"AAAH…" Facing the young boy, the old man struggled even more violently than before, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't even move a muscle, let alone free himself.

In the end, he could only stop and look at the boy helplessly.

"Let me go." His voice was completely different from how it was in his first conversation with Yang Ze. Instead of playfulness, it was full of anger.

"Let me go or else…" Seeing Yang Ze just sitting there, he threatened him once again, and this time, Yang Ze finally opened his eyes.

"....." Yang Ze didn't say a word. He simply pulled his table close to the old man. It wasn't until his body was just a foot away from the old man that he stopped, raised his hand with the knife towards the old man's right hand.

The old man merely thought that perhaps Yang Ze was going to cut him loose, but before he even had time to react, Yang Ze slashed the knife at the old man's right hand, and with the sound of air whistling, one of the old man's fingers was severed.

"....."

"....."

The scene plunged into a deathly silence before the old man's heart-wrenching scream filled the air.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH"

The pain of his finger being chopped off was too much for an old man his age. His body struggled even more, wanting to break free from the vines, but to no avail.

Yang Ze quietly looked at him without speaking a single word. He watched as the old man kept on screaming in pain for almost ten minutes.

Finally, when the old man's screaming lessened, he raised the knife and then, without any hesitation, slashed it down once again, chopping off one more finger of his hand.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH"

This time, the old man's initial scream was even more miserable than before, but clearly weakened.

Just like before, Yang Ze didn't say a word but waited patiently for the old man to stop screaming before raising the knife in his hand for the third time, clearly wanting to chop off another finger. But before he could do that, the old man hurriedly screamed at the top of his lungs.

"What do you want?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Yang Ze didn't reply but simply slashed the knife in his hand once again, severing the third finger of the old man.

"AAHHHHHH"

Once again, the scream of the old man filled the air.

It was only then that Yang Ze waved his hand as the knife disappeared, and in its place was a thick ball of cotton along with a few white bandages.

Under the old man's hate-filled gaze, he placed the cotton on the severed fingers before wrapping the bandages around.

It was only then that he exhaled a mouthful of air, looked at the old man, and opened his mouth to speak.

"One finger for harming Yan-er."

"One finger for lying to me."

"And one finger for trying to attack me."

Exhaling a mouthful of air, Yang Ze patted the old man's wrinkled face a few times before speaking further.

"Now I am going to ask a few questions. And every time you refuse to answer or lie to me, I will take one of your fingers."

"Is that clear?"

Even though the old man was going through unimaginable pain, he still nodded in response. By now, his back was covered in cold sweat as he tried his best to hold back his painful screams.

"Good."

With a nod, Yang Ze relaxed as he asked his first question.

"What is this place?"

The old man glanced hatefully at the little bastard who was torturing him like this. If eyes could kill, Yang Ze would have died a million times already. Never in his life had he been treated like this. For a moment, he even wanted to lash out at the boy like a wild animal, tear his flesh and drink his blood.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't even move even if he wanted to.

Seeing no response from the old man other than a gaze filled with hate and murderous intent, Yang Ze simply raised his hand as a knife appeared out of thin air before he slashed towards the old man's fourth finger.

"NO… WAIT." The old man almost screamed at the top of his lungs, but Yang Ze didn't stop. In the next moment, the knife in his hands flashed, and the old man was missing one more finger.

"UUUGHHHH…" This time, the old man suppressed his scream as his gaze towards Yang Ze was filled with incomparable rage and hate.

"This finger is for not answering the question."

With a wave of his hand, the knife disappeared again as Yang Ze repeated his question.

"What is this place?"

"Didn't I already tell you? It's a Death Zone." The old man spoke while gritting his teeth.

"Who are you?" Yang asked again with the same emotionless voice.

"The priest… the priest of the village."

"Mmm…" Yang Ze furrowed one of his brows as one side of his face lifted up as if he was having a hard time believing the old man.

"I feel like you are not telling me the truth."

"Well, whatever." With these words, the knife once again appeared in his hand as he aimed for the fifth finger, but before he could even move his hand, the old man hurriedly spoke further.

"AN OUTSIDER."

His words made Yang Ze furrow his brows in response as he lowered the knife.

"I came from the outside world."

Speaking these words, the old man's body slumped down as if this single sentence took all his strength.

"Go on…" Yang Ze himself hadn't expected such a revelation. For a while, even he was shocked by the sudden truth. The man considered the priest of the village was actually an outsider, just like him. If earlier he merely wanted to gather intelligence to complete Lin Meilin's task, then right now, he was truly interested in this place.

"Huff… huff…" Suppressing the raging pain in his hand, the old man began to speak in a solemn voice.

"I came to this place almost seventy years ago." Taking a deep breath, the old man closed his eyes.

"At that time, I was running away from my enemies and ended up in this death zone."

"Initially, my plan was to stay in this place for a while to recover from my injuries and progress further in my cultivation before leaving this place, but…"

"But I discovered something here."

"..."

Yang Ze simply nodded in response, getting more and more curious about it.

"When I first came here, I was rescued by the village chief. She tended to my injuries and showed me around."

"At that time, the only thing on my mind was to get out of this god-forsaken place and had no interest in walking around."

"But at that time, my injuries were too heavy."

"Gradually, the two of us fell in love and decided to get married."

Speaking till here, the old man's voice trembled for a moment as if he were reliving the moments.

"And soon enough… the two of us got married."

"Do you know how happy I was at that time?" The old man let out a forced chuckle as his eyes turned a bit hazy, but the constant agonising pain in his hand made him unable to focus on it for a long time. In the end, he could only talk about it to lessen his pain.

"At that time, I even forgot about going back, the revenge and everything from the outside world. I didn't even want to go back. I had given up completely. I wanted to live for myself… This was my second chance, and I didn't want to mess it up."

"But of course… life has other plans."

Speaking till here, the old man went silent for a long time. Yang Ze, on the other hand, didn't lift his knife. Instead, he let the old man dwell in his memory for a while longer.

"A deadly plague broke out in the village."

"Because I was a cultivator, it didn't have any effect on me. My wife and others, on the other hand, weren't so lucky."

"She died in my arms."

"..."

"..."

Were it before, Yang Ze would have definitely consoled the poor old bastard. But after the last stunt he pulled on him, he didn't even bat an eye. He simply waited for him to finish his sob story.

"After that… I was at a loss." The old man didn't even lift his head but kept looking at the ground underneath him as if his soul was taken away.

"I felt like my life had lost all its meaning, so I spent every day in misery."

"And finally, I found solace."

"In the god of this village?" Yang Ze added further.

"Yes. In the god of this village." The old man didn't refute.

"I came across a book detailing the history of this place and the heaven-defying techniques in it."

"And so, I decided to practise them."

"But to do that, I had to give up my cultivation. It was the price for following the god."

"And so… for years, I practised the techniques."

"I even acted as the mouthpiece of the god and demanded sacrifice."

Speaking till here, the old man paused for a moment, letting Yang Ze digest everything that he had just said.

Although Yang Ze was surprised that the old man was willing to talk this much, he still didn't fully believe him.

'If only I had a talent that could tell truth and lies apart.' This small journey to this 'Death-zone' has refreshed his understanding of the world. Earlier, he had always been with the girls, so he never took action by himself. It was only now that he was acting alone for the first time that he realised just how many things he had been missing.

Earlier, he felt that his talents were more than enough for any situation. It was only now that he realised just how wrong he had been. He had decided to get his hands on some miscellaneous talents that could help him in these kinds of situations, regardless of rarity.

"So, you were the one who asked the villagers fora sacrifice?" Yang Ze couldn't help but think about his little conversation with the girls before. At that time, he was told that they used to sacrifice a pair of children.

"Yes." The old man replied in a flat tone.

"And then what happened?" Yang Ze asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Then…" The old man scoffed angrily while gritting his teeth in response.

"Then that damned bitch from the outside appeared here."

Yang Ze could feel the genuine anger in his voice as the old man spoke further with a heart full of rage.

"Initially, I didn't even want to interact with her, but that bitch had to ruin everything."

"Just because that old village chief saved her life, she kept on insisting on ways to repay her."

"And wouldn't you know it… she was already meddling in our affairs. Constantly asking about the sacrifice ceremony and its importance. And if that wasn't enough, she even kept on snooping around the sacred cave."

Taking a short breath, the old man screamed at the top of his lungs.

"SHE POISONED THE MINDS OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS VILLAGE."

"SHE TURNED THEM AGAINST ME."

"And one day, all of them refused to hold a sacrifice."

"Instead, they came after me… ME"

"They thought that by killing me, all their problems would disappear."

"They thought that by getting rid of me, their lives would be peaceful."

"And so, together, they came after me. Intending to put an end to me.'

By now, the old man's voice had turned hoarse as he let out a wild laugh.

"Pompous bastards."

"So, you killed them?" Yang Ze merely rasied an eyebrow.

"No."

The old man's answer surprised Yang Ze, but before he could ask what happened to them, the old man spoke further.

"I gave them a fate worse than death."

"...."

"...."

"What exactly did you do?" Yang Ze couldn't help but ask again.

"Heh… You will find out soon." The old man simply laughed at the young boy in front of him.

Yang Ze went silent for a long time as he gazed deeply at the old man in front of him, whose face was filled with madness.

"Is that all?"

His words abruptly brought a halt to the old man's wild laughter.

"So let me get this straight…"

"This village gave you shelter, treated your injuries and even gave you a home. You fell in love with the village chief and married her."

"And in return, you sacrificed their children… murdered their people, and when someone from the outside tried to help, you sacrificed the entire village and left the children alone so you could keep on sacrificing them?"

"Am I right?"

"Heh. What a shallow understanding of my great cause." The old man merely sneered at the boy in front of him.

"Oh… So do tell me." Yang Ze couldn't help but inch his face close to the old man's.

"What great cause is there for you to do such vile things?"

"Were it the so-called techniques that you practised after sacrificing your cultivation?"

The old man went quiet for a long time before looking Yang Ze deadpan in the eyes and uttering a sentence that shook him to the very core.

"Yes."

"I found a technique that could bring the dead back to life."

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