Chapter 193 - 193 2 True One Magical Artifact - Dream

Chapter 193: Chapter 2: True One Magical Artifact – Dream Command! Chapter 193: Chapter 2: True One Magical Artifact – Dream Command! “Big brother! I really messed up!”

The woman knelt down with extreme speed.

Li Fei stepped forward, suddenly reached out to grab the woman’s neck, and violently pulled her into the private room.

Slap!

Li Fei slammed the door shut.

The woman’s face finally changed, showing a look of terror:

“It’s all a misunderstanding, you…”

Li Fei didn’t give her a chance to speak further, he grabbed her neck with one hand and lifted her off the ground.

Although the woman was capable of using magic, she had the physique of a normal person and couldn’t break free. She grabbed Li Fei’s arm as she choked, her neck and face quickly flushed red due to suffocation.

Li Fei held the woman with one hand and with the other, took out a small medicine bottle from his bosom. He poured out a pill and, in the face of her frightened eyes, forcibly fed it to her.

“Cough, cough, cough—”

After Li Fei let go, the woman fell to her knees, coughing violently.

Li Fei snatched a black wooden plaque from her hands.

The material of the plaque was peculiar, it had the texture of wood, but was as hard as steel. It bore two ancient characters that Li Fei didn’t recognize.

“What did you feed me?!”

The woman finally regained her composure and looked up to question Li Fei.

“Poison.”

Li Fei looked down at her calmly and said,

“With your physique, if you don’t get an antidote within half an hour, you will undoubtedly die, and the death will be excruciatingly painful.”

The woman’s face changed drastically as she quickly explained:

“It’s all a misunderstanding! I was desperate for money, so I took the risk. The magic I used earlier was only meant to knock you out, not to really harm you. I just wanted to take back this bag of things, I never thought about jeopardizing your life!”

“I told you, I gave you a chance, but you did not cherish it.”

Li Fei sat down expressionlessly, “From now on, whatever I ask, you answer. If your answers displease me, prepare to be poisoned to death.”

“I am a disciple of the Nightmare Sect; if you kill me, my sect will not let you go!”

Seeing that Li Fei was resolute, the woman immediately threatened in a stern voice.

Li Fei calmly looked at her: “I have made up my mind today, it doesn’t matter even if you are the direct disciple of a True Master, I have made my decision.”

“You…”

The woman, looking into Li Fei’s calm eyes, sensed his resolve and realized that this time she had truly kicked the iron plate.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her gut, making her moan and start to sweat from the forehead.

“The poison has started to act, you don’t have much time left.”

Li Fei ‘kindly’ reminded her.

“Alright, what do you want to ask?”

The woman finally caved.

“Your name, background.”

“My name is Zhao Yi, from the Nightmare Sect in Qing Province, the nineteenth generation heir.”

Zhao Yi said, clutching her stomach in pain.

Qing Province was a neighboring province to Feng Province.

“Why would a great sect disciple resort to theft?”

Li Fei continued.

“I was impatient for success, wanting to buy an elixir for breakthrough, but I didn’t have enough money, so I resorted to this.”

Zhao Yi said quickly.

“Why didn’t you ask your sect for help?”

“The Nightmare Sect doesn’t have the elixir I need, and they’d only advise me to cultivate methodically.”

“Why are you so eager to breakthrough?”

“For revenge!”

“What revenge?”

“A rival who killed my whole family; though they too belong to a major power. The Nightmare Sect can’t help me; I have to rely on myself.”

“What is this wooden plaque?”

“It’s a magic artifact from the Nightmare Sect called the Dream Command.”

“Why did you run to Feng Province to steal?”

“After all, it’s disgraceful; it’s less likely to be discovered if it’s further from the sect.”

“Fine, tell me in detail where you were born, when you joined the Nightmare Sect? How did you get in?”

“…Why are you asking so much?”

“Just say it.”

“… I was born in Pangbei City, Qing Province…”

Zhao Yi started to answer each of Li Fei’s questions one by one.

Li Fei asked her many details, and she responded fluently.

A few minutes later, the toxicity of the Nether Spring Poison intensified, causing Zhao Yi to sweat profusely in pain:

“I’ve answered you, can you give me the antidote now?!”

“No rush, let’s go through it one more time.”

Li Fei said indifferently.

Zhao Yi glared at him angrily: “What on earth do you want?”

Li Fei did not respond but continued to inquire about some details he had already asked about.

After interrogating a spy from Mei Jia Country last time, he felt it necessary to learn some interrogation skills, which might come in handy in the future.

So afterward, he specifically found several books on interrogatory torture through Li Lei and spent time studying them.

At this moment, he was using a technique in interrogation on Zhao Yi: Repeated questioning on specific details to verify whether she was lying.

Furthermore, in the second round of questioning, Li Fei intentionally mixed up some information Zhao Yi had previously given, purposely misspeaking to bait her into making a mistake.

Under the excruciating pain from the deadly poison in his body, it was extremely difficult for a person to concentrate, let alone fabricate lies. Moreover, with the professional interrogation techniques used by Li Fei, unless one was a spy trained under very strict conditions, it was absolutely impossible to lie in such a situation!

“Which year did your master Zheng Gao give you the Dream Command?”

“….In the forty-first year of Hongguang.”

“You just said it was the forty-second year of Hongguang.”

“I, I remembered wrong! Give me the antidote quickly!”

“No, you are lying, your master’s name isn’t Zheng Gao. You just said your uncle master was called Zheng Gao.”

“I… I misspoke; I’m in so much pain, it was a slip of tongue! My master is Fan Guo, and uncle master is Zheng Gao.”

“No, I tricked you; you initially said your master was Zheng Gao.”

“…You!”

“You can keep making things up; I can wait.”

Li Fei calmly looked at Zhao Yi, who had already collapsed on the ground.

This woman did have some quick wits, managing to weave lies on the fly that seemed quite plausible; unfortunately, she met someone like himself who was meticulous.

Eventually, she gave herself away.

“You… you’re just a freak!”

Zhao Yi couldn’t help but curse.

“You have less than twenty minutes before the poison kills you.”

Li Fei remained unmoved, calmly stating.

“What… what do you really want?!”

Zhao Yi’s voice finally broke into a sob, her emotions on the verge of collapse.

“I want you to tell the truth.”

“…I really am Zhao Yi, and it’s true that I have learned the magic techniques of the Nightmare Sect, but I’m not from the Nightmare Sect.”

“Where are you from then?”

“I am from Datong Prefecture!”

“…”

Following that, Li Fei, using the interrogation techniques he had learned, interrogated Zhao Yi multiple times again and finally confirmed that she was telling the truth before he gave her the antidote.

The woman named Zhao Yi, also seventeen years old, was an orphan from Datong Prefecture, adopted by an old Taoist priest.

From a young age, the old Taoist had taught Zhao Yi about magic techniques, and at the age of fifteen, he had procured an Implant for her, allowing her to formally embark on the path of cultivation.

But not long after, the old Taoist died due to deviation during his practice, revealing his true identity to Zhao Yi only on his deathbed.

The old Taoist, named Zhao Renjie, was a traitor of the Nightmare Sect.

Eleven years ago, driven by greed, Zhao Renjie had stolen the Nightmare Sect’s most precious treasure—the Dream Command.

Since then, he defected from the sect and fled to Feng Province.

Over the years, Zhao Renjie had lived incognito within the boundaries of Datong Prefecture, possessing great skills but never daring to show himself, fearing being discovered by the Nightmare Sect.

He constantly thought of using the Dream Command to break through his Realm so that he could walk the world righteously. Unfortunately, his mediocre talent held him back, and he ended up failing in the end.

Zhao Yi inherited all his legacy, relying on magic techniques and the Dream Command to start stealing on trains.

As to her reason for stealing, it was similar to what she previously mentioned: to gather money for the resources needed for cultivation.

Martial Arts cultivation was costly enough, and cultivating magical techniques even more so!

Every practice session required the consumption of precious materials, which cost money. Besides that, maintaining the Dream Command also required money, more than it would cost to sustain a martial master.

While there might be Loose Cultivators in Martial Arts, almost none existed in magic practices because relying solely on one’s personal ability was scarcely enough to earn the money needed for cultivation.

“Do you claim this Dream Command to be a supreme treasure of the Nightmare Sect? What do you have to say about that?”

Li Fei asked, holding up the black wooden token in his hand.

Though the poison had been neutralized, Zhao Yi still looked at Li Fei with eyes full of fear.

Now, in her eyes, this man who looked entirely righteous and much like a good person was, in fact, the most terrifying demon!

“This Dream Command is not an ordinary Magic Artifact; it is a True One Magical Artifact.”

Zhao Yi honestly explained to Li Fei, no longer daring to lie.

Only a Mage in the Possession Stage who had reached Taoist magic cultivation could refine magical tools.

A Martial Artist in the Tao Foundation Stage continuously incorporates different Implants to build the Martial Arts Foundation, while a Great Mage in the Possession Stage similarly integrates new Implants into his magic artifacts, strengthening them, ultimately refining them into their Lifebound Magic Items.

Only by nurturing a ‘True Spirit’ can one’s artifact be deemed a Lifebound Magical Treasure, this is how the name ‘True Spirit Realm’ originated.

Moving forward, the Magic Treasure’s True Spirit grows stronger until it transitions from being acquired to innate, turning into a Magic Treasure; thus the path of magic cultivation advances from the ‘True Spirit Realm’ to the ‘True One Realm’, qualifying one as a True Monarch!

If a True Monarch falls, their Lifebound Magical Treasure, innately superior, reverts to being just a Magic Artifact.

But this type of Magic Artifact is naturally stronger than others and more easily reforged back into a Magic Treasure.

Because they originate from a ‘True One Realm’ True Monarch, these artifacts are called ‘True One Magical Artifacts.’

Every True One Magical Artifact is a sworn treasure of the sect, passed down through generations, retaining the hope of reproducing a True Monarch for the sect!

“With such a great item, was Zhao Renjie only at the stage of a Possession-period Great Mage before he died?”

Li Fei asked with a puzzled tone.

If he could have advanced to the True Spirit Realm, using the Dream Command, he wouldn’t have had to hide anymore and would’ve been feared by the Nightmare Sect. Under that scenario, his reputation would’ve already been massive across Feng Province by now.

Zhao Yi scoffed:

“That old man dreamt of reaching the pinnacle of magic cultivation and becoming a True Monarch of his age, but his talent was too poor, tough for him even to become a True Master. True One Magical Artifacts, though powerful, are even more challenging to refine into one’s Lifebound Magic Items than achieving ordinary breakthroughs. His innate talent was lacking, and he chose the hardest path, so even after eleven years, he couldn’t achieve success.”

Li Fei nodded, understanding now.

True One Magical Artifacts indeed have a natural advantage only in the step towards becoming a Magic Treasure; before that, using it to attempt a Breakthrough actually makes it all the more difficult.

“If the old man had lived a bit longer, I certainly would have broken through to the Divine Transformation Stage by now, and today, I wouldn’t have fallen into your hands no matter what!”

Zhao Yi suddenly exclaimed with a face full of indignant grievance.

She had advanced from the Embryo Cultivation Stage to the Body Breaking Late Stage in just one year; if it hadn’t been for Zhao Renjie’s death leaving her without guidance, she might truly have been a Divine Transformation-period Mage by now. Her innate talent was indeed exceptional, warranting her mockery of Zhao Renjie’s lesser capabilities.

Li Fei, hearing this, neither agreed nor disagreed, toying with the Dream Command in his hands, feeling quite pleased.

He hadn’t expected to stumble upon a treasure just by stepping out the door, something he thought only happened to protagonists in novels.

“From now on, if you want to stay alive, tell me everything about the Nightmare Sect’s cultivation techniques, and how to maintain and use this Dream Command.”

Li Fei said in a flat tone to Zhao Yi.

…