“Dead?” Zu An repeated, surprised. After all, the evidence had previously stated that Golden Token Seven drowned. If he had died before falling into the water, how could that have escaped the notice of so many Embroidered Envoys who specialized in forensics?
“You’re just trying to make up some excuse to say it has nothing to do with you, right?” Zu An retorted. He had inspected Golden Token Seven himself. That was death by drowning without a doubt, so he naturally didn’t believe the turtle monster. It was probably just scared that Zu An would retaliate if it spoke the truth.
“Absolutely not!” the turtle spirit exclaimed. It pointed toward the sky and vowed, “Even if I harmed some cultivators before, it was all out of self-defense! I’m a kind spirit!”
Zu An sneered. Several greenish-gray hands had suddenly rushed out from the ground. If his cultivation had been a bit lower, he might have already been strangled to death. He couldn’t possibly believe its words.
As if sensing Zu An’s thoughts, the turtle spirit immediately shivered and continued, “Even if I wanted to harm others, I need to absorb the essence of others to benefit my cultivation! What would a dead person do for me? I had no reason to harm him!”
“Absorb their essence?” Zu An repeated, thinking about Mosquito Daoist and Sir Bat. They had been monsters that sucked out the blood essence of others, practicing extremely sinister methods. However, Golden Token Seven hadn’t shown any signs of having his cultivation sucked out.
“I only do it occasionally, I swear! I only retaliate when they try to harm me. Humans aren’t tasty,” the turtle monster quickly explained. “I mainly absorb the sun and moon’s essence to cultivate.”
Zu An suddenly remembered what it had said before. He asked, “What did you mean when you said you wanted to become a water deity?”
The turtle monster explained, “It’s just that the common people nearby began to believe in my existence and offer me incense. As time went on, I eventually became able to borrow the faith of those incense offerings to cultivate, which is much faster than cultivating by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. For folks like me, we call such circumstances becoming a deity. I’ve only completed half of the process so far. Recently, the nearby people have gradually begun to believe that there’s a mysterious being in Blackwater Pool, and there are some people who occasionally come to offer sacrifices. However, it hasn’t happened on a larger scale yet.”
Zu An glowered, replying, “Aren’t you just deceiving the common people then?”
In ancient times, these kinds of beings were considered evil spirits, which local governments went to great lengths to get rid of.
“Of course not! I planned to return the favor too, providing the land with timely rain and pleasant winds. All I want is peace for everyone!” the turtle monster quickly explained.
“You can affect the weather?” Zu An asked in surprise.
“I’m a water creature, after all. With the help of their faith, it wouldn’t be too difficult to send down some rain within a certain range,” the turtle monster said, sounding quite proud. “Of course, past that range, I wouldn’t be able to do much.”
Zu An inwardly clicked his tongue in wonder. He hadn’t expected these monsters to have such upgrade paths. Of course, that kind of divine power was vastly different from the upgrade path he imagined, but it did share some resemblance to his previous world’s earth deity and river deity stories.
After he heard the details regarding the evolution of a water deity, Zu An gradually started to believe that this turtle really wasn’t related to Golden Token Seven’s death. He said, “Tell me about what happened that day in detail. If you’re a water deity, nothing that happens here in Blackwater Pool should be beyond your notice, right?”
The turtle monster nodded hurriedly and said, “That is indeed the case. Roughly a month ago, I was cultivating in my cave when I suddenly heard the sound of something falling into the water, as if some heavy object had fallen into this pool. I secretly left to take a look, then saw that there was a corpse floating there.”
“You’re certain that he was already dead at that time?” Zu An asked.
“Of course,” the turtle monster replied. “Even though I’m not as incredible as sir immortal, I can at least discern whether someone is alive or dead. Back then, there was also a woman standing there. If I’m not mistaken, she was probably the one who threw him in.”
“A woman?” Zu An repeated in surprise. Many possibilities instantly appeared in his mind.
He took out a tree branch and began to draw in the water, quickly reproducing Zhang Zitong’s appearance. In order to learn ‘Face of a Thousand Identities’, he had studied art in depth. He had even received the guidance of Yu Yanluo before, so drawing just couldn't be easier for him. Even though he had only met Zhang Zitong once before, he already remembered all of her distinctive features. At the same time, the Blue Mallard skill allowed him to draw in water just as easily as if it were on paper.
When it saw how lifelike the woman’s image was, the turtle monster was shocked. It thought, Are you the water deity or am I? Sir immortal really is unfathomable.
As such, its tone became far more respectful as it said, “Replying to sir immortal, I am not certain. That woman was wrapped in black robes and had a mask over her face. I could not see what she looked like.”
“Were there any distinctive features on that woman’s body?” Zu An asked.
“There was nothing special of note. Sir immortal must know that under my current circumstances, I do not want too many people to see my true form. As such, I did not dare to get too close back then,” the turtle monster replied. It seemed to feel that such a reply wasn’t of any value, so in order to not anger him, it did its best to recall everything that happened that night. “Right, I believe that woman said something.” It thought for a bit then continued, “I think it was ‘The earlier you’re found, the better!’”
“The earlier he’s found, the better?” Zu An repeated, feeling completely baffled. What did that mean? If the woman had been disposing of a corpse here, why would she hope for him to be found sooner?
He asked more questions. However, he couldn't obtain any new information, and thus said to the turtle monster, “I’ll look into what you’ve told me. You’re not allowed to go anywhere in that time, or else I’ll kill you once I find you.”
The turtle monster nodded and bent down in alarm, replying, “I wouldn’t dare to fool sir immortal! Furthermore, I’ve already spent centuries here, and yet I’ve only made a little bit of progress in becoming a water deity. If I run away, I’ll have to start all over again. I don’t have that much time left!”
Zu An nodded. He kicked off the pool bottom, flying out of the Blackwater Pool like a bullet.
Zhang Zitong had been standing by the edge of the pool in boredom, listening to Xiao Jianren’s enthusiastic and clumsy efforts to start a conversation. She had felt that time was passing very slowly. When she saw Zu An appear, however, she and Xiao Jianren sighed in relief.
Xiao Jianren quickly walked up and said, “Sir, did you find out anything?”
Zhang Zitong thought, I already sent my men to investigate before. What else could he even find?
Zu An nodded and said, “I did find out some things. Sir Seven wasn’t drowned here, but rather elsewhere. Then, his corpse was tossed here.”
He sighed inwardly, because he had reflexively assumed that Golden Token Seven had drowned here in Blackwater Pool. All he could say was that the forensic investigators of this generation hadn’t developed their methods enough. In his previous world, they could easily have compared the water composition in his lungs with Blackwater Pool’s water. They would have immediately noticed a difference.
Zhang Zitong was confused. She couldn't figure out how Zu An had been able to figure something like that out from just a single trip into the water.
“As expected of Sir Eleven, you are profound as always! There is that possibility, indeed. We completely overlooked that before!” Xiao Jianren quickly showered Zu An with praise.
Zu An ignored him and looked at Zhang Zitong, asking, “Where were you on the third evening of last month? Do you have a witness to vouch for your alibi?”
“Are you suspecting me?” Zhang Zitong replied, glowering.
The source of this content is n0v/el/b/in[./]net’
“That night, Sir Seven’s corpse was thrown into this pool by a woman,” Zu An said, paying close attention to Zhang Zitong’s expression as he spoke.
“I was carrying out a mission that night. Those in our line of work usually move in secret; where would I find a witness?!” Zhang Zitong retorted furiously. “Sir Eleven only took a single trip underwater, and yet you found out that Sir Seven was tossed into the water by a woman? Are you really not just making up random stories?!”
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