Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

His first reaction was to turn around so he could face the enemy behind him and attack back; however, to his surprise, he found no one present in that place. It was as if everything was a figment of his imagination.

"Are you looking for me? Here I am." A voice spoke from his side, which made him turn around again, only to get greeted with a fist connecting to his jaw, sending him flying sideways into the tree trunk.

Crash!

The force of the impact shattered the trunk and made Li Xueli spit out a mouthful of blood with broken teeth, while a tooth flew out of his mouth and landed on the ground.

The pain from the injury made him grit his teeth as he spat out, "Fuck you, bastard! Come out! Don't hide behind illusions and fight me like a man!"

He couldn't even comprehend what was happening anymore. How was the person in front of him, whom he thought of as being a mere ant that could be crushed with just a single step, capable of hurting him in this manner? Moreover, he couldn't even locate his enemy, who kept disappearing and reappearing in different places as if he were a phantom.

'Did I underestimate this guy too much?! No, there's no way I can lose to silk pants like him! Even if he has hidden strength, he can't beat me. I'm not some random trash from a lowly clan that he can toy around with! If anything, he has gotten lucky twice and gained some confidence. I'll make sure to slaughter this fucker today!'

Thinking to this point, he jumped back onto his feet and took a defensive stance. However, to his surprise, he felt something grabbing his ankle and pulling him off the ground as if a vine had wrapped around his foot before lifting him high up into the air.

Then, the next thing he knew, he was slammed hard into the ground.

Boom!

A loud bang echoed throughout the forest as dirt and soil splashed everywhere from the impact, followed by an ear-splitting roar of agony escaping from Li Xueli's mouth. Blood trickled down from his mouth as his nose was broken and crooked by the sudden crash.

Before he could even recover from the blow, he felt himself being lifted once more, and he crashed into the earth again. This time, however, he broke his right arm from the sheer force of the collision, causing him to shriek out in agony, but then it happened again...

Boom.

And again...

Boom.

And again...

Boom.

The repeated attacks left Li Xueli unable to scream anymore, as he no longer had the strength to do so. Instead, he let out a painful groan as he coughed up blood nonstop while his vision blurred due to extreme pain and suffering.

However, his torment didn't end there. He found himself hanging upside down with a dark tendril around his ankle, holding him above the ground like a fish caught in a fisherman's net.

As for his attacker, he was standing a few meters away from him, staring at Li Xueli with disdain written all over his face while holding the spear that he dropped earlier in his hand.

"For all your bluster, you are weak as hell. Also, you talk too much. You need to be taught how to shut up!" Asher said as he pointed the spear in his hand towards Li Xueli's chest before continuing, "You are one sick individual. There's no cure for the likes of you, except one... death."

Upon hearing those words, Li Xueli let out a hysterical laugh while coughing up blood. "Hehe... hehehah...HAHAHA! Do you think you can kill me just like this? Dream on! I may have lost to you this time, but that doesn't mean I will be defeated by you in the future!"

"Ohh... look at this. Aren't you a stubborn fool?" Asher commented while shaking his head, and then he continued with an amused expression, "Are you acting strong because of the token in your hand that you can use to get out before I deal the final blow? Is that why you are still smiling and not begging for mercy?"

Li Xueli's expression didn't change much at those words, and he even sneered back at Asher, "What if it is? You think you can take it away from me? Fuck off! Nobody can take this away from me, not even you! You Moth...

Oomph..." Before he could finish his sentence, Asher interrupted him by shoving a thick, dark tendril into his mouth to prevent him from uttering any profanity, which made him struggle against the tendril like crazy.

"Puah... Cough... Cough..." Li Xueli tried to remove the tendril from his mouth, but he couldn't move his arms with them being bound by more tendrils. Therefore, all he could do was glare at Asher, as he felt humiliated beyond words.

"Stop struggling," Asher ordered as he looked at Li Xueli with a sharp glint in his eyes before commenting, "Didn't I tell you already that your mouth is full of filth and is not for talking but for sucking dicks? See, even this thick tendril can go all the way down your throat. I'm sure you are used to things like this, aren't you?"

Feeling his heart burn in anger, Li Xueli couldn't take it anymore and decided to activate his token. However, the moment he broke it, to his utter shock, nothing happened. Instead, the token turned into dust and faded away.

"Haha..." Seeing the bewildered expression on Li Xueli's face, Asher laughed as he explained, "I guess the Astral Nexus Core Orb indeed is perfect. It can even block a particular space and stop all the teleportation from taking place. Though it took quite a bit of time to create a field around you using my spirit essence.

But you were foolish enough to allow me to do that with your constant spewing of nonsense. Hehe... this token of yours is useless now. Now, what are you going to do? Without your token, you can't escape, and you can't fight either."

Asher mocked Li Xueli before removing the tendril from his mouth. However, he didn't give him the chance to speak and swung the spear towards him. The blade cut off his head in one swift motion that had no trace of hesitation.

Li Xueli didn't even have time to react before his head fell to the ground with wide eyes filled with disbelief and terror, followed by his body collapsing to the floor.

A cold smile formed on Asher's lips as he watched the headless corpse of Li Xueli before turning towards the place where the couple died.

There, he saw the remains of the two unfortunate victims. Although he had no connection with them whatsoever, he couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for their tragic fate in the hands of a deranged monster.

"I couldn't do anything for them, but at least I can give them peace."

After speaking, Asher used his dark tendril to dig out two shallow graves near each other. Then he placed their bodies into the holes and covered them with dirt.