An Unexpected Turn? Adapt to Circumstances

"So noisy!"

Sword Douluo's soft shout was enough to silence Dales, who could only stare intently at Zhou Qing.

"Young friend, everything must be based on evidence."

"Of course."

Ignoring Dales's venomous gaze, Zhou Qing calmly said, "Originally, we were planning to return after our fruitless investigation, but while resting in the woods near Falling Star City, we unexpectedly discovered a cave. We went inside to investigate, and it turned out to be a passage! We eventually arrived at a secret chamber and found the corpses of four women—"

The four women were all pregnant before they died, but their deaths were extremely gruesome. Their abdomens were cut open, their uteruses removed, and only undeveloped fetuses remained on top of their intestines...

This description alone made Sword Douluo frown.

The others shuddered at the thought of it, and some even gagged.

"And those four women, perhaps some of the people present might remember them... A couple of days ago, I had a conflict with the servants and guards of the Dales family at the North Gate. The reason was that they brought three or five pregnant women into the city. One of them was from the same village as me and my companion. I wanted to go up and ask them about it, but they stopped me... And now, apart from the villager I rescued beforehand, the other four are the corpses of the pregnant women whose abdomens were cut open and whose fetuses were removed!"

"My companions and I suppressed our grief and anger and carried the four pregnant women to the cave entrance, intending to send them back to their respective hometowns for burial later... Afterwards, I continued forward with my companions, passed through the secret chamber, and came to the end of the passage. There was a ladder above, and after climbing up, I heard human voices, and the voices were exactly the same as Dales's!"

Dales shuddered, but immediately roared, "Bullshit! How could my City Lord's Mansion have a secret room? Absolutely impossible!"

However, Zhou Qing completely ignored Dales and continued, "The truth is obvious at a glance, and I suspect that the Soul Ancestor is a Fallen Ones, otherwise he wouldn't have done something as heinous as disemboweling himself!"

Fallen Ones!

Upon hearing this word, the expressions of the crowd became visibly panicked, even more so than when Sword Douluo appeared.

What is Fallen Ones?

They abandoned all moral principles, eating human flesh and drinking human blood.

They had little impression of the power of the Titled Douluo, and even the appearance of the Sword Douluo, whose performance of wielding his sword in mid-air, only left them in awe.

The various behaviors of the Fallen Ones could be compiled into a complete collection of horror stories, enough to make a child cry incessantly at night.

"Is this true?" Sword Douluo was also unsettled. If it really Fallen Ones, then things were indeed quite serious.

"The evidence is right there, Senior Sword Douluo will know it at a glance." After saying this, Zhou Qing saw that Sword Douluo immediately ordered the Soul Ancestor to investigate, so he added, "Senior Sword Douluo, since this concerns the Fallen Ones, it would be best to inform the local Spirit Hall first."

"Alright."

Upon hearing the words "Spirit Hall," Sword Douluo's eyes flickered slightly, but he ultimately agreed and sent someone to find the local Spirit Hall Branch.

Then, Zhou Qing brought up another matter, saying, "Senior Sword Douluo, regarding the matter of the people in the city digging up the roads, I believe that they are not only innocent, but also meritorious."

"Um?"

This time, not only Sword Douluo was stunned, but also the kneeling "prisoner," the common people below, and the rest of the people who had finished digging out the Soul Sand were all stunned.

"Soul Sand can conduct Soul Power, Soul Crystal can store Soul Power. With so much Soul Sand laid under the road, along with Soul Crystal, I believe this is a super-large Soul Tool Core Formation, and it was laid by the ancestors of the Fallen Ones, who were plotting something with it."

Zhou Qing stopped there and didn't say anything more.

Regardless, Sword Douluo is an elder of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and should know something about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's businesses.

As expected.

Sword Douluo leaped into the air, flying to a height of a thousand meters. Looking down, he indeed discovered that the layout of the buildings and the distribution of roads in the entire Falling Star City resembled some kind of Soul Tool Core Formation.

"It really is so!"

Sword Douluo did not believe that such an arrangement was a whim of the successive city lords of Falling Star City, especially since there was Soul Sand that could conduct Soul Power and Soul Crystal that stored Soul Power buried under the roads. Falling Star City was equivalent to a super-large Soul Tool!

This is simply—

That's wishful thinking!

He didn't think this "super-large Soul Tool" could be activated, but even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect couldn't have come up with such a idea.

Neither the Upper Three Sects nor the Lower Four Sects could have imagined that the Soul Tool Core Formation could be scaled up to the city level.

More importantly!

Zhou Qing actually figured that out!

That's truly remarkable!

What you say is true.

Sword Douluo slowly descended, his booming voice reaching the ears of everyone present. "The entire Falling Star City has indeed been 'engraved' with a super-large Soul Tool Core Formation, using Soul Sand as the path and Soul Crystal as the nodes. If it is really activated... This Soul Tool Core Formation gives me an ominous feeling. I'm afraid that after it is activated, the people in this city, regardless of age or gender, will all meet with misfortune."

With Titled Douluo confirming it, it's definitely not fake!

Dales collapsed to the ground—

At this moment, he thought about many things, but he was only certain of one thing: he and Hu Fangyuan had never been using each other, but rather he was being used as a tool by the other party!

He's Hu Fangyuan's shield!

But Hu Fangyuan didn't take him seriously at all, and didn't even tell him that there was a secret passage leading out of the city in the secret room of the City Lord's Mansion!

Furthermore, the matter of the Soul Sand lying on the ground in the city was not mentioned at all to him!

That damned Hu Fangyuan!

Dales cursed inwardly and immediately proved his innocence, "I hope Your Crown knows that I know nothing of these things! I have only been in Falling Star City for six years, and all the people in the city know about this! As for the matter of the Soul Sand covering the ground of Falling Star City, after I learned about it, I also consulted with the local nobles, and it has been going on for two hundred years... It has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

At this moment, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Disciple had already invited the master of the Falling Star City Spirit Hall Branch.

"Greetings, Your Sword Douluo Your Crown."

The branch hall master first Bowing Body to Sword Douluo, then looked at Dales and slowly said, "Lord Dales, do not be nervous. Even if this matter is truly related to you, His Your Crown Sword Douluo is reasonable and discerning and will not make things difficult for you. He only hopes that you can visit my Spirit Hall in the near future. I will send a letter to the Spirit Hall Sub-hall within the Star Luo Empire territory, asking the sub-hall Hall Master to contact the Viscount, or even the Earl, and ask them to make a decision."

Dales was ultimately the lord of Falling Star City.

With the evidence irrefutable, Sword Douluo killed him with a single sword strike, and no one dared to deny it. In fact, the high-ranking officials of the Star Luo Empire had to publicly thank him for eliminating a scourge for the Star Luo Empire.

However, if they were to actually kill Dales, it would be an infringement on the dignity of the Star Luo Empire, which would be a loss of face, and might even cause the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to hold a grudge.

Similarly, the Spirit Hall has no authority to deal with Dales, but keeping him occupied will allow them to wait for the Star Luo Empire's higher-ups to arrive...