Chapter 65: Screams from the Cave

Mo Sui Xin never wasted her three daily divination opportunities.

Since she had already promised to help Wei Changsheng, today's three divinations naturally all revolved around Chen Ye.

However, this gift bestowed by heaven was hard to control; Mo Sui Xin could at most control the target of the divination, but could not control it with greater precision.

Thus, she could only divine three matters related to Chen Ye, with no control over the time, location, or specific aspects involved.

In the past, Mo Sui Xin had experienced absurd divinations, such as predicting the time someone would go to the latrine, or what they would eat at noon—trivial, irrelevant trifles.

Today's three divinations were no different for the first two.

The first divination showed Chen Ye would appear here and now, and would flirt with her like a lewd rogue. Yet reality differed vastly from the hexagram; the time and location matched, but the content was entirely wrong.

Chen Ye was avoiding her; let alone flirting with her.

The second divination showed Chen Ye would invite Mo Sui Xin to drink, but now it seemed this second divination was equally absurd. Chen Ye treated her like a plague, with an extremely cold attitude; how could he possibly invite her to drink?

If even one detail shown by the hexagram was wrong, then the whole thing was wrong.

The so-called "one truth" meant that every single detail divined would be utterly without error; only then was it "true."

Even if the target Mo Sui Xin divined was an unparalleled expert at the Dao-Integration realm, the fulfillment would absolutely have no deviation.

However, this third divination was a most ominous sign; the hexagram clearly showed Chen Ye would be struck by a deadly poison and die a violent death.

In that case, would the crucial Heavenly Scripture Secret Technique be unobtainable?

Mo Sui Xin had promised Wei Changsheng to help, not merely for the small reward he offered; she knew very well the significance of the Heavenly Scripture Secret Technique to the Burning Fragrance Sect and could not miss it.

Now that Wei Changsheng was nowhere to be found, Mo Sui Xin could only rely on herself; she must force Chen Ye to hand over the Heavenly Scripture Secret Technique before he was poisoned to death.

Mo Sui Xin moved with wind beneath her feet, quickly chasing in the direction Chen Ye had departed.

She had originally thought Chen Ye's cultivation was not high, so catching him would be a piece of cake, and she could surely control him at will. But who could have imagined that after chasing him all the way, Mo Sui Xin was startled to find Chen Ye getting farther and farther away; in a moment of carelessness, she had actually lost him.

"He actually used the formations of the Hundred Seas Valley!"

The internal space of the Hundred Seas Valley was intricate and complex, layer upon layer, with formations everywhere; this was the result of the Hundred Seas Valley undergoing years of continuous repair and expansion. It could not only gather vast amounts of spiritual energy but also enlarge the internal space and clearly delineate various zones.

However, since it was merely a loose alliance, this formation did not have many restrictions or dangers; like the main roads of a city, one could see them by opening the Spiritual Eyes, yet the roads were so complex like a maze that even if seen, they were hard to distinguish.

Ordinary cultivators arriving for the first time could only follow the path before them carefully to avoid losing their way.

Chen Ye had initially relied on that colorful paper crane to guide him, but when he ran just now, his speed increased more and more; long ago, he had been the one leading the paper crane.

The key was that he was not running blindly; he actually used these maze-like roads to shake Mo Sui Xin off.

Mo Sui Xin then realized she had been careless, but Chen Ye's ability to decipher formations was truly astonishing.

"No wonder his entry into the valley was so short. Clearly, I had calculated correctly that I could enter the Hundred Seas Valley a step before him, yet both I and Senior Brother Wei fell behind him. This person is a rare cultivation genius; if he could join the Burning Fragrance Sect, becoming the chief disciple of the Heavenly Craft Hall is just around the corner."

The Heavenly Craft Hall was the department within the Burning Fragrance Valley dedicated to researching mechanisms and formations; currently, the chief disciple of the Heavenly Craft Hall was at the Profound Mystery realm, and once he broke through to the Soul Transformation realm, he could be promoted to the new Hall Master.

With Chen Ye now whereabouts unknown, Mo Sui Xin could only pick a direction at random and see if she could get lucky.

Chen Ye had already circled around, putting Mo Sui Xin far behind him.

Confirming that the "crazy girl" was nowhere to be seen, the golden light flickering in his eyes slowly faded away.

Just now, finding a path through these layer-upon-layer formations had exhausted him; focusing his full attention for so long made him feel utterly drained, even more tired than staying up all night studying last night.

"Master, protect me; don't let me meet that madwoman again."

Releasing the colorful paper crane again to continue leading the way, Chen Ye strolled for a while, and soon heard a strange sound, like someone screaming hoarsely in agony.

"Didn't they say the Hundred Seas Valley forbids fighting? What is this sound about?"

The Hundred Seas Valley could not have such a great reputation if it allowed people to be harmed at will.

Chen Ye did not really want to cause trouble, but the colorful paper crane happened to be flying toward the direction where the screams came from.

Chen Ye thought, could it be that Lu Fusheng was ambushed?

Although the two had only met once, Lu Fusheng had enthusiastically invited him to visit his cave dwelling; running away like this would not be very loyal.

Chen Ye thought for a moment, grabbed the paper crane back, then held his breath and quietly walked toward the direction of the screams.

He was already quite familiar with the formations nearby and believed that if he wanted to run, it should not be difficult. So he would go check first; if he could help save someone, he would act; if the situation was critical and he was powerless to cope, he would immediately turn back to find help.

As he advanced, Chen Ye paid close attention to the changes in spiritual energy around him to avoid triggering any magical prohibitions.

His caution was not in vain; he soon discovered two obvious prohibitions.

However, they were all ordinary warning formations, much like those he set up himself on a daily basis. The formation knowledge learned by wandering cultivators was common stuff, nothing exquisite or brilliant, merely usable.

Chen Ye was quite familiar with such formations and quickly deciphered them with ease. Only then did the screams heard by his ears rise several octaves, as if the neck had been choked into a thin twig.

Chen Ye was terrified by what he heard; what kind of torture could torment a person to this extent, and what kind of insane person would commit such evil acts? Killing someone is just a matter of a quick chop; what deep grudge would risk being discovered to use torture?

Full of doubts, Chen Ye did not stop his steps but slowly moved toward that huge cave entrance.

Cultivators mostly preferred to live in caves, mainly for convenience, and spiritual energy within mountains often gathered more densely.

This cave before him was much larger than the one Chen Ye lived in; judging by the arrangement at the entrance, it was obviously carefully tended. The flowers and grass were arranged with a certain order, possessing a unique charm.

But now Chen Ye had no mind to appreciate these; he carefully entered the cave entrance, turned past two stone screens, and finally saw the inner chamber of the cave.

There, a cultivator was tied naked to the wall, his hands and feet tightly locked by thick iron chains, with only a rag barely covering his shame.

Standing before him were two people, holding several jade-like objects and rubbing them back and forth on the tied cultivator's body. With each rub, the bound cultivator let out a piercing scream.

However, Lu Fusheng was not the one tied up; rather, he was the one holding the jade objects to inflict torture. His face was ferocious, covered in sweat, and his hands wore thick gloves as he grabbed two jade objects and ground them continuously on the person's body.

As soon as the tortured person was touched even slightly, the skin would turn red, then bruise, with blood beads seeping out onto the skin.

Chen Ye was shocked by what he saw; what were these three grown men playing at here? Were wandering cultivators so perverted?

As if the torture had been tiring for a while, Lu Fusheng wiped the sweat from his head and then said to the tortured person, "Brother Chang, this is the final step; endure it."

The bound cultivator shouted with a voice already hoarse, "No, stop here today, stop here today!"

But Lu Fusheng said, "There is no turning back in the Turbulent Qi Body Refining; if you don't practice this final stage, all the previous suffering was in vain!"

"I really can't take it anymore, Brother Fusheng; tomorrow, can we refine tomorrow?!"

Chen Ye watched, his body trembling; was the Turbulent Qi Body Refining really this terrifying?