Chapter 124: Captured Alive

"How is there so little?"

Wang Wu, who had seemed easygoing, immediately flew into a rage upon receiving the results of over a year's work.

"You two good-for-nothings, how many spirit herbs are these? If it weren't for this four-jin spirit iron, it wouldn't even fetch three hundred spirit stones. Did I cultivate you two for fun?"

The two teenagers hung their heads, trembling and daring not to offer any rebuttal.

The curses carried far, reaching even Wang Yu, who had just entered the Wang family mansion, showing the weight of Wang Wu's accumulated authority.

As he got closer, he stopped below a window lattice. Activating his Netherworld Pupils, he looked through the wall, seeing Wang Wu's soul flame blossoming in his vision.

The Demon Seed of Primordial Essence, which had been dormant and largely formed within his body, unexpectedly stirred with a desire to devour it, like an instinctual urge. Demonic cultivation arts were truly peculiar. However, now was not the time to devour Wang Wu. He suppressed this feeling.

Wang Yu's gaze swept the surroundings, particularly the guest rooms of the Wang family mansion. After checking each one and finding no other cultivators' auras, he felt greatly reassured.

An opportunity!

"Boom!" Without understanding what happened, the usually unvigilant Wang Wu, just as he was about to physically discipline his good-for-nothing nephews, saw the house wall shatter.

An armored figure, emitting eerie black smoke, suddenly burst in, its deep, serene eyes fixed intently on him.

Wang Wu froze for a moment, completely bewildered. "No... who are you?"

The next instant, a long, powerful, muscular arm suddenly clamped around his neck. Feeling the chill on his skin, he began to panic: "This... this... Fellow Daoist."

"Hmph—"

"Wang Wu, you truly are disappointing."

Wang Yu's low voice was raspy.

In the demonic path, one would have at least unleashed a magic artifact in such a situation, but Wang Wu's reaction was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered—no resistance, only weak and childish words.

On second thought, it made sense. Wang Wu's life experiences were different from his.

Wang Wu was born into wealth and privilege, spoiled from childhood, ignorant of the world, engaging in all sorts of evil deeds like bullying men and women, and becoming utterly lawless in adulthood. After the results of his spirit-testing day, his "superior" status was completely solidified. In the following decade or so, he murdered relatives, killed his father, sold his sister, and massacred his clan.

At first glance, Wang Yu's appearance should have immediately suggested he was a demonic cultivator. But because of their past "peaceful" transactions, Wang Wu, far from having any combat experience, even thought this clearly malicious demonic cultivator was a fellow practitioner, attempting to use words to understand what was happening.

How laughable, how naive! To consider such a person an enemy—was he even worthy?!!

With a surge of anger, Wang Yu lifted him and slammed him hard into the ground.

As shattered stones flew, Wang Wu, feeling a bit dizzy, heard a whistling wind in his ears. He opened his eyes wide to see the black, armored palm strike his face with a loud smack.

The world spun. Without fully comprehending what had happened, he completely lost consciousness.

Wang Yu's gaze fell upon the two younger Wang family members kneeling on the ground. He sighed inwardly, regretting what would happen to them.

If they hadn't been forced to grow prematurely, they might have at least stepped onto the path of cultivation. Without aiming too high, cultivating to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation wouldn't have been an issue for them in this lifetime.

What a pity.

"Senior..." The two third-generation Wang family teenagers swallowed hard, sensing impending doom, and tried to plead for mercy.

Wang Yu, however, shook his head.

"You've taken the wrong path. This cultivation isn't yours to begin with. Consider cultivating again after you're sixteen."

With that, he formed his fingers into a sword, spirit essence swirling around his fingertips, and precisely pointed at the Dantians of the two first-level Qi Condensation teenagers. Wang Yu's cold, icy power permeated their bodies.

He directly crippled their weak cultivation. As for their lives, Wang Yu did not kill them but used a technique to extract their memories.

This night raid was primarily about Wang Wu. Its goal was both speed and settling old scores. It had nothing to do with others, and once the objective was achieved, there was no need for more slaughter. It ended there.

As for the Wang family, Wang Yu's mother died in childbirth, and his father died on his sickbed. He had no strong feelings for them or his uncles in the family. Perhaps he would visit his aunt in Qianqiu City someday, but that would be all.

"People say worldly ties are hard to sever, so why are mine so fragile..."

In the lonely night, only the howling north wind lingered. Under the moonlight, Wang Yu, carrying the dark figure over his shoulder, sped toward his pre-planned destination.

This journey had no turning back and no regrets.

Meanwhile,

Thousands of miles from Shihu City, in a mountain city named Dingshan City, it was established atop a second-rank high-grade spirit vein, with the entire mountain situated in the center of the vein.

Dingshan City was under the jurisdiction of the Heaven's Void Sword Sect.

At this moment, a woman dressed in a white gauze dress, with a pale moon-colored longsword strapped to her back, was sitting cross-legged in a pavilion on one side of the mountaintop.

A white hawk flew from afar and landed naturally before the woman. Its yellow talons clutched seven or eight jade slips strung together.

These contained recent intelligence reports from Dingshan City as the central hub, radiating outwards to thirty-six nearby cities. This was one of the intelligence systems relied upon by Sword Sect disciples on their travels.

How could one go out to eliminate demons and defend the Dao without intelligence?

As she read each jade slip with her divine sense, the white-clad woman's brows furrowed deeper, and anger naturally began to build, poised to erupt.

"Heishan Pass, Heishan Demon Land... suspected collusion with demonic cultivators, selling spirit slaves... smuggling forbidden goods."

"Shihu City, Qianqiu City, Lingxi City... Yangquan City..."

There were many reports, but this was not the most troublesome part.

Upon seeing a certain character on one of the jade slips, the woman's pupils suddenly constricted. Without hesitation, she used the communication secret art taught by the Righteousness Court to send the message to the nearest sect elder.

"Desire..."

A gentle breeze blew. Looking back at the scenic pavilion by the cliff, it was already empty. Only the pale moon-colored sword light streaking across the distant horizon could be seen.

Her direction of travel was clearly Shihu City.

This place should not have been the center of the storm, but Wang Yu's unexpected intrusion and the battle he instigated three months ago caused too much commotion, especially the incident within the city. It was entirely normal for it to alarm the Heaven's Void Sword Sect's intelligence system.

In fact, even without Wang Yu's sudden appearance, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered. Their control over this land, especially over the various cities, was too deep. Even with the issue of spirit slaves used as a cover, they would eventually discover the strange incidents of a batch of eligible young women disappearing regularly each year within the city.

Shihu City, Lord's Manor.

The new City Lord, Yuan Qu, was hurrying towards the mansion. Only after entering the range of the hidden formation did he secretly let out a sigh of relief.

A deep unease was visible on his brow.

Third Uncle was gone! There were no signs of a struggle in the bamboo house where the old City Lord had been secluded. This meant he was either killed by a cultivator far stronger than himself, or he slipped away secretly without notifying anyone.