Wei Yuan hadn’t placed the merit hall on top of Qingming without careful deliberation. At the moment, the most important objects in the whole realm were the realm stone and the merit hall. Thus, it was better to put them together. This allowed them to focus all of their defenses in one spot instead of splitting them.

Next, Wei Yuan spoke to Ji Liuli about the viability of setting up an array that could secure both the merit hall and the realm stone.

Ji Liuli answered after thinking for a moment, “As it happens, there’s an array that’s perfect for the situation. However, it’s a tad big.... Let me make the first exchange. I would like to trade for some spirit materials.”

Wei Yuan had no reason to disagree, of course.

The first thing he did after leaving the merit hall was to check on Sun Yu. His Senior Uncle was still sleeping. He hadn’t had a single shut-eye for the past couple days, and he had fought multiple bloody battles to break through the enemy’s encirclement and escape. It was such a harsh journey that even his Dao Foundation was damaged. He would not be surprised if the man remained asleep for a full day and night.

Thankfully, Jia Wood Nurtures Life was far more potent than basic Life Nurturing energy. Wei Yuan had focused all of the domain’s power on him as well. It was slowly but surely repairing his tattered Dao Foundation and sea of consciousness. In the future, His Senior Uncle should be able to restore it to normal. At the very least, his path to immortality wasn’t going to be impacted negatively.

After confirming that Sun Yu’s injuries were stable, Wei Yuan let out a sigh of relief and headed to the dungeon. He wanted to check how the interrogation was going.

Xu Jingfeng was nothing but a pampered scion who couldn’t take a beating, so Wei Yuan figured that he would break pretty quickly. Still, prying everything out of him was going to be a bit of a challenge. That was precisely why he had sent Xu Wan’er to interrogate him.

Her father was a commandery administrator. He had to be an important member of the Xu Clan before his fall from grace. For the same reason, Xu Wan’er used to be much more important than Xu Jingfeng in terms of status, so Wei Yuan had reason to believe she was intimately familiar with the Xu Clan’s businesses. It would be very difficult for Xu Jingfeng to lie to her.

That said, he wasn’t confident in her torture skills. That was why he decided to pay her a visit.

Previously, Xu Wan’er was nothing more than the daughter of an official. She lacked experience and was prone to being soft-hearted. Yun Feifei would have been the best person for the job, but the mission of recruiting from Willow Ash Town was fraught with danger. Only a woman like Yun Feifei, who was cunning through and through, was up to such a task. Had he sent Xu Wan’er instead, he feared that she might never return.

When Wei Yuan arrived at the dungeon, he was surprised to find two cultivators guarding the entrance. He did not remember assigning such a task and felt puzzled because of it.

When the two cultivators saw Wei Yuan, they hurriedly clarified that Xu Wan’er was the one who requested them to guard the entrance. Their job was to prevent any unauthorized persons from entering and disrupting the interrogation.

Wei Yuan nodded and ordered them to resume their duties. He then stepped into the dungeon. Of course, the two cultivators did not stop him. They closed the door carefully after he had gone inside.

This was nothing like the old makeshift prison. To better prevent the prisoners from escaping, a new dungeon had been carved into the mountainside. Wei Yuan walked along the corridor until he came to a stop outside a prison cell.

The prison cell was shut tight. He could hear someone screaming from inside, “Don’t come closer! I’ll tell you everything! Everything!!”

“Silence!” This order came from Xu Wan’er.

A bloodcurdling scream followed, though it was silenced midway. What followed next was a series of muffled screams.

Wei Yuan quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside the prison cell. Xu Jingfeng was hanging spread-eagled on the wall with his mouth stuffed with ripped pieces of his shirt. His eyes were filled with unbridled terror, and his originally handsome countenance was contorted into something unspeakable. He looked scared out of his wits. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

That said, Wei Yuan could tell that he was more scared than in pain.

At this moment, Xu Jingfeng’s lower body was covered in blood. Xu Wan’er was crouching in front of him and holding a delicate knife. She was demonstrating to the scion exactly where she was going to cut him.

Xu Jingfeng tried to twist out of the way with all his might, but Xu Wan’er easily grabbed his leg and pinned him in place. Then, she slowly pressed the blade into his inner thigh and slowly sliced upward.

If Xu Jingfeng’s face looked contorted before, now it looked like it was about to jump out of his head. He wanted to get as far away from the knife as possible, but he didn’t dare to move. He wanted to scream, but his shirt was blocking his mouth. Suddenly, a pair of tears streamed down his cheeks.

Xu Wan’er’s knife had just moved an inch—literally milimeters away from making contact with a certain vital spot—when suddenly, she sensed something and looked behind her. It was then she finally noticed Wei Yuan!

Wei Yuan’s expression was conspicuously blank. Xu Wan’er jumped like a frightened rabbit, her knife slashing viciously across Xu Jingfeng’s thigh and inflicting the deepest wound yet.

“What are you doing?” Wei Yuan asked.

Xu Wan’er kept her head bowed and whispered so softly that he almost missed her reply, “... Torture.”

Whether it was torture or not aside, the results were certainly effective—the Jade-faced Immortal Sword was in tears after all. Wei Yuan gave the man’s blood-soaked lower body a glance before asking, “So, did you get anything out of him?”

Xu Wan’er shook her head. “Not yet.”

This surprised Wei Yuan. Xu Jingfeng looked like he was seconds away from falling unconscious, yet he still refused to speak? The man had more spine than he thought!

Something didn’t feel right, however. From what he had heard at the entrance, it sounded like the man was going to confess everything.

Wei Yuan removed the ripped clothes blocking Xu Jingfeng’s mouth and said, “Scion Xu, staying stubborn is only going to earn you more pain. You know exactly what is going to happen to you if you can’t prove that you’re still of some use to me. If I can kill Xu Guanwen, I can certainly kill Xu Jingfeng.”

Finally able to speak, Xu Jingfeng blurted through sobs, “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! But what do you want to know exactly? What can I possibly say when you haven’t asked me a single question?!”

Speechless, Wei Yuan turned his head and stared at Xu Wan’er.

“You know I’m inexperienced....” Xu Wan’er kept her head bowed and whispered as softly as a mosquito.

Wei Yuan stared at her blood-soaked hands for a moment before forcing himself to scan Xu Jingfeng’s lower half with his perception. He immediately discovered a dozen or so long, narrow cuts.

Finding the whole situation rather headache-inducing, Wei Yuan decided against probing any further. He simply said, “Ask him what price the Xu clan is willing to pay to ransom their own, and how can we guarantee that we’ll actually receive it.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Wei Yuan turned and walked away after saying that, ignoring Xu Jingfeng’s desperate cries for him to stay. He barely managed a few words before he was gagged once more.

Honestly, this was hardly the easiest situation to handle. Xu Wan’er and the Xu Clan shared a blood feud. It was only natural for her to seize the opportunity to exact some revenge. Besides, Wei Yuan wasn’t actually intending to use Xu Jingfeng as a bargaining chip. It was a move he played simply because he could.

Back in the prison cell, Xu Wan’er was clamping her hand firmly over Xu Jingfeng’s mouth and nose, suffocating him. Unable to muster any Dao energy, the scion could only struggle desperately. However, her small hand only grew tighter and tighter, squeezing his facial bones until they cracked.

It wasn’t until Wei Yuan’s footsteps had left the dungeon entirely that Xu Wan’er loosened her grip. Looking straight into Xu Jingfeng’s eyes, she asked softly, “What was it you said that day? Right, you said you were going to fuck me in front of everyone.”

Xu Jingfeng looked utterly horrified. Just as he was about to speak, a hand covered his mouth once more.

The next two days passed in relative calm.

Sun Yu had mostly recovered from his injuries. True to his reputation as a top disciple of the Xuanming Hall, he had treated his own injuries as soon as he was able to move and accelerated his recovery severalfold.

But contrary to the good news, Wei Yuan only felt increasingly oppressed over the past two days. It felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on his chest and making it hard for him to breathe.

It was around this time Ji Liuli summoned everyone for a meeting. She was supposed to be setting up an array to protect the merit hall and the realm stone.

When everyone was gathered, Ji Liuli slowly swept her gaze across the room with an unmistakably grim expression. None of the nonchalance she usually carried herself with could be found.

She said, “I’ve been feeling restless these past two days. I believe we are being watched.”