Chapter 136: Chapter 132: Lock the Door to Beat the Dog
Once the Soul Search was complete, Du Youqian casually inspected Li Tai’s body, which had been torn to shreds by Sword Qi. After confirming he couldn’t possibly be any more dead, he released his grip and let the corpse slide to the ground.
He turned to Gu Xiaofang. "Did you record all of it?"
"Got it! Brother Fei, you can always count on me," Gu Xiaofang said, tossing a Memory Stone up and down. "No one who sees this footage will find a single thing wrong with it. Even his master will have to keep his mouth shut. You gave him a chance, Brother Fei, but his ambition was that of a wolf. He colluded with outsiders to harm a fellow sect member. Death was too good for him."
Du Youqian smiled and asked, "Did you hear clearly what he said just now? Whose head did he think he saw?"
Gu Xiaofang asked, puzzled, "Brother Fei, didn’t you just perform a Soul Search on him?"
Du Youqian coughed. "Yes, I’m just verifying what I found."
’Of course he wasn’t going to admit that he’d screwed up.’
After all, Li Tai was a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator; his soul was not weak.
He even seemed to have cultivated some sort of Divine Soul Secret Technique.
When Du Youqian was performing the Soul Search, Li Tai had actually tried to invade his consciousness and fight back.
And then... and then his soul was sliced into a million pieces by Du Youqian’s Heart Lake Sword Technique.
’If I sort through them slowly later, I might be able to piece together some useful information.’
’But it’s certainly no use to me right now.’
A look of realization dawned on Gu Xiaofang’s face. "Ah, Brother Fei, your Soul Search methods are a bit crude, aren’t they... Feng Bin. Li Tai must have been talking about Feng Bin—that Tribulation Cultivator who runs amok in the Eastern Region of the Wu Kingdom."
"Rumor has it that this Feng Bin is from the Feng Family in the Qi Kingdom. He was originally a complete unknown, dispatched by his family to purchase supplies and peddle worthless trinkets. His travels spanned the Wu, Han, and Jin Kingdoms. It was a long, arduous job with very little reward."
"But then, over twenty years ago, Feng Bin suddenly rose to prominence and swiftly achieved Foundation Establishment. For some unknown reason, he then betrayed his family and became a Tribulation Cultivator. The various Sects and Cultivation Families around here have sent people to eliminate him several times, even teaming up to corner him. However, the man is elusive and his skills are formidable. He has always managed to escape and remains at large."
"Even though he only has a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivation, his methods are extraordinary; he once killed a cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection in a one-on-one fight. What’s more, he’s gathered a few partners who, though slightly weaker, are plenty vicious. After thinking it over, if Li Tai was looking for someone who wouldn’t be afraid to offend our Holy Blood Sect and who had the strength to take you down, Feng Bin and his crew would be the perfect candidates."
If anyone else had called his Soul Search technique crude, Du Youqian would have made them experience it firsthand.
But since it was Gu Xiaofang... he’d let it slide.
He nodded. "Then it’s most likely Feng Bin. The man is probably already lurking in the Spirit Stone Vein. We’ll trap him like a cornered beast and see just how wealthy this Tribulation Cultivator really is."
He then turned to Luo Jinyu, who was bent over and searching the corpse. "Be thorough. The guy’s smile was so smug. It means that in his hallucination, he pulled out an extremely powerful Spiritual Artifact, or perhaps a Demon Artifact, and killed the three of us in one blow. Find it. That thing is probably worth a fortune."
"Yes, I’ll be sure to find it," Luo Jinyu replied without looking up. "But Brother Yu, this Array of yours is truly incredible. To trap a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator so deeply that he wasn’t even aware of it... I knew back at the Evil Pool that your accomplishments in the Array Dao were profound! I was right."
Du Youqian chuckled. "Heh, you’ve got it wrong. My skill with Arrays is just so-so. This guy was just incompetent and knew nothing about them, which is why he took such a nasty fall. I have no idea how someone like him managed to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage! It’s a wonder he survived this long."
Luo Jinyu chuckled, clearly unconvinced. "Brother Yu, your mastery of the Array Dao... even if it hasn’t reached Tier Three, it must be close, right?"
Du Youqian said nothing.
’Don’t ask. The answer is feigned weakness and hidden strength.’
’Never let anyone see all your cards.’
Still, he had to give Luo Jinyu credit.
’The kid’s got a sharp eye!’
’He’d guessed right.’
Du Youqian’s current mastery of the Array Dao was, in fact, just a sliver away from Tier Three.
Of course, for some, that sliver was like a paper window—a gentle poke was all it took to break through.
But for most Cultivators aspiring to master the Array Dao, that distance was an insurmountable chasm.
Without reaching Core Formation, without the Divine Sense of a Core Formation Cultivator, breaking through that barrier was a near-impossible feat.
And it wasn’t just the Array Dao.
The Alchemy Dao, the Path of Artifact Refining... it was the same for them all.
Only now that he had reached this threshold himself did Du Youqian understand why the rules established by the two First-class Sects treated any Cultivator who had mastered Tier Three Cultivation Techniques as an equal to a Core Formation Ancestor.
Because a Cultivator who mastered a Tier Three Skill before Core Formation was bound to be a peerless prodigy. It couldn’t be achieved through luck, and there were no shortcuts.
Even for a "cheat" like Du Youqian, who could rely on the accumulated experience of several reincarnations to possess peak Tier Two Cultivation Techniques at such a young age.
But if he wanted to break through to Tier Three Cultivation Techniques while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm, he would need to spend a massive amount of time solidifying his fundamentals and arduously train a Secret Technique to enhance his Divine Sense, compensating for its inherent weakness at his level.
For the past two years, Du Youqian had focused his energy on three things: increasing his Cultivation to reach the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage sooner; deepening his comprehension of Sword Intent to strengthen his most powerful attacks; and practicing the Heart Lake Sword Technique.
All these arrangements were made so that he could gain at least a sliver of self-preservation capability against a Core Formation Ancestor as quickly as possible.
That way, even if a Core Formation Ancestor tried to ambush him, he could hopefully block one or two blows before quickly using a Secret Technique to burn away the rest of his lifespan and reincarnate.
Only after reaching the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage would he devote more energy to enhancing his Divine Sense and attempt to break through to Tier Three in the Array Dao and Alchemy Dao.
While Du Youqian was lost in thought, Luo Jinyu had already given Li Tai’s corpse a thorough search, inside and out.
Li Tai’s possessions were both abundant and unremarkable.
This was not a contradiction.
Because ninety percent of Li Tai’s entire inheritance consisted of special-attribute Spirit Stones and Spiritual Jade.
It was a classic case of being "so poor that all you have is money."
As expected of someone who ran a mine.
Li Tai didn’t carry any Cultivation Techniques or Secret Techniques on his person, and Du Youqian looked down on the assortment of Spiritual Artifacts and Demon Artifacts he found.
Only the Soul-Extinguishing Lamp caught his eye.
As a Demon Artifact on par with an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, it was difficult to craft and had a unique function: it directly attacked the soul with shocking lethality.
The value of this Demon Artifact far surpassed that of a typical Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact.
A normal offensive Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact costs around 35,000 to 40,000 Spirit Stones.
If this Soul-Extinguishing Lamp were put up for sale, however, it would fetch a price at least ten times higher.
However, as powerful as the Soul-Extinguishing Lamp was, it didn’t align well with Du Youqian’s personal combat style.
If he tried to force the Soul-Extinguishing Lamp into his combat repertoire, it would only create unnecessary vulnerabilities.
So, he had no intention of using it.
After a moment of consideration, Du Youqian awarded the Soul-Extinguishing Lamp to Luo Jinyu.
After all, Luo Jinyu was already at Qi Cultivation Perfection. As a cultivator with an Upper Grade Spirit Root, his chances of achieving Foundation Establishment in the coming years were quite high.
Only by letting Luo Jinyu wield this Demon Artifact of Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact Level could some of its power be brought to bear.
Giving it to Gu Xiaofang would be a death sentence.
After all, while a Demon Artifact’s power was immense and its effects bizarre, the backlash was just as severe.
If Gu Xiaofang were to activate a Demon Artifact of Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact Level with his Qi Cultivation Middle Stage body, he would likely die from the backlash after just a few uses.
Seeing Luo Jinyu grinning from ear to ear while trying his best to look nonchalant, Gu Xiaofang felt a pang of envy but kept his mouth shut.
After all, Luo Jinyu had certainly done his part.
Besides, Du Youqian had also rewarded him with some Elixirs and Spiritual Jade, so it wasn’t a case of blatant favoritism.
For Gu Xiaofang at his current stage, the most important thing was to raise his Cultivation as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, even if Du Youqian got his hands on other treasures in the future, he wouldn’t be able to give them to him. What use would they be?
The usually devil-may-care Gu Xiaofang had spent the last two years having the time of his life.
He’d spend his days carousing with beautiful women, gathering intelligence on the side...
No, that’s backward. He’d spend his days gathering intelligence, and carouse with beautiful women on the side.
Life was carefree.
In his eyes, he was already living like an Immortal.
But now, for the first time, he felt a sense of urgency.
’As Brother Fei’s strength grows, his future enemies will all be at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage or even Foundation Establishment Perfection.’
’If I can’t keep up with him, if I’m still stuck in the Qi Cultivation Stage with no respectable skills to my name, how can I help him gather intel, or be of any use at all?’
’When that time comes, even if Brother Fei doesn’t look down on me, how could I still have the face to stay by his side?’
Gu Xiaofang’s mindset was quietly shifting.
"What should we do with the body?" Luo Jinyu asked, thinking along the lines of someone from a Demon Sect. "The corpse of a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator can fetch a good price, even if we don’t have a use for it ourselves."
"Forget it," Du Youqian said, shaking his head. "Just give the body back to his master. A Perfect Foundation Establishment Cultivator whose time is almost up... I’m not afraid of him, but there’s no need to create unnecessary trouble. What if he loses his head and decides to trade his life for mine?"
Luo Jinyu’s expression filled with admiration. "You think of everything, Brother Yu."
Du Youqian gave a casual nod.
"So, about dealing with this Feng Bin—any thoughts?"
Luo Jinyu thought for a moment before suggesting, "We can set up a lockdown and trapping Grand Array over the Ore Vein, then pump poisonous smoke into the mine. We’ll seal every other exit, leaving just one. Feng Bin will naturally be forced out through that single exit to his death. What do you think, Brother Yu?"
Du Youqian gave him a flat, emotionless look. ’In the past four years,’ he thought, ’Luo Jinyu has become much more callous.’
’He’s completely indifferent to whether those low-level mining Cultivators live or die.’
Of course, these mining Cultivators weren’t all completely innocent.
Some were heinous criminals whose Cultivation had been sealed as punishment, forced to dig ore. Others had been on the losing side of factional struggles. Some were Loose Cultivators who had been abducted by the mine’s Garrison. But most of them were simply poor, volunteering for the dangerous work in exchange for a few meager Cultivation resources.
Du Youqian knew he was no saint. He wouldn’t necessarily risk his own neck to save a group of strangers. Even if he were to consider it, he’d have to carefully weigh the risks and rewards first.
But to indifferently sacrifice dozens, even hundreds, of people just to kill one enemy?
That was something he truly couldn’t bring himself to do.
