Merit-based card draws, quickly become a Heavenly Emperor

Fang Zheng did not answer, but just stared at him coldly.

Du Kang lowered his head, looked at the ropes binding him, then at the interrogation room around him, and suddenly smiled.

"I thought I was dead."

A five-year plan, all for naught, a truly tragic and lamentable situation!

He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face and into his graying beard.

No matter how ruthless and treacherous he was in the past, now that his cultivation has been mostly destroyed and he has fallen into the hands of the government, all that remains is death.

Fang Zheng didn't rush to ask him anything; he simply waved his hand behind him and waited quietly.

Soon, the scholar Chen Moxuan was helped in. He was pale and unsteady on his feet, but his spirits were much better than before.

He had been poisoned by Du Kang and corrupted by evil magic, but fortunately Fang Zheng saved him in time, preventing serious injury.

After some emergency treatment, he is out of danger.

The moment Chen Moxuan saw Du Kang, he stopped in his tracks, his face drained of color, and a surge of anger welled up inside him, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists.

"Du Kang!"

You are so heartless and cruel! I wish I could drink your blood and eat your flesh alive!

Du Kang raised his head and looked at Chen Moxuan, showing no remorse on his face; in fact, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Mo Xuan, all I want is to survive."

Nobody wants to die. If you were me, you might not have done any better.

Chen Moxuan was so angry that his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Fang Zheng waved his hand at him: "Master Chen, please sit down. Let him finish speaking."

Chen Moxuan gritted his teeth and sat down, his gaze fixed on Du Kang.

Fang Zheng no longer hesitated and said in a calm voice, "Du Kang, tell me in detail all the evil deeds you have done over the years."

Anyone who dares to conceal this will be severely tortured!

In Fang Zheng's view, those cruel punishments were prepared for heartless and wicked people like Du Kang.

Upon hearing this, even Lu Qingyun, who had always opposed torture and forced confessions, remained silent.

Du Kang leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and gave up any further resistance.

His voice was neither loud nor soft, as if he were recounting a case that had nothing to do with him.

Five years ago, we had a literary gathering at Hanxiang Pavilion. Yuanshan painted that picture, "Hanxiang Gathering," which I bought at a high price.

Yuanshan used all the money from selling his paintings to help disaster victims. The people were grateful for his kindness and burned incense and prayed for him every day.

That painting received the blessings of all living beings and became a rare treasure.

All the people in the picture are connected by fate, sharing both good and bad fortune.

He paused for a moment, "At that time, I didn't know that the picture was a cursed painting that would later become my death warrant."

"Less than six months after the gathering, I started coughing up blood."

I consulted several doctors, and they all said I had an incurable disease and wouldn't live more than a year.

I can not be reconciled!

In my lifetime, I, Du Kang, have worked hard to build this family fortune and finally earned the reputation of a renowned scholar and wine connoisseur.

I don't want to die!

Du Kang raised his head and looked at Chen Moxuan: "Moxuan, you advised me to relax and take good care of myself back then, saying that there's always a way out."

But if you haven't experienced the suffering of others, don't advise them to be kind.

My health is deteriorating day by day, and I'm getting anxious.

I'm afraid of dying. I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, I'll never open them again.

"Later, the Cao family found me. They said there was a way to prolong life."

"As long as I help them brew a certain kind of wine, they will teach me the method."

Fang Zheng asked, "What kind of wine?"

"Thirsty Blood Yin Wine".

Du Kang lowered his voice, "It's wine brewed with blood-thirsty grass, the ashes of the dead, and the souls of vengeful spirits."

Drinking it can temporarily enhance one's cultivation and prolong life, but it is addictive, and over time, the evil energy in the wine will erode one's mind.

The Cao family used this wine to bribe officials in the county and prefecture, obtaining their protection and amassing a fortune.

"What about the method to prolong life?" Lu Qingyun pressed.

Du Kang smiled and said, "Stealing the secrets of heaven."

Using rare treasures connected by fate as a medium, they seize the fate of others and graft it onto themselves.

I am just an ordinary wine merchant, living my whole life in this small northern county. What kind of people or rare treasures do I have in common with?

It's nothing more than that scroll of "The Elegant Gathering of Fragrance in the Cold".

The Cao family told me that for every person I kill in the painting, I can live a few more years.

But the evil magic has a severe backlash; I have to keep killing people to prolong my life, like a fish struggling to survive on land.

He closed his eyes, his voice barely audible: "First I killed the irrelevant people in the painting: the boy playing the zither, the boy playing chess, the herb gatherer, the woodcutter, and the hunter."

But they are all insignificant people, not the main characters in the painting. Even if I kill them, it won't prolong my life much.

"So you've turned your dirty tricks on us, the Five Friends of Winter?!"

Chen Moxuan was now furious.

Du Kang nodded nonchalantly, "That's right, we, the Five Friends of Winter, are the main characters in the 'Gathering of Fragrance in the Cold' painting!"

After killing all the supporting characters, I'll naturally kill the protagonist.

I killed Ziqi first, and then Hongjian; the two of them extended my life for a long time.

At that time, I dared not kill Yuanshan, because he was an eighth-rank Daoist cultivator and the author of the "Cold Fragrance Gathering Picture".

I was afraid I couldn't beat him, and I wanted to save him for last to kill.

"I dare not kill you, Mo Xuan, because you are an official appointed by the imperial court. If I kill you, the court will investigate."

Fang Zheng pressed, "You know illusion magic, you can refine evil pills, you know the Mirror Heart Array, and you can even control hundreds of ghosts."

Where did these evil arts and cultivation levels come from?

Du Kang shook his head and said, "It's just a minor trick, not worth mentioning."

The art of stealing heavenly secrets is not without its price; with each person killed, there will be increasingly severe backlash.

If this continues, I'm doomed.

I had to think of another way.

"What method?"

Du Kang sneered, "I'm not stupid. The Cao family is just a local tycoon in a county town. Where would they get the guts and means to brew Yin wine and that evil method of stealing heavenly secrets?"

After my painstaking investigation, I discovered that there was a powerful, hidden sect behind the Cao family.

This sect wields considerable influence in the underground world of Youzhou, and the Cao family is merely a small, subordinate clan to it.

I was unwilling to be controlled by the Cao family, so I secretly joined this sect.

There, I learned more Taoist arts, using living people to refine elixirs and vengeful spirits to forge weapons, and my cultivation level increased rapidly.

Fang Zheng, Lü Zhengfeng, and Lu Qingyun exchanged glances, all seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Behind this old wine connoisseur Du Kang, there was indeed a bigger fish.

Fang Zheng asked in a deep voice, "What's the name of that reclusive sect?"

Du Kang shook his head slightly, "You, a mere ninth-rank official, are simply like an ant trying to shake a tree when facing that sect. You are overestimating yourself."

"Considering you are a disciple of Yuanshan, I advise you not to ask."

Fang Zheng ignored Du Kang's feigned mystery.

"explain!"

Lu Zhengfeng also sneered and said, "All the famous and orthodox families in the world have been granted titles by my dynasty."

Hmph, what hidden sect?

He's nothing but a cowardly, treacherous individual branded as a heretic!

Under the pressure of Fang Zheng and others' official authority, Du Kang remained silent for a moment before finally revealing the name of the sect.

"White Lotus Temple".

I've only ever interacted with their outer disciples, and I know that the sect is called the White Lotus Temple, and that it enshrines a statue of the White Lotus Holy Mother. I know nothing else about it.

Upon hearing this, both Lü Zhengfeng and Lu Qingyun showed expressions of sudden realization.