Chen Ming's voice carried magical power.
Xie Yurou was instantly jolted awake. Bitterness filled her heart as she realized she had fallen for a scheme earlier and become someone else's pawn.
Moreover, the bloodshed in the city seemed to have another story behind it.
But things had come to this, and Xie Yurou refused to show weakness. Pouting, she said, "You demon! Even if they had grievances, why couldn't they seek justice openly and honorably? Why resort to using a fiend to kill people?"
"Were they really blameless?"
At these words, Chen Ming was left speechless.
The old woman trembled as she untied the bundle beside her and held the head out in front of her.
"The massacre of the 137 members of the Gao Family was all my doing! It had nothing to do with my daughter, Yinyin, or the True Person at the temple!"
"Immortal maiden, a life for a life. I have nothing to say in my defense. You may take my life now and satisfy your sense of justice."
"But I have only one question: can you seek justice for my daughter Yinyin's death?"
As the old woman spoke, two streaks of bloody tears slid from Yinyin's closed eyes!
Xie Yurou gritted her teeth and said, "I don't know what happened between you before! Besides, that's your business. Why should I seek justice for you?"
"If you hadn't gone up the mountain, how would we have run into that demon, Xuan Mingzi? And you even got two of my disciples killed!"
"Putting the facts aside, aren't you at least a little bit at fault?"
At her words, the old woman's chest tightened, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yinyin's head could no longer hold back. Yin Cold Qi surged wildly around it.
Chen Ming was just as disgusted by this female cultivator. She looked radiant and beautiful, yet she was such a shameless person!
Chen Ming didn't want to hear another word from her. He circulated his magical power and sent out a thread of Azure Wood Life and Death Gas, once again sealing the rampaging Yin Cold Qi around Yinyin's head.
If he didn't do this, the soul inside the head would have its mind ground away by the Yin Cold Qi in an instant, becoming a fiend that knew only how to devour people, with no hope of turning back.
Xie Yurou's thoughts shifted, and she came up with a plan. She chanted an incantation and recalled her Flying Shuttle Magic Tool.
"My Magic Tool can also use the Backlight Technique. If that old woman and the fiend really have grievances, do they dare enter the Backlight Method and reveal what happened before, so I can see the truth for myself?"
Xie Yurou's method was truly sinister!
The Backlight Technique was under her control, to begin with. Once the old woman and her daughter's head entered the Backlight Method, Xie Yurou would likely refine them to death.
By then, no matter what the truth was, there would be no living witnesses. She could twist right and wrong however she pleased.
As she spoke, the Flying Shuttle in Xie Yurou's hand whirled through the air, trailing streaks of yellow light that wove together and formed a Backlight Mirror.
"Do you dare prove your innocence?"
Xie Yurou's gaze flashed like lightning as she spoke to the old woman, her eyes full of intimidation.
How could the old woman resist? She was sucked into the Backlight Mirror in an instant.
Xie Yurou moved so quickly that Chen Ming had no time to stop her. The old woman's body and soul were already crushed by the Backlight Method and turned into nourishment, her entire life's experiences replayed.
The poor old woman died just like that. Everything her family had suffered was exactly as she had said.
"What else do you have to say?" Chen Ming asked coldly.
Xie Yurou merely curled her lip. "That's only what the old woman herself saw. She didn't witness how her daughter died, after all. Just because the body came out of the Gao Family's home doesn't prove the Gao Family did it! But I saw her lead a fiend into committing the massacre at the Gao Family with my own eyes!"
"Xuan Mingzi, throw that fiend over here too. I'll take a good look for myself!"
Although Chen Ming had sealed the rampaging Yin Cold Qi around Yinyin's head, her soul and mind were still clear. Now she erupted completely, disregarding the damage to her soul as she drove the Yin Cold Qi to fight Xie Yurou to the death.
Chen Ming reached out to stop the head. "You're no match for her. Going over there would just mean throwing your life away. Wait here!"
With that, he sealed the head completely and told Song Yu and Wang Xiu to keep watch over it.
"You're a truly treacherous and shameless woman!"
"Throughout history, proving your own innocence has never been the right path. Better to kill you instead!"
Chen Ming circulated his magical power, conjuring a thread of Azure Wood Life and Death Gas. It condensed in the air, then exploded with a roar, transforming into countless tiny, emerald-green swords as fine as cow hair, which shot toward her.
Xie Yurou hadn't expected Chen Ming to attack without warning. In a panic, she dispelled the Backlight Technique in the air and summoned her Flying Shuttle to shield herself.
In her confusion, she failed to protect her two disciples. The tiny swords formed from the Azure Wood Life and Death Gas instantly pierced them through.
Their bodies and souls were both immobilized by the Azure Wood Life and Death Gas. Life energy and death energy cycled through them in turn, leaving them neither alive nor dead, unable to move.
Xie Yurou cursed furiously. "You demonic fiend! You'll die a terrible death! Just wait until I summon my fellow disciples. I'll make sure you perish body and soul!"
Chen Ming paid no heed to her curses. He simply chanted silently as several threads of Azure Wood Life and Death Gas blocked her escape route.
They were already enemies. Why would he let her go and allow her to summon her fellow disciples?
Although Xie Yurou was in the Contemplation Realm, all her abilities were refined into the Flying Shuttle Magic Tool and the Magic Robe she wore. They were impressive in appearance but hollow within.
On top of that, Chen Ming's sorcery was cunning and unpredictable. The Azure Wood Life and Death Gas and Poisonous Smoke attacked her from both sides without pause, and Xie Yurou gradually fell behind.
Her Flying Shuttle and Magic Robe were corroded and pitted, making her heart ache terribly. But she didn't dare slack off; she could only grit her teeth and keep driving them to fend off Chen Ming's attacks.
They fought for a long time. Relying on the Flying Shuttle and Magic Robe to protect her, Xie Yurou was in a sorry state, but she hadn't suffered much harm herself.
But this was Chen Ming's Cultivation Place. If they kept dragging things out, the situation would turn against her.
Xie Yurou began to think about escaping.
She glanced at her two disciples, who stood motionless beside her, their life or death unknown, and quietly shifted her Magic Art.
The light from the Flying Shuttle and Magic Robe joined together, and a sound of Void-Breaking rang out. She reached out and seized the two disciples, then burst through Chen Ming's sorcery, Divine Abilities, and Poisonous Smoke.
Chen Ming had deliberately held her at an impasse earlier, waiting for this very moment!
The moment those two Chayi Sect disciples were struck by the Azure Wood Life and Death Gas, Chen Ming had already tampered with them in secret.
The formless worms spawned from the Red Spirit Worm had long since followed the Azure Wood Life and Death Gas, fine as cow hair, into their bodies.
All they'd needed was for Xie Yurou to touch her two disciples. Then the worms could strike at once.
The formless worms burrowed straight into Xie Yurou's Sea of Consciousness and began gnawing at her Divine Soul.
Xie Yurou let out a scream and fell from the air.
Without magical power to sustain them, the Magic Robe on her body and the Flying Shuttle in her hand instantly dimmed.
"How could I let you escape?"
Chen Ming sneered. Poisonous Smoke billowed behind him, and dense swarms of insects flew out, landing on Xie Yurou and her two disciples.
By the time the swarm scattered, the three female cultivators had vanished.
Only the Poisonous Smoke behind Chen Ming continued to twist and roil, strange cries ringing out from within.
The Red Spirit Worm was the foundation of the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method, but it wasn't beside Chen Ming at that moment.
Although Chen Ming himself could use the Red Spirit Worm's various extraordinary abilities, any flesh and souls devoured still had to be transferred to the Red Spirit Worm, the method's fundamental vessel, before they could be refined into pure Heaven and Earth Origin Energy.
Chen Ming first concealed the swarm within the Poisonous Smoke, waiting for the Red Spirit Worm that had gone after Golden Light Divine Lord to return. Then he could slowly refine them.
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