Evil Mage Cultivation: The Immortal Enslavement Path Chapter 59

Kill everyone.

A goal so simple to understand, yet impossible to imagine.

What did he mean by everyone?

Even the most tyrannical kings in history only eradicated enemy armies, or government officials, or perhaps a group of rebels, or men to prevent an uprising.

But what exactly was everyone?

Luo Lan had killed before. She had fought to take another’s life, and she had fought to protect her own.

These delicate white hands of hers had already been stained with blood. But the number of lives she had taken could be counted on two hands. Every one of them had been in self-defense. She had never gone out of her way to harm others.

She could not imagine what everyone truly meant.

Nor the weight behind it.

Thud.

"What did you mean?"

The ball slipped from her hands and fell to the ground.

Her fingers trembled, shaken by confusion and something else.

Righteousness. Moral.

"Exactly what I just said. I’m going to kill everyone. All the people on the street. That old lady who served us food. The mother and her sick child. The merchant. Hell, even your father too."

The night felt warmer than those words.

"I already killed my entire clan."

Wu Han spoke as if he were stating a simple fact.

But make no mistake, this was not a confession.

A confession meant admitting guilt, and he felt none for what he had done.

It was only a declaration of truth. She had asked, and he had no reason to hide it.

"You... you can’t..." Luo Lan whispered. She was confused and afraid.

She did not involve herself much in the governance of the town, but she knew roughly how many people lived in Azure Peak Town.

Around six million.

A number so large it felt unreal to her. And yet every one of those six million was a living person, with a life of their own.

The mother.

The child.

The merchant.

And countless others.

How vast would the pile of corpses be? How much pain and suffering would it take?

How could someone make six million people die?

She could not imagine it at all. The very thought made her stomach twist in sickness.

"I can. And I will."

Wu Han paused, searching through his memory.

"In a month. When the annual town tournament begins. They will all die. That is a promise."

Luo Lan’s heart seemed to stop. Her head went numb, and her knees nearly gave way beneath her. Her lungs seized, and her stomach twisted as if she were about to vomit the food she had enjoyed not long ago.

Perhaps it was the side effect of her eyes.

She could see everything. Every detail. Every target he had spoken of matched exactly with his intent. There was no joke in his words. No hesitation. The vile purpose he declared was real.

He was going to do it.

And she might be the only one who knew.

The truth hurt more than any lie. It made her feel sick to her core. To think that the man she had looked up to carried such a hideous and evil goal beneath his calm surface. She could not believe it.

No, she wished it were not real.

She was not innocent.

She knew Wu Han had ambition and morals lower than most.

But she had never imagined his goal could sink this far.

She had been wrong.

And she was going to correct it.

"Hm?"

Wu Han raised a faint smile as he watched Luo Lan draw a long, radiant white sword from her storage ring.

"I’m Luo Lan of the Luo clan, protector of Azure Peak Town for thousands of years, and I’m going to stop you!"

A wave of freezing cold burst from her body.

Even after he had drained most of her Qi, she could still draw upon the small amount her body produced in that instant and unleash a martial art of her own.

The world around them slowed, as if time itself were being locked in ice.

The air ground to a halt.

Paths in the sky split. The moon itself seemed to tremble.

Pathing Sky Fallen Moon!

"Yeah, you could do that."

Wu Han stood still, one arm at his side, a faint smile on his face. He looked up at the incoming radiant light and spoke calmly.

"But are you sure?"

BOOM!

The sword struck the ground, missing Wu Han’s body by only a hair’s breadth. Luo Lan gritted her teeth as her energy withered. She had used everything she had just regained, and still, at the last second, she changed her mind.

"What now? You’re going to kill me?" Luo Lan looked at Wu Han.

She now knew his secret and was ready to oppose him. Knowing what kind of man he truly was, she could only foresee one ending for herself.

"If I wanted to do that, I would have done it a long time ago."

Contrary to what she imagined, Wu Han raised his hand and gently patted her head in comfort.

"I know it’s hard to carry the burden that was forced onto you," he said softly.

"But you still have the right to choose."

"Don’t touch me." Luo Lan stepped back, her sword trembling in her hand. Her eyes darted in confusion, unsure of what to do next.

Now what?

She had just spared his life. But why? Why had she done it? He was evil. He had to be stopped.

So why could she not bring herself to strike?

"You must already realize it," Wu Han said as he walked toward her.

There was no fear or hesitation on his face.

Even though she was still stronger than him, even though if she burned away her own life to fight him, she might be able to end him right here and now.

But she would not.

"If you kill me, the cure will be gone forever."

His lips curved into a wide smile.

"If it were the old you, I wouldn’t doubt it. You, as the Luo clan’s puppet, would have killed me even if it cost you everything. But you now, after tasting what it means to live, will not dare take away your only chance to have it forever."

"I... I..."

Her hand trembled. So badly that with a light tap, Wu Han easily knocked the sword from her grip.

His words were true.

This night, though brief, she had finally tasted what others called fun.

"It’s okay to be selfish. It’s fine to be greedy. Why is it a sin if all you want is to be happy?"

Wu Han’s words shook her to the core.

Her entire life had been dull and cold. An endless cycle of training and duty, of fulfilling her purpose while waiting for a premature end.

If it were her old self, dying to "save everyone," she would have done it without hesitation.

But the Luo Lan standing here now...

To throw her life away like that...

She did not want to.

She no longer waited for death.

She wanted to live.

"Other people mean nothing. Do you even know their names? Maybe they are criminals behind closed doors. Rapists. Or even worse. Why do you care so much about strangers just because someone told you to?"

Wu Han stood over her.

His shadow swallowed her figure.

For the first time in her life, Luo Lan felt true fear, the fear of being seen through.

"Because... because it’s the right thing to do!"

She forced the words out, clinging to them as if they were a shield. She searched for the teachings drilled into her since childhood.

The words of her clan. The duty she had carried her whole life.

"For whom!?" Wu Han’s voice thundered.

"There is no right or wrong in this world. There is only the result."

Each word struck like a blade.

"You already spent your whole life trying to make your clan benefit. Tell me, Luo Lan. Are you a human..."

"...or just a cow being driven by someone else’s will?"

Wu Han, in all his long history, did not have many things he hated.

He did not hate because hatred meant there was something you could still struggle against, something that could only be confronted with emotion.

Most physical and magical threats could be dealt with.

They could be crushed, erased, or rewritten.

But the social concepts were different.

They could not be cut down. They could not be burned away.

That was why he became the Dark Lord. That was why he killed everyone.

He wiped the board clean.

"I’m going to kill everyone, and if anyone dares to stop me, they can try. It’s fair game."

His gaze fixed on her, cold and unwavering.

"But don’t you dare stand against me with a reason as small as ’someone told you to.’"

Luo Lan back pressed against the cold ground, her breath shallow and uneven.

When she looked into Wu Han’s eyes, she saw only disappointment and rage, unfiltered and bare.

This was the most honest he had ever been with her.

Wu Han saw her face turn pale and her eyes tremble. He sighed.

"I know this is hard for you. But you are a genius. Don’t let ordinary people like elders or ancient customs shackle you."

"There is no everyone worth protecting. There is only someone... and yourself, the ones you should care for."

He extended his hand toward her.

"If you trust me, I promise you an entire life of freedom."

Behind him, the sky darkened into a pitch-black curtain.

Only two crimson eyes gleamed within the night veil, gazing down upon her.

With a smile that stretched from ear to ear, he asked,

"So tell me. Will you go out with me?"