The ancient blood demon laughed even more wildly as he spoke.
"Brat, should I admire you or pity you?"
Zi Linling sneered, "My Ghost Hand Poison Doctor has always been this arrogant! Since you've used forbidden poison and violated the laws of heaven, I shall first strip you of a thousand years of cultivation as punishment!"
As she spoke, she began to commune with the laws of judgment.
This was her first time exercising the right of judgment on behalf of heaven within the nascent world.
However, Zi Linling did not know that since the nascent world had formed within her, she was its absolute ruler.
Therefore, her communion with the laws of judgment within the nascent world was a thousand times easier than in the outside world.
Not only did communion require a single thought, but the speed of communion was also instantaneous.
Thus, Zi Linling herself was startled. Not only had she not been exhausted as before, but she felt incredibly invigorated.
Furthermore, when she communed with the laws of judgment in the outside world, although they allowed her to control them, she could only use them to kill, not to control their power.
However, at this moment, Zi Linling could feel that the laws of judgment within the nascent world were completely at her command.
Even if she wanted to cut a single strand of hair, the weapon of judgment would obey, without the slightest deviation.
Simply put, in the outside world, Zi Linling was merely a user of the laws of judgment, while in the nascent world, she was their master.
Therefore, when she wanted to strip the ancient blood demon of a thousand years of cultivation, the weapon of judgment acted according to her wishes, indeed only stripping him of a thousand years of cultivation and not taking his life.
The ancient blood demon, sealed as he was, was suddenly shocked by the loss of his millennium of cultivation.
However, the fact that he knew ancient secrets in detail indicated that his origin was not as simple as the last drop of blood from the Jiao spirit.
The ancient blood demon's insight was already extraordinary, so after his shock, he quickly recognized the power Zi Linling wielded.
He exclaimed in shock, "Laws of Judgment!!!"
Zi Linling was also quite surprised. Since she had begun using the laws of judgment, no one had ever recognized them immediately. The ancient blood demon was the first.
"Oh? You're quite knowledgeable, you even know about judgment!" Zi Linling said with a peculiar tone.
Her words were equivalent to giving the ancient blood demon a definitive answer.
And it was this answer that finally instilled a sliver of fear in the ancient blood demon.
"You... you are truly... a Heavenly Law Enforcer?"
Zi Linling smiled calmly and said, "I suppose so!"
Hearing her own admission, the ancient blood demon's regrets were overwhelming.
Before, Zi Linling had always claimed she had the ability to obliterate him, but the ancient blood demon had always thought she was bluffing.
Now, the ancient blood demon was finally certain that Zi Linling indeed had the power to kill him, or even erase him.
If he had known earlier that Zi Linling was a Heavenly Law Enforcer, how would he have dared to be so presumptuous in front of her?
The ancient blood demon had originally thought he had a chance to escape, but now, it all seemed like a joke.
He had always treated Zi Linling as a clown, but in the end, he was the real clown.
"What do you want?"
The ancient blood demon's tone was now devoid of any arrogance.
Zi Linling smiled wickedly and said, "Don't worry, since I said I wouldn't take your life out of respect for my great-grandmother, I won't go back on my word."
"However, I have ways to make one wish they were dead rather than alive. And you, though not quite human, I can't just let you off easily, right?"
The ancient blood demon couldn't help but shiver and asked warily, "What exactly do you want to do?"
Zi Linling feigned deep thought for a moment before calmly saying, "I think killing your spirit is too good for you! How about this, I'll spend some time each day chatting with you!"
"Chat about what?" the ancient blood demon asked, his heart filled with caution.
"About what you know. If your answers satisfy me, you can spend the day down here under Shacheng. But if your answers don't satisfy me, I'll have to shave off a bit of your cultivation!"
"However, don't worry. If I'm in a bad mood, I might take thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, but if I'm in a good mood, it'll just be ten or twenty years!"
"Since there's nothing else to do all day, I'll just treat it as a way to play with you and relax!"
Zi Linling's words were casual, but to the ancient blood demon, they were a severe threat.
The ancient blood demon had existed for nearly a hundred thousand years to reach his current strength, comparable to a half-step God Lord.
Therefore, improving his cultivation was an incredibly difficult task.
If Zi Linling shaved off a bit today and a bit tomorrow, it wouldn't be long before he regressed to his original state of blood droplets.
More importantly, the slow, steady torment was the most devastating, not just for humans, but for demons!
Thinking of this, the ancient blood demon couldn't help but shiver and asked in fear, "You... what do you want to know?"
At this point, he didn't even dare to refer to her as "brat" anymore, fearing that if he angered Zi Linling, she would slowly shave off his cultivation, which would be no fun at all.
"Hmph!"
Zi Linling said haughtily, "I don't even know what I want to know yet! I'll tell you when I think of it!"
"Now, I need to be busy detoxifying my friend, so I won't play with you for now. I'll come see you after I'm done!"
Though her words were simple, their meaning was clear: you are meat on the chopping block, and I will slice off a bit whenever I please.
Zi Linling's intention was obvious: she wanted to wage a psychological war against the ancient blood demon, to dismantle his mental state bit by bit and gain the upper hand.
After speaking, she prepared to withdraw her soul power from the nascent world.
"Wait!"
The ancient blood demon quickly stopped her, "I can cure the forbidden poison that boy is afflicted with, and I can give you the ancestral finger bone, but my condition is that you let me out!"
Under the disparity in power, he no longer even referred to himself as "this demon," only wanting to escape from the extremely dangerous Zi Linling as soon as possible.
Therefore, he compromised.
Zi Linling was overjoyed in her heart; she had breached the ancient blood demon's first line of defense.
However, her expression remained unchanged, and she continued with a cold face, "No need! There's no one that I, Ghost Hand Poison Doctor, cannot save! Moreover, as I said, you can only leave this place once your demonic nature is completely eradicated."
"Therefore, you have no leverage to make me let you go, and I don't like being blackmailed! You'd best fend for yourself!"
After speaking, Zi Linling's soul power returned to her body.