Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Chapter 344: Chapter 332: Confession

He’d caught the black-faced cultivator and Huang Teng. Next, he had to interrogate them and get them to sign and fingerprint a confession.

Otherwise, once they returned to Qiuyang County, the two could simply deny everything and might even try to pin the crime on him.

After all, he was an outsider. One wrong move and he could be the one taking the fall.

Having been a constable, Zhao Lin knew the system inside and out. He understood he had to make the case ironclad.

He had initially planned to have them write their confessions on paper, but while inspecting the black-faced cultivator’s storage pouch, he discovered two Communication Talismans.

In addition to the runes, the talismans were inscribed with the word "Shangyuan."

"These two Communication Talismans can reach Shangyuan County, right?"

The black-faced cultivator glanced over and replied, "Yes. The vessel station communicates with Shangyuan County, so we use Communication Talismans to exchange information."

An idea sparked in Zhao Lin’s mind. "You two," he ordered, "write your confessions about colluding with the bandit cultivator on these!"

The black-faced cultivator and Huang Teng were naturally unwilling, but they couldn’t withstand Zhao Lin’s methods of torment. They had no choice but to each write out a confession as he demanded, then sign it and add their thumbprints.

"Your turn."

Zhao Lin handed the two Communication Talismans to Song the Third.

Knowing it was useless to argue, Song the Third ignored the venomous glares from the black-faced cultivator and Huang Teng and added his own signature and thumbprint to the talismans.

Zhao Lin inspected them and nodded in satisfaction. With these two confessions, everything was in order.

But he was going to add one more layer of insurance for himself.

Then, Zhao Lin picked up one of the Communication Talismans and slapped it sharply.

The Communication Talisman immediately flared with green light, rolled itself into a thin tube, and shot through the air like an arrow, flying toward Shangyuan County.

Zhao Lin felt relieved. As long as the message reached Shangyuan County, it would be impossible for Qiuyang County to cover this up, which meant he would be safe.

"What the..."

The black-faced cultivator and Huang Teng exchanged a look, completely baffled as to why Zhao Lin had done that.

"I was blind and failed to see Mount Tai! Please, let us go! You can take everything in the storage pouches, just be the better man and don’t pursue this any further," the black-faced cultivator pleaded.

"Yes, and I have over two hundred Spirit Stones at home! I’ll give them all to you as a sign of my respect," Huang Teng chimed in hastily.

"No need!"

With three quick palm strikes, Zhao Lin knocked all three of them unconscious.

He then tied the black-faced cultivator and Huang Teng together with a rope, hoisted the pair with one hand, grabbed Song the Third with the other, and bounded toward Yinfeng Valley.

He could have taken the criminals back to the county on his own, but that would waste time and make it seem like he had something to hide. He was determined to return openly aboard the Spiritual Vessel.

After about the time it takes to eat a meal, Zhao Lin reached the vicinity of Yinfeng Valley and spotted a small Spiritual Vessel moored outside.

The yin energy within Yinfeng Valley was dense. Besides being the entrance to the Yinfeng Realm, it also housed vast medicinal gardens and breeding grounds.

The gardens were for cultivating yin-attribute Spirit Grass, while the breeding grounds were for raising large numbers of medicinal Yin Scorpions.

Consequently, the passengers on the Spiritual Vessel included both local cultivators from Qiuyang County and cultivators from other counties who were returning from the Yinfeng Realm after completing sect missions.

The Spiritual Vessel was about to depart for its return journey, but the two people in charge of piloting it were missing.

The vessel’s guards were just about to send out a search party when, to their astonishment, they saw Zhao Lin approaching with three people in tow.

"Who are you? Why do you have Heipi and Huang Teng? What did you do to them?" the guard leader demanded, not even giving Zhao Lin a chance to speak.

As he spoke, he and several of his subordinates moved to surround Zhao Lin, clearly not viewing him as a friendly party.

"So these two are called Heipi and Huang Teng, is that right?"

Zhao Lin hoisted the two men higher and deliberately raised his voice. "They colluded with a bandit cultivator to rob passing cultivators! I caught them just moments ago, and I have both a witness and physical evidence!"

His words immediately sent an uproar through the crowd on the Spiritual Vessel.

The cultivators aboard the vessel jumped down one by one, gathering around to see the commotion.

"Nonsense! These two are the pilots. Why would they collude with a bandit cultivator?" the guard leader immediately retorted.

"Yeah, where did you crawl out from? What right do you have to say that?" one of the guards added.

"Hey, isn’t that man a bandit cultivator? He looks exactly like the portrait on the wanted poster."

"You’re right, that’s the bandit cultivator Song the Third! He’s been holed up in Yinfeng Valley for over half a year."

"The two pilots did go out earlier... could they have really been meeting with a bandit cultivator?"

The onlookers began to murmur among themselves.

The guard leader’s expression darkened. He sized Zhao Lin up and said contemptuously, "With your paltry Qi Refining Third Layer cultivation, how could you possibly capture all three of them?"

"I’m a Martial Cultivator," Zhao Lin said nonchalantly. "I have my own ways of catching people."

The guard leader said, "Fine, I’ll concede you might have the ability. But you said you had a witness and physical evidence. Where’s the proof?"

Zhao Lin sneered, dropped the two men to the ground, and took out the Communication Talisman containing the confession for all to see.

"They wrote this themselves. Does this count as proof?"

Everyone looked, and sure enough, the confession was written out clearly.

The guard leader snorted. "You forced them to write this, didn’t you?"

Zhao Lin shot him a cold look. ’It’s a good thing I knocked them out,’ he thought. ’If they were awake now crying foul, this would get a lot more complicated.’

"You keep defending them. Are you in on it with them?"

The guard leader choked on his breath. "That’s a baseless accusation!"

Zhao Lin put the confession away, grabbed the two men from the ground, and was the first to board the Spiritual Vessel, casting a look back over his shoulder.

"Whether they’re guilty will be clear after an interrogation back in the county. I’d advise you not to be in such a hurry to jump to their defense. If there’s an issue, wouldn’t that make you an accomplice?"

"You!"

The guard leader was seething with rage but couldn’t do anything. Not only were there several cultivators from outside the county present, but the confession was on a Communication Talisman that Zhao Lin could release at any moment. He was utterly powerless to stop him.

Once everyone was back on the Spiritual Vessel, they realized they had a problem: there was no one to pilot it.

Suppressing his anger, the guard leader scanned the crowd. "Does anyone here know how to pilot a Spiritual Vessel?"

Piloting a small Spiritual Vessel wasn’t difficult, requiring only a few unranked Magic spells. Several cultivators immediately volunteered.

Zhao Lin sat in a corner, but the guards deliberately sat down around him, effectively boxing him in.

"Friend, how did you manage to catch them?"

"Yeah, tell us the story."

As the Spiritual Vessel got underway, a few curious cultivators asked.

"Well, it happened like this..."

Zhao Lin held nothing back, vividly recounting the entire tale—from the black-faced cultivator demanding a three-hundred-Spirit-Coin fare, to the encounter with the bandit cultivator, and finally, the investigation and capture.

The more people who knew the truth, the safer he would be.

After hearing his story, most of them found it believable, but there was one sticking point: Zhao Lin was only at the Qi Refining Third Layer, yet he had supposedly killed a Qi Refining Seventh Layer and captured a Qi Refining Eighth Layer bandit cultivator alive.

Knowing what they were all thinking, Zhao Lin took the initiative to explain, "Like I said, I’m a Martial Cultivator. I deliberately feigned weakness during the fight and got a lucky win."

After hearing Zhao Lin’s account, the guard leader’s expression softened. From his experience, he could tell that even if Zhao Lin had embellished the story, the core of it was likely true.

He realized his eagerness to defend the local cultivators had nearly caused him to make a serious mistake. Though his face remained cold, he no longer felt any hostility toward Zhao Lin.

In less than an hour, the Spiritual Vessel arrived at Qiuyang County.

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