Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 678 - 678 0435 Heading to the County Master Mansion

Chapter 678: Chapter 0435: Heading to the County Master Mansion Chapter 678: Chapter 0435: Heading to the County Master Mansion Chapter 0435: On the Way to the County Master Mansion

According to Fan Tie’s drunken confession, he came from a place called Three Gods City, a great city where a Gold Core Realm cultivator is not considered as extraordinary, just like Qi Cultivation Period in Great Zhao Nation is not considered much. Only those in Nascent Soul Stage could establish a footing there. To achieve something in that city, one needs to possess a level of power and realm higher than the Nascent Soul Stage.

Fan Tie belonged to a prominent sect in Three Gods City known as the Refining God Sect. The disciples of Refining God Sect were often sent out for practical experience and Fan Tie was one of them. According to Fan Tie, his sect highly valued him, so he was sent to the Great Zhao Nation to serve as a County Master. His aim was to make significant achievements here. So, he could return to his sect with these merits and receive a higher position, leading to his rapid rise to fame.

“Master, that’s all I know. After getting drunk that day, I attempted to extract more information from Fan Tie, but he denied everything, which often made me question if the experience that day was an illusion. But I dismissed that idea. After all, I am a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. It is easy for me to differentiate between dream and reality. Moreover, there had been a few incidents in Baoding Prefecture which required Fan Tie’s intervention. As I watched, I noticed the spells and magical instruments he used were quite different from those in our country, which made me more confident that he really might have come from the far-off Three Gods City.”

After telling the story, Han Botao stood quietly, waiting for Qi Tian’s decision.

“All right, I will try to verify the information you’ve given me. If the investigation proves your words to be true, I will keep my promise and recommend you to the Ninth Prince for a promotion,” said Qi Tian.

Han Botao was overjoyed and quickly bowed in thanks before saying, “Thank you, Master.”

Qi Tian waved his hand for Han Botao to retreat. After Han Botao left, Qi Tian used the Slave Mark to contact Jin Jin. He told him to take Fan Tie into custody and interrogate him. If necessary, he could perform the Soul Searching Skills on Fan Tie.

To Qi Tian’s surprise, Jin Jin rushed back shortly thereafter, saying regretfully, “Master, Fan Tie was a tough nut to crack. Despite my attempts, he never revealed anything about his origins. When I was about to use the Soul Searching Skills, he detonated his Sea of consciousness. Now, his brain is a mess.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Tian quickly went outside to see Fan Tie’s body lying on the ground. His eyes were bulging out, blood flowing from his seven orifices, his face distorted as if he were a gory ghost. There was no sign of life left in him.

Gao Jinmei stepped forward to examine Fan Tie’s body and confirmed that he died from detonating his Sea of consciousness. Whether or not it was “self-detonation” was doubted. Some sects implant forbidden spells in their disciples’ Sea of consciousness during their training, which would explode if anyone tried to tamper with it, leaving them no hope of survival.

With the Sea of consciousness destroyed, he was essentially dead without any chance of salvation. Gao Jinmei removed the Storage Bag and other items from Fan Tie’s body and handed them over to Qi Tian. As an assassin, she had a keen eye and could easily find the concealed items on a cultivator’s body.

Using the Heavenly Dao Engine, Qi Tian scanned Fan Tie’s body for traces of Spirit Qi and found that Gao Jinmei had done a clean job. After her search, aside from his body which could be used as fuel for the Heavenly Dao Engine, the rest were essentially useless.

Fan Tie was not even Half-step Golden Core, and the energy provided by his corpse was not of much use to Qi Tian. With a wave of his hand, he ordered Jin Jin, “Find a place to burn it.”

Jin Jin quickly acknowledged and took away Fan Tie’s body for cremation. Qi Tian entered the room with the items taken from Fan Tie, and began to examine them. But to Qi Tian’s disappointment, most of these things were common in the cultivation world of Great Zhao Nation, and were even available in Wanjie City. Only two items were not obtainable through these two channels. One was a token inscribed with an unknown symbol and undecipherable text. The other was a ring that looked ordinary at first glance. But close inspection would reveal a line of small characters on the inside of the ring. These characters appeared to be from the same language system as the one on the token.

Qi Tian placed the two items together and called Gao Jinmei and Jin Jin to join him in deciphering them. Both of them being Golden Core Realm cultivators and their vast life experience could be useful in recognizing the unknown text.