Chapter 218: Extortion

The man surnamed Li was seen retreating slowly, blood flowing incessantly down his thigh; with every step he took backward, a bloody footprint was left on the ground!

"You..."

Clutching his abdomen with one hand and pointing at Xue Qianyang with the other, his face was filled with disbelief and terror. Only after the distance between the two had widened did Zhang Nuo clearly see that, at some unknown moment, a transparent hole the size of a fist had appeared in the man's abdomen.

Intestines and blood were churned together, and mangled flesh was falling out from the wound. Although the man surnamed Li tried his best to cover it with his hand, it was already too late!

"I warned you long ago! Don't set your sights on me!"

After finishing all this, Xue Qianyang straightened her clothes as if nothing had happened, a faint smile appearing on her pretty face. In the dead of night, this smile held infinite allure, but to the man surnamed Li at this moment, it was as if death itself were smiling at him.

"You killed me! My aunt won't let you off!"

Holding his wound with both hands to keep the contents from spilling out, the muscles in the man's face were somewhat twisted. He knew better than anyone how severe his injuries were; Xue Qianyang's strike just now had been completely fatal, leaving no room for survival.

"By the time that old woman, your master, returns, who knows what year it will be? When that time comes, I'll just tell her you went to fight the Four Great Sects on the Tianjiang Plain, and who would be able to find out otherwise?"

Arching her delicate brows slightly, Xue Qianyang approached the man step by step. At some point, a Flying Sword had appeared in her hand; the blade shimmered brightly, its chill even more piercing in the dead of night!

"Senior Sister, please spare me! I won't dare do it again!"

Seeing that the other party truly intended to kill, the man surnamed Li made a final plea.

"It's too late!"

Xue Qianyang let out a cold snort. Things had reached this point; she could not let him live. Releasing a tiger back to the mountains would inevitably lead to harm, especially since the man before her was Fu Ling's own nephew—could the matter really end just like this?

*Swish! *

The Flying Sword in Xue Qianyang's hand flashed, and the man's head rolled down, his eyes wide open, staring fiercely at the young woman.

"Don't meet me in your next life!"

Having killed a person as if crushing an ant, Xue Qianyang merely gave a cold smile. She then took a Talisman from her Storage Bag, and as she infused it with Spirit Power, the Talisman turned into a ball of fire. She tossed it onto the corpse, and within moments, the body was reduced to flying ash.

As the mountain wind blew gently, the ash scattered everywhere, leaving only a few bloodstains on the spot!

Hiding in the grass, Zhang Nuo had seen everything clearly, and he could not help but feel a bit more wary of this woman, Xue Qianyang. Her methods were too ruthless, and her attacks were extremely insidious; even he had not seen clearly how she had delivered the killing blow.

After killing the man, Xue Qianyang did not leave the area. She narrowed her eyes and actually unleashed her Divine Sense, carefully probing the surroundings.

"What a meticulous mind!"

Thinking this to himself, Zhang Nuo dared not make any large movements, carefully restraining his aura to avoid being discovered. About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, Xue Qianyang suddenly let out a sharp cry.

"Who is it? Get out here!"

Zhang Nuo shivered all over. He was not afraid of the woman, but with the Nine Dragon Sword Case's ability to conceal Spirit Power fluctuations, it should have been impossible for her to discover him. Could there be someone else nearby?

Remaining motionless, Zhang Nuo stayed where he was, his gaze fixed on Xue Qianyang through the grass.

"Still not coming out? Do you expect this young lady to invite you out?"

Xue Qianyang kept her eyes tightly shut, as if she were using her Divine Sense to lock onto something. Zhang Nuo's heart hammered incessantly, wondering if she was referring to him.

After another moment, seeing that no one appeared, Xue Qianyang suddenly opened her eyes. After scanning the surroundings, she gave a light laugh and departed the area on her Flying Magic Tool.

"What a cunning woman!"

Letting out a long breath, he realized Xue Qianyang had been bluffing; she hadn't discovered anyone at all and had just been using words to test the area.

Fortunately, Zhang Nuo hadn't revealed himself immediately, or he would have fallen for her trick! After a moment of amusement, Zhang Nuo still did not move, remaining obediently hidden in the grass as if waiting for something to happen.

Sure enough, not long after Xue Qianyang left, she actually returned. Standing on her Flying Magic Tool, she carefully inspected the surroundings once more before leaving with a composed expression.

Seeing the young woman fly far away, Zhang Nuo finally dared to stand up. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he let out a cold snort; if he hadn't anticipated that Xue Qianyang might pull such a stunt, he might have been discovered.

Sneaking through the grass, a Cave Abode slowly appeared before Zhang Nuo's eyes. Any cultivator capable of opening a Cave Abode on the Demon Mountain should be at least at the Foundation Establishment Stage. It would be better to capture a demon cultivator and ask what was going on.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Nuo carefully approached the entrance of the Cave Abode. Since the cave was inside the Demon Mountain, there were no overly powerful Restrictions set around it, only a Person Sensing Restriction. To Zhang Nuo, such a Restriction was nothing at all, so he reached the entrance without any effort.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Nuo quickly waved his sleeve, the stone door opened, and he flashed into the interior of the Cave Abode, closing the door behind him. The next moment, he appeared in the main hall of the cave.

The hall was empty. He released his Divine Sense to quickly sweep through all the rooms in the cave. Suddenly, Zhang Nuo's brows twitched, and as his chest heaved, over twenty Flying Swords surged out of his body, slashing wildly toward one of the Stone Chambers.

*Boom—* With several loud crashes, the door to the Stone Chamber was shattered by the Flying Swords, and a man's cry of alarm came from within! Zhang Nuo moved his feet lightly, slowly approaching the Stone Chamber, and when he saw the situation inside, a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

On a stone bed in the chamber, a male demon cultivator of about forty years old was holding a Flying Sword, looking at him with terror. Around this demon cultivator, Zhang Nuo's twenty-some Flying Swords were all pointed at him; at the slightest sign of resistance, he would lose his head.

"That's more like it!"

Walking into the Stone Chamber with a light laugh, the male demon cultivator felt the Spiritual Pressure on Zhang Nuo and his face turned even uglier. The Spiritual Pressure of a Golden Core Cultivator was real and could not be fake.

"Senior! Coming to this junior's Cave Abode in the middle of the night, may I ask what for?"

Although he was terrified to the extreme, the demon cultivator remained relatively calm. Examining the demon cultivator before him and seeing that his cultivation was at most at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage, Zhang Nuo felt even more at ease.

"I want to ask you a few questions. As long as you answer truthfully, I won't take your life!"

First giving the other party a sense of security, Zhang Nuo put on an innocent appearance. Even so, the demon cultivator remained uneasy; a Golden Core Cultivator was powerful enough to kill him with ease.

"Please ask, Senior! I will tell you everything I know."

"Good! That's best. Has the master of your Demon Mountain, Fu Ling, really gone to help at Qingnian Demon Mountain?"

Zhang Nuo expressed great satisfaction with the demon cultivator's compliance.

"She hasn't been back for several years. I heard that the Sect Leaders of the other Demon Mountains have also gone to Qingnian Demon Mountain!"

The demon cultivator answered quickly without even thinking. Looking at him, it didn't seem like he was lying. Zhang Nuo felt somewhat relieved; since Fu Ling was away, his danger was reduced. After all, the Sect Leader of a proper Demon Mountain was not to be underestimated in terms of cultivation and strength.

"Besides Fu Ling, who has the highest cultivation on Wushuang Sacred Demon Mountain?"

"Only the Sect Leader is at the Golden Core Stage; the rest are Foundation Establishment cultivators. There were over a dozen at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, but the Sect Leader took several with her, so there are only three or four late-stage existences left on the mountain."

Hearing this number, Zhang Nuo was overjoyed. Three or four Foundation Establishment Late Stage existences were nothing in his eyes.

"Are there any major Dharma Arrays set up within your Demon Mountain?"

Zhang Nuo asked this to find out if the Dharma Array for the Demon Emperor to rebuild his physical body was on Wushuang Sacred Demon Mountain. Given the demon cultivator's cultivation, he couldn't possibly know about such an important matter, so he had to start from the Dharma Arrays to see if he could find any flaws.

"Dharma Arrays?"

This time, the demon cultivator hesitated. There were countless Dharma Arrays of all sizes throughout the Demon Mountain; he didn't know which one the Golden Core Cultivator was asking about.

"Hmm?"

Seeing the other party's hesitation, Zhang Nuo's face grew slightly angry. He moved his fingertips lightly, and immediately, the twenty-some Flying Swords began to hum.

"Senior! There are many kinds of Dharma Arrays on the mountain; I do not know which one you are asking about?"

Speaking in a rush, the demonic cultivator's gaze furtively swept over his surroundings and the Flying Sword beside him, while cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Something more special!"

"If you want to talk about special, then that would be..."

The demonic cultivator pondered while listing the various Dharma Arrays within Wushuang Sacred Demon Mountain one by one. After a long while, Zhang Nuo nodded, but among these Dharma Arrays, there was simply no clue regarding the Demon Emperor rebuilding his physical body.

After asking a few more questions and feeling that he had obtained enough information from the demonic cultivator, Zhang Nuo retracted his Flying Sword and made a gesture as if turning to leave.

Upon seeing this, the demonic cultivator let out a long sigh of relief in his heart; although he had revealed many secrets of Demon Mountain, his little life had been preserved.

The very moment his expression relaxed, a flaming Flying Sword suddenly shot out from behind Zhang Nuo. The surface of the Flying Sword was wrapped in a layer of crimson flames, and it pierced through the demonic cultivator's heart in an instant.

Before the demonic cultivator could make any reaction, he only felt the blood inside his body as if it were burning. After a few breaths of time, the demonic cultivator's body turned into a pile of ashes.

After finishing all this, Zhang Nuo turned back around with an expressionless face and muttered to himself:

"Only the dead will not talk nonsense!"

After searching the Cave Abode carefully once more and seeing there was nothing useful left, Zhang Nuo stood up and exited the Cave Abode. However, the moment he stepped one foot out of the Cave Abode's gate, a spherical object came whistling toward him.