One day later, Sixth Master saw Adair again. This time, however, Adair’s arrogance was gone, replaced by a disheveled and pathetic appearance.
“Huff, huff, huff. I’m utterly exhausted,” Adair gasped.
Adair scrambled up, breathless, then collapsed directly onto the ground, looking as if he had barely escaped drowning.
Behind Adair, Ye Xi elegantly sprang up. She was the polar opposite of the unsightly Adair, moving with an effortless grace as if nothing had happened.
This left Sixth Master somewhat perplexed. ‘Was it a case of the ox plowing the field, but the field wasn’t plowed well, and the ox was spent?’ he wondered.
Ye Xi nudged the prone Adair with her foot. “Hey, you look too pathetic. Get up.”
Adair responded weakly, “I can’t go on. Let me rest for a bit. Running all that way, and then having to climb a mountain in this gear. Seriously, just let me catch my breath.”
“How useless,” Ye Xi remarked, casually tossing a sack onto the ground.
Only then did Sixth Master notice that this beautiful woman had carried a sack nearly her own size up the cliff, and it clearly wasn’t light.
An old man tumbled out of the sack. Upon seeing him, Sixth Master was first dumbfounded, then gritted his teeth. “You damnable old scoundrel! I #%&¥!”
Sixth Master limped over to the old steward, kicking and striking him.
The old steward, with his hands and feet bound and his mouth stuffed with cloth, could do nothing but groan ‘mmm, mmm, mmm’ in desperate pleas for mercy against Sixth Master’s abuse and blows.
Adair, still lying on the ground, glanced at Sixth Master. “That’s enough venting. Don’t go too far. If he dies, you won’t live either.”
“Right, right,” Sixth Master quickly agreed. With his own life at stake, he reined himself in significantly, noticeably lessening his force and avoiding any vital areas.
Ye Xi paid no mind to the commotion. She squatted down, produced a foxtail grass from somewhere, and began to playfully brush it across Adair’s face, making him squirm with itchiness.
Adair asked, bewildered, “What are you doing?”
“Killing time.”
Adair grimaced. “…Then why are you tormenting me?”
Ye Xi pondered for a moment. “A whim. I find your pained expression rather amusing.”
Adair sensed trouble. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, have you awakened some terrifying new attribute?! Stop playing around. Shouldn’t you be giving me a comfortable massage right now to speed up my recovery?”
“That was the original plan, but then I remembered you’re a genuine full-body pervert, and I felt a bit disgusted.”
To defend his right to a massage, Adair argued fiercely, “Don’t be like that! I only have a few impure thoughts occasionally. Haven’t I never acted on them?”
“You wanted my feet not long ago.”
“Look at me now! Haven’t I already been punished?”
“But now, any physical contact with you makes me feel sick, like reaching out to touch a maggot.”
Adair exclaimed, “We’re all men here! What are you imagining? Hurry up, it’s just a massage. If you don’t think about it and I don’t think about it, then we’re innocent.”
Sixth Master was momentarily stunned. ‘What in the world are those two ancestors talking about?’ he wondered.
“…” Ye Xi swept the foxtail grass across Adair’s nose, making him unbearably itchy. “So, when things are unfavorable to you, I’m a man, but if there’s an advantage to be gained, I’m a woman?”
“Precisely!”
Adair managed to give a thumbs up.
“Scum!”
Ye Xi bent his thumb backward.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
****
Ultimately, Ye Xi only gave Adair some nutritional fluid to boost his physical recovery. She did not grant his wish for a massage, nor did she even remove his heavy gear.
After a short rest, and with the aid of the Living Jade and nutritional fluid, Adair regained some strength. He stood up, aching, and looked at Sixth Master, who was sitting on the ground, winded from his earlier exertions. “Feel better?”
Sixth Master responded fawningly, “Thank you, sir, for helping me vent my anger.”
“I wasn’t trying to help you,” Adair said, stepping forward. He removed the cloth from the old steward’s mouth, allowing him to breathe.
The old steward was already advanced in years, had been tormented since the previous night, and then beaten by Sixth Master. He was utterly dispirited.
His vision was blurred by the harsh sunlight, but he still recognized Adair as the one who had abducted him that day. Yet, the voice sounded oddly familiar.
“What exactly do you want, honored sir? Bringing my old bones to this desolate place can’t just be for this brute to vent his frustrations, can it?”
The old steward had naturally noticed that Sixth Master was also dusty, disheveled, and in a sorry state. Adair’s tone toward Sixth Master was utterly disrespectful and arrogant, suggesting he wasn’t an invited guest either.
Adair praised him, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. As expected of someone who has served as a steward in the Baron’s manor for so many years. Look at this composure, calm in the face of danger. Far better than this dog-headed strategist beside me. Since the old steward is so sharp, why don’t you guess who I am?”
The old steward looked at Sixth Master, then recalled recent events, frowning. “Could you be from Jinming Village, honored sir?”
“Yes and no.”
Adair’s lips curved into a smile. “Never mind, I won’t trouble the old steward’s mind. After all, you thought so highly of me, even promising to make me your successor and a dog to that fat pig.”
The old steward looked puzzled. “Hm?!”
But when he saw the Living Jade Adair produced, his aged face instantly darkened.
The old steward exclaimed, “It’s you, Pete?! I should have known! I never should have trusted a treacherous scoundrel like you. Hey, Six, this is the man you brought along, even giving him a letter to infiltrate the Baron’s manor. Now we’ve both fallen into his hands! Young man, I’m telling you, even if you drag this old man here, you won’t gain the Baron’s trust. Other old geezers will ostracize you. Why don’t you release me? I swear I won’t pursue this matter, and I’ll even help you rise to power.”
“Pfft!” x2
The old steward stared in astonishment at the two individuals roaring with laughter: Adair and Sixth Master.
Sixth Master’s heart was filled with bitterness, but hearing his former rival’s self-important blustering filled him with a sense of schadenfreude.
Sixth Master cursed spitefully, “You snob, still thinking of helping others become dogs! Look at this lord’s demeanor; how could he be one of those lowly people?!”
As he cursed, Sixth Master didn’t forget to flatter Adair, striving to save his own skin.
Adair’s laughter gradually subsided. The old steward, seeing this, continued to ponder, tentatively asking, “Could you be the Tiger Head from Jinming Village, honored sir?”
“Currently, yes. Alright, stop guessing; it’s useless. I’m asking you: who exactly are the people beneath the Baron’s abandoned backyard? How did Quentin connect with them? And what do they plan to do with those funds?”
Adair’s barrage of questions caught the old steward off guard. He hadn’t expected Adair to ask about these matters, assuming it would be about the Baron’s treasures or similar.
The old steward’s expression became conflicted; he seemed unwilling to cooperate, wanting to demonstrate his integrity to Adair. He met Adair’s gaze with firm, unyielding eyes, saying nothing.
Adair, unfazed, tossed a small knife to Sixth Master. “Stab him in the thigh.”
“Alright!” Sixth Master exclaimed, delighted, then eagerly plunged the knife into the old steward’s thigh.
The old steward shrieked, “Ah! Damn you, Six! The Baron is your relative! Do you know how much trouble you’ll bring him by doing this?!”
“Trouble my ass! I don’t know anything! All I know is that I recovered his lost property from the manor, and then he sent me into a den of bandits as a spy, a place where I almost died!”
With that, Sixth Master, still unsatisfied, stabbed the old steward in the other leg.
Adair watched this dog-eat-dog scene and chuckled. “Can you answer my questions now?”
The old steward remained defiant. “The Baron won’t let you get away with this!”
Adair scoffed, “Apologies, but *I* don’t plan to let *him* get away with this. Cut off his left pinky finger.”
Sixth Master delivered another brutal stab, and the old steward shrieked once more.
Adair spoke with chilling cruelty, “Honestly, you force me to do these unpleasant things. But there’s no other way. To deal with scum like you, sometimes you have to be worse, more ruthless. I used to be a good person who couldn’t stand the sight of blood, but that only led to being bullied by you beasts. You still have nine fingers and ten toes. I can cut them off one by one. After that, you still have your limbs. And after that, I still have salt, wine, and chili water to pour on your wounds. Don’t worry, the lady beside me is an experienced killer. She can guarantee that an interrogation subject will remain alive until they’ve answered all questions.”
The old steward’s eyes finally lost their resolve; fear spread through his heart. Yet, he was also paralyzed by another kind of terror, preventing him from speaking the truth.
He cried out, weeping, “Please, sir, just let me go. I truly cannot speak. If I tell you about those people—no, those devils—they will make my life worse than death. I really don’t want to become that kind of inhuman monster.”
Watching the old steward kowtow repeatedly, Adair frowned. “Are you talking about the Keras Cult?”
The old steward looked at Adair in astonishment, wondering how he knew.
“It seems so,” Adair said calmly. “Don’t worry. As long as you speak the truth you know, I can arrange for the Grand Cathedral to offer you protection, or have them send you to another country so those cultists won’t find you.”
“But, but…”
The old steward still hesitated, so Adair delivered the final blow.
Adair said grimly, “By the way, you’re afraid they’ll make your life worse than death, but aren’t you afraid *we’ll* make your life worse than death? Don’t forget who has you in their hands. Ye Xi, how about you demonstrate your professional interrogation techniques? It shouldn’t be difficult, right?”
Ye Xi, leaning against the wall, calmly replied, “Dealing with this kind of trash isn’t difficult. He probably wouldn’t even pass the first stage, which was formerly reserved for national-level spies.”
Ye Xi’s cold, indifferent tone, devoid of any fluctuation, exuded a chilling aura from the netherworld. Despite the scorching sun, the old steward felt no warmth; the icy cold pierced deep into his bones, making it impossible for him to breathe.
The old steward’s mind began to crumble, filled with overwhelming dread.
On one side was a slim chance of survival; on the other, immediate torment worse than death.
This time, the old steward dared not procrastinate further. He immediately confessed, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Sir, whatever you ask, I will answer everything I know. Please, just keep your promise, I beg you!”
The submissive old steward repeatedly knocked his head against the ground, while Adair yawned.
“You could have just done that from the beginning.”