Chapter 436: A Heavy Sword Has No Edge, Yet Its Great Skill Lies in Simplicity

A few breaths later, four figures appeared before Yang Ling, two men and two women.

Judging from their Status Panels, all of them without exception came from Second-Rate sects.

One was a Monk from the Bitter Awareness Temple, Monk Mingfa.

One was from the Yellow Court Temple, one from the Abyss Sword Sect, and one from the Great Yan Sword Sect.

Yang Ling had seen the one from the Great Yan Sword Sect once before, back when Zhao Fu was chatting with her by the lakeside at the Great Yan Sword Sect.

This woman's cultivation was not weak, possessing Upper Sixth-Rank cultivation, but she hadn't broken through her life tribulation, so she hadn't reached the pinnacle of Upper Sixth-Rank.

As for the remaining three, the one from the Abyss Sword Sect was Mid Sixth-Rank.

The other two were both Lower Sixth-Rank.

While Yang Ling was sizing them up, they were also sizing him up, their expressions rather unpleasant.

"You four are the victims?"

Yang Ling withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and said calmly:

"Tell me, what did each of you lose?"

He had reviewed the records of these sects at the Ironclad Department.

Aside from the Great Yan Sword Sect hailing from Yunwen Provincial Capital, the remaining three sects were all located in Qi Heavenly Provincial Capital.

Monk Mingfa from the Bitter Awareness Temple said in a deep voice:

"This poor monk has lost three Foundation Consolidation Pills."

With that, he pointed at Lu Xiangdi:

"Your department's Director Wei Xing had someone search him and found this poor monk's Foundation Consolidation Pills."

The young man from the Yellow Court Temple said coldly:

"I lost a century-old rare exotic herb, a Purple Sun Flower."

He pointed at Sun Jiayi: "It was found on her, caught red-handed with the goods!"

The one from the Abyss Sword Sect pointed at Wang Baozhu:

"He stole twenty of my Spirit Nurturing Pills!"

The one from the Great Yan Sword Sect looked on coldly, casting a glance at Yang Yi:

"She stole ten of my Spirit Nurturing Pills."

"Utter bullshit!"

A furious roar stunned the four into speechlessness.

Yang Ling sneered: "All of you are Sixth-Rank experts, yet you don't carry your pills on you, leaving them all in your rooms waiting for these Ninth-Rank fellows to come steal them?

Are you all just dead weight? Are you stupid, or just malicious?"

The four looked at Yang Ling in disbelief, their faces cycling through shades of pale and red.

Quite a few onlookers showed thoughtful expressions in their eyes.

What he said made sense, sure, but they had personally witnessed the goods being found on the culprits.

Even if there were some issues with the case, without sufficient evidence, it would be impossible to exonerate those four.

"Chief Constable Yang, your words are rather biased. They are the victims here, so how can you be scolding the victims instead?"

"That's right, is this the Ironclad Department's method of solving cases? I don't think much of it. How is this any different from those muddled-headed City Magistrates?"

"So this is how the Ironclad Department handles cases? How amusing, how amusing."

One after another, cold taunts and mockeries rang out from all around.

The Ironclad agents present had rather unpleasant looks on their faces. These people all had status, so even if they spoke somewhat presumptuously, there wasn't much they could do about it.

They all looked toward Yang Ling, their gazes carrying a hint of displeasure.

Wei Xing smiled ambiguously: "Chief Constable Yang, I've reviewed the cases you've solved before, and you didn't just rely on smooth talk.

If you believe your subordinates haven't committed petty theft, then you need to produce concrete evidence that convinces everyone present.

Otherwise, won't our Ironclad Department become a place without credibility? How will we carry out our duties in the future?"

"Director Wei, no need to be hasty. I'm simply reminding these four to keep their belongings safe in the future, lest they be framed by petty thieves."

Yang Ling smiled at Wei Xing, then turned to look at Mingfa and the other three, his smile vanishing completely:

"You bunch of trash, how dare you call yourselves Sixth-Rank? You can't even protect your own Foundation Consolidation Pills, Spirit Nurturing Pills, and rare exotic herbs, and you expect to go kill Rong tribe warriors on Fire Flood Dragon Island?"

The four's expressions turned extremely ugly. They never expected that merely losing some belongings would invite such harsh criticism.

Wei Xing's brows furrowed deeply.

Not far away, two young men with extraordinary auras exchanged glances, watching the scene with great interest.

"Fifth Brother, what do you think Yang Ling is really up to? Does he think scolding Mingfa and the others will solve this problem?"

"This is someone that Fourth Brother values highly. I don't think it's that simple. Let's keep watching."

The other young man said thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Monk Mingfa from the Bitter Awareness Temple pressed his palms together, a hint of anger in his voice:

"Amitabha, Chief Constable Yang, why aren't you reprimanding and punishing the thieves, instead choosing to berate us victims?

May I ask what kind of reasoning this is?"

"Nothing special, I just felt like scolding you all."

Yang Ling flashed a grin. "Now tell me the whole story, including why you left your belongings in your rooms, how you later discovered they were missing, and how you caught Lu Xiangdi and the others."

"..."

Mingfa and the other three fell into silence for a moment.

"What? Can't answer the first question?"

Yang Ling chuckled.

Mingfa and the other three remained silent.

"Chief Constable Yang, we can put our belongings wherever we want. What does that have to do with this case?"

"Even if I placed my things on the ground, they still shouldn't have reached for them."

The one from the Great Yan Sword Sect spoke slowly.

"Fair enough, you've dodged that question. Tell me about the rest."

Yang Ling didn't dwell on the matter and asked casually.

The four's expressions grew increasingly ugly, as they could already see a hint of suspicion in the eyes of those around them.

Monk Mingfa quickly said:

"The four of us have known each other for years. After boarding this ship, we placed our valuables in our rooms. Today the weather cleared up, so we came out to chat for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"When we returned, this poor monk discovered his Foundation Consolidation Pills had vanished without a trace, so he reported the matter to Supervisor Nangong on the ship."

"At the same time, the other three also discovered they had lost their own belongings."

"Supervisor Nangong later questioned the Canal Workers under his command, and one Canal Worker said they saw these four loitering near our cabin. He immediately found them for questioning and simultaneously reported the matter to the Ironclad Department."

"The items found on them were personally searched out by your Ironclad Department's Director Wei Xing's orders."

"Under the public eye, how could they possibly be wronged?"

With that, Monk Mingfa fell silent.

Yang Ling looked toward the Water Transport Guild Supervisor Nangong Linghe, who had Upper Fifth-Rank cultivation.

Nangong Linghe smiled and nodded:

"Chief Constable Yang, what Monk Mingfa said is true. The entire process did indeed unfold exactly like that."

"Which Canal Worker saw them loitering outside the cabin doors of these four idiots?"

Yang Ling asked casually.

Nangong Linghe's expression turned rather strange as he glanced at Mingfa and the other three.

Those four's faces had turned pale with rage.

Many of the Sixth-Rank experts watching now wore grave expressions, frowning at Yang Ling.

His blunt and disrespectful manner of speech made them feel somewhat uncomfortable.

After all, they were also Sixth-Rank prodigies, and they too would be participating in this Sixth-Rank Top Hundred Battle.

This Yang Ling was looking down on people far too much!

Nangong Linghe said nothing more and waved over several Canal Workers:

"They're the ones who saw it. Chief Constable Yang can just ask them."

Those few Canal Workers stood before Yang Ling, their expressions somewhat guilty. Their Status Panels all showed levels, ranging from level 12 to level 18.

Their Class was Canal Worker, not Heretic Cultist.

They had cultivated unremarkable Internal Techniques and Martial Arts Techniques.

They could be considered a relatively capable handful among the players.

They knew that the person standing before them was none other than Yang Ling, ranked number one on the Divine Realm Level Ranking.

They were very nervous at first, but they quickly calmed down.

Yang Ling could clearly sense that their heartbeats and blood flow had gradually steadied.

"Someone is directing them through the Divine Realm Communication Channel."

Yang Ling made his judgment internally.

Right now, there was only one way to break through this situation.

He had to prove that these four witnesses' testimonies were invalid and figure out how those Foundation Consolidation Pills, rare exotic herbs, and Spirit Nurturing Pills had ended up on Lu Xiangdi and the others.

This wasn't a difficult task, but now he saw a breakthrough point.

These four players' Class was Canal Worker, not Heretic Cultist.

"So, there's only one method I can try."

[Yang Ling (Private chat): Tonight's Beginner Skeleton Cavern Dungeon, I'll take you all to get the rewards. In exchange, you honestly confess the whole matter. If you can clear Lu Xiangdi and the others of suspicion, each of you gets another ten thousand taels of silver.]

A heavy sword has no edge, great skill appears clumsy.