The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Inside the bright and clean dungeon, Grandma Ma gently placed the tray on the edge of the table and personally arranged the food from the tray onto the table, dish by dish.

Tian Laosi sat opposite her. Although he was in the dungeon, he was still wearing the same brightly colored clothes he wore during the day, and his hands and feet were not restricted.

He glanced mockingly at the chicken, duck, fish, and meat on the table, and sneered, "What? Can't wait to send me on my way?"

Grandma Ma pulled out a bench and sat down, sighing with a sorrowful expression. She gestured with her hand to indicate the height of the table's edge: "Back then, when your father first brought you to visit me..."

"Don't mention my father to me, you have no right to mention him!"

Old Tian interrupted her excitedly, growling viciously, "You betrayed the Miao family, you will surely die a horrible death, and your Ma family will also meet a terrible end!"

Grandma Ma lowered her eyes and remained silent for a moment. She sighed softly again and said calmly, "I reported your previous statement to General Wang without changing a single word. He did not believe it at all and was convinced that you knew more than what you said before. He wanted me to hand you over to him so that he could interrogate you personally."

"I have no other choice but to try to secure this last meal for you. If you are willing to tell the truth, I will risk my life to ensure that your Tian family line continues."

"But if you continue to be stubborn and cunning, then I will have no choice but to hand you over to General Wang. Go and test his methods. I will not say another word about what happens after that."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Tian slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed excitedly, "How else can I tell the truth? I only know so much, how else can I tell the truth? Do you expect me to frame myself?"

Grandma Magu seemed oblivious to his roar, calmly replying, "How much you know and what you were involved in, only Heaven and Earth know, you know, but I don't. Those who don't believe you are not me, and those who want to interrogate you are not me. You should save your stubbornness for dealing with General Wang later. This is all I can do. I believe I have lived up to the centuries-old friendship between our two families and to the friendship I had with your father!"

Old Master Tian became increasingly agitated: "In the end, you still don't believe me. Since you won't even plead for me, what's the point of talking about your past relationship with my father?"

Grandma Ma shook her head wearily, then propped herself up on the table with one hand, slowly got up, and turned to walk unsteadily out of the dungeon.

Tian Laosi stared at her back, which seemed to have suddenly aged, his eyes flashing intensely. He opened his mouth several times, then closed it again.

It wasn't until the Ma family disciple guarding the dungeon opened the heavy iron door for Granny Ma that he finally couldn't hold back any longer and abruptly stood up, shouting, "I'll talk, I'll talk, okay? I really didn't intend to harm the Ma family or the Miao family. Didn't the third brother always clamor to settle things with Longhu Mountain? I really didn't know things would get so complicated..."

Grandma Ma stopped and turned her head to give him a deep look. She sighed again, her expression a mix of disappointment and anger, and said resentfully, "You should save those words for General Wang."

After saying that, she stepped out of the dungeon.

Old Tian hurriedly chased after it, but the heavy iron gate slammed shut with a loud "bang".

"Come back. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you everything..."

He pounded on the iron gate, shouting in panic, "Don't hand me over to that guy surnamed Wang, he'll kill me! Come back!"

……

"belch!"

Wang Wen put down his chopsticks with a burp and said with a smile to Zhang Tianshi beside him, "You know what, the head of the Ma family is really quite capable!"

Zhang Tianshi seemed not to have heard what he said, and looked at the bowls and plates on the table, which were so clean they looked like they had been licked, with a wry smile: "Junior brother, you're really hungry!"

"Do you think everyone is as rich and powerful as your family, with no worries about food and drink?"

Wang Wen glanced at him with disdain: "In my family, leaving leftovers will get you scolded by my mom."

Zhang Tianshi's smile remained unchanged: "Your mother is a good homemaker; no wonder she was able to raise such a talented descendant as your junior brother."

Wang Wen: "Tch..."

He stood up, holding the teacup beside him, and sat down to one side. Immediately, some pretty Miao girls wearing silver ornaments came in and quickly cleared away the dishes and chairs.

The two sipped their tea and chatted idly about the details of the "Zhengyi Academy".

Once the dishes, tables, and chairs in the front hall were cleared away, a group of strong and capable young men from the Ma family soon escorted Old Master Tian, ​​who had been stripped down to his undergarments and had his hands and feet chained, into the front hall.

Zhang Tianshi glanced at Tian Laosi, whose face was ashen, and looked out of the hall with a puzzled expression: "Why hasn't Magu returned yet?"

Wang Wenquan pretended not to hear, took a leisurely sip of tea, glanced sideways at the slightly trembling Tian Laosi below, and said softly, "Come on? Will you confess on your own, or should I torture you thoroughly before you confess honestly?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Laosi trembled violently, and looked at Wang Wen as if he had suddenly seen a ghost in the middle of the night.

Zhang Tianshi, who was tactically drinking tea on one side, almost spat out his tea.

"Junior brother, you..."

He looked at Wang Wen with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, finding him quite amusing.

"What's wrong with me?"

Wang Wen asked in bewilderment, "Wouldn't it be better to have less scheming and more honesty between people? If he's not honest, I'll definitely torture him to death. Doesn't he know perfectly well what's going on? Oh right, I almost forgot to remind you..."

He stared at Tian Laosi with a smile and said, "Don't forget our profession. Even if we torture you to death, we can still summon your soul and continue to torture you to death!"

His cheerful words became the last straw that broke the camel's back, and Tian Laosi's psychological defenses collapsed instantly.

"Pfft..."

His knees buckled and he prostrated himself in the middle of the hall, his buttocks sticking up high, and shouted in a hoarse, croaking voice, "General, I confess, I confess everything!"

Wang Wen clicked his tongue meaningfully, crossed his legs, and leisurely said while holding his teacup, "Then let's talk about how the corpses of those three disciples from the Celestial Master's Mansion ended up in your Tian family's hands."

Tian Laosi: "Reporting to the General, the three corpses of the Celestial Master's Mansion were indeed initially sent to a member of a collateral branch of my Tian family by several out-of-town merchants. They paid ten taels of gold to that member to refine them into walking corpses. However, the member was not skilled enough and was blinded by money. He did not even examine the corpses before starting the refining process. Only halfway through did he discover that the three corpses had practiced Taoist magic in their lifetime. He was so panicked that he rushed to my house that very night to report to me."

"Unexpectedly, those merchants from out of town followed that disciple and arrived at my residence shortly after. They first brutally injured my protective bronze corpse, and then threatened me, saying that the three corpses were disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion of Longhu Mountain, and that the people from the Celestial Master's Mansion searching for the three corpses were already on their way. They threatened that if my Tian family did not cooperate with them and join forces with the Ma family to fight against the Celestial Master's Mansion of Longhu Mountain, they would destroy the ancestral hall and wipe out all the dead..."

"I really have no choice. Those three corpses have already been half-refined by that wicked disciple. The traces of refining walking corpses can be hidden from outsiders, but they definitely cannot be hidden from the people of the Celestial Master's Mansion. I can only bite the bullet and go all the way." Wang Wen frowned slightly, turned his head and exchanged a glance with Zhang Tianshi, and transmitted his voice: "Brother Dao, it seems that the person in your mansion who discovered that the corpses of those three disciples had been refined into walking corpses by the Tian family was also problematic."

Zhang Tianshi nodded slightly with a calm expression and replied telepathically, "There is indeed such a person. I have already identified him."

Wang Wen nodded, then turned around and suddenly slammed his hand on the tea table, shattering it. He roared angrily, "Even at a time like this, you still dare to deceive me by downplaying the seriousness of the matter? Are you afraid that the Celestial Master's Mansion will discover that your Tian family has turned the corpses of their disciples into walking corpses, so you're just going to go all the way down this path and openly declare war on the Celestial Master's Mansion? Are you insulting your own intelligence or my intelligence?"

Startled by his loud shout, Tian Laosi hurriedly kowtowed to the ground, saying, "General, please calm down! General, please calm down! How dare I deceive you, General..."

Wang Wen: "Speak! If you dare to hide even a single word, I'll have killed you and refined your soul!"

Old Master Tian hurriedly replied, "General, I was indeed unwilling to agree to this at first, but alas, alas, the merchant offered ten thousand taels of gold and said that the Ma family and Longhu Mountain were already at war. I, I was blinded by greed and lost my mind..."

Wang Wen frowned, tapping the armrest of his chair with his left index finger for a moment in thought. Suddenly, he looked up at the hallway and said, "Has this guy always been so short-sighted and greedy?"

Grandma Ma walked slowly and unsteadily from the deep darkness into the bright light. She looked at Old Master Tian, ​​who was prostrate in the middle of the hall, and sighed helplessly and disappointedly: "Perhaps he feels that no matter who wins or loses, the Ma family will always be there to protect him."

Wang Wen smiled, then looked down at Tian Laosi with a playful gaze: "Perhaps more than that. Those people must have promised you some kind of benefit after the deed was done, right?"

Old Master Tian trembled, "Reporting to the General, it is indeed true..."

Wang Wen: "Then what about the identities of those people? A group of people suddenly appeared out of nowhere, instigating a fight between your Xiangxi witchcraft lineage and the Longhu Mountain Celestial Master's Mansion. Don't tell me you're not even a little bit curious about their identities?"

Old Master Tian: "General, I once sent several capable young men to secretly follow those merchants and investigate their background. However, all the men I sent disappeared without a trace. I suspect they all met with their wrath, so I haven't dared to send anyone else to investigate their background..."

Wang Wen: "Hehe..."

When Tian Laosi heard his unfriendly tone, he quickly added, "However, when they first followed that collateral descendant into my home, my Corpse Ancestor said that they had a very strong demonic aura."

Wang Wen: "A demonic aura?"

He wondered to himself, could it be that a group of monsters were pulling the strings behind the scenes?
The motive is plausible. After all, the Zhengyi Sect is an insurmountable obstacle for these monsters to rise to power. Taking advantage of the current weakness of the Zhengyi Sect, dragging them into the quagmire of Xiangxi can both further deplete the foundation of the Zhengyi Sect and buy them time to rise to power... It is indeed a good move.

Isn't this plan just too ingenious?

Are all the monsters from other places so socialized that they've even started studying "The Art of War"?

But clearly, the monsters in Huainan Road are still at the stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood, and pretending to be gods and ghosts. Even a demon king of Ao Qing's level only has the two thoughts in his mind: "fight it" and "can't win". He has no concept of "using tricks" at all.

Could it be that the existence of their Demon-Slaying General's Mansion is seriously hindering the socialization of local monsters in Huainan?
Just as Wang Wen was brainstorming, Zhang Tianshi, who hadn't spoken for a long time, suddenly said, "I've long heard that your Tian family has a corpse spirit that was passed down from the end of the Sui Dynasty. Is that the corpse ancestor you mentioned?"

Tian Laosi looked up at him, then lowered his head to reply, his tone suddenly hardening: "It is indeed my family's Corpse Ancestor!"

"The Corpse Ancestor? The 'corpse' in zombie?"

Wang Wen then came to his senses and turned to look at Zhang Tianshi in surprise: "Brother Daoist, what is a corpse spirit?"

Zhang Tianshi stroked his beard and said, "It's a zombie that has become a spirit by some twist of fate."

Wang Wen exclaimed in surprise, "Zombies can become spirits?"

Zhang Tianshi calmly replied, "Normally, no, but the way of Heaven is impartial, and everything has a glimmer of hope. If you seize that glimmer of hope, even a zombie can become a spirit."

Wang Wen clasped his hands and said, "Brother Dao, your family has a long history of learning and you are extremely knowledgeable. I admire you greatly!"

Master Zhang smiled faintly and waved his hand, saying, "Junior brother, you flatter me."

Wang Wen turned around: "So, the zombie that came with you today has also seen your ancestor, the Corpse Ancestor?"

After a moment of silence, Tian Laosi replied, "I dare not deceive you, sir. I did see it. That demon even severely humiliated my family's Corpse Ancestor."

Why is he so afraid of Wang Wen?
That's because Wang Wen chased Qing away!

He didn't dare to breathe loudly in front of his ancestral corpse; but when his ancestral corpse came to Qing, he was so humiliated that he dared not be angry or speak out; and when Qing came to Wang Wen, he was chased all over the mountains and fields by Wang Wen.

After considering this series of inequalities, it roughly equals that it would be easier for Wang Wen to crush him than to crush an ant!

Moreover, he had no way to make a move. Even if he invited the Corpse Ancestor lying in the ancestral grave, he would only have to suffer Wang Wen's beatings together with him.

How could he not feel desperate?
"That's it..."

Wang Wen was greatly disappointed: "Your ancestral corpse family isn't all that great after all!"

Tian Laosi: ...

Wang Wen sipped his tea, pondering the matter over and over in his mind for a long time. He sighed with a headache and said, "Now that the mastermind has cut ties, I'm completely out of options. No matter what method I use to lure him out, he probably won't fall for it again anytime soon."

The only remaining clue is the old diver on the other side of Taihu Lake.

However, without sufficient merit and good karma to back him up, he would absolutely not provoke that old diver again.

This time, he really lost out big time...

"Junior brother, you've done your best!"

Seeing his headache, Zhang Tianshi gently comforted him, "This time we alerted the enemy. Otherwise, if we had followed your plan, we would have been able to follow the clues, find the mastermind, and capture them all in one fell swoop!"

"However, I will remember your kindness, junior brother. My Longhu Mountain Celestial Master's Mansion will repay you in the future!"

Just then, Granny Ma on the other side spoke up at the opportune moment: "I just heard that you two distinguished guests were discussing the preparation of the 'Zhengyi Academy.' I wonder if my Ma family's witchcraft and sorcery might have the honor of being listed in the 'Zhengyi Academy'?" (End of this chapter)