Chu Qiguang didn't bother to clear up Ding Daoxiao's misunderstanding.

"Ding... What was your name again? Ding Dong?"

Ding Daoxiao gritted his teeth in fury, but he swallowed his pride and replied, "My name is Ding Daoxiao."

"Ah, yes, Ding Dongxiao. Long time no see, Little Ding Dong. How'd you end up like this?"

Ding Daoxiao had to force back the derogatory slurs that threatened to burst out of his mouth.

Given his current situation, he could only suppress his rage and ask, "Why did you attack us when we already pledged our allegiance to the Great Qian Empire?"

"You're humans, not fiends, so we have to make sure all of you are firmly under our control," Chu Qiguang explained.

"What happened to Li Changqing? Is he still alive?" Ding Daoxiao asked.

"He's been sent to the grasslands to rest and recuperate. Someone important has plans for him," Chu Qiguang replied.

Ding Daoxiao's mind was racing, and he quickly decided to try using Chu Qiguang to his advantage.

He put on an earnest expression and said, "I can serve the Great Qian Empire as well."

Chu Qiguang shook his head with a smile.

"Why is Li Changqing allowed to serve the Great Qian Empire, but I'm not?" Ding Daoxiao asked.

"Li Changqing has already agreed to become a fiend," Chu Qiguang replied.

"I can do the same!" Ding Daoxiao hurriedly said.

"Who do you think you are?" Chu Qiguang sneered. "Li Changqing is one of the fifteen Demon Vanquishing Department's thousand-man commanders. He has information that's very useful to us."

"I know where one of the twenty-five orthodox arts is," Ding Daoxiao declared.

"You expect me to believe that?" Chu Qiguang scoffed.

Ding Daoxiao gritted his teeth momentarily, but ultimately decided that it was too soon to reveal the location of the Sumeru King Scripture.

Instead, he asked, "What are you planning to do with me?"

"Do you know how many fiends in the north want you dead?" Chu Qiguang chuckled.

Ding Daoxiao was naturally aware that the Ding Clan had extorted a great deal of resources from the fiend race through illegal trade, and he fell into a contemplative silence, but his mind felt foggy and numb, making it difficult to think clearly.

As Chu Qiguang turned to leave, Ding Daoxiao hurriedly insisted, "I really do have leads on the whereabouts of one of the twenty-five orthodox arts! Let me speak to your superiors!"

From there, Chu Qiguang played Ding Daoxiao to perfection, stretching and squeezing him psychologically like a spring until he was utterly exhausted.

By the time Chu Qiguang finally agreed to let him meet his superior, Ding Daoxiao was overcome by a huge sense of relief.

Moments later, Chen Gang arrived. His fiendish bloodline had been temporarily stimulated, and his entire body was covered in dog fur.

"You're Ding Daoxiao? You say you know the whereabouts of one of the twenty-five orthodox arts?"

In Ding Daoxiao's eyes, Chen Gang's fiendish appearance made him much more trustworthy than Chu Qiguang. However, he was still unwilling to reveal the location of the Sumeru King Scripture right away and wanted to negotiate more terms.

However, his mind grew foggier with each passing moment, and Chen Gang seemed completely unconvinced that he actually knew where to find one of the twenty-five orthodox arts. He then openly expressed his hatred for the Ding Clan and threatened to kill Ding Daoxiao.

With his mind becoming more and more scrambled, Ding Daoxiao finally broke under the pressure and revealed the location of the Sumeru King Scripture.

"You have to believe me! Send someone to that location and dig it up! I also know many secrets about the Great Han Empire and the Demon Vanquishing Department, so I can still be very useful!"

***

After digging around for some time near a locust tree around five kilometers away from the Ding Manor, Qiao Zhi and Chu Qiguang finally unearthed a box.

The box contained a book and various medicines.

It was unclear what material the book was made from, but the moment Qiao Zhi saw it, he exclaimed triumphantly, "This is it! The Sumeru King Scripture! The Sumeru Strength Scripture is one of the four prized arts of the Demon Vanquishing Department, but that's only an incomplete version of the Sumeru King Scripture." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Qiao Zhi had once told Chu Qiguang that Ding Daoxiao was able to climb rapidly up the ranks in the Demon Vanquishing Department after offering up the Sumeru King Scripture.

Qiao Zhi then examined the medicines in the box, and an delghted look appeared on his face as he said, "The five Qi Enhancement Pills aren't anything special, but this Lion Tiger Transformation Ointment is something that you can't get with any amount of money unless you have the right connections! Once you reach the fourth state, consuming just a single batch of this ointment will elevate your entire skeletal structure to the pinnacle of the fourth state!"

Ding Daoxiao was only able to purchase this batch of Lion Tiger Transformation Ointment through Daoist Master Azure Spirit. The ointment contained a significant amount of pill poison, so his plan had been to strengthen his body with Qi Enhancement Pills before using the ointment. However, he had been in such a hurry to leave that he hadn’t gotten the chance to bring the medicines with him.

Chu Qiguang quickly departed with the scriptures and the medicines, but he didn't return to kill Ding Daoxiao right away. Instead, he patiently bided his time.

That night, his condition flared up again, and he arrived before Ding Daoxiao with palpable aggression radiating from his body. At this point, Ding Daoxiao already looked dazed, and it seemed difficult for him to even focus his eyes on Chu Qiguang.

Chu Qiguang smiled as he loosened some of the chains binding Ding Daoxiao and asked, "Are you not curious about your current condition?"

Ding Daoxiao reflexively looked down. Only after some of the chains were removed was he finally able to see his own body. His entire body had been ravaged beyond recognition, and his internal organs were spilling out. There was no way someone with injuries like these should still be alive.

The shock and horror of the sight seemed restore some clarity to his numb mind, and he screamed, "What the hell did you do?!"

"The medicine I fed you is called the elixir of undying," Chu Qiguang explained with a sinister grin. "I took some while capturing those Immortal Dao followers in Inkstone Village. How'd it taste? Your clan has fed this to all the miners on Plum Mountain, so it's only right that you had a taste of it as well."

Ding Daoxiao was naturally aware of the effects of the elixir of undying, and he finally understood how he had recovered from his injuries so quickly.

The reality was that he hadn't recovered at all. Instead, he was slowly turning into a living corpse, one that didn't feel pain and wasn't affected by normal injuries.

His mind was also gradually becoming numb as part of this transformation.

An unprecedented sense of rage consumed Ding Daoxiao as he struggled desperately to attack Chu Qiguang, but the chains held him firmly in place.

"Why?! Why are you going this far?! Why not just kill me and get it over with?!" he roared, terrified at the thought of becoming a living corpse.

"You know why the entire county joined forces to target your Ding Clan today? I was the one who orchestrated all of it," Chu Qiguang revealed, then recounted to Ding Daoxiao how he had brought about the Ding Clan's downfall.

"All the decision-makers of the Ding Clan are going to be sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, while everyone else will be banished to the border. As for the women, they'll all be sent to the brothel division to serve officials with their bodies."

Ding Daoxiao was about to be driven mad with rage, and if Chu Qiguang had been within reach, he would've torn him apart with his bare teeth!

"Do you still remember the two men you killed to obtain the Sumeru King Scripture?" Chu Qiguang suddenly asked.