Chapter 48

The man in black wore a look of disappointment. "Why are you so devoid of a spine? Little beauty, I am a demonic cultivator..."

He leaned in closer, raising a hand as if to stroke An Wuxue's cheek.

An Wuxue frowned and turned his face away.

The man in black grasped only empty air, his eyelids twitching. The playful expression vanished from his face entirely, replaced by a sudden, heavy gloom as murky energy coiled around him.

The young boy behind An Wuxue had already been frightened out of his wits. As the demonic cultivator's Void Tribulation stage pressure radiated outward, the child cried out in terror and collapsed to the floor.

The man in black said with displeasure, "So noisy..."

He sneered and raised his hand, intending to kill the child cowering behind An Wuxue.

Stepping directly into the path of the roiling murky energy, An Wuxue used his own body to completely shield the boy. Face to face with the demonic cultivator, he blocked him and said, "Since you want to capture me to threaten my friends, if you were to spirit me away in total silence, it would take some time for them to notice. If you leave no living witnesses, who is going to spread word of your deeds?"

"Besides—I am in the Mahayana stage, after all," his expression suddenly turned cold as he continued, "I merely value my life and wish to avoid fighting you. Yet if you push me too far, and we trade blows here, I will risk my life to summon my friends—would you care to test that?"

Despite this chilling rebuke, the gloomy expression on the face of the man in black softened slightly. "Now, this is getting interesting."

Spiritual energy rolled within the man's palms as he formed hand seals, and chains instantly materialized from spiritual power, climbing up An Wuxue's upper body.

A fierce wind howled.

The isolation barrier the man in black had erected upon entering vanished abruptly. In the blink of an eye, the immortal cultivator who had risked his life to protect him and the demonic cultivator who was once the young master of the City Lord's Mansion both disappeared before the young boy's eyes.

Rustling winds echoed ceaselessly through the hall. A tea table was overturned with a loud crash, and even the porcelain shards scattered on the floor rolled a few times, coming to a stop beside the boy still crumpled on the ground.

A sharp porcelain fragment sliced open the boy's arm, and blood welled up. He shook like a leaf in the wind, entirely unresponsive to the physical injury.

After a long moment, the boy snapped out of his daze and regained his senses.

The demonic cultivator had dragged him away!!

Only then did he scramble to his feet and rush out.

The City Lord's Mansion remained shrouded in deep silence, the few resident cultivators completely unaware of the great fiend's intrusion.

The boy rushed up to the nearest immortal cultivator.

The cultivator scolded angrily, "You child, charging around so recklessly—"

"Immortal Master, save me! Immortal Master, do you know where the Young City Lord went? Young Master Zhao—no, Zhao Duan! Zhao Duan is here, and he has dragged away the Immortal Master brought by the Young City Lord!!"

-

An Wuxue was dragged outside the city by the demonic cultivator.

Back in the City Lord's Mansion, he had initially intended to fight the demonic cultivator directly. Once the commotion of the battle drew attention, Xie Zhefeng would naturally sense that something was amiss.

On second thought, however, fighting there would not only risk exposing his Luoyue Peak swordsmanship and spiritual techniques, but it would also hinder his investigation into the secrets surrounding Suixue.

From the very beginning, his goal had been to take advantage of Xie Zhefeng and the others' absence to investigate the puppet marks on his own.

Since this demonic cultivator wanted to use him as a hostage, he might as well play along and go with the flow. Perhaps he could uncover something useful.

He simply feigned total helplessness.

After binding him and dragging him out of the city, the demonic cultivator sealed his eyes with a strip of black spiritual fabric.

Unable to see, An Wuxue could only rely on quiet spiritual awareness to probe his surroundings while ensuring the other man remained undisturbed. He surmised that they were being led up a mountain peak, where a secluded courtyard seemed to sit, filled with the presence of many living beings.

The concentration of spiritual energy within the courtyard was extremely low, overshadowed everywhere by murky energy.

The demonic cultivator tossed him into a room, stared at him for a moment, and asked with curiosity, "Why aren't you scared?"

An Wuxue: "..."

He truly could not muster a convincing performance of fear before a demonic cultivator.

After a brief silence, to prevent his cover from being blown, he said in a low voice, "I am no match for you. Aside from betraying my cowardice, what good would being scared do?"

"Stop addressing me so formally. My name is Zhao Duan. Try calling me 'Lord Zhao' for a change," Zhao Duan said with a smile. "I cherish jade and pity flowers. Call me Lord Zhao, and I will spare you, taking you as one of my cauldron partners. Dual cultivate with me, and you might even break through to the Tribulation stage..."

Part (1/3)

...One of them?

An Wuxue: "..."

He offered no reply, lowering his head as he cast out his spiritual awareness.

Almost no aura of immortal cultivators could be sensed within the courtyard. Most of the presences he had just detected belonged to demonic cultivators, along with a fair number of mortal auras, and a few whose life force was extremely faint—perhaps puppets.

Could Zhao Duan be the fiend causing chaos in Beiming?

Unlikely. A mere late Void Tribulation stage cultivator, seemingly lacking in wits, volatile, and brutally tempered, who achieved his cultivation entirely by absorbing murky energy.

If not for the malfunction of the sword array, Qiao Yin and the others could have slain Zhao Duan with the array's assistance.

As he pondered, receiving no response, Zhao Duan's tone abruptly darkened. "You little beauty, sometimes you seem extraordinarily sensible, and other times inexplicably stubborn."

He gave the chains in his hand a harsh yank.

With his hands bound, An Wuxue was forced to lurch forward by the pull, letting out a soft sigh of pain.

Zhao Duan seemed inclined to touch his sleeve, and the heavy, cloying scent of blood radiating from the demonic cultivator wafted over.

An Wuxue immediately frowned and snapped, "Get lost!"

In his past life, what he loathed most were such indiscriminate killers who indulged in boundless luxury and utter depravity!

Clearly, An Wuxue was the one bound by chains, and his eyes were even blindfolded. Yet at this single, sharp reprimand, Zhao Duan involuntarily flinched and stepped back.

He froze, his face twisting in confusion. "You—"

The pressure of the Void Tribulation stage descended!

An Wuxue's heart tightened.

He had only come to gather intelligence, not to genuinely suffer abuse at the hands of this demonic cultivator.

If worst came to worst, he would abandon questioning and strike directly, seizing his soul afterwards!

Quietly gathering the meager spiritual energy in his surroundings, he prepared to make his move—

"Young Master."

Someone suddenly knocked on the door from outside, reporting, "The tribute-bearer has arrived today and is waiting for you."

The oppressive pressure vanished instantly, and Zhao Duan halted his movements.

An Wuxue withdrew his hand in a timely manner, seamlessly concealing his spiritual energy.

He heard Zhao Duan say, "I understand."

Zhao Duan stood up, yanked the chains directly, and pulled An Wuxue outward.

With high spirits, the man declared, "In that case, little beauty, you should take a good look. The benefits I can offer you far exceed those provided by your useless immortal cultivation peers."

With that, pulling the chains, he led An Wuxue out of the room.

An Wuxue remained blindfolded.

He could have used his spiritual awareness to navigate, but to avoid arousing Zhao Duan's suspicion, he simply withdrew his awareness and stumbled along in his wake.

Zhao Duan was quite pleased with this, turning back to glance at him from time to time, entirely devoid of vigilance.

After an unknown passage of time, An Wuxue distinctly sensed the number of people around increasing, accompanied even by the sound of flutes, zithers, and dance music.

Zhao Duan halted, turned around, and removed the spiritual fabric blindfold from his eyes.

Daylight spilled into his vision. Blinking rapidly, he saw that he and Zhao Duan were standing in a spacious courtyard. Within it, numerous mortals played stringed instruments in unison, while dancing maidens spun gracefully to the music.

It was extravagantly decadent.

Yet upon closer inspection, the smiles of these mortals did not reach their eyes, and their expressions harbored a hidden terror. They hardly looked to be here voluntarily; most likely, they had been abducted by Zhao Duan for his amusement.

Several good-looking men and women also gathered around them.

Though their cultivation levels were not high, these individuals were all demonic cultivators, dressed in utterly improper attire. Some wore sleeves made of sheer gauze, and An Wuxue instantly spotted a mark beneath the translucent fabric.

Part (2/3)

It was not the mark of the puppets outside the city, but a pattern identical to the "Cauldron Mark" on his own arm.

Were these people the cauldron partners Zhao Duan had just mentioned?

Did Zhao Duan possess the complete method for applying the mark?

As he pondered, a young man standing closest to Zhao Duan stepped forward, draped his arm over Zhao Duan's shoulder, and said softly, "Where did Lord Zhao find this young master? He is extraordinarily handsome..."

An Wuxue looked away, finding it easier not to gaze upon them.

Shifting his gaze, he saw several people being led into the courtyard by servants.

Each of these individuals was accompanied by a puppet with an extremely faint life force—pale-faced and vacant-eyed, possessing only an empty shell.

Those guiding the puppets carried rare spiritual treasures in their hands. Upon seeing Zhao Duan, they knelt and offered them up.

With a grand wave of his hand, Zhao Duan swept the rare treasures into his possession. Murky energy surged in his palm, dividing into several streams that flowed into the bodies of the puppets.

The life force of those puppets instantly surged, and their complexions flushed with color once more, though their expressions remained vacant.

The demonic cultivators who had brought the puppets bowed and scraped profusely, kowtowing in gratitude.

The more An Wuxue watched, the more unsettled he felt.

Was this the tribute the earlier announcer had spoken of?

Turning to look at him and noticing him appraising those people, Zhao Duan chuckled softly. "Well? You see it now, don't you? These people were originally your immortal cultivation peers as well. Yet, consumed by their own greed and vainly hoping to use puppets to resurrect the dead, while lacking the capability to sustain the puppets' life forces, one by one, didn't they abandon immortality and turn to the demonic path?"

With a casual flick of his hand, he retrieved one of the spiritual treasures offered to him and handed it to An Wuxue. "Their cultivation is insufficient, so they rely on me to supply the puppets with murky energy. But spiritual treasures are bound to be exhausted eventually. Where do you suppose these treasures come from? Are they their own, or did they plunder them from their former immortal cultivation peers?"

Gazing at the spiritual treasure and suppressing the disgust rising in his heart, An Wuxue asked, "And so? You cultivate murky energy to enter the demonic path, turn your back on the immortal way, and subject the Beiming sword array to murky energy—all for the fawning of these people and these spiritual treasures?"

"Isn't this wonderful?" Zhao Duan spread his hands.

An Wuxue's heart chilled—Zhao Duan had not denied it.

The sword array of Beiming's Twenty-Seventh City was indeed inseparable from this demonic cultivator.

That being the case, Zhao Duan must be connected to the mastermind behind the scenes, quite possibly guided by that person to turn to the demonic path and commit these deeds!

Zhao Duan smiled and continued, "I was truly sick of it all in the past. Now I no longer need to pander to those people's expressions, abide by some damned rules every day, or listen to those decrepit old fools preach about states of mind and Dao hearts!"

"Little beauty, look—"

With a slight flick of his sleeve, he abruptly conjured another burst of spiritual energy.

The demonic cultivators who had just finished offering their tribute were turning to leave with their puppets when Zhao Duan's palm energy struck out, snatching one of them back out of thin air.

Caught entirely unprepared, the person shrieked and instinctively channeled spiritual energy in resistance.

The pressure of the Void Tribulation stage bore down.

*Bang!*

The person instantly dissolved into a bloody mist!

The mortals playing music and dancing were immediately frightened into a huddle, collapsing weakly to the ground.

The several cauldron partners beside Zhao Duan all let out cries of shock.

The demonic cultivators who had not yet managed to leave turned pale as paper and hurriedly fled with their puppets.

Bloody mist drifted down, staining the ground a vivid scarlet.

An Wuxue lowered his eyes.

"They fawned upon you. Why did you have to do that?"

Believing this act had successfully terrified him, Zhao Duan laughed heartily. "Listen to what you're saying—still speaking like an immortal cultivator. What reason does one need to kill someone? I am stronger than him—isn't that enough?"

Part (3/3)