Xianxia Online

A brief few minutes of torture later, Bai Zhutian was all but ready to spill his guts.

"W-W-Wait… please… stop… I'll tell you everything…"

"Fufu, how easy it would've been if you just agreed to tell the truth from the very beginning…" Fu Mei giggled, before leaning away and returning to Xuan's side.

The scariest part was, she hadn't even done anything mildly intimidating to hurt Bai Zhutian in any way. All she'd done was look into his eyes—and apparently, being able to inflict tremendous trauma and Soul damage just by doing that was a technique of hers. Personally, Xuan did not feel like experiencing that first-hand.

"It's pointless," Zi Xiruo interjected, eyes closed and an air of utter disinterest to her. "Even if he didn't talk, I'd be able to tell what happened. You can rest assured—although the two of us may be past acquaintances, I have no qualms with you, and do not plan on saving a traitor."

At this, Fu Mei smiled. "Well then, that makes things easier. If you'd said this before I was forced my hand, your… 'acquaintance' here wouldn't have had to suffer so much."

In other words, she was implying that Zi Xiruo did this on purpose as a means to let off a bit of her anger. From Xuan's perspective, this wasn't out of the question—for the most part, the Zi family heiress was still an unknown variable. He did not know her personality well enough to judge what her possible actions could be, and that made her dangerous for the time being. But with Fu Mei here… even if Zi Xiruo tried anything, Xuan doubted it would bear fruit.

"Well, daddy—we've gotten the information. What do you want to do with him?" Fu Mei asked, turning to Xuan with a bright smile. He arched an eyebrow.

"Isn't he your… 'toy'?"

"Oh, no, no," Fu Mei quickly corrected, crossing her hands behind her back. "I prefer my toys to be more… fun. This one, quite frankly… is only annoying. I only captured him because he looked important—now that he's served his purpose, he can be safely disposed of, yet?"

After some thought, Xuan shook his head. "Not quite. Keep him for now."

Fu Mei was confused, but did as told and stowed a crying Bai Zhutian back into her special little bottle. Zi Xiruo, seeing Xuan's decision, let out a content snort.

"Using him as a bargain chip after exhausting him of everything he has? How cruel."

"He tried to court my daughter," Xuan replied coldly. "He deserves everything he has coming for him."

"Right… about that. So this girl is actually your daughter?"

She turned to Fu Mei, who smiled in response. Xuan, having expected this question to appear eventually, let out a sigh.

"… It's complicated."

Zi Xiruo, realizing that this was a matter she should probably avoid treading into, backed off and changed the topic.

"In any case… now that we have gathered all the information we can possibly have, I believe it's time to continue onwards, deeper into the Flaming Sands Field. According to my family's intel, the gate lies within the central-most layer."

Xuan and Fu Mei exchanged glances, silently acknowledging the fact that Zi Xiruo was an outsider and that any continuous conversation regarding their private matters would be a bad idea here. As such, they simply nodded, and went along with the flow for the time being.

*****

The next treasure area was just as bountiful as the first, if not more.

On the contrary, there were less people—apparently, the amount of treasure and the population in an area was inversely proportional, despite it should being the opposite, logically speaking. Even though the areas grew smaller and smaller as the entire small world was a circular shape, the density of treasure became better and better.

Together, the trio of Xuan, Fu Mei, and Zi Xiruo traveled through the beautiful forest biome. Compared to the harsh hot climates of the burning layers of the Flaming Sands Field, this was a nice cooldown.

Xuan picked up many of the herbs just lying around as they would be incredibly useful for alchemy and the refinement of powerful pills, but apart from that, there was not anything to note. Before long, the group arrived before a massive mountain just like the treasure layers before, with a large cavern opening leading inside. To proceed to the next heat area, this was the only path.

"Hm… I can sense some humans up ahead," Fu Mei pointed out, coming to a stop. "Just a few Origin Transformation stages, with two Origin Monarchs. Opponents not worth mentioning."

It was true; Xuan felt them as well. However, apart from those, there was also something else—a somewhat peculiar energy signature that seemed to radiate from a cultivator, but was distinctly inhuman. He was sure Fu Mei noticed it too, but she purposely did not point it out due to the presence of Zi Xiruo—who still may betray them should it come down to it. With Fu Mei here, Xuan didn't particularly need the Zi family heiress anymore to enter the corridors leading to the gate—assuming what she said about it needing two people was true in the first place.

On the surface, though, neither father nor daughter showed any change in their expressions.

"… Regardless, there is only one way forward," Xuan said. "Let's see who these people are."

"…" Zi Xiruo, who'd been silent up until now, was suddenly called out by Fu Mei.

"Y'know… you're awfully quiet, Lady Zi. Does one of the cultivators' energy signatures up ahead seem familiar to you, perhaps?"

Zi Xiruo, realizing that she'd been caught, let out a sigh.

"I won't hide anything. Those guys are the remaining Eight Great Families. It would seem they have all met up with one another here. I would not recommend going in."

Fu Mei snickered. "Why? Are you going to betray us?"

"If I was going to do that, I wouldn't have warned you," Zi Xiruo replied with a snort. "However… they are not stupid. They will be able to sense the energy of Bai Zhutian coming from you. Fighting them is not a good idea, however strong you may be."

"A mere few human maggots," Fu Mei waved in dismissal. "I can take them on."

Xuan was certain that if a fight did break out, they'd be able to win. However, whether or not they'd be able to do so without suffering some collateral damage was another matter entirely, not to mention the aftermath if anyone found out. While Tartaurus was not afraid of the Eight Great Families by any means, it would be quite impactful to wipe out all of the Great Families in one go.

Despite that, Xuan wasn't one to back down from a winnable fight.

"Let's go."