Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 155
Chapter 155: Earth Corpse Gu Pill
Elder Jinnan didn’t expect this matter to implicate Xia Yu. The latter was an outstanding bud who had evoked seven tolls from the Spirit Gauging Bell! He was going to become one of the pillars of the South Heaven Sect!
“Daoist Fang, do you have evidence regarding that?” Elder Jinnan grimly asked.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of calamity would befall the South Heaven Sect if he brought someone who had once colluded with the Blood Spirit Cult back. I have to tread carefully here!
“Elder Jinnan, he’s maligning me! We have been on bad terms from a young age because… he envies me! Right, he envies me! He wants to stifle me like what he did to Li Huafeng!” Xia Yu frantically exclaimed.
Elder Jinnan glanced at Xia Yu. “You stay quiet first.”
Xia Yu immediately shut his mouth, but he glared at Fang Chen with fiery eyes.
The Great Xia’s emperor staggered. A hint of blood appeared at the corner of his lips.
Li Guozhu and the others noticed his abnormal condition and worriedly advised, “Your Majesty, you should take a rest!”
The Great Xia’s emperor waved his hand. He looked at Fang Chen with a pale face and asked, “Imperial Duke Fang, you’re saying that my son, Xia Yu, and Xiao Shence… colluded with the Blood Spirit Cult?”
At this point, his face suddenly became agitated. “I am your uncle! Tell me the truth! Is Xia Yu really involved in this matter?!”
Uncle? Elder Jinnan and Abbess Moonchaser exchanged looks. They didn’t expect there to be such a relationship between Fang Chen and the Great Xia’s emperor.
“This matter has nothing to do with the crown prince!” Xiao Shence glared at Fang Chen. “Don’t you try to drag innocent people down!”
Ironically, his frantic response only made the truth evident to the crowd.
“Your Highness, there are still a few Blood Pills in your manor that you failed to consume or destroy in time… You must have been reluctant to destroy it since they are from a cultivator,” Fang Chen remarked with a smile.
Xia Yu’s face darkened. He did have a few Blood Pills stashed away, and he dared not carry them in the presence of Elder Jinnan and the other cultivators. He would have never imagined that Fang Chen would be so bold as to raid his Crown Prince Manor and dig up the Blood Pills.
Huang Sihai took out a few porcelain bottles and passed them to Elder Jinnan and Abbess Moonchaser for inspection. The two of them immediately sensed the blood essence gathered inside those pills.
Normal cultivators wouldn’t concoct such pills. Not only did it not bring them any benefit, but it also raised the risks of them going berserk.
“Other than that, some of the Blood Spirit Cultists have spent some time in the Crown Prince Manor too. This can be easily unearthed by interrogating the Crown Prince Manor’s maids and eunuchs,” Fang Chen said. “Xia Yu, are you still going to insist on your innocence?”
“You’re maligning me!” Xia Yu clenched his jaws, as beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
Elder Jinnan sighed. “I have a pill that I acquired from a malevolent cultivator I killed a while back. It’s the Earth Corpse Gu Pill.”
“Earth Corpse Gu Pill?” Abbess Moonchaser frowned. “Such a pill has never appeared in Infernoblaze before…”
“Master, what’s that?” Abbess Clearlotus was curious.
Li Daoye grimly alternated his gaze between Elder Jinnan and Xia Yu. He seemed to have heard about the Earth Corpse Gu Pill before.
“The Earth Corpse Gu Pill is a tool used by malevolent cultivators to interrogate others. Normal cultivators can hardly withstand it. If a mortal consumes it, they’ll honestly answer any question. However, consuming this pill will erode a person’s foundation and hinder their cultivation,” Abbess Moonchaser replied.
Xia Yu sweated even more profusely upon hearing that. He looked at Elder Jinnan in fright.
“You have a cultivation talent of seven tolls. Your aptitude will slide to around five or six tolls after consuming this pill,” Elder Jinnan said. “However, this will prove your innocence. If you are innocent, I’ll still take you to the South Heaven Sect even if your cultivation talent slides.”
Are these cultivator means? Li Guozhu and the others were intrigued. Such a pill sounded utterly mystical to them.
“Choose. Will you eat it or not?” Elder Jinnan calmly asked.
Xia Yu’s body stiffened up. He stared at the pill on Elder Jinnan’s palm with frightful eyes, and seconds later, he suddenly laughed bitterly. “My cultivation talent will be crippled if I eat that pill. What’s the use of proving my innocence then?”
“I won’t bring you to the South Heaven Sect if you refuse to take the pill. Your cultivation talent will be futile if you don’t have anyone to guide you. It’s a small price to pay,” Elder Jinnan said.
“I shan’t go then.” Xia Yu gritted his teeth. “The South Heaven Sect might be unwilling to take me in, but I believe that there are other places that will take me in. I have never colluded with the Blood Spirit Cultist, and I see no reason to prove myself. I refuse to eat that pill!”
Elder Jinnan’s face darkened. “You don’t have a choice!”
He flicked his hand, and the pill flew right into Xia Yu’s mouth. The latter stiffened up before his expression suddenly turned dazed.
“Have you ever colluded with the Blood Spirit Cult?” Elder Jinnan coldly asked.
He actually already had an answer in his mind.
“I have colluded with the Blood Spirit Cult.” Xia Yu nodded.
The Great Xia’s emperor slumped on his throne.
Xia Yun’s face turned incomparably livid. He would have never thought that one of his descendants would actually foolishly bring harm upon their people.
Xiao Shence’s face twisted in despair. He weakly fell to his knees.
Li Guozhu and the others shook their heads. He had never thought that the Great Xia’s crown prince would do something like that, viewing their people as mere ants!
“Hmph!” Elder Jinnan sneered. “Did you know they were Blood Spirit Cultists? Did you know their goal? What did you intend to achieve by colluding with them?”
Xia Yu dazedly replied, “I initially didn’t know who they were. I only knew they were cultivators wielding extraordinary means. Later, they told me they wanted to use Great Xia as a cauldron to concoct a batch of Blood Spirit Divine Pills, and they wanted me to cooperate with them.
“I spent days considering their offer, and I eventually accepted it as they promised to give me what I wanted. I wanted to make Great Xia more prosperous. I wanted to raise it to grade-8 or even grade-7. It’s worthwhile to sacrifice some civilians in exchange for that.”
The crowd frowned.
These should be Xia Yu’s earnest thoughts, given that he had swallowed the Earth Corpse Gu Pill. There was nothing wrong with wanting to prop Great Xia up and become a great emperor that would go down in history.
However, he should have never used his people as bargaining chips!
“How many people know about this?” Fang Chen asked.
Xia Yu began reciting a couple of names, “Ex-Valiant Defenders Commander Xiao Shence, Enforcement Envoy Liu, Vice Minister of Rites Qin Dong…”
There were eighteen names in total, and they took important posts in the imperial court. They might not have reached the level of a minister, but their responsibilities were so important that they could easily raise a storm in Great Xia if they wanted to.
Tao Mingsheng and the others gasped in shock. They couldn’t believe that so many of their colleagues were colluding with the Blood Spirit Cult!
“Tao Yu, Ye Qinghe, and Li Huafeng—are the three of them aware of this?” Fang Chen asked.
“They don’t know.” Xia Yu shook his head.
Tao Mingsheng breathed a long sigh of relief. He knew his son well. Tao Yu would have distanced himself from the crown prince if he knew about this matter, perhaps even insisting on reporting this matter upward despite the risks.
“Old Huang, capture everyone on the name list. Don’t let anyone escape,” Fang Chen instructed.
“Yes, young master!” Huang Sihai nodded.
