Yaoguang Immortal Pavilion.
Chu Xingchen straightforwardly pushed open the door of the top-tier Heavenly Class room. The unexpected encounter with that young man held immense value.
[DEMON] should have been split into several groups laying low. One of them was in the Evil Spirit Sect, and the Buddhist Sect's [DEMON] faction likely didn't know about this group, otherwise the manhunt wouldn't be operating this way.
All they needed was for the Buddhist Sect to pressure the [DEMON] serving as their lapdogs. The Buddhist Sect were ultimately human, but demons were true demons.
Furthermore, the other two groups of潜伏 [DEMON] probably had little contact with each other, or perhaps the high positions in the Buddhist Sect were still held by humans, so top-secret information wouldn't leak easily.
Otherwise, the young man wouldn't have been so conflicted, ultimately just hemming and hawing about needing to see the direct order first.
The reason why the Buddhist Sect was hunting the Evil Spirit Sect was probably a complete mystery to those people as well.
This time was an unexpected windfall. He had originally planned to just observe the attribute tags in secret, but instead he had fished his way straight into their main headquarters.
But if he wanted to keep tugging on the fishing line, the bait needed something real—the so-called direct order of the Dark Crow Sect Master.
As for the direct order, there were probably only images of it remaining, since the Dark Crow Sect Master rarely issued commands. But the Eighteen Immortal Sects were still the Eighteen Immortal Sects—hiding anything that happened in Central Province from their eyes was extremely difficult.
Their intelligence on the Evil Spirit Sect was still comprehensive.
While Chu Xingchen didn't have the real thing, couldn't a fake be fabricated?
Counterfeiting had its grades too. A rogue cultivator casually carving something with a stone was entirely different from a high-tier artifact-refining cultivator of the Supreme Dao Sect going all out with a reference image.
Whatever the Dark Crow Sect Master could produce, the Eighteen Immortal Sects could absolutely produce as well. But what the Eighteen Immortal Sects could produce, the Dark Crow Sect Master might never be able to replicate in his entire life.
Counterfeiting was an art, and the Supreme Dao Sect had no shortage of artists.
Chu Xingchen pushed open the door, his gaze sweeping across the room. The words he was about to say died in his throat, and he looked on with a hint of confusion.
He saw a young woman hung up with a dagger plunged into her abdomen. Daoist Yuyang was gently twisting the dagger in her belly, the immense pain making her body involuntarily curl up.
Her mouth seemed to have been sealed by a spell from Daoist Yuyang, rendering her unable to scream.
Xie Lingyu glanced at the suddenly frozen Chu Xingchen, then looked into the room with a similarly puzzled expression.
Daoist Yuyang heard the door open and looked over to see Chu Xingchen's expression—the kind one would give a deviant—along with the words:
"Sorry to interrupt your fun. Carry on."
With that, Daoist Yuyang watched as Chu Xingchen, with a look of disgust, used spiritual energy to shut the door.
Daoist Yuyang's eyes widened. He knew Chu Xingchen's mouth all too well. If he went out and said a few words, even if they explained it afterward, he'd end up with several loud but decidedly unflattering nicknames.
He immediately shouted, "Get back in here! Your disciple sent this one."
Chu Xingchen paused, frowning.
"No matter who sent her, you shouldn't be doing this..."
"Bullshit! Your disciple sent her for me to interrogate."
Daoist Yuyang stood up. "Since you're here, come interrogate her yourself!"
Chu Xingchen was about to say something more, but Xie Lingyu stepped in first.
"Stop goofing around. Given your second disciple's temperament, he wouldn't send it over if it weren't important."
"Just having some fun."
Chu Xingchen shrugged and followed her in. "Brother Yuyang won't mind."
Daoist Yuyang said with a disgusted expression, "I mind very much."
Chu Xingchen strolled forward, raising his gaze to look at the young woman hanging there.
No surprise, no surprise at all—this young woman's attribute tags indeed contained [DEMON HEART].
It seemed [DEMON] was extremely confident in their concealment methods. Even knowing this might be a trap, they had sent her with full confidence, not worried at all about anyone detecting anything amiss.
Chu Xingchen's gaze locked onto the dagger in the young woman's abdomen. With just one glance, he understood this was his disciple's handiwork—used to lock down blood flow, creating a near-death state.
Was this to counter inspection techniques?
Li Xingtian's cautious streak still had a certain flair of his own.
Chu Xingchen surveyed the scene before finally looking at the young woman's face. Though her expression was contorted from the agony, one could still faintly make out a trace of innocence.
Was this an attempt to seduce him?
Chu Xingchen suddenly said with a laugh, "Excellent. This year's annual joke has been decided."
Daoist Yuyang looked over suspiciously.
Xie Lingyu's eyes also showed some confusion.
Chu Xingchen couldn't hide his smile as he spoke.
"Someone actually tried to use feminine wiles to seduce Li Xingtian."
Daoist Yuyang still looked puzzled.
But Xie Lingyu suddenly burst out laughing. Even Qinghe knew that Li Xingtian made no distinction between men and women—when hitting a man, he'd hold back two parts of his strength, but when hitting a woman, he'd add two extra.
Unfortunately, this annual joke could probably only be understood by the people within the sect.
Having delivered his joke, Chu Xingchen gently flicked the dagger in the young woman's abdomen.
"Interrogate her all you want, but does the Supreme Dao Sect really have to use such bloody methods? Isn't there a more dignified approach?"
Daoist Yuyang rubbed his forehead.
"Your disciple said this was likely top-secret. I didn't know whether the information she might reveal could be shared with others, so I had to try interrogating her myself first."
Chu Xingchen shook his head slightly and waved a hand, releasing a strand of spiritual energy to lower the young woman down.
"You don't understand interrogation techniques. Intimidation must be paired with inducement. One moment of pressure, one moment of relief—that's the way of interrogation."
The young woman collapsed to the floor, her entire body curling up.
As he spoke, Chu Xingchen retrieved a bottle of improved Supreme Restoration Pills from his spatial ring, then tossed the priceless medicinal pills to a staff member handling affairs nearby.
"You're in charge of feeding her the pills. One pill every quarter hour."
"She has no cultivation to speak of, and she'll bleed to death at this rate. Build up her blood first."
The staff member took the bottle without a word, opened it directly, took out a top-grade pill, and prepared to begin the momentous task of feeding her the medicine.
Xie Lingyu shook her head slightly at this.
She had to admit that taking pills personally refined by Chu Xingchen achieved two effects at once—both intimidation and inducement were accomplished.
Chu Xingchen looked at Daoist Yuyang and got to the point.
"She'll probably be moved enough to start talking soon. Right now, I have a more concrete lead to follow, and it's more urgent."
"I hope what you're about to say doesn't involve me."
"It won't trouble you, but it will trouble the Supreme Dao Sect a bit."
"Go ahead. Seeing you always means nothing good is waiting for me."
"Can the Supreme Dao Sect forge a replica of the Evil Spirit Sect's Black Crow Direct Order?"
"Black Crow Direct Order? You mean the token of that Evil Spirit Sect Master who's number one at running away? What good would that—"
Daoist Yuyang's words cut off halfway, then he flicked his robe with a half-resigned expression.
"Whatever use you have for it, replicating the appearance shouldn't be difficult. But the authenticity inside might not be perfectly flawless."
Chu Xingchen nodded gently.
"That's enough. I don't think the other side can necessarily tell the real from the fake either."
The words had barely left his mouth when a dull thud suddenly came from the center of the room.
Everyone's gaze followed the sound. The young woman was trembling all over, cold sweat pouring down like water, her face contorted, her eyes blood-red, her forehead covered in blood.
She raised her head high again, about to smash it down once more, as if passing out was the only way to escape the unbearable sensation.
Chu Xingchen shrugged.
"See? She's been moved. Already showing her gratitude."
Daoist Yuyang was silent for a moment before speaking.
"How come it doesn't look right to me. What kind of pills did you feed her?"
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