Beast God
Chapter 26: Deduction

"You don't want to admit it? Then let me guess what gives you the confidence to kill a Legendary-grade Mystical Spirit." Chen Guan still didn't give Wang Lian a chance to speak, his gaze fixed on the seven-treasure glazed tree in the pool.

"I remember hearing you were the first to recognize the Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit. Meaning no one else actually knows if this is truly the Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit, at least not with absolute certainty." Chen Guan turned to Gongsun Zhuo and asked, "Have you ever seen a Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit before? Can you confirm this is one?"

"No. The academy never taught about such things, and I've never heard of such rare fruits." Gongsun Zhuo shook his head.

Wang Lian opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Chen Guan: "No need to rush with explanations. Even if this is truly called the Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit, its effects definitely aren't as simple as just increasing wisdom, like you claimed. You were too impatient—too desperate to obtain it."

"You're amusing, talking to yourself like this." Wang Lian said with disdain.

Ignoring her mocking tone, Chen Guan continued: "I can't blame you. You don't have many cards to play. The Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit is your only lifeline in this situation, forcing you to take risks and manipulate us into picking it for you."

"Don't bother denying. Your family might be powerful, but your position within it must be precarious. I believe your story about that senior discovering The Epang Scripture is true. But I doubt many in your family believed you—if they even knew at all. Before coming here, you probably only half-believed it yourself. Yet given your shaky standing, you had no choice but to gamble on this chance."

Wang Lian fell silent, but her eyes betrayed her. Chen Guan's words clearly struck a nerve, making her suspect he already knew her background.

"You lacked family support. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so poorly prepared—even resorting to using Qin Ziyu, whom you happened to meet. But these were unstable variables. You couldn't pin your hopes on such uncertainties. Even if you knew Qin Ziyu would come here, you couldn't guarantee he'd appear near you. So even without him, you must have had another way to get what you wanted here."

Chen Guan glanced at the Water Burial Buddha, who was still overpowering Qin Ziyu and Rouge despite fighting two opponents simultaneously.

"But with your strength, defeating the Water Burial Buddha is impossible. Taking the Seven Treasures Glazed Fruit as leverage against a Legendary-grade Mystical Spirit is unrealistic. And you certainly couldn't take anything from the Water Burial Buddha to use against other Legendary-grade Mystical Spirits later. So your confidence must come from yourself—something that would let you gain advantages from the Water Burial Buddha."

"If I had something like that, would I be in this state?" Wang Lian sneered.

Chen Guan observed Wang Lian's forced composure and underlying panic, then calmly continued: "True. Given your current predicament without using such a trump card, there are only two possibilities. Either it's target-specific and can't be used against others, or it has usage limitations—perhaps even single-use. You couldn't bear wasting this one chance, hence your initial reluctance. I lean toward the latter."

"If I were dying, what use would saving it be? Do you really think I'd value it more than my life, enduring this situation rather than use it? You overestimate me." Wang Lian mocked.

"You're not that type of person, which leaves only one possibility: when you wanted to use it, you couldn't anymore." Chen Guan looked at the Miaosha Sword in his hand and continued: "The only thing here meeting these conditions is this Miaosha Sword. You didn't anticipate I'd have a pet like Rouge, nor that the Miaosha Sword would leave your grasp. So whatever you're relying on must be within this sword."

Wang Lian struggled to control her expression, but fear and unease bled through her eyes as she stared at Chen Guan like he was a demon.

She said nothing, yet Chen Guan seemed to extract all her secrets.

"Tell me how to retrieve what you've hidden, and I'll spare your life." Chen Guan said, studying Wang Lian.

He'd already examined the Miaosha Sword but found no hidden compartments. With no time for trial and error, he wanted direct answers from Wang Lian.

He didn't doubt his conclusion—the object was definitely inside the sword.

"You're delusional, imagining things inside the Miaosha Sword that don't exist. How would I know how to retrieve something that isn't there?" Wang Lian refused to believe Chen Guan's words. That object was her last hope—how could she surrender it?

As Chen Guan said, she'd risked coming here because it was her only chance to change her fate. She'd never accept defeat and fade into obscurity.

"Seems your memory needs refreshing. While I don't know tendon-severing techniques, my methods of persuasion certainly surpass Qin Ziyu's." Chen Guan stepped toward Wang Lian.

Wang Lian shuddered but kept silent.

Soon, her sealed lips parted to unleash inhuman screams.

For the next two minutes, Gongsun Zhuo felt his worldview shatter. He'd never imagined humans could be this cruel.

He once believed death was humanity's greatest fear—that killing someone was the ultimate end.

Now he understood the terrifying depths of human cruelty. Compared to Chen Guan's methods, death seemed trivial.

Just witnessing it made Gongsun Zhuo's back drench in cold sweat, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Now he comprehended why tortured innocents would confess to crimes they didn't commit.

He'd once scorned such people as spineless—believing he'd never surrender to false accusations even unto death.

But now Gongsun Zhuo realized why they broke. This wasn't suffering humans could endure. Faced with such torment, he doubted he'd last longer than Wang Lian.

In under two minutes, Wang Lian broke and gave Chen Guan the answers he sought.