By the time Mo Yurou and the others had had their fun, the man was short enough to rival Wu Dalang.
"Still not talking?" Li Yichen lowered his head to glance at him.
"Hmph... I won't talk even if my soul is destroyed." The man was still every bit as defiant.
"What do we do?" Su Shengnan frowned. "He must be a deathsworn trained by one of the three families. Their resolve is firm, and they almost never submit."
"Heh... that makes it interesting." Li Yichen grinned. "Wouldn't it be boring if he surrendered right away?"
As he spoke, Li Yichen extended a finger, and a tiny white flame appeared in his hand.
He had deliberately suppressed the energy of his life flame. Burning the man out of existence in one go would have defeated the whole purpose.
Then he flicked his finger. The little flame instantly swelled, engulfing the man's soul.
"Aah!" The instant the flames touched him, the man howled in agony. Souls were fragile to begin with, and being scorched by the life flame felt every bit as awful as bathing in boiling water.
But with Li Yichen's magical power sustaining it, the soul could not dissipate. All the man could do was suffer.
He lasted only a minute before he could take no more and hastily shouted, "I'll talk... I'm one of the Jiang Family's deathsworn. I was sent specifically to investigate the medicinal formula..."
"Besides investigating the formula, did you have any other plans?" Li Yichen continued questioning him without withdrawing the flames.
"Whether we managed to obtain the formula or not, we were going to find a way to destroy this place," the man wailed, answering without the slightest hesitation.
Then, still howling, he begged, "Just end it! I really can't take any more!"