Gu Changhuai pointed with one hand, and a Wind Blade severed the tendons of Jia Ren's right hand.
Jia Ren's right hand drooped, and several pills slid to the ground.
The pills were a sinister green.
With his extensive experience, Gu Changhuai recognized at a glance that these were deadly poison pills.
"Thinking of suicide?"
Gu Changhuai's gaze narrowed slightly, sensing sothing amiss, he looked up just as Jia Ren had bitten through one of his teeth, attempting to swallow it.
Was there poison hidden in the tooth?
A cold light flashed in Gu Changhuai's eyes, and he quickly grasped Jia Ren's throat with his right hand while his left fist forcefully struck Jia Ren's abdon.
Jia Ren groaned in pain and spat out the tooth containing poison.
He tried to resist and struggle further, but his ans were already exhausted. Even his attempts to seek death had been thwarted.
anwhile, the anesthetic from the shackles had already spread throughout his body with his blood.
Jia Ren sensed the dire situation, but his Divine Sense gradually grew dim and his eyes closed, fainting.
Gu Changhuai took out a chain, locked up all four of Jia Ren's limbs, removed his teeth, lifted him, and threw him behind a hidden boulder.
Thus, Jia Ren was captured.
Mo Hua looked on, sowhat dazed.
This Uncle Gu was sowhat different from what she had expected.
He appeared very arrogant, as if he didn't regard others highly.
Yet his actions were extrely ticulous.
Even as a Golden Core Steward capturing a Foundation Building Cultivator, he was very serious and careful, planning ticulously, leaving no room for accidents.
He didn't give his opponent any chance to escape.
Not even a chance to commit suicide!
Mo Hua felt that she had learned a lot.
Throughout the process, Mo Hua listened obediently to Gu Changhuai and did not rashly intervene.
Now that Jia Ren had been subdued,
Mo Hua ca out from her hiding spot, ran up to Gu Changhuai, and looking at the unconscious Jia Ren, she expressed her surprise:
"This Jia Ren, he actually thought of committing suicide?"
She hadn't encountered such a Sin Cultivator before, who, upon capture not seeing any way out, imdiately sought death.
Gu Changhuai furrowed his brow and said in a heavy voice,
"I had only acted as a precaution, doing everything that needed to be done, but I did not expect that this Jia Ren would indeed prefer death over falling into my hands…"
"This ans…"
Gu Changhuai's gaze slightly tensed up.
Mo Hua chid in, "…this person knows a lot, and has great secrets on him!"
He might indeed be related to the Xie family massacre, and very possibly, he might know sothing about the Fire Buddha.
Perhaps even more things…
"Shall we interrogate him now?" Mo Hua asked.
"Yes."
Gu Changhuai nodded.
But before that, a routine search of the Storage Bag was necessary.
Gu Changhuai opened all four or five Storage Bags that Jia Ren originally intended to discard.
A stench of blood wafted out.
Sure enough, the contents were all "contraband."
Among them were so Spiritual Artifacts, either Ghost Head Knives, Bone-picking Swords, or other sorts of blades used for gutting and flaying—all, without exception, stained with blood.
Mo Hua, upon seeing this blood, felt a buzzing in her head and a flash of red before her eyes.
A sea of fire with Xie family Cultivators dying in agonized cries and the grotesque figures of their karmic mutations reerged in her mind.
"This is… the blood of Xie family Cultivators," Mo Hua said gravely.
Gu Changhuai was taken aback. "How do you know?"
Mo Hua replied, "I figured it out…"
Gu Changhuai, resigned, said, "Never mind, forget I asked…"
Besides these bloodied weapons, there were also several "clean" Spiritual Artifacts.
They had no blood and seed unaffected by the killings.
They were ordinary Spiritual Artifacts, not ant for combat.
For lighting, ventilation, fire-proofing, dust removal, incense burning for ditation… everything a Cultivator might need in daily life.
Both Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai were a little taken aback.
"Are these items from the Xie family?"
"Did they kill the people of the Xie family and take their possessions?"
But then, why discard them after taking them?
It would make the theft pointless.
It couldn't be a spur-of-the-mont killing and looting.
Maybe after calming down, they regretted their actions, feared discovery by the Taoist Court, and decided to discard the contraband to eliminate evidence…
The group of Sin Cultivators with Fire Buddha, known for their ruthless killings, didn't seem to be that type of people…
Gu Changhuai's gaze was scrutinizing as he pondered deeply.
Mo Hua's eyes lit up with a realization, "Could they be... searching for sothing?"
Gu Changhuai looked at Mo Hua, "Searching for sothing?"
"Yes," Mo Hua pondered, "They annihilated the Xie family to find sothing from them..."
"This Jia Ren initially went to the Xie family to steal this item..."
"But he failed to steal it..."
"And this item is very important, they must obtain it at all costs."
"So, the Fire Buddha annihilated the Xie family."
"They gathered all the Xie family's possessions, ticulously searched through them, and then burned down the Xie family, erasing all traces..."
"As for these items to be discarded..."
"It's because they searched and didn't find it, so they decided to discard the excess..."
"Also, these spiritual artifacts stained with the blood of the Xie family's cultivators needed to be disposed of too..."
"To avoid leaving any incriminating evidence for the Taoist Court to find..."
"Or perhaps, to avoid leaving behind any karmic ties that could be traced back to them..."
Destroying these "stolen goods" in an artifact furnace would create too much noise and take too long.
It was better to use the terrain of Bishan City and discard these "stolen goods" in the deep cliffs, silently, unknowable to anyone.
Even if they were discovered later, who knows how many years later that would be.
Gu Changhuai was sowhat surprised.
This child, his mind worked quickly, and his reasoning seed plausible.
He thought for a mont, then nodded, "That's a possibility, but it's just a possibility, let's not jump to conclusions."
"Assuming before the truth is known can easily lead us astray," Gu Changhuai reminded.
"Yes."
Mo Hua nodded.
Despite saying this, Mo Hua still felt that his guess might hold so possibility.
At least, it was a line of thought.
Gu Changhuai flipped through Jia Ren's storage bag again.
Jia Ren's storage bag was quite ordinary.
Like any common cultivator, it contained spirit stones, pills, spiritual artifacts, and so secret manuals and jade slips.
But Mo Hua saw nothing special.
On the jade slips, there were no seals, encryption, or signs of erasure.
Clearly, Jia Ren was very cautious; he didn't carry important items with him.
Mo Hua examined everything once again.
These items, while they provided evidence, offered few clues.
It could only prove that Jia Ren was related to the annihilation of the Xie family and likely had helped scout beforehand and helped dispose of the loot afterwards, deeply involved from start to finish.
But beyond that, there were no other clues.
Especially any clues related to the Fire Buddha.
In that case, they could only interrogate Jia Ren now.
Gu Changhuai took out a pill, fed it to Jia Ren, and within 30 minutes, Jia Ren woke up frowning.
He slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Gu Changhuai's handso but "loathso" face.
Gu Changhuai coldly asked, "Are you a man of the Fire Buddha?"
Jia Ren just sneered coldly, resigning himself to death, remaining silent.
Gu Changhuai continued to question:
"Where is the Fire Buddha?"
"Why annihilate the whole Xie family?"
"What is your relationship with the Fire Buddha?"
However, Jia Ren was as unresponsive as a walking corpse, unconcerned with life or death.
Gu Changhuai furrowed his brows, losing his patience.
Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to resort to torture.
Gu Changhuai took out a second-grade "branding iron," engraved with a Fire-series Formation, glowing red-hot, capable of charring flesh.
Even though the branding iron inflicted severe pain, causing Jia Ren's facial muscles to twitch, he still remained silent.
Mo Hua, looking on, had a hard ti watching.
"Uncle Gu, your tool doesn't seem to be effective..."
Mo Hua silently pulled out his own "iron plate," "Maybe try mine?"
Gu Changhuai looked at the bloodstained iron plate, stunned.
And beside him, Jia Ren, hearing this crisp sound, realized there was soone else present.
Why did that voice sound so familiar?
And it reminded him of that little devil he desperately wanted to flay a thousand tis...
With difficulty, Jia Ren turned to look.
A pale, delicate face, as beautiful as a painting.
Jia Ren, who seed like a walking corpse, suddenly had a burst of energy, eyes wide in rage:
"Is... it you?!"
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