The priestess led the two young men to their appointed room. Afterwards, she left them, returning to her daily ch.o.r.es.
Although she had been promised a ticket to freedom – and she was likely much more happy now than she was before – her face was still completely expressionless.
Xue Wei was starting to understand that the experiences from his childhood where he was ostracized and bullied might not be the worst fate out there; others might have experienced much tougher things.
This woman had on the surface been honored and respected, but the truth was that the villagers had always despised her.
Living in such a situation, she was always careful with what she did. She had to be gentle and feign ignorance to the hatred directed at her. She had to live a double life.
Right now, the villagers were already very unhappy with her. She was already this old, but she had yet to display any willingness to conceive a child with one of the villagers and let the bloodline of the priestess continue.
Xue Wei and Hei Gou rested in the room for a few hours. The room was somewhat spa.r.s.e in s.p.a.ce, but there were at least two beds for them to sit or lay down on. Other than the two beds, there was nothing in the room.
The beds were also old, but they seemed to have been maintained regularly, and thus they did not collapse when the two of them took a seat.
"Are you okay?" Hei Gou finally asked after a long time spent in silence. "I am quite curious about this sword that you met," he continued, his eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity. Xue Wei chuckled.
So far, they had been in the presence of either the villagers or the priestess, so he had not been able to explain what he had experienced fully until now.
Xue Wei explained everything that had happened inside the room of darkness with the sword, and he was very straightforward with his words. Hei Gou"s eyes widened in surprise.
"A wicked soul in a strong sword consuming the souls of the vile to increase its cultivation levels. This is seriously weird. He, that Tianyi guy, might consider himself evil because he consumes the souls of others, but he pointed out specifically that the souls he wanted were the souls of those doing sinister deeds. Then is he not a vigilante? Someone protecting the weak and poor, killing the tyrants and the evildoers?"
Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don"t know for sure," he answered. "The reason he wants the evildoers is because their energy is beneficial to him. If the souls of the pure were useful to him, he might be eager to kill those too."
"There is no telling whether or not he would mind ma.s.sacring tons of innocent people for the sake of his cultivation," he continued. "I don"t know if he is a truly evil spirit or not, but he is definitely not someone who cares deeply about others. He will do what benefits him and stick with it."
Xue Wei had not spoken with the sword for long, but he had long since understood the character of the sword. It would do almost anything as long as it benefitted itself.
They discussed for a long time about their current predicament, fully aware that their situation was somewhat risky.
They were stuck in a village filled with hostile men and women. Most of them wished for nothing more than to have these two strangers be killed by their nemesis, the sword.
While a few felt guilty and uncomfortable about it, the majority were celebrating because it meant that it would prolong their lifespans.
Xue Wei and Hei Gou finished discussing their course of action after a while, and decided to leave their new chambers to look around. They had already received permission to wander around the village as they pleased, as it seemed impossible for them to escape the hidden realm.
Since this was the case, the two of them decided to stroll through the village to see if there was any way of sneaking out, or if they had to prepare to fight their way out.
It would be ideal if they could escape by sneaking out, but a walk through the village told them that the entire place was walled in behind a very tall palisade, and that only one gate led out of the village.
This gate was under constant watch; the villagers had guards there all day and all night. Although the ones guarding the exit were all easy to overpower for the of them, Xue Wei and Hei Gou were also aware that the rest of the village would rush to the gates the very moment they make a move – and then their situation would be difficult.
It would be less difficult to escape if they were alone, but they had to bring the priestess with them.
"We can fly over the palisades," Hei Gou said with certainty, but Xue Wei shook his head. "I think it is impossible. The formations should have blocked the sky."
Hei Gou frowned. "They can do that?" he asked. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don"t know," he said honestly, "but I could imagine that it is possible. Imagine what would happen if what we went through while coming here happened in the sky? We would be completely incapable of telling what"s up and down, back and forth, and there’s no telling what we’ll end up running into while flying blindly."
Hei Gou"s face turned a little pale at the remark, but he said nothing more and just sighed.
"This is troublesome. First, we were captive in a tribe. Now, we are captive here. Both places had their own agendas, and we are stuck waiting for the opportune moment to run. Will we ever not be on the run?"
Hei Gou seemed to be giving up, but Xue Wei nodded his head. "The reason we are in this situation right now is that we are weak. If we were just a few ranks stronger, then this village would never be able to contain us. If we were Heavenly Warriors, then we could wash the streets with the blood of those who want to sacrifice us to Tianyi."
Hei Gou nodded his head, finding truth in what Xue Wei said. "Right now, we are genuinely weak. We are still mere Warriors, and in fact only a Sky and Earth Warrior, you and I respectively, to boot. Although we can leapfrog levels in terms of combat strength, we are still helpless against the ma.s.ses and some of the real, properly trained Heavenly Warriors."
"Since this is the case, why not spend the next few days focusing on cultivating? We will be able to raise our strength and wash away the shame of being held captive!"
"I like this kid," a voice suddenly sounded in Xue Wei"s head. The latter instantly knew that it was Tianyi.
Startled, Xue Wei looked around, but there were no signs of the sword having appeared by his side. Instead, the sinister laughter rang out in his mind.
"We have made a contract," he reminded the confused young man. "Our souls are connected. Everything you see, I also see. Everything you experience, I also experience."
"Seeing these villagers take pleasure in your misfortune was especially enjoyable. When I see them, they are cowering in fear; their eyes are wide and filled with tears, and they are trembling from head to toe. It is definitely quite a difference seeing them like this," the sword laughed. Xue Wei was only then starting to understand that everything he had seen and experienced had been shared with the sword.
"You did not mention this when we made the contract," Xue Wei pointed out. But the sword casually ignored his words, and changed the subject.
"It seems as if this escape mission is not going to be as easy as I thought," it said. "I have a few suggestions as to what we can do," it continued. Xue Wei sighed, tossed aside the thoughts of Tianyi having deceived him, and listened to the words the sword soul said next.
Xue Wei was in deep thought, pondering the plan that the sword had made. It was risky, but considering their situation, it was likely their only option.
"Let us return to our room," Xue Wei finally said after a bit of thinking. Their plan was risky, and he needed to hear Hei Gou"s opinion on the matter first.
He was willing to let Hei Gou in on their plans, but not the priestess. Although she was on their side, he knew nothing about her, and if she accidentally spilled their ideas, they would be in for a very unpleasant time.
The two returned to their room, where they discussed long into the night. The fact that they could talk together with the sword Tianyi was somewhat fortunate for them, as they got a much better understanding of every member in the village.
"Wait, you know a soul ability?!" Tianyi"s voice hammered in Xue Wei"s mind when he casually mentioned Mind Infestation, and then he started giggling like a little child that had confirmed its belief that Santa existed.
"These experts might be stronger than you," Tianyi said straightforwardly, "but they have all lost a bit of their soul. The older they are, the more of their soul they have lost."
"Although it would be impossible for you to affect someone that much stronger than you in normal circ.u.mstances, these are like chickens waiting to be slaughtered."
"Let us mess up the plan slightly; I have a great idea of what to do!"
The childish mischievousness in Tianyi"s voice caught Xue Wei off guard, but when he heard the plan, the color drained from his face. There were no immature parts in this at all; it was sinister through and through.
Night descended over the village, and every villager started returning to their homes. Xue Wei had been waiting for this time. It was time to start the first part of their plan.
Under the cover of the night, he left the temple and headed towards the gate where ten guards were stationed.
They were all Sky Warriors, with the strongest being a ninth layer Sky Warrior. He was the one in charge of the patrol, and he took his job seriously, always on high alert while observing everything in their surroundings.
Seeing this, Xue Wei snickered. It was precisely as Tianyi had told him.
This ninth layer Sky Warrior was middle-aged, but he seemed weaker than most middle-aged cultivators – as if he was older, somehow. It was clear that the many times his soul had been shaved down had caused him to age prematurely.
Mind Infestation!
Xue Wei was close enough to launch the Mind Infestation martial arts technique. He had expected a bit of struggle from the guard"s mind, but nothing happened. Moments after, he had taken complete control over this man"s body.
His soul was so weak that it couldn’t even notice the mind invasion, and Xue Wei quickly went on to the second stage of the plan.
He quickly caused the mind-controlled man to run amok. He drew his weapon and started swinging it around, his attacks raining down on the other nine guards. The first volley of swings caused his unknowing fellow guards to become severely injured.
Blood splashed onto the palisades. The nine other experts were no match for this man, but instead of making him kill them instantly, Xue Wei made him cause an uproar and waited for more to arrive.
He slowly killed off the guards one after another, making the mind-controlled guard turn to the experts that came to see what was going on.
At the start, he had ordered him to be casual, but as time went on, Xue Wei ordered the man to attack more violently. Eventually, when the village’s stronger experts arrived, he told him to go all out.
"Ke Fang, what are you doing?!" one of the arriving men asked in disbelief. "Why are you slaughtering your own comrades?!"
Just as he asked this, the mind-controlled man turned to the speaker. Instead of answering, he rushed towards him, sword held high in the air before slas.h.i.+ng down, causing ripples to appear.