Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

The little demon was telling the truth, but the lieutenant didn't believe a word of it. He mocked, "Did you hear that? This little demon actually said he wanted to find a human cultivator to repay a debt of gratitude?"

He burst into exaggerated laughter, scrutinizing the little demon with a critical look, and sneered, "At least other fox spirits repaying kindness are women, but what kind of kindness do you, a male leopard, repay? If you're going to make up a lie, at least make it believable. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Along with his words came a heavy lash of the whip.

The little demon screamed in pain, choking out, "I... I'm not lying. I really just came to find someone. If you don't believe me, I can tell you what he looks like."

The lieutenant, too lazy to listen to his lies any longer, gave him two solid lashes with his whip. Seeing that the little demon was stubborn and wouldn't tell the truth, he angrily said, "If you don't talk, I'll whip you to death today. After you die, I'll peel off your demon core and send it to refine pills, so you won't even have a next life!"

The little demon was already weak, and after being whipped twice, he could no longer speak. He could only weakly say, "I didn't... I didn't lie."

He really just came to find someone.

No one believed him. The lieutenant hadn't gotten any useful information and was in a bad mood. He was thinking of lashing out with the whip a couple more times to vent his anger when the whip he was about to throw was caught by Manyue.

The lieutenant's expression changed slightly. He tried to pull the whip back, but failed. His cheek muscles twitched, and he said in a sarcastic tone, "What, is the human cultivator that little demon is looking for Miss Manyue?"

Full Moon disdained to lie, saying, "No. But if you whip him again, he will die."

The lieutenant said nonchalantly, "So what if he's dead? He's just a little demon. He'll have his demon core stripped off sooner or later anyway."

Full Moon stared at him intently and said, "Godfather said he wanted to get information out of this little demon. You couldn't get anything out of him, so you just killed him? Is this how you usually do your job?"

The deputy general was questioned repeatedly by the young girl, making him quite embarrassed.

But the fact remained that he hadn't gotten any information out of her, so he could only throw down the whip with a hint of resentment and say coldly, "Miss Manyue is very capable. Why don't you interrogate her yourself? Maybe you can get something out of her."

Full Moon ignored his words, glanced back at the dying little demon, and turned to leave the dungeon.

.

Meanwhile, Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian had just found an inn to stay at and were pondering what pretext to use to send a visiting card to the General's Mansion.

If he were an ordinary cultivator, he probably wouldn't even be qualified to step into the General's Mansion. After thinking it over, he decided it would be better to use his original identity to send out the invitation.

He was originally a pill cultivator and had made a name for himself in Fufeng City. If the General's Mansion had good information, they should have recognized him.

Given his current status, it's understandable that he might have heard of Miss Manyue's fame while passing through Xiliang City and sent a visiting card to request an audience out of curiosity.

After making up his mind, Xu Lingguang quickly drafted a letter, planning to visit the other party early the next morning.

But as the old saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes. When Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian arrived at the general's mansion with their invitations and saw it in chaos, they understood the meaning of that saying.

He truly hadn't expected things to turn out so unfortunately, and even suspected it might be an excuse from the General's Mansion to avoid receiving guests: "Miss Manyue has disappeared?"

The old steward's face, as white as a dried orange peel, was stern, with deep frown lines between his brows, making him appear very unapproachable: "Indeed, the young lady is young and has been kidnapped by treacherous demons. The general has already sent people to search for her everywhere. If Alchemist Xu has any news about the young lady, please be sure to come to the manor to inform her."

Xu Lingguang: "..."

He hadn't even asked the General's Mansion for his people yet, but the General's Mansion had already turned the tables and started asking him for them.

Xu Lingguang could only smile politely in agreement: "If there is any news, we will naturally inform your family immediately. But I wonder who those demons who kidnapped Miss Manyue are, that they have such abilities?"

The old steward said, "These days, demons from Wujian City often sneak into the city, but they are all captured by the patrolling soldiers and imprisoned in the dungeon. However, last night the dungeon guards made a mistake, and those demons took the opportunity to escape and also kidnapped Miss."

"The demons of the City of No Return?"

Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian exchanged a glance and said, "Thank you for informing us, but your household is going through a difficult time, so we will not disturb you any further."

The old steward politely saw the two off before returning to the main courtyard to report: "Have the people been sent away?"

"Yes, the other party was quite reasonable and did not cause any trouble."

Ge Wenhu said, "That's good. I've heard of Xu Lingguang before. It's said that he's backed by Qianjinlou. I didn't expect him to come looking for Manyue. It's best not to offend him if possible."

The old steward said, "But why is the general hiding the fact that Miss Manyue secretly released the demons?"

The statement just made was, of course, a whitewash to the outside world.

The truth is that he sneaked into the dungeon under the full moon last night, knocked out the dungeon guards, released the imprisoned demons, and then disappeared without a trace.

By the time they discovered the incident in the dungeon, it was already daylight, and naturally, no one could find any trace of it when they sent people to search.

Ge Wenhu was furious when he learned the news, but for some reason he ordered everyone not to keep quiet and to tell the outside world that the demons had broken out of prison and kidnapped the young lady.

Ge Wenhu sneered: "I have my own plans. You issue the order to seal the city gates and send more men. You must bring back the escaped demon and the young lady."

Although he knew that Manyue was not a docile lamb, Ge Wenhu never expected that Manyue would be so rebellious as to release the demon race.

If I hadn't actually explored the other person's inner chambers when I saved them, I would now suspect that they were actually a demon in disguise.

Instead of being the proper young lady of the General's Mansion, she chooses to associate with the lowly demon race.

Ge Wenhu clenched the thumb ring, gritted his teeth, and whispered, "Manyue, I'm giving you one last chance."

On the other side, Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian left the general's mansion and casually found a restaurant to sit down: "What do you think?"

Lan Jian said, "Judging from the way they're sealing off the city gates, it's probably true that the demon race has broken out of prison, but it's not necessarily true that Manyue has been taken hostage."

Xu Lingguang thought so too: "Putting aside the heavy guards and defensive formations of the dungeon, after those demons went through so much trouble to escape, instead of fleeing for their lives, they broke into the heavily guarded general's mansion and kidnapped the young lady of the general's mansion. No matter how you look at it, this reason doesn't make sense."

"Moreover, the city gates were only sealed after daybreak, which means that the General's Mansion did not discover the demon race's escape immediately, unless Man Yue was not abducted from the General's Mansion."

But it's already strange for a young girl not to be home late at night.

"Unless she happens to be in the dungeon."

"Perhaps she released those demons."

Xu Lingguang and Lan Jian said in unison.