CHAPTER 281: CHAPTER 276: HEROINE AND DEMONESS

"Third Brother, where have you been all these years? Why haven’t you contacted the Sect?" The Fourth Guardian seemed to be a refined middle-aged man, clad in official attire, which easily garnered a favorable impression.

Even more surprisingly, he had somehow concealed his Inner Strength, leading all the powers, big and small, in Jiangning City to believe that the governor was just a feeble official without much authority.

"I had some issues. What about you? What happened to you?" Ye Qiu, afraid that saying too much would arouse suspicion, casually responded before probing him with a question.

The Fourth Guardian’s frown was nearly imperceptible. Seeing Ye Qiu’s aloof and sinister demeanor, he temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart: "It’s all because, after your mission failed and you vanished eight years ago, the Sect Hierarch sent me to Jiangning City."

"It’s my fault." Ye Qiu lowered his brows, and then asked, "Lately, the atmosphere in the world has been quite tense. Where is the Sect Hierarch?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Qiu suddenly felt that something about the atmosphere was off, and then quickly flew backwards on instinct.

"You’re definitely not Third Brother. Speak, who are you really? Who sent you?" The Demon Sect’s Fourth Guardian’s palm techniques were extraordinary, progressively pressing Ye Qiu.

If it came down to true skill, Ye Qiu might not be his match, but after soaking in the Spiritual Spring Water for so many years, her Inner Strength was indeed remarkable. Coupled with the Qinggong mixed with the Level 7 Body Forging Technique, she could easily dodge his attacks.

Seeing this, the murderous intent in the eyes of the Demon Sect’s Fourth Guardian intensified. However, after fighting for a while, he began to realize something was amiss. Where were his fellow Sect members? Why had no one come to help?

And what about his own Inner Strength? Why was it dissipating gradually?

Poison!

The Fourth Guardian realized this, but it was already too late.

"Who on earth are you?" He slumped to the ground, unable to believe that he had fallen for this person’s trick. When exactly had she administered the poison? Why hadn’t he felt anything at all?

And how did she know about Third Brother’s true appearance? Could it be that Third Brother had really been killed by her?

"Tell me, why did Thousand Faces kidnap Ji Nan?" Ye Qiu got straight to the point.

"Who is Ji Nan? I don’t know." The Fourth Guardian’s eyes flickered, avoiding the question.

Ye Qiu chuckled lightly, indifferent to his reluctance: "It’s okay if you don’t want to talk now. I hope you can still endure later."

The Fourth Guardian’s eyes sharpened as he glared at her: "What do you want to do?"

"Nothing much." Ye Qiu approached him, quickly dislocated his jaw, and extracted two poison pills from between his teeth, "I just don’t want you to die so easily."

The Fourth Guardian’s eyes widened in shock. How did she know the secrets of their Holy Sect?

Ye Qiu had no desire to explain. She then proceeded to crush his leg bones, hand bones, shoulder blades... With each break, Ye Qiu posed a question: "Are you going to talk now?"

The Fourth Guardian was in agony, his forehead covered in dense sweat.

"There’s still the skull. Do you believe that even if your skull is shattered, you will not die?" Ye Qiu now resembled a demon.

The Fourth Guardian felt that the woman in front of him was even more cruel than the members of their Holy Sect.

"Oh! I forgot, your jaw was dislocated, and you cannot speak," Ye Qiu suddenly realized, then reset his jaw, "Will you talk now?"

"Even if I die, I will not speak." The Fourth Guardian closed his eyes, enduring the excruciating pain, waiting for death.

Ye Qiuqing chuckled lightly: "I told you before, I won’t let you die. However, your Demon Sect’s brainwashing is quite impressive; you would rather die than betray any secrets."

"Do you know what this is?" Ye Qiu didn’t care if the Fourth Guardian looked at her or not, she mumbled to herself, "This is a new type of poison I’ve developed—well, not quite poison, it just makes a person itch unbearably all over. Your Demon Sect should have some kind of poisonous insects or ants, right? This stuff is like being bitten by tens of thousands of ants if you put it on your skin. Just endure it."

"You demoness!" After the poison was applied to his body, the Fourth Guardian felt as if his body was being bitten by ants, the itching was unbearable, even surpassing the intense pain of his shattered bones. He desperately wanted to scratch with his hands, but his bones were broken so he couldn’t move at all.

It’s so itchy! This sensation is too uncomfortable!

"Demoness? You called the wrong person. Isn’t Leng Zhaoyue the demoness of your Demon Sect?" Watching the man’s agonizing expression, Ye Qiu had not a shred of sympathy; she would always remember the past life when Medicine Valley was destroyed and her parents died unjustly.

The feeling of helplessness as she drifted in the air was truly unbearable!

"Will you speak or not? What’s the true identity of Ji Nan? What is your purpose in capturing him? And where is your Sect Hierarch hiding?"

"I will not speak," the Fourth Guardian clenched his teeth, drenched all over, but apart from his facial expressions, he couldn’t move a muscle.

Ye Qiu shook her head, looking at his "loyalty" and gave him the antidote: "Feeling much better now, aren’t you?"

As the itching and pain ceased, the Fourth Guardian took a deep breath of relief, the ease of having narrowly escaped disaster.

"Are you sure you won’t speak? If you still don’t speak, I will have to apply the itching powder again, and this time I won’t be so kind to give you an antidote. You can choose not to speak, and I don’t necessarily need to know now. I’m sure you’re not the only one in the Demon Sect who knows this secret."

The Fourth Guardian saw that Ye Qiu’s expression was genuine, and his eyes darkened.

"One, two."

"I’ll talk," after uttering these two words, the Fourth Guardian closed his eyes, as if he had lost all hope, deflated like a punctured balloon, "Ji Nan is a Prince."

Hearing this result, Ye Qiu was not surprised but continued to inquire: "Even if he is a Prince, the court is currently declining, how is capturing him of any use to you?"

Hearing Ye Qiu’s question, the Fourth Guardian looked at her with irony: "The court is declining? That’s just what you Central Plains folks think. The world refuses to be disciplined by the court, and even without our Demon Sect, your days of glory wouldn’t last long."

"So you intend to use Ji Nan as a hostage to leverage the court’s power against the Central Plains martial arts world?"

The Fourth Guardian did not speak, tacitly accepting this conclusion.

No wonder!

Ye Qiu sighed inwardly, no wonder she was so thoroughly defeated in her past life, there had been support from the court involved.

The court has probably been training many experts in the shadows over the years!

Now, with the Holy Emperor having no offspring of his own, the ones being raised as Princes are nothing more than the sons of other Princes, no wonder the Demon Sect valued Ji Nan so highly.

"If Ji Nan is indeed the Emperor’s son, why hasn’t anyone from the court been looking for him all these years?"

"The Emperor simply doesn’t know he has this son," the Fourth Guardian replied.

"Alright, you’ve answered the first two questions. Now, the last one: where is your Sect Hierarch now?"

Hearing Ye Qiu’s inquiry about the Sect Hierarch, the Fourth Guardian’s complexion turned ashen: "I don’t know, no one within the sect knows the whereabouts of the Sect Hierarch."