Xiao Zongshui looked straight ahead. The surrounding soldiers were eyeing Zhou Shu.
Zhou Shu felt helpless. I am the creator of the Huben Saber. Anyone else has the possibility of stealing the secret of the Huben Saber, but not me.
Others might not know about this, but Xiao Zongshui does!
But from the looks of it, he has no intention of helping me explain.
Forget it. Haven't I already seen through Xiao Zongshui's character?
If there are benefits, he will take them. But it is out of the question for him to help bear the responsibility.
"That day, I went to a restaurant a few streets away to listen to stories. Then I ate at the Huibin Restaurant. After eating, I went shopping in the city. I can't remember which shops I went to. After nightfall, I returned to the workshop," Zhou Shu said.
"Be more specific. How many streets did you walk, and at what hour did you return to the workshop!" Xiao Zongshui said coldly.
Zhou Shu already had a plan in his mind. He pretended to think for a moment before answering Xiao Zongshui.
Actually, there was no way to explain his whereabouts for several hours that day.
But the imperial capital of Great Xia was full of people. Even at night, there was no curfew. It was impossible to know whether he was really shopping or not.
That was unless they brought everyone on the entire street that day in for questioning!
After Zhou Shu finished speaking, Xiao Zongshui asked a few more questions noncommittally. Only then did he let Zhou Shu go and continued asking the next person.
One after another, the replies of every Forging Apprentice were similar.
Those who had families went back to their homes that day. Those who did not went to visit their parents, while some went to visit their lovers in brothels.
Everyone faced a problem—many days had passed since then, and they couldn't be sure of the specific times.
After all, no ordinary person would remember what they had done at specific times.
The forty apprentices were questioned one after another, and four hours passed.
Xiao Zongshui swept his gaze across the soldiers around the training ground, and his eyes stopped on one of them.
He seemed to be asking the man for his opinion.
"You, you, and you, stay. The rest can go." The soldier, who looked no different from the others, pointed at a few people in the crowd.
Everyone hesitated for a moment before Xiao Zongshui shouted, "Lieutenant Cheng's words are my words. Do as he says!"
Zhang Yibei, Sixth Brother Wu, and a few others glanced worriedly at Zhou Shu before being chased out of the training ground by Xiao Zongshui.
In addition to Zhou Shu, two other apprentices had to stay at the testing ground. One of them was Li Ergou, and the other was Qi Shan. Both of them were honest people who didn't speak much.
Zhou Shu didn't know why they were told to remain. He had heard Li Ergou's and Qi Shan's replies and didn't detect any problems.
As for him, he felt that there was also nothing wrong with his reply.
As a pseudo-inference enthusiast who had watched more than 600 episodes of Detective Conan and read more than 300 chapters of Nightwatcher, he believed that there were not many loopholes in his words.
"I am Cheng Yong, lieutenant of the Huben Troops. The three of you lied just now." The blade-wielding soldier took a step forward and stared at Zhou Shu and the other two. "Don't quibble. I have my ways to confirm if you're lying!"
Hearing this, Zhou Shu was dumbfounded. He had long suspected that there were all kinds of strange magical powers in this world of elite martial arts. Could I have bumped into those powers?
Magical powers and superpowers are completely unreasonable.
Who knows how I'll be able to hide the truth from him!
Am I going to be exposed?
If there's really no other way, should I expose my identity as a forging genius?
While hesitating, he suddenly heard the sound of the wind. He shrugged his shoulders and subconsciously wanted to attack.
But the next moment, he realized that there were too many people around. Even if I reveal my identity as a forging genius, I can't reveal my cultivation.
My cultivation is my life-saving trump card!
Zhou Shu forcefully stopped himself from reflex action. Then he felt his neck tighten as a dagger was placed on his neck.
"Qi Shan, are you crazy?! What are you trying to do?! Let go of Brother Zhou!" Li Ergou shouted.
Zhou Shu heard a cold snort. Qi Shan grabbed his shoulder with one hand and held the dagger with the other. He pressed the dagger against the artery on Zhou Shu's neck. With just a slight movement, he would be able to cut through Zhou Shu's carotid artery.
"Qi Shan, did I offend you? What are you doing?" Zhou Shu said.
Zhou Shu wasn't too nervous. If not for the fact that there were outsiders present, he could have easily knocked Qi Shan down.
After breaking through to the seventh level of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique, he already had quite a keen eye.
For example, he could now see that Xiao Zongshui's strength was roughly equivalent to the third or fourth levels of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique.
Lieutenant Cheng Yong and Xiao Zongshui were similar in terms of strength, and both their strengths were limited.
As for Qi Shan, who was holding him hostage, he only had the strength of the first level of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique.
"Superintendent Xiao, I don't think we need to investigate anymore." Cheng Yong unsheathed his saber, pointed it at Qi Shan, and said coldly, "Surrender now, and you might be able to leave your corpse intact. Otherwise…"
Xiao Zongshui's expression was extremely gloomy. He hadn't expected that there really was a traitor in his workshop!
After this incident, his contribution of offering the Huben Saber would be written off, and even punishment was unavoidable.
"Let go of Zhou Shu, and I will give you a quick death!" Xiao Zongshui shouted angrily.
"Haha…" Qi Shan burst into laughter. He no longer appeared as guileless as before. "From the first day I came to Great Xia, I never thought of leaving alive. This time, I'm afraid I won't be able to escape. I only hate Wei Jianming for being useless and failing to bring the Huben Saber out!"
Qi Shan gritted his teeth. "If a real man dies, he dies. My death is worth it if I can drag a Great Xia's forging genius along!"
Qi Shan revealed a crazed expression. The dagger had already pierced through Zhou Shu's skin, and a red line appeared on Zhou Shu's neck.
"Qi Shan! Stop!" Before Xiao Zongshui and Cheng Yong could speak, Li Ergou had already shouted, "How can you hurt Brother Zhou? He is our benefactor! You're inhumane!"
Li Ergou made threatening gestures as he pounced at Qi Shan.
A complicated look flashed across Qi Shan's eyes. The next moment, he became extremely determined.
He lifted his leg and kicked Li Ergou's chest.
Although Qi Shan's cultivation level was not high, Li Ergou was just an ordinary person. How could he withstand Qi Shan's full force kick?
This kick sent Li Ergou flying several meters away. After falling to the ground, he vomited blood and struggled a few times, but he could no longer get up.
At this moment, Cheng Yong roared. He raised his saber and charged forward. Disregarding Zhou Shu's safety, he swung his saber at Qi Shan.
Xiao Zongshui frowned. His right hand moved. But in the end, he didn't stop Cheng Yong.
A snow-white blade glow appeared in Zhou Shu's eyes.
He could imagine Qi Shan's ferocious face without even turning around.
The dagger on his neck was currently exerting force. Before Cheng Yong's saber could strike Qi Shan, the dagger would have already cut the artery on his neck.
Blood would splatter three feet into the air. Within seconds, he would die from excessive blood loss.
Countless thoughts flashed through Zhou Shu's mind. Cheng Yong's and Qi Shan's actions seemed to have become slow motion in his eyes.
In this instant, Zhou Shu even thought of several moves.
Even though he had no saber in hand, the Heavenly Saber Art valued one's will rather than one's form. He had yet to reach the realm of being one with the saber, but defeating these two people would not be a problem.
He was even confident that he could kill them before they could hurt him.
But he would no longer be able to conceal his cultivation.
Once his cultivation was exposed, the consequences would be unpredictable.
Zhou Shu raised his right hand slightly. His right foot had already left the ground. Qi Shan and Cheng Yong were about to be sent flying.
At this moment, two streams of light appeared out of nowhere and pierced Qi Shan's arm and hit Cheng Yong's Huben Saber simultaneously.
Ding! The dagger and Huben Saber hit the ground at the same time.
A strong gust of wind blew past, and a figure suddenly appeared on the testing ground.
"Die!" Qi Shan's arm was bleeding profusely. With a ferocious expression, he gritted his teeth and used his other arm to strangle Zhou Shou's neck.
He was determined to bring Zhou Shu along with him.
Bang! A muffled sound rang out. Just as Qi Shan touched Zhou Shu, his entire body was sent flying backward as if he had been hit by a truck.
Boom! Qi Shan slammed heavily into a thick wooden stake. The stake shattered, and Qi Shan fell to the ground like a pile of mud. After struggling for a while, he stopped moving.
"You want to hurt someone in front of me, a divine constable? You must be dreaming!" On the testing ground, a figure raised his right hand and used his left sleeve to dust his fist.
"It's you?" Zhou Shu blurted out.
Sun Gongping looked at Zhou Shu, perplexed. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. After a moment, he suddenly realized something. "It's you, the little apprentice who engages in wishful thinking?"
Zhou Shu was speechless. Little apprentice who engages in wishful thinking? What kind of nickname is that? Initially, I thought that since you've helped me get out of this situation, I would let bygones be bygones and won't beat you up. But you didn't cherish this opportunity.
Zhou Shu sized up Sun Gongping. He hadn't noticed last time. But now, he realized that this unreliable youth, who had randomly pointed out a restaurant and claimed that Zhou Shu could get a discount by mentioning his name, was actually quite strong!
His cultivation is roughly equivalent to the sixth level of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique. I'm still slightly stronger than him. It shouldn't be a problem to pummel him…
"It's good to see you again. The food at the restaurant wasn't bad, right? Did you say my name?" Sun Gongping grinned, revealing his white teeth.
Zhou Shu's expression darkened again. You're really rubbing it in. Don't you know whether the food at the restaurant is good or not? How can I even say your name if I still don't have it!
"Lieutenant Cheng Yong, right?" Sun Gongping turned to look at Cheng Yong. "You didn't care about the life of the hostage. If you were in our Divine Constable Bureau, you would have been kicked out long ago."
Cheng Yong's face darkened. He snorted but didn't say anything.
Sun Gongping ignored him and looked at Xiao Zongshui instead. "As the superintendent of the workshop, you didn't even know that there was a traitor in the workshop. Someone even managed to steal the new weapon. You're really capable!"
Xiao Zongshui's expression was ugly. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Zhou Shu rolled his eyes internally. Who is this guy? He offended everyone present with just a few words. Is he really not afraid of being beaten up?
Fine, it seems like he really isn't afraid. If I don't reveal my cultivation, his is the highest.
"Alright, little apprentice, tell me now. Why did the traitor say that you are a forging genius and insisted on dragging you along to die with him?"