Bao Shan looked at Zhao Ya with hopeful eyes, hoping to use his attitude to move him and thus gain a sliver of hope.
However, Zhao Ya’s reaction was completely unexpected.
With a light smile, Zhao Ya suddenly clapped his palms together.
With a puff, the poisonous insect was crushed by immense force, its blue-green innards mixed with viscous fluid splattering onto the ground, emitting a hissing corrosive sound.
Bao Shan let out a tragic cry, spitting out a mouthful of black blood, and then his whole body visibly aged by twenty years almost in the blink of an eye.
Yet even so, Bao Shan dared not show any resentment, only looking at Zhao Ya with a face full of confusion, seemingly not understanding why he would do such a thing.
"You think I haven’t killed you yet because I’m coveting this poisonous insect?" Zhao Ya said coldly, then tossed the shriveled insect skin onto the ground.
To Zhao Ya, Poison Dao was merely an embellishment.
Because as one’s strength and realm increased, the effect of poison would inevitably become smaller.
Not to mention top experts like Guan Xuejiang and Guo Luming, just take Shen Yunshen for example.
Even if he stood still, allowing Zhao Ya to poison him, it probably wouldn’t break his defense.
Because once cultivation reaches his realm, he can already be immune to most poisons.
Even if some poisons could affect him, they are either extremely rare and precious or have weak effects.
So among truly top-notch experts, poison attacks have become completely redundant.
Thus, in Bao Shan’s eyes, the highly precious poisonous insect was nothing to Zhao Ya.
Even the so-called domineering and strange insect poison did not interest Zhao Ya much.
Bao Shan’s fat face became sweaty, and he forced a smile, "Yes, yes sir, I was thinking foolishly. I know what you want to ask, I will tell you everything I know now."
"Oh, you know what I want to ask?" Zhao Ya raised an eyebrow slightly.
Bao Shan nodded vigorously, "You must want to know what the next step of the Separation Tower is planning, right?"
"To be honest with you, when we set out, the Tower already made preparations, and in three or four days at the latest, they will launch a large-scale attack. Now two days have passed, so it’s just within these one or two days."
After saying this, he looked at Zhao Ya with a sense of accomplishment.
Zhao Ya’s face turned grim.
The intelligence Bao Shan provided was indeed very important.
But Zhao Ya’s focus was not on that.
"So is North Canglong also planning to send out troops in large scale?" Zhao Ya asked in a deep voice.
Bao Shan’s expression changed dramatically.
He hadn’t expected Zhao Ya to know even this.
However, with a quick turn of thought, he soon solemnly nodded.
"Yes, otherwise, the Separation Tower wouldn’t dare be so arrogant, and this time it was the North Canglong who suggested it proactively, and they are very confident about it. Later I heard..."
"Heard what?" Zhao Ya immediately asked further.
"Heard that something shocking seems to have happened within North Canglong, and a very powerful person has exited seclusion," Bao Shan hesitated.
At these words, Zhao Ya’s expression changed drastically.
If there was someone in North Canglong who could be called extremely powerful, it could only be that genius who directly led to the split of Azure Dragon Temple.
Zhao Ya recalled the scenes he saw in the Cliff Dragon Painting.
That young man could actually force the then elder of Azure Dragon Temple to use a mutually destructive move, which shows how terrifying his strength was.
And that was twenty years ago.
Now, twenty years have passed swiftly, it’s unknown to what extent this person’s strength has reached.
Zhao Ya realized the seriousness of the situation.
If things were indeed as Bao Shan said, then South Canglong would inevitably face another catastrophe.
Preparations must be made early!
Zhao Ya immediately made up his mind, reached out and tapped several points, blocking all of Bao Shan’s meridians, completely incapacitating him, and carried him back to the same woods as before.
At this time, the ten teams searching downhill had all gathered in this place.
Shen Yunshen was checking the deceased such as Lai Cai at the edge of the woods, and upon seeing Zhao Ya carrying Bao Shan back, he couldn’t help but smile.
"I knew you wouldn’t let these guys escape."
And Qiao Le, who had been completely deprived of his cultivation by Shen Yunshen, found his last bit of hope shattered upon seeing Bao Shan.
He had thought Bao Shan could escape, but he didn’t expect he too was captured and brought back.
Meanwhile, Zhao Ya, with a serious expression, came to Shen Yunshen’s side and recounted what Bao Shan had said.
The originally smiling Shen Yunshen couldn’t help but change his complexion after hearing what Zhao Ya said.
"What? That bastard Jingping Saint is actually going to exit seclusion?" he growled, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
Having been someone who was once comparable to Jingping Saint back then, and later personally experienced the split war, he naturally knew how terrifying Jingping Saint was.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be that all these years, Jingping Saint’s name had become a taboo in South Canglong.
Unless absolutely necessary, people generally wouldn’t mention him, and if they did, they would try to refer to him as "that person."
In fact, if it hadn’t been for Jingping Saint being injured back then and later retreating into seclusion, South Canglong wouldn’t have remained peaceful to this day.
Now hearing that he is coming out of seclusion, Shen Yunshen knew that a storm of blood was about to unfold.
By comparison, the so-called Separation Tower was nothing more than a minor irritation.
"Ya, bring this person and come with me to report the situation to the Grand Elder."