Chapter 937: The Dharma Transmitter's Soul Bones
However, it seemed the Five Elders Association's intelligence network had also suffered a considerable blow.
No one ever came forward to establish contact.
Li Qing had no choice but to press deeper into their territory. She finally received a response upon reaching a region known as Fanqing Province.
Yet, once the connection was established, the person on the other end remained silent.
They were simply waiting for Li Qing to speak first.
“I am a member of the Federation of All Worlds,” Li Qing stated. “I have urgent business and must speak with your superior.”
“The Federation of All Worlds? What’s that?” a voice replied, sounding as if they had just been roused from a deep sleep.
It sounded like the voice of a young man.
After a burst of static, the contact was quickly replaced by a composed, middle-aged cultivator.
It was a direct refusal of Li Qing's request for a meeting.
After a brief silence, Li Qing spoke up. “It is at times like these that crucial intelligence is most needed. The information I possess is enough to turn the tide of this crisis for your Five Elders Association...”
“Are you truly willing to let a monumental achievement slip through your fingers? With so many positions now vacant, this is a prime opportunity for advancement...”
“Besides, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance has the absolute upper hand. Do you really think I'm a spy they sent?”
Li Qing’s tone was laced with scorn, and her few short sentences shattered the man’s psychological defenses.
The breathing on the other end immediately grew ragged.
Then, the connection went dead.
Li Qing wasn't worried. She waited patiently, filled with confidence.
And just as she expected, a few hours later, the middle-aged cultivator contacted her again.
“Where should we meet?”
“Let's get one thing straight,” he warned. “I'm coming alone, on my own authority. If this intelligence of yours is worthless, I'll act as if this conversation never happened.”
Li Qing smiled faintly and gave him her coordinates.
It wasn’t long before a streak of black light shot across the sky, heading in her direction.
A cultivator, face and form concealed beneath a suit of metallic armor, appeared silently before Li Qing.
“That’s quite an outfit,” Li Qing remarked.
The armor the middle-aged cultivator wore was identical to the gear worn by the soldiers dispatched from the floating city in the sky.
“The Land of Carefree Joy is only willing to part with treasures like this when things get desperate.”
“If they hadn't been hoarding their resources, we never would have suffered such a crushing defeat,” the middle-aged cultivator replied curtly, his voice thick with resentment.
As he spoke, a transparent ripple emanated from his battle armor.
It spread outwards, forming a circular barrier that enveloped the two of them.
It sealed them off from the outside world, and the surrounding scenery instantly blurred.
“Alright, we're secure here. Now, what is this important intelligence you spoke of?” the man asked, his gaze fixed on Li Qing, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Li Qing scoffed. “As I said, this is information significant enough to turn the tide of the war. You don't really expect me to just hand it over, do you?”
The middle-aged cultivator grew impatient. “Then what do you want?”
“At the very least, I'll need to speak to someone in charge,” Li Qing stated unequivocally.
“If you don't talk, how will I know you're not lying? You want me to bring an unidentified person to my superiors at a time like this? Do I look like I have a death wish?” The middle-aged cultivator was clearly not a professional intelligence agent.
He had no talent for subterfuge and spoke with undisguised frustration.
Seeing this, Li Qing decided not to waste any more time arguing with him. “The Federation of All Worlds,” she said bluntly, “knows how to defeat the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Heavenly Venerate Manifestation. How does that sound?”
“What?” The middle-aged cultivator froze for a second before blurting out in disbelief.
“Is that true?” His voice trembled slightly.
“I will wait right here for someone with authority,” Li Qing stated coolly.
The middle-aged cultivator looked down, deliberating for a moment before finally gritting his teeth.
He sent the message without any discernible ripple of divine sense.
Faced with intelligence of this magnitude, the Five Elders Association finally demonstrated a sliver of its expected efficiency.
In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, over a hundred streaks of black light converged on their position.
All of them wore the same metallic battle armor, and they formed a tight circle around Li Qing.
Their leader, surprisingly, was a female cultivator. She walked directly up to Li Qing. “From the Federation of All Worlds?”
Li Qing nodded, confirming her identity.
“I am Qing Yang. I'm in charge of rebuilding the post-war intelligence system. Follow me.”
Escorted by more than a hundred cultivators, Li Qing was led to an underground fortress.
She remained perfectly composed the entire time.
Her composure did much to convince the members of the Five Elders Association.
The underground fortress had clearly been constructed recently, in response to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's offensive.
Upon reaching a secure chamber deep within the complex, Qing Yang dismissed her entourage, leaving her alone with Li Qing.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it now.” Qing Yang's voice was devoid of any emotion.
“It's difficult to trust someone who won't even show their face, Miss Qing Yang,” Li Qing replied with a light chuckle, shaking her head.
After a brief silence, the black metal battle armor receded, and Qing Yang revealed her true appearance.
She was not particularly striking—the kind of face that would easily be lost in a crowd.
However, Li Qing keenly perceived a chilling indifference to life in her eyes.
Li Qing studied her carefully for a long moment before speaking slowly. “I have intelligence on the Immortal-Elects. I'm willing to trade it for information I need.”
“Done,” Qing Yang agreed with a nod.
“What information do you require?” Qing Yang asked, wasting no time.
“What exactly is this ‘lost treasure of the Immortal Alliance’ that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is so desperate to find?”
“Hmm?” Qing Yang froze, clearly taken aback by the question.
“That... I don't know. But it shouldn't be classified information. Let me ask.”
Liquid metal flowed back up to conceal Qing Yang's face.
When her face was revealed once more, her expression was a mixture of shock and bewilderment.
“The information is beyond my clearance level...”
This time, her composure was visibly shaken.
“My apologies, please wait a moment.” Qing Yang hastily excused herself and left the chamber.
Li Qing, on the other hand, fell into deep thought.
“So, it's true,” she mused. “What seemed like a mere pretext—this lost treasure of the Immortal Alliance—is actually real.”
“What kind of treasure could the old Immortal Alliance have possessed that would be worth obsessing over for millennia?”
Just as Li Qing was pondering, Qing Yang quickly returned.
She wore a peculiar expression.
She gave the answer directly. “The so-called lost treasure of the Immortal Alliance... is nothing more than the remnant souls and bones of its founding members.”
“When the great sects crushed the original Immortal Alliance, they made an example of the defeated. They ripped the souls from the most defiant Dharma Transmitters and subjected them to endless torment.”
“At the time, it was common knowledge, a victory declared to the world. Now, however, such acts are seen as disgraceful, so the matter has been buried and kept quiet.”
In the Spirit Wood Realm, Li Fan sensed the answer his clone heard, and his eyes couldn't help but narrow.
He remembered that in his 115th life, the Five Elders Association's raid on Ten Thousand Immortals Island also seemed to be for the purpose of digging up the remains of the first-generation Dharma Transmitters.
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