Due to the torture, the man's voice was already hoarse.

These demons, the demons from the Killing Hall, had interrogated him for three full days and nights.

The five fellow disciples who were captured with this man all died because they couldn't endure the torture.

Only he persisted, gritting his teeth through the pain.

"Clap clap clap"

The sound of clapping came from the entrance of the cell.

A man dressed in black, accompanied by the Killing Hall Master, walked in.

"Quite the tough guy."

As the tortured man saw the man in black, he swallowed a mouthful of bloody spit, which was about to land on the man's feet. Suddenly, the man in black vanished, and in the next moment, he was right in front of the tortured man.

Through the golden mask, the man's amber eyes held no anger, only endless mockery and contempt.

"If you have the guts, kill me. Otherwise, our Fire Control Sect will never let Killing Hall off, none of you will end up well," the man threatened.

The Fire Control Sect was a middle-sized sect on the mainland. While not very famous, it boasted a membership of over a thousand, its strength comparable to a small country.

An ancestor of this sect had left behind a fragment of a map at some point.

It was only in recent years that it was discovered that this fragment was one-sixth of the map to the Taiyi Secret Realm.

This man was a senior disciple and an elder of the Fire Control Sect. Along with five other disciples, he was responsible for transporting the map and delivering it into the hands of their master.

Their mission was very secretive; they had disguised themselves as merchants on the journey, only to be suddenly ambushed and captured en route.

Only later did they find out that their captors were people from the Killing Hall.

The Killing Hall, a criminal organization that operated only within Xia Country, hadn't been taken seriously by these disciples of the Fire Control Sect.

They responded with insults and threats so vehemently that the fiercest among them had their tongues cut out by the Killing Hall members. The others were either skinned or sliced, tortured to death while still alive.

Only this senior brother was still hanging on by a thread.

He'd hoped his threats would be enough to make his captors think twice.

But the man in black who had suddenly burst in just laughed out loud.

"Hall Master Liu, I didn't expect there would be someone daring to talk to me, Wu Zhong, in such a tone. Just for having the guts, I will spare your life."

Wu Zhong!

These two words, light yet heavy, exploded in the ears of the Fire Control Sect disciple.

This ghostly man in front of him was none other than the Ghost Emperor Wu Zhong, the most mysterious overlord of the Underworld Yama Palace on the mainland.

The Killing Hall's true backer turned out to be the enormous Underworld Yama Palace.

Torture had not broken the man, but the name "Wu Zhong" was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, causing the Fire Control Sect man's nerves to completely collapse.

There were too many legends and horrifying rumors about Wu Zhong.

In his hands, death was not the worst fate; far worse was a life more terrible than death.

The man's teeth chattered against each other in fear.

"What... what exactly do you want?"

Wu Zhong raised his hand, and Hall Master Liu respectfully presented a brocade box.

Inside the brocade box was a golden cocoon.

"Rest assured, if I say I won't kill you, I won't. However, your body is of some use to me."

As he spoke, Wu Zhong pinched the cocoon between his index and middle finger and abruptly fed it into the man's mouth.

The cocoon slid down his throat.

The man's pupils dilated bit by bit.

He heard a faint sound of the cocoon cracking inside his stomach. His stomach itched intermittently, something was gnawing at his heart and guts.

"Gu Jin Silkworm, a Seventh Grade Poisonous Insect. From now on, you will only obey me."

With a lift of his hand, the shackles on the man from the Fire Control Sect snapped in half with a clang.

The man, now like a walking corpse, made his way in front of Wu Zhong and respectfully called out.

"Master."

"Where is the map of the Taiyi Secret Realm?" Wu Zhong lifted his eyelids and looked at the man from the Fire Control Sect, who took out a medicine bottle from his body.

He directed the powder from the medicine bottle into the flames.

After the powder entered the flames, the man began to mutter something, and the flames suddenly turned blue.

The powder, originally a fine dust, aggregated in the flame and finally pieced together into an old sheepskin scroll.

With a puff, the sheepskin scroll was ejected from the fire and fell into the hands of the man from the Fire Control Sect. He knelt down again, lifting the scroll high above his head and presenting it to his new master.

"What a remarkable skill to hide a map in flames. The Fire Control Sect is indeed deserving of its reputation. No wonder even after several days of torture, you couldn't extract the whereabouts of the Taiyi Secret Realm map."

Wu Zhong nodded in approval.

He glanced at the treasure map in his hand, and when he saw the words "Taiyi Secret Realm," a layer of depth passed through Wu Zhong's eyes.

"My lord, the manpower you requested is all ready. The clothes you requested are also prepared."

After saying this, Hall Master Liu watched as several men entered. If the senior disciple from the Fire Control Sect on the ground, who had not yet been controlled by the Gu Jin Silkworm, had seen these people, he would have been greatly shocked.

Because those two people were precisely the other four sect members who had committed suicide under the brutal torture of the Killing Hall not long ago.

Now "they" have come back to life, vividly and lifelike.

"Not bad, you truly are the most outstanding disguise master of Yan Hall." Wu Zhong gave a nod.

There was suddenly a crackling sound of bones compressing within his body, and in just a few breaths, the originally tall and handsome Ghost Emperor Wu Chong shrank down a size; his features changed from intimidating to that of a milky-skinned, average-height, slightly chubby sixteen or seventeen-year-old Sixth Junior Brother.

After changing his clothes, even Hall Master Liu couldn't recognize that this Sixth Junior Brother, who had shrunk and changed his appearance, was Ghost Emperor Wu Chong.

"Big Senior Brother, it's time for the six of us brothers to Depart. Let's head to the Taiyi Secret Realm," said the Fire Control Sect's young disciple, transformed from Ghost Emperor Wu Chong, addressing his "Senior Brothers." They all agreed with a nod, and immediately set off, leaving the Killing Hall.

Meanwhile, Ye Lingyue was unaware that something significant had happened to Feng Xun.

After being teased in reverse by the erratic Feng Xun, Ye Lingyue fled from the Hot Spring Palace as if running for her life, and her face was still flushed when she got back to the Imperial Hospital.

Ye Lingyue, you've really let yourself down; you've always been the one to bully Feng Xun. How come this time, he had you at his mercy instead?

This Feng Xun was someone Ye Lingyue did not recognize, and even, she held a certain apprehension towards him. Vaguely, Ye Lingyue felt that something was amiss, but she couldn't piece it together at the moment.

Touching her slightly swollen lips, Ye Lingyue couldn't articulate the exact mix of emotions in her heart.

~ On Monday, rolling on the ground begging for all kinds of votes ~