The One I Want Dead, Not Even Gods Can Save

When one of them was dragged out, he happened to come face-to-face with Yan Shaozhe. The man raised his head and gave a miserable laugh.

"Dean Yan, you're the dean of the Martial Soul Department, after all. People like us have done plenty of work for the Martial Soul Department in the past. Why must you wipe us out tonight?"

Yan Shaozhe glanced at him, his tone mild. "Don't try to tie this to the Martial Soul Department. Of all the dirty money you took, did even half a Gold Soul Coin end up with the Martial Soul Department?

What you embezzled was Shrek's money. I'm here tonight not for anyone's reputation, but for the academy's rules."

He waved a hand. "Take them all away."

As the man was escorted away, he was still shouting, "Dean Yan!" His voice was especially piercing in the night. Yan Shaozhe did not look back.

Over in the northern district, Chen Xuan had just finished handing over the prisoners when he saw a figure approaching from the street corner.

It was Yan Shaozhe.

He had clearly gone all out tonight as well. Dust still clung to the hem of his robe, and beneath the moonlight, he looked somewhat cold and stern.

"How many did you catch in the northern district?" Yan Shaozhe asked directly as he approached.

"Three ringleaders and seven followers." Chen Xuan glanced at him. "What about your side?"

"Eleven. Two of them even tried to set fires. I took them down." Yan Shaozhe said.

Chen Xuan smiled. "Thanks for the effort tonight. It won't sound very flattering if word gets out that the dean of the Martial Soul Department personally went out to catch thieves."

Yan Shaozhe snorted. "If I hadn't come, was I supposed to let these people escape? Elder Xuan, I may not like how much you favor the Soul Tool Department, but when it comes to this sort of filth, I know the difference between inside and outside."

Chen Xuan raised his brows. "Good! For those words alone, the drinks tonight are on me."

But Yan Shaozhe did not reply. He merely looked toward the horizon, where the sky was gradually turning pale. "Put the drinks on hold. Dawn is coming. Catching people is easy; interrogating them is hard. What comes next is the real work."

Chen Xuan's smile faded as well, and he nodded. "Everyone must be held separately. Make sure none of them can coordinate their stories."

After a moment of silence, Yan Shaozhe said quietly, "The people I caught will be handed over to Sea God Pavilion. The Martial Soul Department will not interfere.

Investigate whoever needs investigating, deal with whoever needs dealing with. No matter who comes to plead for them, I won't see them."

Chen Xuan looked at him, then suddenly smiled. "Shaozhe, the way you are tonight really does remind me of your teacher in his younger days."

Yan Shaozhe froze for a moment, then looked away. "I don't have my teacher's abilities."

Chen Xuan said nothing more. He patted Yan Shaozhe on the shoulder, then turned and headed toward Sea God Pavilion.

Elder Lin did not show herself in person. She merely sat in the rear hall of the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, leisurely sipping tea as her subordinates continuously delivered reports.

"Three were caught in the northern district, along with seven followers."

"One in the eastern district, and two more accomplices were intercepted outside the city."

"The western street has been secured. Dean Yan acted personally."

After hearing the reports, Elder Lin gently set down her teacup.

"Good." Her tone was calm. "Interrogate them through the night. Don't wait for dawn."

In a single night, Sea God Pavilion arrested more than twenty people. Among them, three or four were Titled Douluo.

By the time the news spread, the horizon had only just begun to pale.

Chen Xuan returned to Sea God Pavilion with the night's chill still clinging to his robes.

Standing beneath the corridor, he watched the sky gradually brighten in the distance and slowly let out a breath of stale air.

At first light, Chen Xuan was already seated in the interrogation room.

This interrogation room had been temporarily cleared out by the Inquisitorial Legion. Its windows were sealed shut, and only two dim Soul Tool lamps were lit.

The air was filled with the smell of rust, sweat, and a faint, indescribable stench of blood. It made one's throat tighten just from breathing it in.

Chen Xuan sat in a chair against the wall, his gaze as cold as a blade.

"Where's Han Tai?" he asked.

"He was just taken in." An attendant beside him answered quietly. "He's still willing to talk, but he hasn't spilled everything."

Chen Xuan gave no response. He rose and walked outside the interrogation chamber, peering through a narrow slit in the door.

Han Tai was shackled to an iron chair, both wrists bound in Soul Power restraints.

His hair was disheveled, his face pale with a bluish cast. Curled up there, he no longer possessed even a trace of the bearing he had displayed as a Titled Douluo last night.

"Elder Xuan, we've gotten quite a lot out of him." The attendant handed him several pages of testimony, his voice lowered to almost a whisper.

"In the northern district branch's accounts over the past seven years, he personally handled three major transactions.

There were also two compensation payments. He didn't take all of those himself; someone above passed word and had him handle them."

Chen Xuan took the papers and scanned them. His expression darkened further.

"Who passed the word?"

"He refuses to give the full name. He only gave a code name."

"What is it?"

"Gray Harrier."

Chen Xuan rolled those two words over his tongue, his eyes slowly narrowing.

Gray Harrier. This person had never been mentioned in the original work, but someone capable of speaking with a Titled Douluo through an intermediary had to be of the Super Douluo level as well.

"Interesting. Keep interrogating." He folded the testimony and handed it back to the attendant.

"If his fingers are too tough, pry somewhere else.

No matter what methods you use, before dawn, I want him to tell me who Gray Harrier is."

The attendant accepted the order and left.

Chen Xuan sat in the interrogation room for another four hours, personally meeting an elderly attendant surnamed Zhou.

When that man entered, he was still putting on the airs of an elder. By the time he emerged, he could not even walk steadily and had to be dragged back to his cell by two attendants.

Once the sky was fully bright, he left the Inquisitorial Legion. The morning mist over Sea God Lake had yet to disperse.

But Shrek City was already in an uproar.

More than twenty people had been arrested overnight.

Among them were Titled Douluo, powerful attendants of the Inquisitorial Legion, and several old-timers who had spent half their lives at the academy.

The news seemed to have grown legs, spreading from the Inner Court to the Outer Court, then from the Outer Court to the commercial streets and teahouses of Shrek City.

As Chen Xuan walked by the lake, his sharp hearing naturally caught the hushed discussions that could not conceal their unease.

"I heard Sea God Pavilion got serious last night. Even Han Tai was taken."

"Han Tai? Isn't he from the northern district...?"

"Exactly. My cousin even drank with him before. When he heard the news this morning, his face went white."

"How far is this investigation going to go? If it keeps going, it might turn the whole world upside down."

Chen Xuan walked past them without expression. When the few students talking turned around, their faces went green with fright, and they hurriedly bowed in salute.

He did not even raise an eyelid as he strode away.

When he reached the small hall on the top floor of Sea God Pavilion, Mu En was still reclining against his couch, an old robe draped over him.

Seeing Chen Xuan enter, he merely lifted his eyes.

"How chaotic is it outside?"

Chen Xuan sat by the window. "How chaotic could it be? Nothing more than guilty people lying awake at night."

Mu En was silent for a while before saying, "People came looking for me before daybreak.

Some cried their grievances, some tested the waters, and some pleaded in roundabout ways. I sent them all away."

Chen Xuan sneered. "If they were truly clean, would they be this frightened?"

Mu En said softly, "Xuanzi, it's enough that you know what you're doing. The blade has already been drawn. Once it comes down, there will be no turning back."

But Chen Xuan did not answer at once.

He turned to look at Mu En and suddenly smiled.

There was an almost reckless arrogance in that smile.

"Elder Mu, you think too highly of them."

He slowly rose to his feet and walked to the window, turning his back to Mu En.

"Who can they possibly drag into this? In this world, aside from you and those two beings, who else can stop me?"

His tone was calm, as though he were stating the simplest fact in the world.

"Anyone I want dead, not even the gods can save."