Shen Junyuan always remembers that winter.

The north wind is fierce, and the mountains are covered with heavy snow.

The group walked slowly through the mountains, most of them thin and weak, and their steps were also weak.

They were originally remnants of Zhongzhou, but they moved south because they had taken refuge.

The migration was long and arduous, and half of the forty or fifty people, old and young, women and children. Originally, there were a few middle-aged men accompanying him, but he left quietly on a snowy night because he couldn't bear the drag.

On that day, the tired and tired people finally found a hidden cave where they could temporarily carry the snow through the night. There were still a few white tiger cubs in the cave that had just grown fine hair.

Without a moment's hesitation, the people immediately swung their knives and slaughtered the cubs. They lit fires, looked ecstatic, and devoured the long-lost soup, unaware that a crisis had quietly descended.

When they heard the terrible roar of the white tiger coming from the entrance of the cave, no one dared to step forward. The crowd huddled together, and everyone tried to squeeze towards the middle, hoping that the outer layer would act as a meat shield to give themselves a chance to escape.

In the night, a fierce tiger lay on the rocks at the entrance of the cave, the tiger's eyes were like golden bells, claws were like steel hooks, the whole body was like snow, and the breath was vigorous.

Shen Junyuan held his mother and brother's hands tightly, but the next moment his hand was knocked away.

"Mother!"

Seeing that his mother had been squeezed to the outermost layer, and the white tiger had jumped through the air, with sharp teeth in his huge bloody mouth, biting towards the crowd.

Shen Junyuan didn't know where he got the courage, snatched the waist knife of the middle-aged man beside him, and slashed at the white tiger.

However, as soon as the knife touched the tiger's fur, a "Zheng-" sound was heard, like a rock striking each other.

This knife failed to hurt the white tiger, but it angered it. The white tiger raised its claws and slapped towards Shen Junyuan.

Shen Junyuan staggered back, his body instinctively wanted to avoid it, but when he thought of his mother behind him, all his fears disappeared.

His lips trembled slightly, and he said in a very low and slow voice: "Kill, kill, kill......"

The sky was spinning in his mind, and the blood of the white tiger fell into his eyes, and the heavens and the earth seemed to be full of blood.

At this time, Shen Junyuan even forgot that he could not use a knife, he just followed his instinct, held the handle of the knife tightly with both hands, and slashed towards the white tiger.

The sword light reflects the snow, and the wind is fierce. Shen Junyuan stared at the blood-light blade, his mind slowly moving with the blade, and everything around him was left behind.

I can't remember how many knives he cut, and he doesn't know how many scars have fallen on his body, Shen Junyuan seems to have suddenly inspired the wild beast, and he only fights the white tiger with instinct.

Kill it, kill it...... Shen Junyuan seemed to have only one thought left, and the next moment, he felt that all the strength in his body had been drawn into the sword, and his arm trembled and he could barely hold the sword.

The moment the white tiger fell to the ground, Shen Junyuan pursed his lips and walked towards the crowd hugging him, his eyes were blood-red, and there was a murderous aura in his eyes, which made people dare not look directly.

Shen Junyuan's body still had the dirty blood and flesh of the white tiger, and the whole person seemed to have been soaked in a pool of blood. He looked up and tried to hold his mother, but he saw the other party's look of fear and broke free from his hand.

It was late at night.

Shen Junyuan was woken up by pain. He was just about to open his eyes, but he heard a series of voices not far away, very low, but he could still hear them very clearly in this empty mountain field.

"Didn't you see that the child's eyes were red......

"Ouch scared me to death, now it's just killing tigers, it's not going to kill people in the future!"

"The little lady of the Shen family is pitiful enough, the orphans and widows are still a bad star, if this is me, I can't even sleep peacefully...... At the age of nine, he dared to use a knife, and this will be ...... Hey......"

Shen Junyuan didn't dare to open his eyes, as if he had a knife hanging in his heart, scraping it again and again, and it hurt coldly.

The snow stopped.

Shen Junyuan was not left behind in the end, but continued to migrate south with everyone.

But he could perceive that it was different.

His mother was afraid of him, and the villagers were afraid of him. Even the younger brother will shrink his body when facing him.

I walked like this for more than ten days.

It's still snowy and mountainous, and it's still a crowd of people shrunk together, but this time people are no longer facing a fierce beast, but a person.

The man's whole body was covered under a black robe, his face was as white as paper, and his facial features seemed to be painted on it, without a trace of life, and it was terrible. In his hand, he held an ancient wooden cane cane, and a black snake was wrapped around the cane.

The man's gaze slowly streamed over the faces of the people, and he seemed to like to see the frightened faces of the people. However, when his eyes fell on the lone child standing in the crowd, the man in black couldn't help but evoke a hint of interesting laughter.

Shen Junyuan's eyes were lonely and quiet.

There was a faint demonic nature in this child's eyes.

The man in black slowly walked to Shen Junyuan's side, and his voice was as low as a stone mill: "When I am my apprentice, I will let them go, how about it?" ”

Shen Junyuan's body trembled, and he almost subconsciously looked at the villagers.

"Poof." People fell to their knees one after another, muttering and pleading: "Thank you to the immortals for sparing your life, thank you to the immortals for sparing your life!" ”

Shen Junyuan looked at everyone in disbelief, but his mother never looked at him.

*********

Jackdaws in the mountains.

Shen Junyuan clenched the sharp knife, looked at the ewe kneeling in the courtyard, and the lamb on its side that had not even fully opened its eyes, and did not move for a long time.

"Kill." Behind him, the master's usual cold and hard voice came from behind, Shen Junyuan tightened his knife and walked forward.

The sharp knife sank into the ewe's body, and the ewe let out a terrible cry. It rolled over with all its might, hiding the lamb under its belly, its large, clear eyes full of pleading.

Shen Junyuan's usually calm hand suddenly trembled. He threw away the knife and fell to his knees, kowtowing in silence.

"I'll let you kill!" Master's angry voice sounded in his ears, and Shen Junyuan's hand was held by a pair of thick hands. The ewe, which had only a glimmer of life in front of her, wailed and was kicked away, revealing the lamb curled up on the ground.

"No, don't-" Shen Junyuan tried to retreat, but then his hands were tightly clamped by the master and stabbed towards the lamb.

The sharp knife sank deep into the lamb's body, and when it was withdrawn, it brought out a piece of meat.

"Eat it!"

Shen Junyuan's eyes widened, his lips pursed tightly, and he gasped rapidly.

"Eat!"

A thick hand grabbed Shen Junyuan's chin and broke it hard, and the next moment, the piece of mutton with the smell of blood and fishy smell fell into Shen Junyuan's mouth.

Seeing that the parents and children were slaughtered, the ewe seemed to be crazy, Huo Ran jumped up, and her hooves stepped on Shen Junyuan's chest.

"Uh-" Shen Junyuan snorted, but saw that the master's hand had fallen with a knife and had already cut off the head of the ewe.

"If you kill without beheading, there will be endless troubles."

Shen Junyuan looked at the sheep in a miserable state in a daze, and the whole person seemed to have lost his life, only his chest rose and fell slightly.

His chin was clamped by the master, and the whole person was like facing the hell of Shura.

The heavy rain suddenly poured down, and the mountain waves rushed and rushed down, shaking like thunder.

"If you hate me, come and kill me. We demon cultivators never care about the gifts of master and apprentice. I took you as an apprentice, but I just wanted to hang a sharp knife at my side, and remind myself from time to time not to be relieved. ”

**********

At this time, the distant sun has fainted, the ravines are illuminated by twilight, and the birds are bright and extinguished.

Shen Junyuan stood on the top of the hill and looked at the village not far away.

The village is not large, with only about 20 families. These are all refugees who fled from Zhongzhou five years ago.

"Today is the day of your graduation, I want you to slaughter all the people in the village with your own hands, and from then on completely cut off the dust and enter the path of cultivation."

Shen Junyuan lowered his eyebrows and bowed his head, and said lightly: "Yes." ”

The man in black turned to leave, leaving a sentence before leaving: "This is the first time you have killed someone, and I will only wait for you for three days." ”

Seeing that the man in black was walking away, Shen Junyuan gathered his sleeves, and there was a three-turn spirit weapon hidden in his sleeve, named Moon Shadow, which was a sharp weapon he used to slaughter mountain beasts.

Shen Junyuan quietly walked into the village.

There is a farmhouse just around the corner. A circle of bamboo fences encloses the house, and thick cypress trees shade the vegetable beds. Next to the low stone steps at the entrance, calamus and barnyard grass are leaning together, and a few chickens are pecking at rice grains.

A woman is holding a bamboo dustpan with a light smile on her face.

But Shen Junyuan was stunned, he opened his mouth to exhale, but his voice seemed to be suffocated in his throat.

He never imagined that the person Master asked him to kill was the refugees who had migrated with him many years ago.

At this moment, the woman happened to turn her face, and when she saw Shen Junyuan, her whole person was like falling into an ice cave.

"Y-you-"

Shen Junyuan's lips squirmed, and he wanted to call his mother, but he heard the woman's miserable scream, and suddenly pushed open the bamboo fence and ran towards the village.

"The demon's apprentice is here...... I'm here to collect the debt......"

Shen Junyuan's face turned pale all of a sudden.

This time, the villagers were still in a group, but they were no longer as panicked as they were at the beginning.

There was a man standing in front of them, and Shen Junyuan recognized it as his younger brother.

I saw that his younger brother was wearing a white diagonal robe and a blue open coat, holding a small sword shaped like a green bamboo in his hand.

"Don't panic, everyone, I have the green bamboo sword given by my master, and I will definitely be able to kill that demon."

Shen Juntian is as calm as a mountain, he has long heard that his brother has entered the demon path, since the master gave him the sword, he has thought about cutting off his brother's head himself.

Many pairs of eyes looked at Shen Junyuan, all of them were strange and hateful eyes.

At that moment, Shen Junyuan's heart shook like a drum, and it was a panic that he had never had when facing the siege of the beasts.

Urging the fire in his body, Shen Junyuan relied on his "golden cicada clothes" to hide his body and fled outside the village.

Three days have passed.

Shen Junyuan's eyes wept blood, kneeling in front of his master, the firmness in his eyes was like the lingering snow on the top of the mountain.

"Kill me, I don't want to kill."

"Huh." The man in black sneered and swung his sword violently, only to see a cold and formidable light suddenly emanating from the sword body. His sword danced faster and faster, and the black qi stored in the sword became more and more intense, and there seemed to be only that blood-colored light left between heaven and earth.

The long sword split the golden cicada clothes on Shen Junyuan's body, and the huge shock also attracted the villagers who had been searching for Shen Junyuan's traces.

"You don't want to kill, but others want to kill you. I'm here to see how you died. ”

Shen Junyuan clenched the sword in his sleeve.

When he killed the tiger to save the villagers, no one ever asked him if he wanted to kill him.

When he killed the mother and son of the sheep, no one ever asked him if you wanted to kill him.

He didn't want to kill, but he had to.

He didn't want to kill, but he was forced to kill.

From the day his hands were stained with blood and he embarked on the path of demon cultivation, Shen Junyuan knew that he couldn't go back.

In this world, no one is born a demon, but if you become a demon, you can only be a person.

At this moment, the hatred that had been suppressed for many years finally erupted suddenly when Shen Juntian swung his sword at him.

***************

When Shen Junyuan was suddenly, the figure in front of him was like a ripple in the water, the shadow of the pool was rippling, and the shadow of the wave was extinguished.

All the things in the past life have long been old dreams.

Shen Junyuan and Jiang Yunqi looked at each other, and in an instant, the stars of Tianhe seemed to pass through the heavy night and cast them into the depths of Shen Junyuan's eyes.

Shen Junyuan slowly pulled away the sword that was pressing on Jiang Yunqi's neck, his lips opened lightly, and his voice was like a wind and snow breaking through the sky, solemn and cold:

"If you don't want to kill, don't force yourself to kill it."

"Don't wait until everyone wants to kill you."

Jiang Yunqi was a little stunned, he slowly touched his neck, where there was still a slight coldness of the short sword in Shen Junyuan's sleeve.

He raised his head, only to find that Shen Junyuan had disappeared into the bamboo forest, and a low groan spread out in the empty woods, like a sigh scattered in the wind.

"Those days...... It's so tiring. ”。