Luo Qingchen glanced at Xiao Bai, who was sitting in the corner with his legs crossed.
The damn dog was currently engrossed in *Fairy Ruyan’s Album*, reading it with great relish.
Luo Qingchen walked over and kicked the album away.
“Xiao Bai, have you forgotten your current status?”
“You are a prisoner right now.”
“Back when you were leading that group to hunt the two of us down, you were certainly acting all high and mighty.”
“At this rate, it’s a toss-up whether you’ll even make it out of the Secret Realm alive.”
“I suggest you use that dog brain of yours when you speak. My patience has its limits.”
Hearing this, the fur on Xiao Bai’s back stood on end in fear.
He knew Luo Qingchen’s methods all too well.
This woman wouldn’t even blink while setting someone up.
Xiao Bai’s attitude performed a three hundred and sixty-degree turn.
He scrambled over, crawling and rolling until he reached her.
He wrapped his front paws tightly around Luo Qingchen’s leg.
“Luo God! Father Luo! You are my real father!”
“I am your dog! Woof, woof, woof!”
“Just now, my heart was blinded by greed! I was talking nonsense!”
Luo Qingchen’s face was filled with disgust.
She kicked Xiao Bai, sending him flying into the corner of the tree hollow.
“Get lost. Don’t get in the way of my business.”
She turned around and hooked her finger.
The spiritual energy ropes bound around the male cultivator’s ankles snapped open instantly.
*Thud.*
The male cultivator slammed heavily onto the ground, left dizzy and disoriented by the fall.
Luo Qingchen walked over and stepped on his chest.
With her hands on her hips, she put on the face of a fierce and cruel bandit.
“Speak. What’s the situation outside?”
“How did you get in?”
“If you dare hide so much as a single word, I’ll make sure you beg for a death that will not—”
Before she could finish, Ling Xiyue, who was standing to the side, frowned slightly.
Her cold voice echoed through the tree hollow.
“Stop playing. Finish the questioning, kill them, and let’s leave.”
Her tone was flat, as casual as if she were talking about having cabbage for dinner.
The tree hollow fell into a deathly silence.
The two captives tied up on the ground were instantly frightened out of their wits, their faces turning ashen.
Luo Qingchen also froze where she stood.
She turned her head blankly to look at Ling Xiyue.
‘Big sister! You’ve completely cornered them!
If you don’t give them even a sliver of hope, how am I supposed to trick them into talking?
Your interrogation technique is way too hardcore! Who starts a questioning by telling the suspects they’re dead meat either way?’
Seeing the two captives trembling so hard they couldn’t squeeze out a single word, Ling Xiyue assumed they were being stubborn and refused to confess.
She sighed, finding the situation troublesome.
She drew the Green Scale Sword with a flick of her wrist.
The blade pointed directly at the male cultivator’s throat.
“Since you won’t speak, I’ll just kill you. We can find the clues ourselves slowly.”
There was not a hint of a joke in her voice.
At the brink of life and death, an immense desire for survival caused the two captives to break down instantly.
Without hesitation, they bit the tips of their tongues and forced out Essence Blood, swearing a high-level Heart Demon Oath on the spot.
“Senior, have mercy!”
“We will tell you everything we know!”
“We only beg that you spare the other’s life!”
The Essence Blood turned into red light and merged into their foreheads.
After finishing the oath, the two looked at each other, their eyes turning red with emotion.
The male cultivator looked at the woman affectionately.
“Die’er!”
The female cultivator, who was still hanging upside down from a branch, responded through a face full of tears.
“My love!”
“If there is a next life, I will still be your Dao companion!”
This sudden shift into a tragic romance caused the atmosphere in the tree hollow to become extremely bizarre.
Luo Qingchen rubbed the goosebumps rising on her arms, looking like she couldn’t take it anymore.
“This is so nauseating!”
“A single dog like me can’t stand this disgusting stuff.”
“Forget it, forget it. Let’s just slaughter them.”
She was merely venting and complaining.
However, as soon as she spoke, a flash of agreement appeared in Ling Xiyue’s cold eyes.
With a flip of her wrist, the Green Scale Sword whistled through the air, truly swinging down toward the ill-fated couple.
Luo Qingchen was scared out of her wits.
She lunged forward and grabbed Ling Xiyue’s wrist with both hands.
The blade stopped a mere half-inch above the male cultivator’s neck.
The resulting gust of wind cut a thin bloody line across his skin.
“Wait! Spare them!” Luo Qingchen shouted with lingering fear.
“Sister! Do you not understand the difference between serious words and venting? I was joking! Why are you taking it so literally?”
She pushed the Green Scale Sword down, moving it away from the man’s throat.
Half-jokingly, she tested her.
“What if I jokingly say ‘kill me’ in the future? Would you just stab me to death with one thrust?”
Ling Xiyue stopped her movements.
Her clear eyes stared at Luo Qingchen for a full 15 minutes.
Then, she nodded with extreme seriousness.
“Yes. So, do not make those kinds of jokes with me.”
Luo Qingchen’s heart skipped a beat.
‘This woman is terrifyingly literal. But at the same time, there’s a kind of unreserved sincerity to her. What a weirdo.’
After saving the captives, Luo Qingchen quickly began the interrogation.
Luo Qingchen applied pressure with her foot, making the male cultivator cough.
“Speak clearly! Exactly how many people have come from outside?”
The male cultivator tremblingly explained the massive changes in the outside world.
“Seniors, the rate at which the Secret Realm’s seal is weakening has far exceeded expectations. It has now completely shattered. High-level cultivators from all factions across the Xuanzhou Continent have entered. Even the Nascent Soul Elders have come in. As soon as they arrived, they began turning the Secret Realm upside down.”
Luo Qingchen pressed further.
“What about the people from the Tyrant Blade Sect and the Heavenly Sound Sect?”
The male cultivator had a mournful expression.
“The Core Formation Elder from the Tyrant Blade Sect is said to be searching for the Eldest Senior Sister of Hidden Sword Mountain to seize the Secret Realm’s treasures. The seniors of our Heavenly Sound Sect are also searching everywhere.”
The male cultivator took a careful look at the Green Scale Sword in Ling Xiyue’s hand and swallowed hard.
“Even the upper echelons of Hidden Sword Mountain have arrived. Master Wangyou of Hidden Sword Mountain personally led a team into the Secret Realm. He brought 100 inner disciples and several Core Formation Elders. They are currently stationed on the outskirts of the Canyon. They’ve put out word that they want to find her, whether she is alive or dead. Everything is in chaos out there. Everyone is looking for the little thief who looted the entire Secret Realm.”
Luo Qingchen broke into a cold sweat.
Master Wangyou?
Ling Xiyue’s master?
Anyone who could live to the Nascent Soul stage in the cultivation world was definitely a ruthless old fox.
An image of a cruel, frost-faced old monster with bulging muscles immediately surfaced in Luo Qingchen’s mind.
A person who had lived for hundreds of years would be cunning to the bone.
She had cheated, kidnapped, and looted the entire place, then pinned the blame on Ling Xiyue.
If that old monster found out, she would surely have her soul extracted and refined to be used as a human lamp!
Her little schemes wouldn’t be able to hide from a Nascent Soul monster for long.
She had to run away immediately.
She absolutely could not go meet the parents with Ling Xiyue!
Luo Qingchen’s eyes darted around.
She immediately put on an extremely flattering smile.
While quietly shifting toward the exit of the tree hollow, she rubbed her hands together.
“Oh, big sister. You must be thirsty after such a long interrogation. Are you hungry? You stay right here and don’t move. I’m going to go pick some oranges to wet your whistle!”
Luo Qingchen had just turned around, and her right foot hadn’t even crossed the edge of the tree hollow’s formation, when her collar suddenly tightened.
Her feet left the ground.
Ling Xiyue picked her up with one hand like a little chick and pulled her back.
Her cold voice rang in Luo Qingchen’s ear, carrying an indisputable pressure.
“Little thief, if you try to slip away again, I will stab you to death. Come with me to see Master.”
Luo Qingchen let her limbs hang limp, her face full of despair.
‘It’s over. I’m being forced into a high-stakes “meet the parents” quest. I just hope her master is as easy to talk to as this airhead.’