Tainted will

The next day.

"Looks like I have finally gotten rid of all their doubts, really tiring." Bai Ming thought as he left internal affairs hall.

For the past hour he was continuously interrogated, But Bai Ming had every thing figured out.

He fabricated the events, saying how he was hunting wolves and saw the help signal, he rushed to help and saw a masked man fighting the old gaurd, Bai Ming also stopped hiding his treasure sword, this showed how he was able to survive longer than the old man and he also said that masked man also used the primeval sword art, the interrogating elders placed much importance to this. Then Bai Ming also spoke of how the masked man made the old gaurd's corpse disappear, the interrogating elders at this time thought of academy exam. The elders quickly connected the dots and came to a conclusion, but they never doubted Bai Ming. But they still continued to ask him questions, sometimes even repeating the same question. But Bai Ming was prepared, he gave short and precise answers.

"Sigh, collecting materials has to stop for now. I should get the second layer mantra from the academy elder. As for those children, they are already tier 1 bone forging realm cultivators now, even if they don't eat or drink for few weeks it's fine they won't die. But i should not stop going out of the village, but visiting the cave has to wait. Even if those children die, it's not a big deal."

.....

2 weeks later.

"Two more weeks and i will be a elemental realm expert, but this progress is still a bit slow." Bai Ming thought as he finished his cultivation session

"It's already been two weeks since the incident, I should go to the cave now. I also have to get a few things before that."

Few hours later, the hidden cave.

Bai Ming walked through the darkness, reaching the underground space. It was still very dark here, but Bai Ming could see clearly.

In his vision there were five children, they were either leaning against the wall or lying down on the ground, the cave was completely silent. These children were kept here for the past two weeks without any food or water. Even though they were no longer mortals but still their cultivation base was too low.

Bai Ming quietly moved towards the group of children, none of the children noticed him. Even if they did, they didn't have any energy to make a sound.

Bai Ming observed that all the children were alive, this made him pleased.

He first took out a wooden torch and lit it, even though Bai Ming had no need for it, but these children had yet to reach 4th layer for them it was pitch dark in here.

At once these inocent creatures felt a ray of hope forming in their hearts, but they still didn't move or make sound, it's more like they couldn't.

Bai Ming strode forward and helped each of children sit up, next he took out a small containers filled with water, he helped them to drink it.

Next Bai Ming took out a corpse of a hell wolf from his storage pouch and placed it in front of the the youths, Bai Ming used his sword to cut open the Wolf's belly, and spoke "EAT"

After drinking large amounts of water, they felt a bit revitalized. But there were still far from their optimum condition, they saw that a Wolf's corpse had appeared before them out of nowhere. Magic, but they couldn't care less. Hunger had already taken over thier logic, they crawled forward with much difficulty and began to devour the Wolf. Mind it the wolf was not cooked, Bai Ming was too lazy to do it.

Bai Ming looked with much interest, he had never seen such a scene before. He chuckled as he watched these children eating like wild beasts. But Bai Ming quickly lost interest in it.

At an appropriate time he moved towards the children, he spoke in a cold tone "Stop eating."

Three of the children were already full from eating, hearing Bai Ming's words they quickly stopped eating as they looked at Bai Ming, these children had varying looks as they looked at Bai Ming. one looked at him with gratefulness, another with curiosity but the third one looked at him with caution.

Bai Ming glanced at these three once before shifting his emotionless eyes at the remaining two children who were still eating. One was a 11 year old short boy another was 13 year old boy, he was the oldest among the group.

A devious smile formed on his face, he directly kicked the short boy's abdomen sending him flying, of course Bai Ming controlled his strength.

The other boy who was eating stopped his actions instantly, he turned to look at Bai Ming.

Bam!

He was also sent flying as he crashed against the wall. The earlier three children were stunned, if they had felt a bit of hope before, it was completely shattered now.

"Lowly ants do you not understand my words" Bai Ming spoke coldly before sneering.

The two of the boys who were sent flying were gasping for breath.

"All of you listen carefully, from today onwards all of you are my slaves. Starting from now your lives no longer belong to you, they belong to me. If I tell you live, you live. If I tell you to die, you die. And if you want me to let you live, you will need to prove yourself. I strongly dislike weaklings, I will give you an opportunity to live, but it will be up to you if you want to live." Bai Ming spoke in a unhurried manner as he glared at all of the children.

"Heartless bastard, I will never be your slave. I would rather die than be your slave." the oldest boy fearlessly shouted.

Bai Ming heard this and laughed maniacally, but at the next moment his killing intent was released fully. He moved towards the boy, slowly.

Feeling the killing intent, the youth felt suffocated. Seeing Bai Ming coming closer to him, an enormous fear began spreading through his heart.

But to his suprise, Bai Ming stopped when he was just a few steps away from him.

Bai Ming looked at youth with a slight grin on his face, he said in carefree tone "hehe, since you want to die.." Bai Ming grabbed the sword on his waist as threw the sword in front of the boy, saying "Go ahead, kill yourself."

Bai Ming watched with his hands behind his back, his face displaying his amusement.

The boy was completely stunned by Bai Ming's actions, he was at a loss. But next he heard Bai Ming speak again "Go ahead kill yourself or do you want me to do it for you?"

Bai Ming's words were like ruthless daggers, which pierced right through the boys heart.

The boy gritted his teeth as he glared at Bai Ming, his eyes showing deep hatred, but Bai Ming still looked at boy with a disdainful smile.

The boy bent forward and picked up the sword, his palms tightly clenched the sword. He next placed the sword near his neck, his eyes were full of unwillingness as he looked at the sword, he shifted his gaze at Bai Ming, he saw Bai Ming's eyes which were filled with amusement, curiosity, excitement and sadistic pleasure.

His heart wavered, his tight grip on the sword loosened. A sick feeling of helplessness assaulted him, from the very core of his being he felt extremely pathetic. He said that he would die rather than submit, but when given the chance, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Why? because he was scared. Scared to disappear, afraid that he would never wake up from this nightmare called death. At the end of the day, Death was truly a terrifying thing.

He dropped the sword, The boy's will completely crumbled.

Bai Ming watched this and perfectly showcased a disappointed look, but he was coldly laughing inwardly. He thought "Even if you wanted to really die, do you really think I would have allowed it? hahaha."

But at this moment, the next words that came out of the eldest boy's mouth shook all of the children's hearts.