144: Chapter 144 Since you're so stubborn, let's hear your soul's cry.

"Sizzle—" A teeth-gritting quenching sound exploded within the Immortal Cave, accompanied by the stench of burnt flesh and white smoke from the cooling metal.

Jiang Wanrou's face was deathly pale, and the iron tongs in her hands were trembling slightly. What she held was not some Sharp Weapon, but a jet-black, hideously and crudely designed knuckles.

The surface of the knuckles was covered in irregular spikes and still retained lingering high heat. Dark red blood patterns faintly flowed over each spike; these were the remnants left behind after the original runes of the soul-locking bell had been violently melted down.

Ugly. That was Jiang Wanrou's first impression. This thing had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever; it looked just like a semi-finished product scraped from a pile of scrap iron.

"It's done." Gu Yan, however, didn't care in the slightest about its appearance. Bare-handed, he grabbed the scorching knuckles directly from the iron tongs.

The high heat made the flesh of his palm sizzle, but he didn't even frown. He simply exerted force with his five fingers and slowly slid this vicious weapon onto his right hand. It fit perfectly.

"Hum..." The artifact spirit remaining on the knuckles let out a shrill, mournful cry, seemingly protesting its transformation from a noble quasi-Magic Treasure into a weapon for street brawls.

Gu Yan casually threw a punch toward the Void Realm. Whoosh! There was no sound of wind, yet a boulder three zhang away shattered from the inside without warning, turning into a pile of stone powder. The stone powder did not scatter; instead, it collapsed inward eerily, as if in that instant, the "Soul" of the stone had been extracted.

"Good stuff." Gu Yan turned around and looked toward the dark corner of the Immortal Cave.

There, Lin Zixuan, locked up by several black iron chains used for tethering Yao Beasts, was staring fixedly at the knuckles on Gu Yan's hand. His limbs were twisted at strange angles, his mouth was stuffed with a rag, and his eyeballs were bulging from blood congestion, filled with terror and despair.

That was his Lifebound Treasure. Yet now, it was worn on the hand of his enemy, and it would be used against him.

Gu Yan walked up to him, crouched down, and yanked the rag out of his mouth. "Don't... don't come over..."

Lin Zixuan's voice was hoarse, like a wheezing bellows. The once high-and-mighty Young Lord of the Lin Family was now like a plucked quail: "My third uncle has already gone to raise the money! Thirty thousand Spirit Stones! Don't kill me... don't kill me!"

"I want the money." Gu Yan raised his right hand; under the pale halo of the night-luminescent pearl, the black knuckles looked like a beast's mouth baring its fangs: "But there are some things I want to ask clearly first."

He pressed the knuckles against Lin Zixuan's cheek. The cold metal sensation and the lingering Evil Qi on it made Lin Zixuan's entire body convulse violently, and his crotch instantly wet itself.

"In Fallen Demon Valley, what is the Lin Family raising there?" Gu Yan's voice was very soft, yet every word felt like a heavy hammer striking Lin Zixuan's eardrums.

Lin Zixuan's pupils contracted violently, his body stiffened for a moment, and then he shook his head frantically: "I don't... I don't know! I really don't know! I was only responsible for collecting the Green Lotus Fire..."

"Lying." Gu Yan sighed and shook his head with some regret: "It seems you think I don't understand you well enough yet."

Bang! Without any nonsense, Gu Yan punched the stone wall beside Lin Zixuan. This punch did not touch Lin Zixuan's body.

But the shockwave targeting the Divine Soul that erupted from the knuckles was like a rusty, dull saw, viciously sawing open Lin Zixuan's Sea of Consciousness.

"Ahhhhhhh—!!!" Lin Zixuan let out a scream that didn't sound human. This intense pain acting directly on the Soul was a hundred times more terrifying than having one's hands or feet broken. He felt as if his Soul was being forcibly ripped out of his body by a giant hand and ground inside a millstone.

"I'll talk... I'll tell you everything..." Lin Zixuan was streaming with tears and snot; in front of this devil, so-called loyalty to the Family was not worth mentioning at all.

"It's... it's Blood Slaves..." He shivered, his eyes unfocused: "Third Uncle... built an underground stronghold in the 'Withered Bone Forest' on the periphery of Fallen Demon Valley... captured over three hundred Loose Cultivators... using their blood... to raise... to raise the Formation Flag..."

"Formation Flag?" Gu Yan's eyes narrowed slightly; the "Blood River Formation Flag" he had learned about from Golden Core Master Wu Yong's Jade Slip had finally appeared.

"The main flag... is in the Elder's hands... the vice flag... is at the stronghold... used to... collect essence blood..."

[Ding! Critical intelligence unlocked!] [Target location: Periphery of Fallen Demon Valley · Withered Bone Forest.] [Mission objective: Blood River Formation Flag (vice flag).] [System prompt: This is the key to opening the Secret Realm. With it, we can turn the tables and leave that bunch of old geezers from the Lin Family outside to drink the northwest wind!]

Gu Yan withdrew his fist and stood up. Lin Zixuan had already collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth, his sanity on the verge of collapse.

"Feed him a healing Medicinal Pill; don't let him die." Gu Yan instructed Jiang Wanrou, who was watching in trepidation: "After all, he is a hostage worth thirty thousand Spirit Stones; we must ensure he's still alive when we hand him over."

Jiang Wanrou nodded quickly and scrambled to take out a Medicinal Pill and shove it into Lin Zixuan's mouth. Gu Yan walked to the cave entrance and looked at the pitch-black night outside.

"Three hundred Loose Cultivators..." He rubbed the knuckles on his hand, his fingertips sliding over those spikes, making a rustling sound. In the cultivation world, the strong prey on the weak; he understood this principle. But treating living people as livestock—this behavior was just too unsightly.

"System, locate the Withered Bone Forest."

[Coordinates locked. Eight hundred li from here. It is recommended to depart immediately. According to data, the Zi hour tonight is when the Yin Qi is strongest, and also the best time for them to 'harvest' the Blood Slaves. If you go late, those Loose Cultivators might already be dried corpses.]

"Then let's go harvest them." Gu Yan turned his head to look at Jiang Wanrou: "I'm going out for a while. Watch the place. If the Lin Family people come to deliver the ransom, tell them I am in seclusion refining my 'Heart Demon' and make them wait outside."

"Where are you going?" Jiang Wanrou asked subconsciously. Gu Yan did not answer.

He stepped out of the Immortal Cave, his figure instantly melting into the vast night. Only a sentence carrying the scent of blood drifted back with the wind: "To kill people, and by the way... to rob."

...

The night wind howled. Gu Yan traveled at high speed through the towering mountains and ridges. He did not fly on a sword; that would make him too large a target.

He was like a leopard hunting in the dark, using the explosive power of his Physical Body to leverage off tree canopies and rocks, crossing dozens of zhang with every leap.

The soul-shattering knuckles were worn on his right hand; as he ran, they continuously devoured the free-roaming Yin Qi in the surroundings, becoming increasingly black, bright, and deep.

The eight-hundred-li journey was nothing more than an hour's work for Gu Yan at full burst. When a pale moon hung on the treetops, a thick, nauseating stench of blood drifted into his nostrils with the wind.

Ahead was a withered forest shrouded in gray mist. All the trees appeared in eerily twisted shapes, like ghost hands reaching out from the ground. Withered Bone Forest had arrived.

Gu Yan stopped at the top of a withered tree, concealing his entire aura. Through the thin mist, he saw the scene below.

It was a huge underground karst cave entrance, surrounded by guard Formations. A dozen Lin Family death soldiers wearing blood-colored robes were patrolling.

And at the entrance, several prisoner carriages covered with black cloth were being slowly pushed in. The wind blew up a corner of the black cloth, revealing pairs of numb, despairing eyes. Those were the "Blood Slaves" that had been captured.

Gu Yan leaped down from the tree, landing without a sound. He raised his right hand, looking at the soul-shattering knuckles that craved blood, and a cruel arc pulled at the corners of his mouth. Tonight, many people were destined to die here. But it certainly wouldn't be those in the prisoner carriages.