"So you are the suspect, Da Tong." Hou Shu remarked with a solemn expression but a smile hidden in his eyes.

The person bound by the chains of flame seemed to have heard Hou Shu as he started to move.

"Seniors... You are wronging me... I, Da Tong, am innocent..." Said Da Tong in a hoarse voice, as if he had difficulty speaking.

Da Tong was a Foundation Establishment cultivator with the appearance of a middle-aged man with the top of his head bald and long hair flowing from the sides. Other than that, his only distinguishing features were his small eyes and his high nose bridge.

This appearance was that of a sage in the mortal world, but currently, Da Tong didn't have any sagely countenance. Justifiably so, he was imprisoned and had been tortured by Yan family specialist for who knows how long.

"Whether you are innocent and the Yan family has wronged you, will be known after this interrogation, for I am Hou Shu, Red Book Detective." Said Hou Shu as he floated in front of Da Tong.

"Ah... So it's Senior Red Book Detective... It seems that the Yan family has spent quite a bit on this... Alas, they will be disappointed..." Said Da Tong in a voice clearer than before.

"That will be something for me to worry about," Said Hou Shu as he waved his sleeves and held out his hand, on which wisps of red flames appeared and condensed into a red book.

"As for you, you just have to act like your name, Da Tong¹." As Hou Shu said this, the smile hidden in his eyes surfaced for a split second, clearly, he found this coincidence humorous.

"Haha... Ask me anything Senior... I have not lied since I have been imprisoned here..." Said Da Tong, who found Hou Shu quite likable. Of course, this is the first time in quite a while that people have behaved in this manner with him, The Yan family are all ferocious people.

'Oh Heaven! Your workings is truly mysterious, and your workings can even be humorous like this." Hou Shu jokingly thought as he opened the red book made out of flames, from which, a small wisp detached from it and floated towards Da Tong, entering his Sea of Consciousness.

The moment it Da Tong's Sea of Consciousness, he grimaced in pain.

"Don't resist it! The pain will go away, but if you resist, the pain will linger." Hou Shu warned.

Da Tong heeded Hou Shu's order and complied and sure enough, his grimace eased, signifying that the pain had lessened or even gone away.

Seeing this, Hou Shu let out a smile and said, "Now, let us start by you telling me a bit about yourself."

"This one is called Da Tong... The first son of two mortals from Chijia Village... At sixteen I found my immortal opportunity of a golden core inheritance in the caverns near the village... I have cultivated diligently in my village and seldom left it..." Said Da Tong slowly, adding each bit after careful consideration.

Just as Da Tong spoke, words mirroring his appeared on the pages of the red book made of flames by extinguishing the flames in the pattern of the characters.

Hou Shu nodded at the sight of this, although expected, he was glad that the red book worked flawlessly.

"Good, Can you tell me more about the fire celestial treasure inheritance? Where did you find it and how did you find it?" Asked Hou Shu gentlemanly way, not in a way someone would expect an interrogator to speak.

"Yes... I found the inheritance site two months ago, when there was a great earthquake near Chijia Village, my seclusion grounds... At first, I only acted to protect the village so it doesn't get razed to the great, but..."

"And what you observed?"

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"As I moved to mend the cracks that the earthquake left behind... I found that one of them connected to a giant underground ravine... This ravine was quite deep so I went inside to explore, to see if I could find a spirit vein... But as I went deeper, the ravine got stranger and stranger..."

"Strange? How so?" Asked Hou Shu with his brows furrowed.

"As I went deeper, protrusions made of rocks in the shape of roots started to appear on the walls of the ravine... The deeper I went, the more they appeared... Until they completely covered the walls..."

"Yet you still continued?"

Da Tong weakly nodded and lamented, "Haha... Opportunities follow those who take risks, thinking about this, I went deeper... But I think I shouldn't have."

"And what did you see or experience?" Asked Hou Shu, trying to steer Da Tong back on the topic.

"Ah yes... Senior is here to hear my testimony...." He exclaimed, "After a certain point, the root-like rock protrusions started to have a dried appearance as if they were sun-dried... Nevertheless, I continued... But what I saw..." As he said this, he shivered and a frightened look appeared on his face.

Seeing the frightened state of Da Tong, Hou Shu sighed and said, "Junior Da Tong, this Senior here knows what you have witnessed is something of great terror, but you have to speak, you don't want to be imprisoned here forever, do you?"

In response to this, Da Tong's forehead creased and a frown appeared on his mouth, as if he was hesitant and contemplating whether to speak or not.

Hou Shu knew that interrogations don't show much effect when forced so he didn't urge Da Tong and patiently waited.

Finally, after what seemed like two incense sticks worth of time, he spoke, "Y-yes... I will speak, I don't want to stay here any longer..."

"One can only advance if they face their fears, this one is glad that you realize that." Smiled Hou Shu, with a sagely aura around him.

But the sagely aura went away as he gestured with his hand and said "You may start speaking."

"When I reached the bottom of the ravine... The rock roots on the wall were burning in a ghostly fire... On the ground, there was a coffin surrounded by eight burning corpses sitting in a bagua formation..."

"Just this? Surely there is something more."

Da Tong weakly nodded, "Indeed Senior... This is alone won't fill me with terror... What was terrifying is that all of those corpses had the aura of Soul Transformation experts!"

Hearing this, Hou Shu's face warped into a frown, "This is indeed way more serious than what I expected..." He then shook his head and asked Da Tong once more, "So after that, you escaped from that ravine and came here to report right?"

"Yes... That sight was enough to make me forgo any thought of fishing for benefits... I quickly left and rushed here to report, not even stopping by my seclusion grounds... hoping to get some rewards from Yan family..."

Hou Shu started to nod when he paused in the middle. His eyes were wide open as he stared at the red book.

'There were different characters than what Da Tong spoke of in the book for a split second!' Hou Shu exclaimed in his heart, which was heavy as thousand jin.

Hou Shu flicked his fingers, making the wisp of flame bright enough for one to see it clearly even if it's inside the Sea of Consciousness.

He then spoke in a deep voice, "Da Tong, are you sure about the details? Think again!"

"Yes, I am sure.... The moment I saw those corpses, I ran out of– aghhhhhhhh!" Da Tong screamed and started to thrash around as if he was in great pain.

But before Da Tong started screaming, Hou Shu had already started chanting, "Urgently! Six strings of Simings, Illusory Troops of the Flame Ancient, protect the spirit and the divine thoughts, go!"

The moment he finished chanting, the red flame book transformed into six strings and pierced into the screaming Da Tong's forehead, entering his Sea of Consciousness.

Inside the radiant Sea of Consciousness, the six strings of flames went straight towards Da Tong's Spirit, which was burning in a grey fire, and wrapped around it.

From the strings, tiny soldiers with spears made of flames jumped out and started waving their spears toward the gray fire, as if it was a living being.

'It's working! They are damaging the spirit flames!' Hou Shu exclaimed silently, his heart joyous.

But suddenly, the intensity of the spirit fire increased, filling the whole Sea of Consciousness and burning everything down.

"No!" Hou Shu coughed out some essence blood and conjured six more strings of flames in a split second and quickly sent it inside the Sea of Consciousness.

But it was too late, Da Tong's screams had already stopped.

Da Tong had died.