Chapter 42: The Blood-Robed Spirit Child

Chen Ping did not answer.

He only raised his head, looking toward the night sky.

At the exact same moment, Lin Xiaoyu also looked up.

—

Both of their eyes lit up at the same time.

Chen Ping’s eyes were veiled in a layer of purple-gold light, deep as an abyss, as if they could see through every falsehood in the world.

Lin Xiaoyu’s eyes crackled with golden lightning, majestic as the heavens, as if they could pass judgment on every evil in the world.

Grand Dao Divine Eyes.

Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

Two forces, utterly distinct yet born from the same source, intersected in the night sky.

Lu Ya felt his very soul locked down by two invisible forces at once.

One was vast as the Heavenly Dao, leaving him nowhere to hide.

The other was majestic as heavenly punishment, making his soul tremble.

“This is…”

He widened his eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

“You… both of you can see me? From the very beginning? From over ten days ago?”

“From the moment you first approached Luoxia Peak.”

Chen Ping took over the conversation, his tone calm.

“Lu Ya, you thought you were in the shadows. In truth, you were always in plain sight.”

Lu Ya’s legs went weak, and he nearly fell to his knees.

He had planned meticulously, moved step by step, certain he was the hunter…

Only to learn he had been the prey all along.

“No…”

He grit his teeth, a flash of madness in his eyes.

“So what if you found out?

Chen Ping, you are nothing but a Qi Refining piece of trash!

Lin Xiaoyu, you were severely injured and unconscious today. It’s already a miracle you can even stand!”

He suddenly raised his hand, blood-red light flaring in his palm!

“Today, I will claim the Heavenly Dao Divine Physique!”

The blood-red light surged, turning into a sky-covering mist of blood that swept toward Lin Xiaoyu.

This was the secret technique of the Blood Fiend Sect: the Blood-Melting Gu^[1].

Once it entered the body, it would devour the host’s essence blood and refine them into a puppet.

He had prepared so long, waiting for this very moment!

—

However…

The moment the blood mist spread, it was shattered by a purple-gold light.

Chen Ping did not even stand.

He merely raised his hand and gave a gentle wave.

The Blood-Melting Gu, enough to strike terror into Nascent Soul cultivators, dissipated like smoke and dust.

Lu Ya stared with wide eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

“You… you…”

Chen Ping stood up and walked toward him, step by step.

With every step he took, Lu Ya felt the pressure on his body grow heavier.

After three steps, he was forced down to one knee, his entire body trembling.

“Lu Ya.”

Chen Ping stood before him, looking down at him.

“Did you think you hid well? Did you think you were prepared enough?”

He shook his head.

“From the very beginning, you should never have set your sights on Xiaoyu.”

Lu Ya looked up, his eyes filled with resentment and madness.

“Who… who on earth are you?!”

“It’s impossible for someone in the Qi Refining Stage to have this kind of strength! Who are you?!”

Chen Ping looked at him and suddenly smiled.

“Me?”

He paused, then said calmly,

“I am her master.”

The moment the words left his mouth…

Boom!

An invisible force erupted from Chen Ping, blasting Lu Ya backward.

Lu Ya crashed heavily against the courtyard wall, spitting blood as the Blood Fiend Demonic Seal on his chest flashed frantically.

He struggled to stand but found that most of his meridians had been shattered by that force.

“No… impossible…”

He slumped at the base of the wall, his face filled with despair.

Chen Ping walked over to him, squatted down, and looked at him.

“A mole of the Blood Fiend Sect, lurking in the Hall of Discipline all these years. You’ve worked hard.”

Lu Ya’s pupils contracted sharply.

“How… how did you know…”

“How I know doesn’t matter,” Chen Ping interrupted.

“What matters is that you set your sights on my disciple.”

He stood and glanced back at Lin Xiaoyu.

Lin Xiaoyu stood where she was, quietly watching the scene unfold.

There was no fear in her eyes, no pity, only calm.

Because she knew her master would handle everything.

Chen Ping turned back and looked at Lu Ya.

“Under normal circumstances, I should simply kill you.”

A glimmer of hope flashed in Lu Ya’s eyes.

With his meridians completely shattered, he slumped at the base of the wall, the Blood Fiend Demonic Seal on his chest flashing frantically.

He looked up at Chen Ping, his eyes filled with terror.

“I’ll talk… I’ll tell you everything…”

Chen Ping did not speak, only watching him quietly.

Lu Ya grit his teeth and finally spoke:

“I am… a spy planted in the Qingyun Sect by the Blood Fiend Sect… it’s been twenty years…”

“Twenty years ago, when I was still an outer disciple, the Blood Fiend Sect implanted the Blood Fiend Demonic Seal in me…”

With every word he spoke, the demonic seal on his chest flashed, as if warning him.

“My mission… was to search the Qingyun Sect for a…”

Before he could finish speaking…

“Aaargh!”

Lu Ya suddenly shrieked in pain, curling into a ball.

The Blood Fiend Demonic Seal on his chest abruptly erupted with a blinding blood-red light.

That bloody light was like a living thing, frantically devouring his flesh.

“The seal… the seal is acting up…” Lu Ya roared in agony.

“Every word I say… it… it…”

He opened his mouth wide, wanting to continue, but he could not force out a single word.

With every syllable he managed, the demonic seal on his chest throbbed violently, as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart.

The pain was not physical. It was a torment that pierced straight into his soul.

Chen Ping frowned.

He squatted down and pressed his hand against Lu Ya’s chest.

A wisp of purple-gold light silently entered Lu Ya’s body.

Primordial Chaos Creation^[2]…

It could channel Primordial Power to nourish all things and repair all damage.

But at this moment, Chen Ping did not use it to heal.

He intended to use it to temporarily suppress the Blood Fiend Demonic Seal.

The purple-gold light surged into Lu Ya’s body, meeting the blood-red demonic seal.

The bloody light fought back furiously, trying to devour this foreign power.

But the purple-gold light was far too strong.

Like a gentle barrier, it wrapped around the raging blood light layer by layer, suppressing it.

Lu Ya shuddered, and the sharp agony deep in his soul actually eased considerably.

He gasped for breath, drenched in cold sweat, his eyes filled with disbelief.

“You… you…”

“Continue,” Chen Ping said calmly.

“What are you searching for in the Qingyun Sect?”

Lu Ya sucked in a deep breath. This time, he was extremely careful, forcing out one word at a time.

“Search… for… the Blood-Robed… Spirit Child…”

Boom!

The moment the words left his mouth, the Blood Fiend Demonic Seal on his chest abruptly exploded!

Not a flash, not a throb…

It exploded!

Blood-red light splattered everywhere as the demonic seal burst into a mist of blood, instantly enveloping Lu Ya!

“Aaaargh!”

Lu Ya let out a shrill scream, a sound that no longer seemed human, more like a wail from hell.

Within the blood mist, his body dissolved at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Flesh peeled away, bones shattered, and internal organs melted into pus.

In just three breaths…

The blood mist dissipated.

Lu Ya… was gone.

All that remained was a pool of dark red blood on the ground and a few tattered scraps of his robe.

As the night wind blew, the blood slowly dried, as if no one had ever been there at all.

—

Chen Ping stood and looked at the bloodstains on the ground, his brow furrowed.

The Blood-Robed Spirit Child?

The moment Lu Ya uttered those four words, the seal had detonated directly.

What did this mean?

It meant this secret was a hundred times, a thousand times more important than the Blood Fiend Sect planting a spy.

It meant the Blood Fiend Sect would rather silence a spy who had been undercover for twenty years

than let this secret leak out.