Chương 149: The Star-Absorbing Great Art

Eagle's Sorrow Ravine. Hearing the Blood-Robed Venerable's words, Song Que and the other man both followed his pointing finger, focusing on Zhen He, whose face was filled with terror. Grandee Song felt a chill in his heart; the saying that demonic practitioners were ruthless was indeed not false.

"No! Milord, spare me!" Having become a fish on the chopping block, Zhen He struggled to sit up and screamed frantically. But Old Blood merely looked at Song Que with cold indifference.

"He dies or you die. The choice is yours." Did he even need to think about this? Boss Song gritted his teeth in determination and walked toward Zhen He without the slightest hesitation. This guy was already so scared he had pissed his pants. Crying, he pleaded for help from the side:"Boss Sha Mai, save me!" Although Sha Maiquan couldn't bear it in his heart, there was nothing he could do. He could only turn his face away, pretending not to see.

Ignoring Old Zhen's fierce struggles, Boss Song lifted him up like a chicken. With one hand tightly gripping his neck, he circulated his internal energy according to the path of the Star-Absorbing Great Art. The meridians on Song Que's arm bulged as if inflated, resembling a greedy snake swallowing prey larger than itself. As for Zhen He, the blood color gradually drained from his entire body.

From struggling frantically, he was reduced to exhaustion, weakly murmuring a few more words before his entire body shriveled up. Devoid of any vitality, he was casually tossed aside by Boss Song.

"Hahahaha, very good! From today onward, you are a member of the Blood Demon Cult! Don't even dream of clearing your suspicion. A Blood Demon Dantian has now formed at your Tanzhong acupoint. Anyone with a mind to check will expose you without a doubt! Aside from our Blood Demon Cult, you have no other path to take!" The Blood-Robed Venerable threw his head back and laughed gleefully.

"Rest assured, Venerable! This lowly one's hands are already stained; I have no way back now. Everything will depend on your protection!" Boss Song promised with an honest and obedient face.

"It's good that you understand. I am in charge of this entire Yangnan Circuit territory. In the future, the two of you just need to follow my orders and do your jobs, understood?"

"Understood!" Song Que and Sha Maiquan cupped their hands in unison.

"Good. Then my trip this time is considered perfectly completed. I will not stay long. Song Que, you stay here with Sha Maiquan, and the two of you discuss your work together. I have already handed over all the tasks to him; you just need to cooperate."

"Respectfully seeing off the Venerable!" Mimicking Sha Maiquan, Boss Song cupped his hands to see off this old dog, only then breathing a sigh of relief. That dead dog is gone; it seems I am officially safe. His mind began to turn active. His gaze gradually turned unfriendly as he looked at Old Sha, his mind calculating rapidly. Should I immediately finish off this bastard right now? After thinking for a while, Boss Song sighed and let him go. The Demonic Cult was a massive power, and nowhere was absolutely safe.

He still had many things to do in Qinghe and couldn't just drop everything and run right now. Moreover, right now was actually the safest time. Sha Maiquan seemed to sense the malice from the person next to him. His nerves instantly tensed, and he stepped back defensively.

"Kid, what are you planning?" Stronghold Leader Sha Mai couldn't afford not to be on guard. During their exchange earlier, he had experienced it firsthand—this kid's brute strength was monstrous! After fighting for a while, his hands were still numb. One on one, he had absolutely no confidence in winning.

"Stronghold Leader Sha is overthinking it. I was just pondering that in this area, only the two of us brothers are left to rely on each other. In the future, this little brother still hopes Big Brother Sha will look after me more."

"My surname is the compound 'Sha Mai', not some bullsh*t Stronghold Leader Sha! Don't try to deceive me with your ghost stories; you think I don't know what's in your mind?! Hehehe, but I'll tell you this: now that you've fallen in, don't even dream of escaping! As soon as news of you cultivating the Star-Absorbing Great Art spreads, the entire world—both orthodox and unorthodox factions—will view you as a thorn in their eye and swear to kill you! You are just like me, with no way back!"

"If you know what's good for you, obediently submit to the Venerable now. Who knows, if he's in a good mood later, he might pass down the rest of the cultivation art to you. With your aptitude, breaking through to the First Tier isn't impossible," Old Sha Mai said with a cold sneer, not forgetting to keep a safe distance defensively. Grandee Song imitated Xiong Ba, scratching his head with a sincere and harmless smile:"Rest assured, Big Brother Sha Mai. This little brother knows what to do.

I wonder what task the Venerable assigned the two of us this time?"

"Hmph, isn't it because of the disaster you caused?! Now this route is being tightly watched by the Six Doors! The Venerable urgently needs a batch of 'human pigs' to supply fresh blood. Just remind your subordinates to cooperate with my men from now on." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. So it was these dead dogs who had been constantly going around the county capturing people recently!

Figuring out the problem, killing intent erupted in Song Que's eyes, but he patiently lowered his head to conceal it. He asked him a few more questions; this guy seemed to know quite a bit, so he might be able to dig out more useful information.

"Everything is up to Big Brother's decisions; this little brother will definitely cooperate. Big Brother Sha Mai, there is still one thing I don't understand; please help explain it to me." The other party's combat strength seemed higher than his own, so Sha Maiquan didn't dare easily offend him. Although still highly vigilant, he didn't mind explaining it to him, nodding to signal him to continue.

"I believed I hid myself very well. I wonder how the Venerable discovered me?" This was also the question Boss Song had been racking his brains over but couldn't figure out. Even now, he didn't understand how he had been exposed. He had truly almost died as a confused ghost! Hearing his question, Old Sha Mai laughed gleefully:"Hehehe, it seems you don't know a single thing about the Demonic Cult! The methods of demonic practitioners are myriad and bizarre.

There are many things that insignificant nobodies like us couldn't possibly fully understand. Fortunately, I have some understanding of your matter. It's all because you destroyed the Soul Refining Cauldron and killed the Blood-Robed Venerable's ghost servant. The ghosts he raises are Mother-Child Ghosts. The Mother Ghost is controlled by him personally. You killed the Child Ghost, so its aura was engraved into the Mother Ghost's mind. As long as you appear within a certain range, the Venerable will recognize you!"

"Hehehe, today was truly unlucky for you! This is what they call 'there is a path to heaven, but you refuse to take it; there is no door to hell, yet you barge right in!' Hahahaha!" Holy jumping mother of god! So it was all me courting death myself! This world truly harbors nothing but malicious intent toward a transmigrator like me, Boss Song! Song Que sighed, not even bothering to care about Old Sha Mai laughing at his misfortune.

"Alright, you know what you wanted to know. If there's nothing else, I need to head back." Seeing this guy in such a hurry to leave, Boss Song hastily called out to him:"Wait a moment, Big Brother Sha Mai. Now that I am like this, how do I meet the Venerable in the future? I don't know where his location is, and I still need to report my work to him later."

"Bwahahahaha..." Sha Maiquan burst into laughter. His eyes darted around nervously before he said in a low voice:"Kid, I like the way you think! Are you trying to find a way to eliminate that old thief to vent your anger? Hehehe, if possible, I would naturally raise both hands in support! But unfortunately, that old thief is incredibly cunning. Every time, he acts all mysterious. Only he comes looking for me; he never lets others look for him!

Don't worry, the antidote will be delivered right to your door every month. In the future, if you can manage to kill this dog, please let me know! I'm leaving!" It seems this person's resentment toward that old Blood-Robed dog is also very deep! This wasn't too surprising. Judging by the way that old thief acted, nine times out of ten, these subordinates were all brought in through coercion and threats. Loyalty? My ass!

"Wait!"

"Kid, what are you trying to do?!" Sha Maiquan glared and shouted, his hand gripping his sword involuntarily tightening a few notches.

"Big Brother Sha Mai, there's no need to be so nervous. We two brothers rely on each other to survive; how could this little brother dare harm you? I just wanted to ask: now that the Locked Forest Stronghold is a group of dragons without a leader, how do you plan to handle it, Big Brother?" The reason Sha Maiquan was rushing back was precisely to secretly swallow Old Zhen's wealth all by himself. Hearing this kid ask about it now, he frowned:"You also have designs on the Locked Forest Stronghold?" Also?!

This guy actually planned to bypass me and take the score all for himself! Boss Song wasn't pleased and glared:"What, is Stronghold Leader Sha Mai looking down on my Black Iron Stronghold?" Looking at the fierce light flickering in Song Que's eyes, Old Sha Mai felt mentally exhausted. Motherf cker, what happened to 'deep brotherly affection' and 'relying on each other to survive'?! * Turning hostile just like that! Even an ex-girlfriend wouldn't change faces this fast!

The corners of his mouth twitching, Sha Maiquan trembled for a moment before forcing out a reluctant smile:"Zhen He is dead. As his brother for many years, I naturally don't want his years of hard work to be washed down the river. Since you also have the heart for it, Song Que, then our two factions will go back, summon our men, and resolve this matter tonight. Half for each of us—how does that sound?"

"Haha, Big Brother is truly righteous! I'll follow your arrangements. If there are such good deeds in the future, please look out for this little brother more, Big Brother!" Not wanting to get tangled up with this bastard any longer, Sha Maiquan exchanged a few polite pleasantries and immediately bolted. He was terrified that one day, if he wasn't careful, Boss Song would stab him in the back. Given this guy's personality, it was almost a certainty! It was best to stay far away for peace of mind.

Watching Sha Maiquan flee into the distance, Song Que remained standing in place, sighing for a while before finally starting to move. He first hastily buried the unlucky Zhen He, considering it fulfilling his duty as a host. Then, without any politeness, he stored his venomous whip into his spatial storage. Only then did Boss Song retrace his steps back to Luanshi Crag, called out to Wu Yun, and set off on his way back.

Waiting until he was close to the Black Iron Stronghold, passing through a desolate patch of forest, Boss Song finally stopped. He began to punch and kick the trees and rocks by the roadside like a madman to vent his frustration.

"F CK... F CK... F*CK...." A series of words starting with the letter 'F' spewed from his mouth. The surroundings also suffered disaster, being torn to shreds by him, looking as if they had just been trampled by a herd of mad elephants. Only after the pent-up frustration had mostly dissipated did Song Que pull back his hands with a gloomy expression, gritting his teeth coldly:"Old Blood-Robed dog!

Next time, I will definitely use the Star-Absorbing Great Art to suck dry your essence and energy to avenge today's hatred!" Thinking back on today's events, he still felt lingering fear. Just a little bit more, and it would have been GAME OVER for Boss Song. He had even been set up by that old dog and dragged into the Blood Demon Cult. Fortunately, I, Boss Song, was quick-witted, otherwise, my future would have been completely ruined!

While deploying Lightning to tail the old Blood-Robed dog to find his lair, Song Que sat down to calmly think and draw lessons from today's events. This time, he was lucky enough to use a trick to escape the man's control, but what about the next times? What if one day, villains controlled his family members? Or not even that—what if someone forced him to kill to prove his loyalty, or made him write a letter of surrender and stamp it with his fingerprint? What would he do then?

In this treacherous martial world, even if he tried to hide, he wouldn't necessarily be able to escape it. As long as he didn't have enough strength to protect himself, a small fry like Boss Song would be molded and squeezed by others at will. Today's events served as an unforgettable lesson for him. Being able to luckily escape this time was also due to coincidental fortune. It seemed that upon returning, he needed to formulate contingency plans for potential crises in advance.

Given the current state of the world, it was inevitable that he would be targeted by others in the future. After all, Song Que held too many valuable things in his mind; he himself was of immense value. Pondering deeply for a long while, remembering his appointment with that guy Sha Maiquan, Song Que couldn't help but sigh and stand up. Sensing the Tesseract in his mind, Boss Song's heart felt somewhat at ease. Taking a deep breath, he spurred his horse and galloped back toward the stronghold.