Chapter 70

Lying in a pool of blood, Zhuang Shen groaned weakly.

At this moment, the effects of the drug had worn off, leaving him weak and powerless. His eyes, however, were fixed on the ancient bronze mirror.

"Nine Li Mystic Armament Mirror... I never thought that the thing the Heavenly God Palace has been searching for with all its might would actually be here..." Zhuang Shen laughed hoarsely as he coughed up blood: "Tang Jie, you are ruthless, you have the guts to hide the Armament Mirror and the Green Light Sword in a flower pot, right under our noses."

"Since I'm here, why would I be afraid to bring the things?" Tang Jie answered with great effort.

That strike had drained all his spiritual energy. If it had failed, he would have had no choice but to surrender.

What truly made him uncomfortable was the inexplicable sense of hunger deep in his soul after his spiritual energy was depleted.

For the moment, he could only lean on his sword and take a Spirit Recovery Pill.

Then he said, "Heavenly God Palace... I never thought that even a minor pawn you sent would be so troublesome."

This strike with the Green Light Sword was his last trump card in his plan. When he chose the Twelve Sword Techniques, apart from being able to hone his combat skills, the most important reason was that it was the only martial technique that allowed him to use the power of a magical treasure at the Spirit Disciple stage.

However, this strike consumed too much energy. If it missed, he would be powerless, so Tang Jie was reluctant to use this move unless absolutely necessary.

He had once thought he could avoid using this trump card, but he never expected Zhuang Shen to be so tenacious, ultimately forcing him to use this last resort.

Zhuang Shen said sternly, "You know it well! Do you think you are safe just because the Moon Washing Sect is protecting you? For the Heavenly God Palace, killing you is like crushing an ant. If you are smart, hand over the Armament Mirror quickly. Otherwise, even if you kill me, the Eagle Lord will realize your problem. You don't think just any young man can defeat me, do you?"

"Of course, of course. If discovering a thief was just a coincidence and couldn't be confirmed, then killing you would basically be telling the Heavenly God Palace that I am Tang Jie. But you don't think I would fight you without considering this, do you?" Tang Jie smiled.

As he spoke, he leaned down and tapped Zhuang Shen's face with the tip of his sword: "What about you? What makes you think that the Moon Washing Sect will let you go just because you came to catch me?"

"I never intended to stay in the Moon Washing Sect..."

"Idiot!" Tang Jie interrupted him: "Now, anyone who knows about the Armament Mirror knows that the Heavenly God Palace is investigating me. At this moment, if someone attacks me, it's obvious that the Heavenly God Palace is behind it. You don't think your Eagle Lord Gu will let you escape, do you?"

Zhuang Shen was stunned: "That's impossible..."

"There's nothing impossible. Let me guess, when they sent you, didn't they tell you that they would take you out of the Moon Washing Academy and send you to the Heavenly God Palace after the mission? Maybe someone is waiting for you near the academy gate? It could be another student with the authority to escort you out of the academy."

Zhuang Shen's whole body trembled.

Seeing his expression, Tang Jie knew he had guessed right.

Tang Jie smiled: "Now you understand? You are just a fool being used. If I hadn't told you, you wouldn't even know how you died."

"That's impossible... That's impossible..." Zhuang Shen shook his head repeatedly, shouting at Tang Jie: "They won't treat me like that, it's impossible!"

Tang Jie snorted: "I don't care if you believe me. I'm just telling you that no matter how loyal you are to the Heavenly God Palace, they don't care. Now, who are the open and secret agents the Heavenly God Palace has here? Who is in charge? What is the Eagle Lord Gu's name and his specific identity? What are their subsequent plans?"

Zhuang Shen laughed loudly: "Tang Jie, you deliberately said that to get me to confess, didn't you? I spit! You even revealed your true identity, which means you want me dead. I won't tell you anything!"

Tang Jie sighed: "Arrogant. I just wanted you to die with a clear conscience. Do you really think not talking will help?"

"Come on, if you want to torture me, see if I flinch!" Zhuang Shen shouted.

"Indeed, you are tough, but who said I want to torture you? You seem to have forgotten about this..." Tang Jie said, taking out an object.

A Soul Search Talisman!

Zhuang Shen's face changed: "No!"

"As you said, being able to enjoy this Soul Search treatment means you haven't lived in vain. Now, let me see what's in your memory..." Tang Jie pressed the Soul Search Talisman onto Zhuang Shen's forehead, and Zhuang Shen immediately let out an extremely painful cry, as if he were experiencing the most excruciating torture in the world. His face twisted, and he struggled violently, his head banging against the ground with a loud thud.

Tang Jie, however, remained unmoved, firmly holding his head and channeling spiritual energy, which flooded Zhuang Shen's memories like a tidal wave.

The Soul Search Technique is an extremely vicious spell. In simple terms, it forcibly transforms the intangible memories of the target into tangible consciousness, which is then transmitted to the caster through spiritual energy.

Cultivators at the Heavenly Heart Realm must be extremely cautious when cultivating spiritual thoughts, for fear of damaging their consciousness. The Soul Search Technique, however, is forcibly applied without regard for the target's feelings, with severe consequences.

Once a person is subjected to the Soul Search Technique, if they have cultivated a spiritual thought, they still have a chance to retain their sanity. However, those who have not cultivated a spiritual thought will inevitably become idiots!

Moreover, once this technique is used, the target experiences the pain of being pierced by ten thousand needles every moment, while the caster is bombarded with various memories.

These memories, forcibly extracted by the Soul Search Technique, exist for only a short time before disappearing, so the caster must quickly memorize them. What can be found depends on the caster's luck. This is why even Gu Changqing is reluctant to use this method.

Unless the target has cultivated a spiritual thought, in which case the search can last much longer.

At this moment, Zhuang Shen's memories transformed into a series of images, rapidly appearing before Tang Jie's eyes, like a fast-forwarding movie. Childhood experiences, hardships of growing up, a secretly admired girl, the arrival of the Heavenly God Palace, and various other memories flooded into Tang Jie's mind, overwhelming him.

He wanted to find the information he needed, but he couldn't keep up. His eyes darted rapidly, barely able to capture one image after another, while chaotic sounds of all kinds bombarded his ears.

"Gu Changqing... Deputy Eagle Lord of the Eagle Hall... Gao Fei... Zhao Xinguo... Capturing Tang Jie... Manipulating... Min Dong... Violent Ape... Damn, who is Violent Ape!"

Tang Jie suddenly shouted, unable to withstand the violent information flow, and retracted the talisman, only to find blood seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

He never expected that using a Soul Search Talisman would be so dangerous. Tang Jie took several deep breaths.

Unfortunately, he didn't find any memories about Violent Ape, only that a person named Violent Ape was the true ace agent of the Heavenly God Palace, secretly searching for Tang Jie among the students.

At least he now knew who the contact person was and where they were!

Looking at Zhuang Shen, he was completely unconscious, the Soul Search Talisman on his forehead having turned into green smoke and dissipated.

"Brother, are you okay?" Yi Yi grabbed Tang Jie and shook him.

"I'm fine." Tang Jie shook his head: "I never expected that using a Soul Search Talisman would affect me so much. No wonder Brother Xu said never to try cultivating an illusory spiritual thought."

"Brother Xu?" Yi Yi looked at Tang Jie curiously.

In fact, she knew nothing about Tang Jie's past. It was only when Zhuang Shen came that she vaguely understood something, but she didn't fully comprehend it. She only knew that the thing hidden in the flower pot was something very important.

"Yes, a very good person, but unfortunately, he died. I'll tell you his story later. We have something to do now." Tang Jie patted the little one's head affectionately.

"Right, right, there are still many treasures to collect!" Little Yi Yi shouted.

"Not that..." Tang Jie smiled bitterly: "It's about cleaning up."

"Cleaning up?" Yi Yi was puzzled.

"Yes, cleaning up." Tang Jie said: "Yi Yi, remember what I taught you. Killing someone isn't hard; the hard part is how to avoid trouble after killing someone."

With that, Tang Jie stood up, stabbed Zhuang Shen to death with one strike, and took the Purple Fire Sword from his hand.

He put away the array diagram without even glancing at it and walked out of Tao Ran Residence.

It was deep into the night, and everything was silent. The road was completely empty.

Tang Jie followed the mountain path down to a secluded grove at the foot of the mountain.

This grove was deserted, even during the day, making it a good place to kill.

In the grove ahead stood a person, none other than the student surnamed Min who had used Li Zhen and others to test Tang Jie.

Seeing him, Tang Jie lowered his head and approached under the cover of the night and the forest.

However, as he was moving, his foot suddenly made a snapping sound.

He had stepped on a branch.

Tang Jie immediately knew it was bad, and the student surnamed Min turned around.

Tang Jie, thinking quickly, bent down and extended a hand, hoarsely saying, "Help... me..."

The Moon Washing students all wore white robes, and it was night, so Min Dong didn't see clearly and instinctively thought it was Zhuang Shen.

Seeing the person vomiting uncontrollably on the ground, Min Dong was delighted and quietly drew a short sword from behind, asking, "What happened? Did you succeed?"

He was ordered by Gao Fei to kill Zhuang Shen regardless of success, but if the mission succeeded, he would wait to ask for the results before acting.

Tang Jie nodded, not daring to speak more for fear that Min Dong would notice the difference in his voice.

Min Dong was delighted and put the short sword back behind him: "Did you confirm it? Do you know where the Armament Mirror is?"

Excitement made him walk closer, but then he noticed something wrong with the person's figure. His heart tightened as he saw Tang Jie raise his head.

In the dim moonlight, Min Dong saw Tang Jie's cold expression and was shocked. He tried to step back, but heard a "thud" and felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

The Purple Fire Sword had pierced through his body!

With a twist, it almost shredded his internal organs.

"Ow!" Min Dong screamed in pain, but the scream was cut short as Tang Jie shoved a fist into his mouth, pushing him back with the sword. With a "bang," Min Dong was pinned to a tree.

Min Dong looked at Tang Jie with eyes wide open, blood gushing from his mouth.

He tried to draw the short sword from behind, but with his back against the tree, he couldn't reach it.

He could only stretch his hand forward, trying to push Tang Jie away.

But Tang Jie was like a mountain, unmoving despite Min Dong's struggles, his eyes cold and fixed on him.

They remained in this stalemate...

Life was rapidly draining from Min Dong's body, and he gradually felt weaker.

Finally, after a few desperate grabs, he lowered his head.

Tang Jie held on for a while longer before slowly pulling out the Purple Fire Sword. He searched Min Dong's body, finding a short sword with magical patterns, clearly a magical tool designed to break through armor, likely meant for Zhuang Shen. Unfortunately, there were no other magical treasures.

He used the sword tip to write on the ground: "The birds are not yet exhausted, why hide the bow? Zhuang Shen."

Thinking it was wrong, he changed "Zhuang Shen" to "Manipulating" before leaving.

Page break for ads

End of page break for ads