Chapter 350: Take Them Alive, Interrogate the Dead

"This guy's struggling pretty hard," Yu Guang (Threaded Steel) said, sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder and looking at the enemy she had captured. "I have to say, his stamina is excellent."

Yu Sheng said nothing, merely walking over carefully to observe the strange mask worn by the black-robed cultivator.

The faces of these suddenly appearing enemies were all adorned with grotesque masks. The masks were not entirely identical in appearance, but they shared similarities: their surfaces bore pitted and uneven patterns, as if they were scorched stones, like a deliberate imitation of some kind of "image." Their colors ranged from deep black to dark red, all in unpleasant, dim tones.

After a slight hesitation, Yu Sheng reached out and removed the opponent's mask.

Beneath the mask was a man's face, twisted by anger and pain, yet otherwise utterly ordinary.

"Do you recognize this thing?" Yu Sheng stood up and handed the mask to Xuan Che beside him.

"I don't know it," Xuan Che said after carefully observing the mask's appearance and specifically inspecting its material. "... It's just ordinary wood, with no additional effects. It seems to be used merely to conceal one's true face while serving as some kind of symbol of identity."

As he spoke, he lowered his head and studied the bound black-robed cultivator for a moment.

"He does indeed look like a living person, not some entity generated within the Other Realm..."

"... Didn't you say the entrance to this Other Realm was being blocked by your people?" Yu Guang's eyes suddenly widened. "I just saw the one guarding the gate outside a moment ago... Su Yun, was it?"

"Su Yun handles matters with very few errors," Xuan Che said, his face as calm as water. "Therefore, the appearance of these people is even more peculiar."

As his words fell, he stepped forward, frowning tightly as he stared at the nameless enemy.

"Who are you? How did you enter this secret realm? Who sent you? What is your purpose?"

Xuan Che asked a string of questions, but the black-robed cultivator merely grunted, then turned his face away with his neck stiff.

"You can guess he won't say anything if you ask him," Yu Sheng said, utterly familiar with this scene, and couldn't help but sigh. "Captured enemies always have to be stubborn for a bit."

"The necessary procedures must still be followed," Xuan Che said casually, then turned his gaze to Yu Guang. "Can you loosen your 'threads' a bit? We need to send this person back for detailed interrogation, but with these 'threads' wrapped all over his body... it's somewhat troublesome."

"What should I do? I'm a bit afraid to let go of this person," Yu Guang also looked worried. "I feel he is full of self-destructive tendencies. If I loosen the threads even a tiny bit, he might commit suicide."

"That's no problem." Xuan Che waved his hand upon hearing this. As he spoke, he moved closer to the black-robed cultivator, untied a medicine gourd from his waist, and shook it twice. A sound of pills rattling came from the originally empty gourd. He then poured out two pale purple pills, pried open the black-robed cultivator's mouth, and prepared to feed him the medicine.

"What is this?" Yu Sheng, seeing this, immediately felt curious. "Mind-control? A Walking Corpse Pill?"

"A cultivator's mind is not so easily controlled, especially that of a death soldier. A pill with such efficacy would likely burn out a person's brain before it even took effect," Xuan Che said, shaking his head with a smile. "These are merely pills that suppress spiritual power and lock the heart and seal the spirit, to make him obediently fall asleep."

The black-robed cultivator naturally resisted to the death. Seeing the medicine at his lips, he struggled desperately. But what kind of person was Xuan Che? The top talent of the Grand Void Gate, the number one medical sect on the Star of Grand Void. For him, a patient refusing to take medicine was not even a trouble. He quickly raised his finger, condensed Qi at his fingertip into a blade, and then pointed it down from the air: "Strictly Follow Medical Orders Finger!"

The black-robed man opened his mouth on the spot. No matter how much his body struggled, he swallowed the medicine.

Yu Sheng, watching from the side, simply couldn't hold back: "Your move names..."

"Your reminder last time was truly beneficial to me," Xuan Che laughed upon hearing this, looking very pleased. "Although my martial arts for protecting the medical path cannot compare to those specialized techniques of veterans who have experienced many battles, they are still a legacy passed down by my sect for many years. Every move and every gesture should have a name—of course, the names I thought of now are for temporary use. Specifically, I should report them in detail to my master later and listen to his old opinion..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

Yu Guang's expression was also a bit dazed at this moment. If she had sweat glands, cold sweat would have already flowed down to her feet by now. "Well, is it possible that I was just joking last time? Don't take it seriously!"

Xuan Che looked serious: "Joking words can also provoke deep reflection!"

As he spoke, he saw the black-robed cultivator lying on the ground still struggling, so he pointed down with another "Strictly Follow Medical Orders Finger," then force-fed him several more pills. While feeding him, he explained: "This medicine is gentle and does not harm the foundation, nor does it affect the human mind. It is perfect for controlling live prisoners. The only drawback is its efficacy... it is indeed a bit weak when dealing with experts, but it doesn't matter. I previously made medicine with my junior brothers and sisters and just refined over a thousand pills... Strictly Follow Medical Orders Finger!"

"Strictly Follow Medical Orders Finger!"

"Strictly Follow Medical Orders Finger!"

Yu Sheng watched helplessly as Xuan Che fed the black-robed cultivator an unknown number of pills back and forth. At first, the latter's struggle was extremely fierce, but later the intensity of the struggle weakened. Whether it was because the medicine took effect or because he had given up on life, after a long while, the black-robed man finally stopped struggling. After being force-fed one last pill while wearing an expression of unwilling humiliation and resentment, he finally fell asleep.

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, even thinking for a moment that the man had been stuffed to death.

Xuan Che seemed to have this concern as well. After seeing the black-robed cultivator fall unconscious, he hesitated, then poured out a few more Digestion-Boosting Pills from the gourd, forced them into the other's mouth, and used spiritual power to help him digest them.

Yu Guang, loving chaos, kept chattering from the side: "You should have at least given him some water just now. He almost choked to death."

Xuan Che thought it made sense, so he poured half a gourd of water into the already unconscious black-robed cultivator—Yu Sheng tried to stop him but couldn't.

Yu Guang finally retracted her spider silk. The black-robed cultivator, with a round belly, lay on the ground sleeping like a corpse. Although his sleeping posture was not very peaceful, at least there was truly no risk of escape or suicide. Yu Sheng watched this scene, hesitated for a while, but still couldn't hold back: "Xuan Che."

"Mr. Yu, please give your orders."

"... You should become a forensic doctor in the future."

"... Huh?"

Ignoring the confused expression on Xuan Che's face, Yu Sheng simply pulled open a door.

On the other side of the door was clearly the scene inside the main hall of the Queyun Palace—several cultivators were looking over here in shock.

Now that Yu Sheng had recorded many new coordinates within the Queyun Palace, the door no longer had to be opened inside Xuan Che's alchemy furnace.

"You take the prisoner over there first, and briefly explain the situation to them," Yu Sheng turned his head and said to Xuan Che. "Then come back, and we will investigate here again—the entrance to the Other Realm is clearly blocked now, yet these people suddenly appeared. This matter is very suspicious."

"Oh, okay."

Xuan Che immediately responded, waved his hand toward the black-robed cultivator, causing the latter to float in mid-air. He then carried this prisoner directly through the door, returned to the Queyun Palace, and went to report to Yuan Ling Zhenren.

Yu Sheng waited patiently by the door. Not long after, Xuan Che returned.

"Master was shocked," he said quickly as soon as he arrived. "This is the first time anyone has been ambushed while acting within this Other Realm, and moreover, they were attacked by other cultivators. He has already taken the black-robed man to the prison and will interrogate him personally. He asked me to return and investigate carefully. Everything will be arranged according to Mr. Yu's instructions."

Yu Sheng nodded, casually closed the door, and walked toward the other black-robed corpses lying in the yellow sand.

"I have already checked these people," Xuan Che said from the side upon seeing this. "They are very cautious. They carried no objects that could prove their identity on their bodies. Even their magical treasures and weapons were obviously privately forged or had their markings carefully erased."

"I know. This group dares to sneak into the Other Realm to ambush and kill people from Qianfeng Ling Mountain, so they must have this professional quality," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "However, what I am looking for is not their tokens."

Xuan Che was stunned: "... Then what?"

"I am looking for their confessions after death," Yu Sheng turned his head and smiled slightly. "After all, we only caught one live prisoner. What if we can't get any useful information from that guy? I must interrogate them while these corpses are still fresh."

As his words fell, he bent down and reached out to touch a patch of bloodstain.

All colors receded before his eyes. The black, white, and gray tones representing the world of the dead instantly descended. Everything in the desert fell silent, and a layer of hazy mist rose along the distant horizon. The figures of Xuan Che and others nearby also froze in the black-and-white world.

Yu Sheng was already very familiar with this scene. He clapped his hands, preparing to awaken the dead before him. However, just at this moment, a faint sound coming from nearby suddenly interrupted his next action.

In the corner of his eye, a figure emitting a faint glow moved.

Yu Sheng looked up and saw a girl wearing bright armor, with golden hair like a waterfall, holding a holy sword, curiously looking around. She seemed quite surprised by the change in the environment.

The place where she stood was exactly where the artificial Saintess Luna had stood just now.

Yu Sheng was stunned, but this brief shock quickly faded.

Recalling the scene he had previously "seen," he seemed to understand something.

"Luna," he said to the somewhat dazed female knight, "I am here."

The blonde girl finally snapped out of her trance, saw the only figure besides herself in the scene who had color and could move, and immediately walked over: "Yu Sheng! Where is this... what happened?"

"Ah, now you speak much more clearly," Yu Sheng heard the other party's clear and fluent words, immediately raised an eyebrow, and then smiled, "This is the world on the other side of death."

(End of this chapter)