Chapter 571: Unexpected Rescue

The smile slowly faded from my face as I looked at the scattered talismans on the ground. Having infiltrated the Three Yin Sect's lair all alone, I couldn't afford a single moment of carelessness.

If I had been soft-hearted and merely tied the evil cultivator up with hemp rope instead of finishing him off, he absolutely would have used these ghost talismans to command Little Ghosts to sound the alarm the moment I left.

My whereabouts would have been exposed, and my advantage of hiding in the dark would have completely vanished.

After checking the two evil cultivators' bodies to confirm they were dead, I had the Filthy Ghost and the Desire Ghost devour their souls, denying them even the chance to become ghosts themselves.

I had no choice. Whether it was the Three Yin Sect itself or those orthodox sects, they were all highly experienced in searching souls and refining ghosts. To avoid exposing myself, I could only cut the grass and dig up the roots.

'The fact that I'm a Fate Usurper absolutely cannot be exposed, otherwise I'll become the public enemy of every sect. Even Leng Qingxuan, who I'm on good terms with, would probably turn on me. No one makes friends with a Fate Usurper.' My head was cool and my thoughts were clear; I perfectly understood my own situation.

The Three Yin Sect knew I was a Fate Usurper and held my lifeline in their grasp, so there was zero possibility of reconciliation between us. The simplest and most effective solution was to take advantage of the disaster currently striking their sect and annihilate them completely.

Stripping off the evil cultivator's black Daoist robe, I pulled it on over my own clothes. The robe was loose and fit reasonably well.

Cautious by nature, I didn't forget to clean up the scene before leaving. I took all the talismans from the two evil cultivators, bound the corpses hand and foot, and stuffed them under the bed.

Taking out two evil cultivators in a row would have pushed an ordinary person to their limit, but my Liver Aperture was already open, making my physical recovery rate five or six times that of a normal person. Having also consumed a massive amount of Dream-Entangling Grass and a petal from the Flower of the Dream Realm, my spirit and willpower had grown ridiculously strong.

Taking a deep breath after finishing with the bodies, my gaze returned to a cold indifference.

Killing these evil cultivators didn't saddle me with much of a psychological burden. I just had to recall those Infant Spirits trapped in the operating room of the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center, unable to reincarnate, or the Ghost Mother pinned to a table to feed those Infant Spirits with her own flesh. The Three Yin Sect had built its foundation on refining ghosts and controlling snakes; they had committed far, far too many atrocities.

'I guess this counts as ridding the people of a menace.' Closing the door, I lowered my head and walked out of the courtyard. The Daoist temple was shrouded in a thick fog of yin energy year-round, casting everything in a hazy gray that limited visibility, so I wasn't worried about being recognized at a glance.

Putting away the Filthy Ghost and Wang Shi, I hid the Desire Ghost inside my own shadow.

After devouring the souls of the two evil cultivators, the Desire Ghost had become even more terrifying. Its body was almost solid, making it look like a ghostly general from the underworld.

Humans were the most spiritual of all living things, their souls containing the seven emotions and six desires. A cultivator's soul was much stronger than an ordinary person's, so devouring one provided massive benefits to ghostly entities.

'This method harms heavenly virtue. A sin, a sin.'

At its peak, the Three Yin Sect had dozens of disciples, but now more than half of them were gone. The temple looked completely deserted; I walked for a long time without seeing a single soul.

'Where are all these guys hiding?' I didn't have the upper hand in raw strength, and the roles of hunter and prey could reverse at any moment.

I walked forward another dozen meters and passed through two empty courtyards before realizing I seemed to have gone the wrong way. There were no traces of anyone coming or going around here. 'Is this the temple's rear courtyard?'

Just as I was about to turn back, the faint sounds of scolding and cursing drifted out from the yin fog.

'Someone's there?'

Following the noise, I arrived at the deepest part of the rear courtyard, where an old house stood, built from blue bricks and red tiles.

The house was massive, or at least much larger than the rooms where regular disciples lived.

'What is this building used for?' I slowly approached and circled it, only to discover that this old house actually had no windows. The only way in or out was a single thick wooden door.

Pressing myself against the door, I flared my nostrils and caught the faint metallic scent of blood.

I reached out and scratched at the edge of the wooden door. The crusty flakes I had initially taken for dried paint fell into my palm. I rolled them between my fingers and brought them to my nose.

'It's dried blood.'

I was very familiar with this smell. I pressed my ear tightly against the wooden door and listened closely. The shouting and cursing were definitely coming from inside the room.

'The soundproofing is excellent. Could this old house be specifically used for torture?' This place was located in the temple's rear courtyard, a secluded spot where few people ever passed. Combined with the old house's excellent soundproofing, even if someone made a racket, no one would notice.

I quickly made up my mind. My next target would be the person inside this room.

Releasing Wang Shi, I prepared to have him phase inside to take a look first, but the old house seemed to be protected by some kind of force. Ghosts couldn't get close to it at all.

Since there were no windows either, I had no choice but to circle the building to roughly calculate its internal dimensions, put away the Desire Ghost and Wang Shi, and silently wait for my chance.

Five or six minutes later, the cursing inside the old house finally stopped. Footsteps slowly approached, and the tightly shut wooden door swung open without warning.

I was standing right outside. As the door opened, the person inside the old house froze for a second.

"Who are you?"

Stepping over the threshold, I didn't give him the chance to say another word. I drove a vicious knee strike right into his stomach. As he doubled over in pain, I clamped both hands around his neck and used my own body weight to pin him firmly to the floor.

The door was still wide open. If anyone walked by right now, my hunting trip would be over.

This evil cultivator was physically strong. I had to summon the Desire Ghost and the Filthy Ghost to help before I slowly gained the upper hand. Once he finally stopped struggling, I hurriedly got up and shut the door to the old house, only then daring to collapse onto the floor and catch my breath.

'This won't do. It's draining too much stamina. At this rate, the hunt is going to get increasingly dangerous.'

The Desire Ghost and the Filthy Ghost tore into the evil cultivator's soul, and I couldn't be bothered to stop them as I looked up to survey the interior of the old house.

Various torture implements hung from the walls. These cold metal tools were forged for the sole purpose of magnifying pain, drawing out death to make it long and entertaining.

Chained to the innermost wall of the old house was a young man. His hair was disheveled, his face filthy, and his body was covered in bloody lash marks left by a whip. His head hung low; he appeared to have passed out.

'To be tortured by the Three Yin Sect using private methods... what kind of background does this young man have?' I walked deeper into the old house. When I finally got a clear look at the young man's face, a surge of rage instantly shattered the cold indifference in my eyes, filling my gaze with bloodshot killing intent.

"Yun Chuan..."

This young man, covered in wounds and already unconscious, was none other than the successor of Qingtu Temple, the last corpse driving artisan—Yun Chuan.

Having Wang Shi stand guard at the door, I crouched down and gently grabbed Yun Chuan by the shoulder.

Perhaps because he had been tortured for far too long, the moment my hand lightly touched him, his body instinctively began to tremble.

My gaze swept over him. His back, chest, face—there were whip marks everywhere. His flesh was torn open, and some of the wounds had even begun to fester under the corrosion of the yin energy.

'This is my oversight.' Back then, one of the reasons the Three Yin Sect had targeted me was their suspicion that I had taken Qingtu Temple's secretly passed-down Daoist scripture. That book recorded the exact locations where the Corpse Driving Lineage had sealed away vicious entities; its significance was immense.

In truth, I really did have that Daoist scripture on me. However, after usurping fate, the Three Yin Sect no longer had the ability to target me.

To get their hands on the scripture, they were bound to go after Qingtu Temple's sole successor, Yun Chuan. I had somewhat guessed this before, but I never expected them to be so ruthless as to actually subject Yun Chuan to such brutal torture.

"Sorry, I got here too late." After usurping fate, I had been severely injured myself, and then I went straight into the dream broadcast. It was only now that I had freed up my hands to intervene.

I took out two Profound Truth Talismans I had gotten from Lu Jin a long time ago and slapped them onto Yun Chuan's body to help him fend off the yin energy. As for his physical injuries, I could only wait until we got out of here to treat them.

The Profound Truth Talismans Lu Jin carried were all crafted by the hands of a Celestial Master, making their effects exceptional. Driven by my Pre-Heaven True Qi, wisps of malevolent yin energy began to seep out from Yun Chuan's wounds.

About ten minutes later, Yun Chuan groggily regained consciousness. Seeing my face adorned with the Good and Evil Asura Mask, he looked confused. "Who are you? Why did you save me?"