Seeing that Wang Lian was about to be killed by Yan Zhi, she rolled and crawled, flipping over to Qin Ziyu's back, unexpectedly using Qin Ziyu as a shield, blocking Yan Zhi's way, and shouted, "Qin Ziyu is a direct descendant of the Qin Family. If you kill him, there will be no place for you in this world."
Chen Guan never intended to kill Wang Lian right now. Seeing the situation, he signaled Yan Zhi to stop for the moment, but he did not retreat, still keeping his eyes fixed on Wang Lian.
Chen Guan already knew Wang Lian's strength. She was indeed very strong, but Yan Zhi could still suppress her steadily, so Chen Guan was not in a hurry to kill her now.
Wang Lian obviously knew the secrets of this island, and Chen Guan also wanted to know those secrets.
As for Qin Ziyu, it would be best to save him, but if he couldn't be saved, there was nothing that could be done.
"Don't come any closer..." Wang Lian threatened Chen Guan while holding Qin Ziyu hostage, retreating towards the corpse of the Water Burial Buddha.
Chen Guan did not know what Wang Lian intended to do. Afraid that something might happen, he was about to secretly command Yan Zhi to make a move when suddenly a scream was heard.
The captured Qin Ziyu suddenly moved, turned around, and struck Wang Lian in the chest with a palm, sending her retreating several steps, spraying blood from her mouth, and she fell to the ground, struggling but unable to get up.
Chen Guan thought to himself, "The Purple and Cyan Qi Profound Skill is indeed powerful; it can even break free from acupoint sealing."
Qin Ziyu glanced at Chen Guan, nodded slightly to him, then turned to look at Wang Lian, who was struggling to crawl towards the Water Burial Buddha's corpse, his eyes extremely cold.
"Wang Lian, are you from the Wang Family of Tianqiu?" Qin Ziyu walked up to Wang Lian, placed a foot on her, preventing her from moving, and asked condescendingly.
"No, there is not only one Wang Family in Tianqiu." Wang Lian gritted her teeth and said, enduring the pain.
"What do you know about this valley?" Qin Ziyu continued to ask.
"Want to know? Work with me; we'll kill Chen Guan and his pet, and split the loot." Wang Lian said.
Qin Ziyu snorted coldly, reached out and touched Wang Lian's arm, bending it into a bizarre angle, causing Wang Lian to scream like a pig being slaughtered.
Qin Ziyu didn't waste words and proceeded to touch her other arm, seemingly using a tendon and bone dislocating technique, twisting the other arm into an equally bizarre shape.
There may be those in this world who can withstand torture, but they are extremely rare. Ordinary people cannot possibly endure such pain.
When Qin Ziyu was about to dislocate her legs, Wang Lian could no longer withstand the pain.
Qin Ziyu didn't immediately reset her joints, allowing her to scream in pain for a while before restoring them. By this time, Wang Lian was a wretched sight.
"Speak clearly, and if you're wrong in any aspect, I'll dislocate another joint, and I won't fix it, leaving you in perpetual agony." Qin Ziyu said calmly.
Chen Guan removed the Cow Hair Needles from Lu Teng and Gongsun Zhuo, restoring them to normal, and the three of them approached together.
"It's all about monopolizing the Seven Treasure Glaze Fruit, so why waste time with her? If not for Chen Guan and his pet, we would all be dead by her hands. Let's end this by killing such a vicious woman." Lu Teng said sharply, glaring at Wang Lian.
"Seven Treasure Glaze Fruit? You underestimate me, Wang Lian." Wang Lian's face was ashen, bloodless, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat, yet she sneered despite her circumstances.
"Continue," Qin Ziyu signaled to Lu Teng to stop, looking coldly at Wang Lian.
Knowing she could not withstand the pain of the tendon and bone dislocating technique, Wang Lian sighed and said, "Have you ever heard the story of the Emperor Ancestor seeking immortality?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Everyone knows the story of the Emperor Ancestor seeking immortality. If you keep stalling, I'll cripple you first!" Lu Teng shouted angrily.
Wang Lian ignored him and continued, "The Emperor Ancestor sought immortality, mistakenly entered the Grotto Heaven Blessed Land, and practiced Secret Techniques for immortality, opening a new era of human cultivation. This is a widely known story. But have you ever thought, before the Emperor Ancestor, many practiced Immortal Cultivation and Qi Refining in search of the Art of Immortality, wandering through deep mountains and vast swamps. Why did they never find the Grotto Heaven Blessed Land, only for the Emperor Ancestor to discover it?"
"Naturally, it's because the Emperor Ancestor unified the world, had enough influence, and sent enough people to find what others could not." Lu Teng argued.
"If the Grotto Heaven Blessed Land were hidden in deep mountains, unreachable by others, it's normal they wouldn't find it. But many known locations of Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands were documented even before the world was unified by the Emperor Ancestor. Some had been inhabited for years, so why did others fail to find the entrance to the Secret Realm before the Emperor Ancestor?" Wang Lian countered.
"What are you trying to say?" Gongsun Zhuo asked with a frown.
Struggling to sit up, Wang Lian fixed her eyes on Qin Ziyu, saying, "The Qin name was once a branch of the Emperor Ancestor's descendants who changed their surname. You're clearly a direct descendant of the Qin Family, yet you chose to journey far to this place and entered the Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land on the fifteenth of July. Can you claim you know nothing?"
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Qin Ziyu, who calmly said, "I've heard some rumors, that the first time the Emperor Ancestor entered a Secret Realm, he came to this Pingdu Mountain Blessed Land, on the fifteenth of July. How does this relate to what you're saying?"
"It wasn't that before the Emperor Ancestor, no one could truly enter a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land. It's because it's all false; the Emperor Ancestor wasn't the first to discover these places. Before him, others had already entered and started practicing Secret Techniques and Skills, just that ordinary people didn't know." Wang Lian continued with a sneer.
"Before the Emperor Ancestor, every rise of a power and every change of a dynasty had traces of cultivators, but those were always the privileges of a few. Cultivators were like deities, not considering ordinary people their kin. Not until the Emperor Ancestor unified the world was the existence of the Secret Realms revealed, allowing everyone to cultivate." Wang Lian coldly elaborated.
The listeners found Wang Lian's words reasonable, believing only someone like the Emperor Ancestor could accomplish such a feat.
"To ordinary people, everyone accessing Secret Realms and practicing Secret Techniques is already excellent. But the Emperor Ancestor wanted more: why did one have to enter a Secret Realm to cultivate? Why rely on a Secret Spirit to obtain Secret Techniques? Why couldn't there be a technique humans could practice independently?"
Speaking fervently, Wang Lian's previously bloodless face flushed slightly, "The Emperor Ancestor collected Secret Techniques from across the world, ordering those accomplished in cultivation to document their techniques for his research. But without a Secret Technique Core, the techniques were useless—a fact verified by countless cultivators and accepted as truth. No one believed the Emperor Ancestor would genuinely discover anything new." Wang Lian continued.
"Did the Emperor Ancestor succeed?" Lu Teng, intrigued, couldn't help asking.
Chen Guan thought, "Of course not, even now no one is known to practice Secret Techniques without a core."