Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Is Bai Mu Mu on a deviant Ruthless Path?

“Okay, okay,” Tian Hao Tian nodded blankly.

Bai Mu Mu was being so forward with him. [I really am too charming.]

As the distance between them closed, she took out a handkerchief, rose on her toes, and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The mix of medicine scent and her own fragrance poured straight into Tian Hao Tian’s nose.

His head felt dizzy, and his heart seemed about to jump out of his chest.

The mood between them turned very warm.

[Ding: Tian Hao Tian’s favorability +5. Favorability has reached 100.]

[Host may kill him to Attain the Dao and gain a large boost in cultivation.]

Bai Mu Mu had been waiting for the System to say this.

Her face changed in an instant. The deep love on her face twisted into a strange smile, and a sharp killing intent flashed in her eyes.

Before Tian Hao Tian could react, a lance of Spiritual Power pierced straight through his body.

That cold Spiritual Power spread from the wound through him, turning into sharp ice spikes that grew outward from the inside.

Pain stabbed every part of him. He jerked and shuddered, but the ice spikes had already torn his throat, and no sound came out.

Bai Mu Mu cultivated the Ruthless Path. The more pain the victim felt, the more cultivation she gained.

Tian Hao Tian fell lifeless to the ground without ever knowing why the girl who “liked” him suddenly struck.

Looking down at the body cooling on the snow, Bai Mu Mu gave a cold, scornful laugh.

[A man like this dares desire me? He’s only fit to be my stepping stone.]

She sat cross-legged. Threads of Spiritual Power leaked from Tian Hao Tian’s body and spun around her in tiny vortices.

In just a few breaths, Bai Mu Mu broke through from Foundation Establishment, Late Stage to Early Golden Core.

If she had gotten the Fire-Scale Vine in the Red Peak Fire Sea last time, her body would have fully recovered, and cultivating would not have been so hard.

Because she failed, she took this desperate path, and the System opened a special privilege: she could win over targets and then kill them to raise her realm for the coming Young Sect Master competition.

She curved her lips, got up, and disguised Tian Hao Tian’s body to look like a Snow Beast attack. She had checked with her Divine Sense and found no one nearby. Only then did she turn and leave.

Watching Bai Mu Mu’s back, Shen Sang Ruo felt a rush of mixed feelings.

Though she had seen Bai Mu Mu’s cruelty in the Red Peak Fire Sea, the way Bai Mu Mu killed Tian Hao Tian still shocked her.

It was complete torture unto death.

Her harmless act before had been too perfect. No one would have guessed she could strike so viciously.

Shen Sang Ruo did not feel sorry for Tian Hao Tian. He deserved what he got.

What gripped her more was that after killing him, Bai Mu Mu had an instant insight and broke through on the spot.

This way of breaking through made Shen Sang Ruo think of a rumored cultivation that required killing.

The Ruthless Path.

Her gaze flickered.

To be precise, this was not the orthodox Ruthless Path but a crooked, deviant way.

The true Ruthless Path follows the great Dao without feeling, treating all things equally, with no bias or private love.

This kind, the so-called Proving the Dao through Slaughter, is essentially different. It steals others’ life force and cultivation to raise oneself. It is truly a deviant, evil path.

Bai Mu Mu was the daughter of Shen Dao Chen, the Flying Cloud Sect Master, and a disciple of Master Ling Xiao, the foremost cultivator. By all signs, she should have been righteous.

So how could she be practicing such a technique?

And no one in the sect, including Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao, had discovered it.

If she had not stumbled onto it today, they might never have known Bai Mu Mu’s secret.

Shen Sang Ruo lowered her eyes in thought and suddenly remembered what Immortal Lord Chang Li had told her about a Malevolent Spirit inside Bai Mu Mu.

As another idea clicked, she could not help but laugh.

The one thing the orthodox and deviant Ruthless Paths share is being without feeling.

The people of the Flying Cloud Sect poured out honest hearts and spared nothing to treat Bai Mu Mu well, never expecting that their daughter, their disciple, their Junior Sister, cultivated the Ruthless Path.

The feelings they thought they shared with her were fake, all an act by Bai Mu Mu.

No, it might be worse than that.

Bai Mu Mu might even see them as targets to Attain the Dao.

She worked hard to play the gentle girl and won their favor only to use them as stepping stones.

Thinking of the Flying Cloud Sect with this in mind, Shen Sang Ruo only found it laughable.

[When they learn she walks the Ruthless Path, or even dies by her own hand, what will they feel?]

Their past deeds would one day come back on them.

The smile on Shen Sang Ruo’s face grew more mocking.

But in the end, it had nothing to do with her. It was just a joke to watch.

She pulled out a Fleetstep Talisman and hurried on toward the Slanting Mountain Icefield.

Several hours later, when the Flying Cloud Sect’s Leader counted heads, one was missing.

A few hundred meters from the camp, they found Tian Hao Tian, covered in blood and breathless.

His death was terrible to see.

They decided a Snow Beast in the area had killed him and warned everyone to stay alert.

“That’s so scary,” Bai Mu Mu said, shrinking her neck and clutching the edge of Luo Chu’s sleeve as she hid behind him.

Luo Chu drew her behind him protectively and said in a steady voice: “Junior Sister, don’t be afraid. With me here, no Snow Beast or Ice Beast will hurt you.”

Bai Mu Mu seemed to take a shot of courage and nodded hard: “Okay!”

“This Tian Hao Tian, really,” Luo Chu muttered, “instead of staying with the group, he ran off alone to die.”

He had followed Bai Mu Mu’s advice and spent the last few days making friends with the other clan heirs, including Tian Hao Tian.

The way Tian Hao Tian stared at Bai Mu Mu with those greedy eyes disgusted him.

It was only his innocent, kind, pure Junior Sister who couldn’t see Tian Hao Tian’s thoughts.

He sighed. [My Junior Sister is too simple. What would she do without us Senior Brothers to protect her?]

Tian Hao Tian being dead was fine. At least Luo Chu didn’t have to watch him anymore.

“Wait, Junior Sister, did you break through? You formed your core?” Luo Chu blurted, surprised and delighted.

The others looked over at once.

“I did,” Bai Mu Mu said with a sweet smile.

“When did you form your core? How did it happen? I don’t know why I fell asleep and didn’t stand guard for you as your Dharma Protector,” Luo Chu said, starting to blame himself.

He knew how hard it was for her to cultivate with her body’s condition. This breakthrough must have been dangerous.

“It’s fine, Fourth Senior Brother. I don’t even know how. Maybe my body got better, and then I had a sudden insight and broke through. There was no danger.”

“Good, good,” he said with relief.

Envy filled the eyes around them. People kept praising her. Bai Mu Mu truly looked like a daughter of heaven.

Luo Chu straightened his back, proud.

[My Junior Sister makes me shine, unlike Shen Sang Ruo, who only gets us into trouble and makes us lose face.]

The team set out again, heading toward the Slanting Mountain Icefield.