If only there were a method to kill first and interrogate later.
A flicker of regret passed through Du Xinghe’s heart.
As the saying goes, when the enemy retreats, we advance. She didn’t relax in the slightest, pressing forward step by step while asking, “What do you want to say?”
“You trespassed into my cultivation sanctuary, took advantage of it, and then blew it up? That was the result of fifty years of my hard work!”
Lu Youwei formed hand seals, channeling spiritual energy. He was maneuvering around her, looking for openings to kill her.
A good question.
Du Xinghe retorted, “Do you know that the refining array you used damaged the foundation of Little Cloud Mountain, causing suffering to all living beings on it?”
As an Artifact Cultivator, even with magic artifacts for protection, Lu Youwei was at a disadvantage against a sword cultivator. He shouted, “That’s completely unimportant! Do you know how many spirit stones I spent to set up this array!”
His evasive words were an attempt to gauge how much this female cultivator actually knew about this cultivation sanctuary.
“Exactly so,”
Du Xinghe executed the Misty Rain technique from the “Rainbow Skirt Sword Sutra.” Her body seemed enveloped in a fine drizzle as she simultaneously unleashed sword energy, vibrating her blade to create afterimages.
She actually withstood the Azure Jade Wheel’s assault head-on. Originally a single sword light split into two, aiming directly for his head!
Before striking him, Du Xinghe had already taken his killing move head-on. The flesh from her shoulder to collarbone split open, blood spraying everywhere, turning the Misty Rain technique into a bloody mist. Half her face was splattered with blood droplets, yet she smiled:
“I also think your fifty years of hard work is unimportant.”
Lu Youwei’s expression changed dramatically, and he prepared to burn his essence blood to escape.
Damn it, I shouldn’t have confronted a sword cultivator head-on!
Lu Youwei was filled with regret.
At the same cultivation level, if he burned his essence blood to flee, even with her exceptional talent, she couldn’t stop him.
“Kill!”
Du Xinghe shouted clearly. A crimson flame sphere materialized before her, enveloping the deep valley in red. The stream at the bottom was dyed crimson as a giant beast leaped from the red light, biting through the waist of the fleeing Lu Youwei.
He screamed, vomiting blood.
As the red light dissipated, the giant beast’s form became visible.
Its appearance was extremely strange – head like a sheep, four hooves like a wolf, body shimmering with colorful light adorned with unique cloud patterns that shifted with iridescent radiance under the light. Each of its two heads bore a single horn, and one of the heads had bitten completely through his waist…
“It seems your luck has run out today,”
Du Xinghe walked over as Ye Qi gently nuzzled her hand: “Between my two children, only the younger sister is fierce. If the older brother had bitten you, you might have survived half-alive to chat with me for a moment.”
The already deceased Lu Youwei naturally couldn’t respond.
“However, I never intended to let you leave today anyway.”
If the mastermind behind coming to Little Cloud Mountain had far surpassed her in cultivation, she would have spared no effort to have the Qilin help her escape – she had even planned the escape route, passing through Great Cloud Mountain to pick up A Qi along the way.
But since their cultivation levels were similar, and he was an Artifact Cultivator who was inferior to her in actual combat, only one of them could walk out of Little Cloud Mountain alive today.
Letting him return would be like releasing a tiger back to the mountains.
The original owner had always trained diligently in the Nine Yang Sect, killing demonic beasts in secret realms and during training, but had never killed a person. However, in this era of great competition, fighting for opportunities and seizing Magical Treasures inevitably involved killing. Holding back only existed in fantasy idol dramas with censorship requirements and children’s books.
Du Xinghe remained surprisingly calm, stroking the Qilin rhythmically. “Just as well. Though I can’t learn about cultivation sites from him now, it makes investigating this place easier… Stop eating, come back.”
Ning Lin swallowed hard, suppressing his craving before returning to her side.
The two had no prior grievances, but today a victor had to be decided. Consuming a Foundation Establishment cultivator offered little benefit to the Qilin, and further devouring would be excessive. She formed hand seals, searched his belongings, then buried him where he fell.
When Ye Qi saw her nearly drenched in blood, he tenderly licked her wounds, channeling his spiritual power to accelerate healing. Ning Lin watched with simmering jealousy but could do nothing—his cultivation path differed from his brother’s, leaving him unable to heal her.
[Mother shouldn’t have restrained me! Had she released me earlier, I’d have devoured him alive!]
Ning Lin spat with resentment.
After sitting down, Du Xinghe scooped water to clean her wounds.
While allowing Ye Qi to treat her injuries, she examined Lu Youwei’s magic artifact. Ironically, even newly accepted junior sisters had received artifacts from Yuanming Zunzhe, yet she never obtained one. The merit points she accumulated were often taken by senior brothers to exchange for combat supply elixir pills.
“Though a low-grade artifact, its penetrating power shouldn’t be underestimated—it breached my protective aura.”
She pondered thoughtfully.
[That’s not true! Mother intentionally used herself as bait, trading severe injuries for his fatal wound. I saw it clearly!] Ning Lin protested indignantly, strongly disapproving of her reckless actions.
“Don’t be angry.”
The artifact carried its owner’s imprint, making removal difficult. Du Xinghe simply snapped it in half and tossed it to her cubs to crunch on.
Crisp crackling.
As the Azure Jade Wheel shattered, a stream of energy flowed into the Qilin’s stomach.
Meanwhile, the Warm Passion Pill’s effects gradually faded. Excruciating pain from her neck and shoulders interwoven with the tingling itch of new flesh growth hammered at her nerves. She hissed, “It does hurt somewhat.”
Where did her indifference toward killing and physical suffering originate?
Whenever Du Xinghe pondered this question, a dull ache emerged from the depths of her consciousness—her pre-transmigration memories seemed sealed by an invisible restriction. Under this powerful suggestion, she never questioned her circumstances before Foundation Establishment. Only after reaching Foundation Establishment did the restriction loosen slightly, arousing her suspicion.
“Perhaps I was an irredeemable villain or great demon in my past life.”
She inspected items stripped from the body, checking for self-destructing artifacts or talismans triggered by a cultivator’s death… Her search revealed she had overthought—the storage bag contained only some spirit stones and a palm-sized Communication Jade Slip.
When her fingertip brushed against the jade slip, it immediately glowed.
The jade slip, developed by merchant guilds, enabled long-distance communication among cultivators—an advanced version of the water mirror.
Typically capable of group communication, instant messaging, and displaying daily updates from the cultivation world.
However, when traveling, cultivators needed to spend minor spirit stones for each message sent or page viewed. These small costs accumulated, making cultivators with limited resources avoid usage unless necessary, or waiting until they reached guild-outfitted cities to “borrow networks” for communication.
In contrast, sect communication jade tokens served only internal discussions with costs covered by the sect, carrying significantly less financial burden.
Yuanming Zunzhe believed this object would hinder disciples’ cultivation, so he forbade young disciples from wearing it. The original owner dutifully followed the rules, but later, when Ming Zhi first joined the sect, she flaunted a jade slip gifted by their master, making the original owner upset for quite some time.
“So this person is called Lu Youwei.”
The jade slip Lu Youwei used was the cheapest kind. The contacts added in its spiritual network were only casual acquaintances among fellow disciples, and also…
Cloudrain Market – Jade Dew Fairy: When will you come play next, Daoist? My sister has returned from the secret realm. The three of us can cultivate together.
“What kind of cultivation technique can be practiced by three people together?”
Du Xinghe was puzzled.
Scrolling further up, more indecent messages came into view before she belatedly realized: “Indulging in sensual pleasures—no wonder he couldn’t defeat me. This jade slip is quite useful though. I didn’t think to buy one before. I’ll get a new one when I return to the cultivators’ market.”
After saying this, she tossed it to the Qilin to chew on as a toy.
Du Xinghe circulated her energy, attempting to accelerate the healing of her shoulder wound. Unfortunately, the Water Spiritual Root’s supposed affinity for healing seemed reversed in her case. A chilling energy seeped into the injury, giving her the comfortable sensation of being prematurely laid out in a mortuary.
【Alright, after we return, I’ll help mother nourish the wound.】
After Ye Qi helped stop the bleeding, he returned to her arm.
Du Xinghe tore off a piece of her robe for a simple bandage and stood up to explore the secret realm that Lu Youwei had guarded for over fifty years, as well as the source of the spiritual energy.
Pacing around the deep pit, she soon noticed something unusual.
Previously focused on the fight, she had overlooked how astonishingly thick the fungal growth on the ground was. Except where water had flowed, colorful mushrooms overlapped each other, feeling soft underfoot.
On a whim, Du Xinghe summoned sword energy to surround herself, clearing all mushrooms within a hundred steps.
With the mushrooms removed, a silvery-white surface was revealed.
“Wait, this isn’t ground…”
Du Xinghe held her breath.
This was actually a corpse—an enormous corpse!
How massive must his body have been in life? Du Xinghe wondered. Body cultivators were indeed larger and stronger than ordinary cultivators, but she’d never heard of anyone growing as big as a mountain!
This wasn’t a double-door refrigerator—this was aiming to become twin towers!
Observing the gigantic corpse closely, Du Xinghe noticed its non-human characteristics. Though humanoid in shape, it was covered in snow-white fur. This likely wasn’t a human but a Spirit Beast—and an extremely powerful one at that.
After walking for quite some time, she finally found its head.
Its eyes were tightly closed, yet Du Xinghe found she couldn’t gaze at them for long. Even through the eyelids, looking directly at them made her spirit tremble!
This was absolute cultivation realm suppression. Even after death for many years, it could still intimidate those who came after.
“Upon discovering this corpse, his first thought was the disrespectful act of refining it. Lu Youwei wasn’t simple either, just too lacking in talent and focus.”
Du Xinghe mused: “Something this big could keep the Qilin full for a long time…”
【Earlier you wouldn’t let me eat Qi Refining Stage cultivator bones. This Golden Core stage ape god at least counts as proper good food, right?】
Ning Lin rolled eagerly on Du Xinghe’s arm.
In a way, she and Lu Youwei were kindred spirits—both willing to do whatever it took for cultivation.
In other words, the ape roughly had a human-like appearance, making it rather unappetizing.
If this had been an exceptionally powerful pig demon, Du Xinghe would have treated it like a century-old fermented ham—she’d have insisted on tasting it herself, no matter what.
If it’s not of my kind, it’s bound to be flavorful and crispy.
After pondering for a moment, Du Xinghe still felt she couldn’t feed it to the Qilin—this Golden Core Ape God was likely of the same lineage as that ape demon. It had been protecting Little Cloud Mountain after its death, only for Lu Youwei to go and refine it, causing the mountain’s vitality to wither. This was an asset left behind by its ancestors.
“Even so, since I have a connection to this place, can’t I at least scrape together some other benefits?”
Du Xinghe paced back and forth:
“They say the DNA difference between humans and chimpanzees is only 1.5%. If I acknowledge it as a relative, could I also inherit the ancestral property?”
Just as she was gradually convincing herself, the sky suddenly darkened.
“You carry the scent of my descendant. Who are you?”
A hoarse, weary voice rose from beneath Du Xinghe’s feet.