Xuanqing Guard

According to Shen Hao’s understanding, whether Evil Cultivator or Pseudo-Evil Cultivator, they’re all rats in the gutter—not to mention walking down the street, as soon as they dare show themselves, everyone cries out to kill them. To be able to scrape by is already not easy, and yet they actually have a "Sect"?

Could it be just some street gang, like a bunch of thugs?

He looked down on it in his heart, but that didn’t stop these things from being recorded into the dossier. It could serve as reference for understanding the Pseudo-Evil Cultivators.

"Our Sect Leader is named Chen Zhidong. He’s a disciple under Master Bai Gu. His Cultivation is rumored to be Profound Sea Realm Second Layer."

"What? Profound Sea Realm Second Layer?" Shen Hao leaned forward a bit, his smile unwavering, but he instinctively felt Ma San Kui was bragging. Profound Sea Realm Evil Cultivator? And a Pseudo-Evil Cultivator at that? You should know even the elders of first-class sects usually only have Cultivation around Profound Sea Realm Second Layer.

"Yes, supposedly Profound Sea Realm Second Layer." Ma San Kui didn’t explain; every word he said now stabbed at his heart. It was a cowardly sense of self-blame. The so-called "toughness and fearlessness" he prided himself on had been easily destroyed by torture. What Ma San Kui sought now wasn’t survival—it was a swift death.

"So that means only your Sect Leader knows exactly which person in the Ministry of War has been contacted, right?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me—where is your Sect located?"

"...Northeast, City of Unjust Death."

"What city?"

"City of Unjust Death. It’s northeast of the Jing Old Dynasty, just outside the territory but adjacent, not far from where Weak Water and Wen River converge." Ma San Kui lowered his head, sounding as if his soul had been siphoned.

Shen Hao frowned deeply. Because he had never heard of any "City of Unjust Death." But he did know Weak Water and Wen River. He motioned to Wang Jian in the room to fetch an ordinary map. After spreading it out and locating where Wen River and Weak Water met, he had Ma San Kui point out exactly where this so-called "City of Unjust Death" was.

"A bit lower...no, a bit more to the left, down a bit more—yes, roughly right there." Ma San Kui’s hollow eyes directed Wang Jian’s finger on the map as he spoke, soon landing on a spot with no town marked at all.

Wang Jian’s face flashed with anger, but he was only here to listen in, not qualified to speak, so after glaring at Ma San Kui, he used his pen to mark the map, then handed it to Shen Hao.

"..." Shen Hao looked in silence at the map in his hand. He was startled, and he believed Ma San Kui about seventy percent. Because he’d seen this exact location somewhere else before.

The spot Ma San Kui pointed to was already outside the Jing Old Dynasty’s borders, but Shen Hao remembered that on the military-level map there was indeed a town marked at that spot, but aside from the mark, there was no description. Shen Hao first noticed that place because of the two Yin Jade Maps he had on hand.

The Yin Jade Map had a red dot marking the exact same location.

Back then Shen Hao was puzzled, not understanding why the military map had an unnamed town mark, thinking it was perhaps a drafting error for being outside the borders. Now it seemed it was no error after all.

Putting away the map, Shen Hao continued with his questioning: "This City of Unjust Death is outside the Jing Old Dynasty, adjacent to Jingdong, very far from Jingxi Road. You folks operate in the dynasty mostly—surely you have a base or something? Where is it?"

Ma San Kui answered, "No base. All actions are directed by tasks dispatched from the Sect. If we don’t have overlapping tasks, we almost never gather privately outside."

Shen Hao pressed, "So what’s the relationship between you and the Evil Cultivators?"

"Evil Cultivators? I have nothing to do with them." Ma San Kui replied without hesitation.

"Nothing to do?"

"Yeah. Nothing to do."

Shen Hao narrowed his eyes, stood up from his chair, walked to Ma San Kui, grabbed his hair and made him look into his eyes, asking again: "What connection is there between you and the Evil Cultivators?"

"No connection."

Ma San Kui’s gaze instinctively dodged a bit—but it was from fear, not guilt. To Shen Hao, this person’s willpower was already shattered. Many people react like this after being brutally tortured.

It looked like Ma San Kui wasn’t lying. Did he really not know the "Five Poison Cyan Smoke Technique" he cultivated was derived from a Magic Technique of the Evil Cultivators? And their use of "Barrier-Breaking Pill" was also a soul-type thing, similar to Yin Tofu.

Maybe Ma San Kui’s mind had been washed?

But if Ma San Kui truly didn’t think he had anything to do with the Evil Cultivators, why did he betray the Human Race and collude with the Barbarians? Even if it was the Sect’s mission, such internal conflict isn’t easily resolved.

Shen Hao was intensely curious: "Since you people have absolutely no relationship with Evil Cultivators, why did you go and collude with the Barbarians? What benefits did they give you?"

If Ma San Kui didn’t have the Evil Cultivators’ twisted mindset or view lives as "tools" or "materials," then the only explanation for their actions would be: profit.

"Every time we buy goods, the money is given by the Barbarians."

"Silver notes?"

"Yes, all from Jing Old Dynasty Money Shop."

"And? What’s your own reward?"

"Not sure. All negotiations with the Barbarians are handled by the Sect. I only know it isn’t silver coins."

Shen Hao released his grip, letting Ma San Kui’s head drop. He silently returned to his seat, picked up the record of testimony beside him, read through it, and closed it.

"That’s it for today. Watch him closely, absolutely don’t let anything happen. Understand?"

Wang Yiming, responsible for supervision, hurriedly nodded.

Shen Hao went straight out of the interrogation room, didn’t go home, intending to rough it tonight in the Public Office. Mainly because his mind was tangled with too many threads, and he needed to sort them out immediately; going home would waste time.

After returning to the Public Office, Shen Hao took out his stored military-level Map of the Jing Dynasty’s Territory, spread it out and shifted his gaze to the spot where Weak Water and Gorge River met, then moved southeast, crossed the national border, and finally stopped at that unmarked town symbol. Then he took out the ordinary map Ma San Kui had indicated earlier—the two marks were nearly identical.

"So that means the unnamed town here on the map is ’City of Unjust Death’? The mapmakers deliberately left it unmarked?"

Moreover, from Ma San Kui’s words, he didn’t see himself as part of Evil Cultivators and even less as a Pseudo-Evil Cultivator. Maybe he just viewed himself as someone who would do anything for profit. But what exactly did this so-called ’Sect’ get from the Barbarians?"