Seeing the two close in, their frantically twisted faces and violently erupting demonic qi filled Fang Xiu with immense threat and revulsion.
Driven by fury and vigilance, he didn’t have time to think. The dark steel heavy sword in his hand swung out brazenly!
“Courting death!”
How could a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s wrathful strike be parried by two Qi Condensation Peak cultivators who had barely recovered their spiritual power, were out of their minds, and were already in terrible condition?
The pitch-black sword light resembled the Grim Reaper's scythe, cleanly slicing through the faint demonic qi defenses they had hastily conjured and flashing across their necks with precise, ruthless lethality!
Slash—!
Two heads soared into the air, the frantic, greedy expressions still frozen upon their faces.
Their headless bodies swayed for a moment before spewing blood and collapsing heavily to the ground.
The area instantly fell dead silent.
Everyone was stunned by this abrupt turn of events.
The righteous disciples were dumbfounded, while the demons were struck completely speechless, staring in sheer disbelief at one of their Foundation Establishment commanders decapitating the other two commanders with his own hands!
Fang Xiu stood holding his sword, his chest heaving slightly, his expression ugly in the extreme.
No matter how slow he was, he understood at this moment that he had fallen straight into Su Yi's trap!
“Su Yi!” Fang Xiu's voice was like ice frozen for ten thousand years, laden with monstrous fury. “Just what did you do?!”
Su Yi stood where he was, looking as though he was also “startled” by this bloody sight.
A look of regret and helplessness surfaced on his face as he spread his hands, his tone tinged with “innocence.”
“Fellow Daoist Fang, what do you mean by this? Under everyone's watchful eyes, I returned them to you completely unharmed. It was you who grew suspicious and dodged backward, and it was you who personally took action and slaughtered your own fellow disciples. What does that have to do with me?”
He sighed and shook his head, his voice brimming with “sympathy.” “Alas, what a pity, what a pity... On this secret realm expedition, not only did your demon race suffer grievous losses among ordinary disciples, but even two core commanders like Feng Zimo and Deng Nie fell by the hands of their own. It truly... makes one sigh with regret.”
His feigned sorrow infuriated Fang Xiu so much that he nearly spat blood.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Tu Lingqie, who had already retreated to a safe distance, no longer wore even a trace of a smile. In its place was deep wariness and chill.
‘A Demon Devouring Pill... He fed them Demon Devouring Pills!’
She finally understood where that nagging feeling of wrongness had come from.
The Demon Devouring Pill was not a poison; in fact, under certain circumstances, it could briefly stimulate a demonic cultivator's potential.
However, it had an extremely insidious side effect: during the dormancy period of the medicinal power, the consumer would develop a pathological dependence and voracious desire for pure, potent demonic qi. Especially when their minds were shaken or when their sealed spiritual power was suddenly unblocked, it was extraordinarily easy to detonate, driving them like moths to a flame to pounce relentlessly upon the strongest demonic qi source nearby until death!
Su Yi had definitely slipped the pills into their bodies while keeping them captive and sealed.
That seemingly casual pat earlier that appeared to loosen their restrictions was the final trigger to ignite the explosive! He had accurately calculated that Fang Xiu and Tu Lingqie would retreat out of caution, and even more accurately calculated that Fang Xiu, having the purest and most profound demonic qi present, would inevitably become the primary target of Feng Zimo and Deng Nie once they lost control!
Looking at Su Yi's innocent facade that barely concealed his smug satisfaction, Tu Lingqie, though shocked and angered by his vicious tactics, curled her lips into a cold, eerie smile.
‘What a fellow, Su Yi! Truly venomous! Fortunately... I’m no soft-hearted pushover either. I already prepared a fallback, or else I really would have swallowed this bitter pill in silence today!’
Sneering inwardly, she shifted her gaze toward the hostages who had just been exchanged, who were currently supporting one another as they walked toward the righteous camp in shaken bewilderment.
Just as Fang Xiu decapitated Feng Zimo and Deng Nie, drawing the entire area's attention, Tu Lingqie’s hand hidden in her sleeve quietly formed a hand seal.
A wisp of extremely subtle demonic qi, laden with bewitching and provoking power, slipped out like an invisible thread.
This was a secret art from Soul Lost Ridge, capable of triggering latent demonic thoughts or hidden injuries within those whose minds were unsteady, causing them to lose control instantly or even turn against their allies!
She had wagered that these captives, having suffered physical and mental torment during their imprisonment, were bound to be fragile in spirit and exceptionally vulnerable to influence.
As long as a few of them suddenly went mad and attacked the righteous disciples beside them, it would trigger massive chaos.
When that happened, she and Fang Xiu could seize the opportunity to strike amidst the chaos. Even if they couldn't wipe out their opponents entirely, they could at least leave Su Yi in a frantic scramble, salvage some face, or even...
Imagining that gruesome scene, she could hardly suppress a chuckle. Demonic qi surged wildly from her, determined to force them into mutual slaughter.
Yet the scene she envisioned of the captives clutching their heads, screaming, and acting like raving madmen did not occur.
That subtle demonic qi vanished like a clay ox entering the sea. After sinking into the crowd, it failed to stir even the faintest ripple.
“Eh?”
Doubt surfaced on her face as she looked at the captives.
Instead, a scene unfolded that made her pupils constrict sharply. The moment those captives, initially looking terrified and frail, stepped into the perimeter of the welcoming righteous disciples, nearly every disciple receiving them pulled out a pill from their robes in unison and unhesitatingly popped it into a captive’s mouth!
Immediately afterward, they stepped forward, pressing a palm against the captive’s back, sending pure, gentle spiritual power surging in to help them rapidly refine the medicinal efficacy.
The entire process was smooth as flowing water, as if rehearsed countless times.
At the same time, disciples could be heard conversing in hushed, relieved tones:
“Senior Brother Su truly has divine foresight! He said the demons might tamper with the exchanged hostages and told us to prepare Demon-Cleansing Pills in advance!”
“Thank goodness Senior Brother Su provided these pills. Just now, it felt like something was trying to burrow in. Gave me quite a fright!”
“This high-grade Demon-Cleansing Pill is so effective! My mind instantly feels so much clearer...”
The cold smile on Tu Lingqie’s face instantly froze, looking like a clumsy mask plastered across her features.
She helplessly watched as the captives' complexions turned rosy at a speed visible to the naked eye under the efficacy of the Demon-Cleansing Pills. Their gazes grew clear and resolute, and even the final lingering traces of gloom from their imprisonment were completely cleansed away.
Her renowned secret art had... failed?! And it was dismantled in such a simple, brutish, yet devastatingly effective manner!
“H-High-grade Demon-Cleansing Pills?!” Tu Lingqie nearly blurted out in a shrill cry, her voice filled with utter disbelief. “One for each person?! How is that possible?!”
She simply couldn't fathom it! Just how precious were high-grade Demon-Cleansing Pills? Even disciples of the four great sects had to spend considerable effort to acquire just a few.
How could Su Yi hand them out like candy, equipping every single one of these ordinary, burdensome captives with one?!
And looking at how practiced the righteous disciples were in helping them refine the pills, this was clearly not the first time they had done this!
This completely exceeded the scope of Tu Lingqie’s understanding.
In her worldview, precious resources should be used where they mattered most—on “geniuses” like herself. How could they be so “wasted” on ordinary disciples and captives?
She had factored in Su Yi's ruthlessness, factored in Fang Xiu's caution, and even factored in human fragility, yet the one thing she failed to account for was Su Yi's sheer, absurd wealth!
He was inhumanly rich!
Across the field, Su Yi took in all of Tu Lingqie’s reactions. He had prepared for this trick long ago. While Demon-Cleansing Pills weren't cheap in the store, bulk purchases came with a discount. To nip any future trouble in the bud, it was well within an acceptable price to pay.
Rate on N.U.
