"Is that an ability?!"

"The River Aura Stage?!"

"Kill him! He's alone!"

"It's impossible! He was already strong before. Now that he's reached the River Aura Stage, there's no way we can defeat him!"

One strike and their leader was down. The remaining four cultists immediately fell apart and chaos took over. One turned tail and ran, another roared and lunged at An Jing, while the others simply collapsed to the ground, trembling in fear.

"An Jing, forget about those guys! I've never mistreated you!" The only one who could still speak watched as An Jing silently split the lunging cultist in two, shouting in despair, "Have I treated any of you badly?!"

An Jing saw the man's face and realized he wasn't attacking, so he pulled back his sword.

"You're right, you've been nice." He nodded, adding softly, "I haven't forgotten the orange candy you gave me. It's my favorite flavor."

An Jing had an excellent memory. Aside from the candy, he remembered the rider sneaking him jerky when he was exhausted from overtraining, and how he had always been kind enough to give the other children candy as well.

But An Jing had also heard his voice through the rain that night. This man guarded the eastern farm plots, overseeing the horror as the children were butchered and turned into medicinal sludge.

How on earth could he do it? He was their kindly companion during the day, but spent the night slaughtering the very people who had thanked him and admired him only hours before.

The timing was terrible, but An Jing couldn't help himself. He lowered his sword, voicing his confusion.

The rider spoke his mind. "To me, you were already dead the second the cult took you. I was only being kind so you'd have some comfort before the end. But you must die when it's your turn. You were meant to die in the storms, droughts, blizzards, earthquakes, or at the hands of other people anyway. How is me killing you any different? That's just your fate!

"And by consuming you, it's as if you became part of us. You'll live on through us. What's wrong with that? Believe me, An Jing! I made it quick. They didn't feel a thing. It's better than starving or freezing to death!

"Look, you're still alive, aren't you? That's because your story doesn't end there. You're not like those other children who died. You've got a destiny, unlike those failures..."

The rider sounded completely genuine, as if he was just pointing out the obvious. His kindness wasn't an act; he truly felt for them. Because he knew the gruesome truth of the blood brew and the ritual, he pitied these disaster children and simply wanted to offer them a little warmth in their final days.

How compassionate. This was the part An Jing hated the most; it was what made his stomach turn—the fact that these cultists were still human. If they were just monsters, he could deal with that. Why did they still have to seem human? What sort of broken world could turn a person into this?

"You're a good person... Haha! A decent man among demons!"

A storm of emotions collided inside him. He lowered his head, but his eyes remained dry. When he looked up, his eyes blazed with a terrifying intensity. Wisps of white steam curled from his irises, evaporating as they reached the corners of his eyes.

"In a peaceful world, in a different time, I think you really could've been one of the good guys." He gritted his teeth, letting the taste of blood fill his mouth.

"So mark me down as a force of nature. Because I'm dead set on killing you, every single one of you! Absolution through slaughter! I'll bear the sins of all of you, but I won't let you make the same mistakes again!"

In an instant, An Jing snapped his shoulders and torso into alignment, unleashing a savage swing. The concentrated strength of his entire body erupted into a streak of crimson light, cleaving toward the snarling cultist who had also drawn his own blade.

The sword light grew larger and larger in his sight until it consumed everything. Then the world went black. A crimson light flashed and the cultist was slaughtered. An Jing looked up. He saw the pursuing Crimsonguard throw their spears with lethal precision, nailing the fleeing cultist to the ground.

"Who's there?"

The soldiers looked up, their eyes flickering with doubt behind their helmets as they sized up the boy who had assisted them. Then a slight change in expression crossed their faces.

"A boy?"

"A qi weapon?!"

The three highly skilled, powerful Crimsonguard soldiers instantly recognized the unusual nature of the blood lethal-qi sword and the strength An Jing possessed.

"River Aura Stage... at such a young age? What a prodigy!"

"Watch out, this kid is something else! Call for reinforcements!"

"Wait a minute, Captain..." One of the guards whispered as a thought suddenly struck him.

"Doesn't the Heavenly Demon Cult sacrifice young boys and girls? Is it possible the ritual went wrong and they turned on them? Our target, Commander Gu's granddaughter, should be involved in the ritual. With strength like that, based on our intelligence..."

At this range, a standard Aura Realm martialist would hear nothing, but An Jing's mastery of Sword of Tranquility had sharpened his senses to such a degree that their whispers reached him clarity.

The Crimsonguard? And their target is Commander Gu's granddaughter? Commander... Investigative Commissioner? Or Military Governor? My history is a bit rusty... Anyway, who exactly is the commander in charge of Hanhai Highway?

"Hey, you over there." After a brief and cautious exchange, the lead soldier turned toward him, his voice noticeably gentler. "Are you An Jing?"

Though he was still tense and ready to act, An Jing was suddenly puzzled. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

How does he know my name? But he quickly put the pieces together. So that's it. There's a mole within the demonic cult, and they've even leaked my name.

"Yes," he replied, though his hand never once strayed from his sword.

"We're the Crimsonguard of Grand Chen, here to rescue all of you."

The captain removed his headgear, revealing an honest, square face. He then signaled to his men to put their weapons away as a gesture of goodwill. "Do you have any information about a girl named Gu Yeqi? Where is she now?"

So, it's Yeqi! An Jing was taken aback. Although he had certain suspicions when he heard Commander Gu's name, he never truly expected the girl in question to be Gu Yeqi.

Isn't she just a girl who grew up around herbs? Her father seemed like an ordinary refugee, hardly the portrait of a high-ranking official's family. Could she be the daughter of an illegitimate child? No, that seems unlikely...

"Gu Yeqi?" While An Jing was lost in thought, a hesitant voice drifted from behind him. "The name sounds familiar."

An Jing glanced back to see a group of children emerging from the dungeon, armed with weapons they had scavenged from the dead cultists. They had mustered their courage to open the manor gates, determined to stand and fight by his side.

However, they had arrived too late, or perhaps An Jing had simply been too fast. Regardless, they stood there in a daze, bewildered to find that there were no more cultists left to fight. It was then that they heard the name "Gu Yeqi" from the soldier's lips.

Yi Qing, whom An Jing rescued first, instantly recalled the name and said, "Oh! Isn't she Senior Brother An's little follower?"

"Follower?"

The shift was immediate. An Jing could feel the sudden warmth of the soldiers' gazes.