While Zhang Yu patiently reviewed various pieces of information in his quarters, several li away, inside a vast metal building, a middle-aged man with disheveled hair and clothes that looked as though they had seldom been tended to stood behind a great glazed wall. Holding an apple, he took bites from it as he watched the building where Zhang Yu was staying.
He spoke indistinctly, "That cultivator living across from us—is he the one discovered in the Northern Rampart Desert two months ago?"
A soldier behind him stood ramrod straight and answered with utmost respect, "Yes."
"Have you investigated his background?"
"He claims that, when he was young, a cultivator taught him the Dao arts, after which he cultivated on his own. He has no sect affiliation. He merely passed through the Northern Rampart Desert while traveling and happened to encounter Fang Cai and the others. We used the Truth Stone placed there..."
At this point, he cautiously glanced at the middle-aged man and added an explanation. "Those cultivators' things really are useful in this regard. They have never made a mistake to this day..."
After finishing the apple, the middle-aged man took an orange from an attendant. As he peeled it and tossed the segments into his mouth, he asked casually, "And the result?"
The soldier said carefully, "The Truth Stone determined that everything he said was true."
The middle-aged man tossed the last orange segment into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it with the rich juice. Then he wiped his hands, beckoned to the soldier, and said, "Bring it."
The soldier froze for a moment before hastily handing him a crystal chip. The middle-aged man took it, stuffed it straight into his pocket without even looking at it, and walked out.
Seeing this, the