Having changed their attire, Li Fan and Zhang Qianmo quietly slipped into Ningyuan City.
"Senior Brother, if there really are people harboring ill intent who wish to ambush us, their best approach would be to catch us off guard," Li Fan transmitted his voice. "Most likely, they're lying in wait near your old flame, Chi Xia."
Zhang Qianmo's face flushed slightly. After a moment of thought, he said, "Junior Brother, that makes a lot of sense. Let's head over to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion first and take a look."
Following Zhang Qianmo, Li Fan arrived near the most bustling, lively tavern in the center of the city.
Directly across from the tavern stood a large theater.
On the stage at that moment, an opera was being performed, surrounded by a ring of ordinary mortals gathered to watch the spectacle.
Up in the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, windows were thrown wide open, and the wanton laughter of young men and women drifted faintly into the air.
The moment Zhang Qianmo arrived, his eyes locked onto a woman on stage clad in theatrical costume, radiating a heroic bearing.
His gaze seemed glued to her, unable to pull away.
Li Fan, meanwhile, scanned the crowd for Chu Liang and his accomplices lying in ambush.
Perhaps assuming Zhang Qianmo and Li Fan had not yet arrived, Chu Liang had hardly bothered to conceal his physical appearance.
He had merely suppressed his aura, blending into the crowd of onlookers.
Without much effort, Li Fan picked him out.
"Senior Brother, why does that person look familiar?"
Li Fan stirred Zhang Qianmo from his absorption in Chi Xia's performance, transmitting Chu Liang's likeness through divine sense.
"Hmm? He does look a bit familiar. Who is he...?" Only after quite a while did Senior Brother Zhang recall who this Chu Liang was.
"Chu Liang? Wasn't he expelled from the sect long ago because he couldn't cultivate? Why would he be here?" Zhang Qianmo was startled.
Taking the opportunity, Li Fan added, "This Chu Liang doesn't seem to be an ordinary mortal, does he? Could he be hiding his cultivation?"
Zhang Qianmo nodded quietly. "Indeed. There is definitely something strange going on here."
He pondered briefly, then said, "Junior Brother, we'll flank him from front and behind to box him in. Then we strike simultaneously with Spring Thunder Shock to subdue him before interrogating him thoroughly."
Information regarding Spring Thunder Shock immediately surfaced in Li Fan's mind. It was a divine sense attack technique from the Purple Empyrean Thunder-Controlling True Scripture.
Capable of striking like the very first clap of spring thunder between Heaven and Earth, it rattled the mind and spirit, causing an opponent to lose control of their body in an instant.
*Compared to this Purple Empyrean Thunder-Controlling True Scripture, the vast majority of cultivation arts I've seen before seem to serve solely for raising one's realm through cultivation. It's as if they were deliberately castrated, lacking all sorts of specialized methods like this.*
*Perhaps only this ancient Purple Empyrean Thunder-Controlling True Scripture truly deserves to be called a true cultivation art.*
Making this comparison, Li Fan could not help thinking this way.
It was merely a fleeting thought, and Li Fan did not dwell on it for long.
Giving his assent, he separated from Zhang Qianmo in the crowd, moving to surround Chu Liang.
Chu Liang's vigilance was far too lax.
Only when the two martial brothers had closed in did he vaguely sense something was amiss.
Seeing Zhang Qianmo suddenly materialize before him, terror instantly washed over Chu Liang's face.
Yet before he could make a move, two Spring Thunder Shocks struck him in tandem, one from the front and one from behind.
His eyes glazed over, his entire body stiffening until he could not move a muscle.
Zhang Qianmo stepped forward to seize him, quietly spiriting him away to an uninhabited residence.
By this point, Chu Liang had regained consciousness. His eyes burned with venomous hatred as he glared fixedly at Zhang Qianmo.
"You are Chu Liang? Why are you here?"
"In a mere thirty-odd years, you went from an ordinary mortal incapable of cultivation to a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
"What evil method did you use?"
Zhang Qianmo questioned him coldly, expressionless.
Chu Liang scoffed coldly, meeting the interrogation with silence.
"Do you think I have no way of knowing if you refuse to speak?" A flicker of disdain crossed Zhang Qianmo's face.
"Unorthodox rabble, how could you fathom the means of a prestigious orthodox sect!"
With that, Zhang Qianmo curved five fingers into a claw and clamped down on Chu Liang's head.
In an instant, Chu Liang seemed struck by lightning.
His entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.
An expression of agony contorted his face as the light slowly faded from his eyes.
Zhang Qianmo remained entirely unmoved, his grip on Chu Liang unrelenting.
In the end, Chu Liang's pupils grew completely dull, leaving only his body twitching and spasming in unconscious convulsions.
*Thump!*
Casually tossing aside Chu Liang, who had now outlived his usefulness, Zhang Qianmo stood rooted to the spot, silent for a long time.
"Senior Brother, what on earth is going on?" Li Fan's eyes flickered as he watched this scene, which bore an uncanny resemblance to soul searching.
However, he made no unusual moves for the time being, simply asking aloud.
Zhang Qianmo did not reply immediately, muttering under his breath instead:
"Extracting the marrow of Heaven and Earth..."
"Sacrificing the anima of Heaven and Earth..."
"Defying the principles of Heaven and Earth..."
His mind and spirit seemed profoundly shaken, beyond his ability to compose himself.
"Senior Brother!" Li Fan had to call out again to snap him out of it.
"Phew..." Zhang Qianmo let out a long breath, slowly recovering from the shock.
His expression turned exceptionally grave. "Junior Brother, I fear the gravity of this matter is far beyond what you and I could have imagined.
"We must wrap up our business here as quickly as possible and return to the sect to report to the Sect Master Grandmaster."
Li Fan gasped in shock. "What could possibly be so severe as to disturb the Grandmaster?"
Zhang Qianmo immediately gave a brief account of how an Immortal Venerable had preached the Dao, and that the new method allowed cultivation without the need for spirit roots or natural aptitude.
"There are three other accomplices in the city. On top of that, Manager Song has also cultivated the new method and has already reached the Golden Core realm. Follow me; we'll take down the three Foundation Establishment accomplices first."
"What about Manager Song of the Golden Core realm?" Li Fan could not help asking.
"Don't worry, leave him to me. He's nothing more than clay chickens and pottery dogs." A look of haughty disdain appeared on Zhang Qianmo's face.
Li Fan nodded and did not argue.
Before long, without much effort, the two captured the remaining three Foundation Establishment cultivators who had intended to ambush them.
"Junior Brother, wait for me here and keep watch over these men. Once I take down Manager Song, I'll come back for you," Zhang Qianmo instructed.
Li Fan examined the repertoire of Li Chen, whom he was currently possessing, and found no sign of the soul-searching art Zhang Qianmo had just displayed.
Thus, he asked tentatively, "Senior Brother, how do you cast that soul-searching technique again? Since I'll be sitting around with nothing to do, I thought I might see if I can pry any other useful information from these men's minds."
Zhang Qianmo started slightly, looked Li Fan up and down, and chuckled. "Who was it before that claimed this soul-searching art was too cruel and refused to learn it?
"Nearly getting ambushed today and witnessing the perils of the cultivation world must have cleared that mental block of yours.
"Junior Brother, remember this well. In the contention for the Great Dao, one cannot yield even half a step.
"Bleeding-heart softness will get you killed.
"Never mind a mere soul-searching art—even far more ruthless methods, like refining cultivators' corpses into puppets or using souls to temper Dharma artifacts, must be used when the time calls for it!"
As Zhang Qianmo spoke, he pressed a finger against the center of Li Fan's brow, transmitting a manual—the *Purple Empyrean Soul Observation Technique*.
Chapter 195