Chapter 62

Hearing these words, Dong Xia, who was about to clear the way, paused her actions.

She tilted her head to look at Li Qing first, then at the Jade Shuttle beside her.

No wonder she had sensed a flickering aura from the Jade Shuttle since earlier. She thought Yin Fu Guang was reluctant to part with this magical artifact, but it turned out to have another effect.

Dong Xia grasped the Jade Shuttle and quickly found Yin Fu Guang in the crowd.

The dashing young man smiled at her irreverently, silently mouthing: “Sound transmission.”

Dong Xia smirked slightly, ignoring Yin Fu Guang and letting the clamor of the celestial realm crowd go in one ear and out the other. She lifted the shocked and stammering Sun Zhuo Er, narrowing her eyes as she said, “Isn’t it a bit late to come denouncing now?”

“…The Gate of Heaven will give the spirit realm an explanation,” Zhu Yin said in a deep voice. “There’s no need for the Demon Realm Lord to uphold ‘justice’.”

Dong Xia glanced at her, saying nonchalantly, “Uphold justice? You’ve got it wrong. He killed my master—I’ve always sought Sun Zhuo Er for personal revenge.”

As Zhu Yin was about to say something more, Dong Xia cut her off.

“Yue Fu Tu still has a breath left. If you go save him now, you might make it in time.”

Zhu Yin’s expression changed, and she made her choice in the blink of an eye. She stopped arguing with Dong Xia and flashed away to the post-battle area behind Dong Xia, which was almost shattered into countless pieces of stone.

The Gate of Heaven had already lost Li Qing and Sun Zhuo Er; they couldn’t afford to lose Yue Fu Tu now!

After dismissing Zhu Yin, Dong Xia calculated the time and had no mood to waste words with the celestial realm crowd: “I’m taking this person away. Come and snatch him if you can.”

Before her words had even landed, someone from the celestial realm leaped up.

That person was wielding a pair of huge hammers, glaring at Dong Xia angrily as he shouted, “Demon woman, the celestial realm is not a place for you to act recklessly! Put down Sect Leader Sun immediately!”

Dong Xia coldly raised her eyes to see the opponent swinging the hammer down towards her head. Her fair palm effortlessly blocked the giant hammer, instantly rendering the opponent immobile.

“Fellow cultivators, follow me and attack together!” The burly man with the hammer called out loudly.

At his call, quite a few people indeed stepped out from the ranks.

Dong Xia’s fingers exerted a slight force, and demonic energy broke through the true essence surrounding the giant hammer as if cracking an eggshell, then caused cracks to appear in the precious material hammer: “I see you’re not here to save Sun Zhuo Er, but to silence him.”

The burly man’s face paled: “Demon woman, don’t talk nonsense!”

“I thought so too. He’s been tyrannical for so many years, he must have quite a few pawns in both realms. Didn’t I just recently expose the Sect Leader of the White Cloud Sect?” Dong Xia mockingly turned her gaze to the few who had just jumped out, “Are you all his accomplices too?”

“Don’t slander us!”

“This is simply demonic talk to confuse people!”

“What do you say, Sun Zhuo Er?” Dong Xia lifted the limp Sun Zhuo Er in her hand, “Which ones are your accomplices? It’s all the same whether you confess early or late. Why not name a few now, and I’ll let you die a bit more quickly.”

Sun Zhuo Er dazedly raised his head to look at the distorted faces before him: “I…”

“Sect Leader Sun has already been bewitched by this demon woman, his words can’t be trusted!” The burly man suddenly shouted loudly, “The demon woman is stalling for time, we can’t let her succeed!”

“It won’t take much time for one more sentence,” the Yin family head, however, expressed a different opinion. With a serious expression, he said, “I’m quite interested in what Sect Leader Sun has to say.”

“Has Elder Yin become senile?”

“Maybe you’re the ones with guilty consciences,” Yin Fu Guang immediately retorted coolly.

Seeing the celestial realm crowd starting to quarrel among themselves, Dong Xia raised an eyebrow.

Like the Yin family, who had almost lost their own family members due to the existence of cauldrons, there were quite a few in both realms who naturally harbored deep hatred for the organization trafficking cauldrons. Now they were vaguely standing on Dong Xia’s side.

Usually, Dong Xia would be quite interested in watching such a dog-eat-dog scene, but today she didn’t have much time.

Taking advantage of the celestial realm becoming disunited and distrustful of each other, Dong Xia lifted Sun Zhuo Er and prepared to fly over their heads to leave.

Amidst the clamor, a faint shadow, almost invisible, slipped under Sun Zhuo Er’s body.

Sun Zhuo Er’s unfocused gaze fell on that shadow, and after a moment’s pause, he showed a hint of joy, even forgetting himself as he cried out: “Quick, save—”

Before the last word could leave his mouth, the shadow transformed into a sharp blade and pierced into Sun Zhuo Er’s brow, directly breaking into his sea of consciousness.

Dong Xia realized this attack instantly and didn’t delay. Frowning, she threw Sun Zhuo Er away, while her other hand swiftly reached out to pinch the fleeing light gray shadow between two fingers.

—Because the killing intent was well-concealed and not aimed at her, she hadn’t even noticed the shadow’s approach.

Dong Xia, in a not-so-good mood, crushed the shadow, ignoring the scream of agony from across, and instead stooped to check Sun Zhuo Er’s condition.

Sun Zhuo Er’s condition didn’t look good. A horrific wound had opened between his brows, its depth clearly penetrating the skull. His entire body’s aura was as chaotic as if it was about to…

“Heart demon!” The knowledgeable Yin family head was the first to react, “Sect Leader Sun has been infected by a heart demon!”

Dong Xia clicked her tongue in annoyance and reached out to seal the corrupted true essence frantically pouring out from between Sun Zhuo Er’s brows.

Sun Zhuo Er and Li Qing’s willpower were worlds apart. Li Qing had fought with the heart demon for so long and still appeared normal, while Sun Zhuo Er’s heart demon had just emerged and had already overwhelmed him entirely.

Once truly controlled by the heart demon, Sun Zhuo Er’s body would be nothing but a pile of mush, and she wouldn’t be able to get anything out of him.

Dong Xia’s thoughts raced, and she had no choice but to forcibly use her own power to combat Sun Zhuo Er’s heart demon.

But how could an external force help suppress a heart demon?

“You actually… betray me after all I’ve done for you!” A strange hissing sound came from Sun Zhuo Er’s throat, his eyes flashing with a terrifying red light, “If it weren’t for me, how could you be sitting in those revered high positions now?!”

Dong Xia mercilessly slapped Sun Zhuo Er, who was struggling to get up: “Shut up.”

Although the heart demon could rapidly increase one’s strength in a short time, no matter how much Sun Zhuo Er’s strength surged… it was still nothing to Dong Xia. She could easily suppress him with one hand.

The trouble was Sun Zhuo Er’s sea of consciousness, visibly being ground to powder.

If this continued, his memories would soon be devoured by the heart demon and disappear.

Even more troublesome was that what was entangled in Sun Zhuo Er’s body wasn’t just a simple heart demon.

Upon touching a chilling aura, even Dong Xia quickly withdrew her hand and retreated half a step from Sun Zhuo Er’s side.

Countless semi-transparent, elongated shadows appeared around Sun Zhuo Er, wrapping around him densely. Upon closer inspection, one could make out immature facial features on these shadows, creating a terrifying scene.

Sun Zhuo Er’s originally sinister cursing had turned into agonized screams, as if those shadows were fiercely devouring and tearing at his flesh.

“What is that?!”

“Those shadows even have human faces… No, those are… those are vengeful spirits!!! The lingering vengeful spirits of the wronged!!!”

Standing closest, Dong Xia saw the clearest.

It’s said that those who do evil will eventually face divine retribution, and it seemed Sun Zhuo Er had indeed proven this true.

But Dong Xia wasn’t happy.

If she wanted Sun Zhuo Er dead, she had a hundred ways to do it, but to dig out information from Sun Zhuo Er’s mind… he couldn’t die.

“Dong Xia,” Li Qing’s voice sounded beside Dong Xia’s ear. He reminded her, “The jade slip.”

Dong Xia was stunned for a moment, recalling the jade slip Li Qing had given her on the way to the Gate of Heaven, which she had pushed to the back of her mind. She searched in her storage ring for a while before finally finding it.

When her divine sense probed into the jade slip, she discovered it was actually the long-lost soul-searching technique.

As the name suggests, the soul-searching technique surpassed any interrogation or torture. One only needed to forcibly enter the other person’s mind to search and plunder the information they wanted to know. The only drawback was that it would cause some irreversible damage to the person being soul-searched.

—Li Qing had actually given this to her? Knowing full well who she would use it on?

Dong Xia turned back to look at Li Qing in astonishment, without speaking to him. She quickly imprinted the soul-searching technique into her mind, and following the instructions, her demonic energy transformed and probed into Sun Zhuo Er’s chaotic sea of consciousness, moving through it like an eye.

This soul search required full concentration, so Li Qing stood in front of Dong Xia, blocking between her and the celestial realm crowd.

That protective posture was extremely obvious, not needing Li Qing to say a single word to make it clear.

Yin Fu Guang exchanged a glance with Li Qing, scratched the back of his own head, and said with a smile, “It seems… everything Sect Leader Sun said when he called us here today was a lie.”

The expressions on the faces of the Gate of Heaven crowd were all very unpleasant.

Sun Zhuo Er had said clearly that the demon woman was coming to kill him to intimidate the celestial realm, and everyone had rushed here to fight the enemy for the sake of the celestial realm’s stability. Who knew the result would turn out like this.

“…If you ask me, Sect Leader Sun is reaping what he sowed,” Yin Fu Guang shrugged.

“It’s not for the demon realm to judge!” An elder of the Gate of Heaven said resentfully.

“This old man didn’t see the demon woman make a move. Whether it’s shouting to beat and kill Sect Leader Sun, sneaking up on Sect Leader Sun, or the heart demon and vengeful spirits, none of it has anything to do with the demon woman, right?”

“Is the Yin family going to stand on the demon realm’s side?!”

“My niece was almost taken away to be a cauldron,” Yin Fu Guang said with a meaningful smile, “I’m afraid there are quite a few people standing here who, like me, want to take revenge personally?”

After Yin Fu Guang finished speaking, the scene fell into an awkward silence for a moment.

Those with ulterior motives didn’t speak, and those with old and new grudges also remained silent.

After an unknown period of time, a silver streak of light crossed the sky, and a hemispherical formation gradually materialized from virtual to real from the horizon, slowly forming patterns.

“The great formation is about to restart,” a Gate of Heaven elder murmured, looking at the sky.

Li Qing glanced in the direction of the formation’s eye, then pressed his lips tightly and looked down at Dong Xia, who still had her eyes tightly closed.

He didn’t dare leave Dong Xia, who was completely defenseless at the moment, but once the formation restarted, it would inevitably cause harm to her…

“…Linghe Sect’s Zhu Hongfeng.” Sun Zhuo Er suddenly opened his mouth and hoarsely spat out a name.

Amidst the silence, the celestial realm crowd turned to look at the person who had been named.

Zhu Hongfeng raised his chin, feigning composure: “Why are you all looking at me?”

“Luohan Valley’s Zhan He… Tianji Mountain’s Xi Yuexiu…” Sun Zhuo Er reported one name after another, all of them influential figures in the celestial realm whose names could sway entire regions.

As Sun Zhuo Er listed more and more names, those who were named could no longer maintain their composed expressions. Some even sprang up and tried to flee like thieves—of course, they were intercepted by others working together.

When Dong Xia opened her eyes with a slight look of fatigue, Sun Zhuo Er had already rattled off thirty-six names in one breath. There were names from both the celestial and demon realms, but surprisingly, not a single one was an unknown figure.

Thousands of people stood densely packed in the vast Gate of Heaven, but apart from the terrifying “huh huh” sound from Sun Zhuo Er’s throat, there wasn’t a single other sound.

Even when Dong Xia spat out two mouthfuls of blood and lifted the half-dead Sun Zhuo Er to walk towards the mountain gate, no one moved a step except for Li Qing.

Dong Xia dragged Sun Zhuo Er to the outside of the Gate of Heaven’s mountain gate before casually throwing him to the ground.

She pulled out the long sword from Sun Zhuo Er’s back, lightly flicked her wrist to reverse her grip on the sword hilt, and then impaled this sect leader, who had been so glorious just yesterday, through his dantian, pinning him to the ground beside the mountain gate.

After doing all this, Dong Xia then carved the thirty-six names she had just found in Sun Zhuo Er’s mind onto a nearby stone wall.

…

By the time Yue Fu Tu finally woke up after Zhu Yin’s desperate rescue efforts, everything had already been decided.

The Gate of Heaven crowd tried countless methods but couldn’t get close to Sun Zhuo Er. Those lingering vengeful spirits that refused to disperse swirled around him, as if to wear away at his life until the very last moment.