Chapter 82: The Mastermind

“Brother Xiao, isn’t this place too deserted?” Little Zhou asked.

“Let’s go in and take a look,” Xiao Ran said.

They entered the Anfeng Inn.

It was deathly quiet. The table was covered in dust and there were cobwebs hanging across the rafters.

It looked like no one had been here for a long time.

Little Zhou reached for the ledger on the counter, but Xiao Ran stopped him. “It’s poisonous.”

Under his confused gaze, Xiao Ran struck out with his palm.

Rays of golden light rushed out and rippled through the surrounding area.

The whole hall was filled with dark green poisonous gas. The poison was even more potent on tables, chairs, counter tops, and other items.

“F*ck! Isn’t this too ruthless?” Little Zhou cursed out loud in fright.

He hurriedly circulated his skills to use his spirit energy to protect himself.

“Brother Xiao, aren’t you afraid?”

Xiao Ran ignored him and walked to the counter. With a tap of his finger, a stream of purifying spiritual force hit the ledger and it automatically opened.

He read it through.

It was just ordinary book keeping. Nothing special.

He turned and walked towards the backyard.

Using the Spiritual Clarity Eye, he observed that the dark green poisonous gas in the air was converging in one direction.

The gas was very thick there, 10 times thicker than here.

They entered the backyard and stopped at a small tree.

All the poisonous gas spread out from here. The source of the gas was down here.

“What’s so special about this place?” Little Zhou asked.

“Move aside,” Xiao Ran said.

After he backed off, Xiao Ran activated his power and stomped on the ground with his right foot.

Bang!

The ground exploded, revealing a thirty-foot crater, but the sapling remained intact.

Without the cover of the soil, the scene below appeared in front of them.

There was a white skeleton with a small tree stuck in its chest. The thick poisonous gas was churning and rolling, thick enough to become solid. The terrifying spread of the poison plague was something that even a Grand Master could not withstand.

Faced with such a lethal poison, one would instantly get poisoned and turn into a green person like the people outside.

Little Zhou eyes became blurry, and he was about to get poisoned.

Xiao Ran patted his shoulder and injected a stream of purifying spiritual force into his body to expel all the poisonous gas that had invaded his body.

After he withdrew his palm,

Little Zhou shivered and looked scared. “It’s too dangerous here. Let’s get out quickly!”

“Wait for me outside,” Xiao Ran instructed.

“Brother Xiao, be careful. If you really can’t, don’t push yourself.”

After he left,

Xiao Ran walked to the pit and looked at the white skeleton and the small tree.

“What a vicious method. Using a whole county’s living beings to refine an evil corpse.”

Bolts of lightning surged out from his palm, and the Apotropaic Divine Lightning transformed into a huge lightning net that fanned out and landed on the skeleton.

Whoosh…

Black poisonous smoke rose, and an obnoxious stench spread out. The skeleton quickly fled at a visible speed.

Even the small tree began to wither in the face of the lightning imbued with strong Yang energy.

“Stop!” a voice hissed.

Liu Yang dashed in from outside and with a few flashes of movement, stopped in front of Xiao Ran.

He waved his hand and struck out a palm. The black palm landed on the Apotropaic Divine Lightning netting, but he was disappointed with the result, or rather the lack thereof.

As the Apotropaic Divine Lightning churned and rolled, it broke the force of his black palm.

He looked at Xiao Ran with an icy cold stare. “Stop at once!”

“Is this all your doing? Is your goal to nurture evil corpses?” Xiao Ran asked.

“You actually saw through it. I can’t let you live today no matter what,” Liu Yang said mercilessly.

He took out a flare and released it.

Before it could lift off, a shot of finger force destroyed it with lightning speed.

“Did I allow you to move?” Xiao Ran asked in a mocking tone.

“I’ll deal with you first before dealing with that person outside,” Liu Yang said.

His body transformed and split into five, charging towards Xiao Ran from five different directions.

Demonic energy surged outwards, covering the entire backyard.

For a moment,

under the veil of this demonic aura, it was impossible to see anything.

The terrifying freezing demonic might was bone-chilling. Under his control, five manifestations of Heaven Shrouding Palm prints appeared and clapped down on Xiao Ran’s head viciously.

“Heavenly Yin Sect?” Xiao Ran sensed a familiar aura from him that was very similar to the Massacre Matchmaker.

As bolts of lightning appeared, the Apotropaic Divine Lightning rushed out of his body, sweeping out a huge area around him.

Flooded over by a sea of lightning, the demonic aura dissipated, and the huge palm prints were destroyed.

Four of the five figures dissipated, and the remaining one was his main body. He was severely injured and collapsed to the ground.

Xiao Ran took a step towards him.

“Spirit Shifting Soul Control!”

Two beams of golden light shot out from Xiao Ran’s eyes and entered his eyes, instantly controlling his mind.

A spell had been cast on his mind using the Forbidden Spirit Technique.

Xiao Ran withdrew the Spirit Shifting Soul Control technique and instead, deployed the Heavenly Slave Divine Finger. Ten shots of finger forces pierced his body in a row.

It hurt so much that he rolled around on the ground, grabbing at his flesh with his palm and screaming miserably.

A few moments later,

Xiao Ran temporarily relieved his pain and interrogated him. “Tell me everything you know.”

“This will not end well for you guys.” Liu Yang smiled sinisterly.

He raised his palm and slapped the top of his head, preparing to commit suicide.

“Death is also too extravagant for you,” Xiao Ran responded scornfully.

With a chop of his palm, he crippled his palm and deployed the Heavenly Slave Divine Finger to torture him again.

In the face of this inhumane torture, he could still hold on at the beginning. Towards the end, he was completely desperate.

He opened his mouth to beg, “Give me a quick death!”

“Tell me everything you know.” Xiao Ran was unmoved.

Liu Yang hesitated. What awaited him was another five shots of Heavenly Slave Divine Fingers.

The pain doubled. It wasn’t just his physical body. Now even his soul was being put through inhumane torture.

This time he didn’t even last ten breaths. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

“Speak!” Xiao Ran berated.

A stream of purifying spiritual force entered his body and temporarily stabilized his injuries. Xiao Ran did not want him to die halfway while talking because he ran out of breath.

“I’m an Elder of the Heavenly Yin Sect, in charge of caring for the Demon Lord Mystic Wither of Chen County.”

“Give me more details,” Xiao Ran said.

“There are a total of 4 skeletons underground. The Sect Master obtained them from an ancient altar. The small tree is called the Multitudinous Poison Tree. It is the supreme secret treasure of our Heavenly Yin Sect. It contains lethal poison that is capable of spreading plagues. The Sect Master paid a huge price to nurture 4 Demon Lords Mystic Wither of the Profound Realm level.” Liu Yang told him everything he knew.

Then he pleaded with Xiao Ran.

“Give me a quick death!”

As the Apotropaic Divine Lightning struck down, he was completely devoured.

The Golden Tome of Creation flipped open to a random page and displayed three items: 700,000 Mastery points, 70 years of Martial Arts Evolution, and a special antidote pill.

He added the 700,000 Mastery points to the Spirit Shifting Soul Control Technique.

After the attributes were refreshed,

Spirit Shifting Soul Control Technique: Beginner’s Level.

He was still 420 years away from advancing another step in the Martial Arts Evolution.

The special antidote pill could cure all poisons.

When he came to the small tree, more than half of the bones and the tree had been destroyed by the Apotropaic Divine Lightning.

He struck another bolt of lightning. It flashed out and destroyed all the remaining objects.

He then left the backyard.

When he found Little Zhou outside, he was surrounded by a black mass of people. These people were all the commoners who had been infected by the plague. They lost their rationality as a result and behaved like zombies, reaching out and grabbing at him lifelessly.

As nimble as a loach, he activated and circulated his Fleeing Cataglyphis Technique to the limit and dodged here and there rapidly.