“Argh!”
The Fourth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult screamed under the unprecedented brutality, yelling as he clutched at his thigh, “Mercy, Jiang He, mercy, I’ll talk—I’ll talk.”
Jiang He pointed at the white jade token plate and asked, “Who does this token plate belongs to?”
“A Holy Child of my Holy Faith.”
“It belongs to the Flowing Cloud Holy Child.” Fourth Elder said after a glance at the token plate.
“And who are you?”
“I’m Liu Zhao, the Fourth Elder of my Holy Faith, once a famed master of magics overseas, but a moment of clumsiness and an unpatriotic comment reduced me to nothing. Awakening a superpower in my misery, I joined the Holy Faith by chance.
“This is my Elder Decree to prove my identity.”
“…”
Beside them, Cheng Dongfeng was staring with a dumbstruck look at Duan Tianhe, and then at Ji Dongxu who was gaping. “Are the Sky Demon Cultists all scaredy cats?
“Could this Fourth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult be an impersonation?”
He remembered how things went when he himself had interrogated some Sky Demon Cultists who were captured alive. Even an average cultist would react ruthlessly, dying rather than yielding, and usually they would commit suicide by biting off their tongue or taking poison.
There were even some who were beaten half to death, but would still chant slogans like ‘For the Holy Faith’.
The Fourth Elder, on the other hand…
Was he not too much of a coward?
At that thought, Cheng Dongfeng communicated with Jiang He using Secret Acoustics, asking, “Jiang He, how could Sky Demon Cultists yield so easily? Be mindful of tricks!”
But just as he finished his sentence, Fourth Elder yelled, “No, Jiang He, every word I say is true! There is absolutely no lie, and I promise that upon my dignity!”
Then, glaring venomously at Cheng Dongfeng, seething, “Why are you so toxic that you would treat a gentleman’s kindness with pettiness?”
Shocked, Cheng Dongfeng exclaimed, “You could hear my Secret Acoustics?”
“Is it really that difficult?”
Fourth Elder said smugly. “So-called Secret Acoustics is nothing more than acoustics delivered through spirit, or by some resonating oscillation formed using True Qi. I’m an A-class pinnacle Awakened with powerful Spirit—a rank-seven spirit acoustic would never escape my senses. All I need is to grasp certain little tricks to determine the contents of your acoustics.”
“Interesting.”
Jiang He chuckled, before asking, “What other use is there for this little trick?”
“To determine truths and lies.”
Fourth Elder said it as it is. “A person’s spirit would twitch very faintly when they lie. It is instinctive and could not be concealed, although your spirit needs to be stronger than your target to a certain extent to succeed.”
“Oh?”
Jiang He’s gaze shifted, as he asked about the so-called ‘trick’.
“It’s actually not difficult. All you need to do is your spirit to identify your spirit’s ‘wavelength’, and it’s basically the same principle as the interceptions of wireless currents.”
Jiang He tried it, and once again looked towards Fourth Elder, asking, “Speak. Why does the Sky Demon Cult keep coming after me?”
“I don’t know,” Fourth Elder answered reverently, “I’m actually not ranked high in the Holy Faith, and Sentinel of the Right was the one commanding this operation.”
Slap!
Jiang He slapped Fourth Elder across his face, knocking off a few of his front teeth and drew his Dragon-Slaying Saber with a turn of his hand while laughing coldly. “Tell the truth!”
Fourth Elder quickly said, “You’ve sabotaged our plans, killing many of our elite disciples, Heavenly Generals, Grands, even Third Elder and Sixth Elder. The Holy Faith hates you to the bone to the point that the Saint had decreed us to destroy you.”
He only realized something when he finished, and could not help exclaiming, “How did you know I was lying? No way… my spirit is equal to a rank-nine elite’s with perfect grasp over the Boundary of Wills… you could not have sensed it!”
Ji Dongxu’s gaze twitched too.
On the other hand, Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng appeared composed.
What was there to it?
They’ve already guessed that Jiang He’s spirit must be very strong.
As for how strong… that was unknown.
Jiang He did not bother to explain either, and merely asked coldly, “Why would you people keep sending wave after wave of your elites to die here at Lingzhou City, where not even the birds would perch?”
Die?
Who the hell wants to die? The problem is the illogical freak that is you.”
“I don’t know.”
Stunned that Jiang He’s spirit was stronger than his own, Fourth Elder did not dare to have excess thoughts as he answered, “I’m not sure. All I know is that this is the Saint’s will.”
Pow!
Jiang He raised his foot and kicked out.
Though Fourth Elder was an Awakened could match the best of rank-nines, his physique was equal to a rank-six martial artist. The single kick sent him sliding over the ground up to dozens of meters away and with two broken ribs.
Coughing a huge mouthful of blood, he exclaimed in anguished, “Why would you hit me? I wasn’t lying!”
“I know.”
Jiang He waved, and several Martial Arts Department (MAD) personnel went off to bring Fourth Elder back. Smiling, he said, “I’m just irritated from looking at you—Saint this, Holy Faith that, only to turn your back against them in the blink of an eye.”
Holding his blade over Fourth Elder’s throat, Jiang He turned to Duan Tianhe, “Anything you want to ask, Chief Duan? If not, I’m cutting him down.”
“No!”
Fourth Elder cried out in panic, showing an incredible survival instinct. “Don’t kill me, I’m still useful, I know a lot of inside information about the Holy—I mean, Sky Demon Cult! I’ve never hurt anybody since joining them, and this is my first time stepping out!”
Withstanding the pain of broken ribs and a stabbed thigh, he dived towards Jiang He, clutching at his thigh as he cried, “Don’t kill me, Jiang He! I know magic… I know a lot of magic!”
Jiang He smirked as he kicked Fourth Elder down. “What does your knowing magic tricks have to do with me?”
“I can put on a show for you! When I was at the Sky Demon Cult, I’ve always put on magic shows for the Cardinals!”
Fourth Elder was about to lunge at Jiang He again, but paused when he saw Jiang He raised his foot. Still, his eyes lit up then as he added, “Yes, I know a lot of secrets about the Sky Demon Cult! I’m willing to offer that in exchange for my life!”
“Although the Saint did not say it directly, my guess is that he wants to claim Lingzhou City to receive the Holy Envoy representing the Holy Ones!!”
“What the hell does the Holy Envoy have to do with me?”
Jiang He fiddled with his Dragon-Slaying Saber, and yet Ji Dongxu’s expression changed beside him. He knows that the ‘Holy Ones’ referred to the Sky Demons, and promptly growled, “Do you mean that the sky demons are coming?”
“Taking Lingzhou City to receive their envoy… perhaps the Stargate is close to Lingzhou City?”
The looks on Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng’s faces changed drastically at that.
Jiang He was rather surprised too.
Extraterrestrials?
Descending on Earth?
And the location was close to Lingzhou City…
In fact, that piece of news startled him so much that he stabbed Fourth Elder to death.
Even when he was dying, Fourth Elder’s eyes were ablaze with the will to live as he begged for mercy, “No, I’m still young, I’m just fortyish… I don’t want to die, I know that the Sky Demon Cult’s base is at…”
His head tilted at that and he croaked.
Jiang He: “…”
He was rather embarrassed, and he chuckled, scratching the back of his head, “I forgot to ask about that one. But it’s fine, I’ll just have to catch another one alive later for interrogation…”
Stunned by the news of the sky demons’ coming, the trio was once again stunned by Jiang He’s action, and felt as if the information just now was not all that astonishing.
Even Duan Tianhe could not help chuckling, “It’s still a secret where the base of the Sky Demon Cult is, but he just might be mentioning it in passing. The MAD has undercovers that reached the hierarchy of the Sky Demon Cult, but hasn’t identified where it is… of course, he might actually know where it is.”
Still, now that Fourth Elder was dead, it didn’t matter if they knew.
“Jiang He, news of the sky demons’ arrival is urgent. I have to return to the MAD right now and report this to the higher-ups.”
“I’ll have someone take count of the merit points later, and credit it into your account.”
Duan Tianhe paused and asked, “These corpses…”
According to regulation, the corpses must be moved.
Still, Jiang He was quite unique since he has the habit of keeping corpses. Duan Tianhe and Chengdongfeng had their theories but never really came to a conclusion—although they guessed that Jiang He was using the bodies to cultivate some demonic art, there were no signs of it on Jiang He’s body.
Still, Wang Siyu had mentioned something about seeing some graves in Jiang He’s yard. And with Li Fei having heard Jiang He spoke of raising a grave for Killer Star, they got the conclusion…
Jiang He was probably feeling guilty after killing people, which is why he buried the many corpses in peace and put his conscience at ease.
But since Jiang He would not explain himself, they naturally would not ask.
Glancing at the corpses on the ground, Jiang He then said, “Just leave the Sentinel of the Right’s corpse. You may take the others.”
After all, Jiang He was disgusted with mangled remains.
The Fiends and the Decans were too weak for Jiang He as he was now.
Moreover, he could not plant them at the moment.
And if he planted them, what use are they when his dog might be stronger than them?
Still, the Sentinel of the Right was quite strong and has some statues. Maybe he could find out about certain secrets after planting him.
And in truth…
Jiang He was not confident that he could plant a living human out of a corpse.
***
Nonetheless, Duan Tianhe and the others soon left with the corpses.
Holding up Sentinel of the Right’s corpse with a single hand, he arrived at a corner of the farm.
“Dumbo, Trumbo, come dig graves… Eh?”
Even as he called out, Jiang He was left stunned when he looked up.
Grave grasses were growing out of the many graves, and each tuft of grass was different—some were tall, some were short, some were sprawled over the ground like vines, or even growing flowers and fruits.
Basically, it was all an oily-green field.
“What’s going on?”
“According to my hunch before, my farm could plant corpses with three tiers higher than my farm, giving me cultivation manuals, superpowers, or even human…”
“Is my hunch wrong?”
Could the three-tier gap theory be wrong?
There should be some other condition for planting corpses.
Moreover…
“It seems that the possibility of growing a living human can be eliminated. I could try planting when my farm levels up again, but that’s not an idea that can be put away for now.”
Jiang He’s gaze fell upon a grave at the edge.
If memory serves, that grave belonged to the Sixth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult—the unlucky fellow who was killed by Dumbo.
However, Trumbo basically clawed away the grave…
After all, the cat loved disco dancing and napping over it.
And now, a single tuft of grave grass was growing over that grave.
“Eh?”
Jiang He noticed mysterious that the grave grass was quite familiar. As a thought occurred to him, he took out a tuft of Sword Will Barrenwort and abruptly noticed it.
The grave grass was exactly the same as the Sword Will Barrenwort!
“The Sixth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult had grasped sword will… which is why a Sword Will Barrenwort grew?”
Jiang He only came to his senses after half a beat, and whipped out his phone to make a call.
“Chief Duan!”
“Bring those corpses back!”
“That’s right, even the broken ones. Every corpse, everything—bring them all back!”
