The Transmigrated Male Lead Confessed to Me - Chapter 24 (Part 2)

Su Zhen headed toward West Street, where numerous food stalls sold breakfast items such as dairy-based pastries, dried fruits, candied meat, and various snacks. There were also a few taverns and teahouses, all bustling with crowds.

Among the crowd were a few scattered cultivators, presumably people of the righteous path.

Some strutted around boldly, scanning their surroundings, while others moved quickly as if in a hurry. A few wore expressions of curiosity, seemingly visiting such a place for the first time.

Su Zhen glanced around, noting several individuals in sect robes, whose affiliations could be identified. Others were in plain clothing, though their cultivation levels weren’t particularly high.

But who could say if any of them were concealing their strength? Su Zhen wasn’t about to make any assumptions.

As she walked halfway down the street, passing a side alley, someone called out to her.

“The Daoist over there—”

A group of cultivators emerged from the alley.

Their clothing varied, but their cuffs all bore an embroidered whirlpool pattern; dozens of concentric circles of different sizes nested together. The embroidery was blue and shimmered like flowing water under the sunlight.

Su Zhen turned her head slightly. “What guidance do you have for me?”

The man at the forefront scrutinized her. “Fellow Daoist, is this your first time in Feihe City? I don’t recall seeing you before. May I ask which sect you belong to?”

Su Zhen blinked. “Do you interrogate every unfamiliar cultivator who comes here? Is this city under the jurisdiction of your Lishui Sect?”

Of course not.

It was just a third-rate sect in Suiyun State, not too far from Feihe City but not particularly close either. Such sects had cultivators who visited from time to time, but they were not the only ones of their kind.

The group remained calm, as though anticipating her refusal to cooperate.

The leader clasped his hands and said, “In recent days, demon cultivators have been running rampant—”

As he spoke, his gaze scrutinized Su Zhen, eyes gleaming sharply. His eyes meticulously scanned her from head to toe, as though appraising livestock before slaughter.

The man smiled. “There’s another boundary gate in Feihe City’s territory. We haven’t pinpointed its location yet, but demon cultivators and demon clans have been pouring through, wreaking havoc everywhere—”

It was all just an excuse.

This boundary gate wasn’t newly discovered, and in truth, there weren’t many demon cultivators or demon clans in the vicinity.

Su Zhen understood perfectly and couldn’t be bothered to listen to his nonsense. “So, if I don’t report my sect, you’ll assume I’m a demon cultivator?”

The man exchanged glances with his companions before replying with a smirk, “Fellow Daoist, if I’m not mistaken, the robe you’re wearing is made of Piaoyun Brocade. Just this one piece is worth an upper-grade spiritual artifact.”

Su Zhen looked down at her robe. “Is that so? I have too many clothes like this. I don’t bother keeping track of such minor details.”

The cultivators’ eyes flickered, their expressions shifting several times. The leader chuckled, clearly not believing her.

“With your cultivation level at the Foundation Establishment stage, to possess such treasures—if you can’t explain their origin, you must have some connection to demon cultivators!”

It was common knowledge among cultivators not to casually assume someone’s cultivation level—after all, they might be deceiving you.

With a glance, Su Zhen noticed a cultivator in the back holding a small compass-like device.

She recognized the device as a type of spirit-detecting disc, capable of using spiritual energy to determine a cultivator’s realm and penetrating certain concealment techniques.

However, the device had numerous limitations, and they were overly reliant on it.

Su Zhen raised her hand.

The leader laughed, flipping his palm to reveal a pair of shackles engraved with golden runes. “That’s more like it. Daoist friend, come with us—”

“That is impossible,” Su Zhen said coldly.

The alley was suddenly sealed off by a barrier.

She tilted her head and gestured at the glowing runes on the barrier. “See that? These are to prevent spiritual energy from leaking outside, and they make it so outsiders can’t see what’s happening within. I’m worried it might scare them.”

The leader’s expression darkened, and the shackles in his hand transformed into an axe. The axe’s blade was etched with red patterns that faintly pulsed with a blood-like glow.

He lunged forward, swinging the axe directly at her. “How dare you not recognize—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Su Zhen sidestepped the attack, grabbed his wrist, and crushed his bones. In the same motion, she seized the axe handle and, with a swift turn, severed his head cleanly.

The axe’s blade erupted in a flash of red light, its violent spiritual energy shattering the remaining body.

The sequence of actions was as smooth as flowing water, executed so quickly that the other cultivators had only just managed to draw their weapons.

Holding the axe in one hand, Su Zhen seized the man’s primordial spirit with the other. “A mere Nascent Soul cultivator dares to rob others? Tsk. You’re worse than my useless junior brother.”

The golden light of the soul shattered in her grip, dispersing in the air.

Agonized wails echoed through the alley.

The remaining cultivators exchanged glances, realizing escape was futile. They charged at her together.

The green-clad girl vanished like a ghost and reappeared among them.

An incoming blade and sword struck from above and below, but she casually blocked with the axe.

The two attackers were sent staggering back from the recoil. A red light flashed through the air, and they were both cleaved in half.

At their wounds, the flesh convulsed as if something were about to burst forth.

Then, with a sudden explosion, their bodies were reduced to scattered remains.

Su Zhen flicked her wrist to shake off the blood on the axe and turned her gaze toward the last remaining cultivator.

The man immediately dropped to his knees. “Immortal Lord, Immortal Lord, please spare me—”

Su Zhen placed her hand on his forehead, and fragmented images surged into her mind.

This group had indeed once been cultivators of the Lishui Sect. The leader was the Master of the other three. He had once killed a half-demon and used their blood to refine pills, wiping out the half-demon’s entire family in the process.

Those who died were all humans. The half-demon was just an ordinary child from a fishing family, completely unaware of their demon bloodline.

The Lishui Sect had no enmity toward demonkind unless they actively harmed or caused trouble. However, the heinous actions of this group were intolerable by any moral standard, so they were expelled from the sect and had bounties placed on their heads.

However, as a third-rate sect, the Lishui Sect had very few cultivators in the Upper Seven Realms, with most of its members being pill cultivators or medical cultivators. Although some attempted to hunt them down, they ultimately failed to locate them.

Recently, these individuals had been lingering in Feihe City, robbing several low-level cultivators.

They would take their victims to a secret chamber and use Soul-Extracting techniques to interrogate them. If their victims had any notable background or affiliation, they would erase their memories and release them. Otherwise, if the victims were rogue cultivators or from small sects, they would kill them, strip them of all possessions, and use their flesh and blood for refining pills.

This group dared not target cultivators from major sects. Had they known Su Zhen hailed from the Tianyuan Sect, they wouldn’t have dared approach her.

However, Su Zhen, heading toward the demon cultivators’ territory, had deliberately masked her spiritual energy into an indistinct and chaotic state, resembling someone who had cultivated with subpar techniques.

Su Zhen casually hacked the last person to death.

After some thought, she retrieved a Qiankun Bag from the body of the leader, taking only the remains of their victims while leaving everything else untouched.

She then cleaned up the bodies.

Once the barrier was lifted, Su Zhen strolled out of the alley as if nothing had happened. The alley behind her was spotless, with not even a trace of blood.

Encounters like this were all too common in her previous life. After killing them, she didn’t dwell on it.

Su Zhen continued on her way to a small tavern she had visited before. After walking a short distance, she came to Zhangji Tavern near a corner.

It was a modest establishment, clean and tidy, with thick embroidered curtains hanging at the entrance. Inside, wooden tables and chairs were arranged neatly. Only two tables of customers were present.

Two individuals stood at the counter, seemingly placing orders to take away. They were gesturing animatedly as they spoke with the tavern keeper.

Su Zhen stood to the side, idly examining the tavern’s layout while waiting, her gaze eventually falling on the only open window.

Her gaze froze.

In the midst of the bustling market, amid the jostling crowd, stood a tall and slender figure.

The person wore a thin robe of crimson embroidered with gold, standing out starkly among the crowd wrapped in cotton coats and thick jackets.

Although there were occasional cultivators in the area, they all wore Daoist robes or other plain clothing. None were as eye-catching as this individual.

Moreover—

None of the cultivators appeared to notice him.

He had long, thick white hair streaked with blood-red strands, loosely tied at the back. A jade hairpin, strikingly crimson like it had been dyed in fresh blood, was tucked diagonally into his hair.

He stood with his back to Su Zhen, seemingly speaking with a fruit vendor.

Su Zhen was surprised.

Moments ago, she had sensed something unusual, which was why she had deliberately used techniques she rarely employed when dealing with those rogue cultivators.

Now it seemed this individual had been “watching” her from afar.

—Could Zhou Ziheng have contacted him?

No, that couldn’t be right.

If it were truly him, the entire situation would have been vastly different.

It was more likely someone under him—a disciple, subordinate, or perhaps a junior sister or junior brother.

However, if this person had been alerted and managed to track her here, it was possible the Zhou family would have already been annihilated.

This individual was extraordinarily skilled at tracking people.

Su Zhen, steeped in demonic sect secret techniques herself, knew that the man likely possessed similar methods. She had countermeasures, of course, but with the current disparity in their cultivation levels, evading him would not be easy.

Moreover, despite being fellow demon cultivators, his age far exceeded her own in her previous life—

Although many followers of the Demon God of Blood Sacrifice were not particularly engrossed in spells and even looked down on them, this man was undoubtedly an exception.

Su Zhen weighed her options between fleeing and staying.

“Guest, what would you like to order?”

The two customers had stepped aside, and the tavern keeper called out to her.

Su Zhen turned, pulled out some silver, and placed her order. As she spoke with the tavern keeper, her mind raced through several possibilities, each quickly dismissed.

After paying, she stepped aside to wait. Glancing back, she saw the curtain at the entrance lift.

The white-haired man had entered, smiling as he silently approached her.

“This Immortal Lord—”

His skin was so pale it was almost bloodless, yet his lips were a vivid, startling red. Despite his delicate and handsome appearance, there was an uncanny, sinister air about him.

The white-haired man leaned slightly forward. “The Zhou family is nearly wiped out. Shouldn’t you thank me for that?”