Chapter 208: Too Lazy to Reason, Unworthy to Listen; Using Demons to Counter Demons
"Don't come any closer!"
A large man scrambled backward, his heavy boots kicking up clouds of dry dust. He thrashed against the dirt, his eyes blown wide with feral terror, staring at the figure approaching him as though looking at a monster clawing its way out of the abyss.
Yet, following his bloodshot gaze, the source of his absolute dread was merely a youth. The boy held a gleaming golden longsword, his posture relaxed, his expression entirely placid.
"Stop struggling. Rest assured, I will let you die without any pain." Rovel stepped forward, his boots crunching softly against the gravel. His pace was measured, unhurried, and utterly inevitable.
"Why?!" The man clawed at his own scalp, his voice cracking into a guttural roar. "I didn't want to fall into madness! I didn't want to kill them! But... I couldn't control myself! The whispers, the voices—they forced my hands!"
He slammed his fists against the sides of his head, weeping and screaming in a wretched display of agony.
"And so, I have come to help set you free." Rovel stopped a few paces away. Not a single ripple of pity or hesitation crossed his features. His eyes remained as calm and still as a frozen lake.
"Do those who fall into madness deserve to die?" The man spat, blood and saliva flying from his lips as he tried to mount a final, desperate moral stand. "Are we no longer human? Do our lives mean nothing to you?!"
"What else?" Rovel tilted his head slightly, his tone conversational. "Should I spare you, turn my back, and let you wander off to slaughter another village?"
"I... I..." The man's jaw worked uselessly. He choked on his own breath, unable to form a defense against the suffocating weight of that simple logic.
As Rovel closed the final distance, the man's fragile mental defenses shattered completely. The sorrow in his eyes twisted into pure, venomous hatred. He glared viciously at the youth, baring his teeth like a cornered beast.
"You cruel butcher! You raise a sword of justice while harboring your own selfish desires! To put it bluntly, you do this for fame and fortune! You want the world to sing your praises, yet you call it exorcising demons. You are nothing but a hypocrite!"
Rovel stopped in his tracks.
Seeing the youth pause, a flicker of desperate hope ignited in the man's chest. He thought his venomous words had finally pierced the boy's armor, shaking his resolve.
But as the man looked up into Rovel's face, he found a faint, dry smile curling at the corners of the youth's mouth. Rovel looked down at him, his eyes reflecting nothing but mild amusement.
"I am too lazy to reason with you," Rovel said softly. "And you are not worthy to listen."
He raised the golden blade.
"Taixu Sword Form: Sword Transformation - Swift."
The man only felt a sudden, phantom rush of cold water passing through his chest. A beautiful, fluid arc of golden light severed the air. Immediately after, his vision plunged into absolute darkness, and his consciousness was extinguished forever.
The heavy body collapsed into the dirt with a dull thud.
"Master, it is settled." Rovel flicked his wrist, shaking a single drop of blood from the blade before sheathing his sword with a crisp metallic click.
"...Mm." Red Kite stood a short distance away, her expression complicated. She honestly did not know what to say anymore.
Aside from him talking a bit too much before delivering the final strike, there didn't seem to be anything else worth critiquing.
When facing the verbal and moral attacks of those who had fallen to the Honkai corruption—the so-called madness—Red Kite had initially worried that Rovel's young mind wouldn't be able to handle the psychological burden. She had kept her hand resting near her own blade, fully prepared to step in and shoulder the sin of killing if her disciple hesitated.
The result had been entirely the opposite.
'You were once a madman, and you will be a madman for the rest of your life!''What a joke. I am a normal person. Why would I need to understand the plight of a monster?''Even if you beg me, I will not let you go.''The Five Elements generate each other, nurturing through the seasons!'
Red Kite sighed inwardly. This disciple of hers possessed a sense of righteousness that bordered on the eerie. His absolute lack of hesitation when executing the corrupted made even an immortal warrior like her feel a fleeting chill.
In the martial world, whispers of his deeds had already begun to spread. They called him the Butcher of the Mad. The title alone was enough to scare many of those teetering on the edge of Honkai erosion into hiding, terrified that the golden-sword-wielding youth would find them.
And yet, Rovel had not even formed his Sword Heart.
In the discipline of Taixu Sword Qi, the Sword Heart was meant to sever mortal attachments and calm the mind. But Rovel operated with this chilling efficiency entirely on his own, without the emotional suppression of the Divine Sound. This was simply who he was.
The bizarre contradiction lay in how he treated ordinary people. When facing those untouched by the madness, Rovel was the picture of a gentle, refined scholar. He ignored idle gossip and petty insults with a smile. When challenged by wandering martial artists seeking guidance, he would readily agree to spar. Even when he disarmed an opponent in a single, effortless move, he would bow humbly and say, 'I have overstepped.'
It was as if every drop of malice in his soul was reserved exclusively for the Honkai and its corrupted thralls.
It wasn't that this was a bad trait. It just felt incredibly strange to Red Kite. Perhaps it was simply because she had finally met someone even more active and ruthless about exorcising demons than she was, leaving her feeling entirely unaccustomed to her new role as a mere spectator.
"Master, is something on your mind?" Rovel asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
They had relocated to a small, weathered pavilion by the roadside to rest. Red Kite had been sitting on the stone bench for half an hour, staring silently at the steam rising from her teacup.
"...I have yet to learn of your past," Red Kite spoke softly, her eyes studying the tea leaves settling at the bottom of her cup. "I only remember that you arrived at Taixu Mountain with Su Mei, but the two of you are not siblings. You hate evil so passionately, and you kill without a shred of hesitation. Could it be because your family was harmed by those who fell into madness?"
It was the most logical conclusion she could draw. Otherwise, it was truly difficult to explain why an eleven-year-old boy could execute corrupted humans with the cold precision of a seasoned executioner.
"Not really," Rovel replied, taking a seat opposite her. "Although my family is not in this world, they were never harmed by the corrupted. I do this simply because I do not want these monsters to hurt more innocent people."
He rested his hands on the stone table, his expression turning serious.
"If there truly were a way to cure the madness, I would gladly lay down my blade and show mercy to all living beings."
Rovel's voice was steady, carrying a weight far beyond his years. In this era, being eroded by Honkai Energy was an absolute death sentence to one's humanity. It was incurable. This was especially disastrous for martial practitioners; once their bodies were flooded with Honkai Energy, their physical strength and destructive capabilities skyrocketed. A single corrupted martial artist could slaughter an ordinary army without breaking a sweat.
"But... since there is no cure, why should I trouble myself with false mercy?" Rovel looked directly into Red Kite's eyes, his gaze unwavering. "The mad must be eliminated. That is the iron rule Master taught us, and I have always kept it engraved in my heart."
Red Kite did not offer a response. She simply lifted her cup, finished the bitter tea in one smooth motion, stood up, and gestured for Rovel to follow.
From that day onward, whenever Red Kite descended the mountain to cleanse the world of Honkai beasts and the corrupted, the number of times she brought Rovel along gradually increased. With Rovel handling the external threats, Lin Chaoyu was able to focus the vast majority of her energy on managing the Taixu sect, teaching the sword forms, and looking after the younger junior sisters.
Every time Rovel drew his blade, he never disappointed Red Kite. His strikes were clean, his judgment flawless, and his personality remained entirely unshaken by the dying curses of his enemies.
Before they knew it, the seasons cycled, and another two years slipped away into the river of time.
The Taixu sect flourished. Su Mei's mastery over her Sword Heart deepened deeply, allowing her to step firmly into the Dustless realm, officially surpassing the eldest disciple, Lin Chaoyu, in terms of pure mental cultivation.
However, the true anomaly of the mountain was Cheng Lingshuang.
At a mere four years old, she had already shattered all expectations, breaking through to the Clear Mirror realm. She came from behind, leaving all her senior martial sisters in the dust. As her small body gradually grew, she began to formally learn the physical Taixu Sword Forms, displaying a terrifying, innate talent for the way of the sword.
More concerning to the others was her absolute, almost instinctual dominance over Honkai Energy. Her control mirrored that of a true Herrscher. Even Rovel, with all his unique advantages, knew there was a massive, impossible gap between his Honkai manipulation and hers.
Alongside this terrifying power came physical changes. A few stark strands of white hair had begun to weave through Cheng Lingshuang's dark locks. This was a known manifestation of her Stigmata awakening.
Oddly enough, similar white strands had also appeared in Jiang Wanru's hair.
Worried that the young girl might have been secretly infected by Honkai Energy, Rovel immediately sought out Red Kite, requesting a thorough examination of Jiang Wanru's body.
Yet, after a careful inspection, Red Kite declared Jiang Wanru to be perfectly healthy. There was no trace of Honkai erosion in her veins.
Generally speaking, at their young age, hair only turned such an abnormal, lifeless white when a person was falling into madness. The corruption would drain the color from their skin, leaving them pale as corpses, while their hair lost all pigment. Cheng Lingshuang was the sole exception, her hair changing due to the overwhelming power of her Stigmata.
But Jiang Wanru possessed no Stigmata. Finding a logical reason for her sudden change in hair color proved incredibly difficult.
The only clue they had was her sister. Jiang Wanxi's hair was completely purple. When asked, the twins admitted they could no longer remember what their birth parents looked like.
Perhaps one of their parents had naturally white hair? At present, it was the only harmless speculation the sect could accept.
Two days after the medical examination, the peaceful atmosphere of Taixu Mountain was interrupted by the arrival of a new face.
Another boy had finally climbed the steps to join the disciples.
His name was Ma Yanqing.
He possessed the delicate, flawless features of a remarkably cute young boy. His skin was fair, his eyes bright and expressive. If he were to grow his hair out, absolutely no one would bat an eye if he were mistaken for a pretty young girl.
The moment the boy set foot in the courtyard, looking around with wide, nervous eyes, he was immediately targeted. Su Mei approached him with a sweet, welcoming smile, holding a wooden training dummy. Within minutes, she had completely lured the naive boy into her pace, happily teaching him the rules of the mountain.
Her very first lesson was instructing Ma Yanqing to look at Rovel and respectfully call him 'Second Senior Brother'.
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