"HAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The forest had been loud only moments ago.
Shouts had echoed between the trees as blades clashed again and again, the sound of steel striking steel mixing with rough breathing and angry cries.
The ground had been torn apart by hurried steps, leaves crushed underfoot, and branches snapped without care as both sides rushed at each other without any order.
The disciples of the Myriad Demon Sect and the Divine Sword Sect had met by chance.
Neither side had any reason to hold back.
"Kill them!" one of the Divine Sword Sect disciples shouted, his voice sharp as he raised his sword and rushed forward.
A young man in white robes led the charge, his movements quick but unrefined, his sword cutting through the air in a straight line toward his target.
Another young man, but in black robes, stepped slightly to the side, his body turning just enough to avoid the strike, and then he pushed his own blade forward in a simple thrust.
Splat...!
The tip of his sword slipped into the disciple's side.
The young man let out a short cry, his body shaking as the strength left his legs, and he fell to the ground before he even understood what had happened.
Around him, the fight continued without pause.
"You think you can stand against us?!" Zhao Kun roared as he swung his blade down with force, striking against another opponent's sword and pushing him back step by step.
Splurt!
Li Qiang moved in from the side, his attack messy but fast, his blade cutting across the arm of a Divine Sword Sect disciple, drawing a line of blood that made the man cry out in pain.
"HAHAHA! MORE BLOOD!" Chen Rui laughed harshly as he kicked one of them to the ground, then raised his sword and brought it down without hesitation.
Wang Lei fought more carefully, blocking a strike before stepping in and slashing across his opponent's chest, forcing him back with a gasp.
Sun Hao stumbled as he avoided a strike that almost reached his neck, then swung wildly in return, his blade barely grazing his enemy but still forcing him to retreat.
None of them fought with grace.
None of them used anything worthy of being called a true technique.
Since they were all in the Qi Refining stage, their strength was shallow, and their movements rough, so the battle turned into nothing more than a struggle to see who could strike first and who would fall first.
Blood began to stain the ground.
One by one, the disciples of the Divine Sword Sect fell.
Some tried to run, but they were quickly chased down and cut from behind.
Some tried to beg, their voices shaking, but no one listened.
In the end, the forest slowly grew quiet again.
Splat!
The last enemy fell to his knees, his sword slipping from his hand before Zhao Kun stepped forward and ended his life with a single strike.
"That should be the last of them."
Zhao Kun wiped his blade against the robe of a fallen enemy, his chest rising as he let out a tired breath.
"Gosh..." Li Qiang leaned against a tree, holding his side where a shallow wound had torn through his robe.
"We lost too many… damn it, those sword dogs fought harder than I thought."
Chen Rui gave a short laugh, though it sounded strained. "We're still the ones standing. That's all that matters."
Wang Lei nodded, his grip on his sword loosening as the tension slowly left his body. "Once we report back, the sect will reward us. This was definitely a good hunt."
Only one among them said nothing.
Mo Shen stood a few steps away, his figure still, his eyes lowered slightly as he looked at the ground.
His robe was dark, almost hiding the blood that had soaked into the fabric, and his hand rested lightly on the hilt of his sword.
No one paid him much attention.
To them, he had always been quiet.
Harmless.
But... that was just in the exterior.
SPLURT!
A sharp sound cut through the silence.
Before anyone could react, Mo Shen stepped forward and drove his sword straight into Zhao Kun's back.
The blade pierced through flesh and bone with a dull, wet sound, pushing all the way through until the tip emerged from Zhao Kun's chest, stained dark under the moonlight.
Zhao Kun froze.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out at first.
His eyes trembled as he slowly lowered his head, staring at the blade sticking out from his chest, as if he could not understand what he was seeing.
"M-Mo… S-Shen…?"
Blood spilled from his lips as his body weakened, his strength leaving him in an instant.
Mo Shen said nothing.
He only watched.
SPLAT!
Then he pulled the sword out.
Thud...
Zhao Kun's body collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud, lifeless.
For a moment, everything stood still as the others realized what had actually happened.
"What are you doing?!"
Li Qiang's voice broke into a shout, filled with shock and anger as he pushed himself away from the tree, his face twisting in disbelief.
"Have you gone mad?!"
Chen Rui's expression turned cold as he raised his sword, pointing it toward Mo Shen.
"You dare kill one of us? Are you trying to die?!"
"You think you can take all of us on your own? You're the weaker of us all!" Wang Lei stepped forward as well, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"We should cut him down now!" The last disciple, Sun Hao, clenched his teeth, his grip tightening around his weapon.
Their anger rose all at once, their killing intent spreading through the air as they prepared to move.
But Mo Shen did not react.
He stood there, completely still, his sword hanging loosely in his hand, his head slightly lowered as if he was not even paying attention to them.
That strange calm…
It made their anger hesitate for a brief moment.
Then, they moved.
Or at least, they tried to.
Li Qiang's body suddenly froze.
His raised arm trembled, stopping halfway through the motion, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword as confusion spread across his face.
"What…?"
Chen Rui's step faltered, his legs refusing to move forward no matter how much force he tried to use.
"What's going on…?"
"I can't move…!" Wang Lei's eyes widened as he realized his own body would not listen to him.
"Why… why is this happening?!" Sun Hao tried to speak, but even his throat felt stiff, his voice coming out strained and uneven.
Panic spread among them.
Their bodies had not lost strength, and they could still feel their limbs, but they could not move them, not even a finger.
Mo Shen slowly lifted his head.
"Kekeke~"
Then he suddenly started laughing, beginning as low as a whisper before gradually getting louder and louder.
"Ah… ahahaha…"
He lifted his free hand and pressed it against his face, his fingers digging into his skin as his shoulders shook slightly, his laughter carrying a strange mix of relief and something far darker.
"You… you…!" Wang Lei's voice cracked.
"What did you do to us?!"
Mo Shen lowered his hand, his eyes now filled with a faint, cold light as he looked at them one by one.
"The water gourds," he stated calmly.
"Did you not find the taste a little strange?"
Their expressions froze.
"The wine inside," Mo Shen continued with a teasing tone, "was mixed with my Paralysis Wine Gu. It is only the lowest grade, yet for people like you… It is more than enough."
Fear flooded their faces.
"You poisoned us…?"
"You bastard!"
"Help! Someone help us!"
Their voices rose in panic as they tried to shout, their bodies still locked in place, unable to even take a single step back.
Mo Shen tilted his head slightly, watching them struggle.
"The effect will not last forever," he said, almost thoughtfully.
"So I should not waste time."
He stepped forward, his sword lifting slowly.
"No… wait!!!"
The sword fell.
Splat!
One strike.
Fwip, splat!
Then another.
Their voices broke into screams that echoed through the forest, yet no one came, and no one answered, as Mo Shen moved from one to the next with calm, clean motions, ending their lives before the poison could fade.
When it was over, silence returned once again.
Mo Shen stood alone among the bodies.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he lowered his sword and began to search through the corpses, his hands moving without hesitation as he took what little they had: small pouches, a few spirit stones, and some low-grade items that barely held any value.
He clicked his tongue softly.
"Poor."
After gathering everything, he walked to a nearby rock and sat down, letting out a quiet breath as he looked at the blood-stained ground before him.
[Ding!]
A clear sound suddenly echoed in his mind.
[The second choice has been realized successfully!]
[The Paralysis Wine Gu has been upgraded to Intermediate Grade 1!]
Mo Shen looked at the message in silence and then let out a soft sigh.
"This shitty transmigration..." his eyebrows furrowed.
Truth to be told, he wasn't from this place at all.
Just like he said just now, he was transmigrated to here, but before that, he was just an ordinary university student.
The type of student who cornered everyone to get money.
The type of student whom the police almost encountered every day, because he was either causing problems or beating up gangsters.
A completely ordinary student.
Unfortunately, during one of his beat-up sessions, one of the thugs actually dared to point a gun at him!
And well... he died.
Talk about anti-climactic...
That aside, he was thrown into this ridiculous cultivation world where only the law of the jungle matters, a.k.a, the strong eat the weak and bullshit like that.
By now, it had been a month or so since he transmigrated into his world. And well... it was the hell of a ride.
He almost got backstabbed three damned times, and only in the third time did he finally awake a cheat!
That's right!
The body he transmigrated to was the disciple of the Myriad Demon Sect, but he was entirely ordinary!
No stupidly strong background or overwhelming talent.
But when he's almost stabbed for the third time, he finally awakens this [Choice System], a system that grants him choices based on the situation he's in.
And this is actually the second time it triggered, since the first time, he chose an option that gave him the Paralysis Wine Gu.
"Haah..."
He sighed deeply.
This was supposed to be an ordinary sect mission with a couple of fellow disciples, but then, as they sat down to take a small break, the system suddenly triggered.
It told him that the group that Mo Shen just killed had planted a trap for all of them, which was the 'sudden' meeting with the Divine Sword Sect disciples!
Meeting with this information, Mo Shen didn't hesitate at all, and chose the third option, which was none other than to poison all of them and kill them at the right moment.
To which, Mo Shen executed flawlessly.
When he arrived, he had gotten the body's memories, and since he was a Demon's Sect disciple, killing someone was as easy as killing a fly.
However, there was just... a small problem...
"How am I going to explain this situation to the elders?"