The sneers on the man's friends' faces immediately disappeared.
They rushed toward him.
But would Lican allow that?
Shrill!
Lican pulled on the chain, using the man's attempt to yank it back as leverage to catapult himself forward.
The man realized what Lican had done, his eyes widening as he tried to retreat, desperately wanting to buy enough time for his friends to arrive.
As if reading his thoughts, Lican scooped up a handful of sand with his free hand.
As he closed the distance, he threw it directly into the man's eyes.
"Ahh!"
Before the man could recover, frantically trying to clear the dust from his eyes, he felt a cool sensation against his neck.
His body froze.
His hands immediately moved toward his throat as warm liquid slowly leaked from the wound before suddenly gushing out.
He tried to stop it, but then..
Slik!
Slik!
Two distinct sounds echoed through the surroundings.
The environment became eerily quiet.
The man could hear only the sound of his own ragged breathing as Lican's breath brushed against his face.
"I... wh.."
"Shhh... Go to sleep," the young man muttered softly.
Crack!
The jade pin struck with force, piercing through the top of his skull.
The man's body jerked one final time before going limp in Lican's arms.
Sigh.
"You should have minded your own business,I'm a good person, after all."
Lican shook his head blankly and dropped the body to the ground.
He then turned toward the remaining two men, who stood completely frozen, they unconsciously stepped back.
His abyss-like eyes were empty of emotion.
Blood was splattered across his strikingly handsome face, making his expression appear both alluring and devilish.
Blood slowly dripped from the jade pin in his hand.
"You... killed..." the second man stammered, pointing at his dead companion, unable to believe what he had just witnessed.
"You're at the late stage of Bone Marrow Cleansing?" the third man asked cautiously.
Sigh.
"So if I wasn't a cultivator, I would have been dead by now," Lican said, sighing as he looked toward the heavens.
"You or you? Who's coming next?"
He calmly raised his jade pin, pointing it toward them.
"You've killed Calder. Don't push it. Calder was just careless. If we join hands, you wouldn't be our match," the second man said confidently as both of them produced daggers.
Sigh.
"You should have just shut up. Maybe I would have considered leaving you two alone. Just maybe."
Lican shrugged.
"Now your mouth has made me reconsider. Don't worry. I'll use your corpses to bait better beasts."
He twirled his jade pin before settling into a fighting stance, his eyes shining with battlelust.
The men's faces paled.
They exchanged a glance before attacking from opposite sides.
Lican saw their strategy and grinned.
Slash!
Slash!
The two men arrived at the same time, slashing toward Lican from opposite sides.
Lican raised his chain-wrapped arm and blocked the first attack, deflecting the dagger.
Slash!
The second dagger slipped through his defense and cut into his side, making blood flow from the wound.
The two men immediately backed away after successfully landing their attack, waiting for another opportunity to strike.
But Lican didn't give them one.
He flung his chained arm toward the attacker.
Crack!
The chain slammed into the man's ribs with enough force to break them.
A sickening sound escaped his throat as he vomited blood, splattering it across Lican's back.
Yet throughout the entire exchange, Lican didn't even turn around.
He immediately dove toward the second man, who managed to deflect his attack.
Lican's jade pin was already in his free hand.
He forcefully stepped on the man's knee, making him lose his balance.
The man stumbled, desperately trying to regain his footing, but it was already too late.
The jade pin struck his gut.
Slurp!
The force of the impact sent him falling backward.
But before his body could make contact with the ground
Grab!
A claw-like hand seized the front of his throat and pulled him forcefully forward.
The fingers pierced into his flesh, drawing blood.
He struggled desperately, but it was useless.
The claw-like hand tightened around his throat and forcefully pulled at his larynx.
His eyes rolled back as the inside of his throat became exposed, veins and arteries visible as blood pumped through them.
The hand still gripping his larynx pulled harder, tearing it free as Lican used the momentum to swing the man's body downward.
His head slammed against the ground.
Crack!!!
All of this happened within a matter of seconds.
The third man, who was still struggling to catch his breath, witnessed the entire scene. A shiver ran down his spine.
He dropped his dagger and began crawling backward, his body trembling uncontrollably. The tremors even reached his eyes as he desperately dragged himself away.
Lican stood over the ruptured body and looked down at it.
"I thought it would be hard killing a human, but it seems no different. After killing the first person, it made no difference."
Sigh.
He turned around.
Blood spilled across the ground, pooling beneath him and coating his feet crimson.
The third man crawled frantically as he watched Lican slowly walk toward him.
"You guys make me look like a murderer. You forced me," Lican said expressionlessly as he approached.
"I was peacefully going home..." He paused.
Did he even have a home?
His face fell.
"Why make me reminisce?"
The third man tried crawling faster despite his broken ribs.
But Lican stepped on his foot.
Crack!
"Ah! Please... please!"
The man's face scrunched up as he screamed, his entire body shaking violently.
Lican tilted his head and gestured toward his ear.
"I can't hear you."
Stomp!
His foot came down again, crushing the man's shin and forcing the broken bone to protrude from his flesh.
"Ah..."
The man breathed hurriedly as he stared at the bone sticking out of his leg. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Don't kill me, please!" he cried, begging for his life.
Lican simply sighed.
Only the strongest could bully the weak.
If he had been weaker, what if the people he had encountered had done something even worse to him?
Sigh.
He squatted down, staring directly into the man's fear-stricken eyes.
Slash!
The jade pin swept ruthlessly across the third man's neck.
Blood sprayed from the wound, splattering across Lican's face as the man coughed violently.
"I... cu...rse... u..." the man struggled to speak.
Choke!
The jade pin pierced through his ear, silencing him instantly.
His eyes widened before slowly losing their remaining light.
"What a bad adult. He was the one who wanted to kill me first," Lican said with a frown.
"Why curse me, then?"
Lican stood there, staring at his handiwork.
Groan.
He groaned as he looked over the scene.
"How am I supposed to clean this up?"
Lican thought about it in distress.
He grabbed one of the man's legs and began dragging the bodies across the ground toward the others.
"Should I burn them? But that would alert people..."
He paused.
"Hmm..."
Then his eyes lit up.
"Yes."
Lican face-palmed.
He had completely forgotten that his universal pouch could store non-living things.
"Ah, nice."
He nodded, a grin spreading across his face.
"Non-living things... They really are convenient."