Ill Intentions

When the old Grandmaster Guo Pingjiang heard this, he neither begged for mercy nor struggled. He merely gave two cold laughs.

"Patriarch Li won't let you get away with this."

But before his words had even faded, as if a god had answered him, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Who dares kill a member of my Li Household?"

The old Grandmaster froze. His once-clouded eyes lit up at once, and he murmured:

"My lord?"

"It's my lord!"

Inside the cavern, Sun Xing and Wan Xun turned deathly pale in an instant.

They had never imagined they would be exposed. The Reed-Hidden Sandpiper's concealment Secret Method was a closely guarded secret of the Sun Household. The Li Household was just a small Lineage that had fled disaster and settled here, so how could it possibly have seen through it?

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if they had seen through it, this place was a full hundred li from the capital. The two of them had followed their targets all the way, and they had maintained a mental connection with their spirit beasts throughout, yet they had not noticed the slightest thing amiss!

How was that possible?!

"Foundation Establishment!"

A suffocating thought surfaced in Sun Xing's mind, making him tremble uncontrollably.

"Only a Foundation Establishment cultivator with Spiritual Sense could see through the Reed-Hidden Sandpiper's concealment technique and follow us for a hundred li without being detected. Even our ancestor couldn't do it! There's actually a Foundation Establishment powerhouse hidden on this tiny Jade Wave Island?!"

He had no time to think further. His survival instincts drove him to race toward another exit deep inside the cave.

But Li Zhengjun had already had Li Yuankai and the other man surround the cave abode. How could they have any chance of escaping?

The moment he had darted forward a few zhang, the cave entrance exploded with a thunderous crash. A blaze of dawnlight poured in like a pillar of heaven, illuminating the entire cavern as brightly as day.

The dawnlight forced the two men back again and again. With nowhere left to retreat, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and fight for their lives.

Sun Xing gave a fierce shout, and several dark shapes darted out in succession from the spirit beast pouch at his waist: an Ink-Scaled Viper, a Ghost-Faced Bat, and a Shadow Lizard lying in ambush among the rubble.

These three spirit beasts had all been raised by Sun Xing with his Essence Blood for many years. Together, they were a match for a Middle Qi Refinement cultivator. Now they all pounced on Li Zhengjun to buy him a chance to escape.

Yet Li Zhengjun did not even draw the Luminous Brightness sword. He simply stepped forward, and Bright Yang Qi erupted around him. The blazing Bright Yang Dawnlight was like a great sun falling into the cramped cavern. With nowhere to hide, the three spirit beasts dissolved in the light and flame in an instant.

Wan Xun also controlled an Illusion-Pupiled Marten hidden in a crack in the rock wall. Before the beast could launch a sneak attack with its illusions, Li Zhengjun had already pinpointed its location with his Divine Sense. With a casual sword-finger strike, he pinned it dead to the stone wall.

It all happened in the time it took lightning to flash and a spark to fly. Before Sun Xing and Wan Xun could react, the spirit beasts they had painstakingly raised for years were all dead.

"This... this spiritual pressure, he really is a Foundation Establishment cultivator?!"

Li Zhengjun's Law Power was immense, far beyond that of cultivators at the same stage in the Great Scarlet Realm.

Sun Xing had only seen his own ancestor at Peak Qi Refinement, and the pressure Li Zhengjun exuded before him was even greater. Naturally, he mistook him for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He could no longer hold back. He fell to his knees and begged for mercy through bitter sobs:

"Senior, spare my life! Senior, please spare my life! This junior had eyes but failed to see, and offended your immortal might. I am willing to follow your lead in all things. Please show mercy, senior!"

When Wan Xun saw even his senior brother begging for mercy, how could he dare resist? He too dropped to his knees and begged, regretting it in his heart:

This is bitter! What cushy, lucrative assignment? It really was a thankless job! Now I'm going to lose my life here!

Li Zhengjun paid the two men no attention. He had Li Dongping capture them and put them into the Seven Luminaries Bright-Subduing Profound Light Pagoda.

He himself stepped forward to untie the old Grandmaster Guo Pingjiang, then transferred Law Power into him to help heal his injuries.

Guo Pingjiang had endured an entire day and night of brutal torture without shedding a single tear or uttering a single word of surrender.

But now, the eyes of this old Grandmaster of iron backbone reddened.

His lips moved for a long while before he managed to force out a few words:

"My lord... I, I didn't reveal a single thing about the Li Household..."

Li Zhengjun nodded and said solemnly:

"I know your character, Elder Guo. Return to the capital and recover in peace. As for these two, our Li Household will make them pay."

Guo Pingjiang froze. He had not expected his lord to remember his surname. Two streams of turbid tears ran down his face, and he said nothing more.

Li Zhengjun sighed and pressed a bottle of healing pills into his hand. Only then did he take the others and ride the wind back to the capital.

The capital.

A side hall.

Li Zhengjun brought Li Chenxuan with him to interrogate the two men personally.

Seeing how fierce every Li Household cultivator was, the two men did not dare conceal anything. They spilled everything they knew in one rush. They were so honest that the Heart-Questioning Talisman did not activate even once.

Only after a full night did Li Zhengjun finally understand the whole affair.

The two cultivators came from the Sun Household on the neighboring Red Maple Island. The Sun Household was sizable, with over two hundred cultivators in the Lineage and even more outer disciples.

They were vassals under the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect, charged with managing several islands in the surrounding waters. Jade Wave Island was one of those under their jurisdiction.

The Sun Household's ancestor was at Qi Refinement Great Perfection, and several elders at Late Qi Refining held the fort within the Lineage. In these waters, they were a force to be reckoned with.

But what truly gave the Sun Household confidence was its second young master. Exceptionally gifted, he had been accepted as an inner disciple of the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect and had joined the ranks of its Foundation Establishment True Disciples. He was highly likely to reach Foundation Establishment in the future.

With that connection, no one in the surrounding waters dared provoke the Sun Household.

Li Zhengjun went through the points one by one and sneered:

"What must come will come. Our Li Household came here from elsewhere to establish a foothold, so the surrounding powers were bound to probe and reject us. That was to be expected. But... there are two rather strange things in this confession."

"First, judging by the information the Sun Household possessed, they had long known that a Devil Cultivator on Jade Wave Island was refining pills and harming people. Daoist Lu had occupied this place for more than a year or two. Yet over these eighteen years, why did the Sun Household, the vassal responsible for governing this island under the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect, never send anyone to wipe him out, or even ask about him? Could they not do it, or did they not want to?"

"Second, the Sun Household has been keeping watch on Jade Wave Island all along, and the target of their reconnaissance was very clear from the start: the tiger demon on Gold-Bearing Mountain. They don't seem to care much about Jade Wave Island's resources or our Li Household. If they hadn't happened to discover traces of us while scouting the tiger demon, they probably wouldn't even have sent these two scouting spirit beasts to the capital. In other words, in the Sun Household's eyes, one tiger demon is more important than the resources of an entire island. Why is that?"

Sun Xing and Wan Xun did not hold high positions in their Household and had access to little information, so Li Zhengjun could not make sense of it all yet.

Just then, Li Dongping pushed open the door and entered.

He first glanced at the two Sun Household men who had already confessed, then came before Li Zhengjun and said quietly:

"My lord, a group of cultivators arrived in the capital just now. They claim to be from the Sun Household of nearby Red Maple Island, and they're currently discussing Gold-Bearing Mountain with Uncle Yuankai in the main hall. Uncle wants you to come and take a look. I'm afraid they... have come with ill intentions..."