With that thought, Xiao Zhongzi answered readily, "That's right. Exactly."
"Oh? You've got quite a bad reputation, but your cultivation is nothing special. Those who come here to 'vanquish demons and uphold justice' are usually just juniors chasing fame and a bit of merit. Why would the Underworld Monarch Sect send out a Spirit Lord and seven Nether Generals just to deal with you? For the Underworld Monarch Sect to 'act on Heaven's behalf'… isn't that laughable?"
Xiao Zhongzi felt a chill in his chest. Only now did he realize the other man was far too perceptive to fool. He hesitated before replying, "I… really don't know."
"Ha. Very good." The man's tone gave no hint of joy or anger. That only made Xiao Zhongzi feel colder, as if the sharp blade hanging over his head might at any moment plunge down, piercing through all his hopes and dreams in one stroke.
A sharp pain ran across his scalp. He no longer dared to dodge the question and shouted, "Wait! I'll tell you! They're after the manual in my possession!"
"A manual? You mean that demonic technique you practice? The Underworld Monarch Sect's Seven Ghosts Seize-the-Sea Break is already a supreme-tier technique. What would they want with yours?"
Xiao Zhongzi gave a dry laugh. "My manual is the Blood God Child."
There was a pause before he heard the man's voice rise in surprise. "Blood God Child? Blood Wanderer's Blood God Child? How could you possibly have that?"
The man's reaction gave Xiao Zhongzi a faint sense of pride, but it was quickly drowned out by a surge of dread.
But the arrow was already nocked, and there was no turning back. He had no choice but to keep talking, though out of caution he lowered himself by a generation in address.
"In my youth, by sheer chance, I came across a few pages of a Blood God Child technique fragment. Once I began cultivating it, I couldn't stop. I devoted myself to collecting every stray page and partial copy I could find in this realm. Over the centuries, I was lucky enough to gather a few more, and only then did I truly begin to train in it."
What he said was mostly true. Blood God Child was one of the most supreme techniques of the demonic path, yet for countless ages it had no stable lineage. It existed mainly in scattered, hand-copied fragments, passed from place to place, with many incomplete versions drifting through the world.
It was not until Blood Wanderer burst onto the scene that the technique was fully revived. With unmatched skill and peerless genius, he not only perfected the Blood God Child but also created the "Blood Demon Heart Transformation Art," elevating himself into the ranks of the greatest grandmasters of the True One Realm, and establishing the orthodox Blood God School.
Even then, the scattered copies and partial versions never disappeared. If a cultivator truly spent centuries collecting and compiling them, there was no guarantee of completeness, but gathering thirty or forty percent was possible. The problem was that real and fake copies were hopelessly mixed, and whether one could achieve any success with them was another matter entirely.
After hearing Xiao Zhongzi's explanation, the man above him only gave a noncommittal "Mm." Whether he believed it or not was impossible to tell. Xiao Zhongzi felt uneasy; even though he felt as if he were submerged in icy water, sweat still beaded on his forehead.
It was as if the man above could see his discomfiture. With a cold chuckle, he said, "Do you take me for someone as tasteless as the Underworld Monarch Sect? Even if the complete Blood God Child were here, I wouldn't give it a second glance, much less your patchwork scrap of a thing."
If only you truly thought that, Xiao Zhongzi muttered inwardly, though his tense heart eased slightly. But then the man suddenly said, "No. That's not it."
Xiao Zhongzi's heart gave a heavy thump. He froze for a moment before asking, "What's not right?"
The man's voice turned cold. "Hmph. Do you think I didn't hear their conversation? The Endless Nether Lord's greed is boundless, that much is true. But Old Demon Luo's mind runs deep. He's got plans within plans. He's one of the foremost grandmasters of this world.
"I may be confident, but I know I'm still not his equal. If even I wouldn't give something a second look, why would he care? Well? Do you have anything else to say?"
Xiao Zhongzi felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. He knew that compared to the matter of the Blood God Child, this was a hundred times more dangerous. Earlier, there had been room to gamble on luck. Now, there was none at all. If he told the truth, it would be certain death.
So even though fear gripped him to the core, he bit down and insisted, "This junior truly does not know."
He knew the words were meaningless. After a pause, he pleaded bitterly, "Senior, please see clearly. I am only a humble rogue cultivator. Other than this fragment of the Blood God Child, I have nothing of value. How could I possibly know what Old Demon Luo is after?
"If you wish, Senior, you may take this fragment as my gift of respect. I only beg that you see my heart is still set on the path, and spare my life. If I ever achieve anything in the future, I will repay you with all that I am."
By the end, his voice had grown slightly choked. The man above him fell silent again. Xiao Zhongzi felt a glimmer of hope and was about to press his plea when he suddenly heard the question: "Where do you cultivate?"
"Demon Thunder Monastery!" The words slipped out before he could think, and he regretted it instantly, though there was no taking them back now.
His ready answer seemed to please the man above. With a low chuckle, the other said, "Mm. If you can make the Endless Nether Lord lose face, then it's worth it. Fine, go on your way. I'd like to see whether, a few centuries from now, this world might gain another Blood Wanderer."
It felt like a royal pardon. Xiao Zhongzi called out, "This junior will pay his respects to you in person, to thank you for sparing my life!"
The man burst into loud laughter. "No need. Just help me with one thing… Huh? That Nether General. Did you kill him? As I thought, it's the Blood God Child. Judging from those wounds, your Blood God Calamity Finger has already reached two or three parts mastery."
Only then did Xiao Zhongzi notice the corpse of the Nether General he had just felled with a single finger strike floating to the surface. Most of its blood had evaporated, leaving the body shrunken and shriveled, an ugly sight.
He had no idea what the man meant by this and could only give a vague reply. Then a sharp voice rang in his ear.
"Come up!"
The blade poised above his head withdrew at once. Xiao Zhongzi's heart gave a jolt. Why had the man suddenly changed his mind? He dared not delay, answered quickly, and rode his qi upward.
But before his feet even touched the ground, a fierce gust came straight at his face.
Not good. The old turtle's turning on me!
The thought flashed through his mind, and though fear clenched his heart, he was determined to struggle to the last. The attack came too fast to see clearly. Trusting only his sense of the incoming force, he shouted, thrusting a finger toward it; the Blood God Calamity Finger.
His strike hit dead on.
To his disbelief, Yuan Shuo's stiff, expressionless face didn't so much as twitch. His body was hurled backward, landing heavily on the edge of the sandbar before sliding into the water. Even though the vitality in his blood had already been stilled, the domineering force of that finger evaporated another forty or fifty percent of it, leaving his body rapidly withering.
I've been tricked!
Xiao Zhongzi snatched back his hand and leapt forward. He bent over Yuan Shuo's corpse, searching it quickly, but found nothing aside from the mark his own finger had left.
The Blood God Calamity Finger's power was brutally overbearing. The flesh at the middle finger joint had been crushed to pulp, covering up any wound that might have been there before. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Xiao Zhongzi lifted his head and scanned the surroundings, but there wasn't a soul in sight.
Just then, a whistling rose from across the lake, accompanied by violent surges of qi. Xiao Zhongzi cursed under his breath, knowing that man had set him up to take the blame. There was no chance to explain. Before the figures on the far shore could arrive, he leapt into the lake and vanished without a trace.
So that's Xiao Zhongzi? Interesting. There's a bit of my younger self in him…
High in the sky, a hundred zhang above, a figure stood as if walking on air. His flowing Daoist robes and immortal bearing made him seem like a true adept of the Dao.
His gaze rested on the growing commotion over the lake, and he smiled faintly. Not everything he said was true, but there was plenty of interesting detail. Trouble, though. Much more trouble. That little demoness asked me to come… could it be she just wanted to see me make a fool of myself?
As he pondered, another surge of qi disturbance swept in from afar. His brow furrowed. With a turn of his body, he seemed to melt into the night sky itself, leaving no trace behind. Barely a moment later, a ribbon of blue-white light flashed across the distant horizon, streaking straight toward the lake.
Old Ghost Yuan Nan got here fast. Face to face, I'm still not his match… Hmph. Hopefully for the next month, I won't have to deal with any more of these annoying pests.
His gaze shifted toward the unnatural shadow on the far shore of the lake. Then he recalled the subtle change in Xiao Zhongzi's expression when he'd mentioned the place. Demon Thunder Monastery. That's right. The meeting place that little demoness spoke of… it's here.
He curved his lips into a faint smile and was about to move toward the shore when something in his heart stirred. His gaze shifted just in time to catch a tiny spark of light flaring on the lake's surface; only for it to swell in an instant until it filled his entire field of vision.
The Daoist was first taken aback, then gave a low, cold laugh. So it's Yuan Nan. I still underestimated him.
With that cold laugh, he made no grand display. The longsword slung across his back sprang from its sheath with a ringing clang, carrying a sweep of green light that curled once before him. Only then did he grasp the hilt. A clear shout burst from his lips as sword qi surged forth, dense and sharp, like layers upon layers of interlacing bamboo shadows.
The fierce rush of true breath hurtling toward him slammed into this phantom bamboo grove, and amid the rustling roar of the wind, it gradually weakened, then faded away entirely.
From the lake's surface came a faint sound of surprise, which quickly turned into a chilling laugh. "The Hundredfold Barrier of Verdant Smoke and Bamboo Shadows. So, who from the Mingxin Sword Sect is here?"
The Daoist knew the voice could only belong to Yuan Nan. Though the man's seniority and cultivation far exceeded his own, as an elite disciple of a righteous sect, it was only proper to show some backbone when facing such a demon.
He smiled slightly and answered, calm and unflinching.
"Li Xun, the 'Spirit Bamboo' of the Mingxin Sword Sect, greets the honored Yuan Nan."