Chapter 56: First Time Using a Confucian Daoist Technique, Questioning the Heart

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: First Time Using a Confucian Daoist Technique, Questioning the Heart

Dad’s face was as calm as still water. With one hand behind his back, his entire body exuded a suppressed, restless aura.

Obviously, the sudden news of King Jiang’s disappearance had put him under considerable pressure.

"Furthermore, there is no residual Spiritual Power here. It can’t be an Instant Movement Array." Despite the anger in his heart, Dad’s tone was completely devoid of emotion.

"If it isn’t an Array..." Zeng Anmin’s eyes flickered for a moment. He muttered, "This is a bit tricky."

A specific possibility had just surfaced in his mind. Wang Deli and Lin Rong were suspected of mutiny. It was absolutely impossible for a living person to vanish out of thin air. Given that the entire room was a completely sealed environment, only one possibility remained.

His gleaming eyes met his father’s. The two of them glanced at Lin Rong simultaneously. Clearly, father and son were on the exact same wavelength. However, they obviously couldn’t just ask him outright at this moment.

"Interrogate all the Red-clothed Guards who were guarding this room separately." Dad’s mind worked quickly. He looked at Lin Rong impassively and issued the order.

"Yes!" Lin Rong respectfully accepted the command.

Zeng Anmin took the opportunity to carefully observe Lin Rong’s face. There was no change whatsoever; apart from respect, there was nothing unusual. The man was either a deeply scheming old fox, or he truly hadn’t colluded with King Jiang.

It made sense. Defecting to King Jiang at a time like this was akin to joining Li Jiancheng after the Xuanwu Gate incident.

At this point, only the father and son remained in the room.

"What are your thoughts?" Dad looked impassively at Zeng Anmin.

"I have two," Zeng Anmin said, gently stroking his chin. "First, Wang Deli and Lin Rong have rebelled and are secretly colluding with King Jiang.

"Second, there might be more to this room than meets the eye."

Zeng Anmin’s gaze slowly swept across every corner of the room, as sharp as a falcon hunting its prey.

"The first possibility is too small." Dad fell silent for a moment before shaking his head. "Lin Rong and Wang Deli both have clean backgrounds and harmonious families. King Jiang’s death sentence is already a foregone conclusion. There is no way the two of them would fail to read the situation at a time like this."

Speaking up to this point, he slowly paced forward. A dense stream of green energy surfaced in his weathered eyes as he scanned the surroundings. His voice carried a trace of solemnity as he added, "Moreover, there are absolutely no Extraordinary fluctuations here..."

"Then there is only one possibility." Zeng Anmin took a deep breath. "This room has a secret passage!"

It was the only plausible explanation right now.

Hearing this, Dad frowned. He looked at Zeng Anmin and asked, "If there is a secret passage, why didn’t King Jiang leave on the very first day of his imprisonment? Why suffer for a few days before escaping?"

It was a glaring loophole.

"To deceive us." A dangerous thought surfaced in Zeng Anmin’s mind. He looked straight at his father. "Dad, do you really think a Prince plotting a rebellion would solely use Shuiyun Island as his only secret base?

"How could a mere three hundred Firearms possibly support the military might needed for a rebellion?"

"Are you saying..." A sharp glint erupted in Dad’s eyes as he stared fixedly at Zeng Anmin.

"I suspect King Jiang chose to escape today for two reasons," Zeng Anmin said, his tone growing heavy. "First, as a smokescreen—to deliberately make us think there’s nothing hidden in this room, thereby confusing us and disrupting our train of thought. Second... after escaping, he plans to rendezvous with his privately raised rebel army and fight to the bitter end."

Because other than that, he simply couldn’t find a single reason for a living, breathing person to disappear into thin air.

"But this room has practically been turned upside down..." Dad looked around the messy room, a hint of hesitation in his voice.

"That’s simple." A ruthless glint flashed through Zeng Anmin’s eyes. "We just need to find out exactly who advocated arranging this specific room for King Jiang, and then interrogate their heart! By tracing the clues back to the source, we won’t have to worry about missing the hidden mechanism in this room."

In just a few words, he completely untangled the situation. Such a clear line of reasoning and highly feasible method had been formulated by Zeng Anmin in less than fifteen minutes.

Dad’s face showed astonishment at first, before bursting with sudden brilliance. "Good!"

Shortly after.

THUD.

A Captain, limp as a puddle of mud, was thrown onto the ground. The Captain’s name was Cheng Li. He had rough features and was a graded Martial Artist. Right now, he was tied up tightly, with a piece of cotton cloth stuffed into his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue to commit suicide. Covered in blood, his limbs twitched incessantly, and his eyes had already rolled back into his head.

Zeng Anmin leisurely stepped over the stool in front of Cheng Li, his Dan Feng eyes scanning the man from head to toe. Slowly crouching down, he looked at the dying Captain and asked with a drawn-out drawl, "Speak. What is your true identity?"

Saying that, he pulled the cotton cloth out of Cheng Li’s mouth.

At this moment, Zeng Shilin stood right behind him. Lin Rong glared fiercely at Cheng Li on the ground. If the man dared to make even the slightest move, he would suppress him with the force of a Thunderbolt. He never expected a spy like this to appear among his own subordinates.

Cheng Li didn’t dare speak. His mouth hung open as he gasped heavily for air. A close look into his mouth would reveal that all his teeth had been forcefully ripped out. It was precisely to prevent his suicide. Yet, as if resigning himself to his fate, he adamantly refused to utter a word. After making eye contact with Zeng Anmin, he immediately looked away.

He thought, "Heh! He has backbone."

Zeng Anmin gently raised his eyebrows, a cold look crossing his face. A wisp of green energy slowly surfaced in his eyes. A majestic aura burst forth from his body, filling the entire room.

"SPEAK!" Zeng Anmin suddenly let out a loud shout.

On the ground, Cheng Li subconsciously looked up. The moment his gaze met Zeng Anmin’s, his entire demeanor became incredibly dazed.

"Tell me! Who ordered you to choose this room to imprison King Jiang?!"

It was Heart Interrogation, the sole Confucian Teaching one could cast after reaching the Sixth Grade of the Confucian Dao!

This was Zeng Anmin’s first time using it, and the results were, of course, excellent.

"King Jiang... The butler of Prince Jiang’s Mansion..." Cheng Li stared blankly at Zeng Anmin, speaking unconsciously. "I kidnapped my wife... I also slept with my stepmother... I didn’t even spare the daughter my stepmother brought with her... I even had an affair with Li Niang, the concubine of Captain Lin..."

He thought, "Impressive."

Zeng Anmin gave the guy a mental thumbs-up before turning to look at Lin Rong. Lin Rong’s face was already livid. This soldier was his direct subordinate, and he was clearly deeply shocked by what the man had confessed.

"Motherfucker!" Unable to hold back, Lin Rong stepped forward and slapped Cheng Li across the face.

CRACK.

Cheng Li’s jawbone was violently shattered by the strike.

Dad remained expressionless. His voice was cold and gloomy. "Bring the butler of Prince Jiang’s Mansion here for a Heart Interrogation."

"Yes!" Lin Rong glared fiercely at the unconscious Captain on the ground before taking the order and leaving.

A short while later, another sound rang out.

BANG!

An old man with a mouthful of blood was thrown directly onto the floor by Lin Rong. Tied up securely, the old man wriggled on the ground like a maggot.

"Reporting to the Governor, this person is Li Fu, the butler of Prince Jiang’s Mansion."

"Mm."

"SPEAK!!!" Zeng Anmin didn’t hesitate, immediately shouting at Li Fu.

Li Fu slowly raised his head and looked at Zeng Anmin.

"Tell me! What exactly is the trick in this room?!"

Li Fu froze for a moment. Then, he slowly lowered his head and kept his mouth shut.

He thought, "Huh?!"

Zeng Anmin turned to look at his father in confusion. He wondered why his Heart Interrogation had failed.

"Heh." Dad sneered, his gaze falling upon Li Fu. "So he’s also a Confucian Cultivator."

He thought, "Oh, so that’s what it is!"

"Let me ask you, how do we find the secret passage in this room?" Dad’s eerie voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

Green energy surfaced around Dad, flowing endlessly like a mighty river. This momentum was far stronger than Zeng Anmin’s had been just moments ago.

Li Fu looked up in a daze. His expression was completely blank as he unconsciously mumbled, "Move... the... book..."

BANG!!!

In the next second, his head abruptly exploded! Red and white matter splattered all over Zeng Anmin.