Just as he was in shock, Zhao Ya put away the Antitoxic Bead along with other items, then stared deeply at Li De.
Li De’s heart crept with fear under his gaze.
Although, after falling into Zhao Ya’s hands, he never expected to survive, dying and dying are not the same.
There is being cleanly cut at the throat for a quick death, and there is dying after being poisoned and tortured.
Moreover, after this interruption, the idea of martyrdom in Li De had faded, and he no longer wanted to die.
Zhao Ya naturally saw the change in his eyes’ emotion and then spoke.
"Tell me, what the truth is between your Five Poison Sect and the Beast Taming Sect, and I can give you a quick end."
"It was that bastard Xiang Gui who told you, right?" Li De exclaimed angrily.
"Don’t worry about how I know, I’m only giving you a count of three to decide whether to speak or not to live."
"One!"
"I’ll tell!"
Li De, too, was straightforward and immediately divulged everything he knew.
It turned out that the Five Poison Sect indeed had an inseparable relationship with the Beast Taming Sect.
Cong Bo, along with Li De, were both outer disciples of the Beast Taming Sect. The difference was Cong Bo was a disciple from the beginning, and his master was a big shot in the inner sect of the Beast Taming Sect.
Li De, however, joined halfway through and only after reaching the Fifth Realm, due to a coincidence, joined the Beast Taming Sect.
So even though Cong Bo is younger and not as strong as him, many things were still led by him.
For instance, in the Five Poison Sect, Cong Bo was the titular Sect Leader, while Li De was the Great Guardian stationed there.
And according to Li De, the Five Poison Sect was not a newly emerged power but a subordinate sect created by the Beast Taming Sect, which had existed over at Wanshou County for a long time.
It was only in the past two years that they came over near the Capital City to develop.
"Who is Cong Bo’s master, and where is the Beast Taming Sect’s sect located?" Zhao Ya asked.
Li De shook his head, "I truly do not know the answers to these two questions you ask."
"Hmm? How is that possible, didn’t you also enter the Beast Taming Sect? How could you possibly not know where the sect is?"
Hearing this, Li De gave a bitter smile: "Although I joined the Beast Taming Sect, because I joined halfway, the sect never trusted me, so they didn’t even let me go to the sect. They merely sent an Inner Elder to signify my entry."
"As for Cong Bo’s master, I’ve only met him once. His appearance is peculiar, and his aura extremely strong, but I don’t even know his name or what position he holds within the Beast Taming Sect."
Zhao Ya was not surprised by this.
Since the Beast Taming Sect could list itself among old Demon Sects, and remain unknown to the world all these years, it must have its unique aspects.
This secretive way of doing things and distrusting anyone must be one of them.
"And what sort of person is this Cong Bo? How strong is he?"
"This person is extremely persuasive and has a remarkably strong ability to disguise. I’ve personally seen him disguise himself incredibly well. Despite his lack of strength, the Beast Taming Sect values him greatly and specifically sent him to the Capital City to develop underground connections."
Zhao Ya asked in detail about specifics again, adopting a random sampling questioning method to minimize being misled by Li De.
After finishing his inquiry, Li De’s eyes showed a very rare pleading expression, but after all, being a Fifth Realm powerhouse, he cared for his face, ultimately not begging for mercy.
Zhao Ya wasn’t polite either. After the questioning, the numbing drug took effect silently.
And without the Antitoxic Bead, Li De quickly felt a numbness spreading throughout his body and rapidly extending inward.
Soon, his breathing turned rapid.
Despair appeared on Li De’s face, but soon he couldn’t even maintain this expression.
His completely stiff muscles had rendered his entire body immobile, only allowing him to watch as he was slowly suffocated to death.
Zhao Ya watched quietly. After about the time of a cup of tea, Li De ceased breathing completely, dead beyond doubt.
Only then did Zhao Ya breathe a sigh of relief, secretly relieved.
Just now, he used nearly triple the usual amount of poison powder, and even so, it took a long time for this Li De to stop breathing.
This despite having tendons severed in his hands and feet and heavily injured.
Otherwise, this dosage might still not have been enough to kill Li De.
It’s evident that the poison powder used from outside the window earlier wouldn’t have sufficed, even if this Li De did not have the Antitoxic Bead; at most, it would have slightly inconvenienced his movements.
But there was a fortunate aspect: this numbing poison powder was effective against Fifth Realm Martial Artists, just requiring a much larger dose.
Zhao Ya mentally noted this dosage, then proceeded to ransack the belongings of the three in the room before heading downstairs.
Zhao Ya was previously on the topmost sixth floor, which was Li De’s place for rest and discussion.
However, on the lower floors, iron cages were stacked, containing various poisonous insects.
These were used by the Five Poison Sect to refine poison powder.
But when Zhao Ya saw what these poisonous insects were fed, he was momentarily stunned, and then a dark murderous intent appeared on his face.
Because these insects were being fed with corpses.
These bodies were chopped into many pieces for the insects to feed on.
Zhao Ya took a deep breath, forcibly restraining his inner anger.
These fresh bodies were definitely not scavenged from the outside; as for how they obtained them, it was obvious.
The Demon Sect is indeed a Demon Sect.
Even its subordinate sects act the same.
Zhao Ya first set up fire points on each floor, and after finishing these, the guards outside remained completely ignorant of the events within the building.
Through the confessions of Xiang Gui and Li De, Zhao Ya understood that these low-level cult members were mostly ordinary martial artists with no serious crimes committed.
As for feeding these poisonous insects, it was probably Li De and Xiang Gui’s doing.
So Zhao Ya didn’t bother with them and instead directly set it on fire.
Most of the Five Poison Tower was made of wood, and with the added accelerant from Zhao Ya, the fire quickly blazed furiously.
Suddenly, the entire manor was thrown into chaos.
"Oh no, fire!"
"Quick, put out the fire!"
People were in a panic.
Zhao Ya took this opportunity to quietly leave the manor.
He believed that once people rushed into the building and found Li De and the others already dead, they would disperse.
After getting outside the manor, Zhao Ya dug out Xiang Gui from the bushes.
This guy was still unconscious at the time.
Zhao Ya didn’t have the heart to wake him, so with one palm strike, he made Xiang Gui blissfully die in his sleep.
After finishing everything, Zhao Ya looked back at the Five Poison Tower in the manor, which was blazing fiercely.
By then, some of the astute manor guards had already begun to quietly leave.
Zhao Ya simply turned around and ran towards the forest.
When they returned to the noodle shop and entered the house, Zui’Er was still awake, sitting at the table waiting for him.
Upon seeing that Zhao Ya returned safely, Zui’Er breathed a sigh of relief and happily stood up.
"Ya, you’re back. Are you hungry? We have some dry rations with us. Want me to heat them up for you?"
"No need for that trouble. I’ll just have some jerky later."
Saying this, Zhao Ya took out a pouch and handed it over, "Here, this is for you."
"What is this?" Zui’Er curiously reached out to take it.
"Inside is an Antitoxic Bead. Wearing it can protect you from most poisonous powders," Zhao Ya said with a smile.
From the first glance at this item, Zhao Ya thought it was absolutely suitable for Zui’Er.
After all, he couldn’t be by Zui’Er’s side all the time. Having this would at least offer some protection.
Zui’Er was naturally very happy, though she wasn’t fond of the pouch’s look. But since it was too late to make a new one, she decided to carry it for now and make a new sachet she liked later.
"Let’s sleep," Zhao Ya said.
"Mm, okay!"
Zui’Er obediently blew out the candle and cuddled up to Zhao Ya...
The night passed without words.
The next day, Zhao Ya and Zui’Er got up early. After finishing their morning routine, Lan Tang had already arranged for breakfast to be prepared and personally delivered it to their room.
"Did you rest well last night?" Lan Tang asked with a smile.
Zhao Ya was fine, but Zui’Er’s face turned a bit red.
However, she misunderstood Lan Tang’s intentions.
Of course, Lan Tang wasn’t there to tease her, nor was he bold enough for that.
He didn’t sleep the entire night. Although with his strength, he couldn’t hear a sound, he vaguely noticed that the lights in Zhao Ya’s room went out late at night, indicating that Zhao Ya must have returned very late.
As for what he did, there was no need to ask.
That’s why he came over personally this morning to deliver breakfast, firstly as a sign of respect, and secondly to check if Zhao Ya was alright.
As it turned out, Zhao Ya hadn’t lost a single hair and seemed as if he had been sleeping in the room all night, without the slightest abnormality.
Lan Tang was understandably shocked.
Zhao Ya naturally guessed Lan Tang’s thoughts but didn’t mind. He just smiled and made some small talk.
After breakfast, Lan Qingshan and the Escort Masters and porters of the Lan Family Escort Agency had already packed up and were ready to set off.
Since they were not taking the same route, they parted ways in front of the noodle shop.
At the time of parting, Lan Tang and Lan Qingshan’s grandfather and grandson once again clasped their hands in respect.
"Young Hero Zhao, words cannot express our gratitude. We will certainly visit Yan Capital City to thank you in person in the future."
Zhao Ya smiled, "Alright, but it might have to wait a month or two."
Then Zhao Ya clasped his hands and said, "I wish you a safe journey. Farewell!"
"You too, Young Hero Zhao. Farewell!"
Such is the way of those in Jianghu; meeting and parting swiftly, without much sentimentality, as they went their separate ways.
After walking along the official road for a while, Zhao Ya turned into the forest, letting Zui’Er climb onto his back and covering her with a cloak. Then, he briskly proceeded towards Wanshou County.
While Zhao Ya was hurrying on his way, thousands of miles away in Wanshou County, a small town stood before the towering Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range.
The town was not large but had everything needed.
This place was about over two hundred miles from the Wanshou County Commandery, but because the road was rugged, it would take an average person at least three days to reach it.
Nonetheless, this small town remained very prosperous.
Because the residents here were either medicinal farmers cultivating fields or mountain guests venturing into the mountains, as well as martial artists hoping to trade for herbs or buy cheap meat fields.
The large population and immense trade added much luster to this small town.
Song Linqing walked along the road, calculating the harvest of this year’s medicinal fields while greeting the passing merchants.