82 The Half-Destroyed Tower

"Usually after a ritual there is a cleansing ceremony, it takes place in one of three locations though."

Xiao Dai elaborated on what she had said a few moments prior.

"We don't know how long ago the ritual was, or if they'd still be there, but I guess it's all we have for now. It's worth a shot."

Qingchan shrugged as she spoke. Like she said, what else were they going to go off?

"Yeah but even if they are there, it'll all be down to luck whether we get the spot right or not."

Xiao Dai rebutted, not that she was against the idea.

To this, Julong smiled.

"Tell us the three places. I'll handle the rest."

The two girls looked at him suspiciously before Xiao Dai huffed in compliance, generating a map of the wastelands via her Qi. It was a projection of the map they had been given.

Xiao grabbed her chin, thinking for a moment before clicking her fingers, making three small naughts appear on the map, circling three locations around the enormous skeleton, which was at least 3 times the size of the town.

One was at the north tip of the bone structure, or rather the start of it - out to the east of the town. The second was even further out west, in line with the middle of the fossil; in line with their current location. Or the final, and the least likely, the tower they had passed a few hours ago which had been destroyed by a fortressing event.

Julong narrowed his gaze and scrunched his eyes. His Spirit burst out of his head like an explosion of divinity.

It studied the map, before bringing Julong's attention toward the destroyed tower.

Naturally, since they were over his Spirit's old body, it was able to deduce their location far better than Julong could. Even so, since Julong was still far too weak to harness his Spirit properly, there was only so much it could do.

He had to focus on the three locations as a catalyst for his Spirit to properly asses the wastelands.

His spirit informed him that the tower was the place with the newest Genesis Qi residue from the Cultists. 

That meant that they should get a move on.

"It's the half-destroyed tower. That's the most likely place they'll be."

"But we passed that tower, it was destroyed with no signs of life or activity of any sort."

Qingchan tried to reason with Julong.

He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Trust me completely. Just this once."

Qingchan shrunk under his gaze, there was a strange omniscient wisdom in his eyes whenever his Spirit was on display.

"I trust you, Julong."

Julong turned around to face Xiao Dai, who had spoken.

"Me too."

Qingchan followed suit from a mix of peer pressure and respect for the boy.

Julong grinned.

"Good. Now let's be fast. We don't have time to waste."

In much less than a word, Julong had already taken off, quickly followed by Xiao Dai and Li Qingchan.

...

Thankfully the tower wasn't too far away and in the time of only a few incense sticks, the trio had arrived.

Julong's spirit appeared once more before he used Spirit Power and Genesis Runes to make the rest of the nearly collapsed tower explode.

However, when the dust cleared, a boundary that tightly covered the remains of the structure appeared, revealing it to be untouched.

"As I thought."

Julong muttered as the two girls stared at him in disbelief. How on earth had he gotten the location correct?

His spirit grew larger as he examined the boundary.

It quickly pointed out a weak point.

Julong summoned his Heavenly Saint Edge, then threw it at said weak point.

The boundary shattered and the tower collapsed.

Out of the dust of the explosion burst two Yuan Masters, both Alpha-Origin Experts of the Sixth Layer.

Finally using his Genesis Qi, Julong dismissed his Spirit and struck them both with a seemingly simple palm strike. It was proven to be much more than that when two jade tablets appeared from them, locking onto each Cultist, and shocking them.

They fell out of the sky as Xiao Dai and Li Qingchan apprehended them.

After searching the area a little more, they all convened. The Cultists were still conscious but with gags made out of Qi over their mouths, and a Genesis Qi far too strong for them to resist, ensnaring them.

"Seems as though these two stayed behind for whatever reason, while the rest of the Cult went elsewhere."

"That's not a terrible thing, at least we can get them to tell us where they went." 

Xiao Dai grinned at the idea. It was unsettling. She definitely hated the Cult if he was correct in assuming she wanted to torture the answers out of them.

"Speaking of, how were you able to figure out they were here? Does it have something to do with what happened to you just before?"

Qingchan gave Julong an accusatory glare. He froze under it. He didn't want to lie to her again.

"I'll explain it later. I feel like we have some more pressing concerns."

He awkwardly chuckled as he obviously referred to Xiao Dai who had just grabbed one of the Cultists, making him quake in fear.

Qingchan glared at the boy once more before waving her hand, removing the gag off of the Cultist Xiao Dai had picked up.

"That's enough Xiao Dai... for now."

Xiao Dai who seemed a little disappointed perked right back up as she heard the rest of what Qingchan had said. She put the cultist down and let Qingchan get in front of him.

It was kind of chaotic seeing Xiao Dai react in such a way, almost like a psychotic chihuahua, but it wasn't out of character for the most part.

"Let us go! When the Supreme Serpent is revived, you will be punished if you don't!"

The trio looked at him like he was an idiot before they remembered he was brainwashed. Even if it wasn't brainwashing due to hypnosis, it was still one of the most robotic things Julong had ever heard someone say. That and what he had said was all mixed up. The revived skeleton was right in front of them! Of course, not that anyone else knew that either.

With a shake of her head, Qingchan tightened the grip of the Genesis Qi around the man's body.

"How about no. If you want to be let go, you're going to answer some questions."

Julong watched as the Cultist was about to refute, only to stop as he locked eyes with Xiao Dai, who was smiling sweetly at him.

It was actually very creepy. While earlier it was in character, he had no clue Xiao Dai could get like that. Despite her being the main target of their teasing, was she actually the sadistic one of the group? Maybe that's what being raised in a Cult does to someone.

Instead of answering the Cultist remained speechless in the end.

"..."

Qingchan scrunched her brow. After a few seconds, she threw him over to Xiao Dai.

"You can have him."

No time was wasted as she pounced on him, proceeding to begin torturing him with Genesis Qi techniques. Ones which seemed as if they were made for such a job. 

Qingchan looked over with a blank face before turning to the next Cultist who was horrified at what was happening behind her.

Qingchan removed his gag. She didn't get to say anything before he cut her off.

"What do you want to know?"

Qingchan smiled sweetly.

That made Julong shudder. 

They were both like that then, huh?

A few minutes of what Julong classified as absolute madness quickly passed. One Cultist was dead, and the other unconscious. While thankfully Qingchan didn't do anything worse than what a normal person would, Xiao Dai definitely went a little far... But-! They now had a location.

It was to the far south of the town, where the skeleton ended; finishing its slight crescent-like shape around the town.

"So you're like that, Xiao Dai?"

Julong gave a nod feeling a little disturbed and unsure.

Xiao Dai flushed in embarrassment.

"Ahaha... just a little."

Not letting up, Julong almost cut her off at how fast his response was.

"You're insane, you know that right?"

Xiao Dai snapped her gaze over to Julong as he spoke, giving him a pouty scowel.

"Shut up."