Dungeon Interrogation

Fire Persimmon Immortal Mountain.

At the peak of the mountain, deep within the clouds.

The City Lord of Fire Persimmon Immortal City sat cross-legged in the air, summoning his Golden Core subordinate, Chi Dun.

Chi Dun was a middle-aged man, blind in one eye, short but sturdy, with bulging muscles, like a walking stone pillar.

"Chi Dun, I order you to spare no effort in tracking down the Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator." The City Lord sat on a futon, surrounded by swirling white smoke and black clouds, mirroring the anger, hatred, and gloomy emotions in his heart.

Chi Dun showed a difficult expression: "My lord, with your command, this subordinate will go through fire and water without hesitation. But this subordinate primarily cultivates the Stone Heart Delaying Tactics technique, as you know, I fear I am not capable of such a heavy responsibility."

"It's fine." The City Lord waved his hand slightly, and a magic treasure flew out from his sleeve.

This magic treasure was entirely tender yellow, small and exquisite, a bell.

The bell flew towards Chi Dun, who quickly extended both hands to receive it.

The City Lord ordered: "With this Heart Warning Bell, you will have the ability to track down the Demonic Cultivator. Go all out!"

Chi Dun bowed and withdrew, taking the Heart Warning Bell. His first step was to go to the prison.

"Start with the easy ones, then the difficult ones. These Ning Family cultivators are the parties involved. Let's interrogate them first. Otherwise, if the Ning Family comes to take them away later, it will be difficult to handle."

"That Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator used them to disguise himself and attract Zheng Shuang Gou's attention. Perhaps there's an inside agent of the Demonic Cultivator among them?"

Although he thought this, Chi Dun also knew that this possibility was quite slim.

However, he could take this opportunity to use the magic treasure, the Heart Warning Bell, and get familiar with it as soon as possible.

Ning Zhuo and the others were originally rescued by Zheng Shuang Gou and were not detained. But then the Magma Immortal Palace appeared, and the Dharma Transmission Bell rang throughout the city, which made things much bigger.

The City Lord personally ordered that all surviving cultivators, including them, be imprisoned.

On one hand, it was for interrogation to find clues, and on the other hand, it was to use authority to force them to keep the secret of the Immortal Palace's appearance.

Things had reached this point, and the City Lord was doing his best to remedy the situation, trying every possible way to conceal the secret of the Immortal Palace.

Chi Dun first selected the Foundation Establishment Stage Ning Family cultivators, and soon after, it was the turn of the Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

Ning Zhuo, as one of them, was quickly led into a single room to face Chi Dun alone.

Chi Dun flipped through the transcript in his hand, not even raising his head, his divine sense already enveloping Ning Zhuo from head to toe: "You are not from the Demon Hunting Society? How did you suddenly go to the Crimson Flame Demon Lava Cave?"

Ning Zhuo swallowed his saliva, looked at Chi Dun with awe, then lowered his head the next moment, only daring to look at the ground.

He stammered out an explanation, recounting how he had met Ning Chen and Ning Yong before, how they had provoked him with their words, and then told the rest of the long story.

Chi Dun frowned as he listened.

He had no interest in young cultivators like Ning Zhuo.

This little guy only has a mere third level of Qi Refining cultivation. The first time he went down to the lava cave, he encountered such a thing. His luck is truly terrible.

No, being able to survive such a great disaster can also be considered lucky. Most cultivators, who were even stronger than him, lost their lives.

If only Ning Zhuo had survived, he would be quite conspicuous at this moment.

But that was not the case; there were a total of three surviving Qi Refining newcomers. Ning Chen and Ning Yong were both there.

"That Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator first used the corpses of demonic beasts to lure the Ning Family members along, then incited the demonic beast tide, all to conceal his own aura."

"He purely used the Ning Family cultivators as cannon fodder. The possibility of him having an inside man within the Ning Family is very small."

"If I were him, even if I were to find an inside man, I wouldn't choose such a small fry at Qi Refining third layer."

Of course, Chi Dun wasn't so careless as to be completely oblivious.

In fact, he had been constantly activating the Heart Warning Bell and had also activated the Heart Questioning Array in the interrogation room.

The Heart Warning Bell could keenly sense malice in the surroundings. If anyone in the Ning Family harbored ill will towards Chi Dun, the Heart Warning Bell would ring out a warning.

The Heart Questioning Array, on the other hand, could discern whether a person was speaking insincerely.

As long as their words and intentions didn't match, the Heart Questioning Array would emit red and yellow light.

Throughout the entire process of interrogating Ning Zhuo, neither the Heart Warning Bell nor the Heart Questioning Array showed any reaction.

Originally, Chi Dun didn't have much suspicion towards a minor figure like Ning Zhuo. Based on the Heart Warning Bell and the Heart Questioning Array, he completely cleared his doubts.

"You may leave," Chi Dun instructed Ning Zhuo. "Hmm?"

He was slightly surprised.

Ning Zhuo had two streams of nosebleed.

Ning Zhuo was startled for a moment, then wiped the area under his nose with the back of his hand and saw the bloodstains on his hand.

He quickly waved his hand, "Sir, it's nothing, it's nothing! It might be some hidden injury left from the lava cave. I'm perfectly fine. I feel great right now!"

Chi Dun grunted in acknowledgment and said no more, simply waving his hand.

Ning Zhuo bowed to Chi Dun, quickly left, gently opened the door, and gently closed it again.

Chi Dun was about to interrogate the next person, but paused, his divine sense spreading out to communicate with the guards outside: "Go tell them to treat the Ning Family cultivators well. Have you been slacking? How is it that someone still has hidden injuries? Make sure they are all healed!"

The Ning Family was one of the three major families in Fire Persimmon Immortal City, and Chi Dun did not want to offend them.

Of course, if a certain Ning Family cultivator was found to be colluding with the Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator, that would be another matter entirely.

Ning Zhuo was led away and immediately received a new round of treatment.

The nosebleed was naturally due to him secretly activating the My Buddha Heart Demon Seal.

This precious seal could engrave a heart seal. Externally, it could influence others' thoughts, and internally, it could protect himself, suppressing and clearing various thoughts and emotions.

It was about converting others to demons and oneself to Buddha.

Ning Zhuo was led back to the prison cell.

Before he even entered, he heard the sound of arguments from within the cell.

The Ning Family cultivators were engaged in a heated discussion about the content of the Dharma Transmission Bell.

Ning Zhuo walked into the cell. Many Ning Family cultivators turned to look at him. Seeing that Ning Zhuo was unharmed, some of them nodded slightly at him and then turned back to participate in the discussion and arguments.

During this trip to the lava cave, Ning Zhuo had shared life and death with them, greatly deepening their relationship.

Ning Chen and Ning Yong even got up and proactively came to Ning Zhuo's side, asking with concern.

They were originally classmates, sharing a basic relationship.

Although both of them were acting under Ning Zhanji's orders, Ning Zhuo had indeed almost lost his life, so they felt guilty about it.

It wasn't just guilt.

During the trip to the lava cave, Ning Zhuo, though fearful in the face of danger, still displayed courage. At the brink of death, he also inspired the bravery of Ning Yong and Ning Chen.

This performance made Ning Chen and Ning Yong feel both close to him and admire him.

All these emotions and feelings caused a qualitative change in their relationship with Ning Zhuo.

"How are you? Are you alright?"

"We are Ning Family cultivators, and our ancestor is also a Golden Core. If anyone tries to use soul-searching techniques on us, the family will definitely back us up!"

Ning Chen and Ning Yong spoke one after another.

Ning Zhuo nodded, "When I first went in, I was a bit nervous."

"But from beginning to end, I wasn't made things difficult for."

"I think it was quite simple, just tell the truth."

He, in turn, comforted Ning Chen and Ning Yong.

"Okay," Ning Yong and Ning Chen replied simultaneously.

The next moment, the guards called out, summoning both of them away together.

Ning Zhuo walked into the cell and found his spot in the corner.

He had a small stool, and in front of him was a small table. On the table were fruits, nuts, and hot tea.

The treatment of the other Ning Family cultivators was also the same.

This was, of course, abnormal, entirely due to their status as Ning Family members.

Ning Zhuo's spot was in the corner of the dungeon.

In the corner of the wall not far away, there was a pile of smelly, rotten straw, large patches of dried blood on the brick wall, and finger marks dug out forcefully on the surface of the cell bars. Being in it, one could almost hear the prisoners' wails and pleas for mercy.

Ning Zhuo knew clearly: once the matter was exposed, his fate would be even more tragic and terrifying than these prisoners. The first ones who wouldn't let him off might not be the city lord's side, but the Ning Family! At that time, these friendly Ning Family cultivators around him would reveal faces of anger and hatred, and chase him down with all their might.

Ning Zhuo had no regrets.

Blowing up the Immortal Palace was a decision he had made long ago. What if he put himself in danger?

He slowly sat down and reached for a roasted chestnut.

The shell of the chestnut was easily crushed between his two fingers, making a crisp cracking sound.

He took out the kernel, chewed it, and swallowed it.

The current Magma Immortal Palace was like this nut, the outer shell had been shattered by a fierce blow from Ning Zhuo, and the standard had been lowered.

But how to get to the kernel inside still required careful consideration and extreme caution.

The matter had become too big, and Ning Zhuo, merely at the third level of Qi Refining, was walking on thin ice. A slight carelessness would reveal a flaw, like stepping on thin ice and falling into an ice lake, his life swallowed by the undercurrent.

Back then, Ning Zhuo's mother had met such a fate.

Ning Zhuo quietly chewed the kernel, savoring the delicious taste on his tongue, as if tasting his own perilous situation.

No one would have expected that this ordinary-looking young man was the real culprit who blew up the Immortal Palace!