Traitor

"Ah——"

An extremely painful wail echoed across the small desolate mountain.

Immediately after, a wisp of a humanoid soul with a twisted face condensed in Xie Xuanyi's palm!

Soul search successful!

Xie Xuanyi, relying on his formidable divine soul power, forcibly squeezed into the dying person's Purple Mansion Heart Lake.

Unlike Xu You's Heart Lake.

Perhaps due to practicing the evil path, Rank Six's Heart Lake was a murky mess, churning with towering black waves.

However, this Heart Lake was simply too "dirty"...

The lake surface was fragmented by the black waves, torn apart, with surging demonic energy visible everywhere.

A calm Heart Lake is a symbol of a cultivator's peaceful divine soul. This Heart Lake was destined to cause Rank Six to suffer constant torment of the divine soul. Many evil cultivators inevitably face this tribulation.

Xie Xuanyi walked quickly across the Heart Lake.

He knew that Rank Six wouldn't live much longer...

He needed to complete the soul search before this person's vitality was completely severed. Rank Six's memories of this life floated in the sky above the Heart Lake, like the bloody Grotto-Heaven she had condensed. These memory fragments solidified into scarlet vertical pupils, making the entire Purple Mansion Heart Lake appear dim and eerie.

If she could hold on, Xie Xuanyi wouldn't mind spending some time to see how this Heavenly Puppet Sect disciple had walked step by step to where she was today.

But now, time was running out.

The most urgent task was to find the deeper "information" about the Bai Ze finger bone mission.

Xie Xuanyi wanted to know, who exactly was the black-clad Revered One in charge of the finger bone mission... what kind of sacred being was he?

Years ago.

He had also dealt with many Revered Ones from the Demon Realm.

In the past decade, great changes had taken place within the Great Chu Dynasty. Presumably, the Demon Realm had also undergone significant changes, but what if the other party was an "old acquaintance"?

The higher the cultivator's realm, the stronger their divine soul.

The wider the Heart Lake would be.

The more important the memories, the more likely they would be sealed in the deepest depths.

This was the case when he searched Xu You's soul. Rank Six's Heart Lake was almost three or four times the size of Xu You's. The further he went, the more red mist permeated, and even red light flickered, transforming into bloody lightning, sealing the surface of the Heart Lake.

"It's here."

Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes and stopped.

The familiar aura of the Demon Realm lingered above Rank Six's Heart Lake, forming a hard soul shield, enveloping it!

That Revered One had imposed a more stringent divine soul seal on Rank Six than on Xu You!

But for Xie Xuanyi, this level of divine soul seal was nothing.

Although he had lost his cultivation, the foundation of his divine soul remained.

Even if that black-clad Revered One personally launched a divine soul attack face-to-face, he would not be afraid.

"Chichi..."

A clear sword light lit up between Xie Xuanyi's soul's eyebrows. He slowly stepped into the soul shield, and countless demonic energies crashed into his body, instantly shattered by the clear Sword Qi.

Above the turbid Heart Lake, a familiar figure slowly condensed.

Black robe, black hair, only half of his face was visible as he turned his head to look back.

"As expected, it's an acquaintance."

Xie Xuanyi spoke softly, "Dragonwood Revered One, long time no see."

Many years ago, he had fought against several Revered Ones from the Demon Realm.

At that time, Dragonwood, among the many Demon Revered Ones, was the youngest and most "naive", having just been promoted, and ranked far behind in terms of seniority.

This was actually a fortunate thing.

Because the Revered Ones who fought against Xie Xuanyi were all killed!

It could be said... that Dragonwood escaped a calamity because of this.

Whoosh!

The turbid Heart Lake stirred up towering black waves!

This was Rank Six's memory, and the shadow of Dragonwood Revered One was just an illusion. No matter how Xie Xuanyi spoke, it wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Rank Six."

Dragonwood spoke softly in the Heart Lake, "Rank Three has already arrived at Carp Tide City... but I feel that his identity is a bit off."

Rank Six, kneeling on the turbid Heart Lake, lowered her head and listened to his orders: "What does the Revered One mean?"

"Give you three days, kill him."

Dragonwood Revered One paused for a moment: "This matter... must be done cleanly."

Rank Six's body stiffened slightly.

"Yes."

She agreed without hesitation, then slowly asked, "My lord, how did you discern that there was something amiss with Rank Three's identity?"

Dragonwood Revered One turned his head slightly, looking at Rank Six with an expressionless face.

Rank Six quickly lowered her head again, not daring to meet his gaze.

Waves surged on the surface of the turbid mind-sea.

The two, one standing and one kneeling, rose and fell with the waves, as if time had frozen and solidified.

Perhaps it was a coincidence... Dragonwood Revered One's gaze, cast behind him, passed over Rank Six, rising and falling with the waves, landing on Xie Xuanyi, who had now stepped into this memory.

"Heh."

Xie Xuanyi crossed his arms, looking at this scene with a sneer. The two "looked" at each other from tens of thousands of miles away.

No wonder the black-clad Revered One was so friendly to him at the last meeting regarding the demonic artifact...

From the very beginning, it had no intention of letting him go.

Is this the Demon Realm's way of doing things?

Use a chess piece, discard a chess piece.

"Intuition."

After a moment, Dragonwood Revered One withdrew his gaze, murmuring softly, uttering two words.

He had no evidence, nor did he need it.

For existences of this realm.

The mysterious and abstruse intuition is, on the contrary, something to be trusted most of the time—

Dragonwood Revered One put his hands behind his back, returning to his cold and stern tone: "Now that the Sun-Devouring Grand Honored One is still in slumber, I don't know how many people have betrayed this 'spider web' in Northern Prefecture and Qing Province... Rank B spies can no longer be trusted. After eliminating Rank Three, I will give you a full year of 'absolution', allowing you to avoid the suffering of your soul."

Hearing this, Xie Xuanyi understood.

As he had guessed before, this "spy network" in Northern Prefecture and Qing Province was controlled by only one person.

The Sun-Devouring Grand Honored One.

It's just that the Sun-Devouring Grand Honored One seemed to have some problems... and the control of this spy network fell into the hands of Dragonwood Revered One.

This time's Bai Ze finger bone mission was progressive, eventually falling into Rank Six's hands.

The Demon Realm spy network's so-called "reward system" was always a lie.

The reason why Dragonwood Revered One didn't care about betrayal was because those core spies who could truly be trusted were branded with soul imprints.

This was the reason why Rank Six's mind-sea was so turbid.

Xie Xuanyi had sensed it before, Rank Six's mind-sea was extremely dirty... it seemed that the "soul demonic artifact" given by the Demon Realm was used to control the lifelines of its subordinates.

Once you join the Demon Realm, there is no room for regret!

If you don't risk your life, you die!

Rank Six bit her lip, respectfully responded, and then spoke with difficulty, "My lord, the defenses around Carp Tide City are really tight. Even if this humble one obtains the finger bone, it would probably not be easy to get close to the 'secret realm'."

"Secret realm?"

Dragonwood Revered One's voice was deep, chuckling softly.

"After obtaining the finger bone, the time will be about right. Go see someone."

He put his hands behind his back, without any visible movement.

Dark clouds covered the sky.

The entire mind-sea dimmed and became gloomy at an extremely fast speed—

Xie Xuanyi's expression became solemn.

Clang clang clang!

Layers of demonic energy crashed against the surface of his soul body, colliding with the clear Sword Qi in Xie Xuanyi's own mind-sea, bursting out with continuous crisp shattering sounds!

The soul pressure on this mind-sea suddenly increased, which meant that the following memories were very important, and Dragonwood Revered One had applied a second layer of soul blockade.

Xie Xuanyi held his breath.

He had just been to Carp Tide River a few days ago, and the defenses there were indeed tight. The surroundings of the secret realm were probably already covered with a net.

To use the Bai Ze finger bone to identify the authenticity of the secret realm in advance.

There must be a "guide" with enough authority!

That mysterious existence that Dragonwood Revered One was about to reveal to Rank Six—

It was very obvious.

Was that "big shot" who secretly betrayed Qing Province and secretly colluded with the Demon Realm!

Z Warriors, assemble!