"Divine Country has an old saying, 'He who understands the times is a great man.'"
Jiang Li took out five Water Spirit Talismans from his sleeve and said slowly, "Senior Brother, I truly do not wish to use some inhumane methods on you, but if you remain obstinately ignorant, then do not blame me for being inconsiderate. Have you heard of water torture?"
"All it takes is a slope, a can of water, and a few pieces of paper to give you the most painful experience. The most wonderful part is, with the Water Spirit Talismans, you don't even need to specifically find a slope or fetch water."
Jiang Li sealed Yang Chong's acupoints and dipped the Water Spirit Talismans in his blood, affixing them to his face one by one.
He could have tried the Bending Flower Hand technique; after all, some acupoint techniques can also be applied to men, but using his beloved "horse kills chicken" technique on a man...
Jiang Li was there to extort a confession, not to torture himself.
"At first, water will enter your stomach and lungs through your nose and mouth. Subconsciously, you will try to vomit, cough, and breathe frantically, but because your mouth and nose are covered, your struggles will only make you swallow more water."
"Then, you will flail your hands and legs wildly and may even lose control of your bowels, sinking continuously into the abyss of pain."
Jiang Li explained earnestly to Yang Chong with a gentle smile on his face.
The effect of the explanation wasn't very good; Yang Chong was already panicking.
The Dinghu Sect was located in the middle of a large lake. Although not everyone in the sect was adept at swimming, they at least understood the basics. Many disciples learned to swim to avoid becoming water ghosts.
Speaking of swimming naturally involves experiences like choking on water. The disciples of the Dinghu Sect were all too aware of how painful drowning was.
Before Jiang Li could even finish speaking, Yang Chong couldn't help but shout, "I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll tell everything."
"Very good."
Jiang Li paused his actions.
At that moment, Yang Chong's face was almost completely covered by talisman paper, only the part covering his mouth and nose remained open. Just a bit more, and Yang Chong would experience the ancient and terrifying punishment of water torture.
"Name?" Jiang Li asked.
"Yang Chong," answered Yang Chong hurriedly.
"Who sent you to follow me? What's the purpose?"
"It was Senior Brother Luo Yi from the Inner Sect. He said you extorted fifteen hundred good deeds from him and he wanted revenge... Mmm glub glub..."
Before Yang Chong could finish his sentence, Jiang Li placed the final Water Spirit Talisman over his face. The talisman activated, drawing in moisture from the air, which gushed vigorously into Yang Chong's mouth and nose.
"Resisting to the bitter end," Jiang Li's voice grew colder, "still harboring a stroke of luck till now."
The moment Yang Chong blocked the quicklime, Jiang Li had already ruled out the possibility of Luo Yi's pettiness.
At that time, Yang Chong encountered an unrighteous attack, and there were shadows for cover. The chances of him blocking the quicklime were minuscule, yet easily he drew his sword as if foretold, intercepting the covert attack effortlessly.
This only indicated one thing: Yang Chong already knew beforehand that Jiang Li liked using quicklime.
However, this was something Jiang Li had never let anyone know about, and everyone he had used quicklime on had died. Moreover, the heads collected for bounty were processed using quicklime, but to discern that Jiang Li favored using quicklime from that would require dissection.
'And a single head might not even confirm my preference for quicklime,' Jiang Li narrowed his eyes.
Luo Yi should have recognized the critical point through Jiang Li's previously sent heads before this pursuit mission and knew that Jiang Li liked to use quicklime, even Zhou Mingyun's Long Snake Dao Fruit might be related to Luo Yi.
Reptiles are not afraid of vision impairment, making them the perfect choice to handle quicklime.
Knowing that Jiang Li liked to use quicklime and that he always preferred to target the weak, creating suitable bait was not difficult.
"Gurgle, gurgle,"
Yang Chong had already started to struggle frantically, but because his acupoints were sealed, he could not even flail his arms and legs at this moment.
When Jiang Li tore off the Water Spirit Talisman, saliva, mucus, and water burst out from his nose and mouth through coughs and upchucks.
"Gurgle, just kill me," he gurgled, weakly speaking.
"Senior Brother is joking, I, Jiang Li, always abide by the law and do not overstep," Jiang Li said indifferently. "I will only take a little revenge for your misconduct."
He then pulled out several more Water Spirit Talismans from his sleeve, "Next time, it will be two hundred breaths, and I will add another layer of talisman paper."
The thicker the paper covering the nose and mouth, the more difficult it is to breathe, and the pain exponentially increases. Two hundred breaths, even for cultivators who possess the Heavenly Weapon Dao Fruit, would be agonizing.
Seeing those thin yellow talismans approaching again, Yang Chong's eyes widened in terror, as if he was seeing a ghastly ghost.
"I'll tell, I'll tell everything! Take them away, take them away!" Yang Chong frantically yelled.
Just one round of water torture was enough for him to bear no more pain. It seemed that Senior Brother Yang's willpower did not match the toughness of his talk. Of course, it might also be because Jiang Li considered the strength of the cultivator's body and had intentionally increased the difficulty from the beginning.
"Speak," Jiang Li stopped his hand and reminded him quite kindly, "Just to let you know, if you lie again... don't blame me for being rude."
Not revealing how much he knew made Yang Chong even more frightened.
Yang Chong feared that he might say something wrong in haste and suffer that pain again.
Jiang Li handed over the talisman paper again during this moment of hesitation.
"Jiang Family!"
Yang Chong screamed, "We are all from the Jiang Family, my real name is Jiang Chong, Junior Brother, no, clan brother, we are brothers of the same root, please don't lay a hand on me."
This answer really caught Jiang Li off guard; he thought that those who wanted to harm him were political enemies or adversaries of the Jiang Family, but it turned out the enemy was the Jiang Family itself.
How can he mention they are of the same root when he's attacking his own people?
"Since the main family has moved overseas, which branch has the right to command you?" Jiang Li asked.
As he spoke, he pretended to get ready to torture Yang Chong again.
"Third Young Master, the main family's Third Young Master didn't leave; he changed his name and joined the Dinghu Sect," Yang Chong quickly said in fright, "He is here. The Dinghu Sect originates from the Human Emperor Xuan Yuan, and our Jiang Family are descendants of the Divine Farmer. There has always been continuous contact and deep relations between the two. Although the main family was forced to leave, the Third Young Master secretly stayed and entered the Dinghu Sect."
"Who is he?"
"I don't know! I really don't know!"
Yang Chong was scared out of his wits, telling everything he knew, but if there were things he did not know, he simply did not know them. Even water torture could not force those details out of him.
As for making up lies, Yang Chong really didn't dare to.