Chapter 1552 - Heavenly Saint Guild

The black-clad man in the middle was the most cautious of the three, and panic seized him the instant he learned Liu Wuxie's identity because what they were doing couldn't go unpunished.

"Liu Wuxie, since you came to the Spirit Martial Astral Domain on your own accord and delivered yourself to us, don't blame us for being ruthless," the black-clad man said. The three of them struck in unison with blinding speed, pouncing on Liu Wuxie at the same time.

Hardly anyone knew about Liu Wuxie's feat of killing experts at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, so they could never have imagined they were courting death.

"Trash like you dares to provoke me?" Liu Wuxie roared furiously. He flicked his finger, and the Heaven-Severing Strike flashed out, fused with the Witch Wheel Blade so its might doubled on the spot.

Two bloody heads shot into the sky, and the black-clad man in the middle stiffened as if struck by lightning. Seeing his second and third brothers die in a single exchange terrified him to the bone.

Liu Wuxie summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and swallowed the two corpses at once, leaving only the lone black-clad man standing before him. He didn't spare him out of mercy. He wanted answers, and he wanted the source of those counterfeit pills.

"Shit!" The last black-clad man bolted without hesitation, without even sparing a thought for revenge.

If the man had been at the Heaven Gaze Realm, things could have become troublesome, but for Liu Wuxie, the Earth Immortal Realm was nothing but ants.

The Dragon-Grasping Hand appeared and seized the black-clad man who had already fled a thousand meters away. Liu Wuxie didn't kill him. Instead, he tossed him into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and locked him down with the Demonic Purgatory Chains, cutting off even the possibility of suicide.

Then, he vanished into the endless universe and reached a small planet by dawn. Humans didn't inhabit this planet, but the Minotaur Clan did.

After touching down and entering the mountain range, Liu Wuxie found a remote stretch with no one in sight. Only then did he release the black-clad man from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

"Tell me everything you know," Liu Wuxie said. He didn't bother with the Great Conversion Mythical Art because a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm wasn't of much use to him.

"Liu Wuxie, what do you want to know?" The black-clad man finally broke, genuine terror crawling across his face. Demonic Purgatory Chains had pierced into his dantian and were siphoning his true essence, draining him little by little.

"Who are you? Why are you selling counterfeit Soul Pills?" Liu Wuxie asked as he sat down. The man's mask had slipped away, revealing a middle-aged face.

"My name is Wang Kun. I'm from White Yang City. We bought the Soul Pills from the Howling Moon Star and sold them to remote planets," Wang Kun said, spilling everything he knew. He talked for a full ten minutes, forcing out every detail he could remember.

Liu Wuxie drew a sharp breath. He hadn't expected the Soul Pills to drag in so many people, forming an entire profit chain. The one refining the counterfeit Soul Pills never sold them personally. They pushed them out through countless channels across the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, letting everyone share a slice.

Wang Kun had only learnt a month ago that people could stock up on the pills on the Howling Moon Star and resell them for profit.

"Then do you know who's selling the Soul Pills?" Liu Wuxie asked after a brief pause, and a cold weight settled in his chest. The situation was worse than he had imagined.

Whoever refined the counterfeit Soul Pills was viciously cunning. They didn't use their own shops or their own men. They only produced the pills, shipped them across the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, and let rogue cultivators handle distribution to merchants in cities.

Since they never used their own shops, they needed no management and invested no manpower into sales. They focused solely on refining Soul Pills without bothering with distribution.

Even if the Heavenly Dao Society investigated, tracing the true source would be nearly impossible.

Wang Kun was only one distributor among countless others. Every day, more rogue cultivators went to the Howling Moon Star to restock, then carried those pills to merchants across the domain.

"I don't know. We handed astral crystals to the Heavenly Saint Guild, and they gave us the supply of Soul Pills," Wang Kun said, shaking his head.

That answer made Liu Wuxie's brows draw even tighter. The Heavenly Saint Guild resembled the Skybrim Pavilion of the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. They couldn't match the raw might of powerful sects, but their foundation and influence didn't fall short of any superpower's.

They avoided wars between sects, devoted themselves to selling resources, and also accepted strange commissions. Someone had clearly made a private deal with them and used their channels to move the pills.

With the Heavenly Saint Guild's reputation, they wouldn't betray the mastermind's identity, so this path looked like a dead end wrapped in steel.

Even if Liu Wuxie pressed further, he would have to start with the Heavenly Saint Guild to pry at the mastermind's identity.

Then again, the mastermind could easily have used a false identity to cooperate with the Heavenly Saint Guild. Even if the Heavenly Saint Guild spoke, the name could still be just a pawn.

Even someone as sharp as Liu Wuxie went momentarily blank. He had planned to seize Wang Kun's trio and force them to lead him to the mastermind, but the web was wider and far more intricate than he had expected. All he could do was hope Zhen Yiming would make progress in Kaya City.

To ensure Wang Kun hadn't lied, Liu Wuxie even sent his divine sense into Wang Kun's soul sea and verified what he told him.

"Let's head to the Howling Moon Star first, then Kaya City," Liu Wuxie murmured.

After killing Wang Kun, he planned to visit the Howling Moon Star first and see what he could dig out. Even if he couldn't pry the mastermind's identity from them, he still had to probe their attitude.

This time, Liu Wuxie used the teleportation array and arrived on Howling Moon Star one day later. The planet was enormous, capable of housing hundreds of millions of cultivators. An immortal owned Howling Moon Star, and that immortal had been in seclusion for tens of thousands of years.

The Heavenly Saint Guild's headquarters were on Howling Moon Star. Since Soul Pills appeared, the planet had become bustling over the past few months, with cultivators pouring into the Heavenly Saint Guild to buy them.

Liu Wuxie didn't bother disguising himself this time because not many people in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain recognized him anyway. The moment he stepped inside, lavish decorations filled the Heavenly Saint Guild.

The main hall was vast and packed with people. Cultivators milled about in swarms, and most of them had come for Soul Pills.

Liu Wuxie glanced at the notice board and saw that one astral crystal bought seven Soul Pills. One astral crystal's worth of materials could produce fifteen Soul Pills, and the mastermind's profit became obvious at a glance. Worse still, these pills were counterfeit, which meant their raw materials were even cheaper than the Heavenly Dao Society's.

"The sale of today's Soul Pills is over." Several counters shut at once, signaling the pills had sold out again. Cultivators who arrived late left resentful and frustrated, lingering outside the Heavenly Saint Guild.

"I wish to see your manager," Liu Wuxie said to a steward after he entered.

"Our manager is busy, and he doesn't have time to meet outsiders," the steward replied, sizing Liu Wuxie up with open contempt.

In recent days, countless cultivators had come to visit the manager privately to acquire Soul Pills. Many even offered hefty bribes, only to be chased away. The steward naturally assumed Liu Wuxie wanted to bribe the manager too, and his expression reflected that.

"Tell your manager that the Heavenly Dao Society's Liu Wuxie has come," Liu Wuxie said. The main hall had already emptied, and the Heavenly Saint Guild wasn't a retail shop to begin with. It had only become this bustling because Soul Pills had appeared.

The steward frowned as soon as he heard the name, certain he had heard it somewhere, but he couldn't place it at first.

"You're the Heavenly Dao Society's Liu Wuxie?" the steward asked at last, recognition finally flashing over his face.

"I am," Liu Wuxie replied evenly.

The Heavenly Dao Society was only a second-tier sect, but Liu Wuxie's name had spread everywhere because of Soul Pills.

"Please wait," the steward said, and he summoned an attendant to serve tea for Liu Wuxie.

About fifteen minutes later, an elderly man walked out alongside the steward. The moment he appeared, his gaze fixed on Liu Wuxie like a hook.

"Young Master Liu, your presence honors us," the elderly man greeted warmly.

"I hope that I haven't disturbed the Heavenly Saint Guild with my presence," Liu Wuxie replied, and his words carried a clear double meaning. The Heavenly Saint Guild had been selling counterfeit Soul Pills, and the creator of the pill had come to see how they intended to explain themselves.

After all, counterfeit Soul Pills had harmed the Heavenly Dao Society's interests, and the Heavenly Saint Guild had sheltered the scheme.

"Young Master Liu, you must be joking. This isn't a place for conversation. Place comes with me," the elderly man said. His cultivation was at the higher levels of the Heaven Gaze Realm, yet he remained courteous toward Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie rose and followed him into a luxurious room. Three elders sat inside, each radiating a heavy, oppressive aura. Liu Wuxie walked in openly and took a seat opposite them, as though they were leaders gathered for a formal meeting.

The gaze of the three elders pinned Liu Wuxie down, and an invisible pressure crashed toward him.

"Allow me to introduce him. This is the Heavenly Dao Society's Liu Wuxie," the manager said.

From left to right, the three elders were Ku Rong, Ku Xin, and Ku Zhong. They held high status among the Heavenly Saint Guild's upper echelons, while the manager who escorted Liu Wuxie handled outer affairs and stood far beneath them.

"Greetings, Seniors," Liu Wuxie said, maintaining proper etiquette and cupping his hands toward them.

"Young Master Liu, what guidance do you seek to come in person?" Ku Xin asked in a heavy tone.

Liu Wuxie's purpose was obvious, and they were all smart enough to know that pleasantries would only waste breath.

"Shouldn't the Heavenly Saint Guild give me an explanation?" Liu Wuxie asked, and his aura didn't weaken in the slightest. Since he dared to come alone, he clearly wasn't afraid the Heavenly Saint Guild would harm him. Even quasi-immortals couldn't harm him with his current strength.

"Since when does the Heavenly Saint Guild owe anyone an explanation?" Ku Rong asked.

The Heavenly Saint Guild was a superpower in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, and this was how they spoke even when facing a quasi-immortal.

"What arrogance. The Heavenly Saint Guild sells counterfeit Soul Pills and still maintains such an attitude? You've truly broadened my horizons," Liu Wuxie sneered, and anger sharpened his tone.

"Since that's the case, let me ask you something, Young Master Liu. Who decides what's authentic and what's counterfeit?" Ku Rong asked with a faint smile.

If people can sell something, who decides what's authentic? Once it sells, they call it a "good pill." As for the effects, the Heavenly Saint Guild claims no responsibility. The sophistry was blatant.

Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes. The Heavenly Saint Guild was far more troublesome than he had expected, deliberately muddying the waters and sliding away from the core issue, and these three truly were old foxes.