Jiang Xu's eyes flickered, and he stammered, "I, I don't know..."
Seeing that Jiang Xu was still not being honest, Ye Ling sighed softly and slowly wrapped his spiritual energy around Jiang Xu's body.
"You brought this upon yourself."
Feeling Ye Ling's spiritual energy flowing through him, Jiang Xu's face showed fear. A bad premonition arose in his heart, and he trembled, "What, what are you going to do?"
"Make you face reality."
Ye Ling said indifferently. His spiritual energy penetrated Jiang Xu's body, beginning to erode his spiritual form.
Instantly, Jiang Xu felt unimaginable pain and let out a piercing scream, "Ahhhhhh!"
Ye Ling chuckled, "Since you are a spiritual body, any damage you receive is a direct blow to the soul. As this spiritual energy seeps into your body, the pain you feel will be ten thousand times more agonizing than a thousand ants gnawing at your flesh."
"I, I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Please stop!!!"
In less than a breath, Jiang Xu could no longer bear the pain and cried out to Ye Ling.
This kind of torment was worse than death!
Seeing Jiang Xu beg for mercy, a hint of amusement flashed in Ye Ling's eyes, and he stopped.
Jiang Xu lay on the ground, his spiritual form twitching.
The moment Ye Ling stopped, it felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
It never wanted to experience that kind of torment again, not even in death!
After a moment of recovery, Jiang Xu struggled to get up from the ground. He glanced at Ye Ling with fear and said, "Besides the Ghost Gate, my Jiang family... also has a cooperation with someone named Ye Feng."
"Ye Feng?"
Upon hearing the name, Ye Ling's pupils contracted slightly, and a tempestuous wave surged in his heart!
Didn't Ye Feng steal the Heavenly Secret Diagram from Tianyin Pavilion and then disappear into anonymity?
Moreover, Qiu Baiyi attacked the Ye family because he suspected Ye Shan was Ye Feng's disciple and that the Ye family possessed the Heavenly Secret Diagram.
How could it be him?
Ye Ling instinctively thought Jiang Xu was lying.
If Jiang Xu was telling the truth, then all his previous speculations would be overturned and he would have to start all over again!
Ye Ling's expression turned grim. He looked at Jiang Xu and said in a deep voice, "You should understand the consequences of lying."
Hearing Ye Ling's cold voice, Jiang Xu trembled again and quickly knelt down, kowtowing, "Immortal Lord, please see clearly, what I say is the truth, and I would never dare to deceive you!"
Ye Ling took a deep breath, calming himself. He said to Jiang Xu, "Continue speaking. How did your Jiang family cooperate with Ye Feng?"
"It, it was..."
Jiang Xu could clearly feel Ye Ling's aura change. It felt an unimaginable pressure and said nervously, "It was six years ago... before I died of illness, someone who called himself Ye Feng approached our Jiang family."
"He said he could resurrect me... and even elevate our entire Jiang family above Huaguo, but only if we did as he said!"
"At first, I didn't believe him, but after he showed us his ability to ride the clouds and control the mists, and move mountains to fill seas, my son Jiang Xingye and I followed his words and led the Jiang family to join the Hongchen Pavilion."
"Following Ye Feng's instructions... we contacted Qiu Baiyi of the Ghost Gate and told him that Ye Shan of the Ye family had the Heavenly Secret Diagram. Then, our Jiang family, in conjunction with the Ghost Gate, wiped out the Ye family."
"As for me becoming an evil spirit... it was Xingye who, through the Hongchen Pavilion platform, helped find a sorcerer who sealed my soul, thus allowing me to live until now."
Jiang Xu spoke truthfully, pouring out everything he knew.
Ye Ling's gaze deepened. "What was Ye Feng's motive for having you do this?"
"I, I really don't know... that adult appears and disappears unpredictably. He only issues orders to our Jiang family, and we dare not speculate on his motives!"
Fearing that Ye Ling would make it suffer again, Jiang Xu quickly added, "After he had us destroy the Ye family, he instructed our Jiang family to maintain cooperation with the Ghost Gate, and since then, he hasn't given us any further orders!"
"This is all the absolute truth! If the Immortal Lord doesn't believe me, you can ask my son Jiang Xingye. He is now the mastermind behind the Jiang family. Everything the Jiang Group has done in recent years has been orchestrated by him!"
Seeing that Jiang Xu didn't seem to be lying, Ye Ling didn't press further on this matter and changed the topic. "Putting Ye Feng aside, what is this Hongchen Pavilion you mentioned?"
"Hong, Hongchen Pavilion is an underground dark web platform for cultivators. Only a very small number of cultivators know about it. All users on the platform can post and accept tasks through Hongchen Pavilion!"
"In Hongchen Pavilion, anything can be traded. As long as the price is right, even the destruction of the entire Huaguo is possible!"
Jiang Xu said quickly. Originally, this information was top secret, and no user of Hongchen Pavilion was allowed to leak its existence!
If anyone leaked it, that person and all their relatives and friends would be wiped out by the Hongchen Pavilion authorities overnight!
But now, Jiang Xu couldn't care less. To avoid being tortured by Ye Ling, he had to go all out!
As long as he wasn't tortured, nothing else mattered.
"Hongchen Pavilion is a website?"
Ye Ling asked in surprise. He had thought Hongchen Pavilion was a sect or force similar to Tianyin Pavilion, but he didn't expect it to be a dark web platform!
Jiang Xu nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes... the user data on Hongchen Pavilion is highly confidential. No one on the platform knows who anyone else is. Even when users transact, it is done through Hongchen Pavilion's official channels."
"All user activities on the platform are highly monitored!"
Ye Ling asked again, "How can one enter Hongchen Pavilion?"
"It, it requires a special USB drive, and every login to Hongchen Pavilion undergoes strict manual identity verification. Currently, within the entire Jiang family, only Jiang Xingye can log in to Hongchen Pavilion."
"Even if others obtain the USB drive, they cannot log in to Hongchen Pavilion, and they will be hunted down by the Hongchen Pavilion authorities!"
Ye Ling frowned. "Since the conditions for joining Hongchen Pavilion are so strict, why did Ye Feng approach your Jiang family to join it?"
"This..."
Hearing Ye Ling's question, Jiang Xu was stunned and didn't know how to answer Ye Ling.
Indeed, to this day, he still didn't understand why Ye Feng had approached their Jiang family!
Moreover, after Ye Feng used their Jiang family to destroy the Ye family and then had them maintain contact with the Ghost Gate, he had no further demands on their Jiang family. Instead, their Jiang family continuously used Hongchen Pavilion's resources to benefit their own family.
Ye Feng's actions seemed as if he were recruiting users for Hongchen Pavilion.
And having their Jiang family destroy the Ye family was the condition for joining Hongchen Pavilion.
Seeing that Jiang Xu couldn't answer the question, Ye Ling knew that this was all Jiang Xu knew.
Without further ado, the spiritual energy binding Jiang Xu suddenly tightened!
Ye Ling said indifferently, "You can die now."
Feeling the pressure from Ye Ling's spiritual energy, Jiang Xu's face showed terror, and he screamed in fright, "Wait, wait... don't kill me... no!!!"
*Hiss!*
Amidst the piercing screams...
Jiang Xu turned to ashes!