The surviving members of Black Crow Hall were interrogated separately throughout the night.
The next morning, three testimonies lay on Di Yao's desk.
Hu Liena had changed into clean robes. Her shoulder had been bandaged, and her complexion was somewhat better than it had been the night before.
She stood beside Di Yao, her tone calm once more.
"Black Crow Hall is an outer organization of the Black Market Soul Hunting Group. They specialize in dirty work—kidnapping people, intercepting goods, and framing others."
"This time, their target wasn't to kill Dugu Yan, but to capture her alive."
"If they failed to capture her, they were to create evidence that Spirit Hall had failed in its escort duty."
Di Yao flipped through the testimonies, his voice steady. "Who was behind it?"
Hu Liena frowned. "They don't know. They only know that someone used the Iron Hammer Order to place the job, along with information on Dugu Yan's condition and a batch of modified Soul-Breaking Crossbows."
Di Yao picked up the Soul-Breaking Crossbow from the table.
Its body was shorter than an ordinary crossbow.
Yet the mechanism inside was remarkably intricate.
The rapid-fire structure in particular was crude, but it clearly bore traces of Tang Sect Hidden Weapons.
Di Yao lightly tapped the mechanism with his fingertip.
"Tang San didn't make this himself."
Hu Liena asked, "A replica?"
Di Yao nodded. "A very crude one."
Dugu Yan sat nearby, her complexion not yet fully recovered.
She frowned at the Soul-Breaking Crossbow, her tone hostile. "Crude? It nearly got me captured."
Hu Liena glanced at her blandly. "Which is why you're pretty crude too."
Dugu Yan immediately glared at her. "What do you mean by that?"
Hu Liena crossed her arms. "It means you should stop running around recklessly."
Dugu Yan flushed with