The Great Beast Den

"Is Ye Xiaolian your real name?" After using the Interrogation Secret Art, Xiao Yan did not rush to ask what he wanted to know. Instead, he first asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the treasure map.

The Interrogation Secret Art was not particularly high-level, after all. Measured by Dou Technique ranks, it would be high-grade Yellow Tier at most. Although Xiao Yan could use it successfully thanks to his powerful Soul Force, immediately asking about something she cared deeply about might provoke resistance within her, weakening the art's effect.

So, while Xiao Yan's question seemed rather insignificant, it was actually meant to lower Ye Xiaolian's guard while also confirming her true identity.

"Yes..."

Hearing that, Xiao Yan was a little surprised. He had not expected this girl to venture into the world under her real name...

She has a little cunning, but not much. Xiao Yan quickly reached a verdict on the girl's character. And if he remembered correctly, the Chu Yun Imperial Family controlled by the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect seemed to bear the surname Ye. Could this girl happen to be a member of the Imperial Family? If so, things would get rather interesting.

After receiving her affirmative answer, a brilliant plan suddenly came to Xiao Yan, and he followed up with a string of questions.

"How old are you now?"

"Is there anyone you're close to?"

"What do you like to eat?"

"..."

Under the influence of the Interrogation Secret Art, the Green-Clothed Girl soon became an "answer-every-question alien," answering everything Xiao Yan asked with almost no hesitation.

In fact, had Ye Xiaolian still been fully lucid, even if she had sincerely wanted to answer Xiao Yan's questions, his utterly boring inquiries would probably have driven her to a breakdown. They were so exhaustive that anyone unaware of the situation would have thought he was conducting a census.

He even asked about trifles such as whether she held her bowl with her left or right hand when eating. More absurdly still, Xiao Yan actually took out a sheet of paper and wrote everything down. Only after he had covered nearly all these trivial details did he return to the original matter at hand. "What is that treasure map related to?"

"It's a treasure map of the Great Beast Den." Ye Xiaolian looked somewhat dazed. Her Soul Force was far weaker than Xiao Yan's, and the barrage of irrelevant questions had lowered her guard. As a result, she readily told him the information she had painstakingly gathered.

"The Great Beast Den?" Hearing the unfamiliar name, Xiao Yan frowned. "Where is this Great Beast Den? Is it connected to the Heavenly Scorpion Tomb Mansion?"

"The Great Beast Den isn't in the Heavenly Scorpion Tomb Mansion, nor is it within the Chu Yun Empire. My father once said it was a burial ground. Some powerful magical beasts with special bloodlines don't want other creatures to desecrate their bodies after they die, so when death approaches, they crawl to a special place. That place is called the Great Beast Den..."

"To think such a place exists." Xiao Yan's gaze grew heated. Once magical beasts reached a certain level, some blood essence and their magic cores would remain within their bodies even many years after death, just like the seventh-rank Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle magic core he had obtained before. Their blood essence not only contained energy, but could also temper the body.

For that very reason, blood essence from high-level magical beasts was something money alone could not buy even in the Central Plains, let alone backwaters like the Jia Ma Empire and the Chu Yun Empire. Besides, even if this so-called Great Beast Den contained no magical beast blood essence, it surely held plenty of blood from fire-attribute magical beasts, which would let him gather the materials he needed.

In fact, quite a few magical beast clans in the Central Plains had places like this, such as the so-called Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan. In his previous life, Xiao Yan had wanted to dig up their ancestral graves. Unfortunately, they had refused, so he could only send them all into those ancestral graves before digging them up. He simply had not expected their own little corner of the world to have such a place as well.

"Now that the question-and-answer session is over, it's time to get down to business." Xiao Yan snapped his fingers softly, and the dazed Ye Xiaolian immediately came back to herself. Suddenly realizing what had just happened, she hurriedly retreated several steps. "You... what did you do?"

"Nothing much. Just a few little tricks." Xiao Yan interlaced his fingers in front of him, a warm smile on his face. He was not lying. In fact, he possessed another Soul Secret Art countless times more powerful than this one, capable of directly brainwashing and reshaping a person, giving them whatever personality he wanted while making them utterly loyal to him.

However, that secret art had far stricter requirements than the Interrogation Secret Art, and it required at least Spirit Realm Soul Force to use. Otherwise, Xiao Yan would have used it long ago rather than going to all this trouble.

"Who exactly are you?" Ye Xiaolian stared at Xiao Yan in terror. In all her time in the Chu Yun Empire, she had never heard of someone like him. Not only was his strength terrifying, but he also possessed such a bizarre secret art. It seemed she would not escape his clutches today.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is the treasure map in your possession." Xiao Yan held out his hand. "With your strength, you can't protect that map at all. Even without the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect today, once word gets out, other factions will still hunt you down. Hand it over to me. I'll keep it safe for you."

"Not a chance!" Ye Xiaolian guarded her Storage Ring, her entire body trembling. "Even if I die, I won't give it to you!"

"Dying is certainly easy, but there are plenty of things in this world more frightening than death." Xiao Yan smiled. "Why don't you guess what I'm talking about?"

"You..." Xiao Yan's words made Ye Xiaolian want to unleash a torrent of curses, but when she saw the smile on his face, she silently swallowed them back down, afraid he might act on impulse and use some method to deal with her...

If nothing else, she had witnessed him describing how he would torture those members of the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect to death. Or rather, their very existence was the starkest warning she could have had.

After wavering again and again, Ye Xiaolian finally chose to hand over the rolled-up map. Seeing her surrender the treasure map so easily, Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, and the smile on his face deepened.

Just as Xiao Yan was about to take the treasure map, he instead seized Ye Xiaolian's wrist and gave it a slight twist. A sharp crack of breaking bone rang out. The intense pain made her instinctively open her hand, dropping the rolled-up map.

Before the map could hit the ground, Xiao Yan quickly caught it with his other hand. With a casual flick, a sharp blade suddenly emerged from the center of the scroll. He toyed with the concealed weapon, then gently pressed it against Ye Xiaolian's neck. "A rather nice little toy. But it won't work on me."