Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen smiled. ”Want to know? How about we exchange information?”

Chu Yue’s expression was a storm of shifting emotions. After a moment, she clenched her teeth and snorted coldly. ”I don’t know much. If you want to get information out of me, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable knows far more than I do. Wasn’t the information he gave you enough? Was my existence something he told you about?”

”Stop probing me. He did tell me some things, but he had no idea you existed. Or rather, your existence might be unknown to anyone. Even those who know of you don’t know your mission.”

Chu Yue’s eyes widened with astonishment. ”If you already knew that, then why—”

Before she could finish, Fang Chen struck her dead with a single palm. He took her wandering soul into the Underworld and released the Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable from the Yin Gourd.

The moment the Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable saw Fang Chen, confusion flashed in his eyes. ”Why didn’t you kill me?”

However, he quickly noticed Chu Yue and was taken aback. ”It’s you?”

He naturally recognized the core disciple from the Moonlight Immortal Palace.

Why is she here in the Underworld?

Fang Chen smiled. ”Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable, after your death, I waited on Mingwang Star for over three months, yet no one came to avenge you. That’s rather strange, don’t you think?”

Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable’s expression shifted slightly. ”What’s strange about that? With our status, both mine and Saintess Yuanyang’s, if even we died here, those above us would naturally proceed with caution.”

Fang Chen smiled. ”No matter how cautious they are, they wouldn’t remain completely inactive for three months. At the very least, they would send someone to investigate. Unless... after your deaths, they had a way to understand what happened here roughly. For example, using Heavenly Dao techniques to deduce that a ninth-transformation expert might be present on Mingwang Star.”

Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable’s face turned extremely grim. ”Yu Feng and the others... actually told you even that?”

Fang Chen said, ”I’ve been thinking, if you’ve deduced all this, how do you plan to accomplish your ultimate goal? The Heavenly Dao reincarnation I’m protecting has been hidden somewhere beyond your reach. After thinking it through, I suspect that even before you and Saintess Yuanyang died, the Heavenly Dao you commanded had already divined this. You seemed to know something, but not everything

”You asked me what would happen to those core disciples after I leave. That’s not something you should care about, yet you asked anyway. And when you learned I intended to take them away, you seemed relieved. Does that mean you already knew that once I took them away, your mission would be complete?”

Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable stared blankly at the visibly unsettled Chu Yue. ”You?”

Fang Chen nodded. ”Of course. She’s one of yours. I have to say, you really went all out, using so many experts to set up this scheme. But I think there are things that even that one couldn’t calculate. After all, it’s not a complete Heavenly Dao. If I hadn’t prepared a backup plan, perhaps after you took the Xie Zhi Division mask from me, you would have found an excuse to let me rescue that group of people?”

The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable fell silent.

Chu Yue looked at him coldly. ”If you hadn’t asked that extra question out of curiosity, he wouldn’t have become suspicious. You were already dead. Why did you still have to speak?”

The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable said nothing.

Fang Chen smiled. ”No one wants to die confused. He was simply concerned, so he asked one more question before dying. Don’t blame him. If anything, blame yourself for acting too hastily.”

The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable looked at Chu Yue. ”So... you didn’t kill the real target?”

Chu Yue gnashed her teeth. ”So you brought us here just to mock us!”

Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable no longer paid her any attention and instead looked calmly at Fang Chen. ”You’ve won. You saw through our methods and dealt with them. But winning this time doesn’t mean you’ll win next time.”

”I didn’t bring you here to mock you,” said Fang Chen. ”I just wanted to clarify a few things.”

Smiling, he created a seal and struck it onto Chu Yue.

”Fellow Daoist Chu, among those core disciples, are there any others working for you?”

Chu Yue froze for a moment before speaking. ”Why should I—”

In the next instant, her face turned deathly pale. Cold sweat poured down her body as she collapsed to her knees. The pain was hundreds of times worse than the fire poison she had endured before!

”I don’t know!” she screamed in agonizing pain.

Immediately, she felt relief.

The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable’s eyes widened. He didn’t know what method had been used, but it caused Chu Yue such unbearable pain. If Fang Chen had such a method, why hadn’t he used it on him already?

”You don’t know? That’s understandable.” Fang Chen then turned to the Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable, inscribing another seal onto him and asking the same question. ”What about you? Do you know if there are others among those core disciples working for you?”

The Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable began to sweat, as his soul felt as though it were being violently scorched. Now he finally understood that pain. But he gritted his teeth, trembling slightly, forcing himself to remain standing instead of collapsing.

Fang Chen smiled. ”This question isn’t worth much. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.”

”I don’t know,” managed the Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable through the pain. As expected, the pain vanished instantly. ”This method...”

A look of disbelief flashed across the Great Virtue Heavenly Venerable’s eyes. It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck his mind, suddenly clearing all confusion.

He glanced at Fang Chen in complete shock, a gasp escaping him. ”You are Monarch Yan?! The current Monarch Yan is actually a core disciple of the Enlightenment God Palace?”

He had never imagined that the person they had been searching for would appear before him in such a way.

Fang Chen sighed. ”Since neither of you knows, then I’ll just have to test a few more times.”

He stored the two of them back into the Yin Gourd.

Fang Chen pointed at the youth beside him and smiled at Ji Sheng and the others. ”Everyone, the traitor has been eliminated. We can proceed safely now. This young man’s identity is extremely important. Please take good care of him inside.”

They all hurriedly agreed.

Then they were once again taken into the Yang Gourd. Returning to this environment, they were already accustomed to it and no longer surprised.

”Everyone, let’s not get close to him. Even though Senior Brother Wang said the traitor has been eliminated, who can guarantee there isn’t a second one among us?” Ji Sheng said cautiously, scanning the group.

Everyone nodded.

In the next instant, someone suddenly attacked the youth. Though a few nearby had been on guard, the attacker moved far too quickly. They had no time to stop him, and the youth was killed instantly once again.

Ji Sheng’s face turned pale. ”A second traitor...”

The others looked at each other, unsure what to do. They then glared at the attacker. But the man only smiled calmly.

”This time... what can you do?”