Chapter 430 – Fu Qingjin’s Questioning, Strongboulder Comes Knocking (1/2)

“Where is it?”

Li Qingshan extended a hand. A wisp of cloud formed a bridge, extending into the distance through the mountains.

Ru Xin followed the winding cloud bridge, making her way around the mountain in front of her. She travelled quite a short distance and arrived in front of Li Qingshan’s dwelling. Looking at the three words, Qing Xiao’s Home, she sank into her thoughts and fiddled around with her hair. “So close? Don’t tell me you’re planning to do something to me!”

“You overestimate yourself. I’m just protecting my pills, as well as the alchemist… In other words, you were cultivating in your dwelling that day?” Fu Qingjin crossed his legs and fingers as he stared at the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect right before him with a slight smile.

The master of the Vermillion Clothes sect seemed rather uneasy. “Fellow Fu, What’re you asking this for? Of course I was cultivating in the sect.”

Fu Qingjin took out a curved, slender horn from behind, which flashed. “Have you heard of the xiezhi before?”

TL: A xiezhi is a mythical Chinese beast that can tell the innocent from the guilty, which you can read about here:

“I’ve heard that it’s a divine beast that can see through deception. Don’t tell me that’s…”

“That’s right. This is a xiezhi’s horn. I hope you tell me the truth, as it’s very important.” Fu Qingjin fiddled with the Green Ruins sword absentmindedly.

The master of the Vermillion Clothes sect’s face twisted. This was his secret. He definitely could not let anyone know. However, he glanced at the Green Ruins sword before glancing at the xiezhi’s horn and became conflicted. In the end, he said, “Fine. I’ll tell you. That day, I ventured underground…”

“Alright, I understand.” Fu Qingjin turned around as he stood up. He had already achieved some initial results with his investigation of all the Foundation Establishment cultivators within the Clear River prefecture. Some had been questioned personally, while others had clear evidence that they were not present. However, there were also a few Foundation Establishment cultivators who refused to cooperate, and they all belonged to the academy. In the end, there were a total of seven suspects, with the prime suspect being Li Qingshan.

As if he had just been spared, the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect let out a long sigh of relief. As it seemed, Fu Qingjin was not investigating that matter.

“You were engaging in trade with the night roamers, weren’t you?” That one sentence from Fu Qingjin made the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect’s heart lurch violently. “Liaison, you must listen to me…”

With that, Fu Qingjin turned into a streak of green light and flew off, leaving the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect standing there in daze.

Leaving the Vermillion Clothes sect, Fu Qingjin arrived in the sky. He did not go off to find the suspects one by one for questioning. Instead, he found his bearings and took off in the direction of the Boundless mountains.

Those directly connected to the Soaring Dragon Elder’s death were the Dark Queen’s cat daemon and Gu Yanying. Neither of them were existences the Sword Collection palace could investigate. However, there must have been other witnesses deep within the Boundless mountains.

These witnesses definitely would have been daemons. Constrained by the treaty, it had been very difficult for the Sword Collection palace to do anything. Coupled with the Divining Elder’s warning, the entire matter came to a grinding halt. But now, the treaty had been lifted within the Clear River prefecture, and the Diving Elder had confirmed that the power not of this world no longer interfered. They could finally undertake a large, formal investigation.

They would definitely be able to get to the bottom of the Soaring Dragon Elder’s death by approaching the matter from two directions.

Arriving near the edge of the Boundless mountains, he discovered that the huge crater left behind from the destruction of the Green Vine mountain had already turned into a city. It was enveloped by various formations with many human cultivators moving around in there. It was even busier than the Town of Flowing Clouds of the past.

Ever since the treaty had been lifted, many human cultivators chose to enter the Boundless mountains and not anywhere else. They would still be able to kill daemons, and clearly, being above ground brought people relatively more relief. There were many more spiritual herbs in the Boundless mountains that bathed in sunlight too.