"What...do you mean?" Old Shi coughed. The pain from the injury seemed insignificant to the shock he felt.

"Don't you get it?" Tan Jun said, "Lord didn't just send me to help you, he sent me to tie up any loose ends."

"Loose...ends?" Old Shi mumbled, unable to believe Tan Jun's words. He had become a loose end?

"Lord entrusted you with a simple task, but you failed," Tan Jun said. "Not only did you fail, you even became a liability. The Lord does not need such worthless retainers. But since Lord had lost your soul jade, he couldn't tell if you were dead―more importantly, he had no way to know if you had leaked any secrets, so he sent me."

"N-no way." Old Shi's lips trembled. "You are lying! I want...to see the Lord...take me...to him."

"You are no longer qualified to stand in front of the Lord," Tan Jun sneered.

"I've been...loyal to Lord for so many years…" Old Shi gasped, "Lord would never..."

"You have been with Lord for so long, yet you still don't know what kind of person he is?" Tan Jun looked at Old Shi with pity. "Should I call you ignorant or foolish?"

"Why?" Old Shi mumbled. He still wasn't convinced.

"Because you are too old now―it's time for you to retire. But you know too much about the Lord, so you can only die. You should've seen this coming. People like us can never retire―we can only die in the line of duty..." Tan Jun paused, then continued. "Originally, you still had an opportunity. The Lord hoped you could accomplish this task and grab a longevity fruit. Then you could've continued to serve him. Instead, you got tricked by some brats."

"Just...kill me." Old Shi despaired. After knowing the truth, he was disappointed. The Lord he had been so loyal to, had discarded him. He had accomplished so many things for this Lord, but just a single failure was enough to render his past merits useless.

"Don't worry, I will let you die slowly." Tan Jun chuckled, his eyes gleaming. "Think of it as special treatment for an old colleague."

Upon hearing Tan Jun's words, Old Shi's expression turned stiff. One of the reasons he and Tan Jun didn't get along was because Tan Jun was too cruel to his victims. Not only was he cruel, he even took pleasure in torturing them. The jailor who had died a quick death should consider himself lucky. Although Old Shi was not a saint, he still had his bottom line, but not Tan Jun.

"Your current expression is wonderful." Tan Jun smiled and looked at Old Shi. "It's much better than when you begged me to release you." Tan Jun flipped his hand, revealing a red-colored pill. He pulled Old Shi by his collar and forced the pill into his mouth. Old Shi tried to resist, but it was useless.

"You...what did you...feed me?" Old Shi gasped.

"It's just a blood replenishing pill," Tan Jun grinned. "After all, I can't have you die so soon of blood loss, it won't be fun."

Although he had just been fed a blood replenishing pill, Old Shi's face turned white. "Tan Jun...w-we have known each other for so long...y-you don't have to do this to me…"

"You've got it wrong," Tan Jun said. "It's because we have known each other for so long, I have to pay more attention."

"You...d-don't come any closer." Old Shi said as he crawled back. But the cell was small, and he soon hit the wall.

Tan Jun raised his hand revealing a black dart. He twirled the dart around his fingers, then said, "For a long time, I've been working on a special type of toxin. Just a few days ago, I managed to concoct the first batch of this potion. Since then I have been looking for a guinea pig to test its effectiveness." Tan Jun grinned and looked at Old Shi who was plastered against the wall, as if trying to merge with it. "The mortal humans are too weak to be qualified as test pieces and it's really hard to get a cultivator to cooperate. As it happens, you landed straight into my palms. Although your physique has deteriorated, the bones are hard. As a test piece, you are much better than ordinary humans. If I get the chance, I will certainly thank those brats for helping me..."

Tan Jun closed in on Old Shi. The underground cell was soon filled with screams and wails of a dying old man. But none of it leaked outside, and even the patrols who passed by the building were unaware that someone was using cruel means of torture on a fellow cultivator. Only a trio of youngsters was aware of what was happening in the tiny cell. But they were several blocks away and couldn't help the old guy.

"T-his guy...fuck...he is sick!" Li Kun cursed. "Cut it off...cut it off...I can't watch it anymore."

Mu Chen's face was also ugly. They had been spying in hope of gathering information on their enemy but didn't expect to witness such a scene instead.

"Brother Chen?" Xia Ping opened his eyes and looked at Mu Chen, his face pale. Out of the three, Xia Ping's situation was the worst. For them to see, he had been maintaining his spiritual connection with Hua Jin, then transmitting his visions to the recording stone. For him, it was almost the same as seeing it in person.

Mu Chen looked at Xia Ping and sighed. Among the three of them, Xia Ping was the youngest and the most naive. He didn't like to fight and spent the majority of his time training his pets. When did he have to watch such traumatizing scenes? Mu Chen patted Xia Ping's shoulder. "You don't have to bear it. Cut off the connection."

"Uh-huh." Xia Ping sighed in relief. The projection disappeared and the sound stopped, but it instead made him exclaim. "Eh?"

"What's wrong?" Mu Chen asked.

"Brother Chen, I think they stopped," Xia Ping said.

"What?" Mu Chen and Li Kun were surprised for a moment, then sighed. Silence could only mean that Old Shi had kicked the bucket.

Xia Ping focused again. "I'm sure. I don't see that...that guy anywhere. I think he left."

"So, it's over." Li Kun breathed a sigh of relief. "At least the old man doesn't have to suffer anymore."

"What about the body?" Mu Chen asked.

"Still in the cell," Xia Ping said.

"Call Hua Jin back. We will go collect the body," Mu Chen said. Although they were enemies, he felt he should give the old man a funeral.

"Ah!" Xia Ping cried out.

"What is it?" Li Kun asked. "Did that Tan Jun return?" Was this guy so sick, he would even torture dead bodies? The thought made him shiver.

"N-no," Xia Ping said. "Hua Jin just informed me that Old Shi is not dead."

Mu Chen and Li Kun were both surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, but his breath is very weak." Xia Ping frowned. "If not treated, he will definitely die in the next few hours."

"Should we save him?" Li Kun asked Mu Chen. Xia Ping also looked at Mu Chen.

Mu Chen was ready to collect the dead body for Old Shi, but the news that he was still alive made him hesitate. Old Shi must know a lot of things. If they saved him now, it was likely that he would be grateful and cooperate with them. But would an expert like Tan Jun make such a rookie mistake of not checking if his victim was dead or alive? Judging from Tan Jun's personality, it might just be one of his sick ideas of having fun by leaving his victim to die. But what if it wasn't? Xia Ping swore by his little beast's camouflage capabilities, but what if Tan Jun had discovered he was spying? Was it a trap? Mu Chen couldn't tell.

"Xia Ping, see if you can find traces of Tan Jun nearby," Mu Chen said.

Xia Ping instructed Hua Jin and searched for almost an hour. "Brother Chen, I can't find him anywhere. He seems to have disappeared."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Xia Ping said. "Brothen Chen, we need to hurry. I don't think Old Shi can hold it much longer."

Xia Ping's concern was reasonable, but it made Mu Chen frown. He recalled Tan Jun's ghost-like skill and felt a chill. Xia Ping hadn't detected him until he revealed himself. Tan Jun had said that he could only use it once a month? But what if he was bluffing? Maybe he was just overthinking?

Mu Chen's head began to spin with myriads of different scenarios, weighing the pros and cons. The safest option was to let Old Shi die. But if he did, it would continue to weigh on his conscience.

He could kill in the heat of battle, but watching someone die in cold blood, wasn't something he was used to.

Mu Chen clenched his sword and made a decision. "Give me the pills. I will go," he said, "You guys don't have to come."

"Let's go together," Li Kun said.

Mu Chen shook his head. "I will go alone. If there is danger, it won't make a difference if it's one or two of us. The two of you…" After giving them a few more instructions, Mu Chen set out, leaving their inn behind.

Mu Chen circled a few blocks, then approached the prison building from a different direction. He didn't sneak into the building but strutted into it while humming a tune.

Once inside the building, Mu Chen walked through the lobby towards the dungeon and towards the cell where Old Shi and the jailor had been locked. The cell soon came into his view. There he saw the open bars and two figures lying on the ground in throes of blood.

"Shit! What happened here?" Mu Chen yelled in shock and quickened his pace. He came next to the jailor and knelt and checked his pulse. "Dead...body is cold...must have been dead for several hours..." Mu Chen muttered.

Mu Chen stepped towards Old Shi, who was riddled with holes from which blood bled. Doing his best to avoid the blood, he checked Old Shi's pulse.

"He is alive!"

Mu Chen checked Old Shi's wounds, then fumbled with his pouch and removed a few pills, one of which was a self-healing pill which they had recently acquired. Old Shi's wounds weren't fatal, but they were deep and there were several of them. Tan Jun had carefully avoided hitting Old Shi's major arteries with the intention of letting him slowly bleed to death.

Mu Chen fed the healing pills to Old Shi. The self-healing effect was immediate, and the wounds began to heal and the bleeding stopped. He slapped Old Shi's face a few times. "Old Shi, wake up!"

"Ugh!" Old Shi opened his eyes looking confused. "I...am alive?"

"Yes, you're alive." Mu Chen said. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"It was…" Old Shi shivered, as he recalled the atrocities he had just faced and gasped. "D-devil―that guy is a devil!"

Mu Chen helped Old Shi sit on the bench. "Who are you talking about?" He took out a flask of water and raised it to Old Shi's mouth.

"He was sent..by my...by my…to kill me." Old Shi coughed. He took a few gulps of water and his face regained some color. He looked at Mu Chen, eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you for saving me…If you hadn't come...I...I..."

"Of course, I had to come. We agreed on the time," Mu Chen took back the flask. "It's just that me and my friends drank too much and slept heavily. Otherwise, I would've come sooner."

"It's good that you...didn't come sooner," Old Shi said. "Or you would've...been caught by that guy."

"What?" Mu Chen jumped and looked around. "Is he still around?"

"He must've left," Old Shi said. "Knowing him, he must have left me to die."

Mu Chen breathed a sigh. "Who is he?"

"A very...nasty guy," Old Shi said, "He and I don't get along…"

"You two know each other?" Mu Chen raised his brow. "And he still made you into this?"

"What can I say? It's a...long story." Old Shi shrugged, but it made him grimace in pain. "Even I didn't imagine...he would be so cruel."

"Since he is gone, you don't have to worry about him anymore. Anyway, what are you planning to do?" Mu Chen said. "Speaking of which, you are still our prisoner."

Old Shi froze on hearing Mu Chen's words and then, "Ahahaha!" He began to laugh like crazy. He choked as some of his wounds reopened, but he continued to laugh as if he didn't feel pain. He laughed for almost a full minute before he stopped laughing. His eyes were filled with tears―he was also crying when he laughed.

Old Shi wiped his eyes with his hands. "It has come to this, there is no going back…" Old Shi sighed. He had calmed down, but his voice was heavy and mixed with pain and bitterness as well as anger. "The one who I served threw me away like garbage, but you saved me." Old Shi looked at Mu Chen with sincerity and said, "If you don't dislike an old man like me who has stepped one foot into hell, this old man's life is yours."