220: The Blood Pearl of Ten Thousand Spirits

"I heard you like to extract Spiritual Roots from people and refine evil medicine?"

"So what if I do?"

Hua Shenyou sneered, closing his folding fan.

"This Venerable One not only extracts Spiritual Roots, but also likes to peel human skin to make lanterns."

"I think this Young Master has good skin; he could make a main lantern."

He then looked at the several women beside Su Lin, a lewd glint flashing in his eyes.

"As for these beauties..."

"Tsk tsk, absolute top-grade."

"It just so happens that this Venerable One's 'Hundred Beauties Scroll' is missing a few finale pieces. If you obediently listen, this Venerable One might spare your lives."

"Zheng!!"

A sword's cry.

It interrupted his filthy words.

Su Hongling's great sword, no edge, had already been unsheathed.

She stood in front of Su Lin, her red eyes burning with substantial flames.

"Old Man, can I chop this eunuch to death?"

"His words are too disgusting; I feel like throwing up my overnight meal."

"Eunuch?!"

Hua Shenyou hated being called a eunuch the most. Because of cultivating a certain evil Cultivation Technique, his Yang Qi was insufficient. Although he hadn't been castrated, it was almost the same.

These two words directly stomped on his minefield.

"You're courting death!!"

He roared, and the space behind him twisted. A huge pink lotus bloomed out of thin air.

That was his Dharma Idol—the 'Jile Demonic Lotus'.

The lotus petals opened, spraying countless pink threads. Each thread carried strong hallucinogenic toxins and corrosiveness, shooting towards everyone like an overwhelming tide.

"Body Integration Stage?"

Luo Ximei stepped forward, blocking Su Hongling.

Her platinum-colored right eye revealed deep disdain.

"Such a low-grade character, dares to call himself a mighty expert?"

"This Venerable One will show you what true devilry is!"

Boom!

Black and white Devilish Qi soared into the sky, directly breaking through the roof of the private room.

A demonic god phantom, even larger and more terrifying than the Demonic Lotus, appeared behind Luo Ximei.

The demonic god had three heads and six arms, each hand clutching a weapon formed by condensed Devilish Qi.

"Break!"

Luo Ximei pointed a finger.

The demonic god phantom moved accordingly, its six arms waving simultaneously, stirring up a black hurricane.

"Zila! Zila!"

The moment those pink threads touched the Devilish Qi, they instantly burned to ashes like hair meeting a raging fire.

Immediately after, one of the demonic god's large hands directly grabbed the Demonic Lotus.

With a forceful squeeze.

"Puff!"

Hua Shenyou's proud Dharma Idol was actually crushed directly!

Pink petal fragments scattered everywhere.

"Puff!"

With his Dharma Idol damaged, Hua Shenyou suffered a backlash, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. He flew backward, crashing through the wall behind him.

"How is this possible?!"

He climbed out of the rubble, staring at Luo Ximei with a face full of terror.

"You... your cultivation?!"

"This is impossible! How can there be such a powerful demonic Cultivator in Southern Yu?!"

"There's a lot you don't know."

Chu Weiwei walked out with a smile.

She held a small bottle in her hand and walked up to Hua Shenyou.

"Pavilion Revered Master Hua, I heard you like to extract Spiritual Roots?"

"Coincidentally, I'm also very interested in this subject."

"However..."

She opened the bottle cap, and a wisp of green smoke floated out.

"I'm more interested in researching... if all of a person's Meridians are melted, leaving only the Spiritual Root, how long can they live?"

"You... what do you want to do?!"

Hua Shenyou retreated in terror, trying to escape.

But he found that he couldn't move.

His feet were frozen to the ground by a thick layer of ice.

Mu Qingxue stood at the door, her ice sword emitting chilling cold Qi.

"No passage here."

With a Demonic Venerable in front, a Poison Immortal behind, and an Ice God beneath his feet.

Hua Shenyou despaired.

He looked at Su Lin, the only one still sitting in his chair, as if grasping at a last straw.

"Young Master! Young Master Su! Have mercy!"

"I have money! I have a lot of money! I'll give it all to you! Just let me go..."

Hua Shenyou knelt on the ground, his originally flashy crimson robe now stained with dust and blood. He was like a mangy dog with a broken spine, desperately kowtowing to the calm-faced young man in green robes sitting in the chair.

He could tell that the only one truly in charge in this room was this man, who seemed to have the lowest cultivation.

"Money?"

Su Lin didn't look at him, but picked up the empty teacup and gently caressed it in his hand.

"Do you think I lack money?"

He pointed at Cold Moon.

"This disciple of mine commands thousands of miles of territory."

Su Lin's voice was soft, yet it struck Hua Shenyou's heart like heavy hammers.

"What do you have to negotiate with me?"

"This..." Hua Shenyou's cold sweat dripped, his eyes darting around frantically, "I have Cultivation Techniques! I have top-grade Cauldrons! I have..."

"Shut up."

A cold shout, filled with extreme rage and shame, abruptly interrupted his plea for mercy.

Cold Moon, who had been standing silently behind Su Lin, finally moved.

She walked forward step by step, and with each step, the floor beneath her feet made a cracking sound, unable to bear the weight.

Her purple-gold Phoenix robe moved without wind, and her originally golden eyes were now so dark they seemed to drip water.

"Top-grade Cauldrons?"

"Cultivation Techniques?"

Cold Moon walked up to Hua Shenyou, looking down at him with an expression of disgust, as if looking at the filthiest thing in the world.

"Hua Shenyou, you have audacious guts."

"Have you forgotten whose dominion Southern Yu truly is?"

Imperial Dao Dragon Qi erupted from Cold Moon's body, and only then did Hua Shenyou realize that the woman before him was actually the Empress of Southern Yu!

The rumored Empress was a Mahayana Stage Cultivator. How could she come to such a place??

Even if she was here to investigate the Jile Pavilion, it was impossible for her to come personally!

However, Hua Shenyou at this moment had no time to think further.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, spare my life!"

His cultivation, in front of the Empress empowered by Imperial Dao Dragon Qi, his little bit of pressure was like a firefly compared to the bright moon.

"Spare your life?"

Cold Moon's anger turned into a cold laugh.

"Under my very nose, you built this den of iniquity, raised Yao Beasts to eat people, extracted Cultivators' Spiritual Roots..."

"You made me... lose all face in front of Revered Master!!"

This was the true reason for Cold Moon's rage.

She wanted Revered Master to see that in these past hundred years, she had managed Southern Yu in an orderly fashion, that she was the Eldest Disciple who could make Revered Master proud.

But now?

Revered Master had just gone out to "observe the people's conditions" and stumbled upon such filthy and despicable activities!

This was not only slapping her face, but also telling Revered Master: Look, this is the country your disciple governs, outwardly splendid, but inwardly full of festering sores!

This sense of shame made Cold Moon at this moment wish she could wipe the Jile Pavilion and Hua Shenyou together directly from the map!

"You deserve to die! You truly deserve to die!!"

Cold Moon stomped her foot, and Imperial Dao Dragon Qi erupted.

"Crack!"

"Wait! If he dies, we can't do the experiment anymore."

"Don't worry, I have a sense of proportion."

Cold Moon took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to kill immediately.

She withdrew her foot and turned to look at Su Lin.

In that instant, the Evil Qi on her face vanished without a trace, replaced by a look of fear and guilt, like a little girl who had done something wrong.

"Revered Master..."

She walked up to Su Lin, slowly knelt down, lowering her head, not daring to look into Su Lin's eyes.

"Your disciple is incompetent."

"Your disciple's governance was ineffective, allowing such a filthy place to stain Revered Master's eyes."

"Please punish your disciple."

Looking at the Eldest Disciple kneeling before him, Su Lin sighed inwardly.

Of course, he knew what Cold Moon was thinking.

Su Lin reached out and helped her up.

"When the water is too clear, there are no fish. In such a large country, there will always be dark corners that cannot be seen."

"This is not your fault."

Su Lin smoothed the stray hairs by her temples, his tone gentle.

"Since we've seen the festering sore, then cut it out."

"However..."

Su Lin's tone shifted, his gaze once again falling on Hua Shenyou, who was squirming in pain on the ground.

"This festering sore has grown quite deep."

"A Body Integration Middle Stage Cultivator, if he didn't have enough backing, how would he dare to open such a lavish place at the foot of the Imperial City?

And even dare to do the forbidden act of extracting Spiritual Roots, which is intolerable by heavenly principles?"

"Cold Moon, who do you think he relies on?"

Cold Moon was startled, then her eyes grew even colder.

"Revered Master means... there's someone behind him?"

"Not only is there someone, but... they have grand ambitions."

Su Lin stood up and walked to Hua Shenyou.

He didn't make a move, just looked at him with eyes that seemed to pierce through his Soul.

"Pavilion Revered Master Hua."

"You said just now that you have money."

"But as far as I know, although Jile Pavilion earns a lot of money every day, its annual expenses are also enormous.

The feeding of those Yao Beasts, the maintenance of Formations, and the expenses for bribing officials..."

"You shouldn't have much money left, right?"

"The transaction records here are astronomical."

"Just last month, you spent three hundred million Spirit Stones to purchase... 'Blood Spirit Ginseng'?"

"Blood Spirit Ginseng?" Chu Weiwei frowned, "That's used to nourish demonic fetuses, or... to feed some high-level evil creature."

"Three hundred million Spirit Stones worth of Blood Spirit Ginseng is enough to feed a pig into a Soul Transformation Stage Yao Beast."

Su Lin looked at Hua Shenyou, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Pavilion Revered Master Hua, what exactly are you raising?"

"Or rather, for whom are you raising things?"

Hua Shenyou's body suddenly stiffened.

Even when his bones were broken and his face was crushed earlier, he had never been as terrified as he was now.

That fear was not the fear of death.

But a reverence for some more terrifying existence.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..."

His eyes flickered, and he shook his head desperately.

"That was, that was for me to eat! I suffered Qi Deviation from cultivating and needed a major tonic!"

"Lying."

Luo Ximei snorted coldly, and the Devilish Qi in her hand transformed into a slender snake, which burrowed into Hua Shenyou's ear.

"Ahhh!!"

Hua Shenyou let out a shrill scream, clutching his head and rolling on the ground.

"This Venerable One's demonic snake loves to eat lies."

Luo Ximei's heterochromatic eye gleamed with a cruel light.

"Every time you tell a lie, it will bite you in the head."

"Tell the truth!"

"I'll tell! I'll tell!!"

Under the gnawing of the demonic snake, Hua Shenyou's psychological defenses finally collapsed.

He screamed and intermittently shouted:

"It's... it's the Emissary! The Emissary made me do it!!"

"Emissary?"

Everyone exchanged glances, seeing the solemnity in each other's eyes.

That word again.

Earlier in the Chaotic Stone Forest, Sima Rongrong also mentioned "Venerable Emissary" before she died.

"Which Emissary? What do they look like? Where are they now?" Su Lin pressed.

"I, I don't know, I haven't seen their true faces."

Hua Shenyou was tearful, his words slurred because of his broken cheek.

"They, they all wear gray robes, with masks on their faces, and their aura is very strange..."

"They come once every full moon night to collect tribute..."

"What is the tribute?" Chu Weiwei demanded.

"It's... it's Spiritual Root essence, and the resentful blood pills of Cultivators who died in this beast-fighting arena..."

"Indeed."

A cold glint flashed in Su Lin's eyes.

"Extracting Spiritual Roots, killing Cultivators, gathering resentment Qi."

"This is for refining the 'Myriad Spirit Blood Pearl'."

"This kind of item is used to... repair the Divine Soul, or to forcibly raise one's Realm, an evil object."

"Hua Shenyou, you truly have audacious guts."

Cold Moon trembled with anger.

"On my land, you're raising Gu for those rats who can't see the light of day?!"

"What do you take my citizens for?! Are they crops?!"

"Your Majesty... I was forced!"

Hua Shenyou cried out.

"If I didn't obey... they would kill me! They planted a Restriction in my Divine Soul..."

"Restriction?"

Luo Ximei stepped forward, placed her hand on Hua Shenyou's crown, and her Divine Sense probed him.

A moment later, she withdrew her hand, her expression grim.

"There is indeed one."

"Moreover... the method of this Restriction is very similar to the 'Great Demon Seed Technique', but also somewhat different, carrying a very disgusting, decaying smell."

"It's the same aura as the two gray-robed figures from before," Su Lin concluded.

"It seems there's a big rat hiding beneath Nanyu Imperial City."

Su Lin looked around, at the splendid Jile Pavilion.

"This place is not just a lavish den."

"This is a huge altar."

"That beast-fighting arena is the sacrificial plate."

"Every person who dies here, their flesh and Soul, are quietly absorbed by the Formation beneath this pavilion."

At this point, Su Lin suddenly stomped his foot.

A surge of Star Power passed through the floor, directly to the ground beneath.

"Crack crack..."

The originally solid ground began to crack, revealing a deeply hidden layer below.

There was no soil there.

Instead, it was a churning pool of blood, emitting a pungent, bloody smell!

And in the center of the blood pool, immersed were pulsating, blood-red pearls that had not yet fully formed.

That was the prototype of the Myriad Spirit Blood Pearl.

"Ugh..."

Su Hongling glanced at it and couldn't help but retch.

"This is too disgusting! Is this what they refined?"

"Such dense resentment Qi."

Mu Qingxue frowned deeply, her ice sword trembling slightly.

"At least ten thousand wronged Souls are imprisoned in these pearls."

"Beasts!!"

Cold Moon's eyes turned crimson as she looked at the blood pool beneath the ground.

This was what was happening right under her nose.

This was the "prosperous era" under her governance.

"I'll kill you!!"

She could no longer control herself, raising her hand to strike Hua Shenyou dead with a palm.

"Wait."

Su Lin stopped her.

"Killing him is too easy."

"Moreover, if we kill him, the clue will be broken."

Su Lin looked at Hua Shenyou, his eyes cold.

"You said they come to collect tribute on the night of the full moon?"