Chapter 459 – Judgemen (2/2)

Due to the obscuring table they sat behind, his subconscious movements were hidden away from the eyes around him, but they were not hidden away from Ru Xin beside him.

Li Qingshan shivered and looked over. Ru Xin behaved like nothing had happened at all, focusing on the outcome of Fu Qingjin’s questioning like everyone else. However, there was a sliver of concern in the corner of her eye.

The stretch of structures appeared on the horizon. The Clear River prefecture was in view. Li Qingshan’s mirror clone stared at the city, but he slowed down instead. He withdrew his aura and approached silently.

It was already too late…

Fu Qingjin finished asking the second last suspect. Only Li Qingshan remained.

Li Qingshan’s suspicion increased drastically. Almost a hundred scorching gazes gathered on him.

Hua Chengzan became slightly nervous, Han Tieyi furrowed his eyebrows slightly while Liu Chuanfeng was completely dumbfounded. Everyone Li Qingshan had befriended and gotten to know in the academy over these years cast over gazes of worry, concern, and undispellable suspicion towards him.

If he interrupted the meeting right now, he would basically be giving himself away. Li Qingshan had already prepared himself for the worst. His mirror clone was for reinforcing him, just in hopes of creating a chance to kill his way out.

“I do hope my judgement is wrong.” Fu Qingjin stared at Li Qingshan. His slightly blue pupils were as clear as water.

The xiezhi’s horn glowed dimly. Li Qingshan smiled. “That’s not true at all. Ask me whatever you want!”

He appeared completely calm, but this was not an obstacle he could get past with acting anymore. The battle began.

Fu Qingjin tightened his left hand and placed the slender and curved xiezhi’s horn between them.

Vaguely, a one-horned xiezhi seemed to be crouching between them, like a solemn judge of law, ready to make its final judgement. Friends or foes, success and failure, or even life and death would depend on this verbal exchange.

Fu Qingjin’s right hand pressed against the Green Ruins sword without any attempt of hiding it.

Li Qingshan seemed extremely relaxed. He did not even stand up. He made a gesture of invitation.

Finally, Fu Qingjin asked the questions he had asked countless times before again, “Where were you that day and what were you doing?”

Li Qingshan smiled. He opened his mouth, and when he began to speak, his mind suddenly sank into chaos.

“I forgot!”

Fu Qingjin was taken aback. The cultivators present were all overcome with disbelief too. This answer was unable to satisfy anyone.

After reaching Foundation Establishment and splitting open a sea of consciousness, not all cultivators necessarily developed eidetic memory, but their thought processes and memories would be much clearer than regular people. They would still be able to recall whatever they wanted.

As a matter of fact, even regular people would not forget about something so recent completely. They would still have some impressions, yet he actually claimed he had forgotten.

If this was a normal interrogation, it would basically confirm the suspicion on Li Qingshan. However, Fu Qingjin glanced at the xiezhi’s horn in his hand, and it remained still, without reacting at all. It meant that Li Qingshan’s forgetfulness was not an excuse. He had truly forgotten.

Li Qingshan laid out his hands. “It was a few months ago. Who still remembers something like that? I was probably cultivating!”

Fu Qingjin would never relent. His gaze was as sharp as swords as he stared into Li Qingshan’s eyes. He continued questioning, “What about the Soaring Dragon sword? Have you seen the Soaring Dragon sword before? Be direct. Just tell me yes or no.”

Yes, I’ve seen it!

Li Qingshan basically reacted with so much certainty without even thinking at all. Not only had he seen the Soaring Dragon sword before, but he even knew its shape and size.

Afterwards, as he tried to recall it, his eyes suddenly became slightly lost. The glistening Soaring Dragon sword turned into mist and dispersed.

His memories gave him the exact opposite as an answer. Not only had he never seen the Soaring Dragon sword before, but this was even his first time hearing about the Soaring Dragon sword, even though Fu Qingjin had clearly asked the cultivators so many times earlier.

That was the only reply Li Qingshan could give. “No, I haven’t.”

The xiezhi’s horn did not light up. The xiezhi divine beast seemed to judge Li Qingshan to be innocent, proving he had nothing to do with the Soaring Dragon Elder.

It was impossible to tell whether Fu Qingjin’s reaction was disappointment or relief.

Don’t tell me I was mistaken? The person who obtained the sumeru ring is not a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Clear River prefecture, but from somewhere else, or perhaps a night roamer? But why would a night roamer make a special trip to the surface just to open the sumeru ring?

However, anything was always possible in this world.

The lead had come to an end! Fu Qingjin could not help but admit the feebleness and powerlessness of human intelligence before the unfathomable, unpredictable world. He would only be able to gain a grasp over the tracks of fate if he possessed the arts of divination like the Divining Elder.

Liu Zhangqing let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Fellow Fu, are you satisfied now?”