Cultivation Through Artifacts

The words spoken were cold and indifferent, carrying not the slightest trace of emotion a human could possibly have.

"You are?" Edwin squinted his eyes when he saw the young man standing behind him and his men, trying to recognize his face and match it with the ones in his mind.

However, not even a second later, a gentle gasp appeared from the mansion's direction, attracting Edwin's gaze almost immediately, and watch as the previously arrogant and cocky Liza now was on her knees, her trembling hands covering her mouth as tears flew out the corner of her eyes.

"SCHRIIIEEEKKK!!!"

A loud and almost ear-piercing cry pierced the air a second later, and everyone, including Edwin, watched with dumbfounded faces as the crimson bird on Liza's shoulder widened her wings in a majestic manner and with a single but powerful flap appeared right before the young boy.

'Haha! It seems that stupid bird didn't favor his face and now it wishes to kill him, how unfortunate.' Edwin laughed with joy in his heart as he already imagined the sight that will take place before him. However, soon his expression froze, and watched stupefied as the crimson bird landed on the young boy's hand and caressed herself against his face! 

'The fuck?' Edwin looked at the young boy in silence before a sudden thought flashed in his mind and his eyes widened.

"IT'S YOU!!!"

Khal, who was enjoying the softness and warm sensation on his face showed a sarcastic smile and said, "Took you long enough to realize it."

"Boss, who is that brat?" a man with a muscular build and bronze-like skin asked from Edwin's side, seemingly confused by the sudden change of events.

"Idiot! It is him! Khal Nevio, the one that killed our family's heir!" Edwin said with anger and even smacked the guy on the back of his head even though being several years older than him.

The people around felt shocked when they heard Edwin's words, but following their shock, almost all of them turned toward Khal and stared at him with threatening and bloodshot eyes; it was like they wished to skin him alive and feed his bones to their dog!

"Haha! To think I can hit two birds with one stone! This is truly the best day of my life!" Edwin laughed loudly almost like he just heard a funny joke, and pointed at Khal, "Go and get him. Dead or alive, I will bring his body back with him!"

Immidieatly as Edwin's voice fell, everyone around him roared toward the sky with excitement and with raised weapons began to run toward Khal like hungry beasts wishing to shred their prey into numerous pieces.

"Schriiek!" 

Rubie wailed loudly when she saw the crowd of cultivators running toward them and was ready to engage in a blood-filled battle, but to her great surprise, a gentle palm stopped her just before she could have leaped into the air.

"It's okay. You don't have to do anything." Khal petted Rubie with a calm gaze and showed a cold smile, "It will be over in a second."

"Do you really think you have the power to beat hundreds of cultivators on the Eighth Cultivation Stage and a handful that already reached the Ninth Stage?" Edwin scoffed at Khal's seemingly bold statement and was ready to laugh, but shockingly he didn't even have the chance when a cold voice abruptly appeared from behind him.

"I don't think it. I know it."

"?!" Edwin's pupils shrunk to the size of a needle when he heard Khal's voice from behind his back and watched as all hell broke loose at the very same instant right before his very eyes.

BOOOOM!

TREMBLE!

With the sound of thunder that shook the entire landscape in a mile radius, the earth shattered and broke into hundreds of fragments, while the small army of man that previously approached Khal with bloodlust now fell to the ground in numerous pieces!

The beautiful Eden-like scenery turned into the land of literal hell, painting the formerly green environment into the color of deep crimson that was filled with nothing but the sight of split organs, shattered bones, and the putrid smell of iron!

Just under a single second, the previously loud surroundings quietened down to total silence, to the point where even a fly's buzz could be heard as clearly as thunder!

"W-W-What... Impossible! T-This must be some kind of bad dream!" at this moment Edwin's face has lost all colors from the sheer fear he was currently feeling, his eyes and body trembling as though he just saw a ghost.

"A bad dream?" Khal who stood behind Edwin shook his head gently and with a cold chuckle that at the moment sounded akin to the laugh of the devil, he placed the edge of his Moonshadow's blade before Edwin's throat and said, "No, this is way worse than that... A nightmare!"

And without even waiting for Edwin's response, Khal moved his wrist, immediately cutting Edwin's body into hundreds of pieces without even giving him the chance to scream up!

"Tsk... Great, some of his blood fell on my robe. I need to wash it later." Khal clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched some of Edwin's blood falling on his silver robe and staining it, but quickly shook his head and turned around to see how Liza was doing.

However, just before he could have turned around completely, suddenly watched as a petite figure emerged right before him, and even before he would have had the chance to react, a soft sensation appeared right on his lips!

"?!"

Feeling as Liza hugged him tightly and kissed him gently, Khal was first at a loss for words, but soon his mind turned blank and instinctively decided to enjoy the moment and savor every second of it.

Time passed slowly, extremely slowly, especially in the eyes of the two, and what felt like just mere seconds for others happened to feel like minutes for Khal instead. However, as things always come to an end, this seemingly heavenly moment came to an end too with Liza pulling her face away and staring deeply into Khal's eyes, almost as if she wished to get lost in his gaze, never again wishing to see him going away.

No words were said, only silence was between the two. However, it was obviously unnecessary to say even a single word as even like this, both of them knew perfectly well what the other one thought.

"You two really got cozy with each other while I was away, huh?" as Khal and Liza enjoyed their moments with each other, suddenly a gentle voice appeared from the side, attracting both of their gazes from each other in an instant.

"Miss Mary!" Khal's eyes lit up like candles under the night sky when he saw Miss Mary's smiling figure approaching them, thus without hesitation appeared before her and hugged her tightly.

"Haha! Not so strong, you will break me. Haha!" Miss Mary let out a surprised chuckle, but still let Khal hug him however he wanted and she too hugged him back, small drops of tears already flowing down her cheeks; it seemed the weight that pressed down on her heart until this very moment finally fell down.

"Welcome back."