Chapter 657: Interrogation

Zu An looked around the imperial prison as he followed Guo Zhi in.

This wasn’t a standard prison, but rather a place where the palace temporarily kept criminals. There was one level above ground, and many levels below ground.

As they gradually followed the stairs down, sunlight faded. They could feel the cold and damp feeling of a prison.

The surrounding walls were all built from massive chunks of rock. He could vaguely make out some formations from their surface.

Not only did they prevent outsiders from digging in, it also prevented earth element cultivators from escaping.

He saw dark red stains on the torture instruments along the way, clearly the blood of the criminals, giving this place a type of stifling feeling.

Guo Zhi brought Zu An down. Screams of someone about to confess sounded at this time.

Guo Zhi revealed frantic joy. He quickly rushed over and didn’t pay Zu An any more attention.

Zu An frowned and quickly followed.

The curses of others could vaguely be heard.

“Fucking pussy!”

“Do you know how many of our dead brothers you are letting down?”

“Your master has shown you so much care all these years. Is this how you’ll repay her?”

…

There were all types of obscene curses mixed in. Every single person related to this individual was cursed many times over.

Guo Zhi harrumphed. He seized a whip from the side and sent it thrashing out. “All of you better shut your mouth!”

Sure enough, those voices became quiet. They already didn’t have much strength left after being tortured day after day. They were only berating out of anger just now. Now that they vented that anger, they couldn’t even muster the strength to do that.

Guo Zhi brought one of them to an isolated room. Zu An followed out of curiosity.

Guo Zhi gave him a look, but he didn’t say anything. This was someone the crown princess introduced, so since she trusted him, that meant he was one of them.

Zu An sized up this youngster who was covered in blood. His expression immediately became strange. So it was someone he knew!

This was Qiu Honglei’s senior, that Gu Yueyi he met before in Brightmoon City.

Gu Yueyi also saw him. His expression immediately changed tremendously.

Guo Zhi said with a heavy snort, “You said that you were ready to confess. You can speak now.”

Gu Yueyi’s eyes moved around. He immediately pointed at Zu An. “He…”

“What about me?” Zu An walked over with a smile. He sorted out his clothes, as if he was brushing off the dust.

Gu Yueyi saw the jade pendant at his waist. His expression was mixed with shock, alarm, and pleasant surprise. If one didn’t see it for themselves, then it was hard to imagine that one person could show so many expressions.

“What about him?” Guo Zhi was confused.

Gu Yueyi snapped out of his daze. “Who is he? Why is he here?”

Guo Zhi sighed in relief and said, “That’s none of your business. Either way, he is someone trustworthy. Just hurry and tell me what you have to confess.”

Gu Yueyi replied, “Oh. I wanted to say that you really shouldn’t keep hitting us. We already said everything we should be saying. The one who prompted us really is King Qi.”

Guo Zhi was so angry he instead laughed. “You wanted to play a joke on me?”

He never thought that this was the reason this kid specially called him out. He was so angry his whip thrashed down viciously on the other party.

“We really already told everything! Sir Guo, why don’t you believe me?”

“You’re still messing around?!”

“Ah… ah…”

As he watched Gu Yueyi scream continuously, his expression darting towards him from time to time, Zu An knew that it was about time. He coughed lightly and said, “General Guo, how about you let me give these miserable wretches a try?”

“You?” Guo Zhi was skeptical. He already interrogated these people for several days without obtaining any meaningful information. Just now, he was even messed with. He really didn’t dare to believe that Zu An had any solutions.

“It won’t hurt to give it a try.” Zu An had a sincere expression on his face.

Guo Zhi thought to himself that this was the reason why the crown princess sent him to begin with. He handed him the whip in his hands. “Sure, hit them as much as you want and di… discipline them. It’s fine even if you do hurt them.”

Zu An’s eyelids jumped. Can this guy not pause at such weird moments?[1]

When Guo Zhi left, Zu An brought the completely limp Gu Yueyi back into his cell. There were many people bound to wooden racks and currently experiencing the torment of the jailers.

One of them was skinny and tall, his hair a bit red. He was precisely the Solitary Fire he met before on his way to the capital.

There was another person who had long sideburns. Even though he was behind bars, there was still a bold and powerful aura coming from his expression. This was most likely the Elder Sun Luzhen Yun Jianyue spoke of from the sect.

There were some others who were scattered about in another cell. They were covered in blood, unknown if they were still alive or dead.

Zu An felt admiration for them. Even though he mocked the Devil Sect for being selfish mercenaries, these people already experienced so much torture, yet they still didn’t sell out Yun Jianyue. It seems like they still had their own convictions.

“You traitor, you dare to come back? This old one won’t let you go even if you become a ghost!” Sun Luzhen was so furious when he saw Gu Yueyi that he wanted to throw himself over. The chains on his body clanked with noise, as if he might break free at any time.

“You’re still acting up?” A jailer’s whip thrashed over. Sun Luzhen screamed miserably and didn’t dare to struggle anymore. He only stared viciously at Gu Yueyi.

Gu Yueyi was about to say something, but he hesitated. He gave Zu An and the nearby jailer a look. In the end, he didn’t say anything.

Zu An gave  the whip in the jailer’s hands a curious look. There were some formations covering it. It seemed similar to Huanzhao’s whip and could magnify pain. No wonder even a tough fella like Sun Luzhen couldn’t hold on.

Solitary Fire also slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Zu A, his eyes were filled with shock. “You… you…”

“What are you looking at me for? Have you never seen someone so handsome before?” Zu An immediately brandished the whip Guo Zhi gave him, making him swallow his words right back down.

Then, he said to the jailer next to him. “You all should head out. I’m going to talk to them in private.”

“Understood!” Those jailers already received their orders. They passed down the orders and quickly withdrew.

When those jailers left, Solitary Fire spat out a mouthful of bloody spit. “Pah! Dammit all! I didn’t expect fortunes to rise and fall like this, that I’ll end up dying under your hands. If you want to kill or torture me, then do what you will!”

You have successfully trolled Solitary Fire for +999 Rage points!

It was obvious that he thought that Zu An was now getting revenge for what happened on the way to the capital.

Gu Yueyi quickly said, “Sir Fire has misunderstood! He is not an enemy, but rather someone sent by the saintess!”

He immediately recognized that the jade pendant Zu An carried belonged to Qiu Honglei. That was why he changed his mind on the spot.

“The saintess?” Solitary Fire was stunned. He recalled that the saintess was indeed friendly with this man. He became momentarily confused.

Sun Luzhen, who was bound to the wooden stake, glared at Gu Yueyi in fury. “Stupid brat, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? What saintess? I’ve never heard of her.”

Zu An couldn’t help but chuckle. “Elder Sun is a fierce character after all. You aren’t willing to let anything go even in this type of situation.”

Sun Luzhen’s breathing stopped when he heard his name called. He looked at Zu An. “Who are you exactly?”

Solitary Fire said, “Zu An, that kid with the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra.”

Sun Luzhen suddenly understood. He had heard a bit about this matter.

Zu An leisurely sat down on a nearby stool. “It was indeed Honglei who begged me to come. Since we’re friends, I came to bring some of her words.”

Gu Yueyi felt a bit of jealousy when he heard how intimate Zu An referred to Qiu Honglei. After all, this was a junior he admired for a long time, yet she always treated him coldly. Now, she even gave her jade pendant to this person.

But when he thought about how he had to depend on this person in the future, he suppressed his unhappy thoughts.

“What did she want to tell us?” Sun Luzhen asked out of curiosity.

Zu An said, “Do you all know why you have to insist that it was King Qi who incited you, yet these people refuse to believe it? It is because you all only know how to attack King Qi, yet you didn’t talk about any of the details. How could these people dare to report something unreliable like this upwards? I came to teach you how to properly take care of this matter…”

“So this was it!” Sun Luzhen sighed. “No wonder they didn’t believe us no matter what we said and continued to beat us day after day. No matter how tough my bones are, I am about to break down too.”

Solitary Fire gave him a curious look. “Then what are these details? What should we say?”

Zu An thus explained to them how Cheng Xiong used his son Cheng Gang, sending him to the government brothel to contact Shuangyue. He explained everything to them carefully in detail.

The others nodded inwardly. Gu Yueyi alone asked a vital question. “Young master Zu, we can say these things, but once we say them, we’ll be worthless. The palace might just execute us. Do you have any way of saving us?”

His eyes burned fiercely as he looked at Zu An.

1. Two characters were used for the word discipline in the last paragraph. When split apart, the first character means fuck