Jiang Bing was killed by Wu Guang in the end, but the fact that it was an entire hour after the former was knocked out.
Wu Guang had his reasons for doing so, and either one of the three was pretty important.
The first reason was to test his control over mind power and consciousness by using a memory searching spell. After all, even if he could use spells, neither of the two he had prepared before included the use of consciousness.
The second one was to check on Jiang Bing's memories about Lord Liao. This was not because the former had lied, but mostly because Wu Guang wanted to see by himself this Lord Liao's appearance and actions.
As for the third one, it was mainly greed. All cultivators were greedy by nature, after all, cultivation required a lot of resources and so even as Bai Qi, he wasn't an exception. Having the opportunity to find the holding pouches and their contents of one hundred cultivators was enticing. Especially as Wu Guang's resources were pretty low right now.
Memory and Soul searching techniques, spells, and skills were considered something evil but mainly accepted in the cultivation world. After all, how could one enforce fair justice if the criminal did not reveal the details? Granted, any of these methods had an inherent danger of damaging the consciousness, soul, or health of the target, but still, between that and killing or imprisoning...
What Wu Guang wanted to test out was a spell called 'Memory Mirror'. This spell had no requirements, so if the target's mind power was lower and the target was wounded or unconscious, it would always work. Having such advantages obviously, it had some disadvantages as well, in this case, that the amount of information would be limited to memories from one day or even less per activation. Plus the spell could be used not more than three times on a target before losing its effectiveness.
In any case, for Wu Guang's queries and objectives, this spell was perfect.
First, he made sure that Jiang bing would remain unconscious by using his illusion technique on him. And then spending five or so minutes casting 'Memory Mirror', Wu Guang successfully tested that his mind power and consciousness were under his full control and that they were at the strength he felt.
As for his first activation, it was obviously about Lord Liao's appearance to talk with Jiang Bing. The talk itself was exactly what Wu Guang was told and so except for the looks that the former had, no new info was gathered. Still, this wasn't a mistake. Especially as Lord Liao's appearance was very interesting.
First, Lord Liao was someone of young age, not more than thirty years old. Between his bearing and appearance, he even looked as a lawful cultivator. His face was honest-looking, and even if he wasn't someone very handsome, he was good-looking. His clothes were simple and so there was no wonder why Jiang Bing had assumed him to be a cultivator, still, Wu Guang noticed a detail that the latter had missed. This detail was that Lord Liao had a ring on his hand. Not only was this ring not simple, in fact, it was a storage ring which was far more valuable than holding pouches.As a detail, the ring had a small marking resembling a wing. Wu Guang could not assure if this marking was important, but even so, he decided to memorize the mark.
The benefit of having a look at the entire day was also that Wu Guang had the opportunity to observe the insides of the inverted tower's peak floor. His main interest was in the guards that oversaw the mining process, and after looking through the entire day, his efforts were rewarded. One of the guards had approached and talked to this Lord Liao, even if Jiang Bing himself did not pay attention, he still had seen this. In any case, what they talked about was impossible to know, but this at least confirmed that Lord Liao had indeed entered the Inverted Tower and the guards knew about the matter.
Finishing the first activation of the Spell, Wu Guang proceeded to cast it again, now searching for the day after the 'Hundred Tragedy'. On this day, Jiang Bing should have hidden his spoils and indeed, Wu Guang's guess was right. The location would be a bit hard to find as the only hint could be the strange purple vines on the trees nearby, but even so, Wu Guang now at least had a chance.
Wu Guang could actually now activate the spell for the third time. Initially, he had no such intention, but he was still a curious person and so decided to check on the 'Hundred Tragedy' day.
Surprisingly, he saw nothing. Wu Guang first thought that the spell had failed, but after he continued operating it, he found out that he could access any memories except the ones for that day.
"Strange. If he was the one who did it, then why were the memories deleted? Did he force himself to forget? In such a case, the spell should still get at least part of them. Hmm, it may be that there was someone else involved" Wu Guang muttered while thinking about this strange situation.
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In the end, he could only confirm that the memories were deleted by someone. And if so, then this someone had a cultivation not lower than the Sage realm. Searching Jiang Bing's memories for traces would not lead to anything as if the expert had deleted one memory, then all of the ones regarding the identity of this expert would be also deleted.
As for asking Jiang Bing himself, it would not lead to anything. After all, what he knew was the same that Wu Guang could search through right now.
With his objectives reached and having no chance to find out the truth, and in fact no desire to do so, Wu Gu Guang decided to finish the matter. Killing Jiang Bing was easy as he was still unconscious, but this time Wu Guang took care to make the kill via qi. Such a kill was basically gathering enough qi into one's hand and via a palm destroying the target's brain and heart. granted, this way could be used only against restrained or unconscious opponents, but it was the only way to leave the corpse undamaged.
Afterward, Wu Guang carefully gathered everything in the room. His spoils were not much, with only two practically empty holding pouches, seven identical cleavers, and one complete set of clothes like the ones everyone was wearing. Still, although nothing except the pouches was valuable, the other items could serve in their search for clues.
He also masked up the lightning-affected corpses and areas by using his saber and flaming techniques on them. Like this, when he reported and an investigation team was sent, his invented story of a cruel fight versus six cultivators would be confirmed.
This was not really needed as with his current status before the high council of the sect no one would ask anything if he did not want to reveal it. Still, Wu Guang had no intention to leave a single hint about his real identity or power. After all, the sect was using him, and even if they masked it up with gifts, benefits, and asking Wu Guang, it was still something without an option to avoid. This being the truth, Wu Guang had to remain a mysterious genius and all, but conceal the fact that he could actually escape at any moment if he wanted.
After he finished masking the truth behind today's battle and gathering everything, Wu Guang did not proceed towards the rope stairs right away. In fact, he returned to the entrance of the cave and after making sure that there had been no new arrivals or anyone nearby, dispelled the lightning seal traps he had placed before. Then he returned to the big room where the fight had happened while releasing his qi and techniques all the way, this to make sure that any investigation would confirm his story.
As for the story, it would be pretty basic. Wu Guang had moved alongside the coastline until finding the cave. Entered it intending to explore, and found out six people. These six were hostile to him and so a fight ensued, which he with some difficulties won. To make this even more believable, he left a few wounds on himself and partially destroyed his sect robes.
Now that everything was in place, Wu Guang used the rope stairs and ascended towards the trap door in the room's ceiling. The trap door was indeed covered with several concealment runes, but except that, it was a simple iron trapdoor. After making sure that there was no one outside by slightly opening and scanning the area, Wu Guang used it and arrived in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Before, he had judged that the distance and direction of the cave had led him towards somewhere close to the West tract of the island, and he was right. In fact, it was not somewhere close, but practically on it. There were only one hundred or so feet of trees separating this clearing from the tract.
Right now Wu Guang had several options, which were to return to Coastal Hill City, the beach where Elder Di was supposed to be, or even to the Sect directly. After thinking of it for a bit, he decided on neither of them. Elder Mo had before given him a silver message glyph and so in place of moving, he decided to call for someone to come here. Doing it like this, he would not have to lead anyone here as to confirm his story, plus guarantee that his return will not meet any problems.
Arriving at this conclusion, the only remaining question was who to call with the glyph. After all, both the Sect and Coastal Hill City were within a 200 miles radius. In the end, Wu Guang decided to go along with what he would be expected to do, and after preparing a short message about his situation, sent the glyph to Elder Chen.