Chapter Ninety-Two: The Search

Inside a hidden cavern somewhere within the Chen Kingdom.

“Master, this is the Bat Soul divine weapon.”

A member of the demonic cult knelt on one knee before Zhuge Huang, holding a long blade aloft with both hands.

“The divine weapon has been left here. Then where has its owner gone?”

After glancing once at the weapon, Zhuge Huang turned his gaze to Yue Geng, who stood respectfully behind him.

“Yue Geng, my favorite disciple, tell me. Where has the master of Bat Soul gone?”

With a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, Zhuge Huang looked toward Yue Geng.

“Master, I have sinned.”

At once, Yue Geng dropped to both knees and lowered herself deeply before Zhuge Huang.

“Oh?”

“Then tell me, what is your crime?”

Zhuge Huang lifted Bat Soul lightly between two fingers.

At the moment his fingers touched it, a dark red, eerie glow began to flicker along the blade. Faint cries seemed to issue from the divine weapon, making it all the more uncanny.

“I failed to keep watch over Li Ju’s movements. I delayed the cult’s grand design. This disciple deserves death.”

Yue Geng pressed her forehead to the ground, her posture humble to the extreme.

“Yes. You let one of Bat Soul’s blood offerings escape. You delayed Bat Soul’s advancement, and you delayed the cult’s great plan.”

“You are guilty. Very guilty.”

With the slightest pressure of his fingers, the strange phenomena on the divine weapon vanished at once.

“I am curious. Why is it that Li Ju, a man with no foundation and no backing at all, was able to resist Bat Soul’s temptation?”

“Was it because he has always been cautious and thus guarded against it? Or because he learned the secret hidden within Bat Soul?”

Zhuge Huang’s voice echoed through the cavern.

“If he truly knew the secret concealed within Bat Soul, then where did he learn it from?”

Turning, Zhuge Huang looked down at Yue Geng, still prostrate on the ground.

“Master, please be assured. Though I was unable, for lack of ability, to keep Li Ju from disappearing right under my nose, my loyalty to the cult is beyond doubt. I would never betray the cult’s secrets!”

Sensing Zhuge Huang’s gaze, Yue Geng hastily spoke.

“Haha.”

With a soft laugh, Zhuge Huang reached down and helped Yue Geng rise from her kneeling position.

“How could I suspect you? You are the closest disciple I trust most.”

“And as for Bat Soul’s secrets, you know nothing of them either.”

He first set Yue Geng upright, then patted her shoulder.

“Thank you for your trust, Master.”

Yue Geng’s face was full of gratitude, though inwardly she let out a long breath of relief.

“However...”

Thud.

Yue Geng stared blankly at the long blade that had pierced straight through her body.

“Bat Soul requires nourishment. Since you lost its offering, then you shall make up for the loss yourself.”

Zhuge Huang whispered into Yue Geng’s ear.

“M-Master... no...”

Yue Geng tried to say something, but the instant she opened her mouth, her body began to rot and collapse at terrifying speed.

Thud.

A pool of white liquid splashed onto the ground.

“No matter how powerful a martial artist may be, once the three vital essences of the body are drained away, all that remains is a useless puddle of water.”

From his robes, Zhuge Huang drew out a handkerchief and gently wiped the drops of water from Bat Soul’s blade.

“You agree, don’t you, Mu Sheng?”

At his words, a figure emerged from the cavern’s darkness.

It was none other than Lin Mu Sheng, once one of the former Four Fiends of the demonic cult.

Lin Mu Sheng looked somewhat complicatedly at the pool of liquid left behind by Yue Geng.

“Sometimes, I can’t help but feel fortunate that I was never qualified to inherit the position of cult leader.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Mu Sheng finally spoke.

“Because you fear you would become like me?”

Zhuge Huang took a scabbard from the side and slowly sheathed Bat Soul.

“You truly are becoming more and more like a demon,” Lin Mu Sheng said.

“Our sect is a demonic cult. As the leader of a demonic cult, what is wrong with resembling a demon?”

Zhuge Huang countered.

“But in the end, you are still human, not a demon. Demon is only a title.”

Lin Mu Sheng let out a long sigh.

“A title only? Perhaps.”

Zhuge Huang smiled and shook his head.

After that, silence lingered in the cavern for a long while.

“Actually, what you should be grateful for is not that you were unqualified to become leader, but that you never broke through to the half-step Small Three-Essence realm.”

Zhuge Huang said suddenly.

“Hm?”

Lin Mu Sheng looked at him with some confusion.

Yet Zhuge Huang did not answer his doubt. Instead, he changed the subject.

“Has our Bat Soul weapon’s owner been found yet?”

Zhuge Huang asked.

“Not yet. However, it is currently suspected that he has already left the Chen Kingdom. He may have gone toward the Yellow Sand Desert, or perhaps the Eastern Sea Isles.”

Lin Mu Sheng answered in a low voice.

“He has left the Chen Kingdom...”

“Where is his senior brother now?”

Zhuge Huang asked again.

“He has also vanished. And Wang Lu disappeared on the very same day as Li Ju.”

“Before Wang Lu vanished, the last place he was seen was Mount Songcui. On that day, Hai Yuanyi was in the midst of disgraceful pursuits.”

As he spoke, Lin Mu Sheng shook his head.

“I see. Then it seems our little senior brother likely discovered some unspeakable secret within his own household, had his heart broken by it, and left this sorrowful land of the Chen Kingdom together with his junior brother.”

“Of course, that may not be the case.”

Zhuge Huang shook his head helplessly.

“Mobilize all hidden agents of the cult at once and find Li Ju’s trail.”

“After all, Bat Soul misses its master very deeply.”

Zhuge Huang looked down at the sheathed Bat Soul in his hand and gently stroked it.

“You agree, don’t you, Bat Soul?”

Buzz.

A dim radiance rippled across Bat Soul’s surface.

Meanwhile, in the Water City, at Mirror Lake, within the ancient tomb beneath the lake.

Li Ju set aside, for the time being, the questions that had begun to rise in his mind regarding the demonic cult, and reached out to seize the divine weapon.

“Demonic cult divine weapon, Long Soul Severing Blade.”

As he lightly rubbed the surface of the weapon, Li Ju recalled Xiao Hao’s description of it.

Although the Eight Divine Weapons of the demonic cult were immensely famous, the cult’s collection of divine weapons was not limited to those eight alone, just as its internal arts were not limited to the Eight Great Techniques.

Aside from those eight blades, forged personally by the cult’s founder, Mo Jiren, and standing as the most powerful weapons symbolizing the cult’s inheritance, there were also other divine weapons within the demonic cult that were of more ordinary quality. Some had been forged by the cult itself; others had been seized from rival sects and then modified.

Of course, though Xiao Hao described these weapons as ordinary in quality, that was only in comparison with the Eight Divine Weapons. They were still authentic, fully qualified divine weapons, and possessed incredible might.