I held my hand and calmly said, "Nothing, there was a mess here I had to clean up, your mess in fact." I said.
The group looked at each other with slight confusion when the Soul Formation cultivator turned to me and said, "You think something as pitiful as that of an excuse can get you off the hook, then you must think us stupid, men, grab him."
"Let's not get too hasty here," I said and immediately called Y out to appear in front of the group.
The appearance of Y, brought untold horror to everyone because they clearly knew who this was.
After all, news travel fast, and the news of a powerful puppet that could easily incapacitate a Soul Formation cultivator had wreaked havoc earlier in the city and took off the arm of a Soul Formation cultivator in a heartbeat. Describing Y shouldn't be that hard for any onlooker especially with the hovering mask behind him.
"If I wanted to do anything suspicious or dangerous, do you really think you could be able to stop me?" I said as I slowly put my hands down.
"You have two options, you either believe me, and you can go and check on that secret room there, or don't, and I'm sure Y here won't like you trying to do anything to me. He is a bit overprotective." I said grinning.
The ego of the cultivators wouldn't let them speak meekly in front of a Core Cultivator, but seeing the terrorizing pressure that Y was letting out, one of the Soul Formation cultivators said.
"I'll have to personally check and see if what you're saying is true, Fusen, keep an eye on him," he said and slowly made his way, and carefully made sure to not get too close to Y as he moved into the treasure room.
The other Soul Formation cultivator gulped as he was asked to do something he clearly didn't want to. But for pride and ego of a Soul Formation cultivator, he had to show that he was still in charge in this charade, even when everyone around him knew damn well that if I let Y loose, they'll all die here.
"Stand Still, while brother Xian inspects the room, if anything is missing you'll have to answer your actions." He said while clearly not willing to go through with those very words of his.
In this world, it's not that no one is above the law, because there is no law, in this world, the strong is the law. And if I'm strong enough to scare the living hell out of these cultivators, then the punishment would only be symbolic to keep face. But if I was weaker, I'm sure being tortured and made an example of would be the least of things the Black Tower would do to keep 'face'.
Soon, the cultivator, Fusen used Divine Sense and inspected every corner of the treasure room using divine sense, then turned to us, frowning.
"What's wrong?" Xian asked.
"Nothing apparently, there is nothing missing or out of place."
"Then it must mean that he didn't even have the chance to make anything, we caught him before he did the crime!"
"Quite!" Fusen said, "There are traces of steps leading all the way to the back of the room, anyone would have at least gone to take something from the treasure room, but this man here ignored everything. There is also something strange, the statue at the back of the room is displaced."
"Yes, there is a secret passage there, that led to a room where the Soul Transformation Cultivator was hiding the kidnapped children," I said.
Immediately the guards began murmuring to each other because the disappearance of the cultivators was not something secret, and everyone knew about it, not only that, they all knew how big of a deal it was, since many sects had their geniuses come here, then they disappeared.
At first, the heat of this matter was focused on the city lord, but now, the Black Tower is going to be the prime suspect, since the kids were here. And no one, not even the Black Tower wishes to have its name dragged through the mud.
The idea spun in the head of everyone present here, and they all came to a grave realization. What if what I was saying was true, then they'll probably be asked for an explanation, not only that, the Main Branch of the Black Tower will definitely have something to say about this. And this could ultimately lead to a lot of heads rolling.
Fusen moved to the statue and took a bit of time to find the switch to open the secret doorway. The formation was still not functional so he wasn't stopped from entering, then once he was there, he gasped.
"So many dead…" he said, as he must have seen the remains of the disciples I couldn't save in time.
"I wouldn't stay there longer," I said, "That pool there, that's the Bone and Body Grinding Poison, you don't want to touch that or risk having it touch you," I spoke from the other side of the room.
Fusen hurriedly left the room and said, "Those are a lot of dead children. But, still, not all of them, several dozen are missing, still could they still be alive?" he asked.
"They are, and I have them. They're all within a special place recovering." I said.
"Though I'd like to believe that you're only here to help, what is it to stop me from believing that you're the mastermind behind all of this."
I pulled a few papers from my inventory, which were the documents and messages written between the Soul Transformation Cultivator and the Soul Formation cultivator, I made sure not to bring out the ones that had any hints about the usage of the Bone and Body Grinding poison to extract souls and consume them, but the ones I had were enough to immediately clear the suspicion from me and put it all on the Soul Transformation cultivator.
Once Fusen Read through the papers. "Damnable Zenxi, you brought us so much trouble!" he said.
Immediately, Fusen's eyes lit up, a slightly dangerous glint lit up in his eyes, but then a moment later he realized that Y was still here, so he sighed.
I could figure out what went out in his head immediately there.
This whole event could have been swept under the rug if they could 'shut me up' preferably permanently, but with the presence of such a dangerous and powerful puppet at my side, trying to do that is nothing but suicide.
So, he had no other option but to do this, "We'll have to sincerely apologize to you, you figured out this whole scheme and we were too hasty in pointing fingers. We have a few things we would like you to see, and a few gifts for 'helping' us keep these events privat." Fusen said.
"I don't really mind gifts, but do know, I won't speak of this, because I have a personal vendetta against the person who caused this whole mess. But the kids I took from there might speak a few words. So you probably need to also treat them well. I doubt the Black Tower won't be able to appease a few kids?" I said.
Which was the least I could do to the kids who suffered under the hands of such a tyrant.
"Of course, we'll have to treat them well," Fusen said.
"Good, once I'm done treating the kids, I'll have them come over to receive their reward for valiance."
I said and moved forward, while all the guards left me a clear path to move between them and upstairs to the main floor of the Black Tower.
Once on the Main Floor, the maids that were supposed to keep guard were watching with expectation at how I was going to be handled, but seeing the two Soul Transformation cultivators following behind me, and fawning over how 'generous' and bright-minded I was to have aided the Black Tower, the two maids could only look at each other with surprise not knowing what the heck happened.
A divine sense message reached me, "We'll make sure all the guards will keep the whole news covered up. We'll also have to speak to the main branch, because even if nothing happened, they'll still need to be informed about things of this severity happening within the Black Tower, at least, if something comes up, they'll be ready for it and come up with appropriate measures."
"Good, you do whatever you think best, once the kids are well, I'll make sure to send them over to you."
"By then, we'll have a few compensations for your patriotic work-ready, also have this," he said as he handed me a golden insignia.
"What's this?"
"This is a golden token, one of the highest tokens you can get in the Black Tower, you can use it to get discounts, and can sell three of your own treasures at no fee. Not only that, you'll have VIP treatment, and a personal guest manor for your own use in any city you visit that has a Black Tower. With the addition of a fetch request. Where you can send a list of ingredients or materials you need, which will be placed in the Black Tower's main hall, and have everyone who has the item or willing to sell the item contact us, and then we can deliver it to you wherever you are."
"That's pretty handy," I said.
"Oh, this is nothing but the norm for helping the Black Tower, your real reward will take a few days to be prepared." He said.
"Right, then, see you later," I said and walked out of the Black Tower.
Now, that everything is solved, I should probably go and check on the Lucid Spring River situation, and then, see whats up with that cultivator who wanted to use me as an experiment.
It's gonna be fun fun fun.