In the dim room, the old Daoist couldn't even scream anymore. Shen Bai's words had completely broken him.
'You chopped off my arms and legs, and you dare say it was "just a couple of legs"?'
He felt that no normal person could utter such chilling words.
Even between mortal enemies, there should be a line. One shouldn't be humiliated like this.
As the saying goes, a gentleman prefers death to dishonor.
"If you have any guts, just kill me with one strike!" the old Daoist said, gritting his teeth.
Shen Bai's gaze was indifferent. He lifted his right foot and stomped on the old Daoist's face, grinding it into the floor.
The foot shattered the old Daoist's teeth, and his words became a mumbled, unintelligible mess.
Shen Bai lifted his foot, his eyes calm. "You are the fish on the chopping block, and I am the knife. Did I say you could speak?"
The old Daoist opened his gapped mouth. "You think you can control me? I'll say what I want! I'll scream my head off and alert all the constables! Even if I die, I'll take you down with me!"
Shen Bai said nothing. The longsword in his hand flashed.
A cold light glinted.
The next moment, the old Daoist only felt a whoosh of air pass by both sides of his face.
When he came to his senses, excruciating pain shot through him. He realized his ears had been sliced from his head and had fallen to the ground, blood gushing from the wounds.
"These days, living is easy. Dying... that's a luxury."
Shen Bai's voice sounded demonic, sending a chill through the old Daoist's entire body, as if he'd been thrown from the sweltering heat of summer into a frozen wasteland.
"Cooperate, and you'll get a quick death. Don't, and after you've been thoroughly tortured, I'll find a place to bury you, pour honey on you, and let the snakes, insects, rats, and ants lick you clean. You can take a moment to imagine what that would feel like."
"I'll give you three breaths."
The old Daoist felt his hair stand on end, and every pore on his body seemed to shrink.
"One."
Shen Bai's voice floated over, as calm as still water.
"Two."
At that moment, the old Daoist felt Shen Bai's gaze on him, and the fear in his heart grew uncontrollably.
Before Shen Bai could even say the third word, the final line of defense in the old Daoist's mind completely crumbled.
"I was wrong! Master, just give me a quick death later! I'll cooperate with whatever you want!"
The corners of Shen Bai's mouth curled up slightly. He grabbed the old Daoist by the collar and, within a few steps, vanished from the Qian Family's courtyard.
...
By now, the sky had grown dark.
Shen Bai didn't want to know what happened next at the Sun Family's residence, nor could he do anything about it.
Because Shen Bai now had a new objective.
With only his torso and head remaining, the old Daoist looked like a slightly large bundle as Shen Bai dragged him by the collar.
Throughout the night, the old Daoist didn't dare say a single word, keeping his mouth tightly shut.
The reason was that Shen Bai had told him earlier that if he dared to utter a single wrong word, horrific torture awaited him.
Intense pain radiated from his wounds, but the old Daoist still gritted his teeth and endured it.
Shen Bai dragged him along like this until they reached a more remote street.
After dragging the old Daoist's mutilated body into an alley, he found a quiet, dark corner and finally let go.
Due to inertia, the old Daoist tumbled across the ground, ending up face down in the dirt, unable to move.
"Alright, you can talk now. What is this 'Locust Tree Borrowing Life'?"
Shen Bai's voice came from behind the old Daoist.
The old Daoist had just opened his mouth when he got a faceful of dirt.
He struggled to turn over, but it was completely useless.
Then, the old Daoist felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Shen Bai kicked him over, and he looked up at Shen Bai with a pitiful expression.
Given his old age, combined with his miserable state, he truly looked like a weak, pitiable old man.
But when Shen Bai remembered how the old Daoist had just untied his Daoist Robe, preparing to molest Miss Sun as she lay in the coffin, he felt nothing but disgust.
"If you won't talk, then I'll just have to cut off your nose."
Shen Bai advanced, his longsword gleaming with a cold light.
The old Daoist shuddered and hurriedly spoke.
"Master, it's a fiend! The Locust Tree is a fiend! It's a towering Locust Tree that has become a fiend, but due to special circumstances, it can't move. I was overcome with greed and took one of its branches."
"While the fiendish branch was weak, I used it to harm others and steal their life force."
"A fiend that can't move?"
Shen Bai stroked his chin, growing curious. "Why can't the fiend move?"
The old Daoist found this slightly strange.
'He didn't know why a master of the Three Treasures Realm would be ignorant of such basic knowledge, but with his life on the line, he answered quickly.'
"Fiends are not just people. All things in the world can become fiends. Certain special fiends, like mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, plants, and trees, are bound to a single location after their transformation."
"For example, the Locust Tree's influence is limited to its immediate surroundings. But once you break off a branch, you can take it far away."
"The Locust Tree has a Yin Attribute and can use Yin Qi to kill people with illusions. I was just using the tree's Yin Attribute to absorb the Qi and blood of mortals for my Cultivation."
"The world is in turmoil these days. Everyone wants a better life. I had no other choice."
Shen Bai sneered. "I told you not to play the victim with me."
The longsword flashed, and the old Daoist felt a sharp pain in his nose.
Blood sprayed as his nose was sliced into a bloody mess by the longsword.
"AHH!"
The old Daoist couldn't take it anymore and screamed, struggling.
But his screams stopped abruptly.
Shen Bai raised his foot and began stomping heavily on the old Daoist's face, again and again.
The sound of cracking bones grew more frequent as Shen Bai crushed the old Daoist's entire face, shattering it.
"Master, I'll stop screaming! I'll stop!" the old Daoist begged for mercy.
"Where is the Locust Tree now?" Shen Bai continued his questioning.
'Hearing the old Daoist's explanation gave Shen Bai an idea. As for whether it was feasible, he planned to test it out later.'
After the torment he had just endured, the old Daoist no longer dared to hesitate for even a second.
He answered rapidly, not even waiting for Shen Bai's gaze to fall upon him.
"It's at Liu Yun Lake, west of Shengyun County. There's an island in the middle of the lake. The Locust Tree stands there."
Shen Bai nodded, quite satisfied. "Good. I like people who give straight answers. You've done well."
Hearing this, the old Daoist put on a fawning smile and nodded repeatedly.
Combined with his gruesome appearance, the sight was utterly horrifying.
The absence of a nose, leaving only two gaping holes, made him look even more terrifying.
Shen Bai stroked his chin. "One last question."
The old Daoist asked hurriedly, "Master, what is it? I'll tell you everything I know, holding nothing back."
Shen Bai smiled. "If I were to keep the Locust Tree alive and take a branch from it every day, does that mean I could create an endless supply of these fiends?"