Chapter 71

Qi Zhun, who had lived for over a thousand years and existed as a vengeful spirit sustained by resentment for thousands more, was now trapped by a child of only a dozen years.

He thought he had discarded his burdensome shell, yet he was still caught by a child.

In a one-on-one match, a broken body and a naturally flawed form would be a fifty-fifty chance. Initially, both sides were delaying for time, and a weakened body could only slowly mobilize its strength. When the clash came, victory or defeat would involve some luck, and no one knew who had mobilized more strength or was in worse shape.

But after discarding his shell, the thousand-year-old spirit still couldn’t compete with a teenager’s living spirit.

Lin Du had already gained the upper hand.

Formations could be divided into internal and external formations. External formations were set up outside, using geographical locations and formation materials to affect the external world, while internal formations were set up on a person’s body.

Lin Du used her body as the formation, connecting with the diamond wall outside the village. She used most of the basic formation of the diamond wall and, after meeting Qi Zhun and confirming the final position, drew the final lines, merging the internal and external formations. She became the core of the formation.

Internal formations, though intricate and adaptable, were rarely used by ordinary formation masters. They had too many variables and could not be calculated perfectly. Additionally, any slight mistake would result in backlash.

Qi Zhun hadn’t expected to encounter such a clever and deceptive madman.

If he still didn’t realize he was being set up, Qi Zhun would truly be worthless as a human.

“When did you realize something was wrong?”

“Prisoners have no right to question.” Lin Du nonchalantly pressed the formation pattern down another inch, her voice in Qi Zhun’s ears like a devil’s whisper in the night.

“But as a reward, I can tell you: it was Shao Fei who informed us of the discrepancy.”

The dark shadow first trembled in surprise, then blurted out, “Impossible.”

Lin Du followed up, “Impossible? Didn’t you notice? She led us to you.”

“But she clearly…” Qi Zhun’s voice, squeezed out by the pressure of the diamond formation, sounded like crushed, coarse syllables.

“Helping you escape? Forced to do so? Do you think that was helping you escape? Isn’t that making us suspicious? Qi Zhun, a Gu Master can easily control someone, but human hearts are so complex. Don’t you know that better than anyone?”

Lin Du sneered, “Now answer my second question. Where is the tiger demon’s cub?”

“What cub?”

Lin Du was taken aback, then narrowed her eyes. “Haven’t Shao Fei and you encountered the tiger demon?”

At this point, Qi Zhun had no reason to feign ignorance. Even if he remained silent, Lin Du could forcibly search his soul, though it would be time-consuming and unpleasant due to the thousand-year-old resentment, affecting her divine sense.

How could a tiger cub simply vanish?

“No, Shao Fei seemed to tell me that you fought a tiger demon today.”

Lin Du frowned slightly, not having time to think deeply. “Last question: who are you? What is your real name, whose body are you borrowing, and why are you confused with Shao Fei as fellow disciples?”

Qi Zhun, however, remained silent, even giving up and turning into a swirling mass of muddy black mist, filled with resentment.

Lin Du, frustrated, forced the formation pattern to press down further, pressing him into the ground by another foot. She looked down at the dark mass with disdain. “I’m asking you questions to give you face. Do you think I wouldn’t search your soul?”

“Do you know what a thousand years of accumulated resentment turns into? You would commit actions a hundred times more extreme than I ever would. If I’m defeated by you today, it’s simply because I haven’t found a suitable body yet! Do you think…”

Lin Du cut him off, “Do you think I’m afraid?”

“Today, I will show you what it means to be more terrifying than a ghost.”

With a blank expression, she poured out her divine sense. The formation imprisoned the spirit, rendering it immobile, leaving it to endure Lin Du’s soul search.

The girl’s eyes were as deep as ink, and her movements were cold and mechanical, as if she were dissecting laboratory animals, extracting the necessary organs, weighing, grinding, operating, and calculating with clinical precision.

Qi Zhun felt an extreme chill, a sensation so intense it made him believe he was back in his broken shell, suffering from the deadly cold poison of the Black Snow Purple Snake.

That poison was incredibly cold. His flesh, transformed from red willow branches, was sensitive to yin and resentment, yet it still felt as though his bones were being frozen, creating an illusion that he might die from the cold.

He wasn’t going to die; how could he die?

He only needed a bit of flesh and blood, preferably from a cultivator. With that, the red willow branches would restore his body.

He could survive; he definitely could.

The child’s flesh and blood were insufficient; he needed the flesh of a cultivator, rich in spiritual energy.

Shao Fei had said that Lin Du was the best choice. She was young, highly skilled, and had not learned body techniques, making her defenseless. She also didn’t know any formation or talisman techniques.

But it was all false.

Lin Du didn’t know body techniques, but she could crush the chest of the red willow flesh body with a single punch. Lin Du knew formations better than anyone.

Qi Zhun realized that the key was in that one line: Lin Du had brains.

People with so many psychological tricks were the worst.

Shao Fei was the same kind of person.

She was the useless person he had saved, unable even to cultivate. Yet she dared to betray him.

In front of him, she had claimed to be his savior with a debt of reconstruction, willing to do anything for him. But as soon as she turned around, she sold him out to the Supreme Sect, disregarding the fact that she carried his child Gu, which could constantly reveal her movements. With just a flick of his finger, he could have killed her.

Lin Du found it strange as well.

She wondered why Qi Zhun, despite living such a miserable existence, was still determined to survive.

He had just come out of the secret realm a hundred years ago, filled with vengeful spirit energy and carrying the scent of the willow demon. His original body was so impoverished that he didn’t even have money to buy a magic artifact for concealment.

An outer disciple with no master, he had performed poorly in the secret realm and failed to establish a foundation to enter the inner sect. Fearing that his unusual identity would be discovered, he fled in secret. While in southern Yunnan, he accidentally stumbled into a Gu sect village, where people believed he had a natural Yin poison constitution, ideal for raising black Gu.

From then on, he became a Gu Master, using the poison of the Gu insects to cover up the resentment within his spirit.

But the flesh of the willow demon needed to be sustained by blood; otherwise, it would gradually decay.

Qi Zhun had once been a refined gentleman, practicing the Gentleman Sword and walking the path of righteousness. Everyone said he was the most courteous sword cultivator in the righteous sect, perhaps even with a chance to ascend.

Until people realized that Lan Ju Realm had not seen anyone ascend for a long time, and even the seventh stage had disappeared.

Cultivators might not aim for ascension, but everyone wanted to live.

That period of memory was extremely chaotic in Qi Zhun’s soul, like being covered in a layer of yellow sand, fragmented and incoherent.

It seemed that for Qi Zhun, it was also a nightmarish dream that even he found shocking.

But the memory of the Dongming Realm was the absurd reality.

The cultivator of the Gentleman Sword, in order to survive, became like a rat in the gutter, coveting flesh and blood, wandering in the human world, practicing the most sinister evil techniques, becoming a heretic, unwilling to advance through the righteous path for fear that the heavenly way of the Dongming Realm would detect this outsider during the tribulation.

Indeed, they had entered the Dongming Realm through special means. The greatest fear was not anyone but the heavens.

In the end, it was all the heavens toying with people.

Shao Fei was someone he had saved on a whim. He no longer wanted to eat people; he wanted a normal body, to collect materials for a successful soul transfer, but to ensure complete success and avoid all accidents, he needed a loyal servant.

A person with no descendants, whose life was in his hands, was the perfect choice.

Who could have imagined that this person would dare to join forces with outsiders to devour his master?

Lin Du finished probing his memories and said slowly, “In over a hundred years in the Dongming Realm, you’ve eaten fifty-seven people. Do you remember?”

Those people had been consumed cleanly, silently, without alerting anyone. The Gu Master’s bone-melting water was also a good tool.

At first, Qi Zhun had been restrained, even until recently. Every time he felt his decline, he had restrained himself, resulting in physical aging, poisonous insect backlash, and self-poisoning.

The reason his body was unusually elongated was that the red willow had not consumed flesh for too long, gradually reverting to its original form.

Yet, he could never restrain his desire for flesh.

During the day, when he was about to finish off the child, Shao Fei had rushed over, saying hastily, “The village chief has called the Supreme Sect’s cultivators. You should run, and I’ll handle the aftermath.”

The scene, however, had left behind remnants of flesh, clearly Shao Fei’s work.

Lin Du couldn’t help but laugh after probing his soul. Shao Fei was truly impressive.