Let's not mention how, after that night, Li Miao made daily trouble for the Mount Tai Sect's cooks, constantly bringing up issues like "the cold noodles are too cold," "the hot soup is too hot," or "the green onions aren't evenly sprinkled," which made the Head Master Zuo, who dared not show his face and was secretly recuperating, unable to get a warm meal for several days.
Let's also put aside how, in the following days, Liu Baiyun, like a fox borrowing the tiger's might, engaged in verbal battles with the heroes, piling several meters high hats on the heads of several sect leaders and Zuo Lishan, and incidentally scaring away those from smaller factions down the mountain.
Let's turn our attention back to Wang Hai and Xiao Si.
Since parting ways at Pingshan Garrison, the two had ridden all the way to Jinan Prefecture, where they had been waiting for the rest of the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) to arrive for over half a month.
What were they doing at this moment?
"Ah!!!—"
In a pitch-black dungeon, firelight flickered, casting grotesque, twisting shadows on the walls.
A person was tied to a stake, their head hanging limply, blood mixed with saliva dripping from their mouth, having no strength left to even struggle.
Wang Hai reached out, washed his hands in a basin of clear water, and looked up at the person, saying, "Wu Yuanwai, don't hold on any longer."
"Tell me," he pointed to two secret manuals on the table, "where did this cultivation method and this movement technique come from?"
There was no response.
Wang Hai stepped forward and gently pressed his hand under the person's armpit.
"Ah!!!—Damn it, you dog official! Your emperor was raised by me! The empress is my mistress!!!"
"Kill me! Kill me!"
The person's previously lowered head suddenly lifted, shouting frantically.
Wang Hai removed his hand; the skin under the person's armpit was intact, but beneath it was a dark red mess, with beads of blood seeping from the pores.
He seemed to have only pressed lightly, but his internal energy had penetrated the body, "twisting" all the muscles beneath the skin together, yet barely without breaking them.
However, the person continued to shout frantically, their words incoherent and illogical, and a trickling sound even came from beneath their clothes. They seemed like nothing more than an ordinary person driven mad by torture.
Wang Hai, however, sneered, "Wu Yuanwai, feigning madness might work on others, but I've seen too much of it."
"Among those I've handled, there are hundreds who pretended to be mad, and dozens who truly went mad. You'd better think about what you should say while you're still conscious."
"Even if you truly go mad, it will still hurt."
Wang Hai placed his hand on the person again.
The piercing screams in the dungeon rang out again. Some vicious criminals in other cells, who had blood on their hands, now trembled like little chicks, hiding in the corners, desperately covering their mouths and noses, not daring to make a sound.
Half an hour passed like this. The person could no longer make a sound, their entire body was pitch black, and their joints were dislocated, hanging limply.
"Alright, I'm done here," Wang Hai stepped back and sat down at the table. "Xiao Si, help me out, won't you?"
"Sure! Hai Gege." Xiao Si, who had been sitting at the table eating snacks, stood up, wiped her small hands on her clothes, then wiped her mouth, and scurried to the person.
Her two small hands simply pressed on the person.
"Hoo—hoo—"
The head, which had been hanging limply, lifted high again. This time, not even a scream could be uttered. The eyes were bloodshot, and the mouth was agape, a dark, gaping hole from which animalistic hisses emerged.
It was mentioned earlier that in Li Miao's future plans for Xiao Si, Wang Hai, and Mei Qinghe, Wang Hai was responsible for handling matters, and Mei Qinghe was responsible for kicking down doors.
And the seemingly harmless Xiao Si was the one responsible for interrogation.
No matter how harmless Xiao Si appeared, she had been tormented by Witchcraft for several years as a child, literally refined into a human Witchcraft. And her inner nature was actually more sinister than Zuo Lishan's.
With such experiences and such a nature, how could her character be merely that of a lively, greedy little girl?
Wang Hai was the one under Li Miao who did the dirty work and delivered the cruel blows. His temperament was both vicious and extreme, only restrained somewhat by Li Miao's wishes.
The day the Tiger Might Escort Agency's people chased them out of the city, Li Miao deliberately instructed Wang Hai, "Don't kill anyone." This wasn't because Li Miao was soft-hearted. Rather, he knew that if he hadn't said that, all those escorts would have died tragically at Wang Hai's hands.
How could an ordinary young girl get together with Wang Hai?
To put it bluntly, if Xiao Si were truly an ordinary young girl, Li Miao would have just kicked Wang Hai's butt and told him to get as far away as possible. He would never have adopted an attitude of fanning the flames, allowing the two of them to flirt under his nose.
What they talked about all day, intimately, were not ordinary sweet nothings. If a normal person accidentally overheard them, they would likely immediately report it to the authorities, trembling with fear.
Returning to the present, why was this person being interrogated in turns by Wang Hai and Xiao Si?
As mentioned earlier, You Zi'ang, the thief who had pretended to be a ghost at Wu Yuanwai's house in Pingshan Garrison, was escorted by Wang Hai to Jinan Prefecture. The internal cultivation and movement technique You Zi'ang obtained from the Plum Blossom Bandit were stolen from this person's home.
Originally, Wang Hai thought that the Plum Blossom Bandit was a petty scoundrel who had died long ago, and this secret manual might have fallen into this person's hands by chance, so he didn't pay much attention. He merely arranged for Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) to investigate the person's situation as a "background check" for You Zi'ang.
However, he unexpectedly discovered that this person's home contained a copy of the "Scripture of the Root of All Dharmas."
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This was a fundamental scripture of Manichaeism, one of the seven Manichaeism scriptures.
Manichaeism, in the Central Plains, was known as—Ming Cult.
Ming Cult was a religious organization that used faith to win over people's hearts. So no matter how deeply those dead spies hid, some related items could always be found near them.
After all, religion itself is not very rational.
Li Miao only learned in Tai'an City that the Plum Blossom Bandit was not dead, and the secret manual You Zi'ang obtained was merely a cover for his feigned death to escape. Wang Hai did not know of Li Miao's discovery after they parted ways, but he knew that the Plum Blossom Bandit had been involved in a Ming Cult case years ago and had escaped from Li Miao's hands.
Now, with a Ming Cult scripture found in the home of the person who possessed the Plum Blossom Bandit's secret manual, Wang Hai immediately grew suspicious.
So he sent out a message, arranging for this person to be escorted to Jinan Prefecture for his personal interrogation.
As soon as Wang Hai began, he knew he had caught the right person.
Although this person had no internal energy, their bones and muscles were strong, indicating they had deliberately trained using a sophisticated method. And after Wang Hai's half-day of interrogation, an ordinary person would have confessed even how many extra sips of milk they had as a child.
This person seemed to have said nothing, only becoming more frantic and more silent. Yet, unknown to them, in Wang Hai's eyes, this was typical behavior for a dead spy; the more disoriented they became, the more they refused to speak, fearing they might leak information while in a daze.
However, no matter how devout your faith or how firm your conviction, in Xiao Si's hands—it only meant more suffering.
Xiao Si's methods were not as simple as flaying skin, cutting flesh, or crushing a few fingers.
Indeed, Xiao Si's hands had been on the person for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, when a struggling voice was heard from the person's mouth: "...Confess...I'll confess..."
"That...that secret manual...was placed...placed there...at the command of our Right Envoy of Ming Cult..."