SWNOVELXO Chapter 11: His First Kill Wasn’t Enough
The cold forest was still, save for the rustling of branches under the setting sun. Kai Lin stepped forward, dragging a bloodstained saber across the forest floor. Behind him, a disciple's corpse lay twisted, neck snapped with unnatural precision.
There was no fear in Kai Lin's eyes. No guilt. Only silence.
He looked down at the trembling figure before him — a fellow outer sect disciple, groveling, begging.
"Y-you don't have to kill me… We were just following orders! It was Senior Brother Jian! I didn't want to—"
Kai Lin raised the saber. "I did."
A clean strike. No wasted movement. The boy's head rolled aside, mouth frozen mid-plea.
Ding—
[Silent Sign-In Triggered]
Location: Whispering Birch Grove
Duration of Silence: 4 hours, 13 minutes
Reward: [Qi Compression Pellet ×1]
+1 Inner Silence Point
The system's calm voice echoed in his mind. But Kai Lin barely acknowledged it. His mind was on something else — the strange stillness in his chest. No pulse quickened. No emotion stirred.
He wiped the blade on the dead boy's robes and turned toward the narrow path ahead.
Behind him, corpses lay where arrogance once stood.
Further up the trail, a pair of disciples whispered urgently.
"You heard that scream?"
"Yeah. The idiot from Elder Zhang's group. He probably tried to ambush the cripple again—"
The shrubs parted.
Kai Lin stepped into the clearing.
The two froze.
One of them smirked nervously. "Kai Lin, we didn't mean any trouble. Just patrolling the sect's borders. You know how it is."
He stepped forward with a rehearsed smile.
Kai Lin didn't answer. He didn't smile. He didn't warn.
He vanished.
The disciple didn't have time to blink before Kai Lin reappeared behind him, blade piercing through his ribs.
The other turned to flee, but his ankle twisted. He stumbled, fell—
Kai Lin descended like shadow and steel.
There was no need for mercy. These were the same disciples who, not long ago, had tried to cripple him permanently to take his manual slot.
He didn't forget.
He didn't forgive.
Hours later, he returned to the outer sect courtyard — robes tattered, aura heavy with killing intent.
Elder Xuan, seated in silence near the gate, raised a brow as Kai Lin passed.
"You've changed," he said quietly. "The others are noticing."
Kai Lin didn't stop walking. "Then let them."