Chapter 150 - 149: Leading the Way

Chapter 150: Chapter 149: Leading the Way

Chen Qingyang didn’t kill her outright. He merely sent his Sword Qi into her body, pulling her Divine Soul into the Separation Huo Dragon Pearl to be interrogated at his leisure.

The man, already in a panic, used what little strength he had left to flee south.

Glancing back, he saw the Danxia Sword Radiance flare into the sky. Realizing his senior sister was surely dead, he changed direction and continued his escape, hugging the edge of the dense forest.

The mountains here were high and the forests thick. If he could just disappear inside and conceal his presence, he would be genuinely difficult to find.

Unfortunately for him, Chen Qingyang was tracking him with a Conscious Fish, making escape impossible.

In just a few moments, a whistling sound cut through the air. Before the man could react, a tall figure in a cyan robe stood before him, cradling a sword.

"You can’t kill me! I have a supreme treasure on me. If you harm me, you’ll suffer a backlash!" the Man surnamed Luo bellowed, seeing that escape was futile.

"Heh," Chen Qingyang sneered. "If that thing on you was really so powerful, I would have been more than just injured earlier."

The man roared with laughter. "If you don’t believe me, then come on! Try another sword strike!"

’Tough talk,’ Chen Qingyang thought. He formed a hand seal with one hand, using the Nine Yang Separation Fire Technique to summon the Li Yang Earth Fire. With his Conscious Fish coordinating the attack, he charged.

Green light flared from the man’s body once more to meet Chen Qingyang’s attack. But their brief clash earlier had drained much of its power, and it was now no match for the Separation Huo Dragon Pearl.

In a flash, the green light protecting him shattered.

"Your Magical Treasure is strong, but it clearly wasn’t left by a Foundation Establishment Master. Mine, on the other hand, has power far beyond what even a Foundation Establishment Master could wield!"

As he spoke, he flicked a finger. A streak of fire shot out, instantly sinking into the man’s body and beginning to burn his Seven Meridians and Eight Vessels.

The man scrambled to circulate his energy to resist, but his battered body was no match for the flames. He crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony and breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Stop! You don’t have to torture me. Just ask your questions. But you have to promise to let me go, can you do that?"

Seeing that he was ready to beg for mercy, Chen Qingyang ceased his torture and slowly walked over. "What method are you using to track the Sword Embryo?"

"Haha..." But as soon as Chen Qingyang finished speaking, the man burst into laughter. "Who told you we were looking for the Sword Embryo? I’ll tell you the truth: my Holy Sect is about to launch a full-scale invasion of your Tai Xu Sect! Our mission was just to scout your sect’s Array layouts..."

The man had barely started speaking when Chen Qingyang unleashed a wave of Sword Qi, severing his foot at the ankle.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old? The outcome of a war between Sects is decided by two or three extra Golden Core True Monarchs. Why would they need battle formations and send a mere first-level Essence Condensation Realm cultivator like you as a pawn? I’ll give you one more chance."

With his foot severed cleanly at the ankle and blood gushing from the wound, the man could only grit his teeth in agony. He no longer dared to spout nonsense. Clutching the stump, he fell silent for a moment before asking, "I can tell the truth. But how can you guarantee you’ll let me go?"

Chen Qingyang stroked his chin. "That is a problem. Just as I have no way of knowing whether you’ll lie to me. Fortunately, I came prepared."

With a thought, the Separation Huo Dragon Pearl appeared in his hand. It spat out a red light, revealing the woman’s Divine Soul.

"Now, things are much simpler. You’ll speak, and you," he said, gesturing to the soul, "will corroborate. If your stories don’t match, you both die. Whichever one of you is more helpful... I’ll let that one live."

The woman’s soul took in the scene and immediately understood. She prostrated herself before Chen Qingyang. "Immortal Monarch, please spare me! It was not easy for me to reach my current level of cultivation. If you let me live, I will tell you everything I know without reservation."

"Pah..." The man spat at the sight. "You bitch. What a wretched bitch!"

The two of them turning on each other was exactly what Chen Qingyang wanted to see. ’A cornered beast will fight to the death,’ he mused. ’The superior strategy is to leave an apparent path to escape.’

"Alright, you can start over," he said, pointing to the man. "How did you pinpoint the Sword Embryo’s location? You couldn’t have been wandering these mountains at random, could you?"

The Man surnamed Luo glanced at Chen Qingyang, then at his senior sister’s spectral form, clearly conflicted. "Three years ago, during a battle with Li Qianxue, a Master from my Holy Sect placed an invisible Talisman on the Sword Embryo. We’re tracking it with that."

When he finished, Chen Qingyang turned to the woman for confirmation, only to find she was far more proactive than he’d anticipated.

"Immortal Monarch, that Talisman is called a Spirit Rhinoceros Guide. Once its aura is imprinted on something, it’s extremely difficult to remove. Their Demon Sect assumed the Tai Xu Sect had already retrieved the Sword Embryo, so they dropped the matter."

"But unexpectedly, a few months ago, the Spirit Rhinoceros Guide Talisman suddenly became active in this area, which led to all of this."

She hadn’t just corroborated his story; she’d provided the full context. Chen Qingyang chuckled. "Very good. You get to live."

Hearing this, the man would have jumped to his feet and started screaming if his leg weren’t severed. "You bitch! You actually believe him? This man is more ruthless than any disciple of our Holy Sect! He’s a master manipulator—do you really think he’s some kind of saint?"

Chen Qingyang ignored the man and spoke slowly to the woman’s soul. "Rest assured, my word is my bond. When this is over, you can escape in your Divine Soul Body. You can’t go back to the Demon Sect anyway, so I’ll just consider this me planting a seed of good karma."

With his transcendent air, he truly looked the part of an enlightened Quanzhen Master. The woman’s soul bobbed up and down in agreement. "Yes, yes, of course, the Immortal Monarch is right."

Chen Qingyang turned back to the man. "You’re not without a chance. I’ll ask you for the third time: how do you lock onto the position of the Spirit Rhinoceros Guide Talisman?"

This time, the man answered without hesitation. "We have a Magical Treasure that can sense it when we’re nearby. And we mark every place we search on a map."

"If you get your hands on them, you might be able to find the Sword Embryo. I’ve told you everything now. Will you really let me go?"

Though he had cursed Chen Qingyang’s ruthlessness, he was still clinging to that one sliver of hope for survival.

’If I’d been captured alone, I could have accepted death. But I was with this bitch. I can’t lose to her, no matter what.’

After the man finished, Chen Qingyang turned his gaze back to the woman.

"Immortal Monarch... Immortal Monarch, your Sword Formulas are magnificent! If you obtain the Sword Embryo, your Cultivation is bound to reach the next level. Even Foundation Establishment will be just a matter of time! The two magical treasures are on my body, the Immortal Monarch will see them at a glance..."

She was rambling, so much so that Chen Qingyang had to cut her off. "One last question. If you can answer it, I’ll kill him and let you live."

The woman was only a Divine Soul Body, or else her face would have surely paled. Her form flickered in the wind, betraying her panic. "Immortal Monarch, I..."

A single glance from Chen Qingyang silenced her.

"Haha..." The man suddenly seemed to realize something and burst out laughing again.

"Look, you bitch! The man is completely fickle! You really think he’ll let you live? I know everything, but I’m not saying a damn thing. Kill me or torture me, do whatever you want."

The moment the man finished speaking, the woman’s soul interjected, "Immortal Monarch, I don’t want to die! Please, what is your question? I’m sure I can answer it!"

Chen Qingyang said, "Who was it that leaked Li Qianxue’s location?"

The woman’s soul flickered, stunned for a moment. Then she said, "I know... It was..."

But before she could speak the name, Chen Qingyang cut her off with a wave of his sleeve. "No, you don’t know."

His gaze flicked back to the man. "She can’t answer. Now it’s your chance. If you can answer, you get to live."

The man hesitated for a moment. "The person is..."

But just as he was about to speak the name, Chen Qingyang cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Forget it. How could the two of you possibly know such a secret with your meager Cultivation? Anything you said would be pure speculation."

As the words left his lips, he unleashed another wave of Sword Qi, extinguishing the man’s life.

"You..." Chen Qingyang’s strike was so decisive that the man couldn’t even finish his last word.

The Magical Treasure on his body, having already deflected the Separation Huo Dragon Pearl twice, failed to activate a third time.

The woman’s soul stared, her form flickering with terror and a sliver of hope. "Immortal Monarch, does that... does that mean I can live?"

Chen Qingyang smiled at her, his gaze softening. "What was it you called me earlier?"

The soul froze. "Immortal Monarch, spare me! I was just spouting nonsense..."

"Never mind. Shameless, you say? So be it."

Another wave of Sword Qi shredded her Divine Soul.

Small golden characters floated before his eyes. From the two of them, he had reaped a total of 4765 Immortal Seedlings.

’At this rate, my breakthroughs will be incredibly fast.’

He then searched the man’s corpse. Aside from some Spirit Stones and miscellaneous items, he found two Magical Artifacts.

One was a Jade Hairpin, a vibrant green, which contained a potent Qi Mechanism. This was the item that had saved the man’s life twice.

Chen Qingyang tossed it on the ground, not wanting it. He kept the other Magical Artifact: a Bronze Folding Fan engraved with images of gods and demons. It too contained a strong Qi Mechanism and seemed to be a rather fine artifact.

The cultivator who had created the Jade Hairpin was far beyond his level; it would be nearly impossible to erase their spiritual imprint in a short time. Carrying it would be like wearing a beacon. The Bronze Folding Fan posed no such risk.

He incinerated the corpse, then moved to the woman’s body. From it, he looted a Flying Sword, a Token, a Jade Talisman, a map, a Magical Artifact shaped like a Heart-Protecting Mirror, and a number of Spirit Stones.

He stowed everything away except for the Token.

Then he swiftly departed, leaving only a Conscious Fish behind to observe.

Even Liu Tao carried a communication Token when she went on patrol. Chen Qingyang inferred that what happened here had already been reported to the other nearby Demon Sect Disciples. They would certainly come to investigate.

Sure enough, a little over an hour later, another pair, a man and a woman, appeared.

Though there were no bodies, the scorch marks on the ground told them that their companions were dead.

"Senior Brother... how could this have happened? Don’t tell me the Daoist Sect suddenly replaced Xuanwei Master and changed their strategy?"

The man pondered for a moment. "That’s unlikely. We would’ve heard something. After all, we have our people inside the Nine True Temple."

’So that’s it,’ Chen Qingyang thought, unsurprised. ’Otherwise, how would the Demon Sect have known the patrol routes so clearly?’

"Then how were they killed?"

The man scanned his surroundings. "We shouldn’t linger here. Let’s rendezvous with our other senior brothers first."

After lingering for only a moment, the pair disappeared over the horizon.

Chen Qingyang’s Meridians had been injured by the Man surnamed Luo, so he needed several days of rest and recovery. His Conscious Fish tracked the new pair for a short while. Once he saw them cross the Cyan Nether River, he recalled it.