Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Hui Cong thrashed violently.

At first, he kept shouting, “Kill! Kill!”

He flailed both hands desperately, one as if it were gripping a weapon while the other formed hand seals. But his hands and feet were all secured to the torture rack, with ten chopstick-thick steel needles driven deep into his flesh. The slightest movement sent blood pouring from his wounds.

His struggles made the entire rack clang and rattle.

He continued shouting and fighting like this for a full fifteen minutes.

According to the Witchcraft Notebook, circumstances within a dream could change in the blink of an eye.

Fifteen minutes in reality might amount to many days within the Dreamweaving Space.

This was my first time actively using Witchcraft to control someone’s mind, and it was taking a toll on me. Beads of sweat rolled down my temples.

Liu Junyan and the others watched me nervously, but none of them dared make a sound and interrupt me.

After all, I was in the middle of casting a spell. If I was interrupted, I could easily suffer a backlash.

After fifteen minutes, Hui Cong’s struggles gradually weakened. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. His dark brown eyes were bloodshot, as if they might split apart.

He stared blankly ahead, as though witnessing something utterly inconceivable.

“Impossible. That’s impossible!”

“How could the Corpse Fiend lose? How could the Corpse Fiend possibly be burned to death?”

“Impossible… Mmph…”

Tears of blood streamed from his eyes. Like a plant ravaged by scorching sun and violent storms, his entire body rapidly withered before our eyes.

In a single instant, his hair and beard turned completely white, and his skin cracked like pine bark. His head slumped forward, all signs of life gone.

It was the despair of someone who had plotted for a long time and stood on the brink of victory, only to be struck down in a single blow. A deathly aura emanated from Hui Cong’s entire body.

I was trembling all over. It felt as though a ball of fire was burning between my brows, searing hot and agonizing. Only a little over twenty minutes had passed from start to finish, yet it felt as though all my vitality was being drained away.

So using Ancient Witchcraft took this much mental energy.

Fortunately, I held on.

The instant Hui Cong’s head fell forward, I formed a hand seal and shouted, “Withdraw!”

The moment the word left my mouth, Liu Junyan’s large hand pressed against my lower back, supporting me as he asked worriedly, “Xiao Jiu, are you all right?”

I smiled at him. “I’m fine.”

Hui Cong abruptly raised his head again and stared at me in confusion.

A moment later, he realized that everything he had just seen within the Dreamweaving Space had been fake.

I had created a dream that brought him to the brink of death.

He roared at me in fury again and again, like a beast that had completely lost control, wishing he could tear me apart and devour me alive.

But once his anger had run its course, all that remained was an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

Yes, everything the Dreamweaving Space had shown him was fake. But I possessed the power to weave a dream so convincing that it had completely thrown his mind into chaos.

The more confident Hui Cong was in his own abilities, the more terrifying that realization would be.

At that moment, he knew he had truly lost.

I spoke at just the right time. “Hui Cong, perhaps you think that as long as you refuse to talk, we’ll never find the Corpse Fiend. Is that it? But let me tell you something. You’re wrong — dead wrong! The fact that we’re willing to question you means we’re giving you a chance.”

I paused, then continued, “How about this? I’ll give you a name. You should have heard of him. Compared to you, I think he may know even more about the Corpse Fiend.”

Hui Cong fixed his blood-soaked eyes on me and forced a single word through gritted teeth. “Who?”

“Zhao Zixun.”

I was taking a gamble.

I was betting that Red Banner Child had not been mistaken. He had once smelled the Corpse Fiend’s scent on Zhao Zixun.

He said he had detected it the last time they met, before something happened to Zhao Zixun.

And before that happened, Zhao Zixun had followed Chen Ping into a major battle.
That great battle had begun with reports of victory, only to end in sudden defeat.

Only afterward did Chen Ping embark on the path of the Ghost Soldiers.

What had driven Chen Ping to make that decision?

I believed the Corpse Fiend had already given me the answer.

Sure enough, the moment Hui Cong heard the name “Zhao Zixun,” his blood-red eyes bulged even wider, and his dry, cracked lips began trembling uncontrollably.

I knew I’d bet right.

I stepped forward and lowered my voice. “What a shame. We gave you a chance, but you didn’t take it. You can’t blame us for what happens now.”

With that, I strode toward the exit.

As I passed Hui Yumo, I casually tossed out an order. “Yumo, deal with him.”

After a brief silence, Hui Cong’s hysterical shouts erupted behind me. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! The Great Lama put me up to it! That old hag was too biased! My older brother was dead, so Gray Immortal Hall should clearly have passed to me, but instead, she wanted to hand it over to a tiny little runt like Hui Xiaotiao! Where did that leave me? She was letting Hui Xiaotiao rise to the top by trampling all over my face and my dignity! What else was I supposed to do? I was forced into it…”

I ignored Hui Cong’s howls and strode out of the dungeon.

The instant I stepped outside, my legs gave out, and I nearly collapsed.

Liu Junyan reached out and caught me in one swift motion. His voice was filled with concern. “Why push yourself so hard? As long as I’m here, you don’t need to force yourself like this.”

“But… there will always be times when you’re not here.” I paused to catch my breath before continuing, “Ah Yan, sooner or later, I have to learn to stand on my own.”

I had never forgotten Abbot Kongji’s words.

If Liu Junyan was destined to spend ten whole years on his Worldly Pilgrimage, then for those ten years, I would have to hold my own.

I would keep the Pawnshop safe and wait for him to return.

Liu Junyan understood what I meant. He pulled me into his arms and said solemnly beside my ear, “Xiao Jiu, you’re already wonderful. To me, you’ve always been the kindest and most resilient girl in the world.”

Then he bent down, swept me into his arms, and carried me back to our room.

He placed me on the bed, wrung out a hot towel, and gently wiped my face and hands.

Neither of us slept.

I stared toward the window, watching the daylight slowly brighten as I waited in silence.

Hui Yumo worked faster than I had expected.

An hour later, she came in person to tell me what Hui Cong had confessed.

According to Hui Cong, five li southwest of the burial pit, there had once been an Ancient Battlefield. More than a century ago, a bizarre war had broken out there. Among the commanders on the opposing side was a great general named Zhao Zixun, a fierce warrior capable of taking on a hundred men alone.

Not long after the war ended, the Great Lama approached Hui Cong and spoke to him about creating a Corpse-Nurturing ground where they could raise the Corpse Fiend.

The Corpse Fiend had been grievously wounded by Zhao Zixun during that war and required vast quantities of vital essence and spiritual energy to recover.

The Great Lama promised that once the Corpse Fiend recovered, he would help Hui Cong seize control of Gray Immortal Hall.

At the time, Hui Cong’s older brother had already been dead for over a decade, yet Old Madam Hui still refused to hand him authority. Instead, she showered Hui Xiaotiao with affection.

Hui Cong keenly sensed the threat to his position, so he and the Great Lama immediately struck a deal.

What he hadn’t expected was for even heaven itself to come to his aid.

As soon as the Nine Heavens Soul-Trapping Formation was completed, Hui Xiaotiao became trapped beneath the Formation, his fate unknown.

From then on, Hui Cong worked hard to prove himself at Gray Immortal Hall, hoping Old Madam Hui would finally take notice of him. At the same time, he waited for the Corpse Fiend to be fully nurtured so it could help him fight his way back into Gray Immortal Hall and seize control.

Finally, Hui Yumo said gravely, “Hui Cong also said that when they first obtained the Golden Scale, the Great Lama told him he intended to use it to conjure a Dragon vein out of nothing. Once he channeled the Dragon vein into the Ancient Battlefield, the tens of thousands of Ghost Soldiers there would be utterly transformed, becoming like heavenly soldiers and divine generals…”