Chapter 2603 — Sun Jingyan in Trouble
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Sun Jingyan, is it? You and a man named Zhang Naipao went to the Wulonghaote Mountains, made off with a great treasure, and killed my sixth, twelfth, and thirteenth brothers?" Xiao Yi wasted no time in beating around the bush and came straight to the point.
"Since you've investigated it all so thoroughly, what need is there to ask me?" Sun Jingyan was no fool. This man had dug up even her name, and knew that she and Wei Zhao had been to the Wulonghaote Mountains. Even if he did not know Wei Zhao's name, his understanding of the affair was close enough to the truth. So there was all the less reason for her to conceal anything. "You've come to avenge them?"
"You could say yes, and you could say no. You don't seem to have much strength about you, so the killing was most likely done by that fellow called Zhang Naipao. Now I'll give you a chance at life: what was that great treasure you obtained? Tell me, and I won't kill you," Xiao Yi said.
"The treasure?" Sun Jingyan paused to consider. A wise man did not fight against the odds, and that treasure seemed to be of little use to her anymore. Besides, even if she said nothing, the man could search her room and find it all the same. So she simply said outright, "It's over there on the bed, in that little box."
Xiao Yi had not expected things to go so smoothly. All his grand threats and intimidations had gone unused—which saved him the trouble. He picked up the little box from the bed and opened it, but when he saw what was inside, his brow furrowed.
"A true-qi energy stone?" Xiao Yi took the stone out and looked it over a few times, then tossed it back into the box. "And a true-qi energy stone that's nearly used up, at that? This is the great treasure you obtained?"
"That's it. What else would there be?" Sun Jingyan was taken aback. Was there supposed to be something besides this?
"Just this one? This thing can only speed up one's cultivation a little—it can't bring you anywhere near the heavenly Way." Xiao Yi had no interest in the energy stone at all and tossed it back onto the bed. Frowning, he asked, "You're not lying?"
Sun Jingyan shook her head. "No."
"Look me in the eye!" Xiao Yi barked suddenly.
"Ah..." Sun Jingyan looked up reflexively and met Xiao Yi's eyes. But the instant she did, her face turned to a look of bewilderment; the tension in her eyes was gone, replaced by a blank stare.
"Phew..." Xiao Yi smiled faintly at the sight of her. His hypnosis had worked. For cultivators, hypnosis was in essence a release of spiritual power; powerful alchemists and artifact smiths could all employ it, and those who came out of that place all knew a little alchemy, so they were no strangers to hypnosis either.
Of course, that was limited to ordinary people like Sun Jingyan, who had not a shred of cultivation strength. If the subject were a cultivator—even a Yellow-Rank one—it would be somewhat difficult; against a Mystic-Rank or Earth-Rank cultivator, success was all but impossible, unless one commanded a hypnosis art of truly heaven-defying power.