109: Chapter 109 Waste Utilization

Fallen Phoenix Valley, inside a stone prison that had been temporarily carved out.

Chen Tai slowly opened his eyes; the first thing that came into view were the damp and dim stone walls.

He tried to move, but a surge of intense pain shot from his thigh. His Dantian was completely empty, his spiritual power firmly locked away by a special Restriction.

Not dead?

Just as this thought arose, a faint groan came from beside him.

He turned his head with difficulty and saw Deacon Lin, who was also collapsed on the ground, his aura withered.

"We... have been captured." Deacon Lin's voice was incredibly weak, his face filled with bitterness and despair.

Chen Tai struggled to sit up and surveyed his surroundings.

The stone prison was small, with only one exit blocked by a light curtain shimmering with runes.

Evidently, the Blazing Fire Sect had not thrown them into that blood pool.

It made sense; two living Foundation Establishment Cultivators were far more valuable than two corpses.

"Has the message... been sent out?" Deacon Lin asked, using all his strength.

Since they were already captured, the probability of getting out was likely zero, so this was the only thing he cared about now.

"It's been sent out." Chen Tai's voice was very calm.

He was already prepared to die.

Given the Blazing Fire Sect's typical behavior, they wouldn't let them go whether they talked or not.

The moment before he was struck by the Crimson Flame Flying Sword, he had lost consciousness.

Being able to live until now was already an unexpected joy.

"That's good, that's good..." Deacon Lin murmured to himself, as if finding some small comfort.

Right then, the light curtain fluctuated, and two Foundation Establishment Cultivators wearing the robes of Blazing Fire Sect Elders walked in.

One of them was the Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator who had been presiding over the defenses at the valley entrance earlier.

"Awake?" That Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator looked at the two with a sneer and said, "You two Fellow Daoists are quite capable, leading us in circles and even provoking our sect's Old Ancestor Chiyan to take action personally. Speak, who exactly are you? What is your purpose here?"

Chen Tai and Deacon Lin exchanged a glance, both remaining silent.

"Quite stubborn, aren't you?" The Cultivator wasn't annoyed, only letting out a cold laugh. "Do you think staying silent will help? Once you're in here, even a Dragon must coil up, and even a tiger must crouch. I have plenty of methods to make you speak."

He walked up to Chen Tai and stepped on his heavily injured, bloodied leg.

"Ugh!" Chen Tai let out a muffled groan, the veins on his forehead bulging, but he still clenched his teeth and refused to say a single word.

The Cultivator grinned cruelly, slowly grinding his foot. The sound of bones dislocating was clearly audible within the stone prison.

He tortured him for a long time, but seeing that Chen Tai showed no sign of begging for mercy despite his groans, he lost his patience.

"Your bones are indeed tough." He withdrew his foot and turned to the other Cultivator beside him. "Elder Fang, please go and fetch the 'heart-corroding talisman'. I want to see if his bones are tougher, or his Divine Soul!"

The Elder showed a hint of fear upon hearing this. He left and soon returned carrying a black wooden box.

The box was opened, revealing a Talisman drawn with eerie blood-colored runes. Just looking at it made one's Divine Soul feel uneasy.

"Physical pain is something Cultivators like us can endure if we just bear with it." The Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator pinched the Talisman and walked to Chen Tai, a cruel smile on his face. "But the taste of the Divine Soul is different. If you speak now, you can still avoid the agony of a torn Divine Soul."

Chen Tai's eyes were bloodshot, the resolve in his gaze already explaining everything.

"Hmph, you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"

The Cultivator wasted no more words and slapped the heart-corroding talisman onto Chen Tai's forehead!

Buzz!

The Talisman instantly transformed into a bloody light and bored into Chen Tai's Sea of Consciousness.

Chen Tai's body jerked violently, and he began to twitch uncontrollably.

At this moment, it felt as if billions of ants were gnawing on his Divine Soul, and like a red-hot iron needle was repeatedly stirring inside his mind.

That kind of pain, originating from the deepest part of the Soul, was far beyond what physical torture could compare to.

"Speak! Who are you!" The Cultivator's Divine Sense also probed over, attempting to pry open Chen Tai's memories while his Divine Soul was in turmoil.

"Hold... hold on!" Chen Tai's Divine Soul roared frantically. He used all his strength to retract his Divine Sense, condensing all his thoughts into a single point to deathly guard the core memories in the center of his Sea of Consciousness.

He was a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and his Divine Soul was already condensed. Now, at the brink of life and death, he exploded with astonishing potential.

As soon as the Cultivator's Divine Sense approached, it was violently slammed back by a will that was unafraid of death.

"You still dare to resist!" He became shamed into anger and increased his output.

Inside the stone prison, black blood began to seep from Chen Tai's seven facial orifices. His body's twitching grew more intense, and it looked as if his Divine Soul was about to collapse.

"Senior Brother, enough!" The Elder beside him hurriedly spoke up to stop him. "Any further and his Sea of Consciousness will shatter! A dead man will truly be useless!"

Only then did the Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator reluctantly stop.

He looked at Chen Tai, who was slumped on the ground like a dead dog but had stubbornly refused to leak a single bit of information, and his face turned ashen with rage.

He then turned his gaze toward Deacon Lin and repeated the process.

Deacon Lin's cultivation was only at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage, and his Divine Soul strength was far inferior to Chen Tai's.

Under the attack of the heart-corroding talisman, he let out a shrill scream, and the defenses of his Sea of Consciousness were teetering.

But at the moment the Cultivator's Divine Sense was about to break through the defenses, Deacon Lin actually didn't hesitate to trigger a sliver of his Divine Soul Origin, preparing to self-detonate!

"Madman!"

The Cultivator was startled and quickly cut off the connection with the Talisman.

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator's Divine Soul self-detonating would definitely make things difficult for the Divine Sense he had entered into the opponent's mind.

The interrogation failed again.

"Two useless pieces of trash! What use is keeping them!" The Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator kicked the stone wall, beyond furious.

Since he couldn't get any information, he could only use the two as fuel for the Formation outside, squeezing out their last bit of value.

Just as he was about to order them to be dragged to the blood pool, the stone prison's light curtain fluctuated, and a Cultivator wearing a black robe with an eerie aura walked in.

On his neck was a tattoo of a black snake.

"Elder Wang, what is the matter that has caused such a great fire?" The black-robed Cultivator's voice was very cold.

"A Fellow Daoist from Black Rock Palace?" Elder Wang, the Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, reigned in his anger upon seeing the newcomer, but his tone remained unfriendly. "It's nothing, just caught two who aren't afraid of death and can't pry their mouths open. I was just about to dispose of them."

"Can't pry their mouths open?" The black-robed Cultivator's gaze landed on the half-dead Chen Tai and Deacon Lin, his snake-like tongue licking his lips. "That would be a pity. However, refining them directly into energy is somewhat of a waste."

He surveyed Chen Tai and the other with great interest and smiled. "How about these two people are handed over to our Black Rock Palace to handle? It can be considered waste utilization. I wonder what Elder Wang thinks?"

Elder Wang frowned upon hearing this. How the people captured by the Blazing Fire Sect were handled was not for an external sect Cultivator to decide, but after just a moment, he compromised.

After all, these two Foundation Establishment Cultivators no longer had any use, and the Grand Elder had also said to let them dispose of them as they saw fit. Now that they couldn't get anything out of them, giving them to the Black Rock Palace people as a favor was not bad.

"Haha, since Fellow Daoist wants them, then take them away." Elder Wang said with a smile.

"Then many thanks to Elder Wang!" The black-robed Cultivator smiled and cupped his hands toward Elder Wang.

"You're too kind, too kind."