Chapter 21: Questioning

At the same time, the scholar lightly curled his finger, and Cang Yinyue walked toward the valley uncontrollably.

Although Cang Yinyue was anxious, she remained calm and contemplated a way to break the control.

At the same time, she glanced at Li Musheng out of the corner of her eye, only to find that he was staring straight ahead, appearing to be in a daze.

"I thought this kid was some kind of hidden expert. It turns out there isn't even a trace of true qi in his body."

In the valley, the scholar cast a distant glance at Li Musheng, shaking his head with a sneer.

He had already silently deployed the Formless Puppet Technique to invade Li Musheng's body, so he naturally knew the internal state of the man perfectly.

Hearing this, the heavily injured woman, while rapidly circulating her energy to heal herself, spoke indifferently

"Since he is just an ordinary person, Junior Brother can simply kill him. This person is of no use to my cultivation of the Blood Aspect Poison Claw Technique."

"True," the scholar nodded.

He stopped looking at Li Musheng and lightly moved his finger, preparing to manipulate the man into committing suicide on the spot by slitting his own throat.

But soon, he let out a soft sound of surprise and looked toward Li Musheng again.

The expected suicide did not occur; the handsome young man was still standing exactly where he had been, without moving even an inch.

The scholar frowned and curled his finger again.

However, he discovered that the Formless Puppet Technique, which had worked flawlessly every time in the past, failed to take effect once more.

The scholar's expression gradually darkened. He immediately channeled all the true qi from his dantian into his fingertips, attempting to manipulate the threads connected to Li Musheng's body.

But the result was still futile!

"How is this possible?" the scholar asked in disbelief.

The woman looked at her suddenly distracted Junior Brother with confusion, just as she was about to ask what was happening.

At that moment, Li Musheng suddenly shook his head

"This martial art doesn't look all that great. If I had the complete manual, I might actually study it."

With that, he reached out his hand and grabbed forward. The dense web of threads entwined around him were all drawn into his palm.

Simultaneously, the scholar, who was still doubting whether he had made a mistake in his cultivation, suddenly felt an overwhelming, irresistible force surging from his own palm.

He saw the scenery before him suddenly recede at high speed, and then, his entire body crashed violently into the ground.

A loud "bang" echoed through the silent mountains as rocks shattered and dust billowed.

In front of Li Musheng, the scholar was buried under a pile of pulverized rock. The intense impact had broken all his bones, leaving him a bloody mess.

At this moment, he could only feel intense pain covering every corner of his body, yet he still hadn't realized what had actually happened.

"You..."

With eyes blurred by dirt and blood, the scholar stared at Li Musheng standing nearby. But before he could speak, blood and fragments of his internal organs surged up his throat, choking back his words.

By this time, Cang Yinyue, having regained her mobility, flashed to Li Musheng's side.

Her cold eyes looked at the heavily injured scholar in the rubble, then at Li Musheng, her gaze filled with shock.

"You actually broke his Formless Puppet Technique. How did you do it?"

Li Musheng patted his palms, glanced at Cang Yinyue, and said somewhat amusedly

"Miss Cang, why is this the question you ask every single time? Can't you change it to something like, 'Your Highness, you are amazing,' or 'That was simply terrifying,' and so on?"

Cang Yinyue froze for a moment, then nodded with a serious expression

"It was indeed very impressive!"

However, in the next moment, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes. She vanished from her spot, turning into a dark shadow as she leaped toward the valley.

After seeing her Junior Brother inexplicably fly away and get smashed into a near-death state, the scholar's senior sister knew immediately that they had encountered a formidable opponent.

Thus, she immediately took the opportunity to flee; given her current state of heavy injury, staying meant certain death.

However, how could she outrun Cang Yinyue? Within a few breaths, she was caught, subdued, and brought back, thrown down beside the mangled scholar.

"Which sect are you disciples of? What is your purpose in traveling to Shangyang City?"

Cang Yinyue's slender blade descended, hovering at the throat of the ugly, scarred woman.

A complete Formless Puppet Technique had never appeared in the martial world before; its sudden emergence likely signaled the resurgence of the Myriad Aspect Demon Sect.

Furthermore, these two were suspiciously connected to the people of General Wu'an, making this matter impossible to ignore.

Hearing this, the ugly woman moved her lips, preparing to speak.

But Cang Yinyue stopped her in time, saying

"To prevent them from coordinating their stories, they must be interrogated separately."

Li Musheng nodded

"I have no problem with that."

Then, Cang Yinyue took the ugly woman aside for questioning.

Meanwhile, Li Musheng slowly crouched in front of the scholar. After a moment of thought, he said

"Hand over the Formless Puppet Technique. Let me study it."

The scholar swallowed a mouthful of blood and stared at Li Musheng without speaking.

"Hmm? Don't want to give it?" Li Musheng raised an eyebrow.

The scholar did not reply, only speaking in weak, intermittent gasps

"Why... do you... have no true qi..."

Li Musheng smiled and asked

"Do you know what it means to be 'One with Heaven and Man'? What it means to reach the 'State of Martial Perfection,' or what it means to 'Return to Simplicity'?"

The scholar's mouth hung open, his eyes widening momentarily, but he struggled to shake his head slowly, muttering indistinctly

"You... impossible... Heaven and Man..."

Li Musheng rolled his eyes and asked once more

"Are you giving me the manual or not?"

However, the scholar only continued to shake his head, repeating his previous words and failing to answer the question at all.

Seeing this, Li Musheng also shook his head

"Forget it then. I don't care much anyway."

With that, he flicked a finger, extinguishing the scholar's life.

He was not an expert of the Hidden Intelligence Bureau like Cang Yinyue; he had no patience for long interrogations.

Even in death, the expression of disbelief remained on the scholar's face.

After a while, Cang Yinyue returned, dragging the half-dead, ugly woman.

"She has confessed everything. How did your interrogation go?"

Cang Yinyue looked at Li Musheng, wanting to cross-reference their testimonies.

However, when her gaze fell upon the dead scholar, her brows furrowed in suspicion.

"You didn't kill him without asking anything, did you?"

Li Musheng spread his hands and said

"I'm not a professional. It's a miracle I even got two sentences out of him."

"Interrogation is a task for talents like you, Miss Cang. I trust you must have gained something?"

Hearing this, Cang Yinyue sighed softly and said slowly

"Both of them are disciples under someone called the Formless Elder, and they learned their martial arts from him. As for their purpose for this trip..."

She paused, staring at Li Musheng.

"It was to impersonate you."