Entry: I Secretly Cultivate Immortality in the Martial Arts World

57: Chapter 57 The Demon Blade Sect’s Scheme!Spirit Realm, Eastern Continent, Blood Fiend Valley, Demon Blade Sect encampment.

This was not a land of scenic beauty, but a deep valley enveloped by dark red rock walls.

The buildings within the valley were rugged and grotesque, mostly piled from black stone.

Shaped like unsheathed blades or crouching Vicious Beasts, they were in stark contrast to the elegant, immortal charm of the Azure Wave Sect.

At this moment, on a relatively open practice field at the edge of the encampment, a scene completely unrelated to Cultivation or enlightenment was unfolding.

Rather than a practice field, it was more of an execution ground.

”Crack! Crack! Crack!”

Each crisp sound of the whip was accompanied by a pained groan.

In the center of the practice field stood two pitch-black mysterious iron posts.

Tied to the posts were two young men wearing the tattered inner Sect robes of the Azure Wave Sect.

Their Sect robes were already soaked through with blood and filth.

Barely hanging onto their scarred bodies.

Before them, two shirtless Demon Blade Sect Disciples with knotted muscles were wielding pitch-black, glistening long whips, lashing out mercilessly.

The whips were clearly not mundane items; fine, scale-like patterns were faintly visible on their bodies.

And when they struck, it wasn’t just a simple tearing of skin and flesh.

It felt more like being ripped apart by red-hot iron hooks.

With every lash, a spray of blood and a small piece of mangled flesh was inevitably torn away.

The wounds were deep enough to see bone, with charred edges, as if they had been burned.

Even more bizarrely, a layer of faint black Qi lingered over the wounds.

It constantly obstructed the instinctual healing ability of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s Physical Body, while also multiplying and prolonging the pain.

Around the practice field, dozens of Cultivators—men, women, young, and old—sat or stood scattered about.

Their attire varied, clearly indicating they were not Demon Blade Sect Disciples.

They all looked pale, their eyes darting about; some lowered their heads, afraid to look directly, while others kept their eyes shut, feigning meditation.

Yet they couldn’t help but tremble slightly every time the whip cracked.

These people were mostly Loose Cultivators who had been invited or captured by the Demon Blade Sect from various places in the Eastern Continent over the years.

The Demon Blade Sect needed labor to mine the unique Blood Fiend Ore within the valley, and they also needed peripheral hands to handle miscellaneous tasks.

For these obedient Loose Cultivators, the Demon Blade Sect was not stingy about granting them a path to survive.

As long as they did not resist and completed their assigned tasks, they could survive.

If they could pass some harsh loyalty test and voluntarily accept a secret technique Restriction, there was even a chance in the future to don those black robes and become a peripheral member of the Demon Blade Sect.

Therefore, despite living in daily fear, as if walking on the edge of a blade, most Loose Cultivators chose silence and obedience.

However, the two Azure Wave Sect Disciples in the field were clearly an exception.

The treatment they received was completely different from that of the Loose Cultivators.

The Demon Blade Sect did not seem to be in a hurry to kill them, nor did they execute them immediately as they did with some stubborn captives.

The one tied to the left post was named Zhao Lie; his personality matched his name, being rather unyielding. He primarily practiced fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques and had once been a rising star of some renown within the Azure Wave Sect’s inner Sect.

His Aptitude was second only to Lin You.

The one on the right was named Han Song, whose personality was relatively calm and meticulous. He excelled in water and wood-attribute Mystical Arts and was also a budding talent heavily cultivated by the inner Sect.

A few days ago, the two had joined forces to accept a Sect mission to investigate abnormal Yao Beast activity in the Miasma Cloud Forest at the edge of the Eastern Continent.

They were accompanied by three other familiar fellow Disciples.

The mission itself was not difficult, and with their Late Stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, it should have been easy to handle.

Who would have thought that a carefully placed spy from the Demon Blade Sect had infiltrated their team!

Just as they were about to complete the mission and lowered their guard, two companions suddenly launched an attack.

They coordinated from within and without with several Demon Blade Sect Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators who had long been lying in ambush.

Zhao Lie and Han Song were caught off guard. Although they fought back with all their might, they were ultimately outnumbered.

Furthermore, being stabbed in the back by their own people, they eventually exhausted their spiritual energy and were captured after being heavily wounded.

After being brought to this Blood Fiend Valley, the nightmare began.

Every day, besides a tiny amount of water and Medicinal Pills to maintain basic life, there was only endless whipping, branding irons, bone-chilling ice, and other ever-changing tortures.

At this moment, both were on the verge of death.

The whipping finally stopped for the moment.

It was not because the executioners were tired, but because a middle-aged Cultivator dressed in dark red black robes was walking over with his hands behind his back.

His cultivation was at the Early Stage Golden Core, and he was one of the Demon Blade Sect Deacons responsible for managing this area and handling captives. His surname was Tu.

Deacon Tu walked up close, swept his gaze over Zhao Lie and Han Song’s mangled bodies as if inspecting livestock, and let out a cold laugh.

”Tsk, the inner Sect elites of the Azure Wave Sect do indeed have harder bones than those Loose Cultivators.”

”However, even the hardest bones can be shattered.”

”This Deacon will ask you one last time: are you willing to submit to my Demon Blade Sect, swear a Heart Demon oath, and become a spy planted by my Holy Sect within your Azure Wave Sect?”

Zhao Lie’s swollen lips moved: ”You… your mother’s… when… have you ever… asked us?”

He did not recall the other party ever making such a formal recruitment attempt before.

Deacon Tu’s expression darkened. Without warning, he raised his hand and grasped at the air; the black-scaled long whip in the executioner’s hand flew into his own.

With a flick of his wrist, the whip immediately lashed onto Zhao Lie’s old wounds that had just formed a thin scab, causing the skin and flesh to tear open again!

”Argh!” Zhao Lie let out an irrepressible, agonizing scream.

”I said I asked, so I asked.”

”Here, this Deacon has the final say.”

He turned his gaze to Han Song, who was equally miserable beside him: ”What about you? Do you also want to taste this Bone-Eroding Whip again?”

Han Song was slightly more knowledgeable and knew that resisting now was meaningless, other than inviting more physical suffering.

His throat bobbed, and he used all his strength to squeeze out a few words: ”Wil… willing… I am willing… stop hitting me…”

Seeing his companion submit, and feeling the dizziness brought on by the combined eruption of new and old pains on his body, Zhao Lie finally gave in.

The last shred of his backbone was finally ground away by the excruciating pain, and he hissed: ”I… I am also willing…”

The frost on Deacon Tu’s face melted instantly, even revealing a smile that could be called kind.

As if he weren’t the one who had just inflicted the torture.

”Wouldn’t it have been better to be so sensible earlier?”

”It would have saved you from this unnecessary suffering.”

”Rest assured, once you join my Holy Sect, as long as you serve loyally, your future will be bright—far more promising than in that hypocritical Azure Wave Sect.”

Zhao Lie and Han Song lowered their heads, not daring to reply, but their hearts were ice cold.

Submission? It was merely an expedient measure, just playing along.

As soon as they found a chance, they would definitely escape and report the Demon Blade Sect’s conspiracy to the Sect!

However, Deacon Tu and the Demon Blade Sect behind him did not seem to care whether their surrender was sincere at this moment.

The Demon Blade Sect and the Azure Wave Sect were sworn enemies with a trail of blood debts spanning hundreds of years.

In the early years, the strength of the two Sects was evenly matched, and they had traded victories and defeats in their struggles.

However, about a hundred years ago, the Demon Blade Sect’s Luck soared, and they produced three remarkably talented Disciples in succession who surprisingly broke through to the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

They became the pillars of the Sect, known as the Three Elders of the Demon Blade.

For a time, the Demon Blade Sect’s momentum surged, suppressing the Azure Wave Sect until it could barely breathe; it seemed on the verge of total annihilation.

Unexpectedly, the Azure Wave Sect was not destined to end. Relying on one woman, they managed to latch onto the Tianyan Dao Sect, one of the hegemonic forces of the Eastern Continent, and received its protection.

Although the Tianyan Dao Sect did not directly take action against the Demon Blade Sect, a single decree forbidding the destruction of the Azure Wave Sect’s Daoist lineage hung like a sword of Damocles, making the Three Elders of the Demon Blade fear to act rashly.

The path of direct annihilation was blocked.

If the open path didn’t work, they would take the secret one.

The Three Elders of the Demon Blade pondered for a long time and, combined with several sinister, secret methods of controlling the mind passed down within the Sect, devised a poisonous scheme.

That was!

Substituting the fake for the real, and pulling the firewood from under the cauldron!

Since they could not destroy them with thunderous force from the outside, they would slowly erode and replace them from the inside.

Through various means such as coercion, bribery, and secret technique control, they would gradually replace Azure Wave Sect Disciples, and even middle and low-level Elders, with their own people who were loyal to the Demon Blade Sect or directly controlled by the Demon Blade Sect’s secret techniques.

When the time was ripe, and more than half of the entire Azure Wave Sect from top to bottom were Puppets of the Demon Blade Sect, would the Azure Wave Sect still be the Azure Wave Sect?

By then, even if the two Nascent Soul Stage Old Ancestors of the Azure Wave Sect realized something was wrong, it would be too late to save the situation.

With the Sect’s foundation and Legacy Disciples all fallen into enemy hands, wouldn’t this revenge be more thorough and more soul-crushing than simply killing people and destroying the Sect?

Furthermore, the methods were covert, making it difficult for the Tianyan Dao Sect to find an excuse to intervene directly.

This plan required time, patience, and, above all, extreme secrecy.

Therefore, the Demon Blade Sect had been carrying this out in secret for many years.

Their capture of isolated or promising Azure Wave Sect Disciples was not just for slaughter or venting anger.

It was an attempt to convert them into spies, send them back to the Azure Wave Sect, and drag more Azure Wave Sect members into the mud.

Nowadays, within the Azure Wave Sect, out of every ten Disciples, perhaps three or four already had intricate connections with the Demon Blade Sect, or were even directly controlled.

Some Elders who appeared loyal to the Sect had also defected without anyone knowing.

It was precisely this vast and hidden network of spies that allowed the Demon Blade Sect’s capture operations to always be precise and sudden.

And very little information ever leaked out.

Most of the Azure Wave Sect’s high-level members had yet to realize that a catastrophic disaster was quietly approaching in this bizarre manner.

Deacon Tu looked at these two new acquisitions, calculating in his mind which Restriction would be most secure to plant on them.

The pain of the Bone-Eroding Whip was just an appetizer; what truly prevented these spies from betraying them were those Demonic Sect secret techniques and Heart Demon oaths that delved deep into the Divine Soul, making one wish for death but unable to die.

He waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to untie the dying Zhao Lie and Han Song and take them to a special quiet room for the next step of processing.