Xu Qi An lowered his head, staring at the mirror’s surface. After a moment, the first to reply was Number Five, the little barbarian girl from the Southern Borderlands.
[Five: Yun Province is quite far from us. I can’t help you.]
She thought Number Two was asking for help in the real world. Five must be half-asleep. That level of intelligence is unacceptable… Xu Qi An’s mouth twitched.
Next was Number Six, Heng Yuan: [What happened? Is Lord Xu doing well in Yun Province?]
Li Miaozheng first replied that all was well, but didn’t rush to publish the case details, as if waiting for something.
Is she waiting for me, or Number One or Four? Probably both… She won’t discuss the case until the smart ones in the group speak up… Xu Qi An understood Number Two’s thoughts and typed a message:
[Tell us, how’s the case in Yun Province going?]
Li Miaozheng breathed a sigh of relief and gathered her spirits. If only Five and Six had responded, she wouldn’t have said anything.
She then transmitted the entire case outline in detail to the Earth Book chat group.
There was too much information, so she sent it in sections. It took a quarter of an hour to explain everything clearly.
The response to Li Miaozheng was a long silence. Just as she was feeling anxious and uneasy, Number One, who usually liked to lurk, took the initiative to transmit:
[There are only two possibilities: One, Liang Youping isn’t part of the Qi faction, and he gave the account book to Xu Qi An with other intentions. Two, Liang Youping has disappeared.]
Liang Youping has disappeared… Li Miaozheng pondered Number One’s words. The second possibility was something she hadn’t considered.
To be safe, she transmitted: [Is there a possibility that Yang Chuannan and Liang Youping are accomplices, playing a game of deception?]
[One: That’s unlikely. According to official rules, Yang Chuannan will have to take responsibility this time no matter what. The only difference is in the severity. If you were Yang Chuannan, would you dig a hole for yourself to jump into?
[Liang Youping killed the original contact person and destroyed the problematic parts of the account book… I agree with this guess. Therefore, the possibility of him being part of the Qi faction is quite high.]
At this point, Number Four spoke: [So, Number One thinks that the Witch God Cult’s dream interrogation of those two Bronze Gongs about Liang Youping’s whereabouts is likely because Liang Youping has disappeared.]
Number One’s analysis opened up Xu Qi An’s train of thought.
Liang Youping has disappeared, so the Witch God Cult people are desperate to find him. Because if he falls into the hands of the “enemy,” he might reveal a lot of information that’s detrimental to their side…
The mastermind in Yun Province believes that we’ve captured Liang Youping, which is why they sent the Witch God Cult people to interrogate them in dreams… Old Song, Old Zhu, and I have had contact with Liang Youping, so we’re the most likely to have arrested him. And because I hadn’t been sleeping, they could only interrogate Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao in their dreams…
But why wait three days to interrogate?
Li Miaozheng held the jade mirror, waiting for a while, but still couldn’t get Number Three to express his opinion. He only asked once at the beginning, then fell silent, which made Li Miaozheng a bit anxious.
Number Three was an extremely intelligent person. His opinions and views, if not the standard answer, could at least provide sufficient inspiration.
[Two: Number Three, are you asleep again? What do you think about this case?]
I’m sitting here watching… Xu Qi An thought sarcastically.
He knew that other members of the Heaven and Earth Society were also waiting for his views. He transmitted: [I also have a question: Sixth-rank Witches can divine, so why can’t they divine Liang Youping’s whereabouts? Also, Witches can curse and kill. If Liang Youping is an accomplice of the other side, and they learn that he has disappeared and might leak secrets, killing him to silence him would be the safest choice.]
[Four: I’ll answer this question. The Witch’s curse-killing technique can only target those with lower cultivation than themselves. Given Liang Youping’s level, someone must be protecting him. It’s unclear who, but many people could do this.
[As for the divination ability, high-level experts from all major systems have ways to counter divination by targeting themselves, but they can’t protect others, except for one system.]
At this point, Number Four paused for a few seconds before saying: [The Technicians of the Celestial Inspection Department.]
It was as if lightning struck everyone’s hearts.
The Technicians of the Celestial Inspection Department? Xu Qi An was shocked.
[Two: Number Four, do you mean that it’s the Technicians of the Celestial Inspection Department who kidnapped Liang Youping?]
[Four: Hehe, all these guesses are based on the premise that Liang Youping has disappeared.]
[One: If Liang Youping was taken by the Technicians of the Celestial Inspection Department, then why doesn’t Governor Zhang know? Or is he deliberately concealing it from Number Two?]
[Two: It doesn’t seem like concealment. They probably really don’t know.]
[Four: That makes it even more intriguing. But there’s one thing you need to be vigilant about. We can guess this point, and the Witch God Cult people can think of it too, after all, Technicians counter divination and curse-killing. So, that’s why they had the dream interrogation tonight, to probe if Liang Youping has fallen into the hands of the Night Watchmen.
[Such probing won’t happen just once or twice. We can turn the tables and use this to pinpoint the mastermind. Tell Governor Zhang about this, he’ll know what to do.]
Number One then expressed his opinion: [There’s another point. Since they’re coming to probe, it means they’ve mentally prepared for Liang Youping falling into the hands of the Night Watchmen. At least in their eyes, falling into the hands of the Celestial Inspection Department’s Technicians and falling into the hands of the Night Watchmen are the same.
[If so, they must be prepared to perish together.]
Hearing this, both Xu Qi An and Li Miaozheng felt a chill in their hearts.
If that’s the case, then we can only strike first and capture the ringleader… Xu Qi An thought.
However, the current priority is to find out who the mastermind is. Otherwise, with the enemy in the dark and us in the light, we’re at a disadvantage.
At this time, Number One asked: [Although this case is troublesome, with Xu Qi An’s abilities, he shouldn’t be at a loss, right?]
Number One, if you have something nice to say, say more. You could even write a book… Xu Qi An felt quite pleased as if he had been flattered.
Li Miaozheng replied: [He’s trying to break through to the Spirit Refinement realm. His condition is extremely poor.]
[Six: Lord Xu is already attempting to break through to Spirit Refinement? Before he left the capital, he was still a bit short of the peak of Energy Refinement. I thought he would advance to Spirit Refinement by spring. Truly a surprising talent.]
Only Xu Qi An himself knew the reason. Since advancing to Energy Refinement, he had been surrounded by problems and hadn’t had much time to cultivate.
On the way to Yun Province, apart from bragging with his colleagues, he was mostly bored and could only cultivate. Therefore, his progress was rapid.
[One: No, this talent can be described as shocking and extraordinary.]
Originally, no one paid much attention, after all, the seventh-rank Spirit Refinement wasn’t anything special. Everyone in the Heaven and Earth Society was talented, intelligent, and eloquent. A Spirit Refinement martial artist wouldn’t cause much of a stir.