interrogation

Ruan Qingyu thought to herself that she had no way to get the truth out of this person, so she simply stopped pressing him and knocked him unconscious.

Then she moved her fingers, and several phoenix flames transformed into thin ropes, binding Zhang Zitao tightly.

But how could she possibly take such a grown man with her? While the "Hidden Universe in the Sleeve" technique was useful for Golden Core cultivators, Zhang Zitao was also a Golden Core cultivator. If she put him in her sleeve, he might wake up halfway and try to escape.

Secondly, there was the concern that after she returned to the sect, the Xuantian Sect's protective formation might detect something.

Blinking, Ruan Qingyu took out a pet token from her storage bracelet. She had originally intended it for Yun Yin, but unfortunately, he absolutely disliked it.

"I'm giving you a bargain." Ruan Qingyu lowered her eyes, looking at Zhang Zitao who had fainted on the ground, and with a flash of the token in her hand, she pulled him inside.

The zither beside her bobbed up and down a few times before transforming back into a pendant at her waist.

Then, Wutong's gentle voice rang out: "This man is a wolf in sheep's clothing. If Miss Ruan wants to interrogate him, she should be careful to discern his true intentions."

Although it's unclear what grudge Ruan Qingyu and Zhang Zitao have, they are now sworn enemies. Wutong witnessed their conversation clearly; Zhang Zitao's words were evasive, indicating he was hiding much.

Somewhat surprised by Wutong's words, Ruan Qingyu nodded and said, "Thank you. I knew beforehand that this person had ulterior motives towards me, and today I just took advantage of the situation to win him over."

Ruan Qingyu lightly gathered her qi and rushed back to Xuantian Sect overnight.

She was initially worried that the sect might find out, but seeing that the disciples' quarters were as quiet as usual and all the disciples were focused on their cultivation, Ruan Qingyu was relieved.

Then she thought of her past life, where after her sudden disappearance, no one from the sect came looking for her either. Let alone anyone seeking the truth for her after her soul lamp went out.

Ruan Qingyu frowned. Since the Xuan Tian Sect's soul lamp was practically just for show, she could easily make Zhang Zitao die silently.

Now, it all comes down to how much information this person can give him. The more information he gives, the longer he can cling to life.

Ruan Qingyu returned to her courtyard with her nerves on edge, and before she even entered, she heard a knock on the gate.

"Qingyu, you're back?"

Turning her head, Ruan Qingyu recognized Lü Liangke's voice and felt a slight sense of relief.

"Why are you looking for me so late?" As soon as she opened the courtyard gate, she saw Lü Liangke, who had been waiting at the door for a long time.

Hearing this, Lü Liangke smiled slightly embarrassedly and said stubbornly, "Can't I come to see you at night? I won't come next time."

Knowing that she must have something important to say, Ruan Qingyu stepped aside and said, "Come in, let's talk inside."

To everyone's surprise, Lü Liangke shook his head: "No need. I just came to tell you that you should not look for Zhang Zitao anymore, and I won't either."

Immediately, Ruan Qingyu raised her eyebrows. She should have been the one to say those words, since she had a life-or-death feud with Zhang Zitao, and the man had ill intentions.

She had been meaning to hint at it to Lü Liangke for a while, but she hadn't been able to because she hadn't finished dealing with her work these past few days. She didn't expect Lü Liangke to bring it up on her own initiative.

"How so?" Since they weren't going inside, it was obviously only a matter of a few words, so the two simply stood at the courtyard gate and started talking.

He carefully observed her expression, but found it remained unchanged. Lü Liangke couldn't tell whether she was simply indifferent to Zhang Zitao or if she had also noticed something.

Lü Liangke whispered, "I heard from some of my senior sisters that Senior Brother Zhang is a bit strange, so it's best not to get too close."

"Moreover, during that secret realm training, he was clearly at a similar cultivation level to you, yet he didn't help at all." Lü Liangke's tone rose at the end, clearly showing her disdain.

Ruan Qingyu nodded in understanding, then smiled and said, "Okay, I understand."

It seems there were some insightful people within the sect before. It's just that perhaps everyone refrained from speaking out because Chen Tian was a high-ranking elder.

After seeing Lü Liangke off, Ruan Qingyu looked around the courtyard before closing the gate. This time, she had specifically activated the array; if anyone came looking for her again, she would simply assume she was in seclusion for cultivation.

As soon as the formation activated, a streak of light flashed by, and her small courtyard fell silent once more. The paulownia zither hanging at her waist moved slightly, and a flash of azure light appeared the next moment.

Wutong stood inside the house and looked around. "This place is not bad." After saying that, Wutong raised her hand and pointed outside. With a buzzing sound, the array protecting the courtyard vibrated gently.

Ruan Qingyu tilted her head slightly, as if sensing something, and a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.

Seeing her expression, Wutong smiled and said, "I added something. If any cultivator with a lower cultivation level than mine tries to find out, I'll invite them to listen to the music."

Hearing him say that, Ruan Qingyu couldn't help but give him a serious look. Sure enough, these ancient demonic beasts all had their own methods to some extent.

But thinking about it carefully, I realized that I had only encountered two ancient monsters in total. One of them was imprisoned, and the other had lost its body.

She shook her head helplessly. Could it be that she was born to attract such unlucky people? Stopping thinking about it, Ruan Qingyu took out the pet token that held the person.

Ruan Qingyu held the beast token in her hand and rubbed it for a moment, then pointed it with her right index finger. The token flashed with spiritual light, and a person who looked like a dead fish immediately appeared on the empty ground.

Suddenly, the environment changed, and the surrounding spiritual energy was worlds apart from that inside the beast pet token. Although Zhang Zitao's limbs were controlled by the Phoenix Divine Fire, he still looked around unwillingly.

Upon seeing the familiar surroundings, his eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at Ruan Qingyu. How dare this woman be so bold? She brought him directly back to the sect?

"What are you going to do with me by bringing me back here?" Zhang Zitao asked hesitantly, his heart filled with increasing fear, but he was now bound hand and foot and unable to move.

Seeing the person on the ground trembling, their eyes filled with terror, Ruan Qingyu felt a surge of satisfaction. However, this was far from enough, and a fierce glint appeared in her eyes as she thought of this.

Her left hand formed a claw shape and suddenly burst into golden-red flames. Against Ruan Qingyu's face, her eyes seemed to burn with the same raging flames, determined to incinerate Zhang Zitao.

With a cold snort, Ruan Qingyu looked at him and said, "You know perfectly well why I'm looking for you."

Instantly, cold sweat trickled down Zhang Zitao's forehead. He swallowed hard and said, "What? What happened? I don't know anything."

He racked his brains but couldn't think of anything else he could have done to offend this ruthless demon besides what happened today. After today's events, his impression of Ruan Qingyu changed from an honest and easily bullied new disciple to a cunning and evil demon.

However, the gaze directed at him made him think that he had a blood feud with her, but he remembered that he had never been to the place where Ruan Qingyu was.

"What is it?!" Before he could ask any more questions, Zhang Zitao suddenly felt a sharp pain, and thick veins bulged out when he turned his neck.

After a while, the only sound inside the room could be the heavy breathing of the person on the ground.

The flames on Ruan Qingyu's left hand pulsed more and more fiercely. Just three breaths after landing on the opponent's ankle, the skin and flesh were torn apart and the meridians were severed.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember, I’ll help you recall.” Ruan Qingyu’s tone was light, and her expression was calm, as if she were recounting something completely ordinary.

"Tell me everything about what you did with Chen Tiangan, what you did inside, and where you went."

If Zhang Zitao had just tried to deny it, or felt that he had nothing to do with the other party, he shuddered upon hearing Chen Tian's name.

"Don't worry, if you say it right, I'll let you off the hook. If you say it wrong, then I'll burn your soles and your calves if I'm in a bad mood."

After a pause, Ruan Qingyu chuckled lightly: "Although the limbs of a Golden Core cultivator can be reattached, you wouldn't want to try burning them to ashes afterward, would you?"

Zhang Zitao's face twitched, his eyes widened suddenly, and the whites of his eyes appeared to increase; he looked as if he was about to faint.

"Slap, slap." Two slaps brought the man, who was about to faint from fright, back to his senses. When Zhang Zitao saw Ruan Qingyu's face again, he felt that she was just like that beautiful ghost.

Beneath her seemingly beautiful exterior, her actions were even more terrifying than those of someone who had committed numerous evil deeds.

"I'll tell you everything, I'll tell you everything." Zhang Zitao shuddered as he finished speaking. Soon, the room was filled with the stench of urine.

Frowning, Ruan Qingyu waved her sleeve, her fiery spiritual energy sweeping away the air in the room. This person is really timid; she's completely different from the one who helped in her previous life.

Soon, Zhang Zitao revealed the whole truth about his relationship with Chen Tian.

The two were indeed master and disciple, but their relationship was more of an employer-employee one. Chen Tian's cultivation technique required pure fire energy, which could not be obtained solely by absorbing fire spiritual energy.

So Chen Tian found many disciples with fire spirit roots and extracted their fire spirit roots for cultivation. Gradually, Chen Tian was no longer satisfied with only finding disciples who had not yet cultivated or were only in the Qi Refining stage.

He even set his sights on Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators, but he couldn't recruit too many Foundation Establishment cultivators before killing them.

After taking Zhang Zitao as his disciple, Chen Tian patiently trained him for a period of time before tempting him with resources and status. In front of Zhang Zitao, Chen Tian killed several newly promoted disciples of the Xuan Tian Sect, as well as some senior brothers and sisters whom Zhang Zitao had met before, all in that dark basement.

He was eaten like meat by his own master. That's right. As Chen Tian's cultivation level gradually improved, he no longer ate spiritual roots, but even absorbed the spiritual power of the other party.

Later on, it may even be necessary to consume the opponent's flesh and blood after consuming the spiritual root.

"Half a month ago, Chen Tian captured a Golden Core cultivator from somewhere, swallowed the other's fire spirit root, and his cultivation directly broke through to the Nascent Soul stage." Zhang Zitao trembled as he recounted everything he knew.

"You're quite lucky. You clearly have both earth and fire spiritual roots, yet you survived. Are you proud of yourself?" Ruan Qingyu looked at Zhang Zitao with a sinister gaze. At this moment, the person on the ground had already collapsed, and the flames that were still burning his limbs and bones prevented Zhang Zitao from absorbing spiritual energy on his own.

Now that Ruan Qingyu was questioning him, he didn't know what to say. The string in his mind had been completely snapped after he revealed his shady deal with Chen Tian.

"You're torturing me like this, is it because Chen Tian killed your family?" Zhang Zitao asked breathlessly. He had just been trying to recall the events, but he still couldn't remember when he had offended Ruan Qingyu.