It directly pierced through the barrier of Spiritual Energy, as easily as popping a tiny bubble.

Dongfang Xun stared, dumbfounded. His life-saving Jade Pendant, a treasure capable of blocking an attack from a peak Ninth Grade Great Martial Sect, had just shattered. Just like that?

In the midst of his shock, the Faceless Demon's finger tapped his chest.

PSHHT!

Dongfang Xun was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against a wall before tumbling into the blood pool. He spat out a large mouthful of blood, his expression a mask of listless confusion and boundless, bitter grief. His cultivation foundation had been shattered. From this day forward, he, Dongfang Xun, would no longer be a lofty Fengshui Master, but an utter cripple!

"What a pity," the terrifying shadow said with regret. "My main body couldn't break the seal, so this clone only possesses one-ten-thousandth of my combat strength. Otherwise, you would have died long ago."

A clone? With only one-ten-thousandth of its full strength? Dongfang Xun's vision went dark as he sank deeper into despair. That monster his master and the other seniors suppressed beneath the Pseudo-Spiritual Vein all those years ago… just what Boundary was it at? What a truly terrifying existence!

"Senior, every injustice has a source, and every debt has a debtor! I'm just a lowly Daoist priest, please spare me!" Dongfang Xun no longer dared to think of escape. Forcing himself to stay conscious, he knelt and kowtowed, begging for his life. "Oh, right! My master is gravely injured right now. If you go find him, you can definitely kill him…"

He was even willing to sell out his own master to save his skin.

"Hmm, I've heard there are quite a few Spirit Veins and Dragon Veins in the mainland. If this clone absorbs them, my main body will also grow stronger," the blood pool monster said with a grin. "Besides, do you really think the one who suppressed me was your master? As if he's worthy! But since you're the one who brought me out of Harbour City, I should give you credit for your effort, if not for your deeds. I promise to eat you very gently."

Those few sentences made Dongfang Xun break out in a cold sweat. What did this monster mean? If his master didn't use a Formation to suppress it, then who did? And this thing… it's been hiding on my person from the very beginning! When Dongfang Xun realized a pair of eyes had been secretly watching him all this time, his face turned deathly pale.

"Hmph." No-Face looked down and picked up a Jade Pendant from the blood pool. Its fingertips had barely touched it when the jade shattered on its own. It tilted its head and sneered, "Oh, right. Why didn't your True Dragon Jade Pendant work?"

Now a cripple, Dongfang Xun could only tremble as he stammered, "Senior, those are all fake. Don't take them seriously."

Fake...? Wan Yuanshan and the others were enraged. The Seal Dragon Ancient Jade they'd spent a fortune on was actually fake?! The irony was that when Xu Lai had warned them earlier, they had been skeptical, ultimately choosing not to believe him. To think they had just been fighting red-faced over these 'treasures'... It felt like their faces were being slapped repeatedly, their intelligence trampled into the ground.

No wonder Mr. Xu chose to leave. He must have been so disappointed… Wan Yuanshan thought in the final moment before his head was submerged by the blood pool. He then roared, "Dongfang Xun, you son of a bitch!"

This head of the Wan Family, a man who had never sworn in his life, was now cursing freely.

He was going to die anyway.

Dongfang Xun felt no guilt. He retorted like a shrew in a street quarrel, "It's your own damn fault for being stupid! Why blame me for you getting scammed?"

"Fuck you!"

"Dongfang Xun, may you die a horrible death!"

"…"

Inside the bizarre blood pool, knowing death was certain, the Family Heads abandoned all pretense of civility and unleashed a torrent of angry curses. Thus began a shouting match. Dongfang Xun traded insults with seven or eight people at once, and remarkably, he wasn't losing.

No-Face didn't get angry. Instead, it sat perched on the edge of a table with great interest, swinging its legs as it watched the scene. Its voice was male, yet its movements were like those of a young girl, a sight that was eerie and terrifying to the extreme.

"Hmm?" No-Face murmured, turning its head to look at a corner of the room, where Su Daiyi and Old Jiang Ba stood, completely untouched by the blood pool.

It raised an eyebrow. Its blood pool could swallow all life, cruelly devouring and digesting it bit by bit. In other words, anyone or anything consumed by it wouldn't die immediately. Instead, they would gradually dissolve over thirty-six hours, fifty minutes, and seven seconds. During this time, the prey would remain conscious, forced to watch their own life slip away in a state of struggle and despair.

But… why are those two completely unharmed?

No-Face suddenly found the shouting match grating. "Shut up," it said impatiently.

The gravely injured Dongfang Xun and the various Family Heads fell silent at once, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

TAP, TAP, TAP.

No-Face walked across the surface of the blood pool, its voice filled with astonishment and confusion. "How are you two unharmed? You should have been devoured. This isn't right… this isn't right at all…"

It snapped its fingers.

FZZT.

The extinguished lights suddenly flickered back on.

Only then did Dongfang Xun and the Family Heads, with only their heads exposed above the blood, see Su Daiyi and Old Jiang Ba standing in the corner. Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads, but besides some dirt on the soles of their shoes, they were perfectly safe!

"Pardon my asking, but how did you avoid being eaten?" No-Face asked, bending over with an air of great humility.

GULP.

Su Daiyi swallowed hard. She didn't feel respected in the slightest. She felt like a lamb cornered by a wolf, a plaything for its amusement! Fear wracked her delicate body. She was so terrified she couldn't speak, her hand only clenching tighter around the object in her palm.

In her palm was the hotel business card Xu Lai had given her before he left, the one with the character 'Xu' written on it.

No-Face had been lurking in the shadows for hours. It hadn't even bothered to stop that nuisance Xu Lai from leaving. "Do you really believe that the talisman in your hand can keep you safe?" it asked with great earnestness.

Su Daiyi bit her lip hard, still too frightened to say a word.

Dongfang Xun, however, was already shaking his head. It's useless. The one who crafted my life-saving Jade Pendant had a level of cultivation comparable to my own master, Li Sanbai, yet what happened to it? It popped like a bubble. As for Xu Lai, he was a Martial Ancestor. Even setting aside whether he knew anything about Artifact Refining, how skilled could someone so young possibly be?

"Not even an immortal could save us now…" Dongfang Xun murmured in despair. "We're going to die today…"

"Did I give you permission to speak? Say one more word, and you die!" No-Face slapped Dongfang Xun across the face. The stark red palm print was glaring, but Dongfang Xun didn't dare to even whimper.

The monster then turned its attention back to Su Daiyi.

"I think I'll tear you apart piece by piece," it said teasingly. "Now, let's see… where should I start?"

The monster reached out, intending to lift Su Daiyi's chin to get a closer look at the fear on the pretty girl's face.

However, before its fingertip could touch her cheek, the monster shrieked in pain. Its entire arm had burst into flames, and the fire was spreading rapidly to the rest of its body.

"What is this!?" No-Face cried out in alarm, frantically trying to pat out the flames.

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