Chapter 200: Senior Brother, the Nature of “Six”
The second floor of the dim dungeon exuded a strange atmosphere, with only a few blue oil lamps illuminating the corridor, as if it were in the realm of spirits.
Crash–
The sound of clashing chains echoed in the corridor. The imprisoned sin cultivators in the cells all opened their eyes and looked towards the black iron bars at the entrance of their respective cells. They knew they had a new friend to talk to in the coming centuries.
Two Core Formation stage disciples from the Sword Sect escorted Xue Xinghai towards the innermost interrogation room, with Zhuang Yan following behind.
After walking about a hundred steps and reaching the cell door, Zhuang Yan told the two disciples, “You can leave, I will interrogate him personally.”
“Yes, Master.”
The two disciples saluted and left. Once Zhuang Yan and Xue Xinghai entered the room, they closed the black iron door. They set up a soundproof restriction using a talisman to avoid disturbing other repentant sin cultivators on the same floor during the torture.
Xue Xinghai entered the interrogation room, looked around, and upon seeing the torture instruments designed explicitly for cultivators on a wooden table in the corner, he couldn’t help but grimace, saying, “These torture devices are all crafted by me.”
“That’s right.” Zhuang Yan nodded, picked up a knife engraved with runes from the wooden table, and turned around. “What happened today? Why were you caught by the three of them?”
“You gave me a list of twenty-eight people. One of them, Yun Shulong, escaped. When I found him, he had already been caught by the second and third ladies.”
“Yun Shulong! Yun Kun’s youngest son!”
“Yes.” Xue Xinghai nodded. “I was worried about what he might have said, making the third lady suspicious. So, I had to intervene. I originally wanted to take care of the second and third ladies in the process, but unexpectedly…”
“What happened?”
“Unexpectedly, the two foundation-building cultivators accompanying them, a man and a woman, were quite formidable.” Xue Xinghai raised his left hand, which had been severed by Feng Yudie, and continued, “A mid-stage foundation-building cultivator can cut off the left arm of a late core formation cultivator with a single sword?”
“Hidden cultivation!”
“It doesn’t seem like it, but with silver hair, they likely have the bloodline of the Holy Emperor.”
“Bloodline of the Holy Emperor!” Zhuang Yan raised an eyebrow, pondered momentarily, and said, “I heard that Xuanxing Sect recently recruited a silver-haired disciple. Could it be that he is from Xuanxing Sect?”
“I heard that the Holy Emperor of Xuanxing Sect is a woman, but the person accompanying the second lady today is a man.”
“What about the other person you mentioned earlier?”
“The girl used the Leaf Shadow Sword Technique. She might be the illegitimate daughter left behind by Master Yun Tian, and she shouldn’t be underestimated, as she is already in the middle stage of foundation building at a young age.”
Zhuang Yan squinted slightly, revealing a hint of distrust as if he thought Xue Xinghai deliberately allowed himself to be captured. He asked, “Just two mid-stage foundation-building cultivators, and you couldn’t handle them!”
“There is another person whose cultivation level I can’t discern at all.”
“Who?”
“The young man accompanying the eldest lady. He used the Illusionary Transformation Pendant, and I can’t see through his cultivation or appearance, they might be fake.”
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan’s eyes widened slightly. Although he didn’t see the two mid-stage foundation-building cultivators Xue Xinghai mentioned, he did see Ye Anping. However, he didn’t detect anything suspicious about Ye Anping, he thought the young man was handsome.
If Ye Anping used the Transformation Pendant to conceal his cultivation and appearance, then this pendant might be a spiritual treasure. Concealing one’s cultivation with a spiritual treasure implied two possibilities,
The cultivation level was exceptionally high, and an ordinary Transformation Pendant could not suppress it. Or the person was exceedingly wealthy and disdains using an ordinary Transformation Pendant.
Thinking about this, Zhuang Yan felt something was amiss and quickly inquired, “Since I can’t see through it, how did you know he used the Transformation Pendant?”
“He deliberately showed me the pendant as if he wanted to threaten me,” Xue Xinghai replied with a flat mouth. “Because of this, I didn’t dare to act recklessly at that time.”
“Deliberately showed it to you!”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… Could he be intentionally mystifying things?”
“Elder Zhuang, once you see the pendant, you’ll understand why I didn’t dare to act recklessly then. It’s not an ordinary spiritual treasure, I doubt you can find its match even if you search through the treasure vaults of all sects in the Southern Region.”
“Oh!”
Zhuang Yan raised an eyebrow, not paying too much attention. He felt Xue Xinghai was being overly dramatic. He then waved his hand, using spiritual power to move a nearby stool, gesturing for him to sit down, and asked, “Where’s the item?”
“I’ve already stored the organs of the twenty-seven internal disciples in the secret room. The two people you brought removed Yun Shulong’s head.”
“How much is left?”
“Not much. The demon body has been almost stitched together, only missing a Blood Spirit Bead.”
“I see.” Zhuang Yan nodded and said, “You’ve been staying here for these days. Most other elders are aware that I’ve captured you and put you in the celestial prison. I can’t let you go directly. I’ll arrange for your escape in a while.”
“Got it.”
Xue Xinghai shrugged slightly, then glanced at the small dagger in Zhuang Yan’s hand, jokingly said, “Being in the Sword Sect’s interrogation room but not experiencing torture is quite regrettable.”
“Want to give it a try!”
“No, I still want to live a bit longer.”
“Let’s go, we’re out…”
As soon as he finished speaking, there were two knocks on the iron door of the interrogation room. Zhuang Yan was momentarily confused, but he soon came to his senses. It was probably other elders coming over.
Crash–
He immediately made a sword gesture, and several iron chains in the corner of the room quickly wrapped around Xue Xinghai’s body, hanging his hands and feet in mid-air.
After that, Zhuang Yan walked to the door and opened it, and then saw Yun Yiyi and Ye Anping standing outside, as well as a mature woman wearing a golden Daoist uniform following them.
“Huh!” Zhuang Yan pretended to be surprised and said, “Miss Third and Elder Hu? Why are you here?”
Yun Yiyi cupped her hands and replied, “Elder Zhuang, after all, this matter concerns the lives of the twenty-eight inner and two inner disciples. After thinking about it, I decided to come and observe the interrogation. As for what Elder Hu said, we met her on the road. She had nothing to do, so she came with us.”
“…”
Zhuang Yan’s eyes twitched, and he looked at Hu Tianyue behind the two of them. If there were only Yun Yiyi and Ye Anping, he could use his elder status to drive them away, but if Hu Tianyue were there, it would be difficult for him.
Hu Tianyue looked at Zhuang Yan with a smile on her face. She picked up her wine gourd, took a sip, and said, “Elder Zhuang is in a good mood today. It is rare to see him on weekdays, but now he is personally involved in the criminal trial.”
“Elder Hu was joking. Zhuang just passed by today and went to help the junior when he saw him in trouble.”
“There’s no need to greet you. The third lady said there was something good to see, so I just came to look. Hey! Elder Zhuang, please continue. I’ll just watch from the side.”
“…”
Hu Tianyue squeezed through Zhuang Yan, who was blocking the door, and opened a way. Then Ye Anping and Yun Yiyi also squeezed in and moved three stools to sit down.
Ye Anping looked at Xue Xinghai, who was now hanging in the air, there were no traces of criminal interrogation on his body, and he wondered for a moment, “Elder Zhuang hasn’t started yet? That’s just right. We can also start from the beginning.”
Zhuang Yan’s eyes twitched like blood, but he had no choice but to close the door and walk back to Xue Xinghai with a knife.
Xue Xinghai’s eyes widened, “Elder Zhuang, are you serious about coming?”
Zhuang Yan pursed his lips, “Otherwise, Hu Tianyue is watching.”
…
