Why Explain Anything to a Dead Man

Chen Ye heard Su Chunyi's words and smiled. "I suppose he thinks the most dangerous place is the safest."

There was indeed some truth to that. Chen Ye had searched for a long time without finding the man, and he had assumed he had already fled; he never expected him to remain right where he was.

What was more interesting was his hiding spot: it was none other than the Hengdao Inn they had visited before.

This saved them the travel time. As the sword light descended, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the Hengdao Inn.

Chen Ye took a look; the half-lion statue and the broken blade were still there, though now they were draped in white mourning banners for the magistrate of Cui County.

However, both Chen Ye and Su Chunyi merely stood at the entrance, making no move to step inside.

Lan Shi looked left and right, unable to see anything amiss, and couldn't help but whisper, "What are we waiting for?"

Su Chunyi didn't explain. She simply pulled Lan Shi to the side and said, "Watch the gentleman's methods carefully."

Lan Shi was confused, but she saw Chen Ye already chanting and drawing a talisman, his eyes turning gold.

Once Chen Ye activated his Spirit Eyes and gazed at the Hengdao Inn, it looked perfectly ordinary. The five elements of spiritual energy were stable, no different from anywhere else.

Chen Ye had come here to search before, but he hadn't noticed anything suspicious.

Back then, he had been in a rush and only glanced around before leaving. Now that Su Chunyi had confirmed Jiang Shiyue was hiding here, Chen Ye looked much more closely.

After staring intently for a moment, Chen Ye finally detected something wrong.

Everything in heaven and earth possesses spiritual energy, mostly divided into yin, yang, and the five elements. Without external interference, it remains relatively stable most of the time.

But the spiritual energy in the Hengdao Inn was far too stable. Even the trees planted on either side showed no movement in their wood-aspected energy.

These were not dead trees; they should have been constantly exchanging spiritual energy with the world, even if only in the slightest, dynamic way. Yet, after watching for a long time, there was no movement at all.

"So it's an illusion. I didn't expect a devil like Jiang Shiyue to have this trick up his sleeve."

Chen Ye didn't understand illusions—mostly because Mo Ci had never taught him—but as Su Chunyi had said, his fundamental understanding of formations was much deeper than that of other cultivators.

The principle of a formation is simply to guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in a specific way to achieve a desired effect.

Summoning clouds, bringing rain, or flying on a sword—the essence of all these is the same.

Since what he saw before him never changed, it meant that at some point, the scene had been captured and turned into a curtain to deceive the eyes of others.

Such a thing would shatter with a single poke.

"Let me see... Kan position absorbs spirit, Li fire burns the yin, Gen brings stillness, repeating the cycle, such is the way of heaven..."

Even without knowing illusions, the laws governing the movement of spiritual energy remain the same. A formation cannot exist without spiritual energy, so Chen Ye carefully calculated based on the original orientation of the Hengdao Inn. Before long, a smile appeared on his face.

"It really is no surprise. The formation eye is placed in such an obvious spot; he truly took 'the most dangerous place is the safest' to heart."

Chen Ye walked over to the half-lion statue, drew his fingertip across the long blade, and left a talisman with his blood. He then activated his Sword Box, sending three beams of sword light toward the Kan, Li, and Gen hexagram positions.

Three shattering sounds echoed, and even a mortal could see countless cracks appearing out of thin air.

However, a formation is still a formation. As soon as the cracks appeared, spiritual energy gathered to repair them, but the blood talisman Chen Ye had left on the formation eye took effect simultaneously, emitting a brilliant glow.

The cracks that were meant to be repaired widened instead, eventually collapsing entirely and revealing the true appearance of the Hengdao Inn.

The ground was stained with dried blood and littered with mangled corpses, as if a massacre had taken place, and the air was thick with a nauseating stench. Several martial artists with bloodshot eyes and gaunt figures stood before the door, glaring viciously at Chen Ye.

With the formation masking them, none of this had been visible before.

Now that the illusion was broken, the quiet inn looked like hell on earth.

Lan Shi watched in shock. Was this the power of an immortal? Even when she had walked right past the corpses earlier, she hadn't seen them, nor had she noticed the overwhelming stench of death.

Chen Ye looked at the red-eyed martial artists; it was clear they were being controlled by Jiang Shiyue's Charm Technique. However, this incomplete version of the technique was highly damaging to the human body, and these people likely wouldn't live much longer.

Chen Ye sighed. "A devil is a devil; he treats human life as nothing."

The martial artists brandished their weapons and charged at Chen Ye, but even if mortals are fearless, they pose no threat to a cultivator.

Chen Ye shook the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, and countless spirits, including Yang Chongguang, flew out, quickly suppressing the martial artists.

Yang Chongguang stepped on the heads of two martial artists and asked, "Benefactor, shall I kill them?"

Chen Ye shook his head. He had no time to discern who among them was innocent and who was an accomplice, so he took out a medicine bottle, poured out some powder, and blew it into the air.

The powder dispersed, drifting into the noses of the martial artists and quickly lulling them into a deep sleep.

This was a relic from the monk Ku'e. He had collected a pile of medicine bottles at the time, and this sedative was among them—a standard item for a devilish cultivator, though not particularly valuable; it could only deal with mortals.

Chen Ye didn't usually have a use for it, but he hadn't expected it to come in handy now.

Just as the controlled martial artists collapsed, a spiteful voice drifted from inside the inn: "Why must you be so aggressive?!"

Jiang Shiyue, whose name he had only heard until now, finally appeared before Chen Ye.

The man stepped out of the inn. His already effeminate face was now even more ashen, looking like that of a dead man.

His master had died inexplicably, and the situation in Cui County had changed overnight. Jiang Shiyue knew a cultivator was involved, but he truly didn't know who.

He had seen the message Chen Ye left behind, but he didn't believe a cultivator from the Qinghe Sword Sect would take the bodies away after killing someone.

With so many chaotic events piling up, he couldn't make sense of it all. Jiang Shiyue just wanted to hide for three or five months, hoping things would settle down.

Who would have thought that even after hiding so carefully, someone would still come knocking at his door to finish him off?

Chen Ye scrutinized this Young Master Jiang. How should he put it? If this were his past life, he would be the type of pampered idol who gets criticized; it wasn't that he was ugly, but he just didn't look healthy or vibrant in any way.

With such a gloomy appearance, how could he be considered the number one handsome man?

Seeing the look of disdain on Chen Ye's face, Jiang Shiyue became even more furious, yet he forced himself to suppress his rage and said, "What exactly do you want? We are both of the same path, there is no need to fight to the death. Lay out your terms; everything is negotiable."

Chen Ye refused without a moment's hesitation, "Who is of the same path as a demon like you?"

Jiang Shiyue roared in anger, "Do you dare say you aren't from the Demonic Sect? Do you really think no one would know you're impersonating a disciple of the Qinghe Sword Sect?!"

Chen Ye smiled and pointed at Su Chunyi standing to the side, saying confidently, "This is a disciple of the Qinghe Sword Sect. If you don't believe me, you can ask for her opinion."

Jiang Shiyue spat, saying dismissively, "Do you take me for a fool?! Using a Ten Thousand Soul Banner and aphrodisiacs in front of a Qinghe Sword Sect disciple? If she's from the Qinghe Sword Sect, I'll write my name backward!"

Ah, this...

Chen Ye felt a bit awkward; this was truly difficult to explain.

But after a moment's thought, he let it go. Why bother explaining anything to a dead man?!

The Ten Thousand Soul Banner swayed, and countless vengeful spirits lunged toward Jiang Shiyue; the Sword Box opened, and four streaks of sword light flew toward him; his right hand traced a talisman, and the Immobilization Technique was already being prepared... In just an instant, Chen Ye threw out every means at his disposal.

Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it must use its full strength!