"The matter of the Ghost Killing Sect’s annihilation?"

Xu Shu rubbed his chin, naturally aware that Xiao Ya wasn’t genuinely asking him, but rather just casually bringing up the topic.

After all, it was precisely because the once-exterminated Ghost Killing Sect revived from the ashes and secretly caused trouble in the Judgement Department’s residential area, triggering the subsequent city-wide security sweep by the department—serving as the catalyst.

"What do you mean?" Xu Shu followed up with another question.

"You mentioned Hong Jun to me, which reminded me of something." Xiao Ya’s eyes gleamed. "Years ago, the Ghost Killing Sect was wiped out for being too aggressive, and this was close in time to the Jing Wang Mansion tragedy. Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember, I’m not a fish." Xu Shu rolled his eyes and after thinking for a moment, said, "You mean Jing Wang Mansion was actually the Ghost Killing Sect’s headquarters?"

"?" Xiao Ya was momentarily stunned, "Why would you think that?"

Xu Shu: "Weren’t you leading me to that conclusion? Look, the Ghost Killing Sect was destroyed, and Jing Wang Mansion was destroyed too; the Ghost Killing Sect had a grudge against Living Cultivators, so it stands to reason that Jing Wang Mansion’s extermination by a tiger had to do with Living Cultivators too. So doesn’t Ghost Killing Sect equal Jing Wang Mansion?"

"...Wow, with the logic you just laid out, even I think it’s plausible."

Xu Shu smiled smugly: "Right? I’m quite the master of deduction!"

"You wish! How could the Ghost Killing Sect possibly care about the lives of commoners! And didn’t I tell you that Jing Wang Mansion belonged to my mother!" Xiao Ya jumped up angrily and fiercely knocked Xu Shu’s knee.

Xu Shu rubbed his knee, feeling rather helpless: "Alright, so what exactly are you trying to say? Can you deal with the person ranked fourth or not? If you can’t handle her, just say so, and I’ll leave early, don’t drag me down to death."

Xiao Ya frowned: "Why are young people so afraid of dying these days?"

Xu Shu flared up instantly: "It’s easy for you to talk, you send a puppet, you don’t fear death, I came in person, our Dragon Elephant lives are lives too. Forget it, no point arguing, I’m leaving."

With that, he motioned to jump out of the vehicle.

"Don’t go, don’t go, hear me out."

Xiao Ya quickly held onto Xu Shu’s leg, seeing him stop though visibly displeased, she continued, "Ahem, this is a long story, I’ll be brief. Here’s the thing, the Ghost Killing Sect’s way of doing things was even more ruthless than Annihilation Association, they once took the children of opponents hostage to force a Living Cultivator to commit crimes, causing the death of thousands of innocent civilians in an attempt to demonstrate ’Living Cultivators are utterly immoral, Living Cultivators should have their legacies cut off,’ which triggered their destruction by mysterious prowess."

"So?" Xu Shu frowned, "Can you focus on the key points? You keep saying the Ghost Killing Sect was exterminated—what does that have to do with me? And aren’t they potentially not completely dead yet?"

As soon as he said that, Xiao Ya chimed in, "Ah yes, yes! That’s the critical point. Precisely because the Ghost Killing Sect wasn’t wiped out completely, you must not back down, this matter you have to pursue to the end, Brother Xu Shu!"

Xu Shu: "Are you nuts, what the hell does this have to do with me, I’m not a Living Cultivator?"

"No, this really concerns you!" Xiao Ya shook her head.

"Hmm?"

"Don’t rush, let me explain." Xiao Ya, though young, adopted a mature posture.

This time, she laid enough groundwork, so she stopped playing games, counting her slender fingers and said: "Look, the reason the Ghost Killing Sect was exterminated was using Living Cultivators to commit crimes that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, right?"

"Hmm."

"Jing Wang Mansion was exterminated by Living Cultivators’ tiger, right?"

"Hmm."

"The Liu Family’s Family Head, Liu Yuan from Luling Platform, was once the ’Tiger Head Badge’ Department Head! You know, if the Living Cultivator’s name tag directly includes an animal, it represents their kind of Deceitful Servant, right?"

"Hmm."

"And Liu Yuan’s Deceitful Servant is a kind of tiger, right?"

"Uh...oh!"

Xu Shu leaned back slightly, having listened to Xiao Ya’s chain of questions reminiscent of solving an elementary word problem, he suddenly understood, "I get it, you mean the Living Cultivator who was coerced into slaughtering innocents by the Ghost Killing Sect was ’Tiger Head Badge’ Department Head Liu Yuan? Jing Wang Mansion was indeed destroyed by Liu Yuan?"

Xiao Ya snapped her fingers with a smile: "Exactly! Smart! Seems like you’re not foolish!"

"Not right." Xu Shu suddenly shook his head.

Xiao Ya asked: "What’s not right again? Don’t interrupt, I haven’t finished yet."

"No, no, let me speak first because there’s something wrong with what you just said. Firstly, Liu Yuan’s Deceitful Servant isn’t a tiger but a hedgehog. A hedgehog that looks like an old cat-faced woman with white fur." Xu Shu said. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Xiao Ya was momentarily dumbfounded: "Huh? How do you know his Deceitful Servant is Shezhenpo? This is something only a handful know."

"A friend told me." Xu Shu thought about it, then asked curiously, "Shezhenpo?"

"Yes. The breed you mentioned, the white-furred hedgehog, is Shezhenpo, a third-stage alien species that enjoys eating infants’ hair." Xiao Ya studied Xu Shu with suspicion, "Didn’t your contact explain clearly? Strange, they know the embodiment of Old Lady Bai, how can they not recognize it? This guy seems so weird... he gives me a vibe that’s both knowledgeable and foolish... who is he? Is he reliable?"

"Ahem, reliable, just not very skilled, merely blended in to scout for me, perhaps not well-informed." Xu Shu laughed it off.

"I see." Xiao Ya nodded thoughtfully, then continued, "So back to the point, Liu Yuan, as the Tiger Head Badge Department Head, naturally among his Deceitful Servants is a tiger, and it’s a rather rare bloodline, known as the [Gold-Eyed White Tiger], an Alien Species Earl.