“What do you have to say now?”

  All eyes of the judges landed on Bubai like hawks circling their prey.

  Bubai could feel the heavy waves of spiritual pressure rushing at him. Even the jade dagger trapped between his legs was quivering alongside his little brother…

  If it were a normal Qi refiner, their brains might have a hard time functioning at this point, but Bubai’s thoughts still flowed like river cutting through stone.

  What happened? Did these women really find some clues even after all the preparations they had done?

  Ever since learning the dream fishing technique, Bubai had made countering it one of his top priorities.

  During their daily transactions, he had coaxed out every weakness, every flaw from the fairy guidebook.

  The symptoms while under influence, possible loopholes, ways to set up defenses, and more.

  Among the many ways to set up defenses, the most prominent was locking away particular memories through cleverly-designed heavenly oaths.

  Knowing her status did not exempt her from investigations, Xiao Lan willingly did the full set of heavenly oaths after the last invasion event.

  This took her psychological resistance against dream fishing to the next level!

  Even if they put aside this defensive layer, the icy will of a foundation realm sword cultivator like her was a fortress on its own.

  Anyone would be hard pressed to break through her fortified resistance, especially when utilizing relatively gentle memory searching techniques like dream fishing.

  If they really wanted to get anything, it couldn’t have been just simple dream fishing...

  Wait. Could they have resorted to a soul search?!

  A deeper fear instantly gripped Bubai.

  From the granny, Bubai had learned almost nothing about this forbidden art, but the tidbits that the fairy had let slip was enough to chill his bones.

  Soul searching was a devastating method, one that shattered the mind completely and only left a hollow shell. All victims became fools without a doubt!

  Could Xiao Lan have…

  Agitation surfaced on Bubai’s face and he frantically lashed out, “What have you done to her?! If you hurt her, I’ll- I’ll hunt you all down even if I become a ghost!”

  His outburst only made Hothead Meigui’s eyes flared and her long leg lashed back. “How dare you threaten law enforcers?! Do you really think we don’t dare to do anything to you?!”

  A kick landed on Bubai’s chest, sending his chair screeching back until it was stopped by two timely-placed foot.

  Facing the abuse, Bubai wasn’t one to be a sitting duck.

  Love kicking him right? Face his ultimate counterattack!

  Secret Killer: Blood Spewing Technique! Puff!

  After painting a red flower on his robe, Bubai’s ugly face went pale with some bonus blood leaking out from his lips.

  But he still showed an attitude of not backing down.

  “Cough. Cough. Officers... I didn’t mean any offense. I just want to know... Is she okay? She means the world to me and I can’t live without her-”

  Cough. More blood was choked out, prompting all the female enforcers to exchange glances and look at their fellow sister’s leg in unison.

  Miss Hothead took in the scene and gawked at her own leg. “Eh? Ehh? Did I really kick that hard?”

  The raven-masked officer exasperatedly gave her companion a knock on her head. “Guigui, don’t always be so heavy-handed.”

  “But I really didn’t kick that hard this time...”

  Miss Raven ignored her feeble protest and looked to her tall, unshaken deacon for instructions.

  Receiving a faint nod from her, Miss Raven stepped up to the suspect being carried back to the center of the room.

  “Don’t worry. She’s only been put to sleep. No harm has come to her.”

  A rush of relief washed over Bubai. She’s fine. That’s great.

  “Now, please cooperate and confess to your crimes or we can’t guarantee what happens to her after.”

  Cooperate and confess? Please. No criminal is stupid enough to do that, especially if the wind is blowing in his favor.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Since Xiao Lan is fine, it reveals a lot.

  For one, it meant there’s no soul searching business happening here.

  Following this train of thought, the interrogation must have been done through the normal routines - either what he’s experiencing or memory search utilizing techniques similar to dream fishing.

  Yet defending was always easier than invading.

  Adding on Xiao Lan’s mental defenses—the cold sword will, the heavenly oaths—how high must their memory searching skill be to penetrate her fortress without harming her?

  It’ll probably take nothing less than a master to have hopes of achieving this.

  If there was really a master amongst their ranks, then… haha. He will just lay flat and let them do whatever.

  And if he gets locked up in prison? Well… why not? It’s almost a free ticket to skip the Inner Sect Exchange.

  Of course, since he’s aiming to play big, if he could avoid being locked up, that would be for the best.

  In this case… it wasn’t completely hopeless.

  After all, Bubai already saw clues that painted a different picture.

  For example…

  If these women truly wanted to keep their cards hidden to maintain the upper hand, they could’ve used voice transmission.

  There was really no need to let the suspect eavesdrop.

  Then, this begs the question: Why let him know he’s been convicted, yet still want him to admit it?

  If they really found substantial evidence, these tigresses were allowed to act first and report later!

  Yet here they were, playing the waiting game… this makes things interesting.

  From those cop stories in his previous life, Bubai’s seen enough smoke and mirrors to spot the trick.

  First, feed him a few false alarms to test his nerves and to give him a false sense of security.

  Just when he starts to let himself go, they hit him with a bluff.

  Yes, that’s it. This must be a bluff. So, what does he have to confess?

  “Officers, I really, really want to cooperate, but…”

  Coughing weakly a few times, Bubai’s shoulder slumped.

  “I really haven’t done anything. You can doubt my words, but you can’t doubt my character. I really don’t have the guts to break the sect rules. This is all a misunder-”

  Without a word, the jade serrated dagger whistled back to the hand of its owner and Bubai quickly found its sharp edge just grazing the skin of his neck.

  “Be honest.”

  The crisp threat froze a part of his brain, but Bubai didn’t relent even whilst fumbling for words.

  “B-Believe me, I’m really innocent! Senior sister, you—you’ve really got the wrong person! You know me. I always willingly cooperate and answer all your questions! Y-yes, just ask anything! Anything!”

  The dagger bit him harder, almost cutting through his panicked tirade.

  Fortunately, Bubai held on long enough for the question to come through.

  “Missing maids. Where?”

  “Maids?” The twins? Bubai’s near-hysteria face contorted into a mask of pain.

  “My maids passed away after being taken away for interrogation. Senior sister, you just had to remind me of this...”

  Alas, the bitter smile on his face earned zero brownie points from the judge.

  Those ghostly green eyes never left him and seemed to stare straight through the window to his soul.

  The world around them seemed to be pulled into the underworld, and hungry ghosts crawled out from all over.

  Yet, they only had eyes for each other.

  Just when Bubai felt he was going to lose in this game of stare-eyes, the darkness was cleared away.

  “Deacon, here are the pouches we’ve sifted through.”

  Officer Ponytail finally broke eye contact and glanced at her raven. “Anything?”

  “Just some formation tools, common pills, talisman, sundries and the likes. Nothing eye-catching.”

  The sharp eyes dropped down to the inspect the two pouches. Then, those sharp eyes pinned back onto Bubai. “High-grade pouch. How?”

  Bubai didn’t even hesitate for a beat. “I got it from Elder Ma. Just today. If you don’t believe me, you can go ask.”

  His response once again irked the hotheaded little fangirl standing nearby.

  “Che! Again with the elders! Watch us lock you up and see how the elders will save you!”

  “Miss, you really think I dare to casually throw the names of the elders around? I’m just trying to be honest here.”

  “You? Honest?! This miss thinks you’ll be more honest after a few more kicks!”

  “Miss, seriously, how did I offend you? Please don’t resort to violence. That’s unbefitting for a lady.”

  “Unbeffitting?! Haha! Let lao niang show you how fitting it is!”

  Just when the volcano was rolling up her sleeves, a simple command brought a crisp end to the heated confrontation. “Enough.”

  “But deacon-”

  “We’re done here. Pack up. Leave.”

  Officer Ponytail then shot Bubai a glance, and a voice transmission sounded in his ears. “20 spirit stones.”

  With that, Officer Ponytail became the first to head out.

  Miss Hothead stomped her foot, giving Bubai a final glare before storming out after her idol.

  Miss Raven simply tossed the storage pouches at his feet and followed the rest of the masked enforcers filing out.

  When the room emptied, the dazed Bubai finally woke up.

  Realizing he was still tied to the chair, Bubai started wobbling, trying to free himself. “Wait! Officers! You can’t just leave me like this! Someone, please, untie me! Anyone? Come on!”

  The entrance rumbling to a close downstairs told him that no one was coming back to give him a hand.

  Outside.

  The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a faint crimson glow over the deacon leading her entourage away from the tower.

  With every step, her sleek ponytail swayed back and forth between the two single-file lines of female enforcers marching in almost perfect sync behind her.

  At the forefront of the right line, her raven-masked subordinate couldn’t help but break the silence, her tone low but insistent.

  “Deacon, you really found nothing useful in her memories?”

  On the other side, the ginger-haired fangirl immediately chimed in defensively.

  “Our Big Sister Jade has the highest mastery of dream fishing among us all. Perhaps only the hall master can do better. If she says there’s nothing, then there’s nothing. Yaya, you’re thinking too much!”

  “I…” Yaya bowed her head, still insisting on analyzing, “I’m not overthinking. I just think something’s not right.”

  “We found zero traces of the victim, and there was no reaction to the sample stored in the blood crystal. We even failed to detect any resentment entangling him, but... I still feel there’s something wrong…”

  Guigui scoffed, nodding as if it were obvious.

  “Of course there is a problem. How many men in this broken sect are actually clean? There is definitely blood on his hands. We just don’t know how he hid it. I say we bring him back and give him special treatment.”

  Her veiled lips flashed a wolfish grin toward her idol. “Deacon, what do you say?”

  “No need.”

  Without breaking her stride, Officer Ponytail gave her final verdict. “Send a report to the hall master. Let her make the decision.”

  “We have to alert her esteemed existence?” Yaya was clearly surprised, but even when her mind whirled with implications, she fell silent.

  Seeing her sister not offering any explanation, Guigui blinked in confusion and couldn’t reign in her curiosity. “Eh? Why is no one talking? Is there something special about that stinky man?”

  The procession paused, and jade-green eyes silenced the curious baby with a sharp glance. “Ask less. For your own good.”

  Officer Ponytail then cast one last glance back at the tower and left... the rest up to fate.