Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Lan Jian raised an eyebrow, and Xu Lingguang said with a half-smile, "Were you faking it just now? You're quite cunning."

He had no intention of listening to Benleihu's excuses, and said to Lanjian, "It almost got away with it. Be careful when you deal with it, lest it try to pull another trick."

Lan Jian nodded, pulled out the Thunder Tiger's tail, and dragged it out in a simple and crude manner.

Having already suffered enough at his hands, Benleihu was now too terrified to move, but his survival instinct still drove him to struggle and shout at Xu Lingguang: "What do you want to know? I can tell you anything, as long as you can guarantee that I will survive in the restriction, I will tell you everything I know!"

Xu Lingguang's expression shifted slightly as he looked towards Lan Jian.

Lan Jian understood and threw the Thunder Tiger back.

Xu Lingguang sized up the very imposing tiger. Its aura was stronger than that of the Phantom Spider. Moreover, based on its ability to deceive Lan Jian's acting skills and the information revealed in its words just now, it was enough to show that it knew more than the Phantom Spider.

"You knew all along that you had a restriction on you?"

Benleihu's expression darkened for a moment before he said, "I know."

Now Xu Lingguang was genuinely puzzled: "Since you knew, why didn't you trigger the restriction?"

Thunder Tiger was quite pleased with himself upon hearing this: "I've always been very perceptive of danger."

This was clearly not enough to answer Xu Lingguang's question. Xu Lingguang looked at him and waited patiently for what he would say next.

Benleihu originally wanted to whet people's appetites and make his role seem more significant.

Seeing Xu Lingguang's unhurried demeanor, I could only honestly continue, "I realized a long time ago that I had lost a part of my memory, and only an idiot like Phantom Spider would not have noticed anything unusual for so long."

"Every time Snowfield Manor creates a batch of demon slaves, it selects the strongest one and bestows upon it a divine pill. The demon slave who takes the divine pill can regain its sanity."

"After staying in the manor for a long time and witnessing those demons who regained their senses suddenly destroy themselves, I realized that there might be something fishy going on. Until one day, I suddenly realized that I seemed to be missing a piece of my memory, and when I tried to recall it, I suddenly felt a sense of impending death."

"Besides attracting lightning, I have another little-known talent: an exceptionally accurate intuition for death. This intuition has helped me avoid many dangers. When I realized that continuing to recall the past might lead to my death, I instinctively attracted a bolt of lightning that knocked me unconscious, which is how I escaped death."

"After that, I witnessed several intelligent demons suddenly die, which made me even more certain of my guess. So whenever I couldn't control myself and wanted to explore my lost memories, I would summon lightning to knock me unconscious."

As it said this, the fur on the Thunder Tiger stood on end. It instinctively tried to summon lightning, but then belatedly realized that its spiritual power was sealed and it was unable to summon lightning at all. It could only look at Xu Lingguang with fear in its eyes and beg for help: "Knock me out! Knock me out quickly!"

Xu Lingguang readily complied and knocked it unconscious.

Then, a stream of spiritual energy was sent into the Thunder Tiger's body, and sure enough, a shadow was found at the location of its head.

Xu Lingguang did not rush to investigate, but instead promptly withdrew his spiritual energy and said, "There is something in its brain, which looks like some kind of insect, possibly a Gu worm."

Upon hearing this, Lan Jian also probed his spiritual power into the Thunder Tiger's body. His cultivation level was enough to crush the person controlling the Thunder Tiger behind the scenes. After deliberately concealing the fluctuations of his spiritual power, the Gu worms hidden in the Thunder Tiger's head could not detect anything unusual.

It wasn't until Lan Jian transformed the spiritual energy she had infused into a large net, enveloping the Gu worm, that it sensed something was amiss and began to try to fight back.

However, the large net formed by spiritual energy separated it from the Thunder Tiger, rendering its counterattack ineffective.

Lan Jian's gaze turned slightly cold as she said, "Alright."

Xu Lingguang then probed his spiritual power into it again and touched the Gu worm.

This is a Gu worm no bigger than a fingernail, its entire body is blood red, and it looks like a centipede. Each of its tiny legs should have been deeply embedded in the Thunder Tiger's brain, but after being separated by spiritual power, its tiny legs were also forced out. At this moment, it is irritably crawling around on the surface of the spiritual power shield, trying to find a breakthrough.

Xu Lingguang said, "It seems that Snowfield Manor controls these demons through this kind of Gu worm. No wonder they are all mindless, violent and bloodthirsty. With such a Gu worm constantly stirring in their minds, anyone would go crazy."

Lan Jian said, "Snowy Mountain Villa has grand ambitions."

This method was unheard of in the Shangyang Continent. They must have secretly developed it at some point and captured a large number of demons to train them into batches of demon slaves. They certainly wouldn't be doing this just for Xiliang City.

Xu Lingguang said, "This Gu worm cannot be removed for the time being. If it were me, I would definitely prepare a backup plan and would never let this Gu worm fall into the hands of others."

His words made sense, so Lan Jian simply strengthened the spiritual energy shield that was trapping the Gu worm again to prevent it from breaking through the shield and controlling the Thunder Tiger again.

Xu Lingguang then woke up the unconscious Benlei Tiger.

The Thunder Tiger, who had just woken up, was stunned for a moment before remembering the dangerous situation he had just faced. He looked himself up and down and, after confirming that he was not dead, finally breathed a sigh of relief: "That was close."

I almost died.

Xu Lingguang didn't give him time to process the information and said directly, "We found a Gu worm in your head, which should be the culprit controlling you and the other demons."

Upon hearing this, the furry tiger's face turned green: "Can it be taken out?"

Xu Lingguang shrugged: "It is possible to take it, but if you take it rashly, you may die."

Benleihu, ever flexible, immediately backed down: "Then let's not take it."

Xu Lingguang chuckled and said, "Why don't you try to recall it again now and see if you can remember anything?"

Having barely escaped with his life, Benleihu instinctively resisted upon hearing his words: "No, let's not. If I can't remember, I can't remember. I don't think it's anything important."

No matter how important something is, can it be more important than your own life?

Xu Lingguang, however, was not discussing this with him. He tapped his finger on the table and said, "If you don't regain your memories, how can you tell us what methods Snowfield Manor used to control you?"

Seeing that the Thunder Tiger stiffened, Xu Lingguang continued, "If you can't provide any valuable clues, what use are you to us? We might as well just kill you."

Upon hearing this, Thunder Tiger trembled and once again admitted defeat: "I want to, I want to, is that alright?"

However, he was still afraid of dying, so he asked cautiously, "You said you controlled that Gu worm. If I recall it again, I shouldn't be in any danger to my life, right?"

Xu Lingguang said, "If you feel your life is in danger, just ask me to knock you out, okay?"

Benlei Hu was unconvinced. What if he didn't faint in time? Wouldn't he lose his life?

But he dared not say it aloud, and could only nod angrily, "I'll try again."

Thunder Tiger struggled to overcome his fear and began to recall—

Past memories have become completely blurred, as if something separates the past from the present.

His current memories are filled with bloodshed and killing, as well as the fear of living in constant uncertainty. As for his past memories... Benleihu tried to recall what his original name was and where he had lived.

Its body was tense, and its furry tiger face was scrunched up, clearly indicating that the memory was very painful.

But not long after, Xu Lingguang saw its furrowed face slowly relax, as if it had remembered something pleasant.

After a long while, Benleihu opened his eyes blankly, two large tears falling from his scarlet eyes. He choked out, "I remember now."

Seeing its sorrowful expression, Xu Lingguang frowned and his tone softened considerably: "What did you remember?"

Thunder Tiger sniffed, wiped his face haphazardly with his injured forepaw to remove his tears, and said in a hoarse voice, "My name is Tiger Two. I used to hunt in the mountains with Tiger One. One day, we suddenly encountered some cultivators. Without saying a word, those cultivators attacked us with their magical artifacts. Tiger One and I were no match for them at all, and we were quickly captured and taken back to Snowfield Manor."

"Tiger and I were locked in a dungeon. The dungeon was full of dark little rooms, so small that I could barely stand up, let alone lie down. Tiger and I were locked in the next room. I don't remember how long we were locked up, but I remember that we became very weak and were about to die."

"Just when I thought I was dead, someone dragged us out. Tiger and I were separated. After that, I became confused, and I felt that my body became very light and the pain was not so bad. Then I knew nothing more."

"When I woke up again, I didn't remember anything. I didn't even recognize Hu Da standing next to me."

As Benleihu spoke, tears welled up in his scarlet eyes again, and he clutched his head with his paws, whimpering, "Tiger Da is dead. I watched him die, but I don't remember anything. I didn't even help collect his body. I just watched those people carry his corpse away, skin him, and debone him to make pills..."

Thunder Tiger cried so hard that even the little cubs beside him were frightened. They tentatively reached out and patted his back, clumsily trying to comfort him: "Don't be sad."

Thunder Tiger choked back tears, "How could I not be sad? Those cultivators were so wicked. They took Tiger Big and refined it into pills, and then they gave the pills to us to eat..."

"I ate Tiger Da, waaaaah..."

Thunder Tiger cried as it scratched its throat with its claws, making gagging noises.

The cubs were so frightened that they dared not touch him again. They looked at each other in bewilderment and could only look to Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian for help.

Xu Lingguang sighed, reached out and gently stroked the forehead of the Thunder Tiger, and the very agitated Thunder Tiger suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Lingguang said, "He's too emotional. If this continues, he might become possessed by a demon. Let him calm down for a while."

Yu Rong peeked at the large paw that Ben Lei Hu still had stuffed in its mouth, thought for a moment, then grabbed the paw and huffed and puffed as she dragged it out. Mu Yun then took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped its tear-stained furry face.

The atmosphere in the room was very silent. Yun Feng seemed to hesitate for a long time before asking in a low voice, puzzled, "Why did those cultivators refine Tiger Big into pills and then feed them to Tiger Two?"

Although the little ones had traveled to many places with Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian, this was the first time they had ever directly faced the malice of humans towards demons.

If Xu Lingguang had known that Benleihu would say such things, he would have definitely told the cubs to leave beforehand.

But the incident happened suddenly, and the little ones heard it clearly. Xu Lingguang could only frown and glance at Lan Jian.

The two adults were at a loss for words when it came to answering the children's questions.

The conflict between humans and demons has lasted for thousands of years. The two races have been killing each other, and neither can be said to be innocent. Therefore, the enmity between the two sides has become deeper and deeper.

However, this history is too complicated to explain, and the little ones may not be able to understand it.

Instead, Sui Chun remained silent for a while before suddenly saying, "There are many bad people among the human cultivators."

Otherwise, he wouldn't have almost become a demon in order to avenge Gongyang Youji.

Mu Yun looked left and right, wringing out her damp handkerchief, and said, "But Xu Lingguang is very good."

Sui Chun's eyes were red: "But there are even more bad cultivators."

This statement clearly resonated with the children, as they had all suffered persecution at the hands of human cultivators to varying degrees.

For example, Yu's parents, the mirage dragon, and Jiongyou and the little leopard who escaped death.

For a moment, the little ones all lowered their heads and fell silent.

Xu Lingguang sighed deeply, stretched out his arms and pulled the listless little ones into his embrace, comforting them one by one: "Sui Chun's words are not entirely wrong. For various reasons, the enmity between humans and demons runs too deep, and there are indeed many cultivators who do not value the lives of demons. But this world is vast and there are many people. Not every cultivator is like that. There are also cultivators like me and Liu Zhu, which is why we must strive to change things."

Youyu pursed her lips, her eyes red as she looked at him: "Does it really work?"

Xu Lingguang gripped the boy's slightly cold hand tightly and said firmly, "With your older brother, me, and Master Liuzhu, it will be useful."

Perhaps it was the warmth of his embrace, or perhaps it was the firmness of his tone that made it impossible not to believe him, but the little ones, who were initially quite downcast, gradually became less sad.

Jiongyou peeked at the unconscious Benleihu and said worriedly, "Can we help him?"

Xu Lingguang patted the little boy's head and said, "This is something for adults to worry about; leave it to us."

The little ones tilted their heads, but eventually nodded obediently.