All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 357 - 7 Interrogation (1/3)

Chapter 357: Chapter 7 Interrogation (1/3)

With Xu Tai’s strength, facing these well-trained white-robed martial artists alone in an assault, it was highly likely he would suffer injuries, but escaping was still within his abilities.

However, if he were accidentally struck by the leading martial artist’s Cold Poison, the toxin would spread rapidly in the Frost Calamity environment, and he might not even be able to escape.

But now, dealing with merely five warriors whose fighting spirit had been crushed and courage shattered was truly like taking candy from a baby.

Before long, several captives with broken arms and legs were thrown before An Jing, waiting for his interrogation.

An Jing glanced at these quivering martial artists and said calmly, "What’s your origin?"

The captured martial artists looked at each other, none answered.

"It seems you’re from the True Demon Sect." An Jing beheaded one man, then continued asking, "What’s your purpose?"

Blood splashed on the remaining four, and one of them screamed trembling, "Someone, someone hired us to ambush every convoy heading to Linjiang City..."

"Lying." An Jing beheaded him, then turned to the remaining three, who were nearly in a state of collapse, and asked, "What exactly are you looking for?"

"I don’t know, I really don’t know!" one wailed in tears, another bellowed, "If you’re gonna kill, just kill, why all this nonsense!" while another hung his head in silence.

"It seems it’s very important, they really don’t know."

An Jing nodded slightly, decapitated the two noisy ones, then sheathed his blade and looked at the last silent one: "When did they muscle in? How is the squad in Broken Blade Mountain doing? And how do they control you all?"

"About two months ago."

The silent white-robed martial artist had quite an aged face, and now his complexion was already very poor, but he still managed a bitter smile, "I’m not sure, the original Guidance Squad has been completely dismantled, they control us with some strange kind of worm poison... I think I’m done for, please just behead me, I don’t want... to lose control before I die, it’s such an embarrassing way to go out."

"You’re not a good person either, but you won’t die. Not for now."

An Jing shook his head and gestured for Xu Tai to carry the old man and take him back: "Interesting, the situation in Linjiang City is indeed complicated."

And Xu Tai, watching An Jing engage in this seemingly self-answered dialogue, reached an astonishing conclusion.

Moreover, judging from the behavior, this old man they kept behind really did seem to be from a different group than the ones killed earlier... maybe a normal person?

How exactly did he manage that?

On the way back to Shimen Town, Xu Tai asked curiously, and An Jing explained, "They are clearly martial artist squads guiding the Beast Tide away from the towns, or bandits masquerading as members of a Guidance Squad."

"If it was a spontaneous decision to rob your supplies, they would have said so, keeping silent means they definitely have a powerful backing and unspeakable plans, and having control over Heavenly Demons is by default the doings of the True Demon Sect."

"If it is the True Demon Sect, what then is their aim? Is it really to ambush every supply team approaching Linjiang City? It might indeed also be their task, but their operational priority is to test the combat abilities of those Demons, then plundering the supplies."

"And finally..."

An Jing’s eyes were deep and mysterious, he looked up towards Broken Blade Mountain, "Just now, Iron Kite swept the area, your grain and medicine have already been taken, very swiftly."

"If things go as expected, these people might leave if you hadn’t come into the ambush zone. Later they would likely leave. They would wait until you were moving away from Shimen Town before they attacked, or perhaps not. I’m not certain about that either."

"So that’s how it is..."

Xu Tai, although she could also see through part of the situation, was not able to analyze as decisively as An Jing. She was really too confident.

The martial artist asked in a low voice, "Then who is this old man...?"

"He has no intent to kill. He just wanted to escape earlier, so it’s clear he’s not part of the same group as these True Demon Sect warriors."

An Jing’s perception in this matter was particularly clear. It was obvious at a glance who harbored killing intentions toward him. "These True Demon Sect warriors are clearly not locals. If they’re going to act around Broken Blade Mountain, they will surely need guides and people to lead the way. Seeing that this old man has distinct bow and blade calluses on his hands, he should be a local old hunter, so I speculated that he’s the actual member of the ’Guidance Squad,’ and these True Demon Sect warriors have simply taken their identities."

"Now the only question is, whether the mission to intercept the transport squad was assigned to the True Demon Sect or to the Guidance Squad."

So saying, An Jing turned his head to look at the hunter elder with a face of ashen white on Xu Tai’s back: "I guess it’s the latter. The Demon Sect’s minds aren’t completely on this mission."

"Yes, indeed... The mission was assigned to us."

The hunter elder said dispiritedly: "We are employed by the Linlang Commerce Chamber, which is a major commerce chamber of the Prefecture Government... "

"Don’t worry."

After confirming this point, An Jing was in no hurry, stopping the elder’s words: "Return to Shimen Town, and I will extract the worm poison for you. Take your time and speak."

Soon, An Jing and his companions had returned to Shimen Town.

The worm poison inside the hunter elder was called the Spine-penetrating Worm, a type of worm that latches onto the spine behind the heart. If agitated, it would spew out nematocysts, injecting the heart and spine with toxins that spread throughout the body, making it rot and causing death.

Attempting to remove this worm was almost impossible since it was much like a worm that mimicked flesh and blood while participating in the body’s functioning. Ordinary martial artists wouldn’t even be able to detect it, let alone safely extract it.

But An Jing was no ordinary martial artist; his Pupil Fire was already formed, and he also possessed the True Spirit Eye, which allowed him to directly see the location of the Spine-penetrating Worm and ignite its Essence Qi to self-immolate.

With no more constraints, the elder knelt down on the ground and reported all the intelligence he knew.

It all still came down to the Frost Calamity and the Beast Tide.

Because of the Frost Calamity, the beasts around Broken Blade Mountain were migrating. With the Northern Barbarians lurking and assaulting on the fringes, the villages around Broken Blade Mountain had begun to contract, their populations converging towards larger, safer cities. Linjiang City was one such hub.

Although in theory, the Beast Tide would not actively attack villages and cities, if they happened to be right in the path, the beasts wouldn’t deliberately avoid them. To prevent losses, specialized martial artists would guide the direction of the Beast Tide, steering it away from important industrial facilities, such as medicine fields and mining areas, among others.

There were many guidance squads made up of martial artists who were active in the surrounding areas and familiar with the habits of ferocious beasts and demon spirits.

"The military and civil officials of Broken Blade Mountain are gone. Now, the affairs inside the city are overseen by the Linlang Commerce Chamber, which supposedly has connections in the Prefecture Government. They temporarily hold the official seal."

The hunter elder confessed obediently: "We are all employed by the Linlang Commerce Chamber to guide the direction of the Beast Tide, avoiding human casualties... But previously, we’ve also undertaken some less honorable missions."

"What sort of dishonorable things? Speak up."

An Jing tapped his knife sheath, sounding casual, but the hunter elder dared not take it lightly. He hastily said, "Because of the Frost Calamity and the Northern Barbarians, the value of all kinds of industrial estates around Linjiang City plummeted. Plus, with the Beast Tide, some villages moved away en masse, and Linlang Commerce Chamber seized the opportunity to buy up many high-quality properties."

"However, some villages that held extremely superior properties fancied themselves strong enough not to move. For example, Shimen Town—next to it lies a Frost Jade Vein, and they had planned on holding their ground and not moving."

"We collaborated with the Linlang Commerce Chamber to threaten them with the Beast Tide, pressuring them to give up their properties—if they did, they could still get a sum of money and leave safely."

"If they didn’t agree to hand them over, we would bring the Beast Tide to flatten their village, and then we could take over as well."