Villain : I reincarnated as a Prince! Shouldn't I have a Harem?

"With that, atleast we won't have useless mouths to feed!" He said with a solemn expression

Feng Xue fell silent for a moment before she asked, "Isn't there any other way? Also, these children haven't awakened their spirit. It could be possible that some of them will awaken a high-level spirit, but if you kill them, no one will know what spirit they are going to awaken. Is there really a need to use this trial to get only one cultivator with a high potential?"

Hearing her argument, the elder looked at her with a dry smile: "Do you think no one had thought of that? Let me explain why your logic wouldn't work"

"Firstly, our tribe does not have a noble bloodline that will give us stronger potential. You must also know that spirits are the ones that choose their owners. If they find someone with a high potential, a higher level spirit will be attracted to him and that person will awaken that spirit, however, people with weak potential like us do not have that luxury!"

Then he glanced at Feng Xue with a mix of resignation and a touch of envy as he sighed: "You must be a descendant of a powerful family since you don't seem to understand the pain we suffer. It must have been easy for you to awaken a high-level spirit, right?"

Feng Xue couldn't retort his words even though she wanted to. She had awakened a powerful 7-star spirit without any worry. She was called a genius all her life and it was all possible because of that powerful spirit, though her father disagreed and always told her that it was all because of her own potential and hard work!

Seeing her silent, the tribe-head took yes as an answer and continued: "For us, who live in these small tribes on the outskirts of the Prefecture, it's not easy to have powerful cultivators. Almost everyone who awakens a spirit here gets a spirit lower than 3-star."

"You also know that a person with a 1-star spirit can only live his life stuck at the spirit awakening realm unless he has a ridiculous amount of resources to let him advance to the body-transformation realm."

"Similarly, someone with a 2-star spirit can only reach the nascent soul realm in their life, though they will be at the end of their life till then. Likewise, a person with a 3-star can only reach the origin realm and a person with a 4-star spirit can only reach core-formation!"

"But, a person with a 4-star spirit has a chance at cultivation atleast. Even if he reaches core formation near the end of his life, there is still a chance, since his lifespan will be increased by 200 years upon forming his core. Also, at the core-formation realm, one's cultivation does not depend on the level of their spirit, it depends on their ability to comprehend the path they have opted."

"If they can reach the master level attainment in their path before their life runs out, they can advance to the King realm. Similarly, they can even aim for the revered Emperor realm."

"However, cultivators with a spirit below 4-star don't even have that little hope. In a cruel world like this, it is better to just die rather than live the life of a weakling without any hope for cultivation."

"Young Lady, now tell me, if this trial guarantees that only a spirit of a 4-star level or above will awaken to the winner and the others with a low-level spirit will die, wouldn't you choose to hold it?"

"You can know this by the method this trial uses. The blood essence from the killed children will enhance the potential of the winner, making sure that he will awaken a high-level spirit!"

"This trial not only lets one of our children awaken a high-level spirit but also lets the weaker children escape the life of misery. Other than that, it reduces the mouths to feed so that we can feed younger children who can be powerful cultivators in the future."

"This trial is the ultimate blessing we have been bestowed upon by the Xue Mo Tribe!"

Feng Xue didn't know how to react. On one hand, this trial sounded logical, however, on the other hand, it was simply evil.

She didn't know what to do.

"Thank you for the explanation, I'll take my leave!" She simply bowed before leaving.

The Tribe-head, however, wasn't finished with his explanation as he stopped her: "Wait, Young Lady, you might not know this, but there is another reason for which we need to raise strong cultivators!"

Feng Xue halted in her footsteps, curious to know what this other reason would be.

She turned around and asked: "What reason is it?"

"It's for war! As you know, The Xue Mo tribe doesn't have enough food to fulfill the needs of everyone. People are starving in the north prefecture due to the environment there and to fulfill their needs, the Xue Mo tribe attacks the righteous tribe every month to steal food and resources."

"When we were given this trial method, there was an order along with it. That was to send children with high-level spirits to join the Blood Demon Cult's southern Prefecture branch. There, Children from all over the tribe are trained and made ready to face the righteous tribes."

"If someone tries to hide such children instead of sending them, then their whole tribe will be wiped out!"

Feng Xue didn't know how to react. Fighting to acquire food for your tribesmen was a righteous thing to do, but, using such practices and giving these types of orders, was it right?

Feng Xue never had to deal with such complicated situations where determining who was right and who was wrong was so difficult.

She bowed and left to stand beside Ashen. Spectating at the ongoing trial, she heard Ashen's question: "So, do you want me to stop this trial even now?"

She contemplated on the answer before saying in an embarrassed tone: "I... I don't know..."

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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)