Chapter 739 - From the Dark Abyss
Chapter 739 - From the Dark Abyss
Ling Chigu threw Han Su onto the ground and said coldly, “He was the one who found a Spirit Gathering Pill for Yan Huaizhen. Yan Huaizhen repeatedly met with this person after you guys left, and after he died, Han Su sent away Yan Huaizhen’s personal guard, Wei Yan, to defend the northern border. It’s clear that he doesn’t want anyone to notice that something is wrong.”
Han Su’s expression was stiff. Although his hair and clothes were a little messy, he still maintained his dignity as much as possible. He didn’t panic or make a fuss. He said nonchalantly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m King Zhen’s strategist. If you guys dare to treat me so disrespectfully, then you’re disrespecting King Zhen.”
Ling Chigu kicked Han Su to the ground impatiently. “Enough nonsense. I brought you here today because I don’t intend on letting you return alive. This General merely wanted them to see the appearance of the person who killed Yan Huaizhen. I’ll chop you up without delay after they finish looking at you.”
Han Su clearly didn’t expect Ling Chigu’s attitude, so he was immediately stunned.
You Ming also curled his lips and said thoughtfully, “Since he doesn’t have much use, then just kill him and be done with it. Although I don’t like Yan Huaizhen, that boy is still Zhonghua’s brother. Now that someone has killed him, I do have to avenge him. We might as well just crush this person’s bones and scatter his soul!”
With these words, a dark flame lit up on You Ming’s palm. The flame rushed straight towards Han Su and was just about to envelop his face–
“No ahh! I know a lot of information about evil Qi cultivators. Don’t kill me ahhh!” Han Su screamed, losing his scholarly mannerism.
His cultivation wasn’t high, but he was somewhat smart and extremely obedient, which won him Tu Feng’s appreciation. Thus, he was able to stay by Yan Huaizhen’s side as an advisor, but his cultivation was very lacking.
It was precisely because of his poor talent that he couldn’t make any breakthroughs in his cultivation, so he retreated and sought the next best thing, which was to become a knowledgeable strategist and civilian court official.
Now that he was staring death in the face, Han Su finally realized that these people were very different from the fellows he used to deceive. They truly didn’t care about what secrets he knew.
He’s afraid that in Yan Zhonghua’s eyes, even if Han Su died, they would still have countless ways to obtain the information they want. How could Han Su not be frightened?
The dark fire circled Han Su’s head several times.
You Ming said with satisfaction, “Say what you need to say. When did you start working for Tu Feng?”
Han Su’s eyeballs turned a little. “This humble one has always been the advisor to His Highness, King Zhen. A few days ago, His Highness suddenly wanted this humble one to look for a Spirit Gathering Pill, so I tried all kinds of methods to find one for him. This humble one doesn’t know anything about what happened after that!”
“You’re lying!” Feng Jingyu said coldly, “You showed up at Yan Huaizhen’s side at the same time that Tu Feng did, but now you claim that you have nothing to do with Tu Feng? Do you think we’ll believe that?”
Ling Chigu stepped on Han Su’s back and impatiently pressed him to the ground. “I advise you to be honest. This General has never been very patient. If you dare to tell another lie, I’ll crush all the bones in your body!”
Han Su was in severe pain. By now, he also knew that his lies could be easily exposed, so he shouted, “I’ll be honest! I’ll tell you everything! Little General Ling, please raise your noble foot. I’m about to be trampled to death!”
Ling Chigu slowly lifted his foot and placed it on the ground.
Han Su took a deep breath and wiped his dirty face, cutting a sorry figure. He then let out a breath and said slowly, “Tu Feng is indeed an evil Qi cultivator; he came from the demon world.”
You Ming motioned for him to continue.
Han Su sighed. “Don’t be fooled by how I seem to be well-off right now. In reality, I’m an illegitimate bastard that everyone in my family looks down upon. A few years ago, a demon lord with quite a high status in the demon world came to the northern border to look for a furnace constitution to help his cultivation. I just happened to be one, so my clan members got a devious idea and gave me away in exchange for many magic treasures and medicinal pills. I escaped by luck while on the road but was chased by pursuers and fell into the Seventh Region’s dark abyss. It was there that I met Tu Feng.”
The Seventh Region’s dark abyss was a forbidden area that neither demons nor immortals dared to enter.
It was said that countless demons’ bones rested there. It was the final destination for all those exiled from the demon clans. Back then, Youshan Lingyu sealed the evil Qi cultivators and then threw them down into the dark abyss. Nobody knew what lay at the bottom of the abyss because no one had ever returned.
Feng Jingyu asked, “You came out of the dark abyss?”
Han Su nodded. “I was rather lucky. The dark abyss was full of things that you guys have never seen before. It’s so deep that the bottom can’t be seen. There are fierce beasts larger than mountains and lava that burns with heavenly fire. Many demons fell down together with me. Among them, the extremely unlucky ones fell into the heavenly flames and burned to ashes. I landed in a bush made of carnivorous plants that ate flesh and bones. I was almost eaten, but a ball of purple evil Qi appeared and saved me.”
That mass of purple evil Qi was naturally Tu Feng.
It’s just that at that time, Tu Feng had already lost his body, so he was just a ball of evil Qi that had drifted around for a long time, unable to escape.
You Ming asked, “Why did he save you?”
“If someone is particularly attentive to you for no reason, then they must have a nefarious purpose.” Han Su smiled bitterly. “I only learned later that the ball of evil Qi used to be an evil Qi cultivator, but someone sealed it and threw it into the dark abyss. The seal on its body was too powerful, so much so that it couldn’t unseal itself, even after countless years. And it just so happens that humans are the only creatures who can release the seal. I was the only human who fell into the abyss and survived, so that ball of evil Qi made a deal with me. It would protect me while I leave the demon world, and I would lift the seal on it in exchange.”
This was a pretty fair deal. Why would Han Su refuse?
Although the evil Qi didn’t have a face or body, it was extremely strong. It could walk around the dark abyss like it was flat land and was impervious to all poisons. Han Su, a weakling who couldn’t protect himself at all, naturally had to hold on tightly to the evil Qi’s thigh.
Han Su soon mastered the method to remove the seal by following the evil Qi’s instructions. That seal had already been there for ten thousand years, so it was extremely weak. Even though Han Su’s cultivation wasn’t high, he was still able to effortlessly release that ball of evil Qi from the seal.
After that, the ball of evil Qi kept its word and brought Han Su out of the terrifying dark abyss. They left the demon realm and returned to the human world. The ball of evil Qi condensed into a physical body and became the current Tu Feng.
He lived in seclusion for a few years. After understanding the entire Nine Lands’ situation, he set his sights on Yan Huaizhen, who was already in a desperate situation but still kept a proud and arrogant attitude, which made him easy to control. What happened next was only to be expected.
It wasn’t hard to deceive Yan Huaizhen and win his trust. After all, Yan Huaizhen had lost everything by that time. Even Ling Chigu, his most loyal retainer, had died while drawing the pursuers away.
“Another reason Tu Feng set his sights on King Zhen is that King Zhen has a Yin constitution.” Han Su revealed with some guilt, “Tu Feng didn’t actually want to kill King Zhen. After all, King Zhen’s body was of great use to him, but later, King Zhen wanted to strike first and kill him, so Tu Feng pretended to fall for the trap and killed King Zhen instead, turning him into a corpse.”
You Ming commented, “When all’s said and done, they still shared a bed for so long. To think he can actually deal the killing blow.”
Nobody knew whether You Ming was referring to Yan Huaizhen or Tu Feng, or perhaps both of them.
Han Su smiled wryly. “Tu Feng is a ruthless and unfeeling person. He doesn’t even have a heart. Don’t be fooled by how he seemingly hasn’t done anything terrible yet. That’s only because his strength hasn’t reached a point where he can directly control the Nine Lands. When he was drunk, he once spoke grandly about how he would turn the Nine Lands into a world for evil Qi cultivators after he succeeded in becoming the Nine Lands’ Conferred Heavenly Evil.”
“Nine Lands’ Conferred Heavenly Evil? What’s that?” You Ming asked.
Han Su shook his head. “I don’t know either. He just mentioned it once, but thinking about it, it should be something extremely powerful. Moreover, Tu Feng has already found worshippers in all parts of the Nine Lands and made contracts with them, so he has many spies working for him from the shadows in each region, collecting intelligence for him.”
As soon as this remark was made, the faces of everyone present turned uglier.
They had never even heard of Tu Feng having spies and worshippers. This alone proved exactly how secretive these spies were.
Yan Zhonghua asked, “Do you know who they are?”
Han Su hesitated for a moment, then answered, “I only know that one of them is an elder of Myriad Dao Academy. He has sent Tu Feng a lot of news regarding the sect’s evil spirit arrays, but I don’t know why Tu Feng is so interested in those arrays.”
Yan Zhonghua was no stranger to the evil spirit arrays.
Every single person who had ever studied at Myriad Dao Academy had entered the evil spirit arrays before, although the vast majority of them only entered the most basic of evil spirit arrays. The fact that Tu Feng was so concerned about evil spirit arrays made Yan Zhonghua want to investigate them. Exactly what was inside the evil spirit arrays?
Yan Zhonghua studied at Myriad Dao Academy when he was young, but he didn’t like the worlds inside the evil spirit arrays because they seemed to be illusory and fabricated. Thus, he only explored a few and never entered again. Now, however, he regretted that decision very much.
But it was useless to regret. Since Han Su provided them with a direction, someone would naturally go to the evil spirit arrays to investigate in the future.
Han Su revealed everything he knew.
You Ming thought for a moment and asked, “As far as you know, does Tu Feng have any weaknesses?”
Han Su shook his head. “The Spirit Gathering Pill can probably injure him, but I’m afraid this method is entirely useless now. Moreover–”
He hesitated a little and looked at You Ming. “What kind of weakness can a thing like him have? He’s not even afraid of the dark abyss.”
You Ming: “…”
Because Han Su was still pretty perceptive and told them everything he knew, You Ming and Ling Chigu decided to let him live for the time being after some discussion. However, they couldn’t just let him go. After all, the fact that Han Su could sell out Tu Feng today meant that he could also sell them out in front of Tu Feng in the future.
You Ming pondered, “Then why don’t we cripple his cultivation and throw him into the Five Continents?”
Han Su turned pale. “Please let me off. Although I’ve always been working for Tu Feng, I haven’t done anything inhuman.”
Ling Chigu asked coldly, “Didn’t your intervention kill Yan Huaizhen?”
Han Su replied, “When he asked me to look for a Spirit Gathering Pill, I also didn’t know that he would dare to kill Tu Feng. He’s my master. I can only do my best to fulfill his requirements.”
“In that case, you’re also quite wronged?” Ling Chigu sneered, looking at Han Su with narrowed eyes. “Do you think I’m stupid? While Yan Huaizhen was asking you for the Spirit Gathering Pill, you probably went to inform Tu Feng as soon as Yan Huaizhen left, right?”
Han Su choked and couldn’t refute it.
Feng Jingyu slapped Ling Chigu’s shoulder, a cold smile in his pair of phoenix eyes. “You really are emotional whenever you mention Yan Huaizhen. Why, you still have feelings for him?”
Ling Chigu: “…”
Ling Chigu, who was originally arrogant and haughty and in a proactive position, instantly chickened out.
He ran after Feng Jingyu and explained, “I’m not, I didn’t — I was merely exposing his lie.”
Feng Jingyu: “Heh.”
You Ming rolled his eyes. “If you’re going to quarrel, do it behind closed doors. You can do that after we’ve dealt with this boy, or else there will be future troubles.”
Yan Zhonghua swept a glance at Han Su. “Just kill him and throw him back into the palace.”
Han Su seemed like thorns were stabbing his back. He quickly shouted, “I can’t betray you guys. If Tu Feng learns that I’ve sold out so much of his information, he’ll definitely kill me violently!”