Chapter 165: Applying Needles and Forcing a Confession

Qi Guan Xuehe was now standing above the Nine Heavens, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Pei Qingxuan.

At the same time, he sensed the Blood Fiend Qi in the air beginning to condense, and his mind settled.

Blood Fiend Qi on such a large scale, so thick it was even visible to the naked eye—once it fully gathered, not to mention Pei Qingxuan, even if a true Immortal arrived, they would be doomed to die, body and soul destroyed.

At this moment, he was patiently waiting—waiting for the Blood Fiend Resentful Soul energy within the Array Formation to condense to the activation point, so he could immediately trigger the formation and shatter Pei Qingxuan’s Spiritual Soul directly.

But as the minutes ticked by,

The expected thickening of the Blood Fiend Qi never occurred. It remained a faint red, drifting in the air.

Qi Guan Xuehe’s brows furrowed slightly, realizing something was amiss.

He was, after all, the Supreme Lord of Bloodfiend Hall.

Having cultivated the Bloodthirsty Soul Devouring Grand Technique, his sensitivity to Blood Fiend Qi was extraordinary.

After all, the technique he practiced relied on Blood Fiend Qi to increase his power.

He could clearly sense that at this moment, Blood Fiend Resentful Souls from hundreds of kilometers around—even those Blood Fiend Army Souls buried deep underground on battlefields from a thousand years ago—were gathering here.

Even Qi Guan Xuehe, who had accompanied Blood Fiend Qi for countless years, was secretly astonished.

This Ten Directions Blood Grudge Bone-Corroding Grand Formation truly was strange!

But the most important thing was not this.

Though he could feel the Blood Fiend Qi converging from all directions, inside the Array Formation, the Blood Fiend Qi was always kept at a meager level.

With his understanding of Blood Fiend Qi, after several minutes of gathering, nearly all the resentful souls within a hundred kilometers should have been swept clean.

Even if the Blood Fiend Qi hadn’t thickened as much as expected,

Shouldn’t there at least be some resentful souls visible?

Yet this was the most critical point.

Not only had the Blood Fiend Qi failed to condense, but even the resentful souls seemed to mysteriously disappear after entering the formation.

As a result, the Ten Directions Blood Grudge Bone-Corroding Grand Formation could not be properly activated even now.

When he’d studied this formation, he’d learned that it operated by relying on Blood Fiend Qi.

If the Blood Fiend Qi was insufficient, even if forced to start, the formation simply wouldn’t function.

“How strange… Something isn’t right.” “Supreme Lord, what’s happened?”

At his side, a Great Elder of Bloodfiend Hall saw Qi Guan Xuehe’s brows tightly knit and stepped forward to ask.

“Something’s wrong. You two Elders, go and investigate. The Blood Fiend Qi still hasn’t condensed enough to activate the formation. I fear there may be something inside the formation affecting the concentration of Blood Fiend Qi.”

The two Great Elders of Bloodfiend Hall exchanged a glance and nodded.

“Yes, Supreme Lord!”

With that, the two Elders formed hand seals and descended.

Both were cultivated by Bloodfiend Hall and practiced the Bloodthirsty Soul Devouring Grand Technique as well, naturally able to sense the flow of Blood Fiend Qi.

Upon landing, they both sensed the condensing Blood Fiend Qi in the air seemed to be constantly flowing in a certain direction.

Seeing this, they exchanged glances, pulled out their own magic tools, and quickly followed the flow.

As the Blood Fiend Qi concentration around them gradually increased, joy appeared on their faces.

To be able to absorb Blood Fiend Qi like this, and in such a desolate place, it must surely be some rare treasure of Heaven and earth.

Both of them thought of the same thing and looked at each other.

But this time, instead of their previous silent understanding,

They regarded each other with a bit of wariness.

After all… the cultivation techniques of Bloodfiend Hall required Blood Fiend Qi, and if there truly existed a rare treasure capable of absorbing Blood Fiend Qi, it would be the stuff of their dreams.

Demonic cultivators were demonic cultivators—in the face of such a treasure, even sect-mates and peers would eye each other with suspicion.

“Fellow Daoist, we still don’t know what exactly is drawing the Blood Fiend Qi here. If we keep confronting each other like this, we’ll fail our Supreme Lord’s task, and in the end, both lose out while another takes the prize. Why don’t we… split whatever it is in half? No matter what treasure it is, we divide it evenly—no fighting, no snatching. What do you say?”

The other Elder frowned slightly at the words, thinking for a moment.

“Half and half?”

“Half and half.”

“Very well, it’s a deal. We split it evenly and never tell anyone else.”

With this agreement, the two quickly moved forward to the location that drew in the Blood Fiend Qi.

When they approached, surprise flickered in their eyes.

For in front of them was not some rare treasure of Heaven and earth, but rather a handful of red sand.

That handful of red sand simply lay scattered there.

“What… what is this?”

One of them spoke, but before the other could answer, two silver needles easily stabbed straight down from above into the crowns of their heads.

The two only felt a slight pain at the top of their heads, then a voice sounded by their ears.

“Don’t move, either of you. These needles have pierced your crown and Knowledge Sea. If you try to pull them out or circulate your Spiritual Energy, your Knowledge Sea will shatter and your Spiritual Soul will be destroyed.”

Hearing this, both Elders of Bloodfiend Hall broke into a cold sweat. All their lives… no one had ever dared threaten them like this.

After all, as demonic cultivators, they cared nothing for morals or ethics—if displeased, they killed.

Much less, as Great Elders of Bloodfiend Hall, their cultivation was above others—who would dare cross them?

Yet now, though their hearts were full of shock and rage, their bodies did not dare move a muscle.

They could clearly sense their Spiritual Energy had become stagnant, impossible to move even a bit no matter how hard they tried.

And their divine sense was completely suppressed—at this moment, they were no different from ordinary people.

Xu Ping’an stood behind them, his expression calm, nodding to himself.

It seemed… after so long without using the needle techniques from the Wasteland Ancient Medical Classic, his hands were still so steady.

That dream of Yu Zai Wannian had not been in vain.

“You two, now I’ll ask, you answer. If you refuse, I’ll have no choice but to pull the needles.”

The two were so frightened their hearts trembled. One hurriedly spoke,

“Senior, please, ask anything, whatever you want!”

“Anything? No need to pull out the needles?”

Xu Ping’an’s hand was already resting atop the two needles in their crowns.

At this point, the two looked as if they were about to weep.

“Senior, Senior! Please… don’t pull them out, let’s talk—ask, please, just ask!”

“Oh, very well, then I’ll ask. Who are you two, and why have you come here?”

The two were stunned.

At first, they thought the one behind them was a reinforcement Pei Qingxuan had called, but hearing this, it seemed this master was just a passerby caught up in things?

“Senior… we came here to eliminate a scourge!”