Li Shenrong was on his way to the Locust Sect with Jessi. The elders who were with her went ahead of them. They were worried because the Locust sect might no longer exist.
Jessi was silent along the way, she was extremely reserved and awkward, a little fearful as well. She didn't dare to believe, after coming to this world she'd get such
Heavenly opportunity to meet a big shot like him.
"Lord, about the calamity… did you know beforehand that it'll happen?" She asked after careful consideration. Before, her respect for him was hundred percent, but after this war, it became a full thousand percent.
Li Shenrong sat on a stone boulder as he straightened his back. "Everything was a coincidence." He didn't want to delve deeper and gave a perfunctory reply. Then again, he said. "It seems you struck rich this time. Now the world seal on you has been lifted, your future potential will be endless."
"Haha…I was just lucky…" Jessi felt a thump in her heart, afraid that he had noticed the System. The System has yet to show itself since she came face to face with Li Shenrong. It really went into deep hiding. She understood it was because of him. Even though she had complete trust in him, she still wanted to wait a little longer.
A wretched looking old woman suddenly jumped and sprawled on the ground. She started to cry loudly, saying. "Sir… my family and children died in the disaster. I am hungry and have nowhere to go. Please sir…give me something to eat." She begged in a hoarse voice then took out a bag and opened it.
Jessi frowned slightly. Inside the bag was filled with broken bones and flesh. By the structure the bones seem to belong to a child.
"Sir… this is my child, he died when a huge boulder suddenly fell from the sky. Please sir… give this old woman some coins i want to burry him…"
Li Shenrong's expression didn't change. He glanced at the bag for a split moment before walking forward.
The old woman didn't give up and chased after him. The sound of her begging became louder and louder.
"Sir please… don't be heartless. Have mercy and gods will have mercy on you…"
Li Shenrong stopped and turned around slowly. "If you talk once more, do you believe that i won't kill you right now?" His tone was as normal as it could be. There wasn't a hint of killing intent.
The old woman shivered from head to toe. She jumped and instantly vanished into the woods.
Jessi was dumbstruck. "She was a cultivator! I couldn't tell."
"Creation follows destruction. When destruction reigns, laws and order crumble. Rules and regulations dissolve, giving rise to the darkness within the human heart." Li Shenrong spoke as he walked.
"The period between destruction and creation is the most dangerous, a void where chaos thrives and humanity's shadows emerge."
Jess also understood this concept. When destruction happens on a large scale, war, natural disasters and societal breakdown, the structures that keep people in check vanish such as laws, governments, moral codes, and social contracts. Without these frameworks, people are forced to reveal who they really are. Some rise to help others and some descend into selfishness, cruelty, or violence.
"That woman was a fiend cultivator. She cultivates by devouring peoples life energy. You couldn't sense her cultivation because she isn't alive." Li Shenrong said as he walked.
Birds chirped, and soft breezes brushed past Jessi's hair, making it flutter gently like silk strand. "Uhh… Not alive? I don't understand…" she uttered in confusion.
"Right. What you saw wasn't her real body. It was a parasite inhabiting a dead body. Some fiendish cultivators raise parasites through which they can control corpses as if they were their own."
Hearing this, Jessi felt surprised. Anger also began to rise in her chest. Unknowingly, she started hating the fiendish cultivators. Raising parasites to control dead bodies? It was blasphemy against humanity and nature. In the past, she had heard rumors about fiendish cultivators but never took them to heart. She didn't know they were this vile.
"No wonder, they are hated and hounded to death by Orthodox and unorthodox sects." She snorted coldly.
Li Shenrong nodded, "Even those unorthodox sects and so called Demonic cultivation sects would have bottom lines they wouldn't cross."
Suddenly the surroundings turned black. Jessi felt her Qi was being suppressed by an invisible force.
"A formation?" Fear instantly gripped her as soon as the word appeared in her mind. She instinctively shifted into a defensive stance. Inside the dark ancient ruin, those colossal figures had activated formations one after another, causing mass destruction, carnage, and despair which left a deep mark in her heart. In Earth's terms, she had suffered a mental trauma.
Li Shenrong keenly noticed the change in her expression. He patted her shoulder and spoke gently. "Don't worry. It's just a mouse." His voice was like a cold breeze waking her from a nightmare.
A deep, sinister voice suddenly echoed. "Hehehe, two juicy buns have landed in my lap."
"Juicy buns? You're a fiendish cultivator?" Jessi asked, her voice cold and filled with killing intent.
The sinister voice laughed heartily. "Since you know who I am, quickly surrender. Young girls like you have tender meat, soft like buns. I don't want to injure my prey." He laughed again before continuing, "As for the brat, you will become my death soldier."
Jessi's eyes shone as her divine sense easily penetrated the formation, searching for the source of the voice. She found him real quick. It was a burly man with long hair and had Heaven Congregation realm cultivation. His eyes were complete white and skin had scales like reptiles. The fiend cultivator hid really deep, if it wasn't for her high cultivation, people on the same level as him would fall into the trap.
The formation was well placed and carefully made to dry a cultivator from his Qi energy.
Jessi felt ashamed for a moment that she had been scared by a measly Heaven Congregation Realm cultivator. Even though it was completely dark inside the formation, her divine sense quickly caught several figures rushing toward them.
She couldn't sense a shred of life energy or Qi from them, as if they didn't exist. She understood they were being controlled by parasites.
"Hehehe, tonight will be really enjoyable…" The fiend cultivator's voice was filled with happiness.
Li Shenrong stood silently beside her the entire time. He even felt a bit bored as he hummed.
His reaction made the fiend cultivator angry. "Brat! How dare you not afraid of me. I'll peel your skin and eat your flesh, just wait."
Several black figure pounced at him.
"Humph…." Jessi snorted coldly. Her voice struck the fiend cultivator like thunder. She waved her hand and the formation was blasted apart instantly. The death warriors controlled by the Fiend cultivators went disarray.
"Thiss…." The burly man felt his heart beating wildly as his hairs stood on end. A great sense of danger enveloped him, it was so strong that he almost felt suffocated.
The guy was experienced, surviving countless disasters and pursued by many orthodoxies. He quickly bit his tongue, the severe pain jolted his body out of paralysis. Without hesitation he ran away deeper into the woods.
"Damnit… this time I'm screwed." His sixth sense was screaming the word danger.
When Jessi saw him running away, she instantly gave chase. "Where do you think you are going?"
How could a Heaven congregation realm cultivator hide from the eyes of a Demi God? Her Divine sense had locked onto him from the very start.
The fiend cultivator felt a vast divine sense swept over him as he instantly understood what kind of being he was facing. His face turned pale.
In a flash Jessi appeared above his head and grabbed him like chicken.
"Now, repeat what you said…" Jessi smiled viciously. She was never merciful to her enemies.
"Goddess..I was wrong and didn't know better. Please spare my life." The fiend cultivator instantly begged for mercy. His tears and snot, coupled with his dirty long hair made him look extremely miserable.
She didn't waste words and instantly crushed him to death as blood and flesh fell from the sky. She picked up his storage ring and opened it. A nauseous seen entered her vision.
The space inside the storage ring was a hundred square feet in size, probably stolen or obtained from someone else. Half the space was occupied with minced flesh, rotten blood, and pus. Bones of different sizes were neatly placed in a corner along with a variety of alchemy ingredients. From the look of it, he must have been doing some type of experiments. More than twenty or so half-rotten corpses were lying in a row. The corpses didn't seem to have suffered any injuries, as if they had died naturally. The stench was so overwhelming that Jessi felt her head spinning. She descended to the ground as her stomach churned and vomited. She felt extreme disgust and repulsion toward the fiend cultivators.
Li Shenrong picked up the ring and took a peek. With a wave of his hand, everything inside turned to ashes except for the dead bodies.
Twenty three gravestones were erected after a while. The sun was already high above; under the shadow of the trees, Li Shenrong's black hair fluttered gently.