Limitless Cultivation System: From Trash to Immortal

Chapter 154: Interrogation [I]

Xuan closed his eyes.

The world shifted.

The cold stone beneath Han Ying’s boots became real beneath his own senses. The smell of lamp oil, iron, and dust filled his nose. He could see through Han Ying’s eyes as naturally as if he were standing there himself.

Mira’s presence brushed against his mind.

[ Focus. I’ll keep the body moving. Just decide what you want him to do. ]

’Understood.’

Han Ying stood before the black doors. Two Blood Fang guards waited on either side, both in dark robes belted tight, both carrying swords with their hands already close to the hilts. The steward who had brought him here did not look at Han Ying again. He knocked twice on the door, waited for no answer Xuan could hear, and pushed it open.

"Enter," the steward said.

Mira moved Han Ying’s body forward with the stiffness of a man hiding exhaustion under pride. An elder returning from a disaster would not walk like a servant begging forgiveness, but he would not stride as if the loss had missed him either.

The room beyond was not a throne room. A long table took the center, covered in documents, sealed slips, route ledgers, and narrow wooden tags marked with mine names. Three lamps burned low, turning the corners of the chamber brown and red. Two inner guards stood near the walls. Another man sat at a smaller writing desk with a brush suspended over paper, waiting to record whatever needed to become official.

At the far side of the table sat Elder Mu.

Xuan knew the name before he knew the face. Mu had been in the mine documents, in the payment trails, in orders Han Ying had carried and reports Han Ying had feared.

The man before him matched the work too well: thin, older, with gray at the temples and a robe cut better than the others around him. His hands were narrow and careful, the hands of someone who signed deaths more often than he delivered them. When he raised his eyes, he did it slowly.

"Elder Han Ying," Mu said. His voice carried no anger. That was not mercy. "You took your time."

Xuan felt Mira hold the body’s breath for half a beat.

[ Answer? ]

’Not excuses first. Let him sound ashamed enough to be believable.’

Han Ying lowered his head. "I know, Elder Mu."

Mu looked at him for a while. "Do you?"

"The mine fell faster than it should have. The first report died with the relay men. I hid after the retreat and moved only after the search parties passed."

Mu’s fingers touched the edge of one wooden tag. Mine Three. The label sat there on the table like a small coffin.

"You hid."

Han Ying’s jaw tightened under Mira’s control. Xuan fed the next line with care.

"I survived. Those were not the same thing."

For the first time, Mu’s mouth changed by a fraction. Not a smile. Something thinner.

"You have not forgotten how to answer like an elder, it seems. That will make this less offensive for both of us." He leaned back, eyes never leaving Han Ying. "Now explain the part that interests me. The fall reached us late. You reached us later. From the western mine to this hall, a man at your realm could have crossed the hidden roads in less than a day if he abandoned all caution. Two days if injured. Three if hunted. You took longer."

Xuan’s fingers curled on his own knee in Silent Peak.

’Mira.’

[ Obviously. The route is irrelevant. He wants the gap. He wants to know why Han Ying vanished for days. ]

’We need fear. Real fear. Han Ying would not admit incompetence unless cornered, but after losing two mines, fear works.’

Mira shifted the body. A breath through the nose. Shoulders held tight, pride resisting confession.

Han Ying said, "I did not trust the hidden roads."

Mu’s eyes narrowed a hair. "Why?"

Han Ying lowered his gaze for a moment before answering.

"Because Skyedge moved as if they knew where to look. They did not control every route, and they could not seal the mountains, but they knew enough that I could no longer tell which paths were safe and which had already been exposed. If I had taken the direct road and crossed a patrol, I would have died with the report still hidden in my sleeve."

The brush at the side desk moved once across paper.

"And yet you came empty."

Han Ying’s throat worked. Xuan felt the motion as if it belonged to him and hated the intimacy of it.

’Careful. He wants the report.’

[ Give him something ugly, ] Mira said. [ A man with nothing has to bring damage. ]

Han Ying lifted his head a little. "I came with what I saw. Skyedge did not move like a dying sect. Lin Zhen’s return changed the tempo, but the boy changed the strike. Lin Xuan was present. The disciples around him moved with confidence. They expected resistance and cut through it before the outer posts could recover."

Mu’s gaze sharpened. "Lin Xuan."

"Yes."

Mu tapped a finger against the table. "The same Lin Xuan who took Yuncheng."

"The same."

"The same Lin Xuan who was reported crippled for years and then walked into Yuncheng strong enough to overturn the city’s balance."

"Yes."

No one in the room reacted. There was nothing surprising in the statement. Blood Fang had received reports from Yuncheng long ago. Whatever doubts had existed then had already been buried under facts.

Mu’s hand left the wooden tag. "Then stop wasting words on his recovery. We all know he is no longer crippled." His eyes narrowed. "What matters is how much stronger he has become since Yuncheng."

Xuan almost smiled despite himself.

’Annoying man. Smart, though.’

[ Very smart. Keep him focused on Xuan. That part is true enough to carry weight. ]

Han Ying bowed his head. "Stronger than our reports suggested. Skyedge’s morale should have been broken after everything they lost. It was not. Lin Zhen’s return helped, but Lin Xuan gave them something to gather around. The disciples followed him without hesitation."

Mu tapped the table once. The sound was soft, but everyone in the chamber heard it.

"You are offering me a heroic explanation because it costs you less than the other answer."

Han Ying did not respond.

Mu continued, each word placed with patient pressure. "If Skyedge’s strength explains everything, your failure becomes reasonable. If Lin Xuan explains everything, your delay becomes caution. If patrols explain everything, your empty hands become prudence. Convenient."

In Silent Peak, Xuan’s breathing slowed.

[ Hah. Bastard’s not even chasing facts anymore, ] Mira said. [ He’s building a cage and seeing which answer fits inside. ]

’Yeah. I noticed.’

Mu rose at last. He was not tall, but the room adjusted around him anyway. He walked along the table, passing the ledgers, the sealed slips, the tags marked with the lost mines. He stopped close enough that Han Ying could see the fine lines around his eyes.

"Let us speak plainly. You were an elder stationed over assets tied to more than Blood Fang’s pride. You lost the mines. You lost the men. You lost the accounts. You took days to crawl home, and now you ask me to accept that caution delayed you." His voice stayed low. "Why should I not believe you spent those days deciding which side would pay better for the secrets in your head?"