Chapter 238

At this moment, inside the prison of the Homicide Investigation Department, Xu Qing was lowering his head to study a Night Dove cultivator, carefully checking why his previous poison herbs had caused the color of the little black insects to deepen again.

"If I find the reason, can I use the opposite medicinal power to increase the toughness of the little black insects?" Xu Qing pondered while exploring.

The shrill screams echoed continuously, but they did not affect Xu Qing's dedication to his studies. An incense stick of time passed, and Xu Qing casually extracted the soul of this dying Night Dove cultivator, his eyes revealing a thoughtful expression, but soon he frowned and looked at the prison door.

The prison door was pushed open a crack, and a young girl's beautiful face, filled with shyness, peeked through before she slipped into the cell.

The girl was about sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed in a green shirt, smiling like a flower, her slender hands as white as jade, and a small octopus was wrapped around her right hand.

It was Amidst Yan Yan.

At this moment, the small octopus was staring unkindly at Xu Qing, but it seemed very helpless and could only withdraw its gaze, pretending not to see him.

"Brother Xu Qing," Amidst Yan Yan called out happily and walked quickly to Xu Qing's side. Seeing the corpse opened up beside him, her eyes lit up.

"Brother Xu Qing, I won't disturb you; I'll just watch from the side."

Xu Qing frowned, about to refuse.

"Brother Xu Qing, I just caught a wanted criminal. I want to learn from you, or we can play together."

Seeing Xu Qing about to refuse, Amidst Yan Yan hurriedly spoke, waving her hand to make the small octopus spit out a bubble. This bubble grew rapidly, finally landing on the side and shattering, revealing Huang Yikun's figure.

With Huang Yikun's appearance, the dense, tiny black insects that Xu Qing had cultivated and which were permeating the surrounding air drifted over silently and invisibly; it seemed that if Xu Qing gave the order, they would burrow into him.

Xu Qing's gaze fell on Huang Yikun, recognizing the other party and seeing the very fresh injuries on his body.

He also saw that the person's right hand, which originally had five brilliant fingers, now only had the thumb and little finger left; the middle three were gone, forming exactly a 'six' gesture.

Xu Qing's expression was strange, but soon he noticed some unusual movement in the little black insects permeating Huang Yikun's body, so a fleeting strange light appeared in his eyes as he looked at Huang Yikun's hair.

As for Huang Yikun, he had woken up from the fall. At first, his eyes were somewhat dazed, but the next instant he saw his surroundings and also saw Xu Qing.

Huang Yikun was silent.

He thought of the words he had said standing in front of the other party a few days ago, and then thought of his experience that night. At this moment, he only felt an indescribable sense of complexity turning into unprecedented grief and indignation in his heart. He wanted to struggle and escape, but his body was bound and he couldn't break free.

"Did you go to challenge the Seventh Peak?" He didn't want to speak, but Xu Qing wanted to.

Huang Yikun's body trembled. He didn't want to speak, but the next instant he saw the blood all over the floor and the large number of corpses with miserable deaths nearby.

This scene immediately caused his fragile mind, which had been tortured all night, to surge with monstrous waves, and the look he gave Xu Qing and Amidst Yan Yan revealed terror.

Especially when Amidst Yan Yan spoke again at this moment.

"Brother Xu Qing, this person is really bad. He fell from mid-air and looked like he wanted to ambush me. By the way, never mind him. Brother Xu Qing, you didn't come to the prison to find me later. I was so bored by myself, waiting for you to come play every day, and I've also researched some ways to play recently."

As she spoke, Amidst Yan Yan waved her hand, and immediately a large number of elixir bottles appeared in front of her, all containing poison, and at the same time, a large rack landed with a 'bang'.

On this rack were all kinds of tools: curved, straight, long, short, or spiral—dozens of varieties, along with iron chains, hooks, drills, and saws, all complete.

Xu Qing's gaze swept over them.

"Brother Xu Qing, look, I've prepared everything. Should we poison him first, or open him up first to take out his magic apertures and see what they look like? And how can we make him scream more nicely, just like those hundreds of people a while ago?"

Amidst Yan Yan's voice was extremely sweet and clear; listening to the voice alone, it should have been quite pleasant, but the content of her words was completely the opposite.

Especially her clear, bright pupils, curved willow eyebrows, and long eyelashes trembling slightly; it seemed that when she said these words, she was incredibly happy inside.

Thus, on this day, for the first time in these years, the Seven Blood Eyes disciples witnessed an incident of someone charging in without reporting, and the sect remained uncharacteristically silent about it.

"Brother Xu Qing, what do you think of my idea?" Amidst Yan Yan said, picking up one tool after another, as if looking for something handy, while also asking cautiously with a somewhat ingratiating look.

"Brother Xu Qing, where should we start? Should we cut off his tongue first? I think maybe the sound will be better that way."

As soon as these words were spoken, Huang Yikun, who was clearly bound, trembled violently, the fear in his eyes reaching its limit and revealing despair.

He knew Amidst Yan Yan and knew she was a lunatic who could do anything, and such a lunatic was actually using an ingratiating expression to consult Xu Qing's opinion.

He felt that this place was even more terrifying than the Seventh Peak.

Especially when he thought about the process of falling, he felt even more terrified.

"Brother Xu Qing, where should we start playing?" Amidst Yan Yan bit her lower lip, staring straight at Xu Qing. Her fair, flawless skin revealed a faint pink, and her thin lips were as delicate as rose petals; soon, they were bitten until they bled.

Xu Qing looked at Amidst Yan Yan calmly. Although her previous actions of helping the Homicide Investigation Department had been excessive, he hadn't paid attention to those matters.

As for Amidst Yan Yan bringing this person today, Xu Qing found it somewhat interesting. Huang Yikun's injuries clearly showed signs of being struck by a heavy sword, and there were tooth marks on his finger wounds; he must have gone to challenge the Seventh Peak that night.

He had also heard the loud noise outside earlier; he figured someone had thrown Huang Yikun over, and for this person to go to the Seventh Peak—where they pluck the feathers off every passing goose—and still have two fingers left, there could only be one explanation.

Xu Qing had already guessed the answer.

But it was precisely because he had guessed the answer that Xu Qing felt the Captain and others of the Seventh Peak wouldn't throw a Huang Yikun who had been poisoned with a tracking agent to him.

There was no need for that.

There was poison on Huang Yikun's body, in his hair.

Xu Qing had encountered similar poison before; it was the kind of tracking agent used by the Mermaid Clan's young master to specifically attract certain existences.

But the one on Huang Yikun was clearly of a higher level, and its marking characteristics were even more intense; as long as one was within three zhang of him, one could be contaminated.

And it was extremely difficult to detect. Xu Qing had only investigated because of the earlier unusual movement of the little black insects. In the short term, he couldn't accurately determine the specific effect of this tracking agent, but based on his attainments in plants and trees, he roughly guessed that this tracking agent was mostly used for locking on and surveillance.

If that was the case, then who exactly had planted the tracking agent? Amidst Yan Yan, who was right in front of him, was the most suspicious.

Even if Amidst Yan Yan had previously appeared to be subdued and there were a series of rumors, Xu Qing felt... this black-clad girl, who had initially been extremely ferocious and ready to kill at the slightest provocation, was not someone who could be so easily intimidated to such a degree.

Therefore, in Xu Qing's heart, he didn't believe a single bit of Amidst Yan Yan's actions.

"Brother Xu Qing, why aren't you talking?" Amidst Yan Yan's lower lip bled more, making her beautiful face appear with a bit of eerie beauty.

Xu Qing's expression remained as usual, but his right hand suddenly raised and grabbed Amidst Yan Yan's neck with great force, causing bruises to immediately appear on her snow-white neck.

He pulled her in front of him and spoke word by word.

"I'm not killing you not because you have a good grandmother, but because you haven't touched my bottom line yet. But if you continue like this, you will."

Amidst Yan Yan's whole body shook, and the aura of the octopus on her hand was about to disperse, but Amidst Yan Yan quickly sent out a divine thought.

"Xiao Pi, do not be presumptuous."

As she spoke, even though her neck was being choked by Xu Qing, she lowered her head forcefully and used her small, blood-stained tongue to lick Xu Qing's hand.

Xu Qing frowned and threw her away forcefully, sending Amidst Yan Yan crashing into the wall on the side. With a 'boom', Amidst Yan Yan fell from there, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, but the look in her eyes as she gazed at Xu Qing was filled with infatuation.

"That's right, that's it. Brother Xu Qing, this is the look I like. You changed before, which made me feel a bit unhappy. Once I'm unhappy, I want to kill you. Of course I know you can detect it, but I just like your actions after you detect it."

Huang Yikun, on the side, seeing this scene, trembled even more violently.

Amidst Yan Yan had something wrong with her brain.

Xu Qing had already seen this earlier, and looking at her infatuated eyes and her various actions just now, he was even more certain of this point.

So, after giving Amidst Yan Yan a cold look, Xu Qing's gaze fell on the two fingers of the trembling Huang Yikun's right hand.

Huang Yikun's body trembled, grief surging from his heart; he already knew what would happen next.

But it wasn't Xu Qing who acted; Amidst Yan Yan crawled over quickly, snapped off Huang Yikun's two fingers with a 'crack, crack', and handed them to Xu Qing with an ingratiating look.

Huang Yikun was sorrowful; he found that he seemed to have adapted, and it didn't even hurt as much as it did at the beginning.

Xu Qing took them and gave Amidst Yan Yan a cold look.

After being looked at by Xu Qing, Amidst Yan Yan knew what Xu Qing meant and hurriedly retreated a bit. Standing a zhang away, looking at Xu Qing, she raised her own finger, put it in her mouth, and bit it. As blood spilled out, she tremblingly raised it and extended it toward Xu Qing, a look of expectation appearing in her eyes.

"Brother Xu Qing, will you take a bite?"

"Not interested." Xu Qing responded coldly, waving his right hand. Immediately, Huang Yikun's body was swept up and thrown directly into the prison cell on the side, and his storage ring was also taken by Xu Qing.

Sima Ling was not locked up here, so Huang Yikun was the only prodigy in this place.

Since the other party was sneaky and had violated the curfew regulations, naturally he had to be locked up for a while.

After doing this, Xu Qing lowered his head and continued to immerse himself in the study of the little black insects; he wanted this batch of surviving little black insects to have a qualitative sublimation.

Amidst Yan Yan sat there quietly in a 'duck-sit' position, took her finger back, and while sucking on it, looked at Xu Qing, a happy smile gradually blooming on her face.

But neither of them knew that at this moment, inside the pavilion on the summit of the Seventh Peak, the Seventh Elder's gaze could penetrate everything and see all the scenes here.

He witnessed Amidst Yan Yan's actions with his own eyes, and also witnessed Xu Qing's performance, a smile gradually appearing on his face and appreciation emerging in his eyes.

"This fourth one is not bad; he has the style I had back in the day."

The servant beside him lowered his head upon hearing this and didn't speak, but he was muttering in his heart, secretly thinking that this master didn't seem as good as the child when it came to style.

After all, there were many female disciples in the sect now who clearly had a good impression of the child, but as for the Seventh Elder... the ancestor's daughter, who was also the Vice Peak Master of the Seven Blood Eyes, had returned for several days, but hadn't come to see the Seventh Elder even once since she returned.

It was conceivable that the conflict between this couple was extremely deep and could not be resolved by mere 'style'.