Soft Rice Could Be Eaten with a Hard Stare

If he was being honest, Chen Ye didn't want to run into fellow cultivators.

Good people always hoped the world was full of good people. The same went for bad people.

If everyone else were gentlemen and he was the only hypocrite, life would be blissful.

But that was just a beautiful fantasy. There were always countless evildoers in the world, and Chen Ye had just run into one.

Chen Ye asked the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, "Master, how do you break this Charm Technique again?"

Chen Ye had only been cultivating for a short time, after all, and he really hadn't studied the Charm Technique in depth. Though both arts affected the soul, its principles differed from those of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

Mo Ci's face appeared on the Ten Thousand Soul Banner. He scrutinized the scar-faced man, then said, "What a vicious technique. This Charm Technique seems to be an incomplete fragment. It does tremendous harm to people; the person under its spell will lose at least thirty years of their life."

Chen Ye asked in confusion, "Master, I asked how to break it. Why are you worrying about the other guy's life?"

Mo Ci replied helplessly, "I told you, this Charm Technique is incomplete. He probably figured it out himself, which is why it does so much damage... So I don't know how to break it, either."

Chen Ye: ...

This master of his was always useless at the crucial moment. For an old devil several hundred years old, it was rather embarrassing.

With no other choice, Chen Ye could only figure it out himself.

The scar-faced man's hoarse screams rang out as Chen Ye busied himself for a long while, but in the end, he still couldn't work out how to break the Charm Technique.

It didn't matter much, though. The Charm Technique was eventually dispelled.

The tortures of Thorn Hell had put the scar-faced man through endless agony. Under such extreme torment, he broke the shackles of the Charm Technique through sheer force of will.

Should Chen Ye say the man had a strong will, or a weak one?

He didn't know how to judge it.

Still, it was good that the charm had been dispelled. The scar-faced man, who had just been so proud and unyielding, now wept like a freshly castrated stray dog, whimpering and begging for mercy.

Now he answered every question.

The so-called handsomest man in the martial world had only appeared in recent years. When he learned that the scar-faced man was a notorious bandit, feared throughout the surrounding villages for his ruthlessness, he came to pay him a visit.

The scar-faced man met him once, and somehow fell under Young Master Jiang's "beauty." From then on, he became Young Master Jiang's loyal dog.

He continued robbing, killing, and setting fires, but sent all the spoils to Young Master Jiang. In public, he pretended to have seen the error of his ways, claiming he had been reformed by Jiang Shiyue and would now turn over a new leaf.

Young Master Jiang had made a name for himself in the martial world by "reforming evildoers." Combined with the Charm Technique, it had earned him the title of the handsomest man in the martial world.

This group had originally been a thousand miles away. For some reason, Young Master Jiang had suddenly come to Cui County.

As soon as he arrived, he struck up a partnership with the county magistrate. The martial artists under his command were sent to the Crossed Blades Inn, where they spun a web to lure in and kill genuine heroes.

Chen Ye questioned the others repeatedly and got more or less the same answers.

The other martial artists were much the same. They had been wicked and steeped in sin to begin with. After Jiang Shiyue enchanted them, they became his personal agents of evil.

Chen Ye saw him weeping and repenting bitterly. The man must have known he was about to die, so Chen Ye didn't disappoint him.

The Ten Thousand Soul Banner swept up the soul of this heinous criminal.

Chen Ye had originally wanted to find someone whose crimes didn't warrant death and let him go to deliver a message. But after questioning them, he hadn't found a single person worthy of his mercy.

Even the employees of the Crossed Blades Inn hadn't been enchanted by Jiang Shiyue, but after enduring the tortures of Thorn Hell, every one of them would rather be given a quick death.

The pain of Thorn Hell was tied to one's sins. Anyone who had committed fewer misdeeds wouldn't have suffered so badly they wished for death.

That made sense. The Crossed Blades Inn was a den of corruption that worked with corrupt officials. Anyone who worked there would have had to prove their loyalty with blood. Naturally, every last one of them deserved to die.

Chen Ye could only remark, "The quality of martial artists these days is shockingly low."

Though the interrogation had gone fairly smoothly, Chen Ye hadn't learned much of any use.

These martial artists were merely puppets controlled by a demonic cultivator; they couldn't possibly know the truth. The only thing that could be called useful information was that Young Master Jiang had only recently arrived in Cui County—within the last couple of days.

No wonder Su Chunyi had investigated for so many days without finding any trace of Young Master Jiang. He hadn't even been here before.

"Now that the demon has revealed himself, what will you do? Wait for Su Chunyi to return, then borrow her sword to kill him?"

Mo Ci's voice came from within the white banner.

While Chen Ye had been interrogating the prisoners, Mo Ci had been as silent as if he were asleep. Now, he suddenly spoke up.

Chen Ye asked in confusion, "Master, are you worried I can't beat him?"

Mo Ci warned him, "This demon's cultivation should be higher than yours."

Though they hadn't met, using the Charm Technique was no easy feat. Chen Ye's cultivation was practically at the bottom of the cultivation world, so the demon was likely stronger than him.

Chen Ye understood that too, but he shook his head. "To be safe, I should indeed wait for Miss Su to return before dealing with him. But I've already tipped him off. Young Master Jiang will find out soon enough that his puppets have been killed. Even if I don't go after him, he won't leave me alone."

Mo Ci asked, "What crooked scheme have you come up with this time, you little brat?"

"Master, formations are incredibly useful. In the cultivation world, those who defeat stronger opponents usually rely on formations they've set up in advance. I heard that a Demon Venerable in the Dao Integration Realm was once killed by cultivators two realms below him using a formation."

Mo Ci sneered. "That did happen. But to kill a Demon Venerable in the Dao Integration Realm, three Void Return cultivators died, along with eighteen Spirit Transformation cultivators and thousands of cultivators at the Tongxuan Realm or above. Every one of them had to be willing to die, using their flesh, blood, and lifetimes of cultivation to lay the formation's foundation. Then a true formation master had to oversee it, just to seize that one chance. Don't get carried away, brat."

Mo Ci was talking about Wujiu Demon Venerable, who had ranked second among the eighteen Demon Venerables and was also the first to die an unnatural death.

That had been the righteous path's first counterattack. They had hidden their plans from the heavens with extraordinary secrecy, and even staged an elaborate drama, arranging for the only five righteous sect leaders left at the time to appear elsewhere, ensuring they could not have taken part.

The Demon Venerable was dead, and the righteous sect leaders all had alibis. So who had done it?

The eighteen Demon Venerables had plenty of grudges against one another.

Wujiu Demon Venerable's death set the powerful figures of the demonic path to suspecting one another. Old feuds that had been set aside were dragged back into the light. At first, it was nothing but arguments, but soon someone thought of striking first.

And then came the demonic path's civil war, one so fierce it seemed to shatter the heavens.

As the Demon Venerables fell one after another, the righteous path's tremendous advantage began to turn against it.

Demons great and small knew they had been manipulated, but there was no way to stop the fighting. They were all selfish and suspicious of one another. Even when they realized they had been wrong, they could only keep making the same mistake.

You just killed my disciples and stole my sect's most precious treasure, and now you're telling me to stop?

You think I'm going to spit out the benefits I've already swallowed?

Then you can just die.

It could be said that Wujiu Demon Venerable's death was the first brick in the demonic path's collapse. But ironically, his corpse had yet to be completely deprived of life. It was sealed away in a forbidden place called Qingguan Mountain, where the Fenxiang Sect, one of the five great righteous sects, kept it under guard.

The first Demon Venerable to die had survived. Though there was little difference between his state and death, compared with the others, who had been reduced to ashes without even a trace of their souls remaining, Wujiu Demon Venerable was the luckiest of them all.

But no matter how extraordinary the story was, it had nothing to do with Chen Ye.

Mo Ci warned him, "Formations can indeed let cultivators defeat stronger opponents, but setting up a powerful one takes time and a great deal of rare treasures. Where are you going to find those?"

Chen Ye replied, "Master, don't rain on my parade. The Young Master Jiang we're dealing with isn't a Demon Venerable. Besides, what's the harm in trying? If I do nothing, does that mean I won't be hunted down?"

Mo Ci asked, "What formation are you planning to set up?"

Chen Ye asked, "That Ku'e monk's soul is weak, but he was still at the Tongxuan Realm. If he detonated all his blood essence, do you think he could kill someone at the Tongxuan Realm?"

Mo Ci shook his head. "Impossible. Absolutely impossible. He's so weak now that his soul is incomplete, and he doesn't even have a body. What do you expect him to detonate? At most, he'll be like a silent fart and spray someone in the face."

"If he's missing a body, we can find him one."

Chen Ye looked at the martial artists he had just killed. They were all strong, healthy men with fine physiques. To demonic cultivators, they were prime material.

Mo Ci was shocked. "Have you gone mad, brat? What makes you think you can pull this off? Can you control him? What ability do you have to make a Tongxuan Realm cultivator kill himself?"

Chen Ye smiled. "We'll give it a try. If we're going to do this, we might as well go all the way."

Mo Ci thought it over. Ku'e had no power to resist now, and given this brat's studies of the soul, it wasn't entirely impossible.

But there was one crucial problem.

"Brat, you may not have that much time to prepare."

Chen Ye didn't argue. That was indeed the biggest problem. Whether he was refining a body to control Ku'e or setting up a formation, both would take a lot of time.

But news that the Crossed Blades Inn had been smashed would probably have spread already. Who knew whether the other side had some means of tracking him?

Chen Ye said, "I'll take my chances. I don't know whether that demon has some advanced escape technique. Even if I run with all my might now, I might not get away. I may as well use a formation to protect myself. If all else fails, I still have one sword talisman left to save my life in a pinch.

"Besides, your disciple has another way to buy some time."

With that, Chen Ye swung the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, drawing in all the remaining yin energy to ensure that not a single wisp of a remnant soul escaped.

Then he tapped the Sword Box on his back. Several streaks of sword light shot out and, under his control, carved a line of large characters into the ground: "Chen Ye, an outer sect disciple of the Qinghe Sword Sect, apprehended the evildoers here. Those seeking revenge should meet me at dusk seven days from now, on the nameless solitary peak a hundred li south of the city, to settle our grudges."

After leaving the sword marks and inscription, Chen Ye hung the jade token Su Chunyi had given him in a conspicuous spot.

Seeing what Chen Ye had done, Mo Ci asked in surprise, "That jade token is the real thing. You're using it to fool them?"

Chen Ye said, "You have to make the whole act convincing, or how will we fool the demon? Besides, when I see Miss Su again, I can just ask her for another one."

Mo Ci said, "Easy for you to say. You've been killing people to refine their souls and now you're planning to refine corpses. Those are all demonic arts. Aren't you afraid your Miss Su will find out and chop your head off?"

Chen Ye replied calmly, "Master, I have my own principles. Those guilty of heinous crimes deserve to die, so I killed them. The Qinghe Sword Sect may hold a high position, but I'm a cultivator too. I don't need to grovel. Besides, Miss Su is the one who needs my help right now. Why should I lower my head?"

Mo Ci: ...

To eat soft rice with this much swagger really took some nerve. What a shameless little demon.