With a single palm, Jiang Yi pressed down and captured the Thick Eyebrow Daoist. He retracted his True Qi and conjured several balls of golden flame. With a flick of his sleeve, the searing Ding Fire shot out like red-hot copper nails, piercing through the man’s limbs, joints, and internal organs to firmly suppress his Primordial Gate and Inner Mansion.

"A Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer from an Ancestral Sect is nothing special, it seems."

Jiang Yi descended from the clouds, dispersed his Profound Light, and recalled the thirty-six drops of Ren Water the Thick Eyebrow Daoist had summoned. They were pitifully weak—a far cry from Ji Fuyao’s Unified Upper Yuan Immortal Barrier.

’No wonder he’s this old and still can’t reach Foundation Establishment.’

Jiang Yi shook his head and sighed. His words reached the captive Thick Eyebrow Daoist’s ears, and the man’s already displaced organs spasmed with pain, forcing him to vomit a mouthful of blood essence.

He had never imagined that this supposedly incompetent, bottom-tier Daoist had, without anyone knowing, condensed supreme-grade True Qi. The sheer depth of his Magical Power and the clarity of his Profound Light far surpassed any Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer cultivator.

Facing that sudden palm strike, which seemed to hold the power to prop up the heavens and grasp the moon, he hadn’t had the slightest chance to resist.

Jiang Yi ignored the Thick Eyebrow Daoist, planning to interrogate him later, and walked straight over to the Green Jiao Rain Consort.

"You have served me well by helping me restrain this man. As a reward, I shall grant you ascension to the upper realm."

Hearing this, the barely breathing Azure Chi and Cloud Chi mustered what little strength they had left, prostrating themselves and kowtowing repeatedly.

"Thank you, Daoist!"

The Green Jiao Rain Consort spoke weakly.

"If I may ask the Daoist... what about the young White Jiao..."

Jiang Yi raised an eyebrow. ’She’s been beaten half to death, and she’s still thinking about that pretty boy?’

’Truly blinded by infatuation.’

He gave a faint smile.

"He has his own path. You needn’t worry about him."

With that, he produced several elixirs from his sleeve, all of them spoils from the underwater estate on the Lan Yun River. He bestowed them upon the Green Jiao and the two Chi.

’The Changming Sky-Pond has always been rather empty. It could certainly use some new inhabitants; otherwise, its prolonged desolation will sap its vitality.’

After settling these matters, Profound Light appeared beneath Jiang Yi’s feet. He took the Thick Eyebrow Daoist and returned to Shenhai at lightning speed, sweeping into the Raging Jiao Estate.

"What is it the Daoist wants to ask?"

The Thick Eyebrow Daoist was thrown to the ground. Knowing he couldn’t escape death, he spoke as if already resigned to his fate.

"Do you want me to implicate the descendants of the Eight Monarchs? Or drag my master’s lineage into this? I advise you, Daoist, don’t waste your energy."

"I will shoulder the blame for this outrageous crime alone."

Jiang Yi smiled faintly.

"You’re just a disciple from the Lower Courtyard, a mere pawn with no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment. You think you can bear the consequences of such a catastrophe?"

The corner of the Thick Eyebrow Daoist’s mouth twitched. The Daoist’s words were like daggers, each one striking a nerve.

He couldn’t help but retort.

"My position is humble. Of course I can’t compare to the Daoist of the Changming Sky-Pond."

"But of the True Monarchs of the Eight Grotto-Heaven Peaks, which one do you think you can touch?"

"Even if I name the mastermind, do you really think the Sect Leader will clean house and personally execute a Great True Monarch?"

"My refusal to name names is also to save you face, Daoist."

A golden light gleamed in Jiang Yi’s eyes. He had already consumed several high-grade Spiritual Objects to divine the Thick Eyebrow Daoist’s background.

"Huang Yuanzhou? You were once a fellow disciple of Gu Changling, the True Inheritance of Gen Feng? It seems your relationship with this ’Junior Brother Gu’ isn’t very good. In fact, you harbor quite a bit of jealousy and resentment."

Jiang Yi’s tone was calm and measured, but Huang Yuanzhou’s face was a mask of terror. He was a complete nobody in the Lower Courtyard; there was no way a Daoist would have paid him any special attention.

"Daoist, don’t speak nonsense! Junior Brother Gu and I have never had any disagreements..."

"If you weren’t trying to frame Gu Changling, why would you dare make a move against a Daoist?"

Jiang Yi cut him off with a cold laugh.

"You’re right. Even if you confess who’s behind this and implicate a True Monarch, I won’t report it to the Sect Leader. I wouldn’t want to put him in a difficult position."

"But can you, a mere Qi Cultivation Cultivator from the Lower Courtyard, possibly contain the fallout from this monumental disaster?"

"Killing you alone won’t satisfy me. And the Sect Leader and True Monarch Lu of Kan Feng would likely feel it’s letting everyone off too easily."

Huang Yuanzhou’s heart hammered in his chest. He was no fool and instantly understood Jiang Yi’s unspoken threat. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

"Junior Brother Gu has no desire to be your enemy, Daoist..."

Jiang Yi sat leisurely in the seat of honor, gazing down at him.

"He’s a True Inheritance disciple. He has enough standing. He’s the perfect person to make an example of."

"From now on, if any of the Eight Monarchs of the Grotto-Heavens harbor any ill intentions, they’ll have to think twice."

Huang Yuanzhou’s face turned ashen, and he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Daoist, you’ve told me all this, using your words to break down my defenses... What is it you truly want?"

Jiang Yi asked nonchalantly,

"Tell me. Whose orders were you following? What were you promised? Who planned this with you?"

The Thick Eyebrow Daoist’s face was a picture of conflict. According to the rules of the Demon Dao, for a task of this magnitude, one would normally be forced to swear a magical oath of secrecy.

However, any karmic event involving a Daoist—no matter how small—could be detected by the ever-burning lamps of the Yuanzhu Hall. A major event would certainly not escape the Flaming Dharma Eye of the Sect Leader, or even the Ancestral Master.

That was why, when Huang Yuanzhou received his orders from Gen Feng, he wasn’t given any extra Magical Artifacts or methods, nor was he made to swear any oaths. They were afraid of leaving any traces that could be detected.

But no one had anticipated that this Daoist, supposedly stripped of his life-saving protections, could so easily capture a Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer cultivator alive.

"I was acting on the orders of Luo Qingya, from the main Luo lineage of Gen Feng."

After a moment of contemplation, Huang Yuanzhou decided to hide nothing more and laid everything bare.

"If I succeeded in eliminating the Daoist, the True Monarch promised to protect a sliver of my Primordial Spirit and send it to the Dongsheng Continent to be reincarnated."

He didn’t care if his own body was ground to dust, but if he dragged down Junior Brother Gu and ruined his cultivation path, he would never be able to rest in peace.

"The Luo lineage of Gen Feng."

Jiang Yi’s eyelids drooped slightly as he silently performed an Inquiry of the Celestial Book.

"In recent years, Gen Feng’s most favored Dao Materials have been ’Gu Changling’ and ’Luo Xuanming’."

"Gu Changling got a step ahead and became a True Inheritance, cultivating one of the Innate Nine Skills, the *Great Society Treasure Jun True Skill*. The slightly less-favored Luo Xuanming was then discarded as a pawn, his cultivation no longer supported."