Chapter 303: Chapter 278: The Whereabouts of Zhao Sirong_1
Lu Yan did not kill him.
He and Shen Yinuo were stationed outside Shengxuan Mountain, not for the purpose of killing people, but to find the whereabouts of Zhao Sirong.
"Answer my questions, cooperate honestly, and I may spare your life."
Lu Yan said coldly.
"Okay, ask away, I promise to answer all your questions, as long as you can spare my life."
The man nodded in agreement.
"Do you know of a woman named Zhao Sirong within the Shengxuan Sect, who often ties her hair in a ponytail and has quite a heroic appearance..."
Before he could finish, he noticed the man looking at him with a strange expression.
Lu Yan frowned and asked, "What does that expression of yours mean?"
"Please don’t misunderstand."
The man hurriedly said, "It’s just that the name Zhao Sirong is well-known to everyone in the Shengxuan Sect."
"Well-known?"
"Yes, because she is the last disciple taken in by the Sect Master. She is an Internal God-man and has been identified to have the potential to achieve the King’s True Body. Of course, most disciples only know that she has the Sect Master’s favoritism and has been taken as his last disciple. They don’t know about her potential to achieve the King’s True Body. Only some senior members of the Shengxuan Sect know about it."
He answered honestly.
Lu Yan was slightly taken aback. He hadn’t expected Zhao Sirong to have such extraordinary talent.
If she hadn’t gone to the Shengxuan Sect and had spent her whole life living in Lingdong, this talent of hers might have remained largely unknown.
"Where is she now? Is she still on Shengxuan Mountain?"
Lu Yan asked again.
The man shook his head and replied: "As far as I know, two protectors who have reached the True Body Seventh Refinement rank left Shengxuan Mountain with Zhao Sirong and Wang Lian, another disciple of the Sect Master. They took away a lot of resources, even some Divine-level martial arts. They seemed to be heading northwest to Xuan Zhou, on their way to Yanzhou."
Xuan Zhou is bordering four states. Yunzhou in the south, Jinzhou in the north, Mingzhou in the west, and the northwest is next to Yanzhou.
"You’re quite honest."
Lu Yan commented sarcastically.
Zhao Sirong and Wang Lian were clearly regarded as seeds for the Shengxuan Sect’s future. They left with plentiful resources and Divine-level martial arts, in preparation for a rise from the ashes in the future.
This guy spilled all the beans without hesitation.
"Sir, do you have anything else to ask? I’ll answer everything truthfully. If not, may I go now?"
The man asked.
"Nope."
Lu Yan shook his head.
Splat!
The man’s head burst open.
It was not Lu Yan who did this, but Shen Yinuo. She killed him with a slap from mid-air.
"He promised not to kill you, but I didn’t."
Shen Yinuo muttered.
"Yinuo, let’s go in the northwest direction of Xuan Zhou."
Lu Yan said, then swept up the man’s satchel, and with Shen Yinuo, they rushed towards the northwest of Xuan Zhou.
"That Zhao Sirong must be very pretty, right?"
On the way, Shen Yinuo suddenly asked.
"Yes."
Lu Yan replied without thinking, but then realized something was off. He glanced at Shen Yinuo, and seeing her eyes narrowed into slits in suspicion, he corrected hastily, "But you, Yinuo, are even more beautiful. You’re unparalleled."
"Really? You’re just making lip service, right? I see you’re so worried about Miss Sirong. I think your main purpose in agreeing to this mission is because of Miss Sirong, don’t you think?"
Shen Yinuo said.
Lu Yan gave a bitter smile inside. Are all women that perceptive?
"She’s a friend I met in Lingdong. She was very helpful to me when I was weak. She’s a wonderful person."
Lu Yan explained, then looked at Shen Yinuo carefully and said, "Yinuo, you’re not really jealous, are you?"
"Jealous of you? Are you kidding me? I would never be jealous of you! I definitely will not, absolutely not... "
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Shen Yinuo almost jumped up fiercely, full of indignation.
"I believe you..."
Lu Yan responded.
"Hey, why do you have that expression? You don’t believe me? Tell me honestly, do you believe me or not?"
"If it weren’t for the fact that you have lots of Martial Food resources, I wouldn’t have bothered following you around. Come on, tell me, do you believe me or not?"
Shen Yinuo was chattering on.
"I believe you..."
Lu Yan said.
"Why do I feel you don’t sound sincere? Say it seriously, do you believe me or not?"
"I believe you..."
They teased each other along the way, and soon disappeared from sight.
In less than a day, they arrived at the northwest region of Xuan Zhou.
"Boom! Boom!"
"Clang! Clang!"
From ahead, between the mountains, erupted fierce booming sounds and the clashing of weapons.
There was a battle ongoing.
Could it be Zhao Sirong? Had she been caught up with?
Lu Yan’s heart tightened. He and Shen Yinuo quickly concealed their presence and rushed towards the battlefield like ghosts.
Approaching stealthily, he silently scaled the cliff of a mountain peak. Concealed by a large rock, he gazed down.
Six people were besieging three.
The six of them, all burly men.
The three who were under siege were in an extremely sorry state, covered in blood, obviously on the brink of collapse.
All these people were powerful beings of the True Body Realm, obviously not ordinary.
"Gentlemen, whatever you want, we can give it to you. Please spare us," one of them called out.
But the six burly men were unmoved, their attack unrelenting.
With a horrible scream, an old man among the three who was the weakest, had his head chopped off by a blade and died on the spot.
"Don’t kill us! I know the whereabouts of the Shengxuan Sect’s closed-door disciple. She has the biggest part of Shengxuan Sect’s resources and divine-level martial arts. I can lead you to her," a man in his thirties cried out, his face full of fear.
This young man was extremely powerful, having reached the True Body Sixth Refining and his physique was at least of the Middle-Grade True Body.
But those six burly men were too powerful, two of them were suspected to be at the Ture Body Seventh Refinement, their auras profound and their True Bodies strong. He was completely outclassed.
Hearing this, the six burly men’s eyes flickered a few times but they did not stop.
After several more moves, the remaining two were seriously injured and fell to the ground, with no strength to fight back.
Crack!
Other than the young man, the other expert’s neck was also twisted, leaving only the young man alive.
"Speak, where is Huang Xuan’s closed-door disciple?" one of the burly men with a scar on his brow towered above him, his murderous intention pervading, he coldly asked.
"Huang Xuan’s closed-door disciple, named Zhao Sirong, has the potential of a King’s True Body. Two protectors were escorting Zhao Sirong and another disciple, Wang Lian, from Huang Xuan to the northwest region of Xuan Zhou, planning to enter Yanzhou," the young man quickly said.
"You might as well have not said anything. The northwest region of Xuan Zhou is so vast with countless people, where are we supposed to find them?" the scar-faced burly man said coldly, his war knife humming in his hand, its blade flashing and ready to strike at any moment.
The young man was terrified and quickly said, "I have a way to find them."
"Oh? Do you have contact with them?" asked the scar-faced burly man.
"Not exactly."
The young man shook his head and after some hesitation, he said, "Now that the Shengxuan Sect’s primordial spirits are dead and the army of the Mansion of King Ming is coming, the downfall of Shengxuan Sect is inevitable. The remaining people have their own ulterior motives. They all want to seize some benefits and resources for themselves and then flee to other provinces for cultivation."
"And as for Zhao Sirong and Wang Lian, who are in control of the largest resources of the Shengxuan Sect and even possess divine-level martial arts, who among the Shengxuan Sect’s members is not tempted? To be honest, I’m also tempted."
"So, I secretly poisoned Zhao Sirong with a colorless, tasteless, and harmless poison. But once this poison enters the bloodstream, it gives off a special aroma that comes out through the skin which lasts for several years."
"This fragrance is undetectable to ordinary people, but the creature that produces the poison can detect it."
At this point, the young man’s wrist skin writhed, and a worm, thick as a finger and resembling a centipede, burrowed out from his skin.
The worm had a feeler on its head that was constantly wiggling.
"This worm?" the scar-faced man asked.
"Yes, this worm is called the monoceros centipede. I’ve nurtured it for dozens of years, and only I can control it. Originally, I intended to secretly follow Zhao Sirong and the others, seeing if there was an opportunity to seize some resources from them. As long as you spare me, I can lead you to Zhao Sirong and Wang Lian and help you get their treasures and divine-level martial arts."
The young man said.
"You’re quite clever. Fine, I can promise you. As long as you lead us to Zhao Sirong and Wang Lian, I will spare your life." said the scar-faced burly man.
"It’s not sparing my life, it’s letting me go. You can’t cripple my martial arts or injure me. Also, they have to swear too."
The young man was obviously very cautious, glancing at the other five burly men.
The six burly men eyed him coldly, but ultimately they all swore one after another.
Then, the young man took a martial pill and started healing his wounds. After a short while, his injuries improved a bit.
Before the young man could fully recover, the scar-faced burly man forced his True Vigor to target the vital points around the young man’s body, sealing his cultivation.
"Lead the way."
The scar-faced burly man ordered coldly.
The young man piped weirdly from his mouth, and the antennae of the monoceros centipede wiggled non-stop, finally indicating one direction.
The young man led the six burly men towards that direction.
Not long after they left, the figures of Lu Yan and Shen Yinuo emerged.
"Follow them quietly."
Lu Yan said, his face slightly gloomy.
Luckily they ran into them. Otherwise, if these people caught up to Zhao Sirong and the others, Zhao Sirong and the rest would most likely have been in danger.
The two of them concealed their auras and quietly followed.
As long as they followed these people, they would naturally find Zhao Sirong.
The young man’s monoceros centipede didn’t seem to be that intelligent. It kept stopping along the way and after a day and a night, they didn’t get that far.
In a desolate hill thousands of miles away from Lu Yan and the rest, several figures were rapidly fleeing.
In total, there were four of them: a young girl with a ponytail, exquisite in temperament and appearance, who was none other than Zhao Sirong.
There was another man, who looked about forty or so.
The other two were an old woman with white hair and an old man with graying hair.
Over the years, Zhao Sirong’s cultivation had progressed rapidly, but she was only a second-rank master, falling far behind the others. That’s why all along she was carried by the old woman as they ran.
The old man had a deep knife wound on his back, his clothes stained red with blood. Not only that, but green vapors continued to rise from the wound, clearly a sign of deadly poison.
