Ran Into a Peer

Mo Ci knew his disciple had a sharp mind and rarely engaged in empty posturing.

However, he still couldn't help but ask, "What makes you say that? I didn't hear any flaws in what that young girl said just now."

Chen Ye replied, "I didn't hear any flaws either, but when arriving in a strange place, the first person one encounters is rarely that simple."

Mo Ci asked skeptically, "Is that supposed to be evidence? It sounds like the delusions of a madman."

Chen Ye laughed at himself, "Indeed, just consider it my paranoia. Sigh, if only my cultivation were higher, I could just perform a soul search and be done with it."

Mo Ci mocked him, "What are you thinking? Even in the Tongxuan Realm, soul searching is extremely difficult. The soul is incredibly fragile; the slightest struggle will shatter its memories. Look at your Ten Thousand Soul Banner; the vengeful spirits that have been tortured for too long can't even remember who they are. What you dig up from a soul search might not be what you want; it might just be the resentment from being bullied as a child.

"The righteous sects' Heart-Questioning Technique also requires setting up a grand formation presided over by a master, and the preparation alone takes several months. Do you really think you can just reach out and know everything?"

Chen Ye sighed, "Yes, that is why it is so troublesome."

Chen Ye looked at the martial artists with their heads pressed against the floor; since he couldn't search their souls, interrogating them would be a laborious task.

Mo Ci asked again, "Since you feel that young girl is still hiding something, why did you let her go? Just pull her into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and torture her for a few days; I don't believe she could hold out. She would surely tell us everything, just like that monk did."

Chen Ye countered, "And then? If what that young girl said is true and she really is a righteous thief, when Miss Su returns and we review the situation, how are we supposed to explain it to her? Do you think Miss Su, who has practiced in seclusion for many years and is experiencing the world for the first time, is really that easy to fool?

"I'm not afraid, at worst I'll just have a falling out with Miss Su. She wouldn't go so far as to demand my life, but it would be difficult for you, Master, to ask the Qinghe Sword Sect for help."

Mo Ci sighed, "Alas, in the end, it is I who have implicated you."

Chen Ye nodded repeatedly and said, "As long as you know that, Master, remember this favor when you reshape your physical body and recover your cultivation."

Mo Ci felt something was off and asked suspiciously, "Wait, you brat, you aren't trying to swindle me, are you?"

"Hehe, you guess, Master."

"You unfilial disciple who defies his master and ancestors!"

Mo Ci couldn't be bothered to guess Chen Ye's true intentions; this disciple was craftier than a fox demon, so he surely wouldn't do anything that resulted in a loss.

"Then what do you intend to do now? Is the grudge for the teahouse waiter settled?"

Chen Ye shook his head and said, "Revenge was just a side benefit. I am here to investigate the case for Miss Su. Since I've already fought, I might as well resolve this using the methods of a cultivator."

Chen Ye never lost sight of his priorities, whether in cultivation or in his actions.

He was originally using the guise of upholding justice to build a reputation so he could quickly get close to Princess Hongyu. Since these martial artists were involved in the forced conscription of young boys and girls, he would simply deal with them all at once.

Chen Ye waved the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, commanding the vengeful spirits to pull all the martial artists who had their heads buried in the floorboards back up.

Each of them was covered in blood and filth, and most had already passed out.

Chen Ye walked over to the one who had attacked first, some sort of Bone Demon, whose scarred face now had a few more gashes; he would likely look even more intimidating when walking the martial world in the future.

Chen Ye marveled at what a great person he was, truly deserving of a good reward.

He slapped the scarred man across the face, waking the drunken and dizzy man up, though he still maintained a defiant air.

Even with his face covered in blood, he gritted his teeth and said, "If you've got guts... give me a quick death! If I even frown, consider me a coward!"

Chen Ye laughed, "You dog who oppresses the innocent actually has a sense of honor."

The scarred man said disdainfully, "Pah, the world is ruled by the law of the jungle. Wolves eat meat and dogs eat dung; the lives of the weak are meant to be this way."

"Back to that 'beasts instead of humans' routine again." Chen Ye shook his head and retorted, "Wild beasts follow the law of the jungle only because they are hungry and seek survival. You lot are well-fed and clothed, yet you bully others out of pure cruelty. Even a stray dog wouldn't bite people randomly if it were full; you really are worse than a dog."

Chen Ye had always detested this so-called law of the jungle. Slash-and-burn agriculture was developed precisely to feed more people; that is the greatness of humans rising above the beasts.

If the sages were all beasts, why bother creating the world and molding clay into humans?

The predecessors struggled to emerge from the wilderness, yet there are always those who want to return to a primitive, barbaric past and even take pride in it.

Cannibalism should be a last resort, not something to be praised, and certainly not something to be proud of.

However, Chen Ye couldn't be bothered to waste breath on such a person and went straight to the point, "Where is your Young Master Jiang? Does the forced conscription of young boys and girls have anything to do with him?"

The scarred man let out a cold snort.

"Don't even think about making me betray the Young Master. Even if I am smashed to pieces, I won't tell you a single word."

Chen Ye knew this man wouldn't open his mouth so easily, but he had his own methods.

Taking the Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra from his storage bag, Chen Ye muttered to himself, "I originally wanted to learn the Immobilization Curse first, but you're forcing me to learn torture and interrogation."

The scripture contained four secret techniques: Detention, Locking, Questioning, and Torture. Chen Ye had intended to learn the Locking Formula first, but now he had no choice but to sharpen his spear at the last minute and use the Torture Formula.

"Let me see, like this... oh, this is actually quite difficult."

The scarred man didn't know what Chen Ye was doing, but he was held fast by invisible vengeful spirits and couldn't move at all. He could only watch helplessly as Chen Ye dismantled a table and arranged the wood into strange shapes around him.

Chen Ye walked around a few times, his fingertips tracing lines among the wood as he chanted, "Drawing a prison on the ground, turning wood into shackles; for your sins, you shall never be reincarnated..."

Chen Ye chanted for a long time, so long that the blood on the scarred man's face had dried, and he began to think Chen Ye was just putting on a show.

Finally, Chen Ye's fingertips left the scattered wood and pressed against the scarred man's chest.

The touch was light, yet it left a cyan mark on his chest.

Immediately, a thorn sprouted from that very spot.

The scarred man, who had been full of disdain just a moment ago, let out a shrill scream, his eyes instantly bloodshot as if they were about to burst from their sockets.

Thorns spread and grew, instantly crawling all over his body like venomous snakes, piercing through his flesh and tearing at his internal organs, yet not a single drop of blood appeared.

This was not a physical thorn, but one that acted upon the soul; it did not harm the body, nor did it even cause damage to the soul itself. This secret technique brought nothing but pain, a suffering far worse than the torture of a thousand cuts.

Torture Formula — Thorn Hell!

Those burdened with heavy sins shall suffer the punishment of thorns piercing through their bodies.

Chen Ye did not cast this using a spell, but instead set up a simple formation, as this increased the success rate and made it easier to execute.

It was a pity it could not be used for combat; after all, no one would just stand there waiting for him to set up a formation and chant incantations for half a day.

However, it was quite useful for extracting confessions.

The Thorn Hell lasted only a moment, but the scarred man, who had been full of backbone just a moment ago, was already convulsing in agony, weeping and begging for mercy.

Chen Ye paid him no mind, letting him howl for a while longer so that the others could hear clearly.

Setting up the formation once was already quite exhausting; if he had to set up a formation to interrogate every single one of them, Chen Ye would truly be worked to death.

The scarred man wailed for a while until his throat went hoarse, leaving only raspy groans.

Verdant thorns crawled all over his body, even wriggling in and out of his seven orifices, looking quite terrifying.

Feeling that the timing was about right, Chen Ye was just about to withdraw the punishment to resume questioning when he saw a layer of hazy pink light emerge.

"Hmm?"

Chen Ye frowned; this man's soul was not right, as if someone had tampered with it.

Leaning in to take a closer look, he saw that within the pink light were countless insect-like runes. They had originally been shrouding the man's soul, but under the stimulation of the Thorn Hell, these runes had been triggered by the intense pain to manifest automatically.

"Not good, I've run into a peer."

Chen Ye studied them carefully for a long time before recognizing them; this was a Charm Technique of the Demonic Sect, not much different from what Mo Ci had taught him previously.

Was that Young Master Jiang also a demon?

Could it be that he was the mastermind behind the forced conscription of young boys and girls in Cui County?