“I am,”
Despite her words, there wasn't a hint of fear on her face. She even had the leisure to look around the cave. “But since you're so heavily injured, it's probably best if you don't attack me. Otherwise, I'll have to fight back, and neither of us wins. It's just not worth it.”
“Sharp-tongued girl!”
Feng Qing spat coldly, but suddenly fell into a violent fit of coughing, her face growing even paler.
Song Yao patted her back to soothe her, then kindly offered her two pills. “These are the Qi-Replenishing Pills you wanted so badly before. Here, take them to recover a bit.”
Feng Qing still remembered how severe the side effects of this thing were. She slapped them away. “Get lost! Even if I die, I will never consume such a thing.”
With a light tug of spiritual energy, Song Yao drew the pills back into her palm, rubbed them against her sleeve, and put them back into the porcelain bottle. “Senior Feng, you're so wasteful. Sure, they have some drawbacks, but you have to take the bitter with the sweet. It won't hurt you.”
Her constant muttering finally pushed Feng Qing past her limit. “Enough! What exactly are you here for? Did you come to mock me? Did the Nine Saints Hall send you to torture me?”
“Of course not,” Song Yao replied, looking completely innocent. “Can't you tell? I'm caring for you. I'm bribing you.”
Feng Qing: “?”
Where exactly did the caring start?
And where did the bribing come in?
“Alright, let's get down to business.”
Song Yao gave up on the banter and got straight to the point. “The twins from the Shuang family told me that you colluded with the demons of Frost City and can enter and exit the Frost City demon realm at will. How did you do it? And what kind of demons are they?”
“So you came for that.”
Feng Qing's expression relaxed slightly, a trace of contempt appearing in her eyes as she looked at her. “The Nine Saints Hall must have truly gone mad to send a mere slip of a girl to interrogate me.”
Song Yao corrected her. “No one sent me. I came on my own. The others are currently discussing the Beiyao Sect's reparations.”
“You came alone?”
Feng Qing raised an eyebrow, and spiritual energy began to materialize in her hand. “That works out perfectly. I can capture you and use you as leverage. Who knows, maybe they'll drop their demands for reparations entirely.”
Song Yao couldn't help but laugh. “Senior Feng, you're locked up in here. The Beiyao Sect's money isn't yours anymore anyway, so why do you care so much?”
“Besides, didn't we just agree not to fight? A life-and-death struggle is so unsightly.”
Feng Qing found her smile incredibly grating.
Ever since she met this girl, she had never seen even a shred of fear or dread in her.
She seemed like a puppet, yet she couldn't be controlled.
Such a person had no weaknesses to exploit, which made her terrifying.
Feng Qing sneered. “If I tell you, what do I get out of it?”
Song Yao pondered for a moment, then rummaged through her spatial pouch. “I can give you twenty-one Qi-Replenishing Pills.”
Feng Qing: “?”
Song Yao: “You don't want Qi-Replenishing Pills? How about spirit stones? Do you want spirit stones?”
Feng Qing: “Are you looking for death?”
Song Yao sighed helplessly. “Senior Feng, you're so greedy. What is it that you want, then?”
Feng Qing: “...”
She offered nothing but garbage that nobody wanted, yet she had the nerve to call her greedy?
She gave a hollow laugh. “Have you had your fun? Have I been too good-tempered today?”
She stared at Song Yao, her eyes, sunken deep into her gaunt face, flashing with cold malice. “In my opinion, there's no need to keep you as leverage. It would be much better to kill you and keep me company here.”
As she spoke, the spiritual energy in the air surged violently. In the next instant, it materialized into solid, ash-gray chains that erupted from behind Feng Qing. They flew forward at lightning speed, tearing through the air with a piercing screech as they lunged straight at Song Yao to strangle her.
Yet, they failed to touch her.
The chains ground to a halt about five feet away from Song Yao, hovering in midair and trembling slightly with a low, faint hum.
Feng Qing could not comprehend what was happening.
Although she was heavily injured and her cultivation was suppressed by a restriction, dealing with a mere Golden Core Stage pill cultivator should have been child's play.
Why couldn't her spiritual energy even get close?
Something was wrong.
This feeling didn't seem like her attack had been blocked by a wall; rather, it felt as though her spiritual energy was being directly controlled.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she heard Song Yao say, “So Hall Master Feng also has a metal spiritual root.”
What did she mean by "also"?
Wasn't this little pill cultivator a wood spiritual root user?
She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the spiritual chains surrounding her instantly broke free from her control. In a flash, they spun around and pointed directly at her.
Feng Qing: “?!”
Her pupils shrank in sheer horror.
What was going on?
She had never seen anyone seize control of materialized spiritual energy like this!
Even if such a feat were possible, it should only be achievable through absolute cultivation suppression.
But the girl in front of her was clearly only at the Golden Core Stage!
No.
There was another possibility.
Her spiritual root grade was far superior to her own.
She herself possessed a God-grade metal spiritual root, which was already the highest grade. In this world, she had only ever met one person with a metal spiritual root stronger than hers.
It was only after meeting that person that she realized even God-grades could be worlds apart.
That person was God-grade simply because God-grade was the highest classification.
Meanwhile, she had only barely scraped the threshold of God-grade.
The countless chains stopped mere inches from her face. Looking through the translucent spiritual energy at the calm, cross-legged little pill cultivator sitting behind them, her voice shook hoarsely. “What... what is your relationship with Song Yao?”
The little pill cultivator smiled. “You made the first move. You answer me first. That's fair, right?”
A drop of sweat rolled down Feng Qing's cheek. She struggled to maintain her composure. “I don't know.”
In the next instant, a chain pierced right through Feng Qing's chest, half an inch away from her heart.
Her eyes widened as she stared down.
A continuous stream of spiritual energy drained from her body through the wound, and the metal spiritual root within her actually showed signs of withering away.
To be able to wither someone's spiritual root, just how many grades and realms did her opponent have to surpass her by?!
A massive wave of panic threw her into disarray.
After a moment's hesitation, she blurted out, “I'll tell you! I'll speak!”
The chain retracted, leaving no major wound behind.
Song Yao said, “Go on.”
Thoroughly terrified, Feng Qing spoke in a frantic rush. “Ye Chongguang made me do it! He said an Immortal Venerable was going to descend upon the Tianshu Realm, and told me to break the barrier to let him in! Once I opened the barrier, that Immortal Venerable quickly took root in Frost City and expanded the demon realm! It was only then that I realized the so-called Immortal Venerable he spoke of was actually a great demon!”
Song Yao asked, “What kind of great demon?”
Feng Qing took a deep breath. “I don't know! I didn't see it! Those children were just something I took advantage of along the way.”
Song Yao lowered her eyes in thought.
Feng Qing was undoubtedly still holding something back, but given her sly, old-fox nature, getting her to speak this much was already a feat. Pressing her further would likely yield nothing.
Moreover, although she could barely manage to seize control of Feng Qing's spiritual energy, doing so inevitably strained some of her own seals.
It was not a pleasant feeling.
She dispersed the spiritual chains, swallowed the metallic taste rising in her throat, wrapped her cloak tighter around herself, and stepped down from the ice bed to walk out.
Behind her, Feng Qing's sinister voice rang out once more. “You are Song Yao, aren't you?”
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