113: Chapter 113 Son of an Old Friend

Lin Qing stood tall and upright, hovering directly above the head of that Demon Court Disciple.

With his current Seventh Realm cultivation, dealing with a Fifth Realm Pulse Opening Realm Cultivator did not require him to make a direct move; his Spiritual Pressure alone was enough to pin the Demon Court man, rendering him unable to move.

That originally fierce and arrogant Demon Court Disciple had his limbs frozen in place, and the spiritual energy within his body completely ceased its circulation.

His pupils contracted sharply, his throat bobbed, and he struggled to squeeze out a trembling sentence:

"No... Impossible! How can you possibly enter the Secret Realm?!"

They had meticulously planned, disguised themselves, and lurked, ready to unleash a slaughter within the Secret Realm, yet they never expected that the overall person in charge of the entire assessment, Lin Qing, was actually a peerless Prodigy under the age of thirty.

This scene, which subverted his understanding, completely shattered his psychological defenses.

Facing the other's panic and loss of composure, Lin Qing's eyes remained without a ripple; he could not be bothered to waste words with him.

Lin Qing raised his hand to lift the man into mid-air, placed his palm over the top of his head, and his Divine Thought power poured out along his arm, crudely invading the other's mind to begin executing the Soul Searching Technique.

The Demon Court Disciple's face twisted as he resisted desperately, but his Fifth Realm level Divine Thought strength was as fragile as a mantis trying to stop a chariot before Lin Qing.

In an instant, his entire life's memories, including the details of this mission, were laid bare before Lin Qing.

Meanwhile, outside the Secret Realm, the giant spiritual mirror projection above Chuyun City was reflecting the scene of this mountain forest in real-time.

Countless Elders from various nations waiting outside locked their gazes onto Lin Qing at this moment.

The spiritual mirror only had visuals and no audio transmission function; the crowd could not hear the conversation in the field, only seeing Lin Qing make an abrupt move, pressing down on the head of a participating Disciple with a powerful and overbearing stance.

In an instant, the entire Chuyun City erupted in discussion.

"Why is Lin Qing attacking a participating Disciple?"

"This technique, is he using the Soul Searching Technique?!"

In the eyes of some old-fashioned Cultivators, the Soul Searching Technique was a sinister Spell, not something learned by Righteous Path Cultivators.

Therefore, although most people had cultivated this technique, very few used it in public to avoid giving others grounds for criticism or being disparaged.

Lin Qing's act of using the Soul Searching Technique in public instantly triggered questioning from the Sect Elders in Chuyun City, and some even shouted:

"The Chuyun Immortal Sect must give us an explanation!"

However, the Immortal Sect Elders stationed in Chuyun City did not pay attention to the outsiders' questioning; one experienced Elder immediately ordered:

"Quick! Immediately retrieve this Disciple's information! Control everyone from the faction he belongs to!"

Lin Qing would only make such a move if there was one possibility: this person's identity was absolutely suspicious!

Inside the Secret Realm, the Soul Searching had ended.

Lin Qing withdrew his palm, a cold light flashing in the depths of his eyes; he had already figured out the plan of the Xuanye Demon Court.

This batch of Demon Court Disciples was deeply hidden, using various Imperial Dynasty forces controlled by the Demon Court to infiltrate the assessment Secret Realm, intending to commit a massacre within the Secret Realm and completely disrupt the Chuyun Immortal Sect's entrance assessment.

However, this operation was secretive, and this Disciple did not know the specific number of Demon Court Disciples who had infiltrated the Secret Realm this time.

But key intelligence had already been uncovered.

To facilitate mutual identification, the Demon Court Disciples who infiltrated the Secret Realm had a characteristic: they all wore a special Storage Ring on their left thumb.

The Storage Ring was not that kind of thick jade thumb ring, so ordinary Cultivators rarely wore Storage Rings on their thumbs; it was indeed a conspicuous yet easily overlooked feature.

In addition to this, Lin Qing also confirmed from the other's memories that the leader of this Demon Court operation was the man he had caught a glimpse of earlier who resembled Fang Chao—Fang Shuo.

This name, combined with their similar appearances, forced Lin Qing to suspect that the two were brothers.

After figuring out the key clues, Lin Qing took out a messaging token.

This was a communication Magical Artifact specifically for Disciples entering the Secret Realm provided by the Chuyun Immortal Sect. Unlike one-on-one private messaging tokens, this item connected to all Sect Disciples within the Secret Realm, equivalent to a group chat channel; everyone could receive the message he sent.

Lin Qing spoke into the token:

"All Disciples, pay attention: a large number of Xuanye Demon Court Disciples have infiltrated the Secret Realm!"

"Unified characteristic of Demon Court Disciples: wearing a Storage Ring on the left thumb; everyone, immediately cross-check and investigate!"

"The number of infiltrators is unknown, and their cultivation is not weak. During patrols, be sure to pay attention to your own safety, and at the same time, try your best to protect other participating Disciples."

"If you encounter Demon Court Disciples, no need to request instructions; kill them on the spot!"

After Lin Qing killed the now useless Demon Court Disciple, he cast a healing Spell on the Fifth Realm Early Stage participating Prodigy beside him, instantly stabilizing his injuries.

With his ten-thousand-mile Divine Thought coverage range, he knew that as long as this man did not run around blindly, there would be no danger in the short term, so after healing him, he did not pay any more attention to him.

Lin Qing's figure soared into the air again, turning into a streak of white light, continuing to cruise above the Secret Realm to investigate the lurking Demon Court Disciples.

The Demon Court Disciple who had just been killed was already at the Fifth Realm Late Stage cultivation; if not for a major Realm Bottleneck, he was a Prodigy who could have broken through to the Sixth Realm around the age of forty.

But with Fang Shuo in this operation, he was only a small leader; not only did he not know the specific number of people, he only knew the few people in his own team. Therefore, to completely eradicate the hidden danger, he had to find Fang Shuo first.

In the following two days, Lin Qing had been cruising above the Secret Realm, and whenever he encountered a Disciple who matched the characteristics, he would directly intercept them without exception.

After seeing Lin Qing, none of these people were not panicked; under Lin Qing's Mind Reading perception, they naturally had nowhere to hide, followed by Soul Searching and killing.

Within two days, he successively cleared out dozens of Demon Court Disciples and confirmed many faces, but he never encountered Fang Shuo.

One day during his patrol, Lin Qing suddenly frowned and looked down at the earth beneath his feet; in the underground a thousand miles below, an extraordinary energy fluctuation intruded into his Divine Thought perception.

But there was no time to investigate carefully at the moment, because Fang Shuo had also appeared at the edge of his Divine Thought perception.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Lin Qing suppressed his curiosity and rushed towards the direction of Fang Shuo.

Coincidentally, Fang Shuo's target at this moment was the Great Qi Third Prince Duan Chengyu.

Lin Qing had not forgotten that Duan Chengyu had once sent people to assassinate him, so regarding Duan Chengyu's death at this moment, Lin Qing could only express regret.

When Fang Shuo intended to continue searching for his next target, Lin Qing arrived in a hurry and appeared before Fang Shuo.

Looking at Lin Qing who had suddenly appeared, Fang Shuo's pupils contracted violently; like the other Demon Court Disciples, he clearly did not expect Lin Qing to appear in the Secret Realm.

Looking at Lin Qing's calm yet highly oppressive eyes, Fang Shuo understood that he had been completely exposed. He did not play dumb, but roared in disbelief just like the others:

"No... Impossible!!! This is absolutely impossible!!!"

"What kind of monster are you?!!"

Fang Shuo roared hysterically; Lin Qing did not respond, just walking towards Fang Shuo step by step.

The shadow of death enveloped his entire body; Fang Shuo was completely panicked and hurriedly begged for mercy:

"Wait! Lin Qing! Hold your hand! Let's talk things over! Please, don't kill me!"

"I am a Xuanye Demon Court Inner Sect Disciple! I have a huge amount of Spirit Stones and various Heaven And Earth Treasures on me."

"Spare me! Everything I have on me, I will give it all to you!"

Lin Qing's footsteps paused slightly; looking at the person before him, he spoke softly:

"Your words, even the punctuation marks, are exactly the same as Fang Chao's back then."

Hearing this, the terror on Fang Shuo's face instantly turned into grief, and he stared at Lin Qing with blood-red eyes:

"Fang Chao?!"

"It was you... So my father also died at your hands!"

When Fang Chao assassinated Lin Qing back then, his cultivation was at the Sixth Realm Late Stage, and he was already over eighty years old; Fang Shuo was now under thirty. Fang Shuo was not Fang Chao's brother, but his son.

Lin Qing looked at Fang Shuo and slowly said:

"I was wondering why you had the demeanor of an old acquaintance; so you are the child of an old acquaintance."