Tainted will

The streaks of dazzling lights were extremely fast and soon neared Bai Ming.

Bai Ming snorted, he very much was unwilling to provoke trouble, he shouted in a stern voice: "I have important matters to deal with, do not provoke me!"

Saying this, he rapidly activated the Self-Sword formation. The Self-Sword formation increased his speed by a large margin and helped in quickly pulling some distance.

"Ah, what incredible speed!"

"Who is this person?!"

Bai Ming's speed had suddenly erupted, the group of cultivators were astonished, their expressions changed in an instant.

Bai Ming's aura was only at peak spirit realm not even at quasi-Yin-Yang, before he took action, there did not seem to be anything special about him.

Furthermore, after retreating repeatedly, the band of cultivators involuntarily started to look down on him.

But once he took action, everyone was shaken.

The band of cultivators froze in their tracks, they reassessed Bai Ming.

They saw Bai Ming wearing majestic purple robes, but his face was horrifying and unsightly, giving him a sinister vibe. Right now, Bai Ming's horrendous face looked even more ominous, like the brewing of a thunderstorm, his wicked killing intent was like a blizzard, giving people a suppressive feeling.

There were numerous quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators present here, but they all became silent.

Feng Jin Bo saw that other cultivators were showing looks of hesitation, he quickly took the lead and spoke heavily, "What are you all afraid of? He is just one person."

Another person attired in Red Lotus Sect's true disciple clothing replied just as coldly, "Hmph, such a vile killing intent! Must be a demonic path scoundrel, let's purge him from the surface of the world and do this world a favor."

Bai Ming had such means, the cultivators' impressions of him had changed, and they no longer looked down on him like before.

They looked at each other, before flying towards Bai Ming imposingly.

Bai Ming was paying much attention to them the whole time, he was silently contemplating; 'This group has three main pillars, two of them are true disciples just like me and the third one is a core disciple, the others must be their subordinates most probably inner disciples.'

'My luck is truly terrible, I just had to encounter these two fellow apprentice brothers, both Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu are direct disciples of Lu Qing Yu and this accursed Lu Qing Yu is quite close to Zhou Yi, if I were to reveal them my identity as Yi Yun then I cannot predict how things will transpire, I doubt it will be anything good, it'll probably just motivate them further.'

'Want to snatch my spirit fruit, hmph!' Bai Ming sneered as he continued to retreat, he covertly took out a tiny container from his bag of holding and sprinkled concealment powder on the Blazing Heart fruit vine in his robes, but he purposefully avoided a single fruit.

"Demonic scoundrel, Die for me." The Core disciple, Kai Ye growled in a low voice and suddenly shot a streak of ominous light toward Bai Ming.

"Screw off!" Bai Ming roared, with a wave of his hand, a powerful burst of sword ray destroyed the streak of crimson light.

At the same time, the other cultivators took this opportunity to rapidly close in on Bai Ming.

Bai Ming who was desperately fleeing abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the band of cultivators, his cold eyes menacingly stared at the group.

The sudden change caused the expressions of the cultivators to change slightly, their speed also slowed down considerably.

Thoughts ran wild in Feng Jin Bo's mind as he waved his long sleeves and stepped forward. He was just about to speak, but his words were cut off before he could even begin.

Bai Ming squinted his eyes and spoke overbearingly; "Hahaha, Feng Jin Bo, Sima Bu, and Kai Ye what guts you three have! Just because I am in a rush, you think I am afraid of you!? Truly laughable!"

The three of them immediately frowned upon hearing this, the enemy clearly knew about their identities but on the other hand, they had no clue about him. And not just that, even after knowing their terrifying status Bai Ming didn't look worried in the least. Instead, he displayed cold arrogance, this immediately created a formless pressure deep within their hearts, those inner sect disciples especially felt the pressure increasing.

Bai Ming carefully studied their fluctuating expressions, he smiled internally seeing things playing out in his favor.

Bai Ming didn't give them much time to think and immediately acted, "All of you are quite lucky, I am extremely busy right now if it wasn't for that I would have battled 300 rounds with you, take this and get lost."

Bai Ming reached out to his robes and pulled out a single Blazing Heart fruit which was kept untouched before and showed it to the crowd, the air was immediately overflowing with pure Yang essence.

Bai Ming snorted and tossed the Blazing Heart fruit at Kai Ye and charged out from this place without turning back.

The cultivators were left stunned as they dumbfoundedly stared at Bai Ming's back.

"This..." Kai Ye blankly gazed at the Blazing heart fruit in his palm, two breaths later a wide grin formed on his face.

One of the cultivators laughed loudly: "Ha, he was actually bluffing! Smart guy, he knows how to judge the situation, haha, get lost quickly!"

Someone else also called out: "Yeah, I almost believed him to be some big shot, but turns out he was merely a sheep in tiger's skin."

"Noisy," Feng Jin Bo coldly glared at the both of them, he was a bit furious thinking of how he completely assumed Bai Ming to be someone of equal standing but turns out he was a fraud.

Sima Bu shook his head with a mocking smile, then he looked at the fruit in Kai Ye's hand and spoke with an amiable smile, "Forget about him, we have obtained what we wanted. Now, let's determine how we are going to distribute the spoil."

"What's there to discuss? The three of us will each take 1/3rd of the spiritual fruit and the rest of you will be compensated with sect points once we return to the sect." Feng Jin Bo spoke as if it was a matter of fact.

Not one of the inner disciples dared to speak otherwise, with bitterness hidden in their hearts they nodded in agreement.

Kai Ye's wide grin vanished and he asked the crowd with some expectation in his tone; "Does anyone here have any knowledge regarding this spirit herb? The Yang essence is quite overbearing, this must be a top-tier spirit herb."

But everyone just shook their heads, they were just as clueless as him.

Seeing such a response Kai Ye nodded his head in understanding and was about to split the spirit fruit into three parts.

But at this very instant the Blazing Heart fruit turned into dust!

Kai Ye's eyes immediately bulged to the point of popping out, he fiercely stared at his palm with a look of utter shock and disbelief.

"Wha-what happened..?? What the hell happened!?!" Kai Ye cried out, his hand which previously held the spirit fruit quivered.

He was completely bewildered.

"Brother Kai Ye, what's the meaning of this?"

Kai Ye's train of thoughts were immediately broken when he felt two demonic hands gripping his shoulders.

Kai Ye slowly raised his head and saw Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu smiling in front of him, but their smiles were anything but friendly.

Kai Ye's heart immediately sank.

The Blazing Heart fruit was an extremely precious Yang fruit, but it disappeared without a trace.

The biggest suspect was naturally Ye Kai.

After all, he was one who held the spirit fruit. But what they didn't know was the Blazing Heart fruit was a special spirit herb, once the fruit was detached from the vine it would soon turn into dust.

Of course, Bai Ming's little scheme of sowing discord was dependent on the fact whether these people were knowledgeable about the spirit herb or not. That was why he first displayed the spirit fruit before tossing it to Kai Ye, he was waiting to gain some understanding of this spirit herb.

"Brothers, please trust me. I am just as clueless as you are, this has nothing to do with me." Kai Ye frantically begged the two of them to believe in him while he hurriedly moved a few meters back.

"Brother Kai Ye, what made you think we are clueless?" Feng Jin Bo smiled, but killing intent flickered in his eyes.

"Tsk, tsk, Brother Kai Ye it seems you don't know overeating is bad for health, I am really disappointed in you." Sima Bu also smiled but his hands slowly moved toward his blood-red blade.

Right now Kai Ye's face was hideous beyond compare, he felt extremely wronged. The poor guy was just as confused as the others, maybe even more.

Kai Ye suddenly remembered how Bai Ming had tossed the spirit fruit directly at him, instead of tossing it at Feng Jin Bo who was at the time closest to Bai Ming. The anxiousness in his heart quickly turned into hatred.

'He already knew our identities, hence it's no surprise he also figured out that I was the weakest link in this three-man square, bastard!' Kai Ye's heart boiled in rage as he kept on cursing Bai Ming in his heart.

At the same time, Kai Ye called out loudly; "Everyone, don't forget about our agreement, what kind of person am I? Why would I possibly deceive you? It's that evil son of a bitch who is trying to sow discord among us, everything will be cleared once we capture him! Come on, let's not waste any more time and capture him quickly, the truth will be clear for you to see then"

Saying that Kai Ye twisted his body and shot toward Bai Ming like a loose cannon.

Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu quickly exchanged glances they had quite a deep understanding of each other, both of them sighed softly before they decided to put a bit of their faith in Kai Ye's words and mostly into their previous agreement.

They quietly followed behind Kai Ye, noticing this change the other cultivators also followed after them.

Kai Ye sighed in relief as he sensed this change, but his gaze soon turned ice-cold as he hatefully glared at Bai Ming who was dozens of miles ahead.

Bai Ming was not using the self-sword formation his speed had naturally fallen.

After a good while, the group of cultivators rapidly pressed in on Bai Ming.

Bai Ming coldly glanced back at them, he sneered inwardly and continued to flee.

After dozen more breaths, the group once again caught up with him.

"Hmph, your appetite is quite large. I already gave you the Spirit herb and you are still not satisfied, you are courting death!" Bai Ming spoke word for word, his sinister killing intent flared out once again but this time he mostly focused it on the inner disciples.

The inner disciples felt their hearts go cold under Bai Ming's demonic killing intent, after a short while a weak-willed person couldn't bear it any longer and quickly explained what had happened earlier.

Bai Ming floated in the air, sneering without speaking.

"Friend…" Sima Bu stopped his words partway, he did not want to continue his words.

"Bother Sima, let me handle this." Kai Ye voiced out as he stepped forward with a dark expression.

"Wait!" Feng Jin Bo stopped Kai Ye immediately, then he gestured to Sima Bu to continue.

Kai Ye was displeased by this act, but he still decided to keep calm and continued to stare at Bai Ming viciously.

Sima Bu had a cold expression, his gaze was sharp, he stared at Bai Ming saying: "Since you already know our identities this will be a lot easier, this matter is difficult to resolve peacefully today. But I have a method, as long as you follow it, you can prove your innocence."

"Hahahaha!" Bai Ming laughed coldly: "Prove my innocence? Why must I prove my innocence?"

They wanted to inspect his body and storage bag, how could Bai Ming simply allow that?!

As he laughed, his battle intent surged.

"It appears that all of you think I am afraid of battle." Bai Ming's eyes flashed, he said in a sinister tone.

The expressions of the band of cultivators changed greatly.

Bai Ming narrowed his eyes, "It is laughable, you are being misled but you choose to remain ignorant. Kai Ye, you have already obtained the spirit herb from me, but you are attempting to frame me now, you are really scheming."

The cultivators just kept their silence.

But many people turned to look at the pitiful Kai Ye.

Kai Ye glared at Bai Ming with a furious expression, but he was thinking; 'Outstanding! This person has a sharp tongue, he is some no-name cultivator but has displayed his superior movement skills, and not forget he is cunning as a fox, and he genuinely appears to be unafraid of facing us, who in the world is he?'

At the same time, he called out: "Bullshit, what kind of person am I? Everyone here clearly knows. Hmph, just so you know the three of us have formed a heavenly soul-bounding contract"

Hearing this Bai Ming could not help but chuckle, he looked at Kai Ye disdainfully: "What soul-bounding contract? All I know is that regardless of the binding agreements you have set up priorly, they can surely be broken, there is nothing absolute in this world. As for what kind of individual you are? I only know that in the face of enormous profits, people change rather quickly and cannot be trusted. In this cruel world, No one is one's friend, friendship or enmity is merely formed from a person's motives of interest, anything else is a bunch of nonsense people like you spout."

Bai Ming's words were logical and practical, the cultivators hesitated even more.

Kai Ye flew into a rage, pointing at Bai Ming's nose, "If you are that confident, why don't you let us inspect your storage pouch!"

"The bunch of you are undeserving, and everyone here clearly saw that I had handed you the spirit herb, is there a need to continue this charade?" Bai Ming rapidly responded.

"Hahaha." Kai Ye laughed from pure anger, "There are hundreds of ways in this world to create illusions, who knows what evil methods you employed to keep the spirit herb secretly."

Bai Ming raised his head and sighed woefully, saying in a regretful tone: "I have a mission from the eldest brother, I did not want to make trouble. But it seems inevitable, let's fight."

Kai Ye's expression sank.

Hearing the words eldest brother, many of the cultivators' hearts shook, and they thought; So this person is not a lone cultivator, he has a fraction behind him. No wonder, he acts so arrogantly and even dares to fight head-on against these three monsters!

At once, their wariness rose again.

Especially the inner disciples, they operated independently and did not have an inner elder of the sect to back them up, they did not want to offend a major fraction for merely a few thousand sect points.

Similarly, the expressions on Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu's faces had turned incomparably dark, they glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes.

At this crucial juncture, both of these fellow apprentice brothers shared the same thought;

'Sigh.., How troublesome!'