Chapter 371: Chapter 370: Sudden Changes, Interception

More than two hours later.

A black business car departed from the national capital and arrived at the industrial park on the outskirts of Xiyue City.

Xiyue City, like Dong Ye City, is a neighboring city to the capital.

The difference is...

Dong Ye City is more developed.

It has a thriving tourist industry and the urban development standards are at the level of second-tier cities.

In contrast, Xiyue City is much less advanced.

Its level of urban development is more in line with that of fourth-tier cities.

The tourism industry is basically non-existent, while industry is quite developed.

Thanks to being an industrial city, Xiyue City enjoys a fair economic standard, despite only having fourth-tier urban development.

In the passenger’s seat of the black business car...

Li Jing was looking at the industrial park deepening before them, then turned to Liu Shi who was resting her cheek on one hand and holding the steering wheel with the other.

"Mom, when will we arrive?"

"Soon, just five more minutes."

Liu Shi replied while turning to glance at him, smiling faintly.

"Young people should be more patient, don’t rush."

Li Jing was at a loss for words.

Liu Shi said she knew where the five men from the Witch Gu Sect who had been crippled by him were and of course, Li Jing was very interested.

He had made many guesses about the incident.

What he desperately needed now was validation.

Ultimately, conjecture was still conjecture.

It couldn’t be taken as a conclusion.

For the people of the Witch Gu Sect, he definitely wanted to find one or two of them.

Temporarily not knowing where to look, there were five crippled ones which were good enough.

Originally, he had intended to ask Liu Shi a little.

Then, make a trip to Jianghai to pick up Jiu Li, facilitate questioning them, and then go and see if the five crippled ones could yield any results.

He didn’t know if Liu Shi was bored or what, but she insisted on going with him.

And she seemed to have a "soft spot" for those five, not revealing where they specifically were. Ji Jing had to agree to go together before she said she could guide the way.

What was rather irksome for Li Jing was...

At Liu Shi’s request, the two had to travel in the business car.

This trip took two hours.

At this point, his patience was indeed wearing thin.

If there wasn’t a clear objective...

He was always swift in getting things done.

This delay actually made him feel quite uncomfortable.

However, faced with his mother-in-law now, Li Jing was helpless.

Suppressing his impatience, Li Jing asked,

"Mom, this whole area seems to be an industrial park with no residential areas?"

"Yes."

Liu Shi replied, then smiled charmingly.

"Ahead there’s a screw factory, where those five I crippled are."

"A screw factory?"

Li Jing’s eyebrows knitted.

"When one’s cultivation is crippled, of course they can only go to factories."

Liu Shi shrugged.

"..."

Li Jing.

When cultivation is crippled, one can only go to factories.

He could understand that.

After all, he had experienced it.

When he initially traversed to this world, he couldn’t make a single step without cultivation and had a vivid understanding of it.

So...

Those five who were crippled by Liu Shi just went to work in factories?

The Witch Gu Sect didn’t take care of them?

Even at the worst, weren’t they still people from the righteous Witch Gu Sect?

Just as he found it incredible, Liu Shi suddenly laughed playfully like Liu Sisi beside him, looking over in a cute manner and said,

"By the way, this screw factory is one of our Liu family’s marginal industries."

"..."

Li Jing. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He felt that he seemed to understand a bit.

The Witch Gu Sect didn’t neglect the five crippled men, they just couldn’t intervene.

Although working in the factory is not a big deal, the factory they ended up in, was a marginal property of the Liu family.

A coincidence?

No way.

From this, it was clear that Liu Shi was involved!

Those five, weren’t just working in a factory.

They were, in fact, being held under soft detention!

Looking at the radiant smile on Liu Shi’s face, Li Jing couldn’t help but feel somewhat sympathetic to those five.

While hesitating slightly, Li Jing asked for confirmation.

"Excuse me for asking, but when did they start working in the factory?"

"After my issue with the Witch Gu Sect was resolved."

Liu Shi replied with a brilliant smile.

Li Jing grinned but didn’t make a sound.

Those five unlucky fellows were under soft detention, he had expected this.

And indeed, the fact was just like that.

Liu Shi had previously said,

As a woman, it was quite reasonable for her to hold a grudge.

To this, Li Jing agreed.

However, at this moment, he really didn’t know what to feel.

This was hardly Liu Shi just holding a grudge.

It was clearly revenge carried out on the spot!

What was even more exasperating was...

The Witch Gu Sect really did abide by her, not caring about those five disciples who were crippled, not counting them.

Does the Patrol Administration Bureau also let Liu Shi have her way?

This.

To be honest, it’s a little outrageous.

Li Jing couldn’t imagine how Liu Shi had managed to do this.

At this moment.

He felt like he needed to get to know his mother-in-law all over again.

From their first encounter, Li Jing never saw her as being especially domineering.

But the truth was evidently not what he had come to understand.

After all.

Liu Shi was indeed very strong and creative, but to support the Liu family’s organization on her own, her strength and creativity alone were not enough.

She was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Not as mild as Li Jing saw her to be.

...

Several minutes later.

Liu Shi drove her business car slowly to a factory named "Liu’s Manufacturing" and rolled down the windows.

Seeing this, a security guard came out of the guard room.

Just as he was about to step out, he saw Liu Shi sitting in the car.

He froze for a moment and then stood at attention.

"Chairman, hello!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shi smiled amicably and gestured.

"Open the gate."

The security guard didn’t dare to be negligent and quickly returned to the guard room to open the factory’s automatic gate.

Watching Liu shi drive into the factory as the gate opened, Li Jing was numb.

As the guardian of the Liu family, Liu Shi usually stayed out of public sight.

Apart from the Seven Great Families.

Ordinary city-dwellers might not have even heard her name.

A factory guard recognizing Liu Shi and even addressing her as ’Chairman’ was...

A factory guard.

In this world, guards were usually from the lower class of society.

Even amongst those stranded in the One Realm, only those who had truly run out of options would choose to be a factory guard.

Of course.

This was only referring to guards like this factory’s gatekeepers.

Certain guard positions which required a certain level of cultivation and combat capabilities were quite in demand.

The fact that the current guard recognized Liu Shi could mean only one thing.

Not only was she the Chairman of the company, she was also a regular visitor to this screw factory...

...

Not long after.

Liu Shi parked her car in the factory’s parking lot.

Li Jing got out of the car after her.

Before he could take a good look at the full view of the factory, Liu Shi pulled him along.

"Over here. Those five aren’t in the workshop. There are pigsties at the back of the screw factory, they’re raising pigs there for the factory’s meals."

"..."

Li Jing.

Being honest.

He was completely dumbfounded now.

They were supposed to be making screws here, how did it turn into raising pigs?

Watching Liu shi pulling him along, looking quite content, even skipping a step from time to time, Li Jing couldn’t help but remember a saying.

Offend anyone, just don’t offend a woman.

Following Liu Shi to the back of the factory, Li Jing saw a fully closed and spacious warehouse.

Apart from a rolling door at the front, the warehouse had no other windows.

Seeing Liu Shi dragging him straight towards the warehouse, Li Jing’s eyes twitched.

Obviously.

Those five men were raising pigs inside this warehouse.

Right now, the warehouse was completely sealed off.

The single entrance - a rolling door - was closed, leaving only a narrow gap. It was locked with a massive lock that looked like a Precious Item.

There were no ventilation openings on all sides, and the door was also locked.

And they were raising pigs inside...

...

Arriving in front of the warehouse.

Liu Shi naturally took out a key and handed it to Li Jing, then covered her nose and stepped back a bit.

"Go open the door."

Just as she said that, she added with a thoughtful tone.

"It’s very stinky inside, you should close your sense of smell."

Upon hearing this, the corner of Li Jing’s mouth twitched. He looked at the key in his hand, silently closed off his sense of smell, and then bent over to unlock the large lock and pulled open the rolling door.

With a "rattle".

The rolling door opened.

Then, Li Jing had a full view of what was inside the warehouse.

In a quite large warehouse, fences were neatly arranged to form five pigpens, each filled with remarkably robust pigs.

The rest.

It was unspeakable.

I don’t know how long this pig-raising warehouse had been left uncleaned.

The ground was thickly covered with...

No.

This should not be called sludge.

It was the accumulated pig faeces over the months and years.

Just by looking at the scene, Li Jing felt his scalp tingling.

What made him even more discomposed was.

There was a dishevelled man locked in each of the five pigpens.

Yes.

Locked.

The not-so-long chain restricted their movement to their food troughs.

Inside each food trough, there was a thoughtful addition of a pillow.

On the pillow, there were all sorts of unidentified substances and pig food.

At this moment looking at it.

The five people were either sitting or standing.

Their eyes were dull, each of them wearing an expression of someone who had been through many hardships.

Although the door to the storage room had been opened, the five of them showed no reaction, as if completely unaware.

Witnessing this sight, Li Jing couldn’t help looking back at Liu Shi.

"Mom, this..."

Before he could finish, Liu Shi tilted her head.

"You feel sorry for them?"

Li Jing remained silent.

Sympathy?

Not exactly.

He was no saint.

The actions of these five required a price to be paid.

However, this scene was indeed...

Just as he was at a loss for words, Liu Shi turned her gaze upon the five people in the pigsty.

"It’s been more than twenty years, don’t you think it’s about time you confessed properly? Or do you want to keep wasting my time?"

Naturally spoken words from Liu Shi seemed to possess an odd quality that made the five individuals with a clearly wrong mental state shudder. They turned their heads at the sound of their storage room being opened.

Looking at Liu Shi’s frail figure, a flicker of vitality sparked in their dull eyes.

Vindictive vitality.

Seeing this, Li Jing furrowed his brow.

If a moment ago.

He thought these five were suffering too much.

Now, he was no longer of that opinion.

Having been locked up for over twenty years, living among pigs.

Seeing Liu Shi, their eyes still harboured blatant ill-will.

If these five were to be released, it was hard to imagine what they would do.

Looking at the scene before him, Li Jing couldn’t help but recall Chen Jing’s warning.

Just as he was lost in thought, Liu Shi spoke.

"Getting these five to talk is not easy. I’ve kept them locked up these years to understand the real reason they challenged me back then. As a regular citizen, it’s inappropriate for me to use special methods to pry open their mouths. Even if I were to obtain a confession that way, I might end up accused of using torture to extract a confession at the Central Inspection Bureau."

With that, she laughed.

"Wouldn’t it be alright if you were to obtain the confessions? Why don’t you give it a try?"

At her words, Li Jing turned his head.

Liu Shi’s comments held truth.

She was essentially a regular citizen.

Just obtaining a confession wouldn’t be recognized by the Central Inspection Bureau.

Involving a Hidden World Sect, the Central Inspection Bureau wouldn’t casually accept someone’s word.

This was procedural justice.

Taking it back.

The reason Liu Shi hasn’t used any special methods on these five and only kept them imprisoned, was likely not just because any confession she obtained wouldn’t count.

If the confession didn’t count, she could at least figure out the problems within the Witch Gu Sect herself, couldn’t she?

She didn’t.

Clearly, the Central Inspection Bureau factor was involved.

There’s likely someone from the Bureau keeping an eye on these five men.

Perhaps someone’s secretly watching over the Witch Gu Sect as well.

As for Liu Shi’s de facto imprisonment of these five men, both parties probably turn a blind eye to it.

Any deeper involvement wouldn’t be possible.

It made sense when he thought about it.

Even though these five were useless now, their affiliations with the Witch Gu Sect hadn’t changed.

They knew too many secrets of the Witch Gu Sect.

If someone tried to pry open their mouths, neither the Central Inspection Bureau nor the Witch Gu Sect would agree.

After a brief silence, Li Jing spoke.

"I don’t have much experience with the psychic dimension, I just know some basic intimidation and suggestive methods."

"It’s not a problem."

Liu Shi spoke out.

"These five have lost all of their cultivation, and their mental state is extremely poor. If it wasn’t for that solid ruthlessness holding them together, they would have collapsed long ago. They have no ability to resist now, any simple suggestive technique will be enough to make them talk."

Li Jing nodded at her words.

Gauging from their current state, simple suggestive techniques would indeed suffice, there was no need for the aid of Yulian or Jiu Li.

After a moment of thought, Li Jing said,

"Mom, I suspect the Bureau is monitoring things here. Even if I force them to confess, it might not hold up at the Bureau. Plus, once I act, you probably won’t be able to hold onto these five."

"Oh, I’ve been holding onto these guys for more than twenty years, I lost my anger a long time ago. They’re of no use to me, just do what you need to do."

Liu Shi said casually, adding.

"At this point, I don’t care about their confessions anymore. You’re after the matter with Lu Qifei, aren’t you? If you manage to get something on the Witch Gu Sect, they’ll be in big trouble. I would certainly love to see that happen."

Seeing Liu Shi’s nonchalant attitude, Li Jing nodded silently.

Having clarified what needed to be said, he didn’t hesitate any longer. With a surge of intention, he sent a psychic suggestion for them to come clean.

Caught off-guard by a psychic attack, the five men in the pigsty stiffened. Their eyes, which had only just started to show some life, began to grow vacant.

Seeing that everyone was under the suggestion’s influence, Liu Shi began to scan her surroundings.

"Be quick."

Seeing Liu Shi’s alertness, Li Jing nodded, then said aloud,

"Did you attempt to assassinate the guardian of the Liu family back in the day for revenge or to control the Liu family?"

"Both for revenge and control."

The five men spoke dryly in unison.

Upon hearing this, Li Jing narrowed his eyes.

"Was this the Witch Gu Sect’s scheme?"

As soon as he asked, the five men’s vacant expressions began to show signs of struggle.

Seeing this, Li Jing’s expression darkened slightly.

The suggestive effect wasn’t enough.

The five men had been wasted for over twenty years; he had only asked two questions, how could the effect not be enough?

Clearly, there was a problem.

Just as he had that thought.

The five men suddenly opened their mouths wide and made a crunching sound from their throats. Something thick seemed to surge from the base of their necks, wanting to pass through their necks and out of their bodies.

At the same time.

In Li Jing’s view, each man had a health bar of varying lengths, all approximately one thousand points, floating above their heads.

The change was so sudden.

Catching sight of this odd scene out of the blue, Li Jing was stunned.

But Liu Shi reacted quickly.

She seemed to have anticipated this from the start.

Seeing the situation unfold, she made a split decision, her red lips parted to let out a scolding shout.

"Break!"

Following that.

An invisible ripple radiated from her delicate red lips, split into five, transforming into five invisible small swords that accurately targeted the throats of the five men, which were stretched almost to the brink of rupture by foreign objects.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Five soft sounds.

Health Bars floating above the heads of the five men immediately were drained to zero.

In the meantime.

The over-stretched necks of the men reverted to normal, and one by one, they collapsed down, spitting out a large amount of black blood from their mouths.

Only after the five men fell did Li Jing gather his senses.

He looked at them; Five men were motionless, clearly having breathed their last.

Upon close inspection.

Liu Shi’s invisible little swords didn’t harm them in the slightest, but rather, they converted into a gentle force, acting internally.

It was quite apparent.

The men didn’t die due to the attack, but because of something inside their bodies.

"Gu worms?"

Li Jing turned his head.

"Yes."

Liu Shi nodded, with a profound meaning in her tone.

"The opponent’s moves are much more efficient than I had anticipated. Gu Skill is indeed bizarre, but its weak point is very obvious. All Gu worms must maintain a connection with their mother worm. When a reaction occurs or Gu worms are stimulated, the mother worm cannot be too far away."

Speaking of which, she lightly smiled and said..

"You’ve got a great set of skills for handling cases. You’re probably very good at finding anomalies. You can find the hidden Witch Gu Sect person by finding the mother worm yourself. They are probably not far from the industrial park. The Witch Gu Sect doesn’t dare to cause too much trouble in the capital, but remember to be cautious of their tactics. It’s also inconvenient for me to take action in the city, so I won’t be going with you. Since they died in my factories, I have to report it."

Upon Liu Shi’s such words, Li Jing instantly understood.

Liu Shi brought him here, she didn’t really expect to get anything from these five, but to use him for fishing.

Without any ambiguity, Li Jing spoke.

"You too be careful here alone."

After leaving one sentence behind, he turned into a prominent lightning bolt, shooting into the sky, then floating in mid-air, and started forming hand signs.

A few hand signs later, the vertical eye between his brows opened up.

Finding the people from the Witch Gu Sect nearby was rather simple for him.

With the Heavenly Eye open, they had nowhere to hide!

He had seen Witchcraft Power before.

Its existence was similar to Demonic Qi.

He had never seen power used to control Gu worms.

But one thing was certain.

It wouldn’t be in the form of Spiritual Qi.

Activating the Heavenly Eye, Li Jing’s gaze surveyed the surroundings like lightning. It quickly caught a suspicious creature that looked like a collection of Demonic Qi moving rapidly in the northern direction towards Xiyue City.

Found it!

Li Jing squinted, his body moved, and with a "boom," he once again turned into lightning.

Liu Shi downstairs was dialing the police on her phone. Sensing the movement in the sky, she looked up in surprise.

Li Jing had already found his way so quickly, which was unexpected.

His sudden burst of speed also took her by surprise.

The speed which was too fast to be followed with the naked eye, caused a continuous display of astonishment in Liu Shi’s eyes.

Without a Precious Item, he possessed a speed comparable to top tier spirit weapons.

She always knew her son-in-law was remarkable.

When Sisi brought this young man back in the old days, she also told her a lot about him.

But at this moment.

Liu Shi realized, she needed to re-evaluate her son-in-law.

Just look at his pure Sky Control speed...

Was it at the level of the Seventh Realm at least?

Sisi really found a monster among monsters, huh!

She was surprised she could manage him!

Liu Shi sighed sincerely, her expression strange.

The Seventh Realm, it seemed that it was time to "retire," right?

Li Jing could bounce around so happily because he had obviously not informed the higher-ups of Longyu to register.

This young man is really good at playing.....

Liu Shi no longer worried after returning her gaze.

She trusted Li Jing in this matter.

Having seen the depth of Li Jing now, she was even more reassured.

...

On the other side.

Li Jing burst out at full speed in a thunderbolt, instantly catching up to the fleeing suspicious Demonic Qi creature.

The speed at which the creature was fleeing was very fast, but it was not Sky Control, but rather a car at its maximum speed.

It had no choice.

To use Sky Control would be equivalent to telling everyone where it was.

And if it was illegal Sky Control.

The Xiyue City patrol would intercept in just a few minutes after receiving the alert.

"Boom!"

Thunder roared.

It hit the ground, blocking the way of the rapidly speeding sedan.

The creature obviously didn’t expect Li Jing’s speed to be so terrifying.

Faced with a blockade, it stomped on the gas in shock and suspicion.

Li Jing, seeing this, squinted his eyes.

Inside the car was a beautiful woman dressed in OL uniform.

From her appearance.

It seemed she was hiding in a nearby factory near Liu’s Industrial Estate in the form of a factory white-collar worker, conveniently monitoring the five prisoners.

Just as Li Jing was able to make out the female figure in the car, the sedan bumped into him at a very high speed.

"Boom!"

Li Jing didn’t move an inch.

The car’s front part was crushed, and was forced to stop.

???

The woman in the car.