Chapter 154: The real culprit

Su Menqi's tears managed to instill some sense into Long Tao. He calmed himself down and hugged her. After a brief moment of intimacy, he wiped her tears off and said." I am sorry for my previous actions. ". Jiao Mingue was relieved to see Long toa gaining his sanity back.

Long Tao turned and bowed towards Jiao Mingue. "I apologize for my behavior."

"I am the one who needs to apologize for our incapability to free you at an earlier date."

Long Tao turned around and repeated the activity before the army too. He managed to gain a reign over his sanity. He needs to proceed sensibly. " Capture every single person involved in this situation and gather them in the throne room."

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"It seems that your mental fortitude needs some more tempering."

Long Tao nodded in shame. The prolonged torture took a high toll on him. "You should thank your girlfriend for her sincerity towards you."

"She didn't waste a single moment during the whole war, because she desired to save you ASAP."

"How long before the absorption is done.". Long Tao tried to dodge the topic relating to Su Menqi. He needed some time to process his feelings.

"I underestimated this deposit. I am not even halfway done. To find such a massive deposit of firestone in this region is your lucky fate. The fire stone's quality is quite good, and from the number of deposits, the artifact might go through another qualitative change."

"But I thought the firestone can only increase the elemental qualities of the artifact."

"The Crimson lord artifact is a supreme treasure of heaven and earth. Any energy can be digested and converted for its own use. The qualitative change this time would not only change the energy density and quality, but the time manipulation ratio might increase."

This was great news for Long Tao. His training speed would increase once more.

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"There is another surprise for you, which might come into fruition given my estimations are correct."

"What is it?"

"The Crimson Lord artifact is a supreme treasure of heaven. It can function as every single type of artifact. But due to its damages, it was confined to a storage type artifact."

"If the amount of stone reaches a particular number, the artifact might get an additional ability, other than storage."

"The final piece of news seems to be too much for my appetite."

"Who said it is the end of the Good news."

"What else is there?" Long Tao asked in an inquisitive tone.

"Given the amount of firestone deposited here, there should be something below it, which brought about this change.."

"A resource which is capable enough of terraforming the earth with such qualities must be an extreme fire energy reserve. Can you guess what those might be?"

"Can it be an earth flame?"

"Yes, but it is not limited to that. It can be a fire energy vein, or an earth flame, or even an extremely powerful fire attributed artifact. The reasons are endless. The one which brings this change is the real treasure."

Long Tao's excitement blasted through the roof. Any of the above mentioned, was a great piece of luck. He would be fortunate to obtain any one of these.

"Continue the excavation. I would arrive there as soon as I finish my job within the Chu country."

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The Chu capital city-

Multiple figures were laying in cuffs in Infront of Long Tao. Each of them had their cultivation sealed up. "Would you like to confess to your crimes, or shall I begin the merciless execution."

The second prince was the first one to break-down. He began banging his head on the floor and apologizing to Long Tao. "I am sorry brother long. These people forced me to assume this position. My life was threatened. I had to conspire against you to remain alive."

"I just have one question for you, where are the two men I left you with.". Long Tao was talking about Tiger Zheng and Sable.

The Chu king was shaking with fear. he didn't have an answer to the question. Long Tao could guess the answer already. "So, you killed them. May I ask who carried out the execution."

"It was these bastards. I was against killing those two, but these guys insisted on it. They didn't want anyone who supports you involved in this matter.". Long Tao looked at the other group. He slowly rose from his feet and walked towards them.

He grabbed the head of one of the black-hooded personals and used soul scourge. Each one of them met a gruesome death. Long Tao managed to gather quite a lot of information regarding the matter in here.

He then pointed at the second prince, who was scared shitless by the view. "Stone him to death." It was one of the most painful ways to execute someone.

The eldest princess didn't bother interrupting Long Tao's activities. She was shocked to know that long Tao had such intricate connections within the Chu capital.

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Long Tao turned towards the black-hooded personnel next. "Let me summarise the whole situation."

"When I was first tasked with the princess decided to inspect every single organization which was involved in the attack of the convoy. Two names stood out more than others."

"Either of the assassin organization was hunted out of the Jiao country by me."

"Yet, you people still manage to gain control over the Chu country and began manipulating it from shadows. Your organization was formed pretty recently. Yet you possess such manpower. All this leads me to believe that someone was backing you up."

Long Tao drew his sword out, "Would you like to tell me which organization it is?"

"We will never give you an answer till…" the speech was interrupted by a sword swing from Long Tao. Ahead was laying down on the floor.

"My patience is extremely limited. He managed to get a peaceful death; you won't be having a similar chance."

"Would you like to say a name?" Long Tao pointed at an individual. Getting a neutral response Long Tao used soul scourge on him. He met a torturous death.

"You get the next chance.". Long Tao began to proceed towards the next person. This guy wasn't able to control his nerves.

"It's the Black Devil Church."

A familiar name rang in Long Tao's ears. Black devil church. A pair of brother and sister appeared in his mind. The other prisoners were cursing the man who just spurted the name.

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"Are there any Li Wen and Li Xuanfa in your Church?"

The two names surprised all the hooded figures. How did this guy know the two names?

"Your reaction speaks out your thoughts. I suppose they are high ranking officials."

"Since you know the name of our holy son and his sister, shouldn't you treat us with some care?". One of the hooded figures spoke up.

Long Tao laughed out loud. "One is my maid, while the other one will be killed by me soon enough." Long Tao signaled and the figures proceed to kill the prisoners.

The brother was a holy son of the Black Devil church. The situation was getting interesting.