Jiang Chen's expression was grave. He had no good impression whatsoever of any force within the Red Cauldron Central Domain. The Cuixua Pavilion was no exception.
He watched as these people, without bothering to ask why, had simply come to hunt them down and slaughter them with abandon — all because Jiang Chen and his companions had spoken with Wei Xing'er and purchased a few people.
Their style, treating human lives like grass, made it abundantly clear they were no good.
As he pondered, Liu Wencai and Lu Yali had already walked out. Their faces were etched with shock.
Five Saint-realm experts, and before Jiang Chen, they'd been like toddlers who'd just learned to walk — in the blink of an eye, four had been killed and the last one was on his knees begging for mercy.
If they hadn't witnessed it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.
He thought back to when they were at the Undying Spirit Mountain. Everyone had gaps between them then, but those gaps were at least visible, measurable.
Now, the gap was so vast that they couldn't even see Jiang Chen's back anymore.
"Brother Panshi, could you let us brothers handle this one?" Liu Wencai suddenly requested.
Jiang Chen nodded and didn't object.
Liu Wencai had made tremendous progress over the years. Back at the Undying Spirit Mountain he'd still been an Earth Spirit Realm martial artist, but now he had reached the Heavenly Origin Realm.
It was clear that the power of bloodline evolution had been constantly unlocking his potential, gradually allowing him to come into his own.
If not for that catastrophe in the Myriad Image Domain, Liu Wencai would have spent another three to five years at the Grand Sage Hall and undoubtedly emerged as a genius that even the Grand Sage Hall would fight over.
Unfortunately, fate was a cruel thing.
The Saint-realm human martial artist, hearing that they intended to kill him, pleaded desperately: "Don't kill me, don't kill me! I have intelligence — very valuable intelligence! If you're friends with our young mistress, you'll absolutely regret it if you don't hear this."
Jiang Chen raised his hand, stopping Liu Wencai.
His Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil, bearing the oppressive aura of the Evil Golden Eye, fixed on the man.
Under Jiang Chen's pressure, beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down the man's face and his teeth chattered uncontrollably: "You... you're stronger than me, but... I... if you don't spare my life, I'd rather die than speak."
Jiang Chen knew some soul-searching techniques, but he hadn't cultivated them yet. Moreover, performing soul search on a martial artist of the same realm was extremely difficult.
So if this man truly refused to talk, he'd be a real pain to deal with.
Huang'er walked over and said, "Sparing your life isn't out of the question. But how can we guarantee that if we spare you, you won't turn around and betray us?"
The man's eyes blazed with wild joy upon hearing this, as if he'd glimpsed the hope of survival. He hurried out: "I can swear a Heaven and Earth Oath. As long as you spare my life, I'll tell you everything. Then I'll leave this place immediately and go into hiding. If I'm unlucky enough to be caught by them later, you'll be long gone by then. They won't be able to find you even if they want to."
Huang'er exchanged a glance with Jiang Chen: "Why not agree? Rather than dragging this out, we might as well get him to talk quickly."
One more dead or one fewer dead made no difference to Jiang Chen.
A minor character like this wouldn't diminish the Red Cauldron Central Domain's strength even if killed. With him or without him, it was all the same.
Moreover, a defeated general who had betrayed his masters would never again serve the Red Cauldron Central Domain.
Jiang Chen nodded: "Swear it. And remember — don't try anything clever. If you try to play word games or pull stunts within a Heaven and Earth Oath, you'll only be digging your own grave."
The Heaven and Earth Oath was extremely efficacious. A man this afraid of death would never dare to violate one.
So Jiang Chen wasn't worried that the man would renege.
True to form, the man was meticulous. He carefully composed himself before reciting a Heaven and Earth Oath that left no loopholes.
After completing his oath, the man gazed eagerly at Jiang Chen: "You... you really won't kill me? After I confess, you won't go back on your word?"
Jiang Chen smiled faintly: "That's something you'll just have to gamble on."
As for swearing an oath to a prisoner, Jiang Chen simply didn't have the patience for that.
Huang'er frowned: "Either talk quickly, or you won't get the chance to talk at all. Right now you're a prisoner. You have no right to negotiate with us."
The man was miserable but didn't dare disobey. He knew perfectly well that a prisoner like him had no standing to demand fairness.
Bargaining would only hasten his death. So he spoke honestly: "We're from the Cuixua Pavilion. We received orders from above to pursue and capture you."
"Why pursue us?"
"Because you knew our young mistress. You might be remnants of the Myriad Image Domain. Anyone who's a remnant of the Myriad Image Domain — people of the Red Cauldron Central Domain have a duty to hunt them down."
Jiang Chen scoffed: "So Wei Xing'er being your young mistress is just a facade?"
The man shook his head: "I wouldn't say that exactly. Her position as young mistress does carry some weight. But the Pavilion Master is definitely using her. To be precise, he's raising her. The details, I don't know. But I've heard a remark or two — that the Pavilion Master needs to cultivate a certain divine technique and requires a pure-yin furnace cauldron. The young mistress's aptitude and conditions fit the requirements perfectly, so the Pavilion Master has already selected her as his cultivation furnace. The so-called title of young mistress is just to let her enjoy a brief period of glory."
Cultivation furnace?
Jiang Chen and Huang'er exchanged a look, both their eyes filled with contempt. A cultivation furnace meant nurturing a practitioner of the opposite sex and then, when the time came, using them as a medium — a tool for cultivation.
Those who became cultivation furnaces almost always met the most wretched of ends.
At best they were crippled; at worst they lost their lives. Moreover, the process of being a cultivation furnace was itself agonizingly brutal. In the world of cultivation, it was universally acknowledged as the most tragic fate imaginable.
Being a cultivation furnace was even worse than being a slave.