Chapter 11:Crushed to a pulp.

Chapter 11: Chapter 11:Crushed to a pulp.

Qingxue thought she had heard it wrong. Her eyes blinked several times as the cold facade over her expression faltered for a brief moment.

"A-Ancestor, that’s not possible. He has served my family for almost five decades. He is not a demonic cultivator."

"But that is what appears on the surface, child."

Chen Yuan wasn’t one to believe another’s claims over what he saw with his own eyes. Instead, his eyes narrowed further as he waved his hand.

"Look for yourself."

"No!"

The cloaked man yelled as his robe was forcibly pulled off by an invisible force. The moment his body was fully exposed to the three of them, Qingxue’s mouth couldn’t help but widen in horror.

"T-that..."

Beneath the man’s skin, faint black markings could be seen spreading across his chest. They resembled countless thin roots, twisting across the surface of his skin before converging toward a small, dark mass near his abdomen.

"It seems there is something wrong with your family, Little Qingxue," Chen Yuan muttered heavily under his breath as the cloaked man continued struggling in the air, this time more fiercely, as though he had lost his sanity.

Chen Haoran’s expression was complicated, and he couldn’t help but cast a wary glance toward Qingxue herself.

"Qingxue, that man has a demonic seed planted inside him. How could you have never noticed?"

Qingxue’s lips parted when she heard this, but no words came out, as she herself had no idea.

"I-I don’t know... But that’s impossible."

For several breaths, she simply stared at the black markings covering the man’s body. Her mind seemed unable to accept the sight before her.

"M-My father has known him for decades."

He had served her family for nearly fifty years. He had accompanied her father through countless journeys and had even watched over her when she was still a child.

On the side, Chen Haoran’s expression gradually turned solemn.

"If a demonic seed has been planted inside him, then..." He paused, his eyes shifting toward Qingxue. "Could your family have already been infiltrated by demonic cultivators?"

The possibility made the atmosphere even heavier.

"It seems there is something wrong with your family, Little Qingxue."

Qingxue slowly turned her gaze toward Chen Haoran.

"I..."

The words caught in her throat as she had no valid reason to defend the man. Denying the suspicion was impossible, as she could not find a reasonable explanation for the man’s condition.

Chen Haoran noticed her hesitation, and his expression remained solemn. However, before the two could say anything else, Chen Yuan spoke.

"No need for baseless assumptions."

His voice cut through their thoughts, and both of them instinctively turned toward him.

"Finding a demonic seed inside him does not tell us who placed it there, nor does it tell us why."

He paused briefly, coldly scrutinizing the struggling man in the air.

"Your family may have been infiltrated, but it is also possible that this man was corrupted somewhere along the way to this place from the capital. There is no reason to reach a conclusion before we know the truth."

Qingxue’s fingers slowly loosened against her dress when she heard this. Finally, she nodded obediently.

"Yes, Ancestor."

Chen Haoran also fell silent. He knew what Chen Yuan said was right, and the thought that Qingxue’s family had been infiltrated by demonic cultivators lessened somewhat.

Because, at that point, it was just speculation.

Chen Yuan lowered his gaze toward the struggling man once more.

"What’s the use of baseless guessing when we can simply ask him?"

The cloaked man’s body suddenly went rigid after thrashing about in the air. Throughout the ordeal, he had been screaming, groaning in pain, and pleading, but to no avail. Chen Yuan had ignored them all.

His head slowly turned toward Chen Yuan beneath the hood, and he growled as his voice changed into something more inhuman.

"You... release me now!"

Chen Yuan’s expression remained unchanged. The man’s demand did not even earn him a response. Chen Yuan simply looked at him as though he meant nothing, observing the subtle changes taking place beneath his skin.

"How about you tell this old man what your purpose is? Doing so might spare you unnecessary torture."

The man didn’t answer. Instead, his resistance became stronger and stronger. But the man knew that no matter what he did, his strength wouldn’t make much difference against the old man before him.

It was merely the desperate struggle of a dying man.

Chen Yuan’s gaze became colder.

"You don’t seem particularly interested in answering questions."

The man still didn’t answer, and his breathing grew heavier with each passing second.

His fingers curled tightly as he struggled against the invisible force restraining his body, dark veins popping up along his neck.

"Why would I answer anything to you?"

His voice resounded in a distorted tone, evidently no longer human. There was a faint rasp beneath every word, as though another voice was struggling with the original one.

Chen Yuan smiled and lifted his hand.

In response, the invisible force surrounding the man suddenly changed. His body was pulled forward through the air.

Qingxue’s eyes widened slightly.

"Ancestor?"

The man struggled.

"What are you doing?!"

His body was dragged closer until it was only a few meters away from the imposing old man. Notably, the pressure surrounding him became even heavier.

It was as though the air around him had been compressed into solid rock, forcing his limbs downward despite his desperate attempt to resist.

Chen Yuan calmly raised his eyes to meet the man’s gaze.

"Since communication doesn’t seem to work, I suppose I will just have to force my way through your memories myself."

The man’s expression changed. Genuine panic appeared across his face as he tried to move his muscles, even an inch, but to no avail. His body was no longer under his control.

"No."

Chen Yuan smiled.

"No? Coming from a failure of a human that dared to betray his own race?"

Chen Yuan raised his hand once more as faint traces of spiritual fluctuations began to spread from his fingertips. The moment they approached the man’s forehead, the demonic seed within his body suddenly throbbed.

Almost immediately, the man’s entire body convulsed.

"ARghhhh!"

A sharp cry of pain tore through the ancestral hall. His back arched, and the black markings across his chest suddenly writhed beneath his skin, their thin, root-like strands spreading further across his body.

His face twisted in agony, and the veins along his neck and up toward his face bulged as he struggled against Chen Yuan’s restraints.

Throb!

The demonic energy seed reacted violently to the presence of spiritual energy that was rapidly approaching his mind.

Chen Yuan’s eyes narrowed.

"The rumors held true. A demonic cultivator’s mind is countless times stronger than that of a normal human cultivator."

"It really is interesting."

He did not withdraw his hand. Instead, more powerful fluctuations burst forth from his fingertips and surged toward the man’s forehead.

The moment his spiritual energy increased in momentum, the cloaked man’s fierce resistance suddenly crashed against it, as if it had struck an invisible wall.

The cloaked man screamed even louder.

Luckily, the ancestral grounds were far away from the family’s residence.

Qingxue’s face was pale, but she knew this was the right thing to do. Chen Haoran’s expression also became increasingly grim.

"Ancestor, be careful. It’s best to kill him instead of trying to read his memories. Demonic cultivators are known for their resilient minds."

"I know."

Chen Yuan responded in a calm manner, his gaze never leaving the man’s face.

The man continued to struggle, his fingers curled tightly as his nails dug into his palms.

"You... won’t..."

His voice trembled.

"You won’t get anything from me."

Chen Yuan’s expression remained indifferent.

"We will see."

His spiritual energy slowly pushed forward.

The moment it reached deeper into the man’s consciousness, the black markings across his body suddenly expanded.

Several dark veins crawled from his chest toward his shoulders and neck, while the man’s eyes gradually became suffused with a faint red light.

His body began trembling uncontrollably.

"NO!"

The man’s scream echoed through the ancestral hall.

The demonic seed pulsed violently once more.

Thump.

A wave of dark energy suddenly burst from within his body, colliding with Chen Yuan’s spiritual energy. It was forced back an inch before pushing forward again, and by the looks of it—

"I see."

Chen Yuan lowered his hand, his voice calm, without any trace of frustration.

Chen Haoran looked at him with some confusion.

"Ancestor?"

Chen Yuan didn’t answer directly, and his gaze remained fixed on the man as he quietly considered the situation.

The resistance isn’t particularly strong, but forcibly carving my way into his mind will consume too much time.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

And time isn’t something I can afford to waste.

There was another concern that weighed more heavily on his decision.

If the man’s demonic qi were sensed by anyone outside the ancestral grounds, the Chen Family would inevitably have to explain why a demonic cultivator had been allowed to remain within their territory.

The consequences of such a discovery would not be minor, even if it wasn’t their intention to begin with.

Demonic cultivators were taboo among the righteous cultivation forces in the kingdom. Once discovered, they were to be immediately destroyed and eliminated, even if the sacrifices of innocent people were required.

Chen Yuan didn’t waste any more time and raised one hand.

"Die..."

The spiritual pressure surrounding the man changed almost immediately. There was no warning, and the invisible force that had previously restrained his limbs condensed around his entire body in an instant.

The man’s eyes widened in utter horror as he felt the rapidly increasing pressure against him.

"Wait—!"

Boom!

The man’s body was crushed into a pulp on the spot. Chen Yuan waved his hand again and pinched a simple fire spell, burning the body away into ashes.

Once done, Chen Yuan returned to his seat and began sipping his tea quietly.

For a while, neither Qingxue nor Chen Haoran spoke after the death of the cloaked man.

The faint smell of burnt flesh had already dissipated into the air, carried away by the gentle breeze that passed through the hall.

What remained was only a small trace of ash where the cloaked man had stood moments ago, scattered across the floor before even that was gradually swept away by the wind.

Chen Yuan seemed entirely unaffected, as though the series of actions he had performed just now were nothing more than routine.

He sat in his seat as before, one hand holding the teacup while his other hand rested casually on the table.

He took another sip, his calm expression evident in the eyes of the two others, as if they had not just witnessed a crushing battle.

Qingxue, however, remained standing with her gaze fixed on the place where the man had disappeared.

Guilt?

Confusion?

Anger?

She didn’t know which one she was experiencing. There were too many emotions going through her mind that she barely had the chance to process them.

After all, she had just seen a man whom she had trusted with all her life being murdered right before her very eyes. And somehow, the man was tied to the demonic force, while the evidence wasn’t something that could simply be forged on the spot.

She had seen it, and the old man before her had seen it as well.

And now, doubts were slowly rising inside her chest as she began suspecting that several other members of her family might also be afflicted by the demonic force.

"Qingxue."

Chen Haoran’s voice came from the side, jolting her awake from her thoughts.

She slowly turned to look at him.

"You don’t need to blame yourself for this."

Qingxue remained silent, and Chen Haoran continued after a brief pause with a gentler voice.

"You couldn’t have known."

Her fingers loosened slightly.

"I should have known."

"No." Chen Haoran shook his head. "Even Ancestor had to personally discover the demonic seed before we knew anything was wrong. How could you have noticed it beforehand?"

Qingxue’s lips pressed together.

"He had always been there," she murmured.

"Whenever my father left the capital, he was often the one accompanying him. When I was young, he would even bring me gifts whenever he returned from his travels."

Her voice gradually became quieter.

"I never once thought he could be..."

"Whether your family has been infiltrated or not remains unknown, little girl."

The old man across from them spoke, slowly placing his teacup back onto the table as his gaze settled on the two of them.

"For now, don’t let your imagination run ahead of what we actually know. Besides, this old man is still here, isn’t he?"

Chen Yuan smiled, easing the uneasiness in their hearts.

"Those little ants dared to act so boldly probably because of the absence of powerful cultivators in the capital, as most of them were occupied near the border."

"But don’t underestimate my Chen Family’s heritage."

Chen Yuan’s voice turned deeper.

"Even if the sky were to fall right now, the Chen Family wouldn’t be affected whatsoever. And you are a part of my Chen Family, so don’t worry, child."

He simply stated it as a fact.

And for some reason, those words eased the uneasiness that had been weighing heavily upon her chest.

Qingxue lowered her head and took a slow breath.

"Yes, Ancestor."

Chen Haoran also nodded silently on the side.

After a brief silence, Chen Yuan finally spoke.

"Haoran."

Chen Haoran immediately straightened.

"Yes, Ancestor."

"Tomorrow, send Little Meilan and several other people to the capital. Let her investigate this matter secretly."

Chen Haoran’s expression became serious.

"Yes. I will let her know."

"Find out where he came from, who he had been in contact with recently, and whether there have been any unusual incidents within the Qingxue Family’s territory."

"Do not alert anyone unnecessarily. If Qingxue’s father finds out, let him come to me if he dares."

Chen Haoran nodded.

"I understand."

"Also, investigate whether there have been any unexplained disappearances, deaths, or changes in behavior among the people surrounding her family."

Chen Yuan’s gaze shifted briefly toward Qingxue.

"Especially those who have remained close to her father for a long period of time."

Qingxue’s expression tightened slightly.

She understood what Chen Yuan was implying.

If that old servant had truly been carrying a demonic seed for years, then there was a possibility that he was not the only one.