Chapter 1288: The Black Phoenix Race
The two flying beasts weren't in a hurry to give chase upon seeing this. Instead, they began to circle around in the air above the forest while emitting a series of strange cries.
Moments later, a streak of red light hurtled over from the distance, reaching the two flying beasts in the blink of an eye. The light then receded to reveal a young woman in palatial robes who appeared to be just over 20 years of age. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and there was a malicious look in her eyes.
"Has he finally exhausted his supply of spirit stones? You two really are useless; how has it taken you two so long to pursue a mere body refinement warrior? If it's not for the fact that I have to restrict my magic power fluctuations, I'd have captured him myself long ago." The young woman looked at the forest down below with a cold expression before turning her gaze toward the two flying beasts in a displeased manner.
The two intimidating Leocon Beasts were all horrified by the displeasure in the young woman's eyes, and both of them began to tremor uncontrollably.
"Hmph, I can't allow the bloodline of our race to fall into the hands of the human race. No matter what price I have to pay, I must take that little girl back with me. Once I capture that City Lord Zhao, I'll be able to interrogate him for her whereabouts." The young woman looked down once again, but she showed no intention of taking action. Instead, a rather peculiar expression appeared on her face.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom erupted from within the forest nearby, followed by a string of ferocious cries. It sounded as if a fierce battle had broken out in that section of the forest.
The young woman and the two Leocon Beasts hovered silently in the air, seemingly waiting for something.
After a short while, the commotion in the forest came to an abrupt halt, following which three balls of black Qi and a ball of yellow Qi rose up into the air and flew directly toward them.
They were none other than the three snake demons that had led the army of crimson python beasts a few days ago, as well as a massive Sandbug Beast that was around 40 to 50 feet in size.
The snake demon with the head of a human was currently holding a half-dead human in its hands; it was none other than the purple-robed man who had just plummeted from the sky not long ago.
His entire body was stained with blood, and one of his arms had also gone missing, rendering him completely powerless to resist.
The four demon beasts made their way over to the young woman before placing respectfully the man before her on a cloud of demonic Qi and backing away thereafter.
"Well done, I'll be sure to reward you handsomely for this." The young woman nodded with a content look after verifying that the purple-robed man was still alive.
The snake demons and the massive Sandbug Beast all let loose low cries in unison, seemingly overjoyed by the prospect of the reward they had been promised.
The purple-robed man had regained his consciousness at this point, and he was stunned to see the young woman standing in mid-air before him. "Impossible! You're an eighth grade metamorphosis stage demon beast; how did you manage to enter our Heavenly Origin Region?"
"Eighth grade demon beast? I guess you can say that. However, I'm the one asking questions here, not you. Listen up, I want to know the whereabouts of a certain person. If you tell me where they are, I'll grant you a quick and painless death. Otherwise, I'll pull your soul out of your body and find the answer I seek using a soul search technique. I don't need to tell you how painful the latter option will be for you, right?" The young woman held herself in a graceful and refined manner, but her words were extremely cold and cruel.
The purple-robed man's grim expression darkened even further.
"You're clearly a prominent figure among the demon race, yet you're interrogating a mere body refinement warrior like me? What information could I possibly offer that would be of interest to you? Perhaps there's been some kind of misunderstanding and I'm not the person you're looking for, Senior?"
A cold light flashed through the young woman's eyes upon hearing this. She raised a slim finger, and a thin beam of red light shot forth, puncturing the purple-robed man's shoulder in a flash.
The man let loose a howl of agony, and the smell of burned flesh wafted through the air as a small hole appeared on his shoulder.
"Didn't I say that I was the one who was going to be asking questions? If you make the same mistake again, I'm going to chop off all of your limbs," the young woman threatened expressionlessly.
Only after a long which did the purple-robed man manage to recover from the excruciating agony shooting through his shoulder, and he said through gritted teeth, "I understand, Senior. Please tell me what you'd like to know."
The young woman looked at the purple-robed man with a cold expression, and said, "It's quite simple; I want to know the whereabouts of a little girl named Dai'er. Don't tell me you don't know her; she's your only granddaughter."
"Dai'er! You're from the Black Phoenix Race!" the purple-robed man exclaimed.
"Correct. Looks like you knew all along that Dai'er had the bloodline of our Black Phoenix Race. If it weren't for the fact that you're constantly hiding in your city with your granddaughter like a cowardly turtle, I wouldn't have had to go to the trouble of deploying such a massive Beast Torrent to attack your An Yuan City. The entire city's been destroyed, but I still haven't found your granddaughter, so I can only come to you for answers," the young woman revealed with a cold smile.
"I knew it. There was no way we could've kept the Black Phoenix Demon King in the dark," the purple-robed man murmured as the final trace of hope faded from his eyes.
"It's good that you know your place. But then again, you humans sure are brave; not only did you send someone to seduce the Young Master of our Black Phoenix Race, you even dared to sneak the bloodline of our holy race back to your human race. Do you really that the Black Phoenix Race won't be able to do anything just because you fled back to the three regions of the human race?" The expression on the young woman's face gradually cooled even further as she spoke.
"My daughter has already passed away because of Dai'er; what more do you want?" The purple-robed man also cast aside all inhibitions as he gritted his teeth with an expression of resentment and fury.
"What do we want? We want to take Dai'er back to our Black Phoenix Palace, of course. Even though she's half-human, she still has the bloodline of our holy race running through her veins, so she can't be allowed to remain with you humans. I'm glad that your daughter already died; it saves me from having to hunt her down myself. Now tell me where that little girl is!" The young woman seemed to be losing her patience.
The purple-robed man glowered at her for a long while before spitting through gritted teeth, "I don't know!"
The young woman's expression remained completely unchanged, and it seemed that she was not surprised in the slightest by the man's answer. However, her body then swayed as she flashed through the air toward the purple-robed man, then grasped her five slim fingers over the top of his head.
"Take one final look at this world; you'll cease to exist in a moment," the young woman said in a cold voice before blue light flashed from her fingertips.
The purple-robed man's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he entered a state of complete sensory deprivation...
After a while, a dried corpse that had been reduced to only several feet in size plummeted from the sky and disappeared into the forest down below.
"Things are a little more troublesome than I expected. I didn't think that man would be so stubborn and patriotic; he gave orders to his subordinates to execute his granddaughter if they don't meet up after 10 days. Who would've thought that he could be so cruel? Looks like rather sacrifice his only granddaughter for the sake of the human race than see another high-grade demon beast rise up among our Black Phoenix Race. Thankfully, he's just a body refinement warrior. If he were a cultivator instead, perhaps he would've developed into quite a formidable figure. So this means that he wasn't actually with his granddaughter on the day that An Yuan City was destroyed. Are you sure none of you saw the person I'm looking for on that day?" The young woman suddenly turned to the demon beasts beside her with a cold and interrogatory gaze.
The demon beasts glanced at one another before letting loose a string of strange cries in an extremely respectful manner.
The young woman's brows furrowed upon seeing this. All of a sudden, she flipped a hand over and a crimson bead appeared over her palm. She then made a hand seal and chanted something before opening her mouth, upon which a small ball of blood essence was expelled onto the bead as a layer of blood mist.
A burst of crimson light immediately appeared over the surface of the red bead. The young woman stared at the bead with an intense unblinking gaze. Only after a long while did she close her eyes with an exhausted expression on her face, but she quickly opened her eyes again.
"The person I'm looking for isn't dead, and she hasn't left this area. I don't care what methods you employ, but you have to find her for me within three days. If you can't do that, then there's no reason for you to continue to exist in this world. However, I am a fair individual who hands down punishments and rewards in equal measure. You've captured the lord of An Yuan City, so you'll naturally be rewarded for your efforts. You can take these pills and consume them now; they'll save you several centuries of arduous cultivation. If you can find the little girl, I'll have an even better reward waiting for you." The young woman flicked a finger, and several white pills shot forth, flying toward the group of demon beasts.
The demon beasts hurriedly opened their mouths with overjoyed expressions before swallowing the pills and letting loose a series of elated cries. After that, they transformed into balls of demonic Qi and sped away into the distance.
"How annoying; if it weren't for the fact that using my spiritual sense and magic power could attract the attention of high-grade human cultivators, I wouldn't have to ask those idiots to do my bidding. I can't stay here anymore; I have to go back as quickly as possible after taking care of this matter." The young woman heaved a faint sigh before raising a hand. Red light flashed, and a handkerchief-like treasure enshrouded her entire body before she disappeared on the spot as a plume of azure smoke.
Not long after she vanished, one of the seemingly ordinary trees in the forest down below suddenly warped and transformed into a black-robed elderly man with a set of sinister facial features. The man was holding a dried corpse in his hands, and it was none other than the corpse of the purple-robed man.
"I didn't think I'd see the Demonic Maiden of the Black Phoenix Race here. Looks like her cultivation base is far superior to mine, and I most likely wouldn't have been able to escape her notice if it weren't for the fact that she's really wary about releasing her spiritual sense. Who would've thought that someone with the bloodline of the Black Phoenix Race would be dwelling in An Yuan City? Haha, this is a brilliant opportunity for me. This body will be quite useful for me." the elderly man chuckled before tossing the dried corpse into the air. He then rubbed his hands together before raising them over his head.
A burst of grey mist suddenly obscured the entire dried corpse, following which an incredible scene unfolded.
The dried and shriveled corpse suddenly began to expand like a rehydrating sponge, rapidly reverting back to its original form. Even the dismembered arm had grown back once again.
"Hehe, with this body, I'll be able to find that little girl first, and then..."
"And then what?"
Just as the black-robed man was chuckling to himself, an icy cold voice suddenly sounded from behind him. His expression immediately changed drastically, following which he immediately shot forth into the distance as a streak of grey light like a rabbit that had just had its tail trodden on. In his haste to escape, he had even abandoned the dried corpse that he had just rejuvenated.