Jiang Yingzi

Li Huowang pulled the girl behind him, staring at the man before him, Shou San, and spoke with deliberate slowness. "I would rather die than do something like that."

Pfft. One of the nearby Ao-Jing cultists couldn’t hold back a snicker.

"Don't make such absolute claims. You're a Heart-Element."

"So what if I'm a Heart-Element? I'm insane, but I'm not an inhuman beast like Danyangzi! I would never do what he did!"

Shou San's gaze turned extremely unpleasant as he looked at the believer. "Yan Liu, is that really so funny? Can't you hold it in, in front of an outsider?"

The cultist seemed about to say something, but soon his features began to melt and stick together rapidly.

It wasn't just his features; the gaps between his fingers and toes fused as well.

Within moments, the man had turned into a writhing maggot, capable only of squirming.

"Wrap him in a blanket. For one month, he is not allowed to suffer any pain."

Shou San wasn't wrong. When it came to making things heal, they were extremely skilled.

As the man was carried away, Li Huowang’s expression remained grim as he looked back at Shou San.

"Find me a place to stay in the caves. I'll find a way to achieve extreme agony on my own. Also, I need this woman to serve me."

"Hmph, quite the bold tone. This old man does not believe you'll find any good method."

Despite his words, Shou San still agreed to Li Huowang's request and had his subordinates handle it.

Li Huowang was led to a small to mid-sized cave chamber. The walls were rough and uneven, but the cave was fully equipped—it had everything, even a latrine.

The girl from before quietly followed behind Li Huowang.

Mantou, curled up, squeezed out from under the hem of Li Huowang's robe and scurried into the cave, sniffing around excitedly.

Li Huowang, his expression heavy, unstrapped the longsword from his back and placed it on the stone table inside the cave.

Although he had been so confident in front of Shou San, he had no idea how to achieve the extreme inner agony he needed.

Without extreme agony, he couldn’t summon Bashe.

If he couldn't meet the Ao-Jing Sect's conditions, they wouldn't help eliminate Danyangzi. It felt like a dead end.

Li Huowang paced restlessly around the cave, and as he turned, his gaze landed on the girl at the entrance.

Suddenly, a glimmer of inspiration struck Li Huowang.

An idea formed in his mind. Maybe he didn't have to play by their rules after all.

"Don't worry, with me here, they can't hurt you. Come here, I want to ask you something." Li Huowang patted a stone stool beside him.

But the girl at the entrance didn't come closer. Instead, she started sobbing, her cries growing louder and louder. Trembling, she slowly sank down, crouching on the ground.

Listening to the sound of weeping, filled with endless grievance, Li Huowang let out a soft sigh.

She probably thought he was already one of them, only to be offered up as a tool. It was only natural for her to feel wronged, especially since she looked so young.

Li Huowang walked over, helped her up to the stone stool, and, looking at her sobbing face, began to turn her. "They don't treat you like a person at all. Are you still planning to stay in this hellhole? How about helping me? As long as you help me achieve my goal, I promise that if I get out of here alive, I will never abandon you."

Hearing this, the sobbing girl's eyes filled with deep confusion.

"Even if I get out, where can I go? My family is gone... everything... is gone..."

"What happened to your family?" Li Huowang’s voice grew very soft. He felt a deep resonance with the girl's pain.

"The town at the foot of the mountain... that's where..."

Hearing this, Li Huowang’s heart tightened. That broken, dead town. This girl was probably one of the few survivors.

"My father... my mother... and my three older sisters and two younger brothers... they're all dead..." The girl hung her head low, tears continuously dripping onto her tightly clenched hands.

"What happened in that town? Who or what wiped out the whole place?"

As soon as he asked, Li Huowang immediately realized he'd said the wrong thing. Bringing this up now was just pouring salt on her wounds.

"It's okay if you have nowhere to go. Come with me. I have a lot of brothers and sisters back there; we're all trying to find a way to survive together. You can join us."

"There are only two women in our group, which is pretty unbalanced. If you join, we'll have three—it'll balance things out a little."

After comforting her for a while, he saw her emotions had stabilized. Feeling the atmosphere was right, Li Huowang asked, "How long have you been here?"

They didn't trust Li Huowang, so naturally, Li Huowang didn't trust them either.

A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit. He didn't want a repeat of the Zhengde Temple experience. This time, Li Huowang didn't plan to follow their script.

If he could get his hands on the Ao-Jing Sect's method for getting rid of Danyangzi, then he wouldn't need any damn 'extreme agony.' He could just do it himself.

Hearing Li Huowang’s words, the girl nodded gently, still keeping her head low. "Four years..."

Seeing she was speaking, Li Huowang decided to take it slow.

"That's a long time. You must have some understanding of this place by now, right? Can you tell me about it? Anything at all."

Her scarred hands kneaded and twisted the hem of her clothes. "The Ao-Jing Sect... it was originally two sects. One worshipped the Gu-Spirit, and one worshipped Bashe..."

"Later, the Gu-Spirit absorbed some of Bashe's power, and the two sects merged..."

"Mm? Is that a fact, or is it just a guess recorded in the Ao-Jing Sect's scriptures?"

At this moment, Li Huowang felt like he was listening to a myth. The story felt extremely unreal to him.

"I don't know either... I heard it from someone else... By the time I got here, the two sects had already merged..."

The girl cautiously glanced up at Li Huowang, then quickly looked down again, not daring to meet his eyes.

"It's fine. Go on. Oh, I never asked your name."

"They... call me Er Jiu..."

Er Jiu, Shou San, and that Yan Liu from earlier… Why did everyone in the Ao-Jing Sect use an organ plus a number? Li Huowang found this a bit strange. It didn't feel like a Daoist monastic name at all.

"What was your name before that?"

"Jiang Yingzi..."

"Alright, I'll call you Yingzi from now on. Yingzi, in these four years, have you ever seen anyone here treat other people's illnesses?"

Yingzi nodded gently. "Mm... I've seen it a few times."

"Were they all cured?"

"I think so. They all left afterwards, anyway."

"Sounds like these people actually have real ability," Li Huowang thought to himself.

That was a good thing. At least they hadn't lied to him. The Ao-Jing Sect likely did have the capability to deal with Danyangzi.

"Alright, Yingzi, one more question. Besides the self-mutilation rituals in the Thousand Greats Record, does the Ao-Jing Sect have any other techniques or divine abilities?"