“I’m going to kill your whole family, I’m going to wipe out your entire clan, I want your whole clan to experience this pain, to die in wailing agony!!” Robert Clark, enduring excruciating pain, his left ear already deaf, lunged at Ethan Brooks once more, looking utterly crazed, as if he would not rest until he killed his opponent today.

“Ungrateful wretch!” Ethan Brooks was also stunned—he had never seen this mirror actually shatter someone’s ear—but a flash of severity quickly crossed his face. He retreated rapidly, raising the bronze mirror in his hand to shine it again.

“Ethan Brooks!!” Robert Clark’s voice was filled with misery as his right ear was also shattered. Now both ears were deaf. His expression was no longer twisted with anger, but filled with unprecedented terror and dread. An indescribable fear surged in his heart. At the fastest speed of his life, he suddenly turned to flee. At this moment, he had no thought of seeking trouble with Ethan Brooks; the terror in his body and mind made him tremble, wishing he could escape the mountains immediately. But he also made up his mind: after this, he would definitely bring people to brutally kill Ethan Brooks, make him personally experience this pain, and snatch away that damned bronze mirror.

But just as he turned, the mirror in Ethan Brooks’s hand slipped from his grasp for the first time and instantly shot after him. It was as if the mirror itself was now extremely excited, chasing after Robert Clark, unleashing countless shockwaves. All that could be seen was despair in Robert Clark’s eyes. In his struggle, it seemed as if some force was pinning his body down, beyond his control. His screams grew louder and louder, his body unable to escape, instead being thrown into midair. His left ear, right ear, chest, and thigh kept exploding from within.

Each burst of energy sent blood spraying everywhere. In just over ten breaths, Robert Clark’s eyes had already dimmed. His body quickly reverted from beast form to human, the fur dissipating. Perhaps for this reason, the bronze mirror lost interest and flew back, causing Robert Clark’s body to finally crash to the ground with a thud.

Blood covered the ground. Robert Clark stared with open eyes, already dead, his gaze filled with fear and despair, enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.

Ethan Brooks looked at Robert Clark’s corpse and gasped, watching as the bronze mirror circled in the air before landing back in his hand. Holding the mirror, Ethan Brooks’s body trembled, his eyes filled with awe. He had never thought much of it when the mirror killed wild beasts, but seeing a living person die like this, especially with so much of the body mangled and bloody, made Ethan Brooks shudder. He felt the mirror was the epitome of bloodthirstiness, even making him want to throw it away. His hand loosened, and the mirror fell to the ground.

After all, he was a scholar. At first, he found the mirror somewhat interesting, but now he felt it was extremely sinister and eerie, vaguely at odds with the Confucian values in his heart.

After a moment of silence, Ethan Brooks’s heart was in turmoil, his eyes dazed. He still thought of himself as a scholar from Yunjie County, always reasoning with others, never fighting, let alone killing. These thoughts and behaviors were deeply ingrained and not easily changed, causing Ethan Brooks to struggle inwardly in this silence.

“Confucianism values propriety, music, benevolence, and righteousness, seeking reason and not violence. The sect preaches survival of the fittest—just four simple words. I understand the principle, but actually doing it is different…” Ethan Brooks’s body trembled, and he felt lingering fear. After a long while, he let out a long breath and silently walked away.

But after only a dozen steps, Ethan Brooks suddenly gritted his teeth, turned, and quickly walked back to Robert Clark’s corpse, took the storage pouch from him, and with a wave of his right hand, summoned a fire serpent to fall upon Robert Clark’s body.

One fire serpent was not enough to cremate the corpse. Ethan Brooks swallowed a Condensing Spirit Pill midway and threw out three more fire serpents in succession, finally causing Robert Clark’s body to dry up and become an unrecognizable charred corpse.

After a bit more breathing practice, he gritted his teeth and sent out two more fire serpents, finally reducing the corpse to ashes.

Staring at the bronze mirror on the ground, Ethan Brooks hesitated for a moment, then picked it up with a determined grip.

With a mix of complex emotions and lingering fear, Ethan Brooks hurriedly left the place. After returning to his cave, he sat there in a daze. Only after a long time did he remember the storage pouch in his hand. He opened it subconsciously, and at a glance, his eyes lit up. The turmoil from killing was instantly replaced by excitement at the items inside Robert Clark’s storage pouch.

“This guy was loaded.” Ethan Brooks took a breath. Inside the storage pouch were eight half-spirit stones, seven Condensing Spirit Pills, and a bone fragment covered in tiny writing.

Ethan Brooks picked up the bone fragment and glanced at it, then immediately tossed it aside. It described the technique for demon transformation, something Ethan Brooks dared not touch. He didn’t want to learn demonization and end up destroyed by his own bronze mirror.

After tossing the bone fragment, Ethan Brooks suddenly remembered the flying sword. He immediately got up, left the cave, found the patch of grass, and picked up the small white sword Robert Clark hadn’t had time to retrieve. After returning to the cave and examining it, his eyes gradually brightened.

The contradiction between the Immortal Sect and Confucianism had no answer for Ethan Brooks. Since that was the case, he simply set the matter aside, figuring he would understand it someday. For now, the most important thing was figuring out how to survive in this sect.

Determined, Ethan Brooks lowered his head and touched each spirit stone, then took out the bronze mirror and placed it beside him, gazing at it for a long time.