Wu Jie let out a sinister laugh. Without even moving, a massive wave of pressure descended upon the two men, draining the color from their faces in an instant. Realizing the vast gulf in strength between themselves and Wu Jie, even the thought of resistance withered away. Terror filled their eyes.
One of them asked with a trembling voice, "Who are you? Why are you capturing us?"
Wu Jie didn't answer. His eyes, flickering like ghostly flames, swept over the two men with an unreadable expression, only deepening their fear until their whole bodies trembled.
After a long moment, Wu Jie spoke in a cold, grim voice: "I have some questions for you. You can choose to answer or not. But if your answers don't satisfy me, I'll rip your divine souls from your bodies and sift through your memories. If you don't want to endure the agony of soul-devouring, you'd best cooperate honestly."
"The agony of soul-devouring…" The two Transcendent Realm martial artists shuddered, their faces going white with fright.
Their strength was not insignificant—they naturally knew what the pain of soul-devouring entailed. It was an unbearable torment inflicted upon the divine soul, a technique typically employed only by the most ruthless martial artists to extract information through torture.
The man before them emanated an eerie emerald aura, his eyes burning like ghostly fire—clearly no benevolent figure.
They nodded frantically. "Ask! Anything we know, we'll tell you for sure."
Wu Jie smiled faintly, apparently satisfied. Only then did he leisurely continue: "Do you know where this place is?"
The two martial artists exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously. One of them said, "Isn't this the Nine Heavens Holy Land?"
"That's right—the Nine Heavens Holy Land. You've got some nerve, wandering around out here even knowing this is the Nine Heavens Holy Land?" Wu Jie raised an eyebrow. "Tell me—what are you doing here?"
The one on the left answered quickly: "We came looking for Artifacts."
"Looking for Artifacts?" Wu Jie's expression twisted into an odd smile. "Out here?"
"Yes."
"Who told you there were Artifacts out here?"
"Many people are spreading that word…" The man launched into a hasty explanation. After hearing him out, Yang Kai finally understood—someone had been spreading the news that during a great battle at the Nine Heavens Holy Land several years ago, countless martial artists had fallen. The fallen had dropped numerous Artifacts nearby, drawing many people here to try their luck and see if they could find something valuable.
"There are quite a few people out here. Are they all looking for Artifacts?" Wu Jie asked with a frown.
"Some are. Others seem to be here to hunt demon beasts… I've heard that many sixth and seventh rank demon beasts have wandered over from the Beast Sea's Dense Forest, and those beasts carry excellent forging materials."
The other man hastily added, "And some seem to be here to kill demon folk! I heard the Nine Heavens Holy Land's new Holy Lord has taken in a group of demon folk. They want to purge them and uphold righteous customs!"
"You lot?" Wu Jie stared at them as if they were idiots. He sneered, "So you've heard there are demon folk here, but you haven't heard what caliber they are?"
"The reports say there aren't many strong ones among that group of demon folk—just a few Transcendent Realm martial artists…"
"Heh heh…" Wu Jie let out a strange laugh and nodded. "Not many strong ones… Right, there really aren't many. Only five, in fact."
But those five were Saint Realm powerhouses—three of whom were at the second level of the Saint Realm!
Wu Jie had personally witnessed the battle between Li Rong and Shirley. He knew that with the capital of the Ancient Demon Clan, no one or two major sects could possibly take them down.
To purge them, you'd need at least three or four factions on the scale of the Heavenly Firmament Sect united together, and even then you'd have to be prepared to suffer massive losses.
For these ridiculous clowns to think they could purge the demon folk—that was practically suicide.
After a few more questions, and upon confirming that these two didn't possess much useful information, Wu Jie knocked them unconscious once again.
He stood up and looked at Yang Kai. Frowning, he said, "Holy Lord, it seems someone has deliberately spread unfavorable information to lure these trouble-seeking martial artists to the Nine Heavens Holy Land."
"Mm." Yang Kai nodded. For some reason, he immediately thought of that human powerhouse named Wu Zheng whom they had encountered before.
If no one had been leading the charge in spreading such news, there was no way so many people could have been deceived. Moreover, whoever spread the news would need to carry a certain amount of authority—otherwise, such obvious lies would easily be exposed.
Wu Zheng clearly had that kind of influence.
"What's the person behind this trying to gain?" Xu Hui asked, looking puzzled. "They must know these people can't do anything to the Holy Land."
"Someone doesn't want Li Rong and the others staying at the Nine Heavens Holy Land," Yang Kai snorted. "Even less do they want to see us getting close to the Demon Race. They see it as a disgrace to all humanity."
Wu Jie's eyes darted about as if something had clicked. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Holy Lord, you mean this person is inciting these trouble-seeking martial artists to come here, hoping to provoke you into making a move?"
"That's probably it." Yang Kai nodded. "Once blows are struck, whoever is responsible can pin the blame on Li Rong and the others. At that point, this person can use it as a pretext to rally the world's heroes to attack Li Rong's group. And if Li Rong's people are attacked, I can't just stand by and watch. Once I get involved, the Holy Land will be dragged in as well. If we end up at odds with the entire world, the Holy Land won't survive."