"..."
Yet Daiyu showed no sign of stopping.
"Wait!"
Seeing this, the old man had no choice but to retreat, sweating profusely as he cried out in a panicked, incoherent rush:
"I... I can tell you a tremendous secret!"
"Really!"
"A secret that concerns every cultivator in this world!"
"I only ask... I only ask that you fairies spare my life!"
At that moment, he had no choice but to back down!
His junior brother, whose cultivation had been on par with his own but who was stronger and younger, had just died. What was more, it seemed the people of their entire sect had been slaughtered by the four fearsome female demons before him. So, if he wanted to survive, his only option was to shout out a desperate plea for his life. He truly had no better plan.
"..."
But unfortunately, Lin Daiyu remained expressionless, steadily closing in on him.
"I—"
"I'll tell you!"
"I'll tell you right now!"
The old man was clearly terrified. Before Daiyu could force an answer out of him, he hurriedly spilled everything he knew—the so-called "secret" he planned to use to beg for his life—like beans poured from a bamboo tube:
"It's about the Heavenly Court!"
"Our Qingnang Sect spent countless years and untold effort to obtain this secret from a mysterious cultivation sect!"
"Really!"
"That secret said the reason our lifespans are now far shorter than those recorded in ancient texts, and far shorter than those of the legendary cultivators, is that the Heavenly Court is interfering!"
"They're draining and suppressing the Three Realms, suppressing the vitality and essence of us cultivators. They're even making the Underworld cut our lifespans short!"
He saw Daiyu's steps falter ever so slightly and come to a stop. Relieved, he hurried on without delay:
"Surely