Whoever Takes the Role Will Do

Ye Chuan withdrew the mental energy he had projected into his sea of consciousness.

He stood where he was, looking at the blank, numb shells before him—people who didn't even know they were human. He remained silent for a long time.

In truth, Ye Chuan had seen plenty of life and death on the Tianxuan Continent.

For instance, using his Human Emperor Banner to collect a few friends for a catch-up was practically no burden to him.

Even for those with low cultivation, when taking them in, Ye Chuan would just casually remark that they were merely low-level spirits who barely added any stats.

But looking at these lives that had been stripped of everything human since birth, leaving behind only empty shells, a strange feeling still welled up in his heart.

The feeling was complex; even Ye Chuan couldn't quite put it into words.

Killing them might actually be a release for these people.

They would no longer have to endure day after day of numbing labor, nor face arbitrary beatings and slaughter.

They wouldn't be treated as breeding tools or expendable livestock anymore, finally breaking free from this endless hell once and for all.

Ye Chuan raised his hand. With just a single thought, the thousands of walking corpses before him would instantly and painlessly turn to ash, allowing even their souls to find complete peace.

But in the end, he slowly lowered his hand.

Sighing, Ye Chuan shook his head.

But being alive was still being alive.

Forget it.

Ye Chuan muttered to himself. With a casual wave of his hand, the black and gold World Suppressing Banner floated above his head.

He raised his hand and gently waved it at the crowd before him.

Countless pale white specks of light slowly drifted out from the numb human shells, flying toward the World Suppressing Banner like fireflies on a summer night.

These specks of light were their fragmented souls, long battered and broken by torment.

The process of extracting their souls was so gentle that there was no pain at all.

It was also Ye Chuan's first time using the soul banner with such tenderness.

The people who had been standing blankly slowly collapsed to the ground. There was no trace of agony on their faces; instead, it looked as if they had fallen into a peaceful slumber.

Meanwhile, the fragmented souls that drifted into the World Suppressing Banner were instantly enveloped by its nourishing arrays.

With a mere thought from Ye Chuan, an independent void space devoid of pain and suffering was opened up within the banner.

Here, these broken souls finally ceased their endless toil and found a moment of peace.

Lord Xi Xi?

Kalisia watched the humans falling in droves, her heart clenching. She quickly ran to Ye Chuan's side, a trace of panic in her voice. Did... did you kill them all?

It wasn't that she thought Ye Chuan was wrong, but seeing these poor people, she still couldn't bear it.

These bodies have already been ruined by the demons. Keeping them around only means enduring more pain. It's better to let their souls rest for now, Ye Chuan didn't explain too much. Once I slay that Demon King, I'll naturally have a way to find a safe place for them, letting them live once again.

Ye Chuan already possessed the ability to control life and death.

As long as their souls remained, he could give these people another chance to live as humans.

Kalisia stared blankly for a moment before her eyes lit up. She nodded heavily, the panic on her face vanishing, replaced by complete relief and admiration. I knew it! Lord Xi Xi, you'd definitely have a way! This must be the best solution!

In her eyes, rather than letting these people live forever in a numb hell, it was better to let their souls find peace and await a chance for rebirth in the future.

This legendary lord indeed lived up to the tales—possessing heaven-defying abilities and a compassionate heart.

Ye Chuan said no more.

He cast his gaze over the massive cage and gently flicked his finger.

Black flames of chaos instantly swept out, landing on the enclosing walls.

The black fire burned silently, reducing everything bearing the demons' mark to ashes within the flames of chaos.

In just a few seconds, the area before them was completely turned into scorched earth, with no trace of its former appearance left.

After finishing all this, Ye Chuan put away the World Suppressing Banner and turned to look at Kalisia. Alright, let's keep moving. To the Holy Mountain.

Mhm! Kalisia nodded forcefully, activating her flight mark and following closely behind Ye Chuan.

Only this time, the little girl's face no longer held its previous excitement.

She secretly swore in her heart that she would cultivate diligently. In the future, she would join Lord Xi Xi in destroying all the human ranches and saving everyone who was trapped.

...

Over the following period, Ye Chuan and Kalisia didn't sprint directly toward the Holy Mountain.

Along the way, they encountered four more human ranches in succession.

Each one was a living hell.

Some humans were used as hard labor, tortured and killed for the slightest mistake.

Some were treated as test subjects, altered by the demons with various dark magics until they were neither human nor ghost.

And others were purely places for the demons' amusement.

The humans inside, without exception, were numb and hollow, their will to live as humans long since ground away.

At every location, Ye Chuan would strike first, wiping out all the demon guards with a single thought before using the World Suppressing Banner to collect the fragmented souls of all the humans inside.

Finally, a burst of chaotic fire would completely incinerate the entire ranch.

In a short amount of time, Ye Chuan destroyed five human breeding farms in a row, collected tens of thousands of fragmented human souls, and killed hundreds of demon guards.

Even the few stationed Tier 6 Demon Generals were shattered by a mere thought from him, not even given the chance to send a warning.

Kalisia went from her initial anger and pity to numbness, until finally, only a bone-deep hatred for the abyssal demons remained.

She finally understood that the war her father spoke of was never just a simple word.

She also finally understood why her father's eyes would fill with such deep-seated fear and helplessness whenever he mentioned that Demon King.

This Demon King was no mere brute who only knew how to fight and kill. She was using the most insidious, cruelest methods to slowly execute the entire human race by a thousand cuts.

Lord Xi Xi, tell me... how many more ranches like these are there across the entire Aether Continent?

While resting after dealing with yet another ranch, Kalisia sat on a charred stone and asked in a muffled voice.

Who knows, Ye Chuan replied.

He had just arrived in the timeline of the Aether Continent. Although the era of the blue-haired little dragonmen wasn't very peaceful either, at the very least, it wasn't a foul mess like this.

At the very least, the succubus brothels were still operating normally back then.

Thinking of this gave Ye Chuan a bit of a headache, but he did genuinely feel that the Aether Continent needed the existence of a Hero.

His chaotic power could naturally devour source essence. Ye Chuan felt that if a Hero were truly born, he could just transfer that power over.

After all, whoever became the Hero was still a Hero.