CHAPTER
36
Another Interrogation
I
“I think what we should do is pretty obvious,” Hao Zhen said. “We took roughly five minutes to interrogate the elder, so we still have about fifteen minutes’ worth of spiritual stones left.” Tian Jin and Lan Yue nodded. “We can simply use on the inner disciple the same strategy we just used on the elder. Based on what the elder said, Du Qing should have also given the inner disciple the paired matrix.”
“Can’t we just get rid of the tracking matrix on the ring and run away, instead?” Tian Jin said, frowning.
“We can, but we don’t know how close the inner disciple is to us already, so that might be risky,” Hao Zhen said. Then, after a moment, he added. “I still have some more questions I’d like to ask.”
Tian Jin’s expression grew thoughtful, and he seemed to consider it for a few moments before nodding his head. Lan Yue similarly expressed her agreement, though she didn’t need to think as long. Tian Jin then glanced at the elder’s corpse and furrowed his brow a little. “What should we do about that, then?”
“We hide it. Corpses can go inside spatial rings, right?” Tian Jin nodded. “Then we store it inside one for now. We don’t want the inner disciple to realize that anything is wrong, so we can’t let him see the corpse.”
Hao Zhen was fairly certain that even if the inner disciple acted as stupidly as the inner elder had, he still would have been alarmed by the sight of the elder’s corpse, so there was no point in taking needless risks. Something about putting a corpse inside a spatial ring felt wrong, somehow, if not dirty, but Hao Zhen tried not to dwell too much on that. He did his best to ignore the part of him that felt disturbed by this whole situation.
Tian Jin promptly placed the corpse inside his spatial ring, also storing away the pool of blood that had been formed on the ground. They had no way of telling when, exactly, the inner disciple would be arriving, so they had to act as quickly as possible.
Hao Zhen also considered placing the corpse of the protector inside the spatial ring but decided that Tian Jin standing in front of it already completely hid it, so it wasn’t much of a problem. The elder hadn’t noticed it, in any case. Hao Zhen didn’t think Tian Jin would also have liked that idea. Maybe the other boy was fine with treating the corpse of someone that had been trying to kill them as if it were an object by putting it inside his spatial ring, but the corpse of the protector was a different story. The protector hadn’t been an enemy of theirs. If anything, the things the man had left behind had helped them tremendously.
With that, they once again got into position and waited for the inner disciple to arrive, much like they had waited for the elder earlier. As he waited, Hao Zhen couldn’t help but think back to the same line of thought that had led him to realize that they could use the schemas on the cave: What would have happened if he and Lan Yue hadn’t been with Tian Jin?
He wondered how, exactly, the inner disciple fit into this picture. If the elder hadn’t been imprisoned by the Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman, would he still have informed Du Qing, leading to Du Qing sending an inner disciple after Tian Jin too? It depended on how, exactly, Tian Jin would have managed to escape from the elder in the first place. Assuming Du Qing did send an inner disciple after him, however…
What would have happened, exactly? Tian Jin would have probably killed the elder much like he had done just now, using the restraining schema on the cave to seal the man’s movements before driving the Radiant Light Sword through his chest. He didn’t believe Tian Jin would have interrogated the elder, however. That would mean that after killing the elder, Tian Jin would have left the cave, thinking that he was no longer in danger… only to be ambushed by the inner disciple once he was outside, in the forest.
Hao Zhen cringed a little at that thought. That would have been bad—really bad. If Tian Jin was on his own, he probably would have managed to find a way to escape so far. However, if Hao Zhen hadn’t interrogated the elder, and the three of them ended up leaving the cave… Unless Lan Yue managed to use her remaining Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman, things could have gone down very badly for them. Especially if the inner disciple went for a sneak attack.
Hao Zhen shook his head. What could have been didn’t matter. There was no point in dwelling on it. At least not in this case. Not anymore. Going forward, Hao Zhen figured that trying to guess how things were originally meant to play out could give him an edge, so he’d be trying to apply that again in the future. At the same time, however, he wondered how useful it’d be, considering they seemed to be deviating from the original storyline more and more, as far as he could tell.
It was a good thing that their enemies acted like cultivation novel antagonists, in any case, because at least on that he could rely. In fact, that was exactly one of the reasons why he had pushed for using on the inner disciple the strategy they had used against the elder. Because of the revelation that they’d still have to deal with another enemy, he had only asked the elder the questions that dealt with the situation at hand—the things they had needed to know at that moment.
Assuming that the inner disciple was the last person Du Qing sent for a while, however, he’d be able to ask a couple of other questions that had been plaguing his mind for a while now.
It was as Hao Zhen was immersed in his thoughts that he caught, in the distance, a red dot. As he still had Spiritual Sight active, he could see, spiritually, past the waterfall, so he could see the spiritual form becoming bigger and bigger.
Concluding that what was heading their way was none other than a magical cloud, Hao Zhen steeled himself for yet another confrontation.
Just like the elder, they first saw a barrier similar to the one created by the Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman poking through the waterfall before the rest of the dome passed through the curtain of water. Then, the dome of light disappeared, revealing a young man in dark green robes standing on top of a magical cloud. He appeared to be in his early twenties and was rather tall, probably taller than even the inner elder.
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The inner disciple’s entrance was virtually identical to that of the elder, almost like a reenactment. Hao Zhen guessed that both this inner disciple and the elder from before had Radiant Light Field—one of the sect’s three signature skills—as their spiritual skill, so they had ended up coming to the same conclusion as to what the best method of going past the waterfall was.
Hao Zhen knew that if he had this spiritual skill, he’d have done it the same way. His hair was still damp from when he climbed through the waterfall to get into the cave. It was a good thing his robes were magically water-resistant or something along those lines, or else he reckoned he’d be very uncomfortable right now.
The elder disciple first looked around the cave, only briefly glancing at them. “Hmm.” He frowned. “It seems that the inner elder was late, after all.” He then focused on them. “You three—Tian Jin, Duo Lan, and Hao Zhen?”
Just like before, Tian Jin said nothing. Hao Zhen and Lan Yue similarly stayed silent.
The inner disciple’s frown deepened. “When a senior is talking with you, it’s bad manners not to answer,” he said, a threatening edge to his voice. They remained silent, and the disciple’s expression darkened. “Very well, then. So be it. It seems I must teach you some lessons as your senior.”
The inner disciple then absorbed his magical cloud into his sleeves before walking over to them. Just like the elder, he didn’t appear to notice—or at least pay much attention—to the arrays on the cave wall. Now that Hao Zhen was paying attention, however, he realized there was no spiritual power in the disciple’s eyes, so he wasn’t using Spiritual Sight, which would explain things.
You needed to be cursed with a ludicrous level of arrogance to venture into the location where your enemies are hiding in without using Spiritual Sight to check for magical traps or anything of the sort. Sheer stupidity would also do the trick. Then again, arrogance and stupidity went hand in hand. One often led to the other.
Just like what happened with the elder, the moment the inner disciple crossed into the area of effect of the restraining schema, Tian Jin activated it. With that, everyone in the cave lost their ability to move.
“What is this!” the inner disciple cried, outraged. “You!” he glared fiercely at Tian Jin. “What have you done!”
Tian Jin said nothing. Instead, he repeated the same routine they had used to interrogate the inner elder, giving Hao Zhen a nod to start the interrogation.
“We’ve used a restraining array,” Hao Zhen said, simply, once again trying to get used to the fact he could only move his face at the moment. “If you want to live, you’ll have to answer our questions.”
“A restraining array?” The inner disciple frowned. “I see. But you’re a fool if you think that will be enough. I doubt—”
The young man’s words were cut off by Tian Jin driving his sword into his shoulder. The inner disciple howled in pain, followed by another when Tian Jin pulled his sword back. The inner disciple gave Tian Jin a look of utmost vehemence.
“Well, I believe that should have cleared things up for you,” Hao Zhen said. Hearing his words, the inner disciple directed the full strength of his stare to him instead. Hao Zhen did his best to ignore it. “We can kill you if we want, so if you want to live, you should cooperate with us.”
The inner disciple glared at him fiercely for a few more moments, not saying a word. Then the inner disciple gritted his teeth, before snapping, “What do you want to know?”
Hao Zhen started with the usual first question. “Do you know what else Du Qing has planned?”
The inner disciple glowered at him for a little while longer, before saying, “There isn’t anything else. Du Qing was confident that the elder would be able to deal with you three. He only asked me to go after you too so that I could stop you from reaching the Inner Forest in case I found you first.”
Hao Zhen let out a breath of relief at that. It seemed like he’d be able to ask his questions after all. He glanced at Lan Yue, out of the corner of his eye, then at Tian Jin, who was still standing impassively in front of the inner disciple.
If Hao Zhen did ask the next couple of questions he had in mind, there would be no going back. He would definitely have to come out with the truth to Tian Jin and Lan Yue later. He wouldn’t be able to make an excuse or come up with another explanation. Still, he was already planning on sharing the truth with them anyway, and these were questions he needed to ask.
Resolving himself, Hao Zhen asked, “I take it you were informed that the reason the elder couldn’t chase after us at first was that he was confined by a Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman?”
“Yes,” the inner disciple said. “What about it?”
“Didn’t it occur to you to wonder where—or how—we might have gotten our hands on this talisman?”
At that question, Tian Jin turned around to look at him. Hao Zhen could also feel Lan Yue’s gaze on him.
“Obviously you stole it somehow or got it by chance,” the inner disciple said, as if it were obvious. “It was the girl, Duo Lan, who used it, yes? She must have stolen it from an elder in the Alchemy Division.”
“Is that it? Can’t you think of any other explanation?” He could feel Tian Jin’s and Lan Yue’s gazes growing more intense.
The inner disciple furrowed his brow. “What other explanation is there?”
“Maybe Duo Lan is a member of the upper echelon of the sect in disguise?”
“You…” Lan Yue said, before trailing off.
The inner disciple’s gaze shifted to her a moment before returning to Hao Zhen. “That’s preposterous.” He didn’t elaborate any further.
Well, that was one question answered, Hao Zhen figured. But just to be sure…
“Did it not occur to you, while walking into this cave, to check for traps?”
“You’re but outer disciples,” the inner disciple said, his voice thick with derision. “You shouldn’t be able to make any traps that can affect me.”
The irony that the inner disciple was currently caught in one of those traps was lost on him.
Hao Zhen regarded the inner disciple thoughtfully for a few more moments, looking for any signs of doubt, suspicion, or hesitation, but he found nothing but derision and anger.
“And you’re absolutely certain that Duo Lan can only be a thief?” he tried again.
“I’ve already told you so. What is with these idiotic questions?”
Well, considering the answers were even more idiotic, Hao Zhen thought that was rather rich. Well, that was about everything Hao Zhen needed to know. He’d have to try this again with other people in the future, just to confirm, but it did appear that Tian Jin and Lan Yue were truly special, in the sense that average people couldn’t ignore the influence of whatever was dictating their actions from time to time, such as how the inner disciple was being influenced now.
Tian Jin’s and Lan Yue’s gazes were almost burning now, and figuring that he had already gotten what he wanted to know, Hao Zhen figured it would be better to wrap things up there. The longer they spent on this, the more spiritual stones they expended.
‘Tian Jin,” Hao Zhen said. “Do it.”
Just like he had done when Tian Jin had been about to kill the inner elder, Hao Zhen closed his eyes. The next moment, however, he changed his mind. Gritting his teeth, he opened his eyes just in time to see Tian Jin plunging his sword into the inner disciple’s chest, and then forced himself to keep watching as the inner disciple’s body crumpled to the cave floor.
Something cold welled up inside Hao Zhen at the sight of the corpse lying still by Tian Jin’s feet. This was already the second time today he had ordered someone’s death, and he hoped this wouldn’t become a normal occurrence.
He had a foreboding premonition, however, that the future had much more of this in store for him.