142: incompetent younger brother

"I didn't expect it to be the last day, Censor Zhou. No, I should call you Lord Zhou now."

"Lord Zhou, please give up. I won't say anything. Neither mental torment nor physical pain can shake my will. Don't even think of using Soul Searching to probe my memories."

"I am much more professional than you in this regard. Once you perform Soul Searching on me, the Restriction on my body will trigger, causing my Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering."

Zhou Yan looked at Qiao Wenbin, whose eyes had completely lost their luster in the prison cell, thinking that his "Trinity" interrogation formation had indeed made him much more compliant. It seemed he had recognized reality.

Through the subsequent confiscation of property and the changing attitudes of other officials, Zhou Yan also realized how astonishing his current power was.

"You were quite thorough in your preparations," Zhou Yan said, "and you just told me directly?"

Qiao Wenbin sneered, then spoke.

"I originally wanted to see if you had the patience.

"If you really dared to touch my soul, I would die right in front of you. Before the verdict, letting a High-Rank official suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering in prison would be enough to cause you a lot of trouble, Lord."

"But now, you alone can represent the three departments. Doing so would be meaningless except to keep secrets. It's better to suffer less and die cleanly tomorrow."

Zhou Yan opened the cell door, pulled up a stool, and sat down beside Qiao Wenbin.

"Actually, I admire you for rising to this position at such a young age."

"During this time, I investigated. Not a single dirty deed done by your subordinates was directly linked to you. You, the leader, are cleaner than all of them."

Qiao Wenbin didn't know what trick Zhou Yan was playing now, merely replying indifferently.

"I am clean because I don't care for that money. I have higher aspirations and more clever methods, which is why you can't find anything on me."

"Is it clever methods, or do you want to avoid implicating your brother as much as possible?"

"Their crimes can implicate many people, but you're the only one with no ties, so death wouldn't matter. Isn't that too strange?"

Seeing Zhou Yan's playful expression, Qiao Wenbin understood his intention.

"Lord, if you wanted to threaten me with my brother, you should have done so long ago. What's the point of bringing it up now?"

"If he dies because of me, I might feel guilty, but that would be his fate. I hope he can forgive me."

Seeing that the other party was acting like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, Zhou Yan continued.

"Are you so certain that I have no grounds to kill your brother, or are you betting that Judge Chen can persuade your Lord Qian to protect your brother?"

Qiao Wenbin's expression remained unchanged, but his silence was an attitude in itself.

Zhou Yan rose from the chair and began pacing in the cell.

"West Jiangnan Circuit Transport Commissioner, a fourth-Rank High Official... what a high official, I'm afraid even I can't touch him."

"That's what you're thinking, right?" Zhou Yan suddenly turned, coldly staring at Qiao Wenbin, while simultaneously casting Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking.

Qiao Wenbin's eyes froze, his body trembled. When he looked at Zhou Yan again, his previous composure was gone, replaced by cold sweat and trembling eyes.

Pressure!

Zhou Yan only used a small Spell, yet it caused Qiao Wenbin's pressure to explode.

"A Transport Commissioner is indeed difficult to deal with. Then, do you want to hear what your actual crime is?"

"Actual crime?" Qiao Wenbin clutched his chest, panting as he retorted.

"You still don't know?" Zhou Yan smiled again, "You don't actually believe that the confessions I extorted from you through torture and the clues I have are enough to condemn your entire Jiangzhou, do you?"

"Haven't you always been curious about my identity? I'll tell you now."

"I am a True Disciple of Qingxu Grotto-Heaven. Including those people you saw before, most of them are also True Disciples."

"Your true crime, as reported, is the murder of a True Disciple."

"This crime will not be made public. What the outside world sees is merely an excuse."

"And such a crime, a few Transport Commissioners can't bear."

"Qiao Wenze did not participate in the assassination!" Qiao Wenbin finally burst out, unable to hold back.

Looking at the emotionally out-of-control Qiao Wenbin, Zhou Yan gave himself a mental thumbs-up.

The Xiao-Wang duo still needs practice; they can't even properly interrogate someone. Heavenly Venerable Zhou just casually made a move, and didn't he trick it out?

"Why are you so nervous? I didn't say he participated in the assassination." Zhou Yan slowly turned around.

But his next words dealt Qiao Wenbin an even heavier blow.

"However, how many of you actually participated in the assassination?"

To prevent Qiao Wenbin from maintaining rationality under pressure, Zhou Yan deliberately turned away, avoiding his expression and details from being captured by the other party.

However, this caution was just icing on the cake. Feeling his defenses completely swept away, Qiao Wenbin shrank back into the corner, silent.

Seeing no reaction from him, Zhou Yan continued to apply pressure.

"Of course, as a good person, I won't implicate the innocent without reason."

"However, tell me... will your brother, for the sake of his only younger brother, come to raid the execution ground tomorrow?"

"Tsk tsk, the possibility isn't small. After all, there aren't many Core Formation Cultivators in Jiangzhou. What if he thinks there's a great chance, desperately comes to save you, and then falls into our trap..."

"Raiding the execution ground is also enough for a beheading, isn't it?"

Zhou Yan turned around, slowly walked to Qiao Wenbin's ear, and whispered.

"You wouldn't want to see your brother shouting 'I'll save you' while being chopped into minced meat in front of you, would you?"

"I'll kill you!"

Qiao Wenbin suddenly erupted, his eyes bloodshot, clutching Zhou Yan's neck.

Zhou Yan also cooperatively stuck out his tongue and rolled his eyes.

"Bang."

The moment Qiao Wenbin clutched his neck, Zhou Yan dissipated into a swirl of Qi.

His hands empty, Qiao Wenbin was momentarily dazed.

Then, he seemed to see that execution ground.

Qiao Wenze suddenly rushed out to save him, but was entangled by countless grappling hooks, dragged to the ground, flesh and blood flying, and finally had his head cut off, dying before him.

That head rolled to his feet, his own reflection still in its dying eyes.

Qiao Wenbin completely broke down, wailing and crying madly.

Outside the cell, Wang Yao felt a pang of pity.

"Senior Brother, what we're doing... doesn't seem like the work of the Righteous Path, does it?"

Zhou Yan replied irritably.

"What nonsense are you talking about? This Illusion Technique of mine was personally taught by the Third Elder. I didn't add any personal touches."

"This ability's manifestation is just like this. If you have a problem, you should ask the Third Elder how he developed it."

In reality, from the moment he cast Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking to exert pressure, Zhou Yan had already been secretly setting up an illusion.

Because the illusion's Rank was not high, he had been proceeding gradually, using both rhetoric and illusion to influence the other party's state, ultimately guiding him to completely fall into the illusion.

Although this skill was low-Rank, its mechanism was quite formidable. Even when forcefully activated with vast magic power, the effect was still astonishing.

After struggling for a few incense sticks' time, Qiao Wenbin finally awoke from the illusion.

Originally, after several days of torment, he was already haggard. If not for his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation supporting him, he would have collapsed long ago. Now, having suffered such a severe mental blow, he completely lost the strength to persevere.

Qiao Wenbin lay on the ground, recovering for a while. Without looking at Zhou Yan and the others, he simply gazed at the ceiling and said.

"I can tell you, but I need you to swear an oath by your Heart Demon, guaranteeing that my brother will not suffer any harm and will safely pass through any potential attacks."

In the illusion, apart from the initial framework constructed by Zhou Yan, most of what he experienced afterward was the concretization of his inner fears.

He had always understood one thing.

Whether he held out or exposed clues, in the eyes of that person, he was considered exposed.

If they didn't pursue Qiao Wenze, they wouldn't pursue him no matter what. If they insisted on pursuing him, nothing he did would be useful.

From the moment he was arrested, those people had already assumed he would leak information; they were merely calculating gains and losses based on the duration of his resistance.

Originally, he didn't dare to think in this direction, merely harboring the illusion that the other party wouldn't do anything to his family. But Zhou Yan revealing his identity gave him another option.

He could die however he wanted, but if he could get a True Disciple of Qingxu Grotto-Heaven to protect his brother, the success rate would actually be higher.

After all, Zhou Yan did not belong to the Great Yu system.

"Alright, I, Zhou Yan, swear by my Heart Demon, if you tell me the true and complete clues, I will take action to protect your brother."

"And if I fail to protect your brother, I will suffer a Heart Demon backlash."

As his voice fell, an invisible force was added to Zhou Yan's body.

However, none of them noticed that the force paused slightly upon contact with Zhou Yan, then dissipated.