Translator: CinderTL
"Years ago, when I saw her stunning beauty, I wanted her to serve by my side," Wu Bo said. "But she refused, rejecting me publicly. Feeling humiliated, I destroyed her physical body, imprisoned her divine soul, and sent it to the Frozen Hell. I haven't seen her since."
"If that's true, how can you be certain her divine soul still exists?" Song Wen asked coldly. "What if it has already scattered and vanished in the Frozen Hell?"
"I personally sent her divine soul there," Wu Bo replied. "If it had been destroyed, the Frozen Hell's steward would have notified me. Since I've received no such news all these years, her divine soul must still be intact."
Song Wen didn't press further, but his mind raced with possibilities.
He believed Wu Bo was telling the truth.
Now that Wu Bo was in his grasp, there was no reason for him to fabricate lies. Doing so would only bring greater calamity upon the Wu Clan.
Since Lan Chen's divine soul still existed, they had to find a way to rescue her.
There were essentially two methods to save Lan Chen:
First, Song Wen could secretly infiltrate the Wu Clan's Frozen Hell and rescue Lan Chen without alerting the clan.
Second, he could lure out another Wu Clan Body Integration Stage cultivator, Wu Shandie, eliminate her, and then forcefully breach the clan's defenses.
Both approaches carried significant risks.
The former risked detection by the Wu Clan, potentially trapping him within their formations and jeopardizing his own safety.
The latter, even if he managed to kill Wu Shandie, still faced the formidable Clan Protection Formation. Moreover, the Wu Clan wouldn't stand idly by; they would undoubtedly seek aid from the Myriad Swords Pavilion, making Lan Chen's rescue a pipe dream.
As Song Wen pondered these options, Wu Bo spoke again.
"This old one can help you rescue that woman's divine soul. However, I have a condition."
"Speak!" Song Wen demanded, his voice low and stern.
Wu Bo replied, "My cultivation has been destroyed, and you will never spare me. I dare not hope for survival. I only ask that you spare Wu Qinghan. She is innocent in this matter, bears you no ill will, and should not be dragged into our conflict."
"How do you plan to rescue Lan Chen's divine soul?" Song Wen pressed, neither accepting nor rejecting Wu Bo's condition.
Wu Bo said, "I will personally carve a message into a jade slip, confirming that Wu Qinghan remains in your custody and that you demand Lan Chen's divine soul in exchange. Simply deliver the slip to any member of the Wu Clan, and it will quickly reach Wu Shandie's hands. At that point, she will undoubtedly agree to the trade."
Song Wen rejected Wu Bo's proposal almost immediately, without giving it much thought.
There were two primary reasons why he had never considered using Wu Bo and Wu Qinghan as leverage to obtain Lan Chen's divine soul.
First, Wu Bo could easily tamper with the jade slip. Even a subtle change in his usual speaking habits during the recording would alert Wu Shandie to the deception, making her suspicious.
Second, such a move would reveal Song Wen's desperate desire to rescue Lan Chen, exposing his true intentions.
In any situation, once one's true intentions are exposed, they become vulnerable to exploitation.
The Wu Clan could use Lan Chen's divine soul as leverage to keep Song Wen in check. Moreover, this would endanger Lan Chen's soul itself. Trapped in the Frozen Hell and left unattended, her soul was actually safer than if it were actively sought after.
Having rejected the path of negotiation, Song Wen's thoughts returned to his original two plans.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided to first attempt infiltrating the Wu Clan.
The second strategy—a direct assault on the Wu Clan—carried too much risk and would only be a last resort when all other options had failed.
As for how to infiltrate the Wu Clan, that was a particularly thorny issue.
There were essentially two ways to enter the Wu Clan:
Either as a member of the Wu Clan, using their identity token for entry, or by invitation, with the Wu Clan voluntarily opening its gates.
However, Song Wen had no means of achieving either of these.
Suddenly, a spiritual light flashed in Song Wen's mind. Besides these two scenarios, there was another type of person who could enter the Wu Clan:
Ke Zheng!
Ke Zheng had personally stated that as a core disciple of the Myriad Swords Pavilion, he could freely enter and exit the Wu Clan using the pavilion's identity token.
At this realization, Song Wen's brow flickered.
Two transparent blades, one large and one small, gradually materialized and pierced into the seas of consciousness of Wu Bo and Wu Qinghan, respectively.
After letting out a pair of piercing screams, both collapsed into unconsciousness.
Although Wu Bo's divine sense realm surpassed Song Wen's, his divine soul had been severely wounded by the shadow void, rendering him unable to withstand Song Wen's God-Slaying Thorn.
Song Wen spared their lives because, no matter how grievously injured they were, as long as their physical bodies remained intact, the Wu Clan would not detect any anomalies and would not impose martial law. This would greatly facilitate Song Wen's infiltration of the Wu Clan.
After confirming that both men's divine souls were critically damaged and unlikely to regain consciousness within days, Song Wen glanced regretfully at the bloodstains covering the deck.
If only I'd known, I would have spared that man's life.
The Giant Flying Ship continued its rapid descent.
It eventually arrived at a remote, Spiritually Qi-deficient region. Song Wen lowered the ship's bow and landed at the base of a cliff.
He carved out a cave, tossed the two people inside, and then deployed two sixth-tier formations: one to imprison them and the other to prevent external detection.
As for seventh-tier formations, Song Wen possessed several, all obtained from Body Integration Stage cultivators he had slain. However, having recently advanced to the Body Integration Stage himself, and these formations being profoundly complex, he had yet to fully comprehend them.
Having dealt with the two prisoners, Song Wen soared into the sky and headed toward River Pan City.
By the time he reached River Pan City, the sun had already begun to dip toward the west.
Hovering above the city, he discovered another troublesome matter: he had no idea where to find Ke Zheng.
That day, when Song Wen, Wu Lingzhu, and Ke Zheng had dined together at the jade pavilion, Ke Zheng had mentioned owning a residence in River Pan City. However, Song Wen had no idea of its exact location.
Wary of exposing his identity, Song Wen couldn't freely unleash his divine sense to search the entire city. This left him in a quandary—how could he possibly begin searching such a vast metropolis?
As he pondered this dilemma, his gaze instinctively drifted toward the western district of the city.
The western district was the domain of cultivators with profound cultivation and noble status.
Ke Zheng's residence must be in this area, Song Wen reasoned.
A flicker of delight flashed in his eyes.
On the gate plaque of one of the mansions in the western district, the characters 'Ke Manor' were clearly inscribed.
Truly, after searching high and low in vain, the answer appears effortlessly!
Song Wen moved swiftly, landing in the alley outside Ke Manor.
Perhaps because each manor occupied vast grounds but housed few residents, the alley was deserted.
Only two Foundation Establishment Stage guards stood before Ke Manor's gates.
Song Wen's divine sense surged toward the manor like a tidal wave.
Ke Manor's restriction formation proved utterly ineffective against Song Wen's divine sense.
In an instant, everything within the manor was imprinted in Song Wen's mind:
Pavilions and terraces, lakeside pavilions, gardens with artificial mountains...
Uninterested in these details, Song Wen quickly located Ke Zheng in a waterside pavilion.
Beside Ke Zheng was another figure:
Wu Lingzhu!
Wu Lingzhu nestled in Ke Zheng's embrace.
"Brother Ke, when will your master come to the Wu Clan to propose marriage?"
Song Wen was about to continue eavesdropping when the two Foundation Establishment Stage guards outside Ke Manor intervened.
"Who are you? Why are you loitering outside Ke Manor? Get lost immediately!"
(End of the Chapter)
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