Chapter 312: Chapter 269: I’m just kidding
Before long, support finally arrived. Beibei, battered and dust-covered, led people to rush over. Xi Menxiu was almost in tears, excitedly spreading her arms to run for a hug, "Ms. Bei, you’ve finally come, we..."
But in the next second, she was pushed away without any mercy. Beibei found Yang Xiao, "Captain, the people sent by the provincial bureau have arrived with me. Now the entire Qingfeng Patrol Office is under control, and several officials have been separated and isolated to prevent collusion."
"Very good. There’s another investigation team leader in the room; he’s an undercover from the Evil Cultivator Yu Yuan Sect." Yang Xiao instructed Xi Menxiu and Zhuge Zhijie to carry the person out and hand him over to Beibei.
"How do you plan to deal with this person? Did the chief give any orders?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Take him back, we will interrogate him ourselves," Beibei explained. "The chief said that there are quite a few evil cultivators this time and they are probably plotting something."
The risk of traveling back at night was too great, and Beibei’s group, weary from the journey, also needed rest. They stayed for the night. Beibei interrogated Cai Dechen throughout the night, and the screams from the room were terrifying.
Accompanying Zhuge Zhijie and Xi Menxiu quickly ran off with pale faces. The Great Memory Recovery Technique was very effective, but unfortunately, Cai Dechen only knew about these matters within the Qingfeng Patrol Office. He admitted that he had forced Secretary Meng to death, and the fire in the office building was also set by him. Beyond that, he claimed to know nothing else.
The people from the Yu Yuan Sect had promised him that once they captured Yang Xiao, they would give him a cultivated Resentful Eye, but it was clear that he was not destined to enjoy it.
Yang Xiao took a reminder from Cai Dechen’s words, he excused himself to rest in his room, locked the door, and then, carrying an electric shock device, entered the Mirror World.
"What’s the deal with that Resentful Eye you have on you?" Yang Xiao interrogated.
After waiting a moment, the man actually dared not to respond. Yang Xiao, already irritated, took out the electric shock device and gave him a severe lesson.
"Wuu wuu wuu..."
The flesh twitched with each shock, and the man let out a dying groan. Only then did Yang Xiao remember that he had stitched the man’s mouth shut before he left.
"Sorry about that, let me cut it open for you." After Yang Xiao cut the stitches open, surely enough, the man became a lot more cooperative.
Following the man’s guidance, Yang Xiao dug out a black stone from the flesh in the corner of the wall. The stone was an irregular diamond shape, with sharp edges and slightly translucent. It felt somewhat like jade to the touch. When lifted up to the light, it appeared to encase a frozen black shadow within.
This object was the man’s Resentful Eye, he said it was called Shadow Engraving Stone, and even within the Yu Yuan Sect, it was a fine magic artifact. It was given to him as a reward from a Venerable One after completing an important mission. The Shadow Engraving Stone’s previous owner was a renowned cultivator from the Apostles Union, but he was killed by the Venerable One, who then took the magic artifact for himself.
"What abilities does this thing possess?" Yang Xiao examined the Shadow Engraving Stone, finding it quite mysterious indeed.
"If I tell you, could you... could you kill me?" the gory, disembodied head gasped heavily and asked.
Yang Xiao casually picked up the electric shock device and pressed the switch, causing the blue electric arc to flicker at the tip, "I can’t guarantee that, but I assure you if you don’t speak, I will certainly shock you."
For someone like this, Yang Xiao had no ounce of pity; the man’s hands were undoubtedly stained with the lives of countless innocents. The tragic state of Nong Fayo’s family was still clear in his mind, as well as Wu and that young man. To say that he was steeped in blood debts was no exaggeration.
After some amiable communication, the man eventually caved in. According to him, aside from using shadows to stealthily kill people, the Shadow Engraving Stone could also hide the user and a small area around them within the shadows, indeed a lethal tool for ambush and murder.
Yang Xiao then realized why he had not been able to detect the man and his accomplices initially; they had been using their abilities to hide. No doubt, the item was impressive.
Perhaps the more sinister the Resentful Eye, the more terrible the backlash it brought to its holder. What concerned Yang Xiao was this point exactly, and, as expected, the man also admitted that ever since he had acquired the Shadow Engraving Stone, he had not had a good night’s sleep, because whenever he dozed off too deeply, he always felt something choking his neck, and he had woken up in fright many times.
As he used it more frequently, this sensation grew stronger, and he had the premonition that even if he didn’t die this time, he would eventually be strangled to death by the ghostly shadow within the Shadow Engraving Stone someday.
This was the fate of most Apostle Envoys, either to die within the Nightmare World or succumb to the backlash of the Resentful Eye.
Staring at the Shadow Engraving Stone in his hand, Yang Xiao immediately found it less appealing, "How does one avoid the backlash of the Resentful Eye? Your Yu Yuan Sect must be quite experienced in this matter."
The lone head swiveled side to side, "There might be a way, but that’s not for someone at my level to know. However, the more frequently you use the Resentful Eye, especially powerful ones, the quicker and fiercer the backlash comes, and the sooner you’ll be pulled into the Nightmare World."
"The Resentful Eye is the source of our abilities that surpass ordinary people, as well as a death warrant. You should be aware of this." The man let out a sigh.
Yang Xiao confiscated the man’s Shadow Engraving Stone, then inquired, "What do you know about the Soul-Capturing Mirror?" The grey shadow with an indiscernible face was always a concern for Yang Xiao, what’s more terrifying was that the individual had impersonated him in the real world.
"I don’t know, I really don’t know, I’ve only heard that this object is extremely sinister, all its owners have met with terrible fates, hardly living past a year. No one in our sect is confident in controlling it."
"Last time... the sect thought they had found an excellent flesh vessel, the child from Dongzhou Apartment, but within less than half a year, something went wrong. Our sect lost many people, along with a figure at the Venerable Level."
Hearing this, Yang Xiao became unsettled, "Hardly living past a year? You’d better not be lying to me."
"With my current state, what good would lying do to me?" The man grimaced, letting out a sound of helplessness, "Kill me, please, I beg you... do me this kindness..."
"As long as I die, this Resentful Eye will become ownerless. You can take it to sell for money, or exchange it for a Resentful Eye suitable for you—it’s all up to you."
The man’s broken eye corners shed tears of blood, full of regret, "I never expected you to be an Evil Cultivator, and a great cultivator at that. I don’t know what your purpose is for infiltrating the Patrol Defense Bureau, but you certainly hid it well, deceiving all of us."
"I am truly a man of the Patrol Defense Bureau, and share no common ground with Evil Cultivators!" Yang Xiao’s sense of righteousness was overwhelming as he earnestly promised the man.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you happy." The man could tell that Yang Xiao seemed somewhat mentally unstable and worried about agitating him further and inviting unnecessary trouble.
After questioning him and receiving the information he was interested in, Yang Xiao planned to leave, but he tried several times without success to cross back through the mirror, which made him panic.
He could clearly feel that his mental power was far from exhausted; he shouldn’t be trapped inside the Mirror World.
The next second, it was as if he thought of something. He first set down the Shadow Engraving Stone from his pocket, then tried again, and this time, he succeeded.
Yang Xiao, back in the real world, realized that it seemed difficult to take the Resentful Eye if it had an owner. To safely remove the stone, he would have to kill the man.
Forget it, I might as well be a good person this time.
Yang Xiao, who had crossed back into the Mirror World, lifted the handgun at the head, but, unsurprisingly, it jammed again. After fiddling with it for a while, he found that the gun was enveloped in a layer of gray, ghostly light, giving it an eerie vibe as if the gun itself was "dead."
"Kill me, I beg you..." the man continued to plead.
Yang Xiao found a thick, heavy old-fashioned iron kettle in the room, the bottom blackened with soot. He lifted it, aimed at the man’s head, and the man cooperatively closed his eyes, his mouth revealing a smile of impending relief.
"Brother, be a good person in your next life."
"Definitely."
"Bang!"
The kettle came crashing down, smashing the already fragile head into a mess, and moments later, the heart ensconced in blood vessels also slowly ceased beating.
The man died, and this time, Yang Xiao easily took the Shadow Engraving Stone as a spoils of war.
But Yang Xiao had no plans to keep it for himself. Although the item was useful, he didn’t want to be strangled by a ghostly figure in his sleep—that would be too horrifying.
With the man dead, Yang Xiao turned his attention to the unknown Venerable One from the Yu Yuan Sect. From the man’s words, this Venerable One seemed to hold a high position within the sect. If he could capture him, the information obtained would certainly be very useful, perhaps even revealing details about the Soul-Capturing Mirror.
Yang Xiao was now in a difficult position; the Drama Robe had taken the mirror, and it was now impossible to get it back even if he wanted to.
"Useless in a fight, yet the quickest to claim the loot, I really am amazed," he muttered to himself, then stepped towards the mirror. With a "thud," his head hit the mirror firmly. Yang Xiao took two steps back, cradling his head, his brain buzzing.
When he looked up again and glanced at the mirror, he was completely stunned and didn’t dare to move. Slowly appearing behind him was a woman wearing a familiar bright red Drama Robe and a Red Bridal Veil on her head.
With just one look, Yang Xiao confirmed that this was not Ms. Chun, for the figure was half a head taller than himself, and her slender, fair hands rested on his shoulders. The movements were affectionate, but the coldness pierced to the bone, nearly freezing him to death.
"Sister... just kidding," Yang Xiao insisted on smiling, but in the next second, he was shoved forward by a great force, his head striking the mirror.
"Thud!"
