My occupational habit

"Elder Lin is here too." A voice came from the platform.

Lin Qingyang came back to his senses and looked toward the platform. The speaker was a young man in a golden outer robe, with delicate features and a scholarly appearance, gently waving a folding fan. A name popped into his mind again: Jin Buhuan.

Beside Jin Buhuan stood a tall man in a black-and-red robe, the muscles beneath his clothes faintly visible. His features were rugged, his expression stern, and his somewhat dark complexion made him look even fiercer. This was Mo Yan.

Beside him stood a woman in a pale blue robe, her beauty exquisite and ethereal, though a chill radiated from her entire being. This was Xue Lanyuan! They were precisely the three elders Feng Shu had just mentioned.

"Well, this is a rare sight. You actually deigned to come out. Only the sect leader could command that sort of respect." Mo Yan spoke with an edge of sarcasm.

"Weren't you the ones who insisted I come?" Lin Qingyang said, speechless. What was wrong with these people? They docked his pay if he stayed away, then made snide remarks when he actually showed up.

"Shouldn't you be here? Never mind how idle you usually are at Clear Wind Pavilion. Now the sect leader is poisoned and unconscious, and you still don't ask or care. Is that acceptable?" Mo Yan demanded angrily, clearly having been dissatisfied with him for a long time.

"Now that everyone is here, let's continue the interrogation," Xue Lanyuan urged coldly from beside them, her brows slightly furrowed and her expression grave. She seemed deeply worried.

Lin Qingyang walked onto the raised platform, his unkempt, slovenly appearance entirely at odds with the other three. Mo Yan cast him a disdainful glance, but apparently accustomed to seeing him like this, said nothing more.

Then Mo Yan barked, "You beast! Still refusing to confess?"

Lin Qingyang searched his mind again for the boy's name, but found no information at all. Did he not know him before?

The boy gave no response for a long while; it was unclear whether he had passed out. Mo Yan's expression darkened. With a casual point of his finger, a bolt of lightning shot from his fingertip into the boy. A scream rang out, and the boy convulsed all over, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

Lin Qingyang couldn't help frowning. How is this an interrogation? It's outright torture to force a confession!

The boy gasped in pain several times before weakly uttering a few words. "I didn't do it." His voice was terribly hoarse, and he spat out several more mouthfuls of bloody froth as he spoke.

"The evidence is conclusive, and you still dare deny it!" Mo Yan snapped.

As he spoke, Mo Yan raised his hand to point at the boy again, but Lin Qingyang suddenly leaned over and asked curiously.

"What evidence?"

Interrupted in the middle of casting, Mo Yan turned to him in displeasure.

"Weren't you the one who said I didn't ask or care? Now that I'm asking, you're unhappy again," Lin Qingyang said, entirely unabashed.

Mo Yan was momentarily stumped by his words and could only explain impatiently, "The sect leader was afflicted with demon poison. He was the one responsible for cleaning the sect leader's room today, and the poison was put in the tea! He must have harbored malicious intentions and seized the opportunity to strike!"

Lin Qingyang fell silent for quite a while before saying incredulously, "That's it? You call that evidence?"

"What's wrong with it?" Mo Yan asked, restraining his anger.

"Everything! You have no witnesses, no physical evidence, and no motive! What kind of evidence is that? It's nothing but wild guessing!" Lin Qingyang said, speechless.

Mo Yan's face darkened in displeasure at the accusation, and he argued loudly, "The sect leader was afflicted with demon poison! Demon poison! That beast is a demon, and he went into the sect leader's room. Who else could it have been?"

"Man, is there any necessary connection between those two things? Evidence has to rule out other possibilities. Do you understand that?" His professional instincts made him blurt it out.

Mo Yan gave him a somewhat strange look and said in displeasure, "What's gotten into you today? You're here to make trouble on purpose, aren't you?"

"Elder Lin does seem rather different today," Jin Buhuan added from beside him, scrutinizing him suspiciously through his lenses.

Lin Qingyang paused at that, cleared his throat, and gave a dry laugh. "I'm just worried about the sect leader. Concern clouds judgment. Please, carry on."

With that, he let out a quiet sigh. He had nearly forgotten that he was still living under someone else's identity. Afraid that saying any more would give him away, he could only helplessly shut his mouth.

"However, the poison afflicting the sect leader came from a high-ranking Great Demon. It certainly isn't something a mere Demon Slave like him could obtain," Xue Lanyuan said evenly.

"That goes without saying. He must have colluded with the Demon Clan outside!" Mo Yan said coldly, reaching another conclusion.

Good heavens, how did you arrive at that conclusion? Who judges a case like this? You're practically asking for wrongful convictions! Lin Qingyang shouted inwardly, clamping one hand tightly over his mouth for fear he wouldn't be able to stop himself.

Mo Yan looked grimly at the boy on the floor and barked, "You vile beast! Confess already!"

The boy lay on the floor, his voice so faint he sounded on the verge of death, yet his words remained the same. "I didn't do it!"

Before his words had faded, another bolt of lightning struck him. A scream rang out, making every hair on Lin Qingyang's body stand on end.

"Qi Mo, as long as you confess and reveal that demon's whereabouts, I can spare your life," Jin Buhuan said.

Qi Mo. Was that his name?

Lin Qingyang gazed at the boy in the middle of the great hall. He seemed to lack the strength to speak, yet still struggled to lift his head. His bloodstained eyes glared fiercely at the people on the raised platform, as though he wished he could bite them to death and tear them apart.

Enraged by that look, Mo Yan cursed under his breath, "Beast!"

Then he appeared before Qi Mo in an instant and raised a hand. An invisible force lifted Qi Mo's entire body, leaving him struggling in midair.

Mo Yan abruptly tightened his hand, and several bolts of lightning spread along Qi Mo's limbs at once. Unlike the brief strikes before, this was fierce, sustained torture.

Lin Qingyang lowered his eyes, unable to bear watching, but the boy's agonized screams echoed through the great hall, making his heart clench. Some disciples couldn't stand it and covered their ears.

After an unknown length of time, the screams grew weaker and weaker. Lin Qingyang couldn't help raising his eyes. Amid the lightning, the boy convulsed all over, his face deathly pale, utterly drained of color. Only the blood pouring ceaselessly from his mouth and nose added a vivid red, making him look like the vengeful ghost of someone who had died horribly.

Qi Mo turned his somewhat unfocused gaze toward Lin Qingyang. Perhaps the instinct to survive at the brink of death made him look toward the only person who had just spoken up for him.

Looking into those amber eyes, Lin Qingyang suddenly felt a sharp ache in his heart. At last, he spoke. "Stop for a moment!"

Jin Buhuan and Xue Lanyuan both gave him puzzled looks, but Mo Yan, who was still casting, seemed not to hear him.

Seeing Qi Mo's gaze grow increasingly unfocused, Lin Qingyang shouted anxiously, "I said stop!"

As he spoke, he unconsciously reached a hand toward Mo Yan. At the same time, a flowing current of air shot uncontrollably from his palm, striking Mo Yan square in the chest. Mo Yan grunted and staggered back several steps. His spell stopped, and Qi Mo fell heavily to the floor.

Silence filled the great hall. Everyone stared at Lin Qingyang in astonishment.