He was well aware that his two elder brothers knew their limits, which was one thing. More importantly, he knew that Mr. Si Meng wanted to activate the destined witch insect and needed to calm his mind to do so.
At the moment, he was being violently beaten and simply could not calm his mind, making it impossible to activate the destined witch insect.
The Fifth and Sixth Elders did in fact know their limits, only stopping when they felt the moment was right.
By this point, Mr. Si Meng's body had gone limp on the ground like a pile of mud.
Not only was he tied up and unable to move, even if he had been able to act freely, trying to get up after being beaten like this would have been difficult.
Mo Jiuye was also not letting up, constantly observing his every move while keeping the tranquilizer gun ready in his hand. If Mr. Si Meng showed any abnormal reactions, he would immediately open fire.
Mr. Si Meng lay limply on the ground, breathing heavily.
But the perpetually proud man was not about to bow his head so easily.
"You will all regret everything you have done to me today."
As he finished speaking, he tried his best to steady his emotions and focus all his willpower, preparing to activate the mother destined witch insect.
Mo Jiuye immediately recognized his intention and was about to fire when he suddenly felt a slight vibration against his chest.
He knew that summoning the destined witch insect for suicide required at least half an incense stick's worth of time. So rather than immediately pulling the trigger, he reached into his robe and pulled out a small cloth bag.
The bag contained the witch insects they had seized from Mr. Si Meng.
In the moonlight, he could see that one of the larger porcelain bottles was shaking nonstop in his palm.
In other words, the vibration he had just felt originated from this bottle.
At the same time, Mr. Si Meng also saw what Mo Jiuye was holding in his hand.
If the light had been better, the brothers would surely have seen the bloodthirsty glint in his eyes.
Though they couldn't make out the color of Mr. Si Meng's eyes, the brothers knew the old fox was staring at the bottles in Mo Jiuye's hand.
Facing his enemy, Mo Jiuye had no intention of passing up a chance to drive him mad.
He waved the porcelain bottles in front of Mr. Si Meng.
"What's wrong? Anxious to see your treasures? Too bad they're all in my hands now, completely out of your reach."
He taunted Mr. Si Meng like this not simply to mock him.
Mo Jiuye was indirectly buying time, because he could feel the shaking of the larger bottle growing more intense.
Without understanding the situation, he didn't want to take any risks.
To be safe, Mo Jiuye finally pulled the tranquilizer gun's trigger, and Mr. Si Meng once again lost consciousness after a crisp bang.
The Fifth and Sixth Elders were not at all surprised by Mo Jiuye's actions, because they too were holding such weapons.
They had just been a little unclear about the situation and hadn't thought to resolve it this way.
At the moment, the two brothers had no time to envy their Ninth Younger Brother's use of advanced weaponry. Their eyes fixed on Mr. Si Meng as they asked:
"Ninth Brother, what should we do next? Continue on our way?"
Mo Jiuye nodded. "Continue on our way, and try to reach the western border as soon as possible."
He was now worried that Mr. Si Meng had already shown suicidal intentions twice. Any more delays, and Mo Jiuye feared he would die on the road.
Even with the brothers watching him closely, if Mr. Si Meng stubbornly refused to eat, he could still starve himself to death along the way.
Mo Jiuye found this quite vexing.
The brothers had travelled thousands of miles to the capital and captured their target, but the crafty Mr. Si Meng had yet to reveal any useful information.
Not only had they learned nothing useful, just now the sly old fox had let slip that their father was being controlled by his destined witch insect.
At the same time, they now knew for certain that their father was still alive, but the most crucial detail - his exact location - remained a mystery to them.
The carriage rumbled into motion again amidst Mo Jiuye's swirling thoughts.
Knowing Mr. Si Meng would not wake for a while, Mo Jiuye leaned back in the carriage to ponder.
He recalled the passage on destined witch insects from the Compendium of Witch Insect Techniques.
As he turned it over in his mind, Mo Jiuye suddenly had an inspiration.
The passage mentioned that most witch insect masters kept their destined witch insect inside their bodies, with only extremely rare exceptions.
These exceptional few were those who cultivated both witch insects and poisons. To refine ever more potent toxins, they often tested the effects themselves.
To avoid self-poisoning, they used a special technique to force all toxins in their bodies into the heart corner, using the heart's blood to encircle the toxins and prevent them from spreading through the rest of the body, thus protecting themselves.
Just now, Mr. Si Meng had clearly been trying to activate his destined witch insect to commit suicide, yet the porcelain bottle in his hand had shaken nonstop. This indicated a strong possibility that Mr. Si Meng was one of those rare exceptions mentioned in the book.
The book also stated that for witch insect masters who kept their destined witch insect separate from their body, their heart blood was highly toxic. Once they activated the destined witch insect for suicide, their own bodies would also explode.
Their greatest weapon would be their toxic heart blood. Even the slightest splash on the skin would leave no hope of survival.
Mo Jiuye suddenly felt greatly enlightened.
So Mr. Si Meng's destined witch insect was literally in his own hands.
And he had intended to use the mother's suicide to detonate his body, not only killing the father under the control of his destined witch insect, but taking the three brothers with him.
Looking at Mr. Si Meng's battered face, Mo Jiuye was filled with the urge to end his loathsome life on the spot.
But he could not do that yet.
Because he had thought of a way to prevent Mr. Si Meng from activating the destined witch insect for suicide.
That was, to take Mr. Si Meng's heart blood to nourish his destined witch insect. The destined witch insect would not reject the toxins in its master's heart blood; on the contrary, it would become even livelier.
No matter how the master tried to control it, it would not choose suicide.
Still, Mo Jiuye did not dare be careless about obtaining Mr. Si Meng's heart blood.
Just now, amidst his desperate ramblings, Mr. Si Meng had only revealed that the destined witch insect controlled their father. The situations of their Eldest and Second Brothers remained unclear, and most importantly, he still hoped to ask about his elders' whereabouts.
If it were anyone else, Mo Jiuye could simply plunge a blade in and take the heart blood without such elaborate planning.
Fortunately, he knew the precise location of the heart blood. Before leaving, his wife had equipped him with many surgical tools to help free his family from the witch insects' control.
As for sterile conditions, as long as Mr. Si Meng didn't die, someone as reprehensibly evil as him did not deserve them anyway.
Mo Jiuye carefully planned it over and over in his mind until he was certain nothing could go wrong. Only then did he open the carriage door.
"Sixth Brother, find a quiet place for us to stop."
Sixth Elder reflexively glanced back at Mr. Si Meng, thinking something might be wrong with him.
