Chapter 243: The Immortal Gate's Cruelest Torture

Bliss Immortal Peak, You Xuexin's Cave Abode.

As You Xuexin opened the formation, a figure immediately slipped inside. His aura completely concealed and imperceptible to anyone, the figure only fully materialized after stepping into the room.

It was Wang Ping.

"Phew."

Taking off Kunyun's Robber Cultivator Ghost Mask, Wang Ping felt a surge of excitement. He was still replaying the entire process in his mind, searching for any areas he could improve upon.

'Overall, this ambush was quite successful. I never showed my face, and by using the Heavenly Thunder accumulated in the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart for cover, the vast majority of people will just assume Lian Shengyue died in a lightning tribulation. A few might suspect foul play, but they won't be able to trace it back to me.'

After all, there was no evidence.

Under the Heavenly Thunder, everything was destroyed. Even if a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer investigated in person, they would never find a single shred of proof pointing to him.

As for Qi Refining practitioners...

'Truthfully, I never expected to hide this from a Qi Refining practitioner. If anything, Great Cultivator Mingyou highly likely gave tacit permission for this from the start.'

Wang Ping mused.

Yet this time, even though he had mentally spoken Mingyou's name, his surroundings remained perfectly calm. That in itself was a subtle indication of the Great Cultivator's stance.

In truth, Wang Ping had been exceedingly cautious. When deploying the lightning tribulation, he had increased the power step by step rather than unleashing it all at once to instantly kill Lian Shengyue. He escalated it from a one-nine tribulation to a full nine-nine heavenly tribulation precisely to test Mingyou's attitude. If Mingyou had intervened to stop him, he would have decisively backed off.

The result proved his guess.

'As expected, Lian Shengyue was just a mouthpiece sent by Mingyou this time, as well as a test for me. I suppose I barely passed it?'

At this thought, Wang Ping rubbed his chin.

So, Lian Shengyue was his reward for passing the test? Surely a dignified Qi Refining Great Cultivator wouldn't be superficial enough to think he was just a man addicted to beautiful women.

Wang Ping pulled back his sleeve and pointed two fingers.

Instantly, a dark pearl flew out from his sleeve. A torrent of muddy water surged from it, lifting Lian Shengyue's charred, disfigured body into the air.

The Profound Nether Pearl—a magic treasure dropped by Kunyun's avatar.

"A magic treasure governed by the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi. With the profound wonders of Latent Concealment, it matches my magical power perfectly. I suppose it counts as one of Senior Brother Kunyun's legacies."

Right, there was also the Heaven and Earth Pavilion.

Before his death, he and Senior Brother Kunyun had hit it off right away, and the man had owed him a massive favor. As the Heaven and Earth Pavilion was his legacy, Wang Ping rightfully had a claim to inherit it too!

However, Wang Ping had heard that after Kunyun's death, the Heaven and Earth Pavilion had disbanded. Its massive assets had been taken away by one of Kunyun's subordinates, a Major Divine Ability cultivator.

How dare that person take his money?

"...I'll investigate it some other day." Wang Ping gathered his thoughts and casually pushed away You Xuexin, who was practically hanging off him, clearly unable to restrain herself any longer.

"Business first," Wang Ping said, pointing at Lian Shengyue on the ground. "Search her soul and pry open her sea of consciousness. I want the Twenty-Four Qi Dao Treatise she possesses."

Only then did You Xuexin reluctantly stop rubbing against Wang Ping's body. She formed a spell seal and gently pressed her fingers to the center of Lian Shengyue's brow.

Yet in the very next second, a loud explosion rang out.

The magical power gathered at You Xuexin's fingertips was blasted away. She looked on in astonishment. "How could this be... She actually cultivated the Life-Stealing Thief in secret?"

Wang Ping: "..."

Damn it, was there anyone in the Immortal Gate who wasn't secretly practicing bandit cultivator methods?

With a talisman from the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Series guarding her sea of consciousness, searching her soul was clearly impossible. However, Wang Ping truly needed the Dao treatise in Lian Shengyue's hands.

'Nine Marshes Nether Demon-Suppressing Qi...'

The terrestrial Nether Earth. According to his deductions, this was highly likely the crucial piece in the game played by Tianxing, the Heaven-Stealing Thief, Mingyou, and even the suspected True Persons standing behind them.

Under these circumstances, he had to understand the Dao treatises related to the terrestrial Nether Earth. The more he understood and the higher his cultivation grew, the greater his chances of seeing through their schemes. Otherwise, just like before in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he would end up like Kunyun—a mere pawn for the senior cultivators, with zero control over his own strength, weakness, life, or death.

"Is there any other way?"

Wang Ping looked at You Xuexin. The protector wisdom consort pondered for a moment before whispering, "There is. Even though we can't search her soul, we can make her confess it herself."

"How?"

"With torture!"

You Xuexin took a deep breath, took out a jade slip, and used her divine sense to inscribe a secret art onto it. She handed it over respectfully. "This method should be of use."

Wang Ping took it and glanced over the contents, immediately freezing in place.

The Azure Sea Rising Tide Wondrous Art.

"This spell is acknowledged by Bliss Immortal Peak—and indeed the entire Immortal Gate—as a technique of absolute torture. Even Qi Refining practitioners might not be able to withstand it if it is used for too long."

You Xuexin explained in a low voice, "Originally, this spell was only used during dual cultivation between dao companions to heighten the pleasure and incidentally enhance the dual cultivation's effects. But soon, people became addicted to it. Some even stopped dual cultivating altogether, solely focusing on circulating this spell every day to wallow in the euphoria, going completely mad the moment they stopped."

"If forced to quit, their eyes would instantly roll back and they would start drooling."

"And in order to circulate this spell again, no matter what you asked those people to do or made them do, they would obediently comply, not daring to disobey in the slightest."

"Later, the Immortal Gate conducted a thorough investigation."

"Rumor has it that a True Person personally took action and rewound time to uncover the truth... This spell was a conspiracy by the Brahma Nation, created by the Great Joy Wisdom King."

"Its sole purpose was to poison the disciples of Bliss Immortal Peak."

"It aimed to plunge people into a realm of great joy so they would comprehend the Great Joy Wisdom King's Brahma doctrine—the principle that form is emptiness—and thus establish a resonance with the Wisdom King."

"And so, this secret art was subsequently banned."

Hearing this explanation, Wang Ping felt even stranger. Looking at the Azure Sea Rising Tide Wondrous Art again, he instantly understood its true essence.

"Women use the Azure Sea Wondrous Art, while men use the Rising Tide Wondrous Art."

You Xuexin continued, "Although Lian Shengyue is highly experienced and has had hundreds of dao companions, she definitely won't be able to last for more than thirty days at most."

Wang Ping didn't reply. Instead, he stared intently at the jade slip in his hands, carefully reading through the spell's contents. Only after a long while did he suddenly speak.

"What would happen if it were reversed?"

"Hmm?"

You Xuexin paused in surprise.

Reversed?

Wang Ping nodded, seized by a sudden whim. "Using the Azure Sea Wondrous Art on a man, and the Rising Tide Wondrous Art on a woman. What would change in the actual effects?"

"After all, neither side possesses the corresponding physical anatomy, yet the spell's effect forcefully generates that exact sensation. The result would be desperately wanting it in your mind, but physically being unable to achieve it... From the perspective of a torture method, this should be far more agonizing."

You Xuexin: "..."

That actually made a lot of sense.

"Let's try it!"

Acting the moment an idea struck—decisiveness had always been one of Wang Ping's strong points. He immediately formed a spell seal, instantly condensing a milky-white light of magical power at his fingertips.

Then, he flicked his finger.

The moment the spell light merged into her body, Lian Shengyue's eyes snapped open. Her consciousness was shocked awake by an intense stimulation, and she subconsciously arched her waist and abdomen.

However, she lacked the physical means.

"Ngh!?"

Lian Shengyue's body immediately began to tremble violently. Seeing this, Wang Ping didn't stop. His fingers flicked rapidly, shooting out hundreds, even thousands, of milky-white lights in the blink of an eye.

For a man, each streak of spell light would likely mean a rising tide, a euphoric release. However, landing on Lian Shengyue, who lacked the required physical anatomy, this explosive release became a purely mental craving that couldn't manifest in reality, nor could it truly convert into pleasure.

All that remained was excruciating agony with nowhere to vent.

Seeing this, Wang Ping immediately spoke.

"Speak. Give me the Dao treatise for the Nine Marshes Nether Demon-Suppressing Qi. Detail the relevant memories to me using your divine sense, or else I will continue casting this spell..."

Right at that moment, the unexpected occurred.

"Boom!"

Before Wang Ping could even finish his sentence, Lian Shengyue exploded.

Because her physical body lacked the means, it still had no way to release. However, at this very moment, her soul completely obeyed that instinctive, desperate craving to erupt.

An ocean of memories poured out!

This wasn't soul searching. Lian Shengyue had actively opened her own soul, bursting her memories outward to satisfy the overwhelming desire to erupt.

"Hsss..."

Witnessing this scene, even You Xuexin pursed her lips. At this exact moment, only one thought ran through the protector wisdom consort's mind: 'As expected of the Master.'

No wonder he could become the chosen of the Great Joy Wisdom King!

When others used the Azure Sea Rising Tide Wondrous Art, they were all rigidly bound by gender, lacking any open-mindedness. But the moment the Master used it, he immediately shattered the existing mold.

This was the true Brahma doctrine of the Great Joy Wisdom King!

Joy was joy. If it was restricted only to men and women, what kind of joy was that? True joy should transcend the shackles of gender, and even the shackles of species!

It was said that over in that wretched Brahma Nation, there were a full ninety-seven genders seated beneath the Great Joy Wisdom King. This was living proof that true joy was never constrained by conventional logic.

Looking at it from this angle, Bliss Immortal Peak was still far too normal.

Compared to the Brahma Nation, the Immortal Gate's philosophy on dual cultivation had fallen a bit behind the times. No wonder they had been constantly suppressed by the Brahma Nation in this field over recent years...

On the other side, Wang Ping was naturally oblivious to You Xuexin's profound revelations. His divine sense swiftly entered the memories Lian Shengyue had violently ejected after being suppressed to the absolute limit.

In the next second, heaven and earth inverted.

He once again arrived at that black-and-white lake that connected heaven and earth and reflected the sky's light. Standing before a thatched cottage, he saw the young Daoist holding a Whisk.

Mingyou.

Although this was only Mingyou within the scenes of Lian Shengyue's memories, the Great Cultivator didn't look at Lian Shengyue at this moment. Instead, Mingyou looked directly at Wang Ping, who was standing beside her.

Seeing this, Wang Ping didn't hesitate in the slightest. He immediately bowed and said, "This disciple greets Master."

Mingyou smiled and nodded.

"Well done."