Chapter 137

Chapter 137: The Heretic Cultivator’s Provocation

With Old Shaman’s authority, no one in the crowd dared object.

Shen Sang Ruo didn’t care how they reacted anyway. She never let others’ opinions change what she had to do.

Fang Yu lifted his chin at them with a smug look and said: “Told you my sis can’t be wrong. You just had to be stubborn. Face stings now, huh? Tsk.”

He swiftly hoisted the man in black sideways and carried him into the Floating Cloud Tower.

The little Bamboo Bear stayed planted on the man the whole time, leaving no chance to run.

The man kept yelling until Fang Yu used a set of the Charmheart Art to shut him up: “And you still dared to walk into the Floating Cloud Tower openly? This time you’re going to fall into our hands.”

Old Shaman hurried down from upstairs and asked: “What’s the story with this man?”

Fang Yu tossed him onto the floor.

“He is the Heretic Cultivator I mentioned before,” Shen Sang Ruo said coolly as she looked at the man. “I’m not yet sure he did the Black Bear incident, but the Protean Wood case is certainly him.”

The man began to play dumb: “What are you saying? What Black Bear? What Protean Wood? I’ve never heard of them!”

“And how could I be a Heretic Cultivator? You can’t just smear people. Let Old Shaman Lord see if there is even a hint of a Heretic Cultivator’s mark on me,” he said, full of confidence.

This was exactly what puzzled Shen Sang Ruo. If he were that Heretic Cultivator, he should carry a strange aura, yet this man felt no different from a normal cultivator. He didn’t even have the basic killing aura of a Heretic Cultivator.

But if he wasn’t, then the heart core and the little Bamboo Bear’s hostility weren’t lies.

Old Shaman probed him with Divine Sense and found only an ordinary man.

“How odd. Even with the Divine Transformation Stage, I can’t see what’s wrong with him,” he muttered.

The man exhaled in relief. He had practiced that secret art for years. How could it be exposed so easily?

“Old Shaman Lord, I’m being wronged. I’m truly not a Heretic Cultivator!” he cried.

Yet the little Bamboo Bear still sat on him without the slightest move.

“Could it be Body Seizure?” guessed Fang Yu, rubbing his chin.

The man sounded smug: “You can have Old Shaman Lord test how well my soul fits this body.”

He didn’t believe Old Shaman hadn’t already tested him. Judging by Old Shaman’s reaction, nothing had been found.

Shen Sang Ruo raised her eyes, thoughtful. She remembered the Heretic Cultivator who had harmed the Black Bear had worked on the level of the soul.

She told Old Shaman this.

Old Shaman curled his lip and said: “Parlor tricks. You dare play ghosts in front of me? You think this shaman only has those few methods?”

“You wait here. I’ll take him in and ‘entertain’ him.”

“I want to see just how well your soul fits this body.”

A hard glint showed in his eyes.

A chill ran down the man’s back, but he trusted his art and forced himself to meet Old Shaman’s gaze.

Old Shaman took him into a secret chamber. The little Bamboo Bear padded in as well.

Servants of the Floating Cloud Tower led Shen Sang Ruo and Fang Yu to a room to sit for a while.

Shen Sang Ruo played with the Heart Core of Myriad-Change Wood. She had thought she would need to spend more effort to find it. She hadn’t expected the Heretic Cultivator to deliver himself.

Now she only needed to wait for this to be settled and then return to the Ninghua Sect.

“Sis Sang Ruo, can Old Shaman find what’s strange about that man?” asked Fang Yu.

“Old Shaman didn’t reach his position by luck. He has real skill. Let’s be patient,” she said.

She put the heart core into her Cosmos Pouch, where she had left some space on purpose.

An hour later, Old Shaman came out with a man covered in sores. His face was nothing like the one from before. The little Bamboo Bear trailed lazily behind them.

As the sore-covered man drew near, a weird aura seeped into their noses.

“All right. It’s Body Seizure,” Old Shaman said as he casually dropped the man. The man crumpled, too weak to run.

“I had to use no small number of methods to drag him out. He almost slipped away as a strand of soul, but the little fellow smacked him back down.”

“His Soul Technique has reached the point where his soul alone can form flesh out of thin air. Give him a little more time and his Body Seizure art would show no trace at all.”

That was why he had dared to come to Wuqing Stockade and even tried to get a chance to enter the Floating Cloud Tower. It was not only confidence. It was a provocation.

“Thank you for your help,” he said.

“This is the duty of cultivators,” Shen Sang Ruo answered, lifting the black and white ball into her arms as it reached out a paw to her. “There may be more than one Heretic Cultivator in the Phantom Mirage Domain.”

“I know. I’ll interrogate him further,” said Old Shaman.

Right as he finished, the half-dead Heretic Cultivator suddenly raised his head and curled his lips in a mocking smile at Old Shaman: “So what if you find every Heretic Cultivator in the Phantom Mirage Domain? So what if you wipe out every Heretic Cultivator in the entire Cultivation World?”

“The Cultivation World is already in our bag. You’re all short-sighted fools!”

“Raised like livestock in a pen and never realize it. Hahahahaha…”

“Just you wait.”

His sharp, grating laughter echoed through the Floating Cloud Tower as his face grew more crazed.

Shen Sang Ruo slapped him unconscious and at last the room was quiet.

But his words made all three of them frown.

“What does he mean by ‘the Cultivation World is in their bag’?” Fang Yu asked darkly.

“Heretic Cultivators have been silent for years. If he talks like that, could it be they’re plotting a comeback in the shadows?” said Shen Sang Ruo, eyes narrowing.

[And they may have already reached a certain stage, maybe even be ready to move.]

Her brows knit tighter. [If that’s true, then we’re in the light and the enemy is in the dark. The entire Cultivation World would be in danger.]

“I’ll tell as many people as I can and warn them to stay on guard,” said Old Shaman.

With his power and status, the people he could reach were the very top of the Cultivation World.

“I hate people who talk in circles the most,” Fang Yu snapped and kicked the Heretic Cultivator.

“I’ll question him again. Maybe I can squeeze more out,” said Old Shaman.

But no matter what methods Old Shaman used afterward, the Heretic Cultivator never said another word.

After the matter was handled, Shen Sang Ruo bid Old Shaman farewell once more.

This time, she planned to return directly to the Ninghua Sect.

“All right, you should go back to the depths of the Phantom Mirage Domain,” she told the little Bamboo Bear. “You can’t cling to me forever. You aren’t going to follow me out of the Phantom Mirage Domain, are you?”

She rubbed the little Bamboo Bear’s soft face, but it looked very serious and waved its paws, trying to climb onto her again.

She tried to persuade it for four whole hours, talking until her mouth was dry, but the little ball still clung to her.

It gave Shen Sang Ruo a terrible headache. [What should I do with this sticky little thing?]