Chapter 48#
The black-clad man showed a look of disappointment. “Why are you so spineless? Little beauty, I am a demonic cultivator…”
He leaned forward and raised his hand, wanting to touch An Wuxue’s cheek.
An Wuxue’s brow furrowed, and he turned his face away.
The man in black missed. His eyelids twitched, the teasing look on his face vanished instantly, and his expression sank abruptly as turbid qi rolled around him.
The young servant behind An Wuxue had already lost his senses from fear. As the pressure of a late-stage Tribulation Transcendence demonic cultivator spread, the servant let out a cry and collapsed to the ground.
The man in black said displeasedly, “So noisy…”
He sneered and raised his hand to kill the servant behind An Wuxue.
An Wuxue directly blocked the servant with his own body. Facing the rolling turbid qi in the man’s hand, he stopped him. “Since you want to capture me to threaten my friends, if you take me away silently, it will take a while for them to find out. If you leave no survivors, who will spread the word for you?”
“Moreover—I am a Great Completion stage after all,” he said, his face suddenly turning cold. “I simply cherish my life and do not wish to fight you. But if you push things too far and the two of us fight here, I will risk my life to attract my friends—do you want to try?”
At his cold words, the black-clad man’s gloomy expression softened slightly. “Now this is getting interesting.”
Spiritual energy rolled in the man’s palm as he formed a seal. Chains condensed from spiritual energy immediately climbed up An Wuxue’s upper body.
The wind howled.
The isolation barrier the black-clad man had set upon entering suddenly dissipated. In the blink of an eye, the immortal master who had desperately protected the servant and the demonic cultivator who was once the young master of the City Lord’s Mansion had both vanished.
In the hall, the wind continued to rustle. The tea table was overturned with a loud “clash,” and even the fragments of the teacup on the floor were blown around, rolling to the side of the servant who remained slumped on the ground.
A shard of porcelain cut the servant’s arm, and blood seeped out. He was shaking like a sieve, showing no reaction to the wound.
After a long while.
The servant suddenly snapped out of it.
—That demonic cultivator had taken the person away!!
He hurried to his feet and rushed out.
The City Lord’s Mansion was still silent, the few cultivators present unaware of the great demon’s arrival.
The servant rushed to the nearest immortal cultivator.
The cultivator said with irritation, “You child, bumping around like this—”
“Immortal Master, help! Do you know where the Young City Lord went? Just now, Young Master Zhao… no, it’s Zhao Duan. Zhao Duan came and took away the immortal master brought by the Young City Lord!!”
An Wuxue was taken out of the city by the demonic cultivator.
Back at the City Lord’s Mansion, he had originally intended to fight the demonic cultivator. Once the commotion drew attention, Xie Zhefeng would naturally sense that something was wrong.
But on second thought, fighting there would easily expose his Luoyue Peak sword techniques and seals, and it would not help him uncover the secrets surrounding Su Xue.
From the beginning, he had wanted to take advantage of Xie Zhefeng and the others’ absence to investigate the matter of the puppet mark alone.
Since this demonic cultivator wanted to capture him as a hostage, he might as well play along. He might even find out something useful.
He simply pretended to have no power to resist.
After the demonic cultivator tied him up and took him out of the city, he blindfolded An Wuxue with a black spiritual cloth.
Unable to see, An Wuxue could only quietly use his divine sense to investigate, making sure not to alert the other party. He gathered that he had been taken to a mountain peak where there seemed to be a villa, and he sensed many human breaths within.
The concentration of spiritual energy in the courtyard was extremely low, and turbid qi was everywhere.
The demonic cultivator threw him into a room, stared at him for a moment, and asked curiously, “Why aren’t you afraid?”
An Wuxue: “…”
He indeed could not act scared in front of a demonic cultivator.
He paused for a moment to avoid blowing his cover, then said in a low voice, “I am no match for you. What use is fear other than showing weakness?”
“Don’t call me ‘Sir.’ My name is Zhao Duan. Why don’t you call me ‘Zhao-lang’?” Zhao Duan said with a smile. “I have a tender heart for beauty. If you call me ‘Zhao-lang,’ I’ll let you go and take you as one of my cauldrons. By dual cultivating with me, you might even be able to push for Tribulation Transcendence…”
…One of them?
An Wuxue: “…”
He didn’t respond, instead lowering his head and spreading his divine sense.
In the villa, he could barely sense any aura of immortal cultivators. Most of the human breaths he felt earlier came from demonic cultivators, and there were many mortals as well. There were also some breaths with very weak vitality; he didn’t know if they were puppets.
Could Zhao Duan be the great demon causing chaos in Beiming?
Unlikely. A mere late-stage Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, he seemed to have no brains, was moody and violent, and could only suppress Qiao Yin and the others because of the cultivation he gained from turbid qi.
If not for the accident with the sword array, Qiao Yin and the others could have killed Zhao Duan with the help of the array.
While he was pondering, Zhao Duan, receiving no response, suddenly turned gloomy again. “You little beauty, sometimes you seem very tactful, and sometimes you’re inexplicably stubborn.”
He yanked the chain in his hand.
An Wuxue’s hands were bound, and with Zhao Duan’s yank, his body was forced forward, and he let out a soft grunt.
Zhao Duan seemed about to touch his sleeve, and the strong smell of blood from the demonic cultivator wafted over.
An Wuxue immediately frowned and said, “Get lost!”
In his previous life, what he hated most were those who killed the innocent and were licentious and evil!
Even though it was An Wuxue who was bound by the chains and even had his eyes covered, with just this soft reprimand, Zhao Duan couldn’t help but shrink back in fear.
He was stunned, his face twisting. “You—”
The pressure of Tribulation Transcendence descended!
An Wuxue’s heart tightened.
He was only here to gather information, not to truly suffer the humiliation of this demonic cultivator.
If it really didn’t work out, he would stop trying to get information and just take action, then search his soul later!
He quietly gathered the little spiritual energy around him, preparing to strike—
“Young Master.”
Someone suddenly knocked on the door from outside and reported, “The people for today’s offering have arrived and are waiting for you.”
The pressure suddenly dissipated, and Zhao Duan’s movement paused.
An Wuxue withdrew his hand in time, inconspicuously concealing his spiritual energy.
He heard Zhao Duan say, “I see.”
Zhao Duan stood up and yanked the chain, pulling An Wuxue out.
The man said with high spirits, “In that case, little beauty, you should take a good look at the benefits I can bring you, which are far more than those of your useless immortal comrades.”
As he spoke, he pulled the chain and led An Wuxue out of the room.
An Wuxue was still blindfolded.
He could have used his divine sense to find his way, but to avoid Zhao Duan’s suspicion, he simply withdrew his divine sense and followed along, stumbling.
Zhao Duan was very satisfied with this, looking back at him from time to time without any vigilance.
After an unknown amount of time, An Wuxue clearly felt that there were more people around, and there was even the sound of music and dancing.
Zhao Duan stopped, turned around, and removed the spiritual cloth covering An Wuxue’s eyes.
Daylight flooded his eyes. He blinked rapidly and saw that he and Zhao Duan were in front of a spacious courtyard. In the courtyard, many mortals were playing the zither together, and dancers were dancing gracefully to the music.
It was incredibly extravagant.
But if one looked closely, the smiles of these mortals did not reach their eyes, and their expressions held fear. They didn’t seem to be here voluntarily; most were likely captured by Zhao Duan for his amusement.
They were also surrounded by several attractive men and women.
The cultivation of these men and women was not high, but they were all demonic cultivators, and their clothing was improper. Some had sleeves made of thin gauze, and An Wuxue saw the mark under the gauze at a glance.
It was not the mark of the puppets outside the city, but the same pattern as the “cauldron mark” on his arm.
Were these people the cauldrons Zhao Duan had just mentioned?
Did Zhao Duan know the complete method of placing the mark?
As he was thinking, a young man closest to Zhao Duan stepped forward, leaned on Zhao Duan’s shoulder, and said softly, “Where did Zhao-lang find this young master? He is so good-looking…”
An Wuxue looked away, out of sight, out of mind.
He turned his eyes and saw servants bringing several people into the courtyard.
Next to each of these people was a puppet with very weak vitality, each with a pale face and a dull expression, possessing only an empty shell.
Those leading the puppets were all holding some rare spiritual items. Seeing Zhao Duan, they all knelt and presented them.
Zhao Duan waved his hand, taking the items. Turbid qi surged in his palm, splitting into several streams and flowing into the bodies of those puppets.
The puppets immediately became full of vitality, and their complexions turned rosy again, though their expressions remained dull.
The demonic cultivators who came with the puppets all bowed and scraped, kowtowing in thanks.
The more An Wuxue looked, the more uncomfortable he felt.
Was this the offering the messenger had just reported?
Zhao Duan turned his head to look at him and, seeing him observing the people, chuckled. “How is it? You see? These people were once your fellow immortal cultivators too. But they were greedy and tried to use puppets to resurrect the dead, yet lacked the ability to maintain the puppets’ vitality. One by one, didn’t they still abandon immortality and cultivate as demons?”
He waved his hand and took out one of the spiritual items offered to him, holding it in front of An Wuxue. “Their cultivation is not enough, so they rely on me to provide the puppets with turbid qi. But spiritual items always run out. Where do you think these items come from? Are they their own, or did they snatch them from their former fellow immortal cultivators?”
An Wuxue looked at the spiritual item, suppressed the disgust in his heart, and asked, “So? You cultivate turbid qi and enter the demonic path, betraying the immortal way and leaving the Beiming Sword Array in turbid qi, all for the flattery of these people and these spiritual items?”
“Is this not good?” Zhao Duan spread his hands.
An Wuxue’s heart tightened—Zhao Duan did not refute it.
The sword array of the twenty-seventh city of Beiming indeed had something to do with this demonic cultivator.
Since this was the case, Zhao Duan must have a connection with the person behind the scenes, and he might have even been led into the demonic path by that person to do these things!
Zhao Duan smiled and continued, “I’ve really had enough of the past. Now I don’t have to look at those people’s faces, or follow any damn rules every day, or listen to those old fools who are about to die talk about Dao heart and state of mind!”
“Little beauty, look—”
His sleeve moved slightly, and he suddenly exerted another burst of spiritual energy.
The demonic cultivators who had just finished their offerings were turning to leave with their puppets. Zhao Duan sent out spiritual energy from his palm and pulled one person back from thin air.
The person was unprepared, let out a cry of surprise, and instinctively circulated spiritual energy to resist.
The spiritual energy of the Tribulation Transcendence stage pressed down.
“Bang!”
The person instantly turned into a mist of blood!
The mortals playing music and dancing immediately huddled together in fear, collapsing to the ground.
The cauldrons beside Zhao Duan all let out a scream.
The demonic cultivators who hadn’t had time to leave were all pale, hurrying away with their puppets.
Blood mist drifted down, and the ground was a patch of scarlet.
An Wuxue lowered his eyes.
“Since they fawn over you, why do you do this?”
Zhao Duan thought he had successfully frightened him and laughed loudly. “Look at what you’re saying, still that set of immortal cultivator talk. Why would I need a reason to kill someone—I’m stronger than him, isn’t that enough?”
“No matter how strong you are, you are only at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Immortal Chu Han sits in Luoyue; when demons appear, the Chu Han sword appears. Once Beiming is unsealed, can you possibly gain any advantage from an immortal?”
He felt it was a bit strange.
Compared to Qiao Yin and the others, Zhao Duan was indeed strong, but even Xie Zhefeng’s avatar was at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence, which was higher than Zhao Duan’s cultivation. Zhao Duan didn’t seem particularly worried.
What on earth did this beast still rely on?
Zhao Duan said, “Why do you say the same things as those immortal cultivators again?”
He pressed his fingertip to his lips and suddenly lowered his voice. “Shh, I plan to take you as a cauldron anyway, so I might as well tell you—wait for Beiming to be unsealed? At that time, it’s not certain whether our Immortal will be the only Eternal Immortal in the world.”
An Wuxue’s pupils shook.
What did Zhao Duan mean!?
Within the Beiming boundary, was there a great demon at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence who was breaking through to the Immortal Realm!?
Wasn’t the secret technique of ascending to immortality using turbid qi destroyed by Nan He along with the fallen Eternal Immortals back then?
He was stunned and silent. Zhao Duan was exceptionally satisfied with his “fear.” He pushed away the cauldrons who were trying to crowd around him, yanked the chain binding An Wuxue, and pulled up his left hand.
“I originally wanted to use you to restrain those two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators. After breaking the twenty-seventh city and killing those immortal cultivators, I would kill you as well. I didn’t expect…” He scanned An Wuxue from top to bottom.
The cauldrons he was keeping now, where did they have such beauty?
The young man’s beautiful peach blossom eyes were full of shock, like a frightened little beast, making one feel pity. Yet that face, which seemed to have never shown fear or alarm, had a touch of faint coldness, like a flower filled with wind and rain on a high peak.
He licked his lower lip. “The mark I’m going to use on you can only be undone by someone whose cultivation surpasses mine, so don’t bother trying in vain. Once you become my cauldron, I’ll give you the spiritual items these people offer, and the turbid qi used for cultivation! As for those two friends of yours, if you can get them to join me, then I won’t have to kill them. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
As Zhao Duan spoke, he grabbed An Wuxue’s sleeve with one hand and had already gathered spiritual energy with the other, ready to place the mark.
But the moment he lifted the sleeve, he froze for a moment.
At this time, An Wuxue regained his composure, showing no panic on his face, and just glanced at him indifferently.
Zhao Duan’s face twisted, and he instantly became distorted with rage. “How do you already have one on your hand!?”