Mysterious and Powerful

These dozen or so flying escape treasures had all been refined from gloomy, blackened clumps of tree roots.

These root clumps retained their original forms. Each was two zhang long and wide, their stumps rotten beyond recognition, their roots of varying thickness spreading their claws and baring their fangs like octopus tentacles.

Yet paired with the threads of black light constantly flowing from them, that clawing display possessed a savage, violent beauty of its own, perfectly suited to these evil cultivators who blocked roads and robbed passersby.

The rotten stumps caved inward, naturally forming one throne after another.

Moreover, these root clumps exuded an indescribably crisp medicinal fragrance.

There were nearly twenty cultivators atop these peculiar flying escape treasures.

Before the black-clad female cultivator spoke, their faces had been filled with anticipation, greed, excitement, smug satisfaction, and mockery.

Even when the black crystal swords wantonly pierced and shattered the Vital Energy laws around them, instantly punching through their strange flying escape treasures, those expressions still remained on their faces.

The appearance of these black crystal swords could only be described as an eruption.

They were simply too fast.

Fast as dry weeds and rotten wood being swept away, so fast that they had no time to make any effective response.

So fast that everything seemed like a completely frozen image.

So fast that even the expressions on their faces had no time to change.

Pfft pfft pfft pfft...

Shattered roots, broken branches, bloody flesh, and severed limbs splashed down, breaking that frozen tableau.

Yet the enormous black crystal swords crisscrossing the sky remained utterly motionless in midair.

Scattered roots and flesh fell amid those frozen black crystal swords, forming an even more soul-stirring sight.

"Ah!"

A chorus of horrified cries rang out.

Seven figures shot away in all directions.

With just this single strike, the black crystal swords had destroyed the flying escape treasures these cultivators had been controlling and, in passing, killed most of them.

The black-clad female cultivator sneered and did not attack again.

Qing Xu had originally cast no shadow within the black cloud before him, but now a black shadow flowed out from behind him and split into seven.

The faint black shadows rushed out of the black cloud and turned into seven streams of black smoke in the air.

These seven streams of black smoke were exceedingly thin and faint, as though they might disperse at any moment, yet within a single breath, they caught up to the seven figures fleeing in different directions.

Five streams of black smoke landed directly upon the backs of five people, then instantly scattered.

The sight of that wispy black smoke settling and dispersing was like invisible people each holding a mouthful of black smoke and gently blowing it onto the five men's backs. There was no terrifying surge of power at all.

Yet those five people immediately fell straight down like pieces of wood.

The remaining two cultivators were so terrified that they could not even make a sound.

They had never even heard of such a spell. It seemed that no protective treasure could do anything against this black smoke.

At that moment, the two streams of black smoke pursuing them had already passed over their heads and arrived before them.

The two streams of black smoke suddenly transformed not far in front of them, forming a black smiling face wreathed in mist.

The two cultivators trembled from head to toe and stopped in midair, no longer daring to move.

"If you don't smile, you die. Will you smile or not?" the black-clad female cultivator's voice rang out again.

These two cultivators clearly did not possess the courage to be killed but not humiliated. They immediately forced out smiles uglier than crying.

There might be fools among cultivators who could remain safely in a sect until they died of old age, but there were no fools among evil cultivators like them, who licked blood from a blade's edge.

Both of them understood very clearly that the only reason they were still alive while everyone else had died was because they were the two with the highest cultivation among this group.

Among evil cultivator gangs that cultivated through plunder, the ones with the highest cultivation were often the leaders.

One of them was called Bai Shuilán, and the other Kong Mengzhu.

Both were at the first layer of the Golden Core stage.

Among the cultivators who had just died were no fewer than five Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. One had been at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, and two had been at the eighth layer!

With their strength, ambushing two or three Golden Core True Persons from the Lesser Jade Continent would have been as easy as turning a hand over. Yet who could have imagined that they would be dealt with by two people without so much as blowing dust away?

They had never imagined that the other side would not waste a single word. Faced with all of them, they had attacked directly, killing with clean, decisive efficiency.

This was a crushing difference of entirely different levels. That sky-covering Killing Intent when the crystal swords had suddenly appeared... They simply could not imagine what kind of existence they had provoked.

"What are the names of you two fellow cultivators?"

The black cloud slowly descended, settling before the two Golden Core cultivators whose faces were ashen.

The black cloud parted like a curtain, revealing the black-clad female cultivator and Qing Xu. Yet the black tree within the cloud had vanished without a trace.

The instant the two Golden Core cultivators saw the black-clad female cultivator and Qing Xu, they felt as though icy spikes were about to pierce out through their scalps.

Mysterious and powerful.

Even standing so close, with their cultivation, they could not sense what cultivation the two possessed.

"Bai Shuilán," said the Golden Core cultivator with the lean face, who appeared to be over fifty.

"Kong Mengzhu," the other Golden Core cultivator promptly said as well. He was short, only five chi tall, with remarkably regular features. He looked to be in his thirties, and setting aside his stature, he was quite a handsome man.

"You ask them." The black-clad female cultivator suddenly turned and smiled at Qing Xu. "I always feel that someone like you, who never lies and is so solemn and proper, is more intimidating when questioning people at a time like this."

Bai Shuilán and Kong Mengzhu immediately broke out in cold sweat again.

Was there still any need to speak of intimidation at a time like this?

"I know three kinds of Soul Searching Technique, but I have always believed that Soul Searching Technique works much better on the dead. Do you two know why?" Qing Xu asked the two Golden Core cultivators without a trace of emotion on his face.

The corners of the two Golden Core cultivators' mouths twisted slightly.

They did not know how to answer.

"Because Soul Searching Technique can only strip memories. It cannot obtain the living person's own guesses and deductions." Qing Xu looked at the two Golden Core cultivators. "You should understand what I mean now?"

"We understand." Bai Shuilán smiled bitterly.

Wasn't this telling them to explain everything properly, preferably draw inferences from one instance to another, and preferably add their own guesses and deductions? Otherwise, the other side would simply use Soul Searching Technique.

Moreover, he could tell that the other side was not deliberately trying to frighten them.

Although Qing Xu had only said a few simple sentences, the matter-of-fact air about him made Bai Shuilán understand that, given Qing Xu's status, he had no intention of playing tricks.

Qing Xu merely glanced at him and said nothing more.

"We should have been used by someone."

Bai Shuilán immediately spoke. His very first sentence contained his genuine speculation.

"We intercepted you here because of the Yin Thunder Umbrella."

"Just after you left Blackwater Market, we received news. We did not think much of it when we received it, because the news said that one of you might be at the Foundation Establishment Realm and one at the Golden Core stage. Although being able to trade directly with different-origin items meant you must come from an extraordinary sect, the Yin Thunder Umbrella alone was already worth taking a risk for. Besides, we believed the treasures on you far exceeded just the Yin Thunder Umbrella."

After speaking several sentences in a row, Bai Shuilán could not help smiling bitterly. "Thinking back on it now, there were suspicious points everywhere. This news seemed to have arrived faster than usual, and its judgment of your whereabouts was far too precise. It was as if the person sending the news had known beforehand that you would pass through here."

"Who passed the news to you?" Qing Xu asked.

"Huang Pu Yun, the Workshop Master of Thousand Absolute Pavilion. Thousand Absolute Pavilion is in White Grass Market. Within White Grass Market, including Thousand Absolute Pavilion, there are four or five shops that specifically profit by selling and passing along this kind of information." Bai Shuilán explained in detail, then, feeling that was not enough, added, "I was originally a Rogue Cultivator of White Grass Market, so I know the people there very well. White Grass Market is a medium-sized market throughout the Lesser Jade Continent, but business like the transactions we conduct is done there more than anywhere else, and done best."

Qing Xu nodded and glanced at the black-clad female cultivator.

The black-clad female cultivator understood that he had asked enough. She smiled faintly and looked at Bai Shuilán. "When Old Ancestor Tong Hui underwent tribulation, an unusually large number of tribulation chasers arrived. Do you know the reason?"

"Someone had released news in advance as well," Bai Shuilán said. "We all learned the news beforehand, but the more people went to such a place, the less chance we had, so we would not go there hoping to pick up scraps."

"Then by your judgment, if we go to White Grass Market, is it possible to find out who released the news?" After thinking for a moment, the black-clad female cultivator asked.

Bai Shuilán smiled bitterly. "With the identities of you two fellow cultivators, following the vine to find the melon should not be difficult. Unless..."

"Unless someone cuts the vine first," the black-clad female cultivator said calmly. "That is no matter. It seems a trip to White Grass Market is indeed in order."

Qing Xu said, "It is worth going."

Bai Shuilán and the silent Kong Mengzhu suddenly grew tense. They instinctively sensed that the moment deciding their lives and deaths had come.

But what neither of them could have expected was that the black-clad female cultivator suddenly seemed to recall something. Her eyes lit up as she looked at them and asked, "What grade of treasure did you say the Yin Thunder Umbrella is?"

The two were utterly baffled, but neither dared hesitate. Both answered, "A Cosmos Grade Spirit Treasure. Judging from its performance during that Heavenly Tribulation, it should be a Cosmos Grade Spirit Treasure between the third and fifth rank."

"Hahahahaha..." To their even greater surprise, the moment they finished saying the words "Cosmos Grade Spirit Treasure," the black-clad female cultivator burst into wild laughter, laughing so hard that she swayed like a blossoming branch. "Cosmos Grade Spirit Treasure, hahahaha!"

Bai Shuilán and Kong Mengzhu felt their hair stand on end from her laughter. Only Qing Xu watched the black-clad female cultivator with a calm expression.

Though he should have been used to her peculiar sense of humor, there were times when it truly was a bit much.