Chapter 51: In Truth, I Am the Heir of the Heavenly Demon

Su Yi vaulted over to get a better look at the situation. Just as he bent down, a pair of arms as fair as frost and snow shot up from the ground, aiming straight for his chest.

Why bother struggling?

He murmured to himself, sidestepping easily. The veins bulged on his left wrist as he seized Wen Xiang’s delicate hand and twisted it back, dislocating it with little effort.

Applying the same technique, he rendered her other hand useless as well.

There were no screams, only two muffled grunts.

Su Yi’s gaze met a pair of bright eyes burning with hatred. Seeing that she still harbored thoughts of resistance, he sighed, “Miss, I suppose I’d better break your legs as well.”

He raised his fist, as if to strike.

At last, a flicker of fear crossed her face.

His hand shifted from a fist to extended fingers, swiftly tapping her body and sealing her internal energy and movements.

That should quiet her down.

Hoisting her onto his shoulder, Su Yi walked to the riverbank and called for a boat from across the water, returning to the vessel.

Perhaps knowing how humiliating her current state was, Wen Xiang let her hair fall over her face, remaining silent as she hung over his shoulder.

A curious officer approached, asking, “Young Master Su, and this is—?”

“A spy caught on the riverbank. I’m going to interrogate her tonight.”

The officer gave him a knowing look shared by all men.

Su Yi went to Meng Chong, the vice commander on night duty, and requested an empty cabin. He set Wen Xiang down in the room.

He had no thoughts of pity for someone from the Demonic Sect; without hesitation, he tossed Wen Xiang’s body to the floor.

With a dull thud, her unresisting head struck the hard deck. Deprived of her internal energy’s protection, she saw stars from the pain, taking a long while to catch her breath.

“Hey, don’t play dead.” Su Yi squatted beside her, noticing her closed eyes and pained expression. He slapped her face a few times.

Truth be told, this successor of the Primordial Demon Sect was quite beautiful—her skin as smooth as cream, her face delicate as a blooming flower—though her temper was fierce. At this moment, she looked as if she wanted to tear him to pieces.

“What’s your name?”

——

“You don’t have to say it; I know already. Wen Xiang, isn’t it?”

“’Wen Xiang, who knows the scent of women’—what a lovely name. You were born a beauty; why choose the path of a thief?” Su Yi shook his head in mock regret.

“So, tell me, do you have any accomplices?”

Still, those murderous eyes alone answered him.

“Refusing to talk?” Su Yi frowned.

“If you won’t speak, I’ll crush your bones one by one.”

He was about to carry out his threat but, reconsidering, thought such violence toward a woman was rather cruel.

Then again, there were cruelties far worse.

With that, he picked up her slender hand.

A trace of terror appeared on Wen Xiang’s face. Su Yi could feel her hand trembling imperceptibly.

He was surprised—what could she be imagining?

He offered no explanation, merely pressed her pulse and activated the Devouring Whale Technique.

Wen Xiang’s eyes flew wide open—this was—

Although her strength was far below Su Yi’s, as a fellow disciple of the same ancestral school, she was no pushover. But immobilized as she was, she could only defend her dantian for a few heartbeats before Su Yi’s energy broke through. Her refined internal energy streamed through her meridians and into Su Yi.

Wait—something’s off!

As Wen Xiang’s energy entered him, Su Yi was astonished to find it extraordinarily pure—so pure, in fact, that it bore no trace of any foreign characteristics.

His Devouring Whale Technique gathered all energies, converting them for his own use. While powerful, the absorption of foreign internal energy always left some lingering traces, no matter how well tamed; even the Ultimate True Solution, which solved the problem of internal backlash, could not eliminate these entirely. Yet this woman’s energy was utterly pristine—a feat possible only if she had never absorbed another’s energy in her life.

From what Su Yi knew, the secret arts handed down from one successor to the next in the sect merely allowed one to cheat the breakthrough to Grandmaster, but offered no shortcuts for the earlier stages of martial cultivation.

In a sect where everyone took shortcuts, to reach the peak of the second tier through sheer hard work was a rare anomaly.

Wen Xiang’s energy poured forth, leaving her trembling with agony. She arched her neck, body convulsing, her voice tinged with fear: “Who… are you?”

Su Yi replied with a lazy smile, “Me? Isn’t it obvious? I am the successor you’ve been seeking—the inheritor of the Heavenly Demon, Lu Sheng.”

Wen Xiang’s legs went rigid, disbelief written on her face. “Impossible! It’s supposed to be Chi Lingxiao—”

“Who says it’s impossible?” Su Yi interrupted. “Who decided Chi Lingxiao could only pass on his skills to his own son? Couldn’t there be another successor? He operates in the open, I in the shadows; that way, I can lure out every last one of you demonic fiends.”

His words left Wen Xiang’s face clouded with annoyance and regret, among other emotions.

But regardless of her feelings, her internal energy continued to drain away.

Not until nearly all her energy was gone did Su Yi release her pulse and rise to his feet.

Sensing how little strength remained within, Wen Xiang felt despair wash over her. Now, she barely brushed the threshold of the third tier. Decades of painstaking cultivation, lost in a single night. Worse, her foundation was damaged and she was no longer young; to start over would be nearly impossible.

“Seeing as you never absorbed another’s energy or committed wanton slaughter, I’ll leave you with a bit of your own strength.”

“Frankly, I don’t care if you talk or not. Haven’t the repeated blows to your sect left the Primordial Demon Sect with hardly anyone? Let me think—there should only be a few under that Elder Danxia’s lineage, right?”

“As for you, judging by your destitute appearance, you’re likely a lone wolf, no real threat.”

According to Xie Lingyuan’s confession, this Wen Xiang woman had yet to take on any disciples. A successor stood above all others in the sect, but wielded little real power—and, with progress cut off, no disciples would attach themselves to her.

Wen Xiang’s face darkened—Su Yi’s words rang true. What was left of the Primordial Demon Sect, once equal to any great orthodox school?

Of eight elders, six had been slain; of the two who remained, one was gravely wounded and missing, the other lurked in the shadows, harboring the same ambitions as Wen Xiang—to seize the True Solution. But it seemed even that elder was no match for the man before her.

As for the second-generation disciples, the pride of the sect, internal strife and the battle in Jiangting City had decimated them, leaving only a handful clinging to Elder Danxia for support. Should they fall into this terrifying man’s hands, the sect’s fate would mirror its near-destruction three centuries before.

Her heart was steeped in bitterness. The Heavenly Demon Lu Sheng, the most brilliant sect master in the sect’s history and its three-hundred-year nightmare—was his successor now determined to finish what he began and wipe out the sect’s legacy once and for all?