Before descending the mountain, Master repeatedly instructed Cen Wuyue on three things.

【First, keep a low profile and avoid trouble.】

Cen Wuyue woke up with a splitting headache, the first words she heard were not of concern but a cold inquiry.

“Name.”

Cen Wuyue wanted to touch the back of her aching head, but found that she couldn’t even lift her eyelids, let alone raise her hand.

At the same time, her mouth obediently opened and honestly said, “My name is Cen Wuyue.”

–Sorry, Master, I’ve already broken the first rule.

–But there are still the second and third rules!

“Sect.”

“An unknown, unorthodox sect.”

The interrogator was silent.

Cen Wuyue also sighed inwardly: The master who named the sect certainly didn’t regret it, because it was clear that only the disciples who went down the mountain to train would be harmed by this name.

“Sect.” The interrogator repeated the question, this time enunciating clearly.

She would rather doubt her own tone than doubt Cen Wuyue’s hearing.

So Cen Wuyue heard herself repeat the answer: “An unknown, unorthodox sect.”

“…Who is your teacher?”

“Zhou Wu.”

–Sorry, Master, I’ve also broken the second rule 【Don’t say you were taught by me】.

–It’s okay, there’s still the third rule!

“What is your purpose in coming to Xuanxu City?”

Hearing this, Cen Wuyue was no longer sleepy or in pain. She opened her eyes wide: “I heard the sweet and sour fish is delicious!”

Immediately, the sound of clothes rustling came from around her, accompanied by the sound of wind rapidly moving away.

Cen Wuyue curiously turned her eyes to look, only seeing a few pairs of shoes.

Oh right, she was lying on the ground.

One person asked uncertainly, “How did she wake up?”

The interrogator’s voice replied: “–Silence. The gold needles must not have been inserted deep enough, add three more.”

Now, Cen Wuyue finally knew why her hands and feet were unresponsive.

Although the ten gold needles successfully pinned Cen Wuyue to the ground, they still couldn’t make her eyes obediently close.

“My eyesight is very good,” she proudly introduced to the interrogators.

“Nonsense.” The lead interrogator said coldly, flipping her wrist to reveal more thin needles shimmering with light, “I’ll ask you one more time–where is the City Lord’s Spirit Puppet?”

Clearly, the City Lord had lost something called “Spirit Puppet,” and Cen Wuyue, who happened to be in the City Lord’s mansion at the time of the incident, was very suspicious.

But Cen Wuyue also felt very innocent: “I don’t know, I just came to eat sweet and sour fish. I asked around, and the chef in the city who makes the best dish started working in the City Lord’s mansion last month.”

The chef was a mortal, and once he entered the City Lord’s mansion, he could no longer cook for people outside the mansion.

Cen Wuyue scouted for two days, carefully timing her entry into the City Lord’s mansion under the cover of darkness. Before she could find the chef and coerce him into making the dish for her, she saw a colorful scene in the distance, obviously a fight between cultivators. She tried to slip away, but was unlucky enough to be discovered and knocked down by a handful of needles.

“Absurd, I personally sealed your spiritual energy–and as a cultivator, how could you care so much about mere mortal food? Unless…”

The interrogator paused, carefully examining Cen Wuyue, her gaze becoming colder.

“–Unless you cultivate the Path of Emotion.”

“Senior Sister misunderstands, all six members of my sect cultivate the Path of Emotionless,” Cen Wuyue sighed, “But my master also said that I couldn’t cultivate it, and told me to just play around with it. I thought that if I didn’t go down the mountain, it would be too late, so I came out alone to experience the world.”

The interrogator stared at Cen Wuyue without speaking, as if trying to cut her open with her gaze and examine her insides.

And Cen Wuyue blinked her eyes at her, undaunted by the cold, showing her sincerity for sweet and sour fish.

After a long stare, the interrogator finally spoke again: “You know nothing about the loss of the Spirit Puppet?”

“I know nothing!”

“You have never seen that Spirit Puppet?”

“I have never seen the City Lord’s Spirit Puppet with my own eyes!”

“What about your accomplices?”

“I don’t have any accomplices?”

“Besides fish, do you have any other purpose in entering the city?”

“Yes, yes, I also plan to try the Jinhua Ham Chicken Soup.”

“…”

“Golden Wind Jade Dew Soup?”

…

After being asked similar questions over and over for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the interrogator finally raised her hand.

The gold needles inserted into Cen Wuyue’s body, like puppies hearing a call, automatically pulled out and flew back into her hand, and Cen Wuyue was finally able to get up.

Cen Wuyue was about to reach out and touch the back of her head when the interrogator’s next words caught her attention.

“Since this matter has nothing to do with you, Xuanxu City has offended you,” she said, “The mortal chef you mentioned, you can take him as you please, and all expenses will be charged to the City Lord’s mansion.”

“Really?” Cen Wuyue looked up abruptly, forgetting the pain in her neck, “Is it okay to eat seven meals a day?”

The interrogator’s expression was unwavering: “Yes.”

Cen Wuyue, who was about to complain that the ground was too hard, immediately perked up and thanked the interrogator sweetly: “Thank you, Senior Sister! Seeing Senior Sister ‘not rejoicing in things, not grieving over self,’ you must have profound cultivation. I wish Senior Sister success in the Path of Emotionless soon.”

The interrogator led Cen Wuyue out without expression: “But before that, you must assist in finding the thief who stole the Spirit Puppet. If you can find them, you can eat the food you want; if you can’t find them within a month, I will execute you as an accomplice of the thief.”

Cen Wuyue swallowed the more flattering words back down and said seriously: “–Senior Sister, I thought about it carefully again, literature is first, martial arts is second. The second best chef must also have good skills.”

The interrogator just showed the thin, hair-like needles in her hand, the meaning of threat was self-evident.

The optimistic Cen Wuyue quickly changed her mindset after comparing the difference in martial strength between herself and the other party, and started chatting with the interrogator familiarly: “What’s Senior Sister’s name?”

“What’s it to you?” the interrogator asked.

“In case Senior Sister ascends soon, I will feel honored when I hear your name elsewhere,” Cen Wuyue smiled at her without any resentment, “Moreover, knowing someone who rises to prominence will give me more motivation to cultivate myself!”

Although the interrogator’s face was frosty, like most Emotionless Path cultivators, Cen Wuyue always got a response whenever she spoke to her, indicating that she was not as cold as she appeared.

Indeed, there are many branches of the Emotionless Path, and ninety-nine percent believe that those who want to achieve great success must be pure in the six senses and sever emotions and desires, but people are not plants, how can they say emotionless and be emotionless.

After listening to Cen Wuyue’s words, the interrogator seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end, she just calmly and briefly gave a name: “Sang Qing.”

—

According to Sang Qing, there were a total of three people who infiltrated the City Lord’s mansion that night.

The other two were one lurking near the City Lord’s puppet warehouse, and the other was responsible for causing chaos and diverting attention.

When Cen Wuyue was captured, the other two had already taken the opportunity to run away without a trace.

It was indeed difficult not to suspect that the three were in cahoots.

The Xuanxu City disciples searched the city all night long–well, not really, after all, cultivators usually only meditate and don’t sleep–but they still couldn’t find the two thieves who were supposed to have been injured by the City Lord.

When leaving the City Lord’s mansion, Cen Wuyue also went to see the location where the fierce battle took place last night.

It was said that the City Lord only made one move from afar, and the thief vomited blood and fled.

Not to mention the thief, even the street was mostly destroyed. Looking around, the houses within a hundred meters had been turned into dust and no longer existed, and the stone brick ground was deeply dented into a semi-circular shape, as if annihilated by some huge energy.

The spiritual power in the air still seemed to retain the trembling after the riot.

There were some black marks at the edge of the pit. Cen Wuyue bent down and touched them with her fingers, and found that they had long since dried up.