The cave shrouded in silence had a heavy pressure dominating the space. No one dared to make another noise as the rolling head came to a stop. It stopped right in front of its collaborator. The woman shook covered in hot blood as I arrived in front of her.
Their protests caught up in their throat, their eyes fished for some way out of this. The crystal in my hand had made them vigilant. Because deep down they know that their group member had lied. And he died for it. Thoughts that my words were more than just simple threats and bluffs settled in their minds. This was the moment I waited for to push this farce further.
“What was the purpose behind this attack?” With my question hanging in the air, the mood shifted.
“S-Senior, please spare me… Please!” The woman with blue eyes begged, but she would only face indifference. I hadn’t an ounce of sympathy knowing what this group wanted to do with these recruits.
“Tell the truth and I will, now if you don’t answer me in five breaths you’ll lose your chance.” As the time limit was established the woman looked around frantically. Her eyes matched with the others who were in a similar position to her.
The condition lay in front of them. If they tell the truth they’ll live. If not they die. In such a situation no matter what someone’s affiliation was, if they could save their neck they’d do it. This betrayal ran rampant in the Demonic sects, but these people in front of me couldn’t do that.
They were the bottom feeders of the sect. They can’t reveal the truth about their affiliation or the tasks they carry out.
‘They all have the Three-mouthed centipede wrapped around their hearts. If they spill any information it would crush their heart asunder.’ In such a situation lying was the only option.
“I don’t know! Senior please spar—!!!” That led to death as the crimson flash cast a death sentence.
“Why did you kidnap the recruits?” My question stumped the buff guy to the left of the slumped body.
“U-Um, ah…” He stumbled over his tongue trying to come up with something. Five breaths passed yet he couldn’t produce anything. The flying sword claimed his life and loomed over the head of the next.
As another head rolled across the ground, anxious eyes gathered on me. The conflict of what to do appeared on their faces, truth, lie, or abstaining, it all led to death. So, what must they do?
In truth, it didn’t matter. The moment I left my courtyard their fates were determined. Taking them for interrogation wouldn’t amount to anything. But, killing them outright would be too wasteful. That’s why I had to do things in a way that could still get me something.
They still have their uses, at least one of them. And that person watched this with peeled eyes. That was good.
After all, this was all for her.
Be sure to see everything I do, and hear everything I say. Then do what I want you to do. In a way, this entire play was set up for one person.
“Why did you disguise yourselves as Purple Cloud Sect’s disciples?”
“Are there any more of your people in the vicinity?”
“Was the Azure Sky sect’s caravan the only one you attacked?”
I asked and they answered, but no matter what they said only death became the ending point. Standing before the leader I looked at her small form on the ground. She looked about twenty. Hunched over, she hugged her head. Drops of tears fell to the ground as the head of the last guy lay before her. The wide-open eyes struck with horror stared right at her, yet she couldn’t look at it.
“Looks like you are the only one left.” Ignoring the way she trembled, I planned to continue.
“Senior, please let me live… I had no choice but to obey the orders.” The young eyes looked up at me. There wasn’t any hint of strength in them like before. Tears spilled as the small form looked even smaller.
What she said wasn’t news to me, I already knew that she had to obey the orders otherwise the centipede would chew her heart out. And to attest to it, a green glow appeared for the first time. The green glow was like the glow of hope for her.
“They chose me as a cultivation cauldron for an elder and kidnapped me from my family! I have no choice but to do this to gain my freedom! Please Senior! Please let me go… I beg you please!” Words came out trying to appeal, but they wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“A cultivation cauldron chosen for an elder of the Demonic sect…” What I wanted to draw out was finally here.
“Yes Senior, please spare me. I’ll tell you everything I can… please.” She tried to strengthen it by responding to my mutters.
The glimmer of hope became clearer. To grasp at that hope she thrashed like a fish out of water trying to reach the river again. But, she didn’t know that the water she reached was inside the bucket of the catcher.
“Then show me the mark.” Her entire being flinched.
“What?”
“The cauldron mark, it should be right above your dantian.” Seeing her eyes widen didn’t come as a surprise to me.
When someone is chosen to be a cultivation cauldron in a Demonic sect they are given a mark on their abdomen with the name of the elder and the number of years they have left. This insider information wasn’t something easy to acquire. Remembering about how I came to know of this, still made me feel bitter.
“You just have to show me by smearing your blood over the spot. I’ll get the name of the elder who did this to you. The poisonous insect wouldn’t tear your heart apart for leaking that. There isn’t any loss for you here.” With this, she couldn’t escape.
“How do you…?” Anyone from the Demonic sect wouldn’t understand how this technique leaked. Not to mention in such detail.
“What happened? I am giving you an easy way out, am I not? If you do it, I’ll even protect you.” My urging seemed to have made her understand. There wasn’t a way out of this.
If she wanted to live, the mark had to appear. And even without a lie detector, the truth was revealed from her eyes. There wasn’t a mark on her body. However, this had just started. Forced this far into this choice, she should’ve come up to speed on the matter. And she did.
The shock settled in. The gears of reason turned as she captured my words. Her eyes went to the crystal, but there wasn’t a response. I shouldn’t have to ask her to confirm things. After all, a device that could discern truth and lies lay in my hands.
“Did you just…!” With eyes as wide as plates, she glared at me with blazing fury.
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“It was indeed a sham. Look at this, my name is Qian Yun.” At my words, the crystal flashed with green.
The entire eastern continent knew that Qian Yun was a mad woman. Yet, a man in the territory of her rival sect claimed to be her. Moreover, the device I claimed to detect truth or lies, showed it as truth.
From the start, such a device hasn’t been in my grasp. Even if there was, many ways to take advantage of such a device. A person doesn’t strictly speak the truth or lie. Many mix them. So a device that could detect such could never hold much credibility unless it can unwind a person’s inner thoughts and intentions, even then ways to work around it exist.
To prevent that from happening, I had to set the tone. With information from the future and clear-cut questions that would only draw lies paved the way. In the end, she had no choice but to make a move before I asked something. She took the initiative to speak but under the rules set by the previous interrogation.
Getting kidnapped to be a cultivation cauldron. That happened to her. But, that only explained half the story as she didn’t have the mark.
“If you didn’t end up becoming a cultivation cauldron, then you were chosen as a disciple for your aptitude and loyalty. So, you aren’t the victim you are trying to be.” There was only one way that the three-mouthed centipede could take root around a person’s heart.
It was for the person to not reject its presence in their body, not only does it have a hold on the person’s heart but also at their dantian. And the only people who could do such things were people who shared the same ideology with the Demonic Sect bastards. They wanted to see the world burn and rallied others for their cause.
“You can’t kill me.” The acting had concluded on her part too. The confidence bubbled in her eyes to the point that it overflowed, with a defiant grin she glanced at the recruits behind me, “It has taken effect.”
“Hrgh!” Several painful grunts arose in the back.
“T-This…” The girl holding Wang Yang trembled as blood dripped from her nose to drip down her chin. Purple spots started to appear on her white skin like the shadow of death.
Not her alone, every unconscious recruit on the ground convulsed. The scent of blood got thicker as an acrid scent reached my nostrils. It was faint, almost unnoticeable yet I caught it because of how familiar it was.
“It seems like you didn’t know about Yin Dandelion Poison’s special property that makes it much more deadly. It is the way it spreads to others.” The woman spoke with the same infuriating smirk, “Everyone is fooled into thinking that coming in contact with infected transfers it. But, the purple spots that appear on the affected areas are patches of spores that spread using air and affect others in the vicinity. That’s the poison made by Qian Yun that wiped out an entire Demonic sect. Yes, that very poison is now running through the people you want to save. And if you don’t stop it, the poison will continue to spread.”
The Yin Dandelion Poison was a vicious and feared poison. It had only been used once since its creation and the major sects became conscious of its existence. The Four Major sects even banned its use because of the risks it posed. Even the one who created it agreed with them. And this woman got her hands on it. If that was the case she should also have the counter for it, unless she wanted to do a suicide attack.
“What makes you think that I can’t get the antidote from you?” My question made her laugh.
“Because it is already gone!” She cackled, spitting out an empty capsule she had kept behind her teeth.
“How is that? I already ate it the moment you came in. No matter what you do, those worthless kids can’t be saved. They’ll all die and the plan will still work!” As she vented out her words of excitement, I could only look at her with blankness.
“So, that was all for your grand plan?” Turning around my steps led me to the recruits, “That’s disappointing.”
Several capsules came out of my storage ring and floated in the air, with a wave of my finger they entered the recruits’ mouths and burst open.
“What? Do you think anything can counter the Yin Dandelion Poison? Only two people on the Eastern Continent know how to make its antidote. Aren’t you just giving them false hope and trying to bury this incident? After all, if you don’t run away from here and call for backup, even you will die here.” Her taunts did nothing but make the girl holding Wang Yang flinch.
But, there wasn’t a need to waste my words. In front of my eyes, the purple spots on the recruits faded within the next few breaths. At that moment, the cave descended in complete silence.
“Y-You… How?!” There wasn’t a need to turn around, one could make out her expression from her voice alone.
From the start, she planned for things to end with her escape. I gave her all the chances, making up a lie about the crystal, giving her clues to buy time, and the moment to eat the antidote while stalling. It happened in the way she envisioned her escape. Even if the strength between us wasn’t one she could overcome, with poison that bridge shortened. Yin Dandelion Poison loved Qi, the spores that left the body of the affected ate the natural Qi in the air and targeted creatures with the most Qi first. My Qi pressure that held her down made me the prime target of this poison.
“The moment I reeled in my Qi you wanted to use that moment and escape with the help of the antidote. A subpar plan. Regardless, it was foiled because the poison affected one person much faster than the others.” With the signs showing on Wang Yang early, I understood her plans. Even if caught she had ways to escape.
Yin Dandelion Poison had only been used once. Because of how easy it was for it to get out of control and cause damage on a massive scale. But, the other sects worked to counter it as a verbal agreement isn’t something to be trusted. When push comes to shove any promise and agreements could get broken.
That was why every Sect worked hard to produce countermeasures for this Poison keeping such a day in mind. And the antidote she took was the fruit of that. But still, most of the cultivators on the Eastern Continent had no idea that such a poison existed. Why? Because most of the relevant figures didn’t want to showcase their failures to everyone.
“Who are you?” As the Qi pressure didn’t let up, the understanding of how she failed dawned on her.
“Who made the antidote for Yin Dandelion Poison?” Answering her question with another question was enough to give her the answer. As expected this girl knew of it.
“B-Bian Que?” She looked at me as if a ghost stood in front of her.
Indeed that was the case. Bian Que wasn’t a real person at all. It was nothing but a mirage created to diverge attention. Only four people knew this secret excluding myself. But, there was a reason I had let it slip out right now.
“You… that can’t be! Why would yo-Blergh!!” Before she could finish, violent coughs brought out several mouthfuls of blood onto the floor.
The blood had a dark black color, bubbles oozed as if it were boiling in a pot. The purple haze rose from it as she clutched her chest. Nails scratched across the hard floor trying to endure.
“There is something about the antidote that you can’t learn from the Book of Yin Dandelion you took from Qian Yun’s disciple. It is something only passed through words.” Even through the gut-wrenching pain that made her chew her lips the woman still looked at me. Her determination was quite cool, just to the wrong side.
“Taken by itself, the antidote for Yin Dandelion is also a deadly poison that’ll kill anyone below the Nascent Soul Stage.” Four stones shone around her. It was a simple formation set in place to isolate her from the rest.
With that in place from the start she had no hopes of coming in contact with the poison in the air. So, the antidote she took started to show its side effects without the poison present.
“S-Stop this… Please help me!” Blood dripped from her eyes and the time for her to lose her eyesight was close.
This is a pain that not many can handle. It was like one had swallowed burning coals that mixed in with their blood and tried to burn their way out of the body. I knew after going through it myself while making this antidote.
“I’ll tell you everything! I-I do anything! Please!” She screeched, trying to move but the Qi Pressure kept her from exiting the formation boundary.
“Is that how you got Qian Yu’s Disciple?” The question made her flinch and a sense of disappointment rose within me.
Regardless, putting this matter aside I checked up on the recruits. But, before that, I had some words for her. No matter how she ended up in the Demonic sect, she carried forward with what she had to do. In the same way, I’ve decided what I need to do to protect my sect and my people from harm.
It doesn’t matter what I have to do or become to achieve that, I’ll do it even if I have to face the consequences later on.
“You made your bed, now sleep in it.” I said as the poison spores from the cave were gathered in my body. Taking the antidote after that I didn’t have to worry about the poison.
Turning around to match the horrified gazes of the recruits, my eyes locked on my future disciple. He held back his turning stomach at the grotesque sight in front of him while shielding the girl who previously held him. The fight and care in his golden eyes remained the same.
You won’t have to carry the burden alone this time, Wang Yang. In this life, I want to stay true to this promise that I failed to keep before regression.