The plan was a success.

Even though I had put Kexin’s life on the line with the little information available, it had ended the life of one of the Four Generals of the Demonic Cult in the Eastern Continent, Shu Huang.

Before returning I had to set up the scene a little. After all, it should look like Shu Huang had died in a battle with Bian Que while trailing Kexin, who was supposed to leave with me to cover their escape.

Dissolving the corpse and the centipede I only left the head. The bounty of his head had to be claimed after all. The spirit stones were one thing, but it was about sending a message.

“These injuries are killing me though.” Grumbles left my mouth as I spread the poison and formations I used while battling as Bian Que, also had to leave behind several daggers while also stabbing one in the head to make it a more believable fight.

It took a little over an hour to set up the scene before I stumbled back to the cavern. By that time the minor fractures had been healed by the Healing pills, but my right hand was still unusable.

“Welcome back Senior Li.” The only one to welcome me back was Yingyue with her usual respectful salute.

Kexin and Lingling had returned to training, and Zhi Rou was doing her thing in one of the empty tunnels. The only one missing was Wang Yang who was in the mountain village nearby for some reason.

“Sorry to put you on the guard duty, I can take it from here.” I said.

“Then, I shall accept the generosity.” With quick yet graceful steps, Yingyue made her way to the female side of the pond.

I headed for the pond too. It was the quickest way to heal up.

“It’s just like a hot spring, just more showy and dangerous.” I felt my tense muscles loosen up by the soothing qi. The broken bones in my arm started to come together like nothing happened, there was some pain involved but mostly negligible to me.

What I had to do was face forward now. Shu Huang wasn’t even the most dangerous of the four generals, yet if I didn’t have this pool my recovery time would’ve been way higher and I wouldn’t have recovered fully either. As it wasn’t my arm alone that broke, a good part of the pathways in my right hand snapped from the overload of Qi too. Normally I should’ve collapsed at the scene after that attack but I had taken the pills in advance to boost my recovery.

The amount of Qi and snappy movement it took to make that move possible wasn’t something my body could handle even at the peak of Golden Core. I was far too weak to even start the true fight, thus I came here first.

And now that the first General was gone, it was time to focus on the second one.

Gu Changge, even if he wasn’t the strongest, he was the most cunning one among them.

The damage he had caused was enormous, not just to Purple Cloud Sect but to the orthodox faction as a whole. A ruthless and egotistic maniac who could never see himself in the wrong, that was my next target.

However, the noose was already around his neck. All I had to do now was tighten it. The process was already underway, but it would take more time to lure him into the bottle.

I have to break through Nascent Soul if I want to succeed in this. The goal dangled in front of my face, but only thorns lined my path.

My meridians and qi pathways had certainly increased their durability. They had become equivalent to Heaven Grade Mid rank, a jump of three stages. A miracle really, but that didn’t seem enough for my spiritual roots. The bad news was that they had started to approach their limit.

They’d reach the high rank of Heaven Grade for sure, but anything beyond that was impossible with this method. Because of their low level since the start, how much they grow from that point was decided.

Even with pond If I forced cultivation and kept on piling injuries to my pathways and meridians, the time will come when I would be crippled or my potential would reach a ceiling. Both of which I can’t let happen.

To deal with that I’d need to use another method, a method that I had used to help Wang Yang in the future.

“But I am no good with pets.” I muttered fighting through the headache.

“Pets?”

The question made me open my eyes, Wang Yang was sitting next to me. His eyes unblinking, a great interest in the topic.

“Nothing really, I just remembered the days when I had to take of Bai’er’s cats. Those were some tough days.” Those cats shattered the confidence I had about being good with animals, they scratched me from hell and back.

“Bai’er?” Wang Yang tilted his head.

“Huang Bai, the one who took you to Plum Peak after the Disciple Selection Ceremony.” I said.

“Oh? The pretty and gentle lady from back then, come to think of it she did have scents of multiple cats on her.” Wang Yang nodded as if to confirm his own words.

“She’s had the nasty habit of taking in every stray she finds, and they all love her to the point that they’ll attack others who try to take care of them.” Their attachment was too strong in fact.

They wouldn’t let me pet them even after I fed them a Rainbow Dragonfish. Ungrateful I say.

Wang Yang laughed a little before silence sunk in, I looked ahead at the wall as he seemed to be thinking some things over. It was understandable after all.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Master… I am sorry about my reckless behavior.” He said finally.

“It’s not your fault, that painting was too strong for you. It almost tempted me to look as well.” That treasure had a soul of its own, such treasures were rare and equally dangerous.

“If anything, you should be proud of coming out of this alive.” Sure, I could reprimand him all day and even punish him. But that would net nothing, no matter where you keep him locked up, trouble would come knocking. That much I was aware of.

“Well, it was thanks to you Master.” He said, before he realized something. “Also, thanks for this, it really saved my butt from the looks of it.”

He held out the pearl necklace, it still had its usual shine, just a little dimmer from using the stored energy to protect him. But I couldn’t take it back from him.

“It is yours now.” I said.

“Mine? But isn’t this expensive? Senior Gu and Senior Zhi went star-eyed for it.” He scratched his cheek.

“Well, it was given to me by my Master. So, its value is quite high even if put moderately.” It made me recall the day I got it.

“Then… isn’t this important to you?”

Of course, it was important, it was the greatest treasure I had. However, it wasn’t for me.

“My Master told me that even if this necklace was in my possession and was made by me, I would never use it.” It was specifically made for me to give to someone else. “My mental strength is too strong to be boosted by this, or so my Master said. So, I only fostered it with the mind to hand it to someone in need, and you happened to be the one. It belongs to you now, because you need it for that painting.”

Even before regression, I had given this to someone else, I guess I’ll need to find a new present for her this time.

“Well, I can’t deny that.” Wang Yang said. “Master, you are seriously too amazing.”

“Not really.” However, I couldn’t let him think that. “Your Master is a lot weaker than he seems.”

In that moment the painting tempted me to look, if I hadn’t regressed I don’t think I would’ve been able to stop myself. The nature of that painting was to trap the person’s soul in a dream, a dream that they would never want to wake up from while eating them.

People with regrets were its prime targets, like Iron Body Deity who lost his sister and couldn’t move on from it. Maybe Wang Yang too wouldn’t have broken out of it if not for that necklace, even at that age he had his regrets like anyone.

Sometimes a single regret or a mental shadow can destroy a cultivator, no matter how talented. And I had led a life filled with regrets.

The people I lost, the bonds I couldn’t protect, and the mistakes I made, each one of them are fresh in my mind.

“No way Master is weak, Senior Zhi was praising you so much and everyone in the sect also respects you a lot.” Wang Yang said, his eyes brimming with admiration. “I really want to be like you, a strong and respected Cultivator.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry then.” I smiled.

“Huh?” His confusion was clear.

“You’ll reach higher heights than I ever can, that’s my promise as your Master.” I patted his shoulder.

He would be stronger than not just me, but anyone in history this time.

“Now, focus on training.” I said.

“Yes, Master.” Wang Yang’s eyes looked firmer than before.

The slight confusion and hesitation that new cultivators had vanished after today’s incident. There was only the will to grow stronger now.

***

After dinner, I went to look for the only person missing from the table.

I stepped into the tunnel lathered in concealment arrays. As soon as I stepped in, rugged breaths reached my ears as the scent of iron stung the back of my throat.

In the middle of the dimly lit tunnel, the detained demonic cultivator was strapped to a wooden chair. The spikes digging into his bare bottom made him squirm, and knowing her they should be laced with the strongest chilies found on the continent for extra kick.

Next to the chair was a bucket full of chopped fingers, toes, and molars. One look at the blackened nails of the man and it became easy to understand what happened.

“Zhi Rou, any progress?” I asked.

She looked away from the table full of saws, knives, pikes, some special equipment that I saw for the first time, and many more tools to bring pain and torment.

“None, the guy won’t say a thing, or more like he can’t.” She sighed. “I had my hopes up since he had three brands on his right arm, but their methods are wicked as always.”

Each brand represented 100 complete missions for the Demonic cult, the three brands were what made her capture this guy alive. From the looks of it, they didn’t find anything on him that could help either.

“You can take a break, I’ll handle him.” I said, putting on my best smile.

“Well… sure.” Zhi Rou looked at the man with some pity for some reason before walking out.

Now that we were alone, I tampered with the formation to disable to recording array. It wouldn’t do me any favors if someone heard what would happen next.

“Do your worst, fucking lapdogs.”

His hostility filled the cave, even as cultists these guys had quite the pride sometimes. However, it only looked like a joke to me since the only reason they couldn’t spill their guts was because of the curse placed on them.

“Don’t get so riled up, you are low on blood after all. I only need to confirm some things I got from your leader.” My tone always remained amiable when dealing with them, it hid my personal feelings while also bringing uncertainty to the victim.

“T…there is no way you got anything from Iron Fiend, keep your bluff to yourself.” He somehow mustered the strength to speak. “Put a dress on you and you’ll easily get a job in any brothel run by us, some of our customers have weird tastes after all, but you look no different than a woman. There is no way you could have won against him, let alone get anything out of him.”

His taunts were something I heard often, these demonic cultivators really lacked creativity or maybe these worked on orthodox cultivators? Maybe I’ll try them someday too.

“But I did get a lot out of him.” I walked around him in circles, closing the distance with Shu Huang’s black ring. “Things like how Gu Changge directed the attack on Purple Cloud Sect. Their next target. The insider feeding them information about their targets. And that Iron Fiend was sent after Wu Kexin for her Spiritual Root. I know it all because I have the storage ring of that buffoon.”

The man trembled the more I spoke, even more so after seeing the ring.

“N-No way. You can’t have broken through the defenses so quick!”

“You are correct, I didn’t break through it. I haven’t even started.” My words drained all blood from his face. “But, thank you for confirming my guesses, your sacrifice will be remembered.”

“Y-You bas—!” Black blood poured out of his mouth as the centipede wrapped around his heart crushed it into a mush.

Even with the curse placed to forbid them from giving out information, many loopholes existed to get the desired results. I used the one found by the most famous torturer of the future.

Although using such methods wasn’t to my liking, I couldn’t deny that they worked like a charm.

“So, they are after her spiritual root too.” It finally solved the mystery of their attempt on Wu Kexin.

However, a new question arose.

How did they know of her spiritual root before she even had it tested?

A plethora of possible scenarios raced across my mind, but one seemed most likely. To test that, I’d need to wait for the opportune moment.

Which would come soon.