Chapter 2004 - Luring the Enemies Out

Long Yuanxiong and Long Ying burst from concealment. Long Ying unleashed her aura, and the pressure of the Great Golden Immortal Realm bore down on the two men, pinning them in place.

"That's Chai Qian! You tricked me!" the second man snarled, glaring at the first. Chai Qian and the Grand Elder were the only two Great Golden Immortals in the Chai Clan. The Grand Elder seldom showed himself and usually stayed within the clan's estate, leaving Chai Qian as the only possibility.

Two torrents of dragon aura slammed into them. The force left them reeling, dazed, and fighting to stay conscious.

"This isn't Chai Qian!" both men exclaimed as they realized someone else had launched the attack.

Another two punches crashed down from above, dropping both men unconscious to the ground inside the net.

"Seal their dantians, then take them back to the Chai Clan," Long Ying instructed, entrusting the remaining work to her brother.

After sealing their dantians, Long Yuanxiong lifted the two men, one in each hand, and carried them out of the woods.

......

Liu Wuxie headed south, deliberately steering clear of the crowds. The two men shadowed him the entire way, keeping roughly a distance of a hundred meters.

"What is that brat doing out here?" the two men asked, trading bewildered looks. He had come to an abrupt stop upon reaching the ruins, and they had halted when he did.

They could make no sense of his decision to visit such a remote place in the middle of the night instead of resting.

Then, before their eyes, Liu Wuxie summoned the Bloodthirst Blade and began practicing his blade technique.

Rocks flew with every swing. The Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art unfolded at an ever-faster pace, stirring storms that swept through the surrounding area.

"Now it makes sense. He came out here to practice his blade technique."

At such a late hour, the ruins offered the ideal place to practice. The Chai Clan was small and had no spacious training ground. With the considerable room its sweeping movements demanded, the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art made the ruins an excellent choice.

"Send word to the envoy at once," the man on the left ordered.

His companion on the right produced a Communication Talisman and crushed it to transmit the message.

As time passed, Liu Wuxie executed Thunderclap Blade, the sixth form of the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art. Thunderbolts descended from the sky, and every strike blasted a large crater into the ground.

Horror gripped the two people in the shadows as they watched. "That blade technique is monstrous!"

How could a mere Profound Immortal wreak such devastation? Even a peak Divine Immortal would struggle to stir up this much commotion simply by practicing a martial technique.

"That brat has to die! How dare he pry into our Heavenly Alliance! We can't allow him to leave," the man on the left said, his voice steeped in menace.

The air whistled loudly as four more dark figures sped in from the distance. They made no effort to hide their approach, and their arrival prompted the first two men to emerge from hiding.

Breaking off his practice at once, Liu Wuxie put on a wary expression.

"We greet you, Envoy!" The two men bowed before the most powerful of the four. He was at the pinnacle of the Immortal Lord Realm.

In Mulberry Sea City's hierarchy, cultivation at that level placed him at the very top. Unless an Immortal Venerable appeared, he was all but invincible here.

Bone-chilling pressure descended on Liu Wuxie as all four men fixed their eyes on him. Within that oppressive force lay the might of an Immortal Lord.

Liu Wuxie kept his guard up. The Bloodthirst Blade pulsed red, its glow stark against the darkness.

The Immortal Lord asked as he stepped forward, "Why are you looking into the Heavenly Alliance, brat?" He unleashed his aura to intimidate Liu Wuxie, driving him back several steps.

To him, Liu Wuxie was already a dead man. There was no point hiding their allegiance to the Heavenly Alliance from someone about to die. They had been dispatched to sow chaos and destabilize Mulberry Sea City.

Disorder in Mulberry Sea City would work against the Azure Jade Palace. Over the years, the sect had supported countless clans that relied on it for survival. Those clans conducted affairs on its behalf and gathered intelligence as its eyes and ears.

When the need arose, they would also stand with the Azure Jade Palace.

Should the Heavenly Alliance bring them over to its side, they would soon turn on the Azure Jade Palace together. An ant might be insignificant, but a vast enough swarm could bring down even an elephant.

The Heavenly Alliance planned to use Mulberry Sea City's local forces as its vanguard and erode the Azure Jade Palace's strength. For that reason, the sect was eager to find the envoys and wipe them out in one stroke.

"How, exactly, did you learn I was investigating the Heavenly Alliance?" Liu Wuxie asked coldly, sweeping his gaze over the six men whose faces lay hidden behind masks.

Liu Wuxie himself had orchestrated this encounter. He had ordered Zheng Ruhai to spread word of the investigation to draw their enemies out in the open. Now, the Heavenly Alliance had taken the bait.

"Enough of your crap. Get ready to die!"

To prevent complications, the Heavenly Alliance's deacon demanded Liu Wuxie's execution on the spot. His death would leave no one to carry on the investigation.

The Azure Jade Palace had recently dispatched others to investigate the Heavenly Alliance's activities in Mulberry Sea City. The Heavenly Alliance had assassinated every last one.

The order sent the two men who had shadowed Liu Wuxie lunging at him. Neither posed a threat in his eyes. They were merely second-level Golden Immortals.

They could not have made better test subjects. Fresh from refining the Soul Stone, Liu Wuxie wanted to put the Soul Sword's power to the test.

In a swift rush, the two men came within three meters of him. Their Golden Immortal laws formed a cage around Liu Wuxie, trapping him inside.

Yet Liu Wuxie stood his ground, calmly watching them approach. A terrifying ripple then swept from his body, and an enormous Soul Sword took shape in the air, flooding the surroundings with its brilliance.

"This is bad!" The two men recoiled, horrified, as a torrent of energy surged from Liu Wuxie. They had misjudged him. Neither had imagined his soul energy could possess such power.

The other four recognized their mistake and moved to save their companions, only to find they were already too late. However swift their movements, Liu Wuxie's Soul Sword outpaced them.

Tempered by his mental energy, the Soul Sword had become indestructible. It pierced the soul seas of both men without the slightest difficulty.

"AARGH!" Two screams of agony ripped through the night. But amid these desolate ruins, where no living soul ever ventured, the cries faded unheard into the darkness.

The Soul Sword shattered their soul seas before the last echoes faded. Liu Wuxie promptly dragged them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, wiping away their existence. The killings unfolded with such speed and flawless precision that the surviving companions froze in shock.

After losing two men, the Immortal Lord was prompted to attack. He stepped forward, unleashing a suffocating aura across the ruins. It spiraled into a storm around Liu Wuxie.

"Elder Zheng, what are you still waiting for?" Liu Wuxie barked.

From the darkness, a figure shot forth, bearing the aura of an Immortal Venerable. In the Celestial Weave Domain, Immortal Venerables occupied the summit of power. So long as no Immortal Regnant appeared, they stood supreme.

Barely a dozen Immortal Emperors existed in the Celestial Weave Domain. All occupied exalted positions far removed from mundane affairs, seldom involving themselves in conflicts between sects.

Before the Immortal Lord could pull back his attack, Zheng Ruhai's fist landed, hurling him skyward. He spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed heavily to the ground. Pain racked his body as he struggled to rise.

"Fall back!" he shouted.

Desperate to escape, the remaining three men rushed forward. Two hurled themselves blindly at Zheng Ruhai to buy time, while the third hoisted their wounded envoy and scrambled to escape.

"You don't get to come and go through Mulberry Sea City whenever you please," Zheng Ruhai growled. He had recently launched his own investigation into the Heavenly Alliance, but its members were cunning and elusive. They had no fixed residence and left scarcely a trace behind, making the search a nightmare.

Tonight's events had unfolded as part of a trap Liu Wuxie had devised to draw them out of hiding.

The two men fought to keep Zheng Ruhai occupied, showing no regard for their own lives. They were willing to perish alongside him if necessary, determined to buy every possible moment for their envoy to escape.

"Not one of you is leaving tonight," a cold voice thundered through the darkness.

Elder Ren Chou appeared from another direction and cut off the Immortal Lord's escape. Against two Immortal Venerables, an Immortal Lord and three Immortal Kings posed little threat. Within a handful of breaths, the two elders overwhelmed all four and took them alive.

The sight of the Immortal Lord brought a smile to Liu Wuxie's lips. Refining these four could easily carry him into the ninth-level Profound Immortal Realm.

"Elder Zheng, I want to interrogate these four personally," Liu Wuxie said before Zheng Ruhai could speak. The elder had barely finished securing the captives when Liu Wuxie approached him.

Should Zheng Ruhai take the prisoners away, Liu Wuxie would lose his hope of refining them to achieve a breakthrough.

"To tell you the truth, the sect issued orders this afternoon. Every captive from the Heavenly Alliance must be escorted back to the sect for the Deputy Palace Masters to interrogate in person," Zheng Ruhai replied, his wry smile fading into a conflicted expression.

The request placed Zheng Ruhai in a difficult position. Their success that night was entirely due to Liu Wuxie. Had he not willingly used himself as bait, the Heavenly Alliance's envoys would never have revealed themselves.

These four captives finally gave them an excellent opportunity to obtain the intelligence they needed. With it, they could locate the remaining enemies in Mulberry Sea City and root them out one by one.

Liu Wuxie's brow furrowed. He had not expected the Azure Jade Palace to act before he could, although its decision was hardly surprising. These prisoners were crucial to the sect's survival. It would never leave them in someone else's hands.

Extraordinary talent or not, Liu Wuxie was only an outer disciple.

"The Deputy Palace Masters also said you've completed your mission. You can claim your rewards upon your return. As for the Heavenly Alliance, you're to stay out of the matter for now," Zheng Ruhai continued. The moment they had secured the captives, he had contacted the sect.

Yuan Shao and Ning Chi had found the news almost impossible to believe. Discovering clues about the Heavenly Alliance within a month would have been enough to impress them. Instead, Liu Wuxie had finished the task in just a few days, far exceeding their expectations.

Looking back, drawing out the Heavenly Alliance's envoys sounded straightforward. Putting it into practice was another matter entirely. Every investigator who had previously offered to act as bait had died; not one had survived.

Even if Liu Wuxie had managed to track these men down, he would have been helpless without Zheng Ruhai's overwhelming strength to support him.

Knowing his rewards were secure, Liu Wuxie's expression softened noticeably. He had taken the mission to thwart the Heavenly Alliance's infiltration of Mulberry Sea City and to earn a chance to cultivate in the Heavenly Lake.

"Since the sect gets the prisoners, I get their interspatial rings," Liu Wuxie said bluntly.

Denied the chance to refine the four men, he could only set his sights on their interspatial rings. Zheng Ruhai offered no objection this time. He quickly stripped the rings from the captives and tossed them over to Liu Wuxie.

"We'll be going now," Zheng Ruhai and Ren Chou said. Each seized two captives and vanished into the darkness of the night.