Leave It to the Master

The voice was calm yet merciless, and the young girl's eyes finally showed a hint of struggle.

Though it was a mission, and she knew the chances of returning were slim, the instinct to survive always made one resist subconsciously.

Or perhaps... this death was simply coming too quickly.

The man's expression held no trace of desire—only scrutiny and wariness, as if he had long been prepared for her.

Moreover, the pain in her abdomen grew increasingly intense. The girl understood that a wound from a small dagger shouldn’t cause such agony—this was the work of a demonic cultivator.

Something worse than death was falling into the hands of a demonic cultivator and suffering a fate worse than death itself.

Li Xingtian stared intently into the girl’s eyes. "Your master doesn’t seem to have any intention of saving you."

"I... no... no one..." The escalating pain twisted the girl’s face into a grimace, her voice turning almost hysterical. "I... truly... no one... sent me."

Li Xingtian twisted the dagger slightly. "Does it hurt?"

The girl, her face deathly pale, nodded vigorously, her hands clutching his unmoving wrist.

"Then you should know," he said coolly, "that an ordinary person who hasn’t experienced this kind of pain wouldn’t be able to endure it. If you were truly a normal mortal, all I’d hear right now would be pleas and confessions—not such a composed denial."

The intensifying pain made it impossible for the girl to maintain her initial calm. She could no longer recall the techniques she had been taught, and even if she did, they would likely be useless against this demonic cultivator who showed no mercy.

Still, years of training had ingrained instincts deep into her bones. Like doctrines carved into her soul, they compelled her to speak.

Tears welled in her eyes as she whispered weakly, "I... didn’t..."

Confession meant certain death. Resistance offered the slimmest hope of survival.

Li Xingtian said nothing more. Instead, he channeled spiritual energy into the dagger. The girl collapsed to the ground with a thud, unconscious.

The surrounding demonic cultivators remained silent, continuing their tasks with quiet efficiency, seeing nothing unusual in Li Xingtian’s methods.

In fact, by demonic cultivation standards, his approach was already quite restrained. A blood-path demonic cultivator might have turned her into a living puppet by now.

Li Xingtian raised his hand slightly, sending threads of blood energy into the girl’s body, sealing all her meridians to prevent spiritual energy from circulating. He also controlled her blood flow, placing her in a comatose, near-death state.

Next, he retrieved a treasure capable of blocking communication and sensory detection. After activating it, he tied it to a strand of her hair.

If she was bait, then she must have some tracking method on her. It was best to neutralize everything before delivering her to his master.

He wasn’t skilled in interrogation—whether she was a caught fish or not, his master could determine that. The earlier questioning had merely been an attempt to extract information without troubling his master, but the results were unsatisfactory.

Whether his master chose to kill or spare her was his decision alone.

Wen Zuo noticed the disturbance and quickly returned, his gaze immediately landing on the unconscious girl with the dagger still embedded in her abdomen.

"You and Hall Master Yu will personally escort her to my master," Li Xingtian ordered. "Tell him this girl is suspicious and that I need him to investigate whether she’s connected to any enemies. This takes priority—leave immediately."

Wen Zuo understood the unspoken implication: this might be the bait finally catching something. He cupped his hands in acknowledgment.

"As you command."

---

Eastern Victory Divine Continent, Qulin.

Qulin wasn’t far from Yaoguang Immortal City, yet few cultivators ever came here.

The reason was simple—spiritual energy here was scarce.

The spiritual veins that flowed through Yaoguang Immortal City should have passed through here as well, but Yaoguang had intercepted them, leaving Qulin barren.

At the very least, Chu Xingchen thought the spiritual energy here was comparable to the Ten-Mile Slope in the Xuanwu Kingdom of the Southern Gaze Continent.

The place was inhabited almost entirely by mortals—even demonic beasts avoided it.

Though spiritually impoverished, the land itself was fertile. From his vantage point in the sky, Chu Xingchen could see a thriving settlement—a paradise for mortals, but certainly not for cultivators.

Tracking the [Demon] couldn’t rely solely on Li Xingtian’s infiltration as a demonic cultivator while Chu Xingchen lounged in Yaoguang Pavilion, waiting for news.

Moreover, Li Xingtian’s lead might not yield results, so Chu Xingchen had to explore other avenues.

Daoist Yuyang was investigating the origins of the [False Rule Crystal]—its previous demonic cultivator owners, the timeline of its appearances, and where it had surfaced.

The Taidao Sect’s intelligence network, deeply rooted in the Eastern Victory Divine Continent for millennia, far surpassed the rudimentary spies the Tianyan Sect had planted.

Admittedly, Daoist Yuyang’s assistance had been an immense boon.

Initially, the Tianyan Sect had worried that the Taidao Sect might obstruct their efforts. But with Daoist Yuyang’s involvement, the Taidao Sect had mobilized its resources—a formidable advantage.

Since Chu Xingchen had promised to share all findings with Daoist Yuyang when requesting his help, he simply handed over the task of processing intelligence and coordinating operations to him.

From what Chu Xingchen knew, Daoist Yuyang was currently managing seven separate investigative lines.

The last time Chu Xingchen saw him, even with Daoist Yuyang’s ability to process information via divine sense, he had appeared overwhelmed.

After all, receiving intelligence was one thing—acting on it was another.

Seeing this, Chu Xingchen didn’t hesitate to grant Daoist Yuyang access to even the Tianyan Sect’s classified reports, pulling Xie Lingyu out of bureaucratic duties to assist.

Since some of the intelligence involved Tianyan Sect secrets, Daoist Yuyang couldn’t delegate the work to other Taidao Sect disciples or elders.

Chu Xingchen had shown his trust, and Daoist Yuyang wasn’t one to fall short.

As the nominal commander-in-chief, Chu Xingchen took Xie Lingyu with him, following up on the leads Daoist Yuyang provided, searching for any useful clues in the details.

But Chu Xingchen had another motive for this arrangement.

Daoist Yuyang, as the future leader of the Taidao Sect, was naturally skilled in organization. Meanwhile, Chu Xingchen’s true advantage lay in his trump card—his ability to see people’s "tags."

Evidence and people could lie, but tags never did.

Xie Lingyu glanced at Chu Xingchen, who was deep in thought, before hesitantly voicing her concern:

"Will Daoist Yuyang be alright with this?"

Chu Xingchen blinked innocently. "You mean him finding out about Tianyan Sect’s hidden operatives? Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken to Yanyun. She said she’ll handle everything—it’s no trouble for her."

Xie Lingyu sighed softly.

"Somehow, I feel like once this is over, Daoist Yuyang is going to cut ties with you."