Shock left everyone dumbfounded

"Fu Shouci! You're unworthy of being the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's Sect Leader! You arrested me without a shred of evidence, and now you even want to torture a confession out of me!"

"I'm warning you, you'd better release me soon. Otherwise, when I see Grandmaster Xu Yi, I'll make sure he hears every last thing you've done!"

Han Zhongjin had completely lost his composure. The refined, scholarly air that had once impressed so many disciples was gone, leaving only frantic fury.

Jiang Mei clicked her tongue in wonder.

So this was the beast Han's true face, huh?

Annoyed by his noise, Fu Shouci took something out of his Mustard Seed Space and stuffed it into Han Zhongjin's mouth.

Only after gagging him did he realize it was a pair of socks he had worn himself.

They didn't really smell, but psychologically, it was a little...

Han Zhongjin: "..."

Fu Shouci was embarrassed too, but he couldn't exactly pull the socks back out of Han Zhongjin's mouth, could he?

Besides, they were now covered in that depraved lunatic's saliva. They were filthy.

Hidden somewhere in the void, Xu Yi heard the commotion and abruptly opened his cloudy eyes, a sharp light flashing within them.

He stepped out of the void and onto the ground, asking sternly, "What is all this fuss?"

The pressure of a Half-Step Ascension powerhouse bore down on everyone.

Fu Shouci, Xu You, and the others nearly slid to their knees and lost all dignity.

Fortunately, Xu Yi released that pressure for only an instant before withdrawing it.

To Fu Shouci and the others, their grandmaster now looked like an ordinary old man who had returned to simplicity.

"Grandmaster, sorry for the trouble, but please use Soul Searching on Han Zhongjin's soul."

Xu Yi's gaze sharpened as he glanced at Han Zhongjin, who was trussed up like a pig in the net.

He knew Fu Shouci wouldn't act recklessly. In other words, there was something wrong with this pig on the ground—something very wrong.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have reached the point of requiring Soul Searching.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph..." Terror filled Han Zhongjin's face, leaving him deathly pale.

Xu Yi ignored it, placing his hand directly on Han Zhongjin's head and using Soul Searching.

Han Zhongjin sank into utter despair.

It was over! Everything was over!

Agonized whimpers escaped around the socks stuffed into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Xu Yi abruptly opened his eyes in the middle of Soul Searching.

Utter disbelief filled his gaze, and the hand resting on Han Zhongjin's head trembled faintly.

Clearly, he had seen something profoundly shocking.

"Holy fucking hell!" The Half-Step Ascension powerhouse, renowned throughout the world for ages, blurted out a curse before he could stop himself.

"Wh-what... what the hell is this?"

Unable to believe the unspeakable scenes he had witnessed, Xu Yi stared at Fu Shouci and the others in bewilderment.

They nodded, their faces cycling through a whole spectrum of emotions.

Xu Yi was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out.

In that instant, a chill ran through his entire body.

Fuck, in thousands of years, this was the first time he'd encountered a monster like this!

Xu Yi's lips quivered as he continued looking.

What he saw made him grimace repeatedly, his emotions a complete mess.

Then he saw the secret estate where Han Zhongjin concealed an Evil Being. The place was dark and bloody, and they were actually feeding the Evil Being cultivators' flesh and blood.

Once the search was complete, Han Zhongjin's eyes gradually became dull and vacant, leaving him witless. Xu Yi's expression turned cold.

With a wave of his hand, he marked the estate's location on a map.

Then he cast a cold glance at Han Zhongjin, who had been reduced to an idiot.

As a Mahayana Heavenly Venerable, Xu Yi could control his strength perfectly, but after seeing those horrifically bloody and depraved scenes...

He had lost his temper and used a little too much force, turning the beast into an idiot on the spot.

Still unsatisfied, Xu Yi raised his hand again, sending an overwhelming surge of power crashing down on Han Zhongjin.

A series of sharp cracks rang through the air.

When they looked again, every bone in Han Zhongjin's body had been crushed. Covered in blood, he had become a heap of mangled flesh.

His cultivation had been destroyed as well.

In an instant, Han Zhongjin's hair turned completely white, and his skin wrinkled like old tree bark. Only a faint breath kept him clinging to life.

Xu Yi had originally intended to kill him outright.

But he feared the estate might contain Han Zhongjin's soul lamp. If it went out, it would alert their enemies.

"Shouci, make the arrangements. We move tonight. No one in that estate is to survive, including that Evil Being."

"Yes."

"Oh, and if anything like this ever requires Soul Searching again, don't come to me. Find someone else."

Xu Yi had truly been frightened.

He was afraid of encountering another variety of monster.

All he had done was search a soul, yet he felt as though both his eyes and his heart had been sullied. Fuck.

Fu Shouci: "...Yes."

As for Han Zhongjin's disciple Li Jiang, he had been secretly seized as soon as the Artifact Peak competition ended.

Heavy dew fell beneath the starry night sky.

That very night, Fu Shouci led a force to attack Han Zhongjin's estate.

Accompanying him were several Peak Masters and their stronger direct disciples.

He also brought two Tribulation Transcendence Dao Venerables.

Xu Yi had advised Fu Shouci to do so.

During the Soul Searching, Xu Yi had discovered that someone had instructed Han Zhongjin to feed the Evil Being.

That person had only ever contacted Han Zhongjin through messages. Even Han Zhongjin didn't know who they really were.

But it wasn't hard to guess. It had to be those Demon Clan scoundrels lurking in the shadows.

Demon Clan scoundrels might be hiding in the estate, so to guard against any highly cultivated enemies, Xu Yi had told Fu Shouci to bring two Tribulation Transcendence Dao Venerables.

The Ten Thousand Swords Sect's Spirit Boat was astonishingly fast, reaching the vicinity of the town in less than two hours.

The two Tribulation Transcendence Dao Venerables immediately sealed off the void around the town to prevent any villains from escaping once the fighting began.

Fu Shouci studied the town before him. With its beautiful mountains and clear waters, it looked like an idyllic haven secluded from the world.

As the Formation Peak's Peak Master, Jiang Mei was highly accomplished in formations. With a single glance, she detected a concealment formation set up around the town.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader, a formation is concealing the town's aura and everything inside it."

This place was only ten thousand li from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. The formation was probably why they hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Fu Shouci asked, "Can you break it?"

Jiang Mei approached with several Formation Peak elders who were highly skilled in formations. "Yes."

After some work, they broke the formation.

The truth beneath it was revealed.

A heavy stench of blood filled the air, and the entire town looked even more sinister and terrifying beneath the moonlight.

His expression grim, Fu Shouci waved his hand. "Move."

Countless streaks of light tore through the sky.

The people inside the town had sensed something was wrong the instant the formation broke.

One after another, they rushed out with weapons in hand, their clothes still disheveled.

Xiao Jixue and the other powerful direct disciples engaged the underlings below the deity transformation realm.

Wielding the Trace Snow Sword, Xiao Jixue himself took on two early-stage deity transformation opponents without falling behind.

The nearby disciples watched him with unabashed admiration.

Fu Shouci and the Peak Masters faced those at the Divine Incarnation realm and above.

The Ten Thousand Swords Sect caught their enemies off guard. By dawn, the battle was over.

Fu Shouci led everyone straight toward the estate at the center.

The moment they entered the main hall and saw the scene before them, everyone gasped.

Several rows of display shelves lined the hall, each compartment holding a male cultivator's private part.

Every male cultivator present, Fu Shouci included, was dumbfounded, their eyes nearly popping out in horror.

Some of the male disciples trembled.

Good heavens!

Just how many people had that beast Han harmed?

Fucking hell! This was way too goddamn horrifying and depraved!

Although they had already heard from Tang Yan about the monstrous things Han Zhongjin had done...

Seeing it with their own eyes was still terrifying and utterly shocking.

His face livid, Fu Shouci swept his hand through the air. In an instant, everything in the hall went up in flames.

The sight was horrifying and offensive to the eyes. Better to destroy it all.

"Master." Xiao Jixue hurried over.

"I found Junior Brother Qiu Ling in a side hall." Qiu Ling was the Artifact Peak disciple who had disappeared not long ago.

Xiao Jixue frowned and paused, seemingly struggling to put it into words.

"We arrived a little late. He had already been... by Han Zhongjin..."

Fu Shouci was alarmed. "What? Is he dead, or has he been...?"

"He's alive, and it's still intact. He suffered some torture."

"As long as he's alive and hasn't lost anything, that's good. Everything else can be dealt with as long as he's still breathing."

Fu Shouci sighed, then gave another order.

"Also, take some people and search every inch of the town. I suspect there may be quite a few cultivators here who were captured or lured in."

"Yes."

The Ten Thousand Swords Sect's people worked from morning until afternoon before finally finishing.

The town did indeed hold over a hundred cultivators who had been tricked or captured elsewhere.

There should originally have been more, but many had already been killed.

The Evil Being Han Zhongjin had been raising was only at the Divine Incarnation stage. Fu Shouci killed it with a single palm strike, obliterating it completely.

They also discovered a handsome man in the place where the evil being had been confined.

After years of imprisonment in darkness, the man had gone completely blind, his eyes devoid of any spark.

The others at least had somewhere to go.

The blind man's mind was muddled, so they brought him back to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.