Jiang Miao put away the Immortal-Catching Net from Fang Huai and paced back and forth.
"This is troublesome. Although you didn't join of your own free will, you're still a member of the Ascension Society now."
After muttering to herself for a while, a glint suddenly flashed in her eyes. "What if I use Oath Sha again and make you swear an oath like this?
"Be loyal to me forever and always do as I say!"
Fang Huai was horrified. Wasn't the whole point of cultivating immortality to roam freely between heaven and earth? If he really had to remain under Jiang Miao's control forever, he might as well die and be done with it.
He could endure humiliation for a time, but he couldn't bear spending his whole life beneath someone else!
At the thought, killing intent had already risen in his heart.
Jiang Miao seemed to find it amusing. "I can smell your killing intent.
"What, you think you can kill me with your fourth-level Qi Refining cultivation when I'm at the eighth level?"
"I wouldn't dare."
Jiang Miao might have seemed flighty, but she was keenly observant.
Jiang Miao stepped closer, pressing her body near Fang Huai's. A scent, part blood and part sweet fragrance, drifted into Fang Huai's nose.
"Using Oath Sha costs lifespan. The deeper the bonds of fate, the more binding the oath, and the more lifespan it consumes.
"Jiang Jing told me that when she used it, it only cost her a few months of her life. But when I used it on you just now, it took three years.
"I imagine that if I really made you swear to serve me forever, it would probably drain thirty years from my life."
Fang Huai was stunned. If Jiang Miao wasn't lying to him, then what about Feng Wuwang?
To control the thirty-some members of Gengzi Hall, he must have used Oath Sha at least thirty times. And with that degree of restraint, each use couldn't have cost him just a little lifespan.
Why was he willing to pay such a price for the Ascension Society?
At this rate, even if his cultivation advanced, how many years would he have left to live?
But he couldn't completely trust Jiang Miao's words. After all, that madwoman had deceived him before, back at the Human Puppet Hall.
When Fang Huai said nothing, Jiang Miao leaned close to his ear and chuckled.
"Tell me, with our bonds of fate so deep, could it be because you'll become my furnace in the future?"
"Fairy, don't joke around!" Fang Huai took several steps back, his killing intent flaring again.
She had discovered that he'd joined the Ascension Society, and now she was taunting him like this. He could no longer stand it.
Their cultivation levels were far apart, but he had plenty of system points, and with the Little Corpse Meteor Insect ready to launch a sneak attack, he might still have a chance to fight.
The only reason he had put up with Jiang Miao until now was that he feared the sect leader's faction would trace her death back to him through cause and effect.
Jiang Miao's expression suddenly turned cold. Several Wind Blades grazed past Fang Huai, carving deep, bone-cutting wounds into him.
"Joining the Ascension Society is an unforgivable crime. These Wind Blades should have slit your throat, but since you're still useful, I'll spare your life for now."
Fang Huai endured the pain and said, "Fairy, just tell me what you need me to do."
"In a few days, I'll arrange for you to go to Green Parasol City. There's a newly matured Vegetation Sha there. No matter what it takes, bring it back to me!"
Covered in blood, his Daoist robe slashed to tatters, Fang Huai returned to his quarters. Li Sirou was so startled she could barely speak. "W-what happened to you? You're not going to die, are you?"
"You'd better pray I don't. Otherwise, I'll make sure you come along as my burial maid." Fang Huai shot her a glance.
The wounds looked terrifying, but they had missed his meridians.
Jiang Miao still needed him to do her bidding, after all. She had only meant to warn him.
Lying on his bed, he felt rather troubled.
Green Parasol City lay within the Mystic Sword Sect's territory. As a demonic cultivator, he was practically dripping with killing intent. He'd probably be pierced through the heart by the Mystic Sword Sect's disciples before he even reached the city gates.
Jiang Miao had only said he'd find out when the time came. Then she gave him a black talisman capable of delivering a full-strength strike from a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator before disappearing into the night on her paper crane.
Jiang Miao's Wind Blades had slashed open Fang Huai's Storage Bag. His spiritual energy leaked out, causing its storage space to shrink little by little.
He had no choice but to take out its contents for the time being and wait until tomorrow to exchange for a new one at the Skinning Room.
But when he held the Blood Jade Leaf and was about to throw it into the vortex in the corner, Li Sirou's expression clearly changed.
"Do you recognize this?" Fang Huai asked.
"I don't." Li Sirou's gaze darted aside.
Fang Huai was too perceptive not to notice her guilty expression at once. "Rule eight: no lying."
Li Sirou hesitated for a long time before speaking. "Once, during a meeting of the elders, they asked me to prepare some tea. When I entered the room, I happened to see an unfamiliar cultivator from another sect holding a leaf just like this."
"A cultivator from another sect? Which one?"
"He probably wasn't from the Chen Kingdom."
Li Sirou continued, "That cultivator was at least at the Foundation Establishment peak. The elders told me to call him Uncle Su. I've never heard of anyone like him among the sects of the Chen Kingdom."
Foundation Establishment peak...
Fang Huai frowned. Most people at that level were Attendant elders of a sect. Even Li Sirou, the daughter of a sect elder, hadn't heard of him, so he might indeed have come from beyond the Chen Kingdom.
"What did they talk about?"
"When they saw me come in, they put the leaf away. They only talked about how to break through their bottleneck.
"Bad man, is there anything special about this leaf?"
Fang Huai said, "Forget that you ever saw a leaf like this. No matter who asks, say you've never seen one."
The Blood Jade Leaf needed to be nourished by corpses. It certainly wasn't an item of the righteous sects.
The Mystic Sword Sect was the largest righteous sect in the Chen Kingdom, yet it had apparently been in contact with a cultivator carrying such an evil object. The thought left Fang Huai deeply unsettled.
Combined with the rumors he'd heard before about Gu insects devouring people on the battlefield, a frightening suspicion took shape in his mind:
The Mystic Sword Sect had allied with demonic sects from beyond the Chen Kingdom to bring down the Corpse Sha Sect.
The storm clouds were gathering, and the Corpse Sha Sect was truly teetering on the brink of disaster.
Burdened with worries, Fang Huai worked at the Skinning Room for several days. Luo Heng assumed he was fretting over the sect hunting him down for joining the Ascension Society.
He offered a long string of comforting words, then assigned Fang Huai some demon beasts with abundant vital blood and simple procedures.
A few days passed. When Fang Huai stepped into the Skinning Room again, he found everyone in unusually high spirits.
"The sect won a major battle! Those hypocrites from the Mystic Sword Sect were beaten back like stray dogs!"
"I heard their sect leader personally sued for peace and ceded a huge stretch of territory to us as compensation."
"The sect leader sued for peace? That's a bit much, isn't it? But it's true they ceded land, and all the mortals living there were handed over to us for free."
"..."
The Corpse Sha Sect had clearly been retreating along the entire front. More than half of its backbone cultivators had been lost, and even the managers who usually handled logistics had been conscripted to the battlefield to plug gaps in the defensive line.
In such a desperate predicament, if the sect had really achieved such a major victory, there was only one possibility: the sect's Attendant elders had personally joined the battle.
But such a desperate measure was almost impossible.
The Corpse Sha Sect had managed to cling to life and avoid annihilation precisely because both sides had tacitly kept their top fighters out of the conflict.
The Mystic Sword Sect's foundation already far surpassed that of the Corpse Sha Sect. If the balance were broken and the top experts fought to the death, the Corpse Sha Sect would only meet its end sooner.
As he pondered this, a sharp pain stabbed through his sea of consciousness, and his Identity Token grew slightly hot in his hand.
A compulsory sect mission?
Fang Huai took out his Identity Token and saw it glowing white.
A logistics mission?
Before you continue