It was possible to conduct a successful interrogation as long as Liu Ke was captured, but the Liu family would never allow it.
Elder Song looked at Lu Yin. “Child, you can’t take him away unless you can prove that he’s a traitor. The ancestors have already made this declaration. Still, there’s no reason for you to worry; since the Fourteenth Gate suspects him of being a traitor, my Liu family will not ignore this matter. We have our own methods of interrogation, and if it’s discovered that he is a traitor, he will not be able to escape.”
Liu Ke’s heart fell. He had actually forgotten that even if he did manage to escape the Fourteenth Gate, he would never be able to avoid being interrogated by the Liu family.
Lu Yin had to speak up. “Senior, there are many different powers in the Perennial World, and there would be nothing for Humility’s Gate to do if everyone was allowed to interrogate their own members like the Liu family requires.”
“Then show us the evidence. Humility’s Gate symbolizes the hope of humanity, and they cannot be allowed to make unfounded accusations,” Elder Song said gently.
Lu Yin’s thoughts took a sharp turn as he listened to the discussions of the Liu family members in the surrounding area. Lu Yin’s eyes turned hard. “Senior, would you allow this junior to be presumptuous enough to speak to Liu Ke?”
Elder Song nodded.
Lu Yin looked at Liu Ke and walked towards him one step at a time.
Liu Ke was not at all worried. He was in the Liu family’s territory, so he was eager to have Long Qi attack. Liu Ke’s eyes were arrogant and antagonistic.
Lu Yin moved as close to Liu Ke as possible. They were only ten meters apart when Lu Yin was stopped by the members of the Liu family. “Liu Ke, what is your mission?”
Liu Ke sneered; what an idiot! This person was treating Liu Ke like an idiot. “What mission? I’m just a regular member of the Liu family; what kind of mission could I have?”
The moment he finished speaking, the scenery around him changed. It was no longer Long Qi standing in front of him, but a scarlet-eyed corpse king who was shrouded in darkness. All that Liu Ke could see were the scarlet eyes with the vertical slits. As he looked at the corpse king, the being raised its and and slapped down, shattering the world.
Liu Ke instantly was overcome with despair, and his pupils shrank in a moment. “No! I’m one of you, don’t kill me! I’ve gathered enough merit for you! I’ll give you the Liu family and will scheme for the Sword Monument to be handed over !”
The next moment, his surroundings returned to what they had been, and Liu Ke saw Long Ke smiling at him, as well as the expressions of disbelief on the people around him. Finally, he saw murder in Elder Song’s distant eyes.
Liu Ke still remembered what he had just said, and he glared at Lu Yin with bloodshot eyes as he screamed, “That was an illusion! You put me in an illusion!”
He immediately dropped to his knees and spoke to Elder Song. “Elder, Long Qi attacked me! He used an illusion to confuse me. I- Elder, I beg you to act as my senior! Long Qi was the one who controlled what I just said! Elder, please stand up for me! Please!”
Lu Yin spoke in a loud voice, “All I did was show you an illusion of your death. I never spoke a word, and everything you said came from no one but yourself.”
Lu Yin had just used Night’s End, Daybreak. By itself, it created an illusion that people could not resist, even if they knew they had been forced into an illusion. Liu Ke was nothing more than a Cruiser, so it was impossible for him to resist Lu Yin’s illusion.
Throwing someone into an illusion could be an effective means of interrogation that Humility’s Gate would sometimes employ, but they were only effective on the simplest of traitors. Liu Ke was a member of the Liu family, which meant he was far from a simple traitor, and most illusions would not work on him. This was why Humility’s Gate had ordered Liu Ke’s capture, as interrogation was the only means available to extract information from this person.
It was simply that Lu Yin’s Night’s End, Daybreak was different. This was the most powerful illusion technique in the Fifth and even the Sixth Mainlands. With this technique, Lu Yin had managed to convince both Wang Yi and Shang Qing into believing that the illusion affecting them had been real. Even in the Perennial World, Night’s End, Daybreak was a top-tier technique, so there was no way for Liu Ke to resist it.
Also, it had to be mentioned that Liu Ke had been completely unprepared for Lu Yin to attack with an illusion, as otherwise Liu Ke would not have broken so easily.
“Thank you, Senior, for allowing this junior to take action. You have this junior’s gratitude.” Lu Yin bowed to the old man. The moment that Lu Yin had taken action against Liu Ke, several of the Liu family’s powerhouses had moved to stop him, but Elder Song had stopped all of them. The old man greatly admired Lu Yin, but the other thing was that he also wanted to uncover the truth of the matter.
There was a terrible expression on Elder Song’s face. “That one’s not family, but scum. Our family was not strict enough. Even as he spoke, his sharp eyes swept over Liu Ke, and the Cruiser dropped dead on the spot.
Lu Yin’s heart lurched. He had expected the Liu family to agree to Liu Ke’s arrest, and had not expected them to settle the matter so decisively. Did this count as him completing his mission or not?
Elder Song left, his mood completely ruined.
The other nearby members of the Liu family stared at Lu Yin with unfriendly eyes, though no one said much. It had turned out to be true that Liu Ke had been a traitor. There was no denying this. They could not hold this matter against the Fourteenth Gate, as holding a grudge over a traitor would be ridiculous.
“Brother Long, allow me to see you out,” Zhang Dingtian offered.
Lu Yin nodded. He then turned to face the Sword Monument and bowed to it once again. “Junior has offended this family.”
He then turned and followed Zhang Dingtian along the path they had taken to reach the Sword Monument.
It was only after they had moved quite far away from the Sword Monument that Zhang Dingtian spoke up, “Actually, Liu Ke wouldn’t have been able to escape from the moment you spoke his name. Your accusation guaranteed that the Liu family would have interrogated him.”
Lu Yin felt helpless. “I only just joined the Fourteenth Gate! My first assignment shouldn’t have been so difficult.”
Zhang Dingtian commented, “You do realize that you’ll never be allowed to observe the Sword Monument again because of what just happened, right?”
Lu Yin had already mentally prepared himself for such an outcome. Life was full of sacrifices. If this sacrifice allowed him to complete his mission and win the favor of the commander of the Fourteenth Gate, it would mean that he would have a much easier time in the future. Also, he had felt that he might have another opportunity far in the future. An easier time in the future far outweighed this opportunity at hand.
The two did not say much more, and before long, they reached the line marking 100,000 miles away from the Sword Monument. Past this line, there were countless people kneeling in worship. Lu Yin vaguely heard comments about people seeing a light from the direction of the Sword Monument.
After the two proceeded a bit further, Lu Yin saw a massive creature off in the distance, as well as Long Kui, who was already staring at Lu Yin. He turned to Zhang Dingtian. “Brother Zhang, I have to leave now.”
Zhang Dingtian nodded. “Brother Long, I wish you safe travels.”
Lu Yin nodded and watched as Zhang Dingtian returned.
It was not long before Lu Yin was on Gui’s back as the beast flew into the distance. They were making their way towards White Mountain.
Lu Yin could not return to the Yinshan District since he had already joined the Fourteenth Gate. The only place he could return to was White Mountain, even if Long Xi was not there.
As they flew through the sky, Lu Yin shared what had happened in front of the Sword Monument. Since everything had been witnessed by many people, it would be easy for the White Dragon Clan to learn of what had happened, so there was no need for Lu Yin to try to hide anything.
“You actually were able to use an illusion technique that worked on a traitor? Those people are trained to resist spiritual force techniques, especially someone like Liu Ke who had been the only traitor hidden within the Liu family. Illusions from an Enlighter who is on the verge of becoming an Envoy wouldn’t have been enough to affect him, so how did you manage to do so?” Long Kui was surprised.
Lu Yin had already considered what explanation he would give on his way back to Elder Long Kui. He felt a wave of gratitude towards Guan Yun, as the Redback’s memories had let Lu Yin learn about the existence of a certain person within the Perennial World. The person who Guan Yun had most admired had been the legendary Kui Luo, who was a top powerhouse, who also happened to be a pinnacle expert when it came to spiritual force.
“Has elder investigated for Long Tian how I managed to become a Hunter?” Lu Yin suddenly asked. This seemed to be a change in topic to something completely irrelevant to Lu Yin’s illusion technique.
Long Kui’s eyes flashed, but he did not refuse to answer. “I looked into the matter, but I couldn’t learn anything.”
Lu Yin smiled. “An average member of the White Dragon Clan from a branch family actually managed to become a Hunter at a young age, and his physical strength is not bad. He also has a domain that can compare to those of some of the geniuses of the main branch of the clan. This is logically impossible, right?”
Long Kui stayed silent.
“Actually, I received my cultivation technique from a person, and it’s someone I’m sure Elder Long Kui must have heard of before: Kui Luo,” Lu Yin said quietly.
Long Kui was startled badly enough that even Gui froze, and the beast’s two heads turned to stare at Lu Yin in astonishment.
“Kui Luo? Semi-Progenitor Kui Luo?” Long Kui shouted.
Lu Yin nodded. “Semi-Progenitor Kui Luo. For some unknown reason, he left a part of his inheritance near Dalian Mountain, and I happened to stumble upon it. The illusion technique that trapped Liu Ke is something that I received from Semi-Progenitor Kui Luo, as well as my physical training and domain cultivation. Everything comes from what I received from that inheritance. Unfortunately, that inheritance was lacking, so I was only able to reach this level.”
Long Kui’s pupils fluctuated between shrinking and dilating; Kui Luo! He was one of the most powerful Semi-Progenitors in the Perennial World, and his reputation matched his strength.
He was a powerhouse who specialized in spiritual force attacks and techniques, as well as illusions. It was unknown what the expert had gone through in his youth, but there seemed to be some problems with the powerhouse’s behavior. There were times when he would be ruthless and emotionless, while other times he would act like a child. He had left inheritances that offered battle techniques and cultivation techniques, and they were even able to attract people from the four ruling powers, but these inheritances always ended in death.
Kui Luo was a legend in the Perennial World, but he was also the poster child for mental instability.
“You actually inherited something from Kui Luo?” Long Kui was slow to return to his senses.
Lu Yin nodded. He knew that such a claim was nonsense, but there was no one who could prove that it was a lie. The most important thing for this story was the information spread by the four ruling powers. They all acknowledged Semi-Progenitor Kui Luo as mentally unstable, and so everyone actively worked to avoid him. It was considered unlucky to meet this elder, and no one wanted to get involved with him.
Not even Kui Luo’s own son would ever admit to any sort of connection with the infamous expert. Lu Yin had deliberately revealed that he had received an inheritance from Kui Luo, as it was somewhat unbelievable to people, but he was universally shunned, and his reputation made Lu Yin’s story plausible.
The more shocking this story was for Long Kui, the more likely he would believe it, and the same was true of others as well.
If Lu Yin had claimed to have obtained an inheritance from anyone else, Long Kui would not have believed it. But how could there be such a fantastic coincidence? Even if Long Kui did not believe that Long Qi had received Kui Luo’s inheritance, he still had to believe it. It was common sense that no one wanted to be associated with Kui Luo.
Things fell silent between the two men, and Lu Yin was clearly able to sense Long Kui’s strange reaction, though he was not able to determine just how strange it was.
There was nothing Lu Yin could do about his situation. Once this story spread to other people, they would believe that he had received Kui Luo’s inheritance, his reputation would be ruined, but it would still be better than being discovered as a trespasser.
Also, while Lu Yin claimed to have received a bit of Kui Luo’s inheritance, he was not claiming to be the Semi-Progenitor’s disciple, so it was the worst situation. Besides, the White Dragon Clan would not allow Lu Yin’s reputation to be completely destroyed.
Lu Yin assumed that Long Kui had already reported the events that had played out at the Sword Monument to Long Xi, and possibly even Long Tian. Lu Yin was just waiting to receive a call from the White Dragon Clan and the Fourteenth Gate.
He actually did not even know where to submit a report of what had happened for it to be sent to the Fourteenth Gate.
A day later, his communication crystals vibrated, and Lu Yin looked down to see that Long Xi was calling him, so he answered.
Her image appeared, and she looked at Lu Yin with a strange expression.
Lu Yin pursed his lips. “I really didn’t want to say anything about it, but I didn’t have any choice but to reveal it. Can you help me keep this matter a secret?”
Long Xi frowned. “How much were you able to receive from Kui Luo’s inheritance?”
Lu Yin helplessly replied, “Only enough to become a Hunter.”
