Chapter 512: Solving the Case Still Requires the Three Elements!

Yan Jing had actually harbored a sliver of fantasy regarding the woman's identity.

Even knowing it was highly unlikely, the thought had still crossed his mind.

Now, it seemed he had overthought it.

Wen Qiao had nothing to do with the orphanage caretaker who had raised him.

"This is for the best,"

Yan Jing murmured, standing up.

This matter had started with him, so naturally, he should be the one to end it with his own hands.

Reach the Summit, find a way into the River of Time—it was that simple.

After sending Xiao Xin to rest, he took out the letter the woman had written.

Opening it revealed only a few brief lines.

‘Little Xu,

‘Sister Wen Qiao misses you very much too.

‘Regarding what I taught you back then...’ (The handwriting was noticeably heavier here.)

‘Those are things you should have inherently known.

‘Sister Wen Qiao was merely returning what originally belonged to you.

‘Sister Wen Qiao is absolutely not a bad person. Trust your sister, okay?

‘The trial is starting soon. You don't need to do anything, Little Xu. If anyone comes to pressure you, don't force yourself. Follow your heart.

‘Take good care of yourself.

‘We still have a long road ahead of us.

‘Sister Wen Qiao will never leave you.’

Yan Jing finished reading the letter, his heart completely tranquil.

The woman's letter confirmed his guess once again: the person she was looking for was Wu Xu.

Judging by its contents, she seemed to be waiting for a specific opportunity as well.

She felt this current life wasn't the best time to achieve her established goal, intending instead to "sacrifice" herself when the trial began.

Or rather... it should be called accelerating the "reincarnation" process.

Yan Jing raised an eyebrow.

Smoothing out the logic of the entire affair wasn't difficult.

If the woman truly believed he was Wu Xu, her favorability should be at one hundred.

The reason it was currently stuck at seventy...

...was because she was deeply hesitant about whether he was really Wu Xu. Or perhaps, even if he was, she didn't believe he had the ability to turn the tables in this situation.

But she must have felt a glimmer of hope.

Given how urgently she had muttered, "Is it this time?" in front of Xiao Xin, she clearly thought it was possible to achieve her set goal this time around. Ultimately, however, she had decided to continue "waiting."

Since she had chosen to "wait," and if all his speculations held true, she would likely embrace "death." That way, she could rapidly start her next life.

"So I don't need to pretend to be Wen Xu. I need to pretend to be Wu Xu."

Yan Jing nodded and walked toward the Wizard Tribe's resting area.

As he advanced, the surrounding greenery was gradually replaced by a cold, crisp white. The temperature steadily dropped. Amid the icy, snow-covered landscape, Wu Qiu spotted Yan Jing first and immediately bowed.

"My Lord."

"My Lord." The others also rose to their feet.

"Mm. Your progress is good. Keep practicing," Yan Jing said, nodding.

During his period of seclusion, the Wizard Tribe had lived up to expectations, making remarkably swift progress in studying the Ice Element.

This was thanks to the total mastery of the Ice Element granted by his seventh Rite, combined with Wen Xu's innate, god-like ability to deconstruct knowledge.

To this current group of Wizard Tribe members with their thin bloodlines, such high-level instruction was no different from feeding gourmet food to pigs.

Even if they couldn't digest it all, he was going to force-feed them until they fattened up.

"Huo Tong, Bing Yao..."

Yan Jing called out the names of all the era-severed survivors brought out from the God Storage Land.

"Come with me."

The group was baffled.

Bing Yao glanced at Huo Tong, only to find her equally confused.

Left with no choice, they followed Yan Jing until they reached a riverbank.

Yan Jing found a large boulder by the river and sat down cross-legged.

"Tell me about Wu Xu, and his sister."

They exchanged bewildered looks. No one expected Yan Jing to suddenly bring up that "old friend" who had been dead for so many years.

"I'm the one who killed him."

Huo Tong stepped forward, the first to speak.

"But I pretty much told you everything about that last time."

The two of them had studied together. Wu Xu caught the eye of the Wizard Alliance, which arranged for him to marry up into a so-called "high branch."

After that, they didn't see each other for a long time. By the time they met again, Wu Xu's temperament had drastically changed. Huo Tong had asked about his sister, but he refused to say a word. Later, the Wizard Alliance pinned a crime on Wu Xu, and the star witness was none other than that so-called high branch—his own wife. Then, Wu Xu requested that Huo Tong carry out his execution.

To spare Wu Xu from too much suffering, Huo Tong reduced him to ashes with a massive fire, taking his residual soul into the God Storage Land.

That was about the gist of it.

"He also came to me, asking me to carry out his execution," the woman with long black hair spoke up. She had resided in a lake within that God Storage Land before Yan Jing drafted her into his team halfway through.

"But I ultimately didn't agree."

"Same for me," the fat man spoke up. He hailed from the single-plank bridge in the God Storage Land and had also been forcibly recruited.

"He helped me out a lot in the past. Back when I couldn't control my physical strength properly, he was the one who pulled me back..."

The man dressed in white silk chimed in, "Indeed. He spared my life once too. Back then, I nearly died at his hands..."

Yan Jing listened to their descriptions of Wu Xu and said, "So you all think he was a good person?"

The group glanced at one another, then nodded in unison.

"A good person... yes, you could certainly describe him like that..."

"Regardless, he would never do anything out of line."

"Yes. In my view, he was very restrained," Bing Yao said coldly.

"His fundamental nature was kind. The hesitation he displayed wasn't the cowardice most people assumed; rather, he was just incredibly conservative in his actions."

Kind, conservative...

Yan Jing silently noted down these two personality traits.

"But that was only before the second time I met him," Huo Tong added.

"During that second encounter, I could sense that he had genuinely become much more cowardly."

"It was like he was a completely different person."

A two-phased personality. That would make him a bit difficult to play... Yan Jing furrowed his brows.

"Anything else?"

Yan Jing looked at the group.

"Did any of you have any interactions with his sister?"

"Or perhaps, does anyone know how his sister died?"

"I do."

Amidst the silence, Bing Yao looked at Yan Jing.

"I've heard the rumors..."

She paused, glancing at the people around her. Seeing that no one was going to step forward and interrupt, she took a deep breath. "Rumor has it... she was betrayed by Wu Xu."

Betrayed.

Yan Jing's heart stirred upon hearing that word.

Huo Tong subconsciously denied it. "That's highly unlikely. He had a great relationship with his sister. He told me numerous times that his greatest wish in this life was for her to be happy."

"But I really did hear that rumor," Bing Yao said, looking at Yan Jing.

"His sister didn't seem simple. The elders of my tribe were deeply worried during those days, constantly frowning in distress. I asked around and learned it was because they felt the Wizard Tribe was showing signs of rising to power once again."

"And the key to that... lay with his sister."

Huo Tong frowned.

"No, that's not right. I clearly remember that back then, Wu Xu was the one considered the hope for the Wizard Tribe's rise."

"He didn't have a good background and lacked any backing, yet he had an eidetic memory for all knowledge. That was why the Wizard Alliance scouted him. I remember it vividly; I couldn't be mistaken."

Beside her, the man in white silk and the other two also nodded.

That was what they understood of the situation as well.

But Bing Yao was extremely certain.

"That was just the surface."

"Otherwise, how do you explain it? If the Wizard Alliance truly saw Wu Xu as their hope for rising, why would they ultimately burn him to death?"

At these words, everyone exchanged glances, recognizing the hesitation in each other's eyes.

"We all know what kind of group the Wizard Tribe is. They've always been willing to use any means necessary to achieve their goals. Especially the Wizard Alliance—do you really think they would let go of Wu Xu, their hope for the future?" Bing Yao spoke with absolute conviction, her expression unwavering.

When her gaze drifted to Yan Jing at the side, she instantly changed her tune, putting on a fawning smile.

"Of course, I'm not talking about you, sir."

"Continue," Yan Jing said, waving his hand dismissively.

With Yan Jing backing her up, Bing Yao felt her spine straighten considerably, and her pitch rose a notch.

"At the time, there were many speculations within our tribe regarding what was happening in the Wizard Tribe."

"But the most likely possibility we concluded... was that the person the Wizard Alliance actually had their eye on wasn't Wu Xu at all."

"It was Wu Xu's sister."

"However, to avoid attracting unwanted attention, they claimed Wu Xu was the genius."

"No, Wu Xu truly was a genius," Huo Tong rebutted.

She had studied alongside Wu Xu and was well aware of his capabilities.

Yan Jing nodded.

Indeed.

If Wu Xu and Wen Xu were connected, then Wu Xu had to be a genius.

Because Wen Xu was a bona fide genius of the Wizard Tribe.

But he motioned for Bing Yao to continue.

Receiving Yan Jing's go-ahead, Bing Yao resumed speaking.

"You aren't understanding my point. Wu Xu might have been a genius."

"But he wasn't the kind of genius who could lead the Wizard Tribe to prominence. Do you understand?"

"So our tribe believed that perhaps the true genius was Wu Xu's sister."

"And Wu Xu was simply a rope left on the outside to reel his sister in."

"Once they gradually gained control over Wu Xu, they used that rope to lock his sister down tighter and tighter."

"Until... they strangled her to death with it."

Bing Yao twisted her hands together, making a vivid gesture to illustrate her point.

"I object," the fat man spoke up.

"If his sister was the genius,"

"Then why did she end up dead?"

"Just like you said earlier, if his sister was the hope for the Wizard Tribe's rise, why didn't they focus all their efforts on grooming her?"

These words plunged Bing Yao into silence.

In truth, there had been many rumors surrounding the Wizard Tribe back then, but most were just hearsay. Now that so many years had passed, no one could say for sure. But right at that moment, Yan Jing used weird energy to conjure a scroll out of thin air. With a light flick of his finger, he wrote several large characters on the canvas:

Motive for the Crime

After writing it, Yan Jing tapped his brush heavily against the paper, much like a teacher rapping on a chalkboard.

"I think you all made excellent points."

"Committing a crime, or rather, dissecting any unusual event, can actually be divided into three components."

"Time, location, and motive."

"In this matter, the time and location are clear, and the method doesn't seem all that important. So the key lies in the motive."

"Why did Wu Xu's sister die? Why did it have to be his sister? Let's brainstorm. Who wants to answer this?" The group exchanged blank looks.

Eventually, Bing Yao was the first to pitch an idea.

"An accident. Perhaps her death was merely an accident. They were trying to stimulate more of her potential, but something went wrong." This was just a wild, speculative thought.

But Yan Jing nodded and wrote the word 'Accident' on the scroll.

Beside it, he added the word 'Stimulate'.

"Rebuttal," the black-haired woman said.

"If his sister's death was an accident, they shouldn't have given up on Wu Xu so easily. If you only have two egg-laying hens, would you kill the worse one just because the better one died?"

Huo Tong's gaze hardened.

"So this brings up a core question: what exactly is the relationship between Wu Xu's death and his sister's death?"

"If his sister's death was an accident, why did Wu Xu have to die?"

"I think the premise is flawed," the fat man interjected.

"Maybe Wu Xu's sister wasn't a genius, but served a function similar to a human cauldron."

"They used Wu Xu to control his sister."

"But then a situation arose, and the cauldron died."

"Thus, Wu Xu lost his usefulness."

"But that still doesn't explain why Wu Xu had to die," Bing Yao quickly pointed out.

She was gradually grasping the crux of the matter, her glass-bead-like eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"A genius with an eidetic memory in an already thoroughly destitute Wizard Tribe. Why would they make Wu Xu die?"

"As long as he was still a genius, there's no way the Wizard Tribe would let him die."

Her words lingered in the air.

The group was collectively stunned.

Then, as if they had figured something out, their eyes all lit up at once.

They had found the crucial point.

The question wasn't why Wu Xu's sister had died.

The question was why Wu Xu had died.

Yan Jing reached out and wrote on the scroll:

Wu Xu — Genius. Followed by a massive question mark.

"Think carefully. Did Wu Xu display any unusual behavior right before or after his downfall?" Yan Jing asked, his face calm.

"He... he came to me back then. The payment he offered was soul power, but I refused," the long-haired woman said.

"Same for me."

"Me too..." Bing Yao narrowed her eyes, then looked at Huo Tong.

"You accepted Wu Xu's soul power back then, didn't you?"

Huo Tong looked startled for a moment. Then, as if recalling something, shock filled her eyes, and she turned to the group.

"You might not believe me if I say it, but he did make that offer."

"But... you know how I operate. I checked him. There was absolutely no soul power left in his body at the time. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't say. I assumed the Wizard Alliance had stripped it from him."

"Impossible!" The others all had the same reaction.

Memories and willpower—these mental attributes were primarily tied to soul power.

Given the abilities Wu Xu had displayed, it was impossible for his soul power to be thin.

"It's true."

Huo Tong rubbed her temples. "Otherwise, with his soul power, I wouldn't have been stuck in the Near-Immortal Realm for so long. I would have broken through to Celestial Immortal ages ago."

"Soul power cannot be involuntarily extracted. Keeping it intact is incredibly difficult, yet shattering it is absurdly easy. With just the slightest bit of resistance, it would turn to mush."

Bing Yao carefully analyzed the situation:

"He came to you and offered to give you his soul power, which means the Wizard Alliance couldn't have been the ones who took it."

"If it wasn't them, then where did his soul power go?"

Everyone looked at Yan Jing.

Hoping he would spot a clue in their conversation, just like before.

But Yan Jing didn't speak. He didn't even look at them. His gaze had fallen on a blade of grass in front of him, his thoughts already miles away.

‘Sister Wen Qiao was merely returning what originally belonged to you.’

Returned.

If this was a brief process, then borrowing and returning would mark an end to it.

But what if this was an infinitely stretched loop?

Borrowed, returned, and then...

Was it borrowed again?

Yan Jing looked at the group and said, "The plunder and the fading of soul power have entirely different effects on the human body's structure and the mental landscape."

"First, this would require someone highly skilled with souls, who also possessed a deep understanding of Wizard Tribe corpses."

"Second, it is completely impossible for us to find Wu Xu's corpse now."

Bing Yao gave a couple of cold laughs.

"It was already burned to ashes."

"But we have someone else's." Huo Tong ignored Bing Yao. Yan Jing's words made her realize something, and her eyes instantly lit up.

Soon after, she hauled over an iron cage.

Ever since returning from the God Storage Land, their team had been dragging along an iron cage.

Aside from Huo Tong, no one else knew what was inside. Now, the mysterious veil over the cage was finally lifted.

Inside was a woman.

More accurately, it was a female divine monstrous progeny.

She huddled in the corner. Food and water sat beside her, but she showed no reaction to them.

It wasn't until light spilled into the cage that the woman's vacant eyes finally showed a hint of life.

The next second, the moment she saw Yan Jing, she lunged at the bars of the cage.

"Wuwu... Wuwu... Wuwuwu... Here... Here..."

The woman's hands reached out through the iron bars. Even though her body was squeezed somewhat out of shape, she desperately stretched toward Yan Jing.

The group looked at the woman's appearance, then at Yan Jing's current face, their eyes widening one by one.

Yan Jing walked toward the iron cage with an impassive expression.

The moment those hands touched Yan Jing, their ferocity instantly vanished, replaced by a gentle caress.

"Here... Here..."

The woman's hands continuously and softly brushed against Yan Jing's face as she murmured in a low voice.

Yan Jing opened the iron cage and carried the woman out.

He walked to the riverbank and sat down.

"It's okay. It will be okay soon," Yan Jing said softly.

Even though the person in front of him couldn't hear him at all.

She was merely a divine monstrous progeny—devoid of her own consciousness, incapable of feeling pain, lacking any memories, and barely even qualifying as a living creature. Yet Yan Jing's movements remained exceptionally gentle.

A layer of weird energy coated his fingertips as he touched the woman's forehead.

The next second, a bloody line was sliced open.

The group watched as the divine monstrous progeny's body was dissected with the most delicate of movements, laid completely bare before their eyes.

The entire process took no more than five minutes.

Five minutes later, the woman's body was restored, flawless as before.

Meanwhile, Yan Jing spoke into the empty air, where nothing seemed to exist:

"Show the photos to Lord Ning."

"Iya iya~~"

The man in white silk was so excited he nearly jumped into the air.

It appeared!

It had to be that little brat holding the Video Camera from back then!!!

In a certain minimalist-style room.

Sitting on his bed, Ning Wei rubbed his eyes, staring at Xiao Xin who had suddenly appeared in front of him. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"These are the pfotos Zhu Leng wanted me to give you, ya! He wants you to look if there are any twaces of soul powel left here, ya!"

Xiao Xin's chubby little hands offered the freshly taken photos to Ning Wei.

Ning Wei looked at the bloody photos, then glanced at Xiao Xin and asked probingly, "Your master is..."

"I tan't tell you that, ya!"

Xiao Xin repeated her usual line. But remembering how the woman had cried last time, her eyes darted around, and she patted her little chest.

"I'm the mail delivewer, ya! I'm the new mail delivewer, ya!"

She had followed Ning Wei to the special prison cells before and knew that Ning Wei used to deliver letters for Yan Jing.

"It's him."

Ning Wei looked down at the photos in his hands, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Go back and ask your master: who is the person in these photos?"

"This clearly shows the physical manifestation of a massive amount of soul power taking residence inside a body. But ultimately, it was stripped away. No, not stripped—it's more akin to degradation."

"This kind of massive soul power infusion, followed by degradation, would very likely cause severe issues with that person's physical condition."

"And looking at this..."

Staring at the flesh and blood in the photos, his shock seemed to deepen until he finally shook his head.

"I've never seen such terrifying soul power. It's hard to imagine what kind of existence could house something like this. You could say this body has been completely eroded away."

"Talk slowel, ya! I tan't write it all down, ya!" Xiao Xin held a little notebook, her small hands scribbling away furiously.

After thinking for a moment, she asked an extra question on Yan Jing's behalf:

"You just thaid there would be isthues. What kind of isthues, ya?"

"There are many possibilities."

Ning Wei frowned.

"Physical weakness, chronic illness, an unstable foundation, inability to advance in cultivation, superhuman memory..."

"But the most important one is pain."

"He should be feeling pain every single second of every day."