Golden Core Sect, True Disciple

Thus, with Qi Lin leading the way, the two quickly passed through a corridor several dozen meters long and arrived at a small room. Inside was something that could still barely be called a person.

Zheng Yi glanced at Qi Lin.

Qi Lin immediately understood. He turned and left, returning above the Shrine to stand guard for Zheng Yi and keep idlers from disturbing him.

Then Zheng Yi focused his gaze once more on the thing before him that could, for the moment, still be called a person.

Zheng Yi had seen many immortal cultivators in his life.

There were lofty sect disciples, children of cultivation clans, Rogue Cultivators fleeing in disarray from pursuit, White Path cultivators riding recklessly on horseback, and ruthless demonic sect figures with sinister temperaments, single-mindedly pursuing the Dao.

But regardless of which kind they were, Zheng Yi swore that few had ever been as miserable as the person before him.

This person no longer even had a human outline. He was nothing but a massive lump of flesh, stuffed into a cramped jar.

His limbs had been severed, and his eyes destroyed, leaving only two pitch-black hollows.

His tongue had been cut out as well. When he opened his mouth, all Zheng Yi could see was darkness inside, with only half a tongue root remaining.

Both ears had been sliced off, and so had his nose. If not for the white vapor still emerging with his breath, Zheng Yi might have thought him dead.

Leaning in slightly to examine him, Zheng Yi's eyes flashed with icy light, and he frowned deeply.

What hatred? What grievance?

What could make the Qi Family so vicious, so utterly merciless?

Even this man's Sea of Consciousness and Lower Dantian had been deliberately destroyed. He had been completely turned into a Human Swine with only his consciousness left.

The methods were far too ruthless, far too venomous.

Zheng Yi even wondered whether he had gone too easy on Qi Yuanzong and the others back then.

Letting their souls scatter and spirits disperse had been far too kind to them.

Then his gaze returned to the Human Swine.

The man was immersed in a large vat, the water steeped with medicinal herbs that restored vitality. It was likely meant to preserve the Human Swine's life and prevent him from dying too easily.

Perhaps sensing someone enter, the Human Swine suddenly reacted violently. An incomparably venomous hatred spread through the air, yet it carried such helplessness and despair.

"Who are you? How did you end up here?"

"Why did the Qi Family do this to you?"

"They tortured you like this, yet refused to let you die, hiding you in this deep underground chamber..."

Zheng Yi used his divine sense, attempting to enter the Human Swine's mind as he cautiously asked.

The instant he entered, Zheng Yi felt an emotion of despair that pierced deep into the marrow. Clearly, this Human Swine had not been tortured by the Qi Family for merely a day or two. Over time, it had reduced him to the cruel state of a living corpse.

"Damn Qi Family, you all deserve to die! The Little Five Elements Sword Sect will not let you go..."

"My master will avenge me!"

"Ahhh..."

After enduring prolonged torture, the Human Swine's consciousness had become muddled. When Zheng Yi's divine sense entered, aside from endless venom and hatred, all he found were resentful curses and furious howls.

"Stop!"

Zheng Yi frowned and gave a cold snort. It was like a thunderclap exploding within the Human Swine's mind, and the curses and howls abruptly ceased.

"The ruling branch of the Qi Family has been destroyed! I slaughtered every last member of the main branch."

"My subordinate was the one who found you..."

"If you keep babbling nonsense, I cannot be bothered with you either. You can simply fend for yourself here."

Zheng Yi transmitted through his divine sense.

His brow was slightly furrowed. He did not hold much hope.

This Human Swine seemed to have suffered torture for far too long. His mind had become chaotic, and even his words were crazed and incoherent.

"The Qi Family has been destroyed?"

"Dead... dead to the last one."

"Those beasts Qi Yuanzong and Qi Yuanming are all dead..."

"R-really?"

The Human Swine's emotions stalled, and he seemed dazed.

In truth, after hearing those first few sentences and recalling what had happened over the past two months, it seemed to confirm Zheng Yi's words.

Qi Yuanzong used to come every three to five days to torture him, to threaten and tempt him.

But this time, he had not appeared for a full two months. Something must have happened in between.

"I have no reason to lie to you."

"Besides, I do not even know who you are."

"What would I gain by deceiving you?"

Zheng Yi said impatiently, though he still answered the Human Swine's questions one by one.

"The three Qi brothers died by my hand. Their souls scattered and spirits dispersed."

"They did not even have the chance to enter reincarnation!"

As he spoke, Zheng Yi transmitted to the Human Swine's mind the scenes of himself killing Qi Yuanzong and the others.

The images were lifelike, projections from the mind itself. The aura of their souls could not be faked.

Though the Human Swine's cultivation had been crippled, his knowledge and insight remained. He could clearly sense that Zheng Yi was not deceiving him.

"Wuwu... They finally died. Those Qi Family scum finally died to the last one."

As though the pain suppressed in the depths of his heart had suddenly burst free all at once, crimson tears of blood streamed down from his dark, empty eye sockets.

Only then did Zheng Yi notice that although this man had been tortured beyond recognition, and his dharma robe was long since torn and filthy, it was faintly apparent that it had once been the formal robe of a sect disciple.

This made Zheng Yi even more curious about the true reason this man had been tortured and imprisoned.

The three Qi brothers were all figures of ruthless ambition—vicious, decisive, and merciless. They would never torture someone for amusement and waste their time without cause.

Since they had imprisoned this man here, there had to be an enormous secret involved.

However, this man had endured prolonged and brutal torture, and the resentment and grievance in his heart were being released. Zheng Yi merely waited in silence.

After a long while, the Human Swine spoke again.

His tongue had been cut out, and his Sea of Consciousness destroyed, leaving him unable to express himself.

But Zheng Yi's divine sense could enter his Sea of Consciousness, and they communicated by this means.

"There is no need to mention my name. I am a True Disciple of the Little Five Elements Sword Sect. During one excursion into the Demon Domain, I fought a great battle with demonic cultivators and suffered grave injuries. By accident, I fell into the hands of the Qi Family..."

Following the Human Swine's memories, Zheng Yi gradually learned the entire course of events and why he had been imprisoned and tortured by the Qi Family.

As a sect disciple, he possessed a noble status. After a life-and-death battle with a demonic Dao expert, he had suffered grave injuries and fallen onto Qi Family territory, where the Qi Family had saved him.

He had not cultivated for long, had gone out to gain experience only a limited number of times, and was a genius disciple within the sect. Thus, he had been well protected and had encountered too little of the deception and scheming within the Demon Domain.

When the Qi Family who had saved his life questioned him, he unhesitatingly revealed his origins. Yet he never expected that the Qi Family harbored a Ghost Fetus and had secret designs. They had actually added an even more terrifying poison to his food and medicinal soup.

They then sought to use it to force him to reveal the True Disciple cultivation methods of the Little Five Elements Sword Sect.

This man was hard-boned as well. No matter how Qi Yuanzong and the others threatened or tortured him, he refused to yield even unto death.

Qi Yuanzong and the others could not pry even half an answer from him. In their vicious ruthlessness, they carved him into a Human Swine.

They gouged out his eyes, cut out his tongue, sliced off his nose, poisoned his throat mute, and destroyed his divine sense, turning him into a cripple who could not speak, could not see, could not move, and possessed not even divine sense.

The purpose was obvious: the True Disciple secret arts of the Little Five Elements Sword Sect.