Chương 135: Lu Chengcai

Yellow Leaf Town, in the secret chamber beneath the Lu family residence. Looking at this perverted demon who seemed unsatisfied and whose posture suggested he wanted to go for another round, Lu Chengcai immediately yielded. This servant cannot bear it! I beg for leniency! What else could he do? Song Que regretfully curbed his temper and listened to his full confession from beginning to end.... Lu Chengcai had previously held an inconspicuous clerical position in Lingjiang Commandery.

Nearing the age of sixty, he had thought his life would simply end like this—living each day holding his breath, waiting for his vitality to gradually slip away until he died. But once, while organizing old case files at the Pacification Office, some information recorded within deeply shook him. The Blood Demon Cult.

These people actually had a way to harvest the vitality from others' bodies for their own use, thereby strengthening their own vitality, breaking through their cultivation levels, and prolonging their lives! From that day on, Old Lu was like a man possessed, constantly thinking about this matter. Being old and having no descendants, Lu Chengcai cared about nothing else, but he cherished his own life immensely.

Initially, he was just curious about methods to prolong life, so he discreetly asked around for information. This could not be hidden from those who were paying attention. Very quickly, a member of the Blood Demon Cult came looking for him. Perhaps it was a match made in heaven; not only was Lu Chengcai not silenced, but he got his wish and joined this demonic sect, thus reaching the pinnacle of his life. He became a Town Mayor, broke through to the Third Grade in strength, and had his life prolonged!

The price he paid was insignificantly small: he just had to find fresh blood to nourish the Spirit Refining Cauldron for others, and conveniently refine a few blood pills. The bizarre cauldron that Boss Song had cracked was the Spirit Refining Cauldron. It required human blood to nourish it daily, and the higher the victim's resentment before death, the better the effect. That was why Lu Chengcai had to hang the victims up and torture them slowly like that.

Since returning to this place, to facilitate carrying out his crimes—aside from buying a courtyard behind the Town Mayor's residence and secretly hiring people to build a secret passage—Old Lu had constantly colluded with and encouraged the bandits of the Huanglian Mountains to run rampant, determined to completely isolate this place from the outside world. Those masons were likely Lu Chengcai's first victims.

In the years that followed, the number of lives lost at his hands probably reached the hundreds, chilling anyone to the bone. Recently, he had also received the task of refining the Yin-Yang Nine-Turn Heaven-Reversing Pill, which required the fresh hearts of nine pairs of virgin boys and girls as ingredients. That was why Song Que and Wu Yi had witnessed such a cruel scene earlier.

This old dog had already collected five pairs and would have continued his crimes, bringing disaster to who knew how many more families. Fortunately, today, this operation could be stopped.

"Besides you, who else is in the Blood Demon Cult? Explain everything clearly to me."

"I... I don't know!" Song Que and Wu Yi widened their eyes. Song Que shouted angrily:"Still daring to hide things! It seems this young master hasn't taught you enough of a lesson!"

"No... no, this old man truly does not know! I only know the demonic cultivator is called the Blood-Robed Venerable. Every time, he is the one who comes to find me and issue tasks." Seeing the old man looking as if his soul had left his body, it didn't seem fake. The two men frowned, finding the situation difficult to handle.

"After so many years, you don't know a single piece of information about him?!"

"It's the truth, Young Hero Song! The opponent's martial arts are profound, and he is tightly cloaked in robes. Every time, he comes to find me in the middle of the night; I have no way to investigate him!" It seemed this old dog Lu had just been acting tough to scare them earlier! He didn't even know who his superior was, let alone making empty promises! Meeting the unfriendly gazes of the two men, Old Lu hurriedly shouted:"Don't kill me! I've told you everything I know!

This old man was also forced by threats to my life; I have no desire to harm people!" Boss Song wouldn't listen to his ghost stories. He sneered coldly:"If you didn't want to do it, who could force you?! The world is vast; if you truly wanted to escape the Blood Demon Cult, even someone with abilities reaching the heavens couldn't catch you and force you to harm people, right?!" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Young Hero Song, I was truly forced!" Lu Chengcai panicked.

"The demonic cultivator forced me to swallow a poison pill. If I don't take the antidote periodically, I will be tortured to death! Furthermore, the demonic cult's methods are bizarre and unpredictable; I truly cannot escape!" Seeing that Wu Yi beside him still had things to ask, Song Que yielded his position. He continued to look around, his gaze finally fixing on the Spirit Refining Cauldron. Earlier, he had searched the surroundings but hadn't found the evil ghost that injured Wu Yi.

Now, hearing this old dog's explanation, combined with the fact that it had let out a miserable shriek when struck by the Dark Iron Saber—although it was very faint, Boss Song was certain he hadn't misheard. There was something strange about this object; that ghost was definitely hiding inside it! Reaching out to pick it up and study it, the spot where his hand touched the cauldron felt bone-chillingly cold. It felt not as if he were holding a block of metal, but a block of ice!

Furthermore, Song Que sensed a cruel and tyrannical aura. Very familiar! Boss Song smiled. Following a crackling sound, an orange electrical current suddenly flashed from his palm and rapidly shot straight into the cauldron! Screeech...!! A shrill, ear-piercing scream instantly echoed, sounding like someone frantically scratching a mirror, causing one's skin to crawl. So it really was hiding here! And it even knows how to conceal itself; it seems its intelligence isn't low!

When dealing with these things, 'Half-Immortal' Song was highly experienced. The electrical current in his hand intensified, radiating out like a black net to completely envelop the Spirit Refining Cauldron. Accompanied by the crackling sounds, the shrill screams grew increasingly urgent and frantic.

"Stop!" Terrified, Lu Chengcai wanted to rush forward to stop him, but Wu Yi, who despite his shock had been secretly keeping an eye on him, immediately struck the old man down.

"Song Que, you're crazy! Stop!" Despite the pain, Old Lu seemed not to care, shouting madly at Song Que. Why would Boss Song pay him any mind? He just kept doing his thing. As the electrical current continuously intensified, the ghost inside struggled even more violently. It seemed it wanted to break out of the cauldron, banging against it and creating loud bong bong sounds. But it was all in vain. The lightning net grew tighter and tighter, leaving the evil ghost with nowhere to hide.

Very quickly, it only had time to let out an unwilling roar before being entirely swallowed by the Tesseract.

"No!"

"No...!" Lu Chengcai slumped down as if his soul had been sucked out. Song Que ignored him, focusing on observing the changes to the Tesseract in his mind. Unfortunately, the energy provided by this evil ghost—while not insignificant, comparable to the Ngoc Linh Ginseng he consumed last time—still wasn't enough to advance the Tesseract. It merely deepened its color slightly. No matter. At least I gained a large amount of energy; Boss Song is satisfied enough.

"Song Que! You're crazy! You actually dared to destroy that thing! You're dead, you're all dead! No one can save you! Hahaha!" After being dazed for a long while, Lu Chengcai seemed to have gone mad, laughing as he spoke.

"I will wait for you! The Blood-Robed Venerable will come for you! Hahaha..." This old man's skin is really itching for it! Boss Song grew furious and was about to settle the score with him, but the moment he looked over, blood was already gushing from all seven of the old man's orifices. His entire body went limp like a lump of cotton, and he collapsed on the spot. Song Que's expression changed, and he quickly stepped forward to check.

Unfortunately, he found that the man's heart meridians had shattered, and his brain had suffered a massive hemorrhage. Even an immortal would find it hard to save him.

"He's dead," Song Que shook his head, noticing Brother Yi's questioning gaze.

"What happened with that cauldron just now?"

"A ghost was imprisoned inside; it should be the very one that attacked you, Brother Yi. I just eradicated it."

"Imprisoning a ghost? Motherf*cker, these demonic cultivators' methods are truly bizarre and unpredictable!" Wu Yi couldn't help but curse. Grumbling a few times, Old Wu sat down to examine Lu Chengcai's corpse. After a long while, he looked surprised.

"There are no signs of poisoning; it seems he used a secret art to shatter his own heart meridians. I didn't expect this old dog to have a bit of backbone!" This old man's series of actions earlier didn't show the slightest hint of being a daredevil. Song Que didn't believe this dog had the guts to commit suicide. He merely said disdainfully:"Perhaps the Blood-Robed Venerable is too terrifying to him, far worse than death.

Or it can't be ruled out that he had some sort of connection with the ghost in the Spirit Refining Cauldron, and when it was destroyed, he couldn't survive either. It seems we were too careless." Although the latter part was just something Grandee Song had brainstormed from reading too many novels in the past, it wasn't without reason. Hearing this, Wu Yi also felt it was quite plausible.

"Brother Yi, how should we handle today's matter?" After agonizing over it for a long time, Old Wu gritted his teeth:"I will report this upwards. I believe this matter will quickly alarm the Six Doors headquarters! I don't believe those demonic cult members will still dare to jump around openly! Furthermore, Lu Chengcai held back some information when he spoke; we cannot completely trust him." Song Que wasn't one to fear trouble. Since Wu Yi wanted to do it, as his brother, he would naturally fully support him.

"Then, Brother Yi, go gather personnel to inventory this place first. We also need to investigate who assisted this old man. He couldn't possibly have done all this secretly by himself."

"You're right, that's what I was thinking too. A'Que, you guard this place first; I'll go call the men."

"No problem, Brother Yi, rest assured!" Waiting until Wu Yi left, Song Que leisurely walked around and collected everything of value into his dimensional space. He wasn't afraid of Old Wu suspecting him; after all, Wu Yi hadn't checked the items yet, and furthermore, he trusted Brother Yi's discretion. There was a massive pile of medicinal herbs! Since Lu Chengcai had people refining pills for him, his own stockpile of medicinal herbs was naturally abundant, lacking no aged tonics.

Boss Song unceremoniously accepted them. There was no less than twenty thousand taels of gold and silver! Old Lu had little interest in enjoyment, and his household was small with no one to spend money. The savings accumulated over the years, which he didn't care about and just threw in an empty corner, ultimately benefited Song Que. There were also a few books on medicine and pill refinement on the shelves. Seeing they had some value at a glance, Grandee Song also took them back to study.

After storing away all the useful items, Song Que focused his attention on the thin booklet in his hand. The Yin-Yang Nine-Turn Heaven-Reversing Pill Refining Method. Flipping through a few pages, he confirmed it indeed used the hearts of children as a primer for refining the pill. It could enhance internal energy and prolong one's lifespan. Rip! Disgusted, Song Que crushed the pill formula.

Not to mention this thing's efficacy was like 'chicken ribs' to him (tasteless but a pity to discard), even if it could help someone break through to become an Innate Grandmaster, he would still destroy it without hesitation! There were things that could be overlooked, but there were absolute boundaries that must never be crossed. Innocent commoners and ignorant children—touching them was like stepping on the ultimate landmines hidden deep within his heart.