The White Dragon Envoy stared fixedly at the images suspended in the air: recorded testimony concerning the hall masters' secret meetings with Dharma Master Miao Xuan.
Then he looked again at those frost-cold eyes beneath Qing Chen's mask, utterly devoid of warmth;
the fierce resolve with which he had preferred death to surrender was now crumbling, piece by piece.
The heart-devouring torture gu burrowed wantonly through his meridians. The heart-piercing, bone-corroding agony remained, but what truly shattered his courage was Qing Chen's declaration:
"Everything you're risking your life to protect will ultimately be destroyed by the very sect you're loyal to!"
In an instant, he recalled the words their sect leader, Eight Serpent True Person, often spoke in the main hall on Eight Serpent Island-"A snake must hide its fangs before it can hunt a dragon."
Yet the devil before him seemed able to see straight through to the snake's vulnerable spot;
every strike was unerringly precise, hitting him where it hurt most.
Blood River Old Devil truly was the most terrifying fiend in the Azure Wave Archipelago.
With a thud, the White Dragon Envoy's knees buckled, and he dropped heavily to his knees before Qing Chen.
Earlier, no matter how Xie Yu sliced away his flesh with a thin-bladed dagger;
no matter how Han Shi poured bone-corroding sand into the wounds all over his body, his seven orifices, and his lower abdomen;
he had kept his spine straight and his teeth clenched, uttering not a sound.
Yet now, a mere handful of words from Qing Chen had broken his defenses.
He stared at the jade slip on the floor, his Adam's apple bobbing. Only after a long while did he force a few words through his teeth:
"I... I'll inscribe the Defense Deployment Map... provide information..."
At this, a