Firmament Sword

"Go on, I'm listening," Xu Luo said, looking at Li Ye with a grin.

Li Ye looked at Xu Luo and said earnestly, "Help me rescue my brother, and I'll agree to one of your conditions."

"Three conditions!" Xu Luo said with a smile, cutting Li Ye off before he could speak. "Not only will I help you rescue your brother, but I'll also return your things. Both of them."

Others might not have understood Xu Luo's words, but Li Ye grasped his meaning instantly. His eyes lit up as he looked at Xu Luo. "Really?"

"I don't think I have any reason to lie to you," Xu Luo said.

"Done!" Li Ye barely hesitated. Even if Xu Luo hadn't offered to return the two treasures, he would have agreed to three conditions as long as Xu Luo helped rescue his brother. Getting his treasures back now was an unexpected bonus.

With that, Li Ye looked down at Li Kaiyuan, who was curled up on the ground, and asked coldly, "Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

"If you've got the guts, just kill me!" Li Kaiyuan glared at Li Ye, his face full of venom.

Li Ye let out a sinister chuckle and pulled a small knife from his Storage Ring. It was only the size of his palm, but its edge glinted with a cold, sharp light. He walked over to Li Kaiyuan, squatted down, and said calmly, "This little knife... You recognize it, don't you?"

"Is... is that the Bloodthirsty Saber?" A flash of terror flickered in Li Kaiyuan's eyes. His voice was distorted as he shrieked, "Li Ye... what are you going to do?"

"Since you know this is the Bloodthirsty Saber, you should understand what I'm about to do." Li Ye couldn't be bothered to waste any more words on him. He sliced a cut across Li Kaiyuan's hand, and bright red blood began to flow from the wound.

Li Kaiyuan let out a wretched, piercing scream. He cursed in a sharp voice, "Li Ye... I hope you die a miserable death!"

Immediately after, Li Kaiyuan's body began to shake violently, as if he were enduring unimaginable pain.

Xu Luo was a bit bewildered. 'It's just a small cut on his hand. Even a normal person wouldn't react this strongly, would they?'

Li Ye noticed Xu Luo's confusion and explained with a smile, "Don't underestimate this Little Knife. It doesn't have much destructive power, but when it comes to torture... it's a first-rate treasure! Anyone cut by it will feel as if thousands of ants are gnawing on them at once. The wound will never heal. You only die when you've completely bled out. The pain... is absolutely a fate worse than death!"

The corner of Xu Luo's mouth twitched. 'The Grand Thousand World is full of wonders,' he thought. 'To think such a wicked blade exists...' He looked at the tiny cut on Li Kaiyuan's finger, and his eyelid twitched. 'With a wound that small... how long would it take for him to bleed out completely?'

Glancing at Li Ye, Xu Luo thought, 'This guy is pretty ruthless himself. He must really hate this person.'

Li Ye didn't care that Xu Luo now knew about the Bloodthirsty Saber's abilities. His two most precious treasures were already in Xu Luo's hands. Compared to the Heaven-Piercing Shuttle and that... bodice, the Bloodthirsty Saber, no matter how miraculous, was inferior.

While the two of them chatted casually, Li Kaiyuan was being tormented beyond the will to live. With his cultivation completely sealed, he couldn't even die and could only let out continuous howls of agony.

"Kill me! Kill me! Li Ye... for the sake of our clan, give me... a quick death!"

"Do it! Li Ye! You bastard! Your father, your mother, your whole family are bastards!"

"Kill me! If you don't, you're not a man!"

"Please... kill me! Just kill me!"

Li Ye, however, turned a deaf ear to Li Kaiyuan's venomous curses. He stood there, coldly watching him writhe on the ground while he briefly explained the whole situation to Xu Luo.

After hearing the story, Xu Luo felt utterly disgusted with Li Kaiyuan and the people behind him.

"I can't believe they're so shameless and insidious. To start scheming so many years in advance just to suppress a competitor... They're certainly patient and persistent!" Xu Luo shook his head and sighed. "With that kind of dedication, they could probably surpass everyone if they just focused on improving themselves."

"To them, it was just a convenient little plot. It wasn't hard—all they had to do was constantly feed my brother their ideas and brainwash him. Then, when we turned on each other, they could sit back and enjoy the show. Even if I managed to subdue my brother, I'd still be known for fighting my own flesh and blood. How could I possibly be qualified to compete with them then?" A look of helplessness flashed in Li Ye's eyes. "The truth is, they don't understand me at all. I may be called the generation's chosen prodigy of the Honglou Sect, but I never once thought about... competing for that position!"

"You may not have wanted it, but your excellence made others fear you," Xu Luo said.

"Perhaps," Li Ye sighed.

Their conversation made no attempt to exclude Li Kaiyuan. Neither of them paid him any mind, simply letting him writhe, howl, and curse on the ground beside them.

No one who hasn't experienced it could ever understand the power of the Bloodthirsty Saber. It could make you wish for death, yet it would never allow you the mercy of passing out. As for actually dying... that was an impossible dream.

Li Ye told Xu Luo that the Bloodthirsty Saber was only effective on those whose cultivation had been sealed. If it struck a powerful expert whose abilities were still active, they would feel an unbearable stinging pain at most, but they could simply use a bit of Magical Power to expel the blade's energy and be fine.

Xu Luo laughed. "If it worked on everyone, then this saber... would be a true Divine Artifact!"

Li Ye shook his head. "I wish!"

By now, Li Kaiyuan's throat was completely hoarse from screaming. He barely had the strength to struggle, let alone howl, but the agony hadn't lessened in the slightest.

He gasped out, speaking in broken phrases, "Your brother... was taken to... the west side of Honglou Ancient City. They're waiting for word from me... If I kill you, they'll kill Li Hua too, then bring his body here... to stage a scene of you two brothers killing each other. If they don't hear from me within six hours, it means... I've failed. Then, they will personally drag your brother before the Sect Leader... and claim you've betrayed the sect, and that your brother... was your accomplice!"

Li Ye's gaze hardened, and he gritted his teeth. "Are you telling the truth?"

Li Kaiyuan panted, "At this point... why... would I lie? Give me a... quick death. Hurry... kill me, then... go save your brother!"

As Li Kaiyuan spoke, a flash of pure venom glinted in his eyes. If he hadn't been tortured to this extent, how could a mighty expert at the Peak of the Divine Power Realm Fifth Layer ever beg for death?

Li Ye said, "In that case, I'll give you a quick death!"

"Wait." Xu Luo held out a hand to stop Li Ye. He looked at Li Kaiyuan and said calmly, "Tell the truth, and I'll have him give you a quick death. Otherwise, I'll read your Sea of Spiritual Consciousness directly! And then, I'll obliterate your soul!"

A look of astonishment appeared in Li Kaiyuan's eyes. He stared at Xu Luo and said, "What I told you... is the truth!"

"It seems you won't give up until you're staring at your own coffin. Still telling lies, even now." Xu Luo couldn't be bothered to waste any more words on him. Staring into Li Kaiyuan's eyes, he activated the Jade Balance Demon Sound and asked, "Where is Li Ye's brother, really?"

To Li Ye, Xu Luo's words sounded perfectly ordinary, with nothing special about them.

But to Li Kaiyuan, that single sentence unleashed a monstrous wave in his Sea of Spiritual Consciousness. As the torrent raged, Li Kaiyuan felt his mind instantly lose all autonomy. He tried to resist but found he was like a tiny boat in a furious ocean, completely powerless!

Li Kaiyuan was horrified beyond words. His consciousness... his mind was still perfectly clear. He was acutely aware of what he had just said, and his heart sank into the abyss. In that moment, he knew that he and his family... were utterly finished!

The only silver lining... was that once his Sea of Spiritual Consciousness was controlled, the pain from the terrifying torture... was also temporarily suppressed.

"Li Hua is at Old Baldy Ridge..."

"Is there an ambush there?" Xu Luo asked.

"No ambush. They were certain I would succeed," Li Kaiyuan answered woodenly.

Li Ye watched from the side, his face a mask of astonishment. He had no idea what method Xu Luo had used to make Li Kaiyuan answer so obediently.

"Then what was their plan?" Xu Luo asked.

"I was to kill Li Ye and take his treasures. The others would block the road back to the city as a precaution. If they captured anyone, regardless of who, we were all to rendezvous at Old Baldy Ridge," Li Kaiyuan replied.

"Old Baldy Ridge... what kind of place is that? Is it important?" Xu Luo asked.

Li Ye, who was standing to the side, also widened his eyes. He knew the exact location of Old Baldy Ridge but had never imagined it could be an important place.

"That place... is the Young Master's secret headquarters!" As Li Kaiyuan spoke, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His eyes went wide, and then he died.

Xu Luo said with a hint of regret, "The Spiritual Power of someone at the Peak of the Divine Power Realm Fifth Layer is truly formidable. He managed to find a momentary gap and use it to commit suicide..."

Xu Luo silently counted himself lucky. 'If I hadn't withdrawn my Divine Sense so quickly, I probably would have been caught in the backlash. Experts at the Fifth Layer of the Divine Power Realm and above truly can't be underestimated. Without the help of the Cyan Dragon's Spirit and the White Tiger Residual Thought, I doubt I'd be a match for a Fifth Layer Divine Power Realm master.'

"Did you just... use Spiritual Power?" Li Ye asked, looking at Xu Luo in shock. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the uses of Spiritual Power; he just couldn't imagine how Xu Luo, a lower-level cultivator, could control a higher-level one.

If the power gap between two people was vast, a higher-level cultivator could certainly use Spiritual Power to influence a lower-level one. But Li Ye had never heard of the reverse. Today was a real eye-opener.

Xu Luo glanced at Li Ye. "You still have time to waste talking? Aren't you going to lead the way to Old Baldy Ridge? Or do you want your brother to be killed...?"

Li Ye trembled. If anything happened to his brother, he would never forgive himself.

He gave Xu Luo a deep look and said, "Thank you!"

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