Crow Immortal: I Can Duplicate Infinite Resources

Chapter 245: The Adulterous Couple

With a flick of his wrist, Sect Leader Qi severed the connection. Having had his mind violently ransacked, Wei Baoyu slumped against the Star Luo Threads. He was little more than a husk now, his consciousness shredded into a vegetative state, barely clinging to his final breath.

“Bai Die is still alive,” Sect Leader Qi announced, turning to Han Yu.

Han Yu frowned in surprise. “How? After all this time?”

“Wei Baoyu never saw Ji Qingling during the handover; he only saw Bai Die,” Sect Leader Qi explained. “The corpse we found in the Spirit Field Department must have been the real Ji Qingling. It seems the Joyous Union Sect Demonic Cultivator used a secret art to forcibly possess a child’s body…”

He paused, piecing the timeline together. “They prepared Bai Die first. But because Bai Shiqi was unexpectedly discovered to have a Single Spirit Root, our Sect Elders intervened and brought Bai Die into Wanchun Valley prematurely. Left without a vessel to infiltrate the Sect, the demonic woman had to find a hasty replacement—the girl we knew as Ji Qingling.”

Hovering nearby on the flying sword, Yan San tilted her head. “Wait, what’s going on here?”

Han Yu gave her a brief, low-voiced summary of the espionage plot involving the two beggar children.

Yan San spat off the edge of the sword in utter disgust. “These Demonic Cultivators are completely sick! Even the most hypocritical righteous Sects care about maintaining a facade. These hags from the Joyous Union Sect aren’t even human. They just casually butcher innocent children to use as meat suits.”

Han Yu silently agreed. He looked back at the Sect Leader. “But why would they kill Ji Qingling and take Bai Die alive?”

Sect Leader Qi shook his head slowly. “That, I don’t know.”

“I do,” Yan San interjected. “The Joyous Union Sect operates like parasites. They steal an identity, use it until it’s burned, and then discard the body. They never leave loose ends. Those stinking women act all sweet and seductive, but their hearts are pure poison.”

She crossed her arms. “If a Golden Core Demonic Cultivator used her Divine Sense to erode Bai Die’s mind, she’s definitely keeping the girl as a cultivation resource. They’ll wait a few years to see if the kid develops a Spirit Root. If she does, congratulations, she becomes a premium avatar. If she doesn’t, they’ll just refine her into a disposable life-saving artifact.”

Sect Leader Qi caught the crucial detail. “Meaning, for the next few years, Bai Die won’t be fully refined?”

“Exactly. She hasn’t been refined yet. She’s probably conscious for most of the time. Once they refine a vessel, the body can never naturally awaken a Spirit Root,” Yan San confirmed.

Han Yu’s frown deepened. “If Demonic Cultivators at the Golden Core stage can just hop bodies and create avatars like that, aren’t they practically immortal? How do you ever truly kill them?”

Yan San laughed. “Don’t be dramatic. First of all, the vast majority of Golden Core Demonic Cultivators don’t have the resources or the talent for Avatar Arts. Second, do you think getting killed doesn’t come with a massive price tag? If they survive through a backup avatar, their cultivation plummets. Their intelligence and memories are usually fragmented.”

She shrugged. “Sure, technically they ‘survive.’ But the original person is dead. What wakes up in the avatar is a severely crippled version of them—maybe barely at Qi Refining—missing half their life’s memories.”

The explanation did little to ease Han Yu’s paranoia. “But as long as a fragment survives, they can plot revenge. It’s best to eradicate them completely. Root and stem.”

The outside world was proving to be a nightmare of hidden variables. He had barely stepped out of the Sect and immediately bumped into a Nascent Soul monster like Yan San. Now he had to worry about enemies who could disguise themselves, hide their auras, or just abandon their bodies to survive. He needed to be infinitely more cautious.

“You really are a paranoid freak…” Yan San muttered, though considering his meticulous habit of double-burning corpses, she was starting to respect his thoroughness.

Han Yu ignored the comment. “Sect Leader, we must bring Wei Baoyu back to the Sect alive. Bai Shiqi needs to see this piece of trash for himself. It will clear up the Sect’s suspicions regarding his loyalty, and he deserves to know the truth about Bai Die.”

“Telling him might not be a kindness,” Sect Leader Qi sighed.

“Is keeping him in the dark any better?” Han Yu countered seriously. “Bai Shiqi’s attachment to that girl is bordering on obsessive, and his personality is extremely volatile. Besides, he’s barely been in the Sect. We have no right to make this decision for him.”

“A fair point,” Sect Leader Qi conceded. “Even if we hide the truth to spare him the pain, if he ever finds out, he’ll resent the Sect forever for robbing him of the chance to rescue her. Better to drag this wretch back and lay out the facts.”

He gestured to the remaining five captives dangling in the night air. “Are these useless?”

“I ask that you perform Soul Searching on all of them, Sect Leader,” Han Yu requested smoothly. “We can’t afford to miss a single detail. Pay special attention to Tian Qing. He possesses a secret art that I require.”

The moment Han Yu said those words, the mud-caked Tian Qing began thrashing violently against the threads. How the hell does he know about my secret art?!

Seeing the panic in Tian Qing’s eyes, Han Yu’s thoughts drifted back to his desperate escape in Wanchun Valley. The Thousand Illusions Secret Art he had copied from Ling Hui had saved his life. And he hadn’t forgotten how this coward, Tian Qing, had used Ling Hui as a human shield.

Han Yu stepped closer to the dangling man. “Ling Hui gave me your secret art,” he said, his voice quiet but perfectly clear. “She said my talent was exceptional. She said I was much better than you.”

Tian Qing froze. His eyes bulged, blood vessels straining against his flushed skin as he glared at Han Yu in sheer, unadulterated fury. He had thought he was the mastermind, stringing that naive woman along. To hear that she had been sleeping with another man, giving away his clan’s ultimate secret, and then mocking his talent?

You vile bitch! You adulterous dog! Tian Qing screamed in his mind, muffled by the gag.

Seeing the man on the verge of an aneurysm, Sect Leader Qi decided he’d better extract the information before Han Yu literally angered the captive to death. He thrust his Divine Sense into Tian Qing’s mind.

A moment later, Sect Leader Qi withdrew, his expression twisted in disgust. “What a complete scoundrel. The man’s mind is a cesspool of depravity. He manipulated Ling Hui, murdered fellow disciples, and slaughtered countless mortals without a second thought.” He looked at Han Yu. “You wanted the Thousand Illusions Secret Art?”

Han Yu nodded.

Sect Leader Qi gave him a long, assessing look. “The version Ling Hui possessed was incomplete. The Jade Slip in his memories is indeed the full technique.”

This kid, Sect Leader Qi thought, a mix of exasperation and amusement bubbling up. He really knows how to hide his fangs. It all made sense now. The reason Han Yu’s Phantom Body Technique and Vision Confusing Technique were so flawlessly executed wasn’t just raw talent. He had used his Universal Comprehension trait to master the Thousand Illusions Sect’s core inheritance first. Every time the Sect Leader thought he had Han Yu figured out, the boy revealed another hidden layer of preparation.

It was frustrating, but ultimately deeply reassuring. With a disciple this obscenely cautious, as long as Han Yu didn’t stumble into another Nascent Soul freak like Yan San, he would always find a way to survive.

Using his Divine Sense, Sect Leader Qi telekinetically plucked the Jade Slip containing the complete Thousand Illusions Secret Art from Tian Qing’s Storage Bag and tossed it to Han Yu. After verifying there was nothing else of value, he gestured vaguely. “Dispose of him.”

Han Yu didn’t even blink. He raised a hand, and a Blazing Flame Art instantly reduced the thrashing Tian Qing to a shower of fine gray ash.

Sect Leader Qi then systematically tore through the minds of the remaining four captives. Three were die-hard loyalists to Wei Baoyu. The fourth had secretly sold out to the young emperor, Jiang Jing, waiting for the perfect moment to stab Wei Baoyu in the back.

“Wei Baoyu had contingency plans to assassinate Jiang Jing, and Jiang Jing had bribed one of Wei Baoyu’s inner circle. If we had let them play their game, it would have been quite the bloody spectacle,” Sect Leader Qi noted. He confirmed that all four were mass murderers with rivers of innocent blood on their hands.

Hearing this, Han Yu cleanly incinerated all four, leaving only the brain-dead Wei Baoyu dangling from the threads. Fearing the man might expire before they reached the Sect, Sect Leader Qi forced a Rejuvenation Pill down his throat to stabilize his vitals.

While the cultivators floated high above, securing their loose ends, the mortal court below was undergoing a rapid, ruthless transition.

The surviving civil and military officials were all hardened opportunists. The truly loyal and inflexible ministers had long been purged during the bloody coups between the Jiang and Wei families.

When the Imperial Guard Commander announced that Wanchun Valley was installing Immortal Master Feng upon the throne, the court didn’t hesitate. Realizing that submitting meant their own positions were secure—and that their children would now have direct access to Spirit Root testing—the entire bureaucracy fell to its knees, roaring, “Long live the Emperor!”

The Nanli Kingdom’s leadership transitioned flawlessly. The apocalyptic civil war Jiang Jing had threatened never materialized.

The next morning, following Sect Leader Qi’s urgent summons, Elder Bai arrived at the capital via a flying Magical Artifact, bringing the new garrison of stationed disciples and Bai Shiqi.

The moment Bai Shiqi’s boots hit the palace courtyard, he frantically pushed past the others, his eyes wild as he locked onto the Sect Leader.

“Sect Leader!” he yelled, his voice cracking with desperate hope. “Is it true? Is Vinegar Saucer really alive?”