The Aloof Lord's Mysterious Wife-Chapter 821: Deceptively Cunning!

As an independent cultivator, the elder had fought through years of hardship to break through to the Golden Core mid-stage. During this time, he had likely carried out many dirty tasks for Qingwu, tasks he now despised himself for.

So when he saw these younger disciples with higher cultivation than him, a deep resentment began to stir within him. He thought to himself, If only I had joined a sect earlier, I’d at least be at the Deity Forming stage by now.

"Shandu Master, you don’t need to rush. Once we deal with her, you’ll have your turn," the middle-aged cultivator said.

"Don’t delay any further, strike quickly," he urged. Time was of the essence; they didn’t want any unexpected complications later.

The young female cultivator, who had experienced the Wrath of Thunder, knew its power well and didn’t think it was a concern now. "What’s the rush? In her current state, she can’t possibly fight back," she said with a cold smile, drawing her sword. "Nanli, does your belly hurt? Should I help you with that?"

Nan Li stared at her. "What do you want?"

The young female cultivator let out a cold laugh. "If I dig them out, won’t they stop draining the essence blood and spiritual power from your body?"

Her voice grew icier with every word.

There was little doubt—this was most likely the children of Celestial Sovereign Jifeng.

But why?

Why should Nan Li be the one blessed with such fortune—not only possessing profound cultivation, but also carrying Celestial Sovereign Jifeng’s children?

Nanli’s expression shifted slightly, her eyes darkening. "You’re so young, yet so cruel. Are you acting under Qingwu’s orders, or Yan Buxiu’s?"

"Tsk, don’t try to fish for information," the young cultivator retorted, then immediately lunged at Nanli’s abdomen with her sword.

The elder and the middle-aged cultivator didn’t interfere.

"Master Nanli!" Shandu cried out.

However—

Nanli swiftly used both hands to catch the sword, freezing the young cultivator in her tracks.

Before the young cultivator could even react, Nanli unleashed her spiritual power, causing the sword to snap in half and the spiritual energy to flow back through the sword, hitting the young cultivator’s body.

In an instant, the young female cultivator’s meridians shattered, and her Dantian was crushed.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground with a thud, unable to rise.

With a flicker, Nanli vanished from the spot. Her robes, however, were untouched by any blood.

Her movements were fluid and decisive, showing no sign of weakness. "She was pretending! Run quickly!" the elder shouted, already leaping onto his sword to flee.

The middle-aged cultivator considered following, but before he could, Nanli was right in front of him. She grabbed his throat with one hand and shot the broken sword at the elder, who had been airborne, sending him plummeting toward the ground.

The sword embedded itself precisely in his Dantian, rendering his spiritual power useless. He could only muster the last of his energy to land softly on the ground, kneeling and kowtowing. "I didn’t see clearly, I’ve offended you, please forgive me!"

Nanli looked down at his Dantian, noticing that his spiritual energy was leaking out. He didn’t immediately pull the broken sword out; instead, he knelt and begged for mercy, which struck her as an interesting display of survival instinct. No wonder he’s lasted so long—he knows how to kneel at the right time.

"Who sent you?" Nanli asked coldly.

The elder didn’t hesitate to answer first. "We are independent cultivators from the Upper Realm, serving Qingwu in secret. We’ve been ordered to come to the Human World, Mu Nation, on his command."

He was inwardly regretting it.

Qingwu had warned them that Nanli was very cunning and difficult to deal with, and they had taken that to heart. But now, they had fallen into her trap.

Cunning? No, she’s deceptively cunning!

From the beginning, she hadn’t asked for any protection from Cinian and the others, instead pretending to be weak—just to lure them out.

Nanli seemed to have figured it out already. She asked, "Do you have any other allies?"

The elder answered, "That’s already the second question... We’ll answer truthfully, but please spare our lives."

Nanli raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you’re in a position to negotiate with me?"

The elder’s face darkened, but being shrewd, he said, "Qingwu has sent many independent cultivators and Qi Refining warriors to lurk here, waiting for an opportunity. We just want to cooperate with you to expose them. If we help you, you can rest easy knowing that this will be mutually beneficial."

"That’s right!" the middle-aged cultivator added hastily, though his voice was tense. "Without our information, you’d never be able to root them all out."

Nanli could tell they were still underestimating her. She didn’t bother wasting more words. Instead, she applied a Puppet Talisman to them and tossed some paper and ink in front of them, saying coldly, "Write down the names, backgrounds, and hideouts of the others."

The elder and middle-aged cultivator tried to resist, but their hands were beyond their control. After struggling for a while, sweat pouring down their faces, they still couldn’t break free from the Puppet Talisman. It was too strong!

Blood began to trickle from their mouths. In the end, they had no choice but to comply, writing down the names on the paper.

Shandu had recovered somewhat and watched in awe. "Master Nanli, how did you recover so quickly?"

He had been deeply worried and self-reproaching just moments ago.

"Your Wrath of Thunder was fine, but it used up half of my spiritual power," Nanli replied. "The remaining spiritual power is more than enough to deal with them."

Shandu was confused. "Why would Wrath of Thunder be divided into yours and mine? Isn’t it all the same Nascent Soul stage thunder?"

Nanli paused before explaining, "I’ve regained a bit of power from my previous life, and my soul is intact. It’s just not awakened yet. So my Wrath of Thunder is naturally different from an ordinary cultivator’s."

Although the Heavenly Dao often favored her, the power she wielded was clearly different from others.

Shandu nodded in understanding. "I see."

But the elder and middle-aged cultivator were both shocked.

Previous life? Soul?

Who was Nanli, really?

Why hadn’t Qingwu ever mentioned this?

Now, they were controlled by the Puppet Talisman, and only their thoughts remained free, without being able to act on them.

In just a few breaths, they had written everything down.

Nanli compared the two sheets of paper and began to formulate a plan in her mind.

"So, several of them are working for the royal family or the Chu family. Qingwu must have prepared these backup plans in case he couldn’t eliminate my Fifth Brother, right?"

The elder respectfully responded, "Yes, Qingwu’s plan was to come here after Luo Zhen, the city lord, acted. He said if they couldn’t solve the Human Emperor issue, we should hide our identities here and look for the Spirit Mine."

Since Chu Yan was the Human Emperor, they had naturally infiltrated the royal family or the Chu family. It was risky, but they would get the first-hand information they needed.

Once the Spirit Mine was found, the spirit stones would be mined and handed over.

Nanli’s expression darkened. "Qingwu knows a lot. Are you all Qingwu’s people? Then what about Yan Buxiu? Did he send anyone?"

The middle-aged cultivator shook his head. "We only follow Qingwu’s orders. As for whether Yan Buxiu sent anyone, we don’t know."

Nanli fell silent again.

Given Yan Buxiu’s nature, it was hard to believe he wouldn’t send anyone. freeweɓnøvel.com

But now that she had only captured Qingwu’s people, things were getting more complicated.