Wang Yuanyi clearly looked confused.

He hesitated and said, "I... I don't know Duan Qian!"

He Yu's expression darkened. Just as he was about to act, Wang Yuanyi hastily added:

"I really don't know Duan Qian! How could I possibly know someone like the Prefect?!"

He Yu observed Wang Yuanyi's expression and it didn't seem fake.

But it could also be that Wang Yuanyi was just a good actor.

He Yu sent a wisp of true qi floating into Wang Yuanyi's body.

This true qi rampaged destructively through Wang Yuanyi's body.

Specifically targeting the most painful acupuncture points.

"AHHH—!"

"I really don't know!!"

The true qi took effect quickly. Wang Yuanyi rolled on the ground in agony.

Like a leech thrown into a salt jar, writhing madly.

The excruciating pain left him nowhere to hide.

He Yu knew this kind of pain was absolutely unbearable for ordinary people.

Under such torture, most people would confess to anything, even falsely accusing innocent people.

He Yu dispersed the true qi within Wang Yuanyi.

Wang Yuanyi gasped for breath on the ground, drenched in sweat as if granted amnesty.

"Do you know Duan Qian now?" He Yu asked.

Wang Yuanyi was nearly in tears: "I really don't know Duan Qian!"

He Yu frowned, realizing Wang Yuanyi probably truly didn't know Duan Qian.

"Could it be only Wang Kun knows Duan Qian?" He Yu silently pondered.

He Yu asked another question: "What's the relationship between County Magistrate Zhang Hongwen of Xian'an and you?"

This time Wang Yuanyi clearly hesitated.

Then he pretended to be innocent: "My father and I only had one meal with Magistrate Zhang! Running a martial arts school requires maintaining good relations with him!"

He Yu obviously didn't believe him, reforming another strand of true qi in his hand.

"It's true! It's really true! The Black Tiger Martial Arts School often invites Magistrate Zhang to meals too! AHHH—!"

Wang Yuanyi rolled on the ground in pain again.

"AHH! Kill me! Just kill me—"

He Yu tortured Wang Yuanyi for nearly half an hour.

Wang Yuanyi completely collapsed on the ground.

He had lost too much blood, his face deathly pale.

The ground bore extensive marks of his painful struggles.

"Still not talking?" He Yu asked calmly.

"Kill...kill me..."

He Yu felt puzzled, wondering what secret could be worth Wang Yuanyi defending with his life.

But He Yu also had no patience to keep this up.

A strand of true qi containing violent energy gradually formed at He Yu's fingertip.

"Didn't expect you to be so tough. I'll grant your wish."

Wang Yuanyi could sense the terrifying power of that true qi.

The transparent liquid-like true qi resembled the King of Hell coming to claim his life, heralding death's arrival.

Wang Yuanyi's eyes flickered with hesitation.

Facing true death, Wang Yuanyi wavered.

This was human instinct, beyond rational control.

"W-wait! I'll talk! But you have to promise not to kill me afterward!"

He Yu shook his head with a smile: "You dying villains always love making demands. Do you have the qualifications to make demands, buddy?"

BANG—

Wang Yuanyi's other leg exploded into a shower of blood.

Wang Yuanyi howled in pain again, doing sit-ups while clutching his bleeding thigh, the sight utterly pitiful.

He Yu patted Wang Yuanyi's face hard: "Still want to negotiate terms with me?"

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!!"

Wang Yuanyi's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

He told He Yu everything he knew.

As it turned out, the Golden Saber Martial Arts School had been helping County Magistrate Zhang Hongwen of Xian'an traffic people.

And Zhang Hongwen only wanted youths under sixteen.

This was also why He Yu's original body had been brought to the Golden Saber Martial Arts School.

Many other youths who joined the school hoping to cultivate martial arts were all handed over to Zhang Hongwen.

Zhang Hongwen would give the Golden Saber School large sums of money, cultivation techniques, and special protection.

But Wang Yuanyi didn't know what Zhang Hongwen did with these youths.

He only knew none of them ever returned.

Wang Yuanyi guessed they were all dead.

And He Yu was originally someone the Golden Saber School planned to hand over to Zhang Hongwen too.

Wang Yuanyi knew that if he told He Yu this, He Yu would definitely take revenge and kill him.

So he had pretended to be tough earlier, wanting to gamble.

Betting that He Yu would spare him temporarily to learn this secret.

Planning to find an opportunity later to seek help from Zhang Hongwen.

But who knew He Yu didn't play by the rules at all, completely unaffected by threats.

Wang Yuanyi realized if he didn't talk now, not only would he die, but he might not even keep a whole corpse.

Helpless, Wang Yuanyi confessed everything.

"No wonder you were hiding it—turns out this involves me too." He Yu said thoughtfully.

From this, it was basically confirmed that the youths Zhang Hongwen received were ultimately transferred to Duan Qian.

So Wang Yuanyi truly didn't know Duan Qian, because Zhang Hongwen had always been the one dealing with Duan Qian.

Then in the simulation, after the Golden Saber School was destroyed by the Black Tiger School,

Duan Qian sent people to eliminate the Black Tiger School—probably not to search for some treasure,

but to destroy evidence of the Golden Saber School's dealings with Zhang Hongwen.

He Yu mostly understood the whole story now.

But there was one point he wasn't sure about.

What did Duan Qian do with all those abducted youths?

He Yu pondered.

Fortunately, He Yu had seen his share of things in his previous life.

He could roughly guess the fate of those handsome youths.

There were basically just a few possibilities.

First possibility: Duan Qian used them as bribes and social resources to curry favor with his political allies.

In ancient times from He Yu's previous life, many dynasties had prevalent male romance customs.

People back then treated it as normal—those ancients had quite the wild tastes.

By analogy, there were definitely nobles in this world who shared such preferences.

So there would be no shortage of buyers for these handsome youths.

Second possibility: considering this was a martial world, these innocent youths might have been used by Duan Qian for some evil cultivation ritual.

Compared to legitimate cultivation methods requiring hard work,

evil techniques offered quick results with little effort—basically outpatient procedures.

Naturally everyone wanted to practice them.

Especially nobles who held power over commoners' lives—they'd flock to such methods.

But these were just He Yu's speculations.

He Yu wasn't sure what Duan Qian actually did with those innocent youths.

Perhaps there were other things in this world that He Yu didn't know about yet.

"Where are the account books recording your dealings with Zhang Hongwen hidden?" He Yu intended to secure the evidence.

Wang Yuanyi quickly said: "They're...they're with my father! He handled all the transactions!"

Wang Yuanyi betrayed his own father Wang Kun without any hesitation.

Sorry dad, I really can't take it anymore.

You handle this for me!

In Wang Yuanyi's view, Wang Kun was at least a Bone Tempering martial artist—even if he couldn't defeat He Yu, he was much stronger than himself.

Leading He Yu there first was definitely the right move!

Maybe while his father fought He Yu, he could find a chance to escape.

He Yu immediately saw through Wang Yuanyi's scheme.

But He Yu didn't care at all.

"Where is Wang Kun now?" He Yu asked.

Wang Yuanyi hastily replied: "My father is cultivating in the underground chamber beneath the library! The entrance is very hidden—I can take you there!"

This kid Wang Yuanyi surrendered extremely quickly.

If this were a special historical period, he'd make an excellent collaborator.

If He Yu had to search himself, he'd never know about the underground chamber below the library.

When the Wang family gets wiped out later, this bastard Wang Yuanyi would bear half the responsibility.

"What a filial son you are!" He Yu grabbed Wang Yuanyi and left.

But He Yu didn't go directly to the library—first he thoroughly ransacked the entire Golden Saber Martial Arts School.

Even while carrying Wang Yuanyi and thus somewhat restricted,

it took less than half an hour to kill all several hundred members of the Golden Saber School!

Wang Yuanyi witnessed this one-sided slaughter firsthand.

It horrified him to the core.

These martial artists of the Golden Saber School seemed like toddlers just learning to walk before He Yu.

They just stood there dumbly waiting for He Yu to cut them down.

Wang Yuanyi knew his father definitely couldn't defeat He Yu either.

But he had no way out now.

Desperate survival instincts made Wang Yuanyi cling to slim hope—that his father could delay He Yu a little longer.

"Dad...I'll avenge you later!"

Wang Yuanyi had already decided where to bury his father.

"Open it!" He Yu pointed at the underground chamber's entrance.

Wang Yuanyi pressed the password on the stone wall to open the door.

A heavy stone door rumbled open,

revealing a dark downward passage.

Wang Yuanyi put on an ingratiating smile: "See? I didn't lie. We can go in now."

He Yu smiled: "Alright."

Hearing this, a hidden viciousness flashed in Wang Yuanyi's eyes.

He Yu stepped toward the passage.

Wang Yuanyi's expression gradually showed triumph.

But the next moment, legless Wang Yuanyi was thrown into the narrow passage by He Yu.

Caught completely off guard, Wang Yuanyi shouted: "You! You bastard!!"

SWOOSH—

An arrow shot rapidly toward Wang Yuanyi.

Lying on the ground, Wang Yuanyi slapped the floor hard to barely dodge it.

But arrows kept flying at him in quick succession.

Wang Yuanyi struggled frantically...or more accurately, flailed with his arms—since both legs were already gone.

He rolled wildly across the floor.

Moreover, the passage walls began slowly closing in, making the space increasingly narrow.

Wang Yuanyi was about to be crushed into paste.

He Yu smirked coldly: "You think someone as cautious as me would fall for your trap?"

"Dad! Save me!!"

Wang Yuanyi screamed desperately toward the other end of the passage.