In a scene filled with the darkness of night, where the air had once been filled with the sounds of cshing bdes and screams of agony, silence now prevailed. Tristan had unexpectedly managed to slit the mountain bandit's throat in an instant, causing the cold, lifeless body to fall to the ground. His eyes were empty, and his blood mingled with the earth.

  Zhou Yue, Zhou Lan, and the mountain bandit stared at this in shock.

  Zhou Lan thought, "Is this a miracle? Did that child really manage to kill that human demon?"

  Tristan nded gracefully and looked at them with his usual emotionless face.

  "What? What the hell? Was this kid a Martial Artist too? Damn it!" the bandit said.

  Tristan turned towards him and began to approach.

  "Stop right there, you bastard! Take one more step, and the old man here dies!" the bandit shouted at Tristan, pointing his club at Zhou Lan's head.

  Yue trembled in fear at this and looked at Tristan.

  "Don't worry about me, kids. Just run away!" Zhou Lan said in a trembling, weak voice due to his debilitated state.

  Tristan gnced briefly at Zhou Lan, then turned his face to the bandit and said, "So what?"

  "What? Are you not listening to me? I said I'll kill the old man!" the bandit, initially confused, shouted with anger in his voice.

  "And what's that to me?"

  Tristan, channeling his essence through his body and circuting his energy through his muscles, while concentrating his strength in his legs, advanced towards the bandit.

  Realizing that his hostage was useless, the bandit assumed a fighting stance.

  "You crazy bastard!" the bandit shouted.

  A slight smile appeared on Tristan's face, his eyes bck as the night, usually cold and empty, now shining with a certain emotion, a fme of enthusiasm flickering in his small eyes.

  "Don't worry, you'll be visiting your friend in hell soon enough!"

  Tristan thought, 'This will be the third time I've killed a human. Strangely, I don't feel any discomfort. Killing other humans should bring about some negative feelings, right?'

  But what lingered in Tristan's heart was just a faint feeling of:

  'Amusement? Is this fun?'

  Tristan was surprised by this, he didn't have many things in his life that made him feel any positive emotion.

  But he decided to suppress his emotions and focus on the fight that was about to happen.

  Tristan quickly approached his enemy. The bandit tried to strike Tristan's head, but he ducked. The bandit then stepped back, adjusting his club to smash Tristan's head from above.

  Tristan dodged without much difficulty.

  "He has the advantage of reach, while I'm faster and more agile. I need to get closer!"

  But the bandit, fearing Tristan's ability, kept a safe distance.

  "Impossible! How can a child fight adults like this? You cultivators are freaks of nature. You shouldn't exist, damn you!"

  Driven by hatred and fury, the bandit gripped his club tighter and tried to hit Tristan with everything he had.

  Using his enhanced vision, Tristan predicted his enemy's movements, dodging all his attacks.

  "Again? Don't you realize it's useless? Why don't you just give up already? I hate wasting time. I'll give you a quick death if you do, but otherwise, I swear you'll suffer."

  Yue watched this in awe. Tristan was very fast, and with his strange bck bde, he was really managing to make the bandit retreat.

  "Dusk is a Darkness Cultivator too? How can he fight that bandit alone? His core is only red?" Various thoughts raced through Yue's mind, but the main one was how they could resolve their situation.

  Yue ran towards her fallen and bleeding grandfather.

  "Grandpa! Are you okay?" she asked nervously.

  "Ugh…" he groaned a bit and struggled to stand up.

  "Don't… worry about me," Lan replied.

  They watched Tristan's battle against the bandit.

  After repeated failures to close the distance with the mountain bandit, Tristan turned his face with his night-vision eyes. He briefly surveyed the battlefield and saw the moment Liao fled, leaving Jian alone to face the bandits.

  'This is problematic. They'll soon kill Jian, and facing a group of enemies without my arms is beyond impossible. I need to end this now and get out of here!'

  Tristan clicked his tongue.

  He made another attempt to get closer; the bandit stepped back again, aiming for Tristan's right shoulder. But this time, surprisingly, it looked like he might succeed.

  Tristan stood still. He simply raised his bandaged arms and took the blow.

  Pain!

  He felt intense pain.

  His arms could break.

  Well, they probably would have, if Darkness cultivation didn't make his body more flexible. This gave him considerable resistance to impacts.

  His enemy's eyes widened in surprise, and a smile appeared on his face, believing victory was his.

  Enduring the pain from the blow and wasting no time, Tristan's leg moved like a snake. He took advantage of his enemy's brief moment of joy and the close distance between them, and he advanced with everything he had.

  The bck bde on his leg pierced through his enemy's thigh with little difficulty.

  "GRAAHH!" the bandit let out a scream.

  Tristan moved his leg upward, tearing up to near the abdomen.

  With the shock of such intense pain, the bandit dropped his club and fell to the ground in agony.

  "You bastard! Damn, kid… I curse you!" the bandit, trembling in pain, tried to say.

  "Curse me all you want."

  Tristan smiled and kicked his enemy's throat again to keep him from making too much noise and drawing the attention of his friends.

  His enemy fell to the ground with his throat sshed, casting a piercing gaze at Tristan before dying.

  After looking at the bandit's corpse on the ground.

  Tristan thought to himself:

  'I could escape now while Jian is keeping the bandits occupied. But there's a chance they might come after me ter.'

  'Or I could try to reduce their numbers further. That's the more dangerous option.'

  'What should I do?'