a step back. He opened his eyes in surprise as Yaan appeared before him and struck upwards towards his throat. Yaan never held back against his teacher, because he trusted that Great Elder Wan would never become injured under his amateurish hands.

BANG!

Suddenly, Yaan was blown back. Great Elder Wan only pushed him lightly with the hilt of his sword, but it slammed into Yaan's solar plexus and sent him tumbling across the ground.

"Hahaha!" Unexpectedly, Yaan started laughing joyfully, whilst Great Elder Wan dropped his shoulders with a sigh. As Yaan painfully picked himself up from the floor, he grinned at his teacher.

"I finally forced you to use your cultivation!"

"Indeed…though I still limited my strength to the Late Qi Gathering realm, the same as you. Even so…impressive." Great Elder Wan praised him honestly.

When she saw Yaan grinning foolishly, Rui rolled her eyes in secret.

"There's nothing impressive about forcing someone to use a tiny portion of their power. Are you that easily manipulated by his praise?" She asked.

"Of course not, it's just proof that I'm improving…" Yaan muttered quietly, inaudible to the still lamenting Great Elder Wan.

He felt like Rui only ever pointed out his faults, criticising his decisions and mentality at every given opportunity. Of course, Rui knew that she was being harsh on him, but she saw this as necessary. She wanted Yaan to grow stronger quickly so that he could assist her with the restoration of her power. She didn't want Yaan to become overly attached to this teacher of his, this man who was clearly manipulating him. Unfortunately, she still couldn't reveal the existence of the slave imprint, because she believed that Yaan would be unable to act naturally in front of Great Elder Wan after learning this fact.

This lead to a situation where she could only try to steer his mentality with her guidance. If she could urge him towards a direction where he didn't become overly attached to his teacher and this sect, then it wouldn't be too big a mental blow when he eventually discovered the truth.

From this point on, Great Elder Wan started using a cultivation equivalent to Yaan's own when sparring against him. Whilst Yaan had the advantage of his Peak 1-Star demonic body, he still continued to get thrashed time and time again. This was only normal, his teacher's sword arts were far beyond his own after all. Now that Great Elder Wan was able to manipulate Qi to enhance his speed and strength, Yaan fell into the same helpless position as when he had just started practising sword arts.