Wait a minute, where is my master?

"After entering the Inner Sect, when I went out with my master's disciples and a woman for experiential training, in order to enjoy my master's legacy alone in the future, I plotted and killed those two as well..."

"A thousand years later, for the sake of cultivating the Blood Barbarian Drum Skill, I took advantage of my master's seclusion and used Polluted Soul Incense to drug him, then dug out his Dantian and Mud Ball Palace."

"Later... Hiss!"

Ye Fudao's face grew increasingly wrinkled as he listened, and Jin Xu, unable to contain his anger, jabbed him several times with the Golden Thunder Needle.

The other man winced in pain, and his words abruptly stopped, but a moment later.

Under the influence of the "Truth-Telling Skill," Ye Fudao began to continue his confession.

"Later, because I betrayed and murdered my Ancestor, I fled from the immortal sect and began to wander the Cultivation World. I once met a woman from a Cultivation Family who was utterly devoted to me. She was completely obedient to me, even the magic her family kept secret, and the precious pills and magical artifacts that the family's Ancestor had bestowed upon her, were prioritized for my use."

"Honestly, at that time, I even considered spending a lifetime with her."

"Unfortunately, during an exploration of some ruins, there was a legacy that required a blood sacrifice of one person; otherwise, the ruins would self-destruct. Left with no choice, I killed her as well."

"I was about fifteen hundred and thirty-five years old that year..."

As Ye Fudao spoke, his face became more twisted, as if he was struggling fiercely to resist and did not wish to continue.

"Her Cultivation Family pursued me afterward, but once I reached the Da Luo Realm, I conveniently exterminated her entire family... Hiss!"

Jin Xu, at the right moment, jabbed the Golden Thunder Needle heavily into the bone fissures of his left hand, and the wildly ferocious power of the Golden Thunderbolt exploded a big hole in it.

This time, Ye Fudao's face showed a twisted expression of agony that persisted for a while, and as he was finally able to recover, he was about to follow the effects of the "Truth-Telling Skill" and speak.

"Two..."

Before he could finish the first word, his face, which was very close to the young Taoist, suddenly aged and he violently thrust his arms forward.

After he thrust his body forward, a young body with his same appearance remained in the original spot.

The young Ye Fudao now had his eyes tightly closed, face peaceful, but black blood was silently trickling from the corners of his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

At almost the same time, a chaotic power of life and death surged up from beneath the small platform, pushing open the mess of Four Symbols Power and sharp fragments of rule power.

Even the Golden Spiritual Power Shield trembled imperceptibly.

Behind the body of Ye Fudao, which was bleeding from seven orifices, a child that looked to be around three years old floated out from his back like a soul, and directly crashed into the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.

The child held a palm-length ink jade dagger, the tip of which was covered with a layer of thin golden light!

"Boom!"

"Crack!"

The tip of the dagger struck the Golden Spiritual Power Shield, unleashing terrifying power from the point of impact. However, the child did not retreat a step and resisted the power of the collision, forcibly driving the ink jade dagger into the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.

As the dagger penetrated, tiny cracks appeared on the Golden Spiritual Power Shield, and that was the source of the cracking sound.

All these events, though complex to describe, happened in the blink of an eye.

The young Ye Fudao, seeing the ink jade dagger succeeded, didn't even have time for joy to spark in his eyes when he quickly pulled the dagger out and, using the imperceptible hole in the Golden Spiritual Power Shield, shrank his form and escaped.

Outside the Spiritual Power Shield.

Ye Fudao, who let the mixed forces assault his body, turned around with joy on his face, seemingly wanting to laugh heartily at his successful escape.

But when he opened his mouth, the words that came out were still the ones he hadn't finished answering.

"When I was two thousand years old, I had a rather infamous reputation in the Cultivation World. Under me were many Demon Path cultivators who came seeking..."

"Hahaha, you're lucky you didn't ask me what other means I would have if I failed after shattering two rune artifacts. Little Taoist, I, Ye Fudao, will remember this grudge. If there's an opportunity in the future, I shall repay it handsomely!"

The mouth that could not stop, Ye Fudao, seeing he still couldn't escape the effects of the "Truth-Telling Skill," actually traced a message in the air with the ink jade dagger and sent it to Jin Xu within the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.

After that, knowing the more he spoke the faster he would die, he dared not to look or listen to the little Taoist's response.

At last, he muttered about the evil deeds he had once committed while activating the "Ten Thousand Blood and Thousand Spirit Soul Splitting Skill," a top-tier technique for escaping with one's life.

Meanwhile, within the Golden Spiritual Power Shield...

Jin Xu, who had turned the elderly Ye Fudao into a pile of old ashes, casually dusted off his Taoist robe and looked calmly at the string of characters outside the shield.

The characters were quickly erased by the violent forces outside the shield, mixed with the Four Symbols, life and death, and sharpness.

However, upon seeing the characters disappear, Jin Xu didn't hurry to chase.

He flicked his finger, sending a flame toward the bloodied body of the young Ye Fudao, turning him into a pile of fresh ashes while he began to recite silently.

"Three, two, one."

As the count of one fell, the young Ye Fudao, who had just used the "Ten Thousand Blood and Thousand Spirit Soul Splitting Skill" to flee, surprisingly reappeared at the original spot.

"...I sacrificed those Cultivators following me and successfully broke through the Taiyi Sect's mountain-guarding great formation..."

Even as he continued to confess his evil deeds, his expression twisted, and his short arms frantically waved the ink jade dagger.

On his childish face, his eyes began to moisten little by little!

"Oh, fitting for a child's body, you actually started crying, huh?"

Seeing the other reappear, Jin Xu couldn't help but tease.

The young Ye Fudao, upon hearing this, wiped the tear from the corner of his eye with the wrist holding the ink jade dagger and hurriedly sketched in the air.

"When? When?! When did you construct another layer of the Spiritual Power Shield outside!?"

"Just when I let you talk about the evil deeds you had done."

As Jin Xu spoke, he took two steps forward, approaching the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.

The small hole that the other had poked with the dagger, he had not used the shield to heal.

At that moment, Jin Xu looked through the hole that had given the young Ye Fudao a glimmer of hope for escape, observing the face now filled with despair and rage.

"You knew I would try to break the shield and escape using the ink jade dagger?"

After receiving an answer, the young Ye Fudao grew slightly calmer and, while continuing to divulge his misdeeds, maintained his writing with the dagger to communicate.

"Mhm."

"Then why did you cooperate with me so much, even let me tell of my wrongdoings, and even use the Thunder Needle..."

Ye Fudao didn't manage to finish writing when he heard Jin Xu say,

"Of course, it was to give you hope, and then to let you taste the flavor of despair. Of course, this feeling probably doesn't compare to those who were harmed by you or tormented for a long time. But for someone like you, this taste of despair must be far more unbearable than physical pain."

Upon hearing this, the young Ye Fudao's face first froze, and his mouth unconsciously continued to answer the questions.

A moment later, his emotions suddenly became more furious than before.

"Heh, it seems you, too, fancy yourself a person of the Righteous Path, zealously avenging those ants, and that's why you targeted me, Ye someone, isn't it!?"

After finishing his writing, the young Ye Fudao didn't wait for Jin Xu to respond but rapidly retreated backward, disappearing into the still unsettled tempestuous forces.

This time, the Taoist remained in place.

He covered his body with a layer of golden spiritual power to ensure that his robe remained undamaged, then walked leisurely out of the small platform, heading straight for where the young Ye Fudao had vanished.

At the edge of the second layer of the Golden Spiritual Power Shield, the young Ye Fudao continued chanting, and the tip of the ink jade dagger clenched in his small hand was once again covered in a faint golden light.

"Don't bother, that golden light of yours may look a lot like my golden spiritual power, but if it hadn't been for me making the shield extremely thin, your dagger wouldn't have pierced through at all," Jin Xu remarked flatly.

Then he went on to say...