#tesvm

Hereby I bring you the newest chapter of Ruthlessness is Mercy! Please enjoy!

With the corpse of the Three Jawed Cave Bear cooling at his feet, a neat gash cut into its belly, Shen Yuan's fingers curled around the fan until his knuckles creaked. Anger flared white hot inside his chest, as his fingers turned the same colour as the jade.

He'd used the thing as a trinket for years, without even suspecting what a priceless cultivation tool it was. Worse was the thought of who had given it to him. Jealous, selfish Shen Qingqiu, who in PIDW envied a poor boy his dead mother and decided to torment him because he'd once been loved. That very man had given him such a precious artefact. Worst of all was how thoughtful a gift it was.

And Shen Yuan had never even realized.

“I trust Binghe completely. You absolutely can do it. There really isn't any doubt—“ Before Shen Yuan could finish his sentence, his eyes suddenly fell shut, face going lax followed by his body crumbling like a puppet without strings.

Luo Binghe just managed to catch his limp frame before it hit the ground. Panic mounted inside him, as he shook his da-shixiong's shoulders but all Shen Yuan did in response was loll his head around and mumble something incoherent.

“Da-shixiong!” Luo Binghe called out to him repeatedly, but he would not rouse.

“I'm not worried about that,” Shen Yuan assured as he bestowed Luo Binghe's curls with gentle pats. “This shixiong is already very proud of Binghe.” Shen Yuan was ready to keep it at that but Luo Binghe of course caught that he had avoided the actual question.

“What then is Da-shixiong worried about?” Shen Yuan retracted his arm, reaching for the dark wood fan in his sleeve and bit his lip. Luo Binghe was like a dog with a bone in situations like this but Shen Yuan couldn't actually tell him the truth.

“If someone you cared about is faced with an opportunity for growth but you know that it'll come with great hardship, should you try and deny them that opportunity?” There, vague enough even for the system, that or Shen Yuan had been successful in his muting spree.

A furrow appeared in between the strong lines of Luo Binghe's brows right over where soon his demon mark would emerge once his cradle seal broke. “I believe that depends on the severity of harm and the potential for growth but, generally, codling will only lead to more harm in the end.”

Cang Qiong Mountain was dealing with the fall out from the Immortal Alliance Conference.

Not well mind you.

Shen Yuan made another attempt to get up and stumble his way over to Luo Binghe who was writhing around on the ground clutching his head as demonic energy kept pulsing off of him in choking clouds.

Still, Shen Yuan braved the energy and crouched down next to Luo Binghe, fearfully calling out to him. Blood was pouring out of Luo Binghe's five orifices and the fingers digging into his hair had grown dark claws. Shen Yuan's hands shook, heart aching at the sight before him, as he reached out to stop those claws from inflicting more damage unto Luo Binghe's already mangled body.

He carefully freed Luo Binghe's fingers from his tangled hair, gently pressed his hands against Luo Binghe's temples and began to push his own spiritual energy through the contact to counteract the billowing demonic energy.

It's once again time for a new chapter of Ruthlessness is Mercy! Have fun reading and do keep your eyes peeled for a one shot on account of mermay starting (that I was writing yesterday instead of editing chapter 6). It should be up sometime soonish!

Dread started to settle in as Shen Yuan neared the bamboo house, not sure what he should expect but knowing to better anticipate the worst. Shen Yuan took a deep breath before he opened the door. He found Shen Qingqiu at his table, already going through paperwork from the looks of it.

His master raised his head as he heard him enter, and Shen Yuan startled at the sight of his face. The man had cleaned himself up, hair once again neat and wearing a fresh set of robes. Though he had missed a singular dot high on his cheek, the blood an angry red against his pale chin.

“Greeting Shizun, this one has brought you a meal and medicine as per Mu-shishu's instructions.” Shen Qingqiu didn't so much as blink as Shen Yuan placed the tray down at the edge of the desk, careful not to place it on any of the documents.

Shen Yuan would have been all too happy to just leave the man be but Shen Qingqiu was still staring at him with eyes like a tiger’s assessing its prey, not inclined to dismiss him.

“Do you believe I killed him?” The question shattered the silence with the same amount of devastation as a boulder crashing through a field of rice. Shen Yuan found himself frozen in place. What was he even supposed to answer here? If he said no too quickly Shen Qingqiu would think he was lying, and he couldn't just say yes either!

The report they had gotten had come with a list of victims and the information about their next of kin for further interviews about the time before the victims death to uncover any similarities between them. There was one address on the list that Shen Yuan could not possibly subject any of his shidimeimen to.

Shen Yuan felt a little bit awkward once he'd reached the correct street, he was not used to walking down it in broad daylight. Not that he was used to it in general! He hadn't been here that often, and he certainly hadn't entered any of the brightly lit establishments lining the street before!

But now there wasn't any choice really, Shen Yuan thought morosely, as he opened up the door to the first victim’s workplace. Thanks to the early afternoon hour, the place was relatively empty, though Shen Yuan noted that, still, there were some patrons already seated at the tables around the main room, watching the guqin performance of a beautiful woman with rapt attention.

Having now, for the first time in his life, set foot into such an establishment, Shen Yuan slowly came to the realization that he was thoroughly out of his depth. He didn't know where to look! Staring at the women bustling around would be rude even though clearly they were aiming to be stared at with how much of their bosoms were on display. Staring at the men in attendance would certainly inspire their ire, no one liked to be gawked at when they were trying to get some discreet adult entertainment.

So, Shen Yuan ended up staring at his own feet, unsure of how to proceed and hoping that either a solution came his way sometime soon, or the gods decided to strike him with lightning. This certainly felt like some kind of heavenly tribulation, so he was honestly placing his hopes on the latter.

At last, Shen Yuan was saved– if one wanted to call it that— from his fate of gradually calcifying into a statue from sheer awkwardness by a buxom maiden that would have counted amongst the great beauties of the century if she wore just slightly less makeup and was maybe two decades younger.

“Oh, what a pleasant sight! For such a handsome gongzi to have found his way into our humble establishment!” She trilled a bright laugh, hiding it behind a delicately raised hand, before those same fingers attached themselves to Shen Yuan's upper arm.

It was all Shen Yuan could do not to jerk back from the sudden contact, so he actually stumbled along for a few steps while the woman tittered on. “I'm sure it won't be difficult to find one of our girls to play with you.” She gave him a coy wink.

Shen Yuan could feel the skin of his face bursting into flames, and he finally found enough wherewithal to dig in his heels, grinding them both to an abrupt stop. “This humble one is sorry to disappoint Madam but I'm not looking for company. I'm a disciple from Cang Qiong Mountain here to—“

His stiff speech was interrupted by a shrill sound of excitement. “Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. You should have said so right from the start. Come, come right this way.”

Instead of relenting, if anything the woman had become even more enthusiastic in her attempt to haul Shen Yuan along. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Shen Yuan gave up on mounting any further resistance, laying his fate reluctantly into her well manicured hands.

Surprisingly, she kept chattering on, while leading him out of the main hall down a smaller corridor. “Oh, we were so relieved, you can't imagine! Frankly, this isn't the first time one of my girls got killed, it's just that rarely anyone cares enough to get our input at all, much less be polite about it, so really it's a great blessing for us this time around. It's good to be able to trust that the problem will be handled by someone willing to listen.”

Shen Yuan had to admit that her lung capacity was remarkable. She probably had been very popular for her singing voice in her prime, it was still very melodious even now that it had dropped with age.

She paused, to turn around a corner and knock against an unassuming looking door. After waiting for the muffled invitation to enter she threw the door open with a wide grin.

Yue Qingyuan hadn't felt this kind of restless apprehension in years. Not ever since he had been a freshly minted disciple, had still held out hope in his heart that he could be the hero who saved the day.

It had all happened so fast. One moment everyone had been in good spirits watching their respective disciples' progress through the observation arrays, and the next all hell had broken loose, the arrays had shattered, and they had lost all contact with the disciples inside the barrier.