Questioning

At the same time, the scholar lightly curled a finger, and Cang Yinyue began walking toward the valley against her will.

Though Cang Yinyue was anxious, she continued to calmly consider a way to break free.

At the same time, she glanced at Li Musheng from the corner of her eye, only to find him staring ahead as though lost in thought.

"I thought this brat was some hidden master. Turns out he doesn't even have a shred of true qi in his body."

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

He had long since silently used the Formless Puppet Technique to invade Li Musheng's body, so he naturally knew the state of his body like the back of his hand.

Hearing this, the heavily injured woman rapidly circulated her cultivation to heal while speaking indifferently.

"If he's just an ordinary person, Junior Brother can simply kill him. He's of no use whatsoever to my cultivation of the Blood Aspect Poison Claw Technique."

"True enough." The scholar nodded.

He stopped looking at Li Musheng and lightly moved his fingers, preparing to make him kill himself by slitting his own throat on the spot.

But soon, he gave a surprised sound and looked toward Li Musheng again.

The suicide he had expected did not happen. That handsome young man remained standing exactly where he was, without even moving a muscle.

The scholar frowned and curled his fingers again.

Yet he discovered that the Formless Puppet Technique, which had always worked without fail, had once more lost its effect.

The scholar's expression gradually darkened. Immediately, he pushed the true qi in his dantian to its limit and poured it into his fingers, attempting to manipulate the threads connected to Li Musheng's body.

But it was still useless!

"How is that possible?" The scholar could scarcely believe it.

The woman looked doubtfully at her junior brother, who had suddenly become distracted, and was just about to ask what was wrong.

At that moment, Li Musheng suddenly shook his head.

"This martial art doesn't seem like much. If I had the complete manual, I could study it a little."

With that, he raised a hand and grabbed forward. The countless dense threads wrapped around his body all gathered into his palm.

At the same time, while the scholar was still wondering whether he had gone wrong somewhere in his cultivation, he suddenly felt an overwhelming force seize his hand.

He watched as the scene before his eyes abruptly flew backward, and then his entire body smashed into the ground.

A thunderous bang erupted in the silent mountains. Rocks shattered, and dirt and dust billowed into the air.

Before Li Musheng, the scholar was buried beneath a heap of pulverized rock. The tremendous impact had shattered every bone in his body and reduced his flesh to a bloody mess.

Yet at that moment, he felt only searing pain engulfing every corner of his body. He still had not realized what had happened.

"You..."

The scholar's eyes, blurred by mud and blood, looked at Li Musheng standing beside him. Before he could finish speaking, however, blood and fragments of his organs surged up his throat, choking off his words.

At that moment, Cang Yinyue, whose body had regained its mobility, flashed to Li Musheng's side.

Her cold eyes moved from the severely injured scholar amid the rubble to Li Musheng, filled with shock.

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

Li Musheng clapped his hands, glanced at Cang Yinyue, and said with an amused smile, "Miss Cang, why do you ask the same question every time? Can't you say something else, like, 'Your Highness, you're incredible,' or 'That's simply terrifying'?"

Cang Yinyue froze for a moment, then nodded earnestly.

"It really is incredible!"

But in the next instant, a sharp gleam flashed through her eyes. She vanished from where she stood, transforming into a dark shadow that shot into the valley.

When the scholar's senior sister saw him inexplicably sent flying and then smashed into a half-dead state, how could she not know they had run into a hard case?

She immediately seized the chance to flee. In her current severely injured state, remaining behind meant certain death.

But how could she possibly outrun Cang Yinyue now? Within a few breaths, she was caught and subdued, then brought back and thrown beside the bloodied scholar.

"What sect are you disciples of? What is your purpose in heading to Shangyang City this time?"

The slender blade in Cang Yinyue's hand descended and hovered before the scarred, ugly woman's throat.

The complete Formless Puppet Technique had never before appeared in the martial world. Its sudden emergence now very likely signaled the revival of the Myriad Form Demon Sect.

Moreover, these two had unclear ties to General Wu'an's people, making this matter all the more necessary to investigate.

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

But Cang Yinyue stopped her in time and said, "To prevent them from coordinating their stories, we should interrogate them separately."

Li Musheng nodded at this.

"I have no objection."

Then Cang Yinyue hauled the ugly woman aside for questioning.

Meanwhile, Li Musheng slowly crouched before the scholar. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Hand over the Formless Puppet Technique and let me study it."

Hearing this, the scholar swallowed a mouthful of blood and stared at Li Musheng without speaking.

"Hm? You don't want to give it to me?" Li Musheng raised a brow.

The scholar did not answer. He only spoke weakly and intermittently.

"You... why... do you have no true qi..."

Li Musheng smiled and asked, "Do you know what Unity of Heaven and Man is? What the Martial Dao Transformation Realm is? What the Return to Simplicity Realm is?"

The scholar opened his mouth, his eyes widening enormously. Yet he desperately and slowly shook his head, mumbling indistinctly, "You... can't... be... Unity of Heaven..."

Li Musheng rolled his eyes and asked again, "Are you giving me the manual or not?"

However, the scholar merely kept shaking his head, repeating his earlier words over and over without answering the question at all.

Seeing this, Li Musheng shook his head as well.

"Forget it if you won't give it to me. It's not like I care."

With that, he flicked out a finger and extinguished the scholar's life.

He was not an expert from the Hidden Spy Bureau like Cang Yinyue. He had no patience to continue interrogating him.

Even in death, the scholar's disbelieving expression did not fade.

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

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

Cang Yinyue looked at Li Musheng, intending to compare the two of their testimonies.

But when her gaze caught sight of the dead scholar, her delicate brows furrowed, and she asked suspiciously, "You didn't kill him without getting anything out of him, did you?"

Li Musheng spread his hands.

"I'm not a professional. It was already not bad that I asked him a couple of questions."

"Interrogation is naturally work for talented people like Miss Cang. I trust you must have gained something?"

Hearing this, Cang Yinyue let out a soft sigh and slowly said, "The two of them were both disciples of someone called Old Man Wuxiang, and all their martial arts came from him. As for their purpose in coming here..."

At this point, she paused and stared at Li Musheng.

"It was to impersonate you."