Against the sword raced toward his neck, Aiden threw every curse out for his own foolishness. Yet there was no salvation from this situation. He and the swordsman Chang had almost the same cultivation level, so he couldn't even dream of defending himself against the sharp metal sword. The sword will cut through his neck like a tofu, and after dying multiple times for different reasons, he bet he wouldn't survive through this.

This was an unfortunate end to his legacy. An early end.

The blade whistled through the mountain air, carrying the stench of old blood—a grim reminder of its deadly purpose. Soon, his own blood would stain the blade, joining the remnants of past victims. Would Chang feel pride in ending his life, or was this just another routine kill for the swordsman?

He was about to resign to his fate when swordsman Chang froze - like someone enveloped him in a sheet of cold ice. In those frozen eyes, Aiden saw fear, frustration, and a taste of helplessness.

Aiden twisted his body, leveraging his waist for power, and lashed out with his foot. His heel struck Chang's arm, knocking the blade aside. In the same fluid motion, Aiden's other leg swung low, his boot slamming into the swordsman's kneecap.

Swordsman Chang's face twitched in pain as he collapsed onto his injured knee, the mysterious paralysis releasing its grip

Aiden used this moment to punch Chang's nose and send him staggering back. In the same motion, Aiden charged forward and kicked Chang's jaw with his knee, sending him crashing into the ground.

The fight concluded swiftly. Aiden's fingers found the soft spot beneath Chang's chin, and with a sharp jerk, he wrenched the man's neck to an impossible position. A sickening crack echoed through the air as the swordsman's life ebbed away. This was the same move he had used on the first person he killed in the prison back on Earth. That was done out of desperation, but now it came naturally to him.

Patting the now-destroyed grass on the ground, Aiden got up, the sweet taste of survival still lingering in his mouth. He inhaled deeply, tasting the crisp mountain air tinged with the metallic scent of fresh blood from his own mouth. The rough bark of a nearby tree scraped his palm as he steadied himself, grounding him at the moment. If he didn't have others, he would have kissed the grass, tasted the dew on the trees, and sat at the edge of the mountain while looking at the city in the far for hours. For sure, he was going to miss it forever if not for someone helping him in the need.

However, who was that someone?

"What have you done, motherfucker?" Senior Pijia cried out in fear, his white pant turning wet.

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Yueya fixed her eyes on Aiden with an odd look. In a flash, before Aiden could process what was happening, she drove a knife deep into Pijia's chest, right where his heart beat.

"Sister Lan." Aiden arched his brows. This was unexpected. For him, Lan Yueya was a spoiled girl who loved to mess things up and then ran to her father for protection. Although she kept saying she had trained for months in dungeoning adventure, he never thought she would have killed things herself.

Yet she killed like a seasoned psychopath.

"I saw them attacking you and something changed inside me and I learned a new skill. Soul Freeze," Lan Yueya said, her tone serious. "I cast it to save you."

Aiden approached Lan Yueya and examined her closely, but he noticed no difference in her. Same flat chest, petite figure, and a fool's face.

"How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?" he asked.

Lan Yueya looked confused. "What? I was drinking tea and then I woke up in this man's arms, and then I saw you getting killed and I used the skill and then something changed inside me and I used a dagger to kill this bastard." Lan Yueya threw the dagger away. "I killed a fellow sect member." She broke down and dropped to her knee. "My father will punish me. What am I going to do?" Her body shook violently, and Aiden couldn't resist pet her back.

"Calm down. They were going to kill us, so we killed them in self-defense."

"No, even in self defense, you can't kill people from the sect. They have their Soul Tablets and they will find out someone has killed them, and from those Soul Tablets they can look for their last memories. They will found about us soon, brother An. We are doomed."

Aiden shuddered as a tremor ran down his back. He had killed a cultivator previously. But if the sect could track the deceased through their Soul Tablets, why had no one come for him yet? They had plenty of time to find him in the alchemy hall.

"Corpse Bloom." Aiden snapped his fingers and the two corpses burst into flames.

Lan Yueya leaped back in fear. Fire reflected through her expressive eyes as she stared at the fire with curiosity.

"Sorry, I had to use Qi Fire to kill them completely. Don't worry, with this method, they can't find us." Aiden spoke confidently, but he was hesitant inside.

Soul Tablet - he had to find out more about this thing. Through his mind, he searched for the answer in old man Li's memories, and soon he found it.

Soul Tablet was a special artifact the sect had; in fact, every sect had it. When a new person joined the sect, their blood would be dripped on it and it would monitor the disciple's life and death, and in certain cases, it could even recreate the last scene of the disciple’s death. However, it had some limitations, and to recreate the scene, one needed to sacrifice certain artifacts and took a few days for it to happen.

Now, he could only wait and see if they performed the ritual, and it worked on these two people.

"Let's go. We have to go away from this place." Aiden signaled to Lan Yueya to walk back. Many things had happened, and he needed some time to go through his thoughts.

Lan Yueya gave a slight nod and moved forward, but as Aiden watched her, a new thought came to his mind.

"Sister Lan, do you recall anything that happened when you were unconscious? Any new memories?"

Lan Yueya paused and then spun around. "How do you know that? I have this strange feeling that someone is inside my mind, but I can't point that out."

Alex shuddered. Did Mi Tha survived after all this? The quest ended up being successful, so there was a high chance she survived.