Chaos Erupts

Inside the basement of the Myriad Treasures Tower.

All the Demon Cultivators, save for Blood Corpse True Person, had gathered together.

The Underworld acted with extreme caution. Even if such meetings were conducted in utmost secrecy, traces were inevitably left behind.

Thus, they generally exchanged information through encrypted messages and avoided gathering for discussions unless it was a matter of great importance.

"It has only been one day since the last meeting, yet Lord Rakshasa has summoned us here again. Could something major have happened?" The Demon Cultivators whispered among themselves.

"Eh? Why isn't Blood Corpse here?" Someone noticed something amiss.

Knock—

The elderly man at the head of the table lightly tapped the tabletop, cutting off their discussion.

Everyone turned their eyes toward the old man known as Rakshasa.

Rakshasa swept his gaze across the room and said coldly, "Blood Corpse's identity has been exposed. This afternoon, he was captured alive by Zhishou Tower cultivators within the city. He is currently imprisoned in the Prison Department."

The crowd looked at one another. Only Cry Soul True Person's expression turned exceptionally ugly. Rakshasa's eyes flickered when he saw this, but he said nothing.

Silence fell over the room. At last, someone broke the deadlock. "Blood Corpse has always been cautious. He has operated in Yuanshan City for decades, and his false identity was seamless. How was he discovered?"

Rakshasa's gaze turned chilling. "That is true. If Zhishou Tower's intelligence network had become so airtight that it could see through even Blood Corpse's disguise, then everyone here should have been brought to justice as well. How could we possibly be gathered here?

"Therefore, there must be another hidden twist behind Blood Corpse's exposed identity."

"Lord Rakshasa, do you mean there is a traitor among us?" one cultivator tentatively asked in a low voice.

At once, the room erupted.

The implication of those words cast a shadow of suspicion over everyone present.

The people of the Underworld had always acted independently. They betrayed the human race for profit and had only been driven together by circumstance; there was even less trust between them.

The moment they heard there might be a traitor, their gazes toward every colleague around them became laden with wariness.

"When one enters the Underworld, a Heart Demon Gu is planted in one's soul. Should anyone harbor thoughts of betrayal, the demonic gu will devour their soul and leave them in agony worse than death. Therefore, I still trust in your loyalty to the Underworld," Rakshasa said slowly.

Heart Demons were one of the Devil Race's eight great Grade Eight Sacred Devil bloodlines. One of their special abilities was to cultivate Heart Demon Gu.

The Heart Demon Gu was planted within a cultivator's soul and continued to grow as the cultivator's cultivation increased.

The Heart Demon Gu possessed rudimentary intelligence. The instant its host harbored thoughts of betrayal, it would unleash the power of Soul Devouring, brutally consuming the host's soul.

Until the host's soul perished.

The pain of Soul Devouring was the most agonizing suffering in the world.

Compared to Soul Devouring, no matter how brilliant Zhishou Tower's interrogation methods were, they amounted to nothing more than this.

Thus, captured Underworld members rarely betrayed the Underworld under torture.

Since the Heart Demon Gu fused as one with its host cultivator's soul, no one but the one who planted it could remove it.

For the soul was the most vulnerable part of a cultivator!

Without this gu, the Underworld could never have grown so powerful.

—Most Underworld members were human traitors who chased after profit.

These people could betray even their own race for their own interests. Who could guarantee that they would not betray the Underworld again for profit?

Against such evildoers, only a coercive method like the Heart Demon Gu—using violence to subdue violence—could keep them under control.

"However." A cold gleam burst from Rakshasa's eyes. "I believe you do not dare betray the Underworld. But I cannot rule out that some fool did something foolish and dragged Blood Corpse down with him."

"Cry Soul, when I mentioned Blood Corpse's capture just now, your expression changed. Do you know something?" Rakshasa's face was dark as water as he looked at Cry Soul True Person.

Faced with Rakshasa's questioning, Cry Soul True Person's heart tightened. Clearly, Rakshasa's accumulated authority weighed heavily upon him.

"Lord Rakshasa, I do know something." At this point, Cry Soul True Person no longer dared conceal it. "Blood Corpse True Person's Corpse Refining Cave, hidden deep in the mountains, was raided by an unknown cultivator the day before yesterday. His female disciple came to Yuanshan City to find Blood Corpse for that very reason.

"At first, I did not think much of it, because Blood Corpse True Person's Corpse Refining Cave contained nothing besides several Corpse Pools.

"Although refining Corpse Puppets has been expressly forbidden by Great Xia, the ban has been repeatedly ignored over the years. There have never been no Evil Cultivators secretly refining Corpse Puppets, so Blood Corpse would not have been exposed because of that alone.

"His disciples did not know that Blood Corpse was a Demon Cultivator either. They only believed he was an Evil Cultivator.

"So I did not treat the matter as important. When you asked about Blood Corpse, my lord, and saw that he did not mention it directly, I did not expose him either.

"Thinking back now, there must be some connection between Blood Corpse's exposed identity and the raid on his Corpse Refining Cave.

"After all, there could not possibly be such a coincidence in this world—his nest was raided the day before yesterday, and today his secret was laid bare."

"Utterly foolish!" Rakshasa roared in rage. "That Blood Corpse! Seeing how meticulous he was in his affairs, I had always thought highly of him. Who would have thought he would dare conceal something like this!"

Suddenly, something within Rakshasa's heart squirmed. A message emerged from it and went straight to the soul between his brows. Rakshasa slightly closed his eyes, lowered the defenses around his soul, and received the information.

The Demon Cultivators in the room fell utterly silent, not daring to say another word.

Several breaths later.

Rakshasa opened his eyes and said coldly, "The Heart Demon Gu inside Blood Corpse has died."

The Heart Demon Gu and its host lived and died together.

Since Blood Corpse's Heart Demon Gu had died, Blood Corpse True Person must have perished as well.

"Something is wrong." Cry Soul True Person furrowed his brow deeply and said in confusion, "Whenever Zhishou Tower captures one of our Underworld people, they always imprison them for a very long time. During that period, they employ all sorts of methods in hopes of extracting intelligence.

"Blood Corpse has only been captured for a few hours. How could Zhishou Tower have acted against him so quickly?"

"This matter is exceedingly strange, and it just so happens to have occurred at a time like this."

Cry Soul True Person's words plunged all the Demon Cultivators present into deep thought.

"Then, Lord Rakshasa, should our plan proceed as usual?" someone finally asked.

Rakshasa's gaze drifted, as though he were considering something.

The Demon Cultivators all fell silent and waited for Rakshasa's decision.

After a long while.

A cold gleam burst from Rakshasa's eyes. "Proceed as usual. Our Qingzhou Branch Hall has plotted the Corpse Puppet Uprising for many years.

"If this succeeds, then among the branch halls of the Southern Region's many provinces, our Azure Province shall take the lead.

"The plan to seize the Heavenly Mystery Mirror in Yuanshan City is an exceedingly important link in the Corpse Puppet Uprising. We have no reason to abandon it.

"With the Heart Demon Gu, Blood Corpse True Person certainly would not reveal this operation to Zhishou Tower.

"On the contrary, because of Blood Corpse's exposure, Qi Yuan may become even more determined to use the Heavenly Mystery Mirror Fragment to investigate the heart of the Blood Pool.

"No matter what, for the Underworld's great cause, we shall not shrink from death a hundred times over!"

"Let this matter rest for now. Taking the mirror is our priority. Go back and inspect the tasks assigned to you once more. If another mistake occurs, heh, I will show no mercy."

A faint blood-colored gleam flickered in Rakshasa's eyes as demonic qi spilled from him.

The Underworld's membership was exceedingly complex. Besides a great number of human cultivators controlled by Heart Demon Gu, there were also many true members of the Devil Race, as well as half-devils, half-humans who had been reborn with Devil Race bloodlines.

Rakshasa was one such devil-human.

Unlike those human cultivators, during the Underworld's Blood Pool Reincarnation, he had transformed a Devil Race bloodline and could already be considered one of the Devil Race.

The many Demon Cultivators withdrew one after another.

Looking at the now-empty basement, Rakshasa rubbed the space between his brows. He vaguely felt a sense of foreboding.

No.

This matter was of great importance. He could not leave anything to chance. There were too many strange aspects to Blood Corpse's capture; he still needed to make further preparations.

With that thought, Rakshasa cast his mind into the squirming object within his heart.

A strand of Spiritual Sense carrying information passed out through the squirming object.