Soul Searching

The Spirit Severing Array, shrouded beneath the curtain of night, appeared especially dim and black.

Xie Xuanyi's white robes stood starkly out of place amid the pitch-black surroundings...

The origin energy spilling from the Azure Origin Pills revolved around him, casting layer upon layer of resplendent divine light.

Xu You, covered head to toe in blood, looked especially miserable beneath that divine radiance.

"Great Chu's appointed officials must undergo the scrutiny of the nation's sacred artifact, the Primal Chaos Monitor. Every move you make within the city is watched by the Imperial City Bureau of Central Province... That was why you chose to act outside the city, wasn't it?"

Xie Xuanyi took a strip of white silk from his robes and wiped the bloodstained filth from his hand. In a soft voice, he said, "But I cannot understand it. You are the dignified deputy city lord of Taian City—why stoop so low? I merely took five of your Azure Origin Pills. Was that enough for you to set up the Spirit Severing Array and take my life?"

"Heh..."

Xu You stared fixedly at Xie Xuanyi and could not help letting out a mocking laugh.

"It seems those Azure Origin Pills truly are precious to you."

Xie Xuanyi crouched before Xu You and said calmly, "But that was not your true purpose, was it? You wanted my life. Why?"

"There is no why."

Xu You sneered. "If I want to kill you, do I need a reason?"

Xie Xuanyi smiled faintly, without anger.

Xu You was in dreadful condition now. He had breath going in, but none coming out.

It had truly been too long since he had gotten serious.

Just now, he had failed to restrain himself and struck a little too heavily. A few more blows, and he might have sent this fellow soaring to immortality on the spot.

"The one behind you is not Great Chu, is it?"

Xie Xuanyi suddenly said this.

"From the moment I entered through Fengsui City, I began to have my suspicions. There may have been no flaws to pick apart in the incident at Lingluo Mountain, but the traces of deliberate design were far too obvious. Where in this world were there so many coincidences? A distressed young lady repeatedly throwing herself into my arms—Shen Yan had escaped death once already. What made her so certain I had the ability to bring her into the city? And what made her think those people from the Deng Household were good people?"

Xie Xuanyi sighed softly. "Though I do not know which 'Venerable One' from the Demon Kingdom stands behind you, this trap was not laid carefully enough. A woman who had exhausted every scheme just to stay alive would not trust anyone. Those who believed that 'there are many good people in the world' could not have survived in Northern Prefecture. They would have long been buried beneath Fengsui City."

Xu You's expression turned extremely ugly.

At this moment, silence spoke louder than words.

"So it was true... After all these years, the Demon Kingdom still could not forget Northern Prefecture and Azure Prefecture."

Xie Xuanyi looked into Xu You's eyes and spoke gently. "How about we make a deal? In Xie Zhen's name, I guarantee that so long as you reveal the honorific title of the master behind you, I will spare your life. What happened tonight will be treated as though it never occurred."

"Is that... true?"

The moment those words were spoken, Xu You fell silent.

He sized up the white-robed youth, and a flicker of hesitation plainly passed through his eyes.

Xie Xuanyi smiled. "Guaranteed genuine."

"Come closer."

After a moment, Xu You spoke hoarsely, gesturing for Xie Xuanyi to move nearer.

Xie Xuanyi approached with a beaming smile.

It was said to be slow, but happened in a flash.

Xu You pulled out a long, slender object from his robes and stabbed it toward Xie Xuanyi!

It was precisely the token Shen Yan had risked her life to deliver!

A section of finger bone.

As Xu You poured origin energy into it, the withered black finger bone abruptly turned snowy white!

The night curtain of the Spirit Severing Array was torn apart in an instant. An incomparably terrifying and majestic force gathered in the valley. That finger bone seemed to become an unbelievably sharp sword, and wherever its tip pointed, space shattered!

Rip!

Scalding, snow-white origin energy tore through the Spirit Severing Array. The array markings, once formed, were incredibly sturdy and almost impossible to destroy from within, yet a long, narrow opening was ripped through them. The origin energy of heaven and earth streamed endlessly into the array markings. Amid that piercing tearing sound, the ink-black night scattered specks of faint starlight.

Along with specks of crimson blood.

Xie Xuanyi turned his head expressionlessly and looked at the shattered fabric over his right shoulder.

His white robes had been dyed red with blood—but only dyed red with blood.

That thrust had been terrifying.

But unfortunately, it had not landed true.

Xie Xuanyi had reacted faster than Xu You. From beginning to end, he had never relaxed his vigilance, nor had he believed this Demon Race spy would so easily reveal the secret of the one directing him from behind... The instant the finger bone's light burst forth, he had already dodged and responded. Yet that strike had been far too fast. At such close range, a chunk of flesh had been scraped from Xie Xuanyi's shoulder.

But now... everything had reached its true end.

Xie Xuanyi seized Xu You's wrist.

His five fingers tightened.

Crack!

Xu You howled in agony. His wrist was completely broken!

The finger bone fell to the ground with a clatter. Once it lost Xu You's infusion of origin energy, it swiftly changed from snowy white back into dull black.

So this was the true source of my unease?

Xie Xuanyi picked up the finger bone and examined it closely. A moment later, he smiled. "This is what Shen Yan was supposed to deliver, isn't it?"

"???"

Xu You's face turned deathly pale—not from the pain, but from what Xie Xuanyi said next.

"There was a talisman stuck to Shen Yan's calf. It looked like a Thousand-Mile Talisman, but it actually contained fluctuations of origin energy from other array markings. To investigate it, one would have to tear off the talisman..."

Xie Xuanyi said indifferently, "I believe I told you that I know a little about talismans. From the first moment we met, I noticed something strange about that talisman. But I could hardly ask Miss Shen to strip naked and lie on the bed for an inspection... Still, when I saw the Eight Hundred Li Forbidden Zone in Azure Prefecture, I suddenly guessed how that talisman was meant to be used."

"The most likely use of that talisman was to 'smuggle forbidden goods.'"

"Now, the truth is already very clear."

"The Demon Race had an important object that urgently needed to be sent into Azure Prefecture—but the existence of the Eight Hundred Li Forbidden Zone made the possibility of Demon Cultivators crossing the border infinitely close to zero. The Demon Kingdom could only dispatch trusted humans to carry the forbidden object secretly across the border. At the very least, when facing inspections at the frontier, their racial identity would not be suspected."

"After crossing the border, they would make the handoff."

"You are clearly the deputy city lord of Taian City, yet you did not dare receive Shen Yan. That was because the Imperial City Bureau's Primal Chaos Monitor watched Taian City at all times. Whether you went out of the city to meet her or assigned subordinates to escort her... the Primal Chaos Monitor would notice. This token must be extremely important, right? The one behind you did not want the escorting process to suffer even the slightest mishap, so they came up with this method."

Xie Xuanyi said quietly, "No matter how powerful the Primal Chaos Monitor is, it cannot keep watch over every ordinary person entering and leaving Azure Prefecture. Having Miss Shen 'deliver the goods' was the safest and most concealed approach."

"You, you, you..."

Xu You looked at the white-robed youth before him, his lips trembling without stop. "Just... who are you?"

Xie Xuanyi chuckled softly.

He crouched down and said calmly, "Believe me, you would not want to know."

One hand gently pressed down upon Xu You's head.

This time was different from before.

This time, Xie Xuanyi's palm moved lightly, like a straw softly falling onto Xu You's head.

Yet the terror Xu You felt within his heart this time surpassed every previous occasion.

"Soul Searching... You want to Soul Search me?"

Soul Searching.

One of the most notorious techniques in the cultivation world, if not the most notorious.

Soul Searching was exceedingly difficult to perform. It was simply impossible to use it during battle... Even the most evil, darkest, and most desperate ghost cultivators usually only performed Soul Searching on those close to "death."

Because it was a technique that immersed one's own divine soul into another person's mind.

Once one hit a wall—

The caster's divine sense would shatter into pieces, and their Soul Sea would collapse completely. But if it succeeded, the caster would see the fragments of memory hidden deep within the Soul-Searched person's heart.

The higher one's divine soul realm, and the greater the gap between the two divine souls, the greater the chance that Soul Searching would succeed...

But whether it succeeded or failed, it would inflict devastating damage upon the Soul Sea of the person being Soul Searched!

"I am sorry, but I have never performed Soul Searching on 'people.'"

Xie Xuanyi looked down coldly at the man before him.

He spoke calmly.

"But you have already pledged allegiance to the Demon Kingdom, haven't you?"

Could one who had pledged allegiance to the Demon Kingdom still be considered human?

Xie Xuanyi's palm descended gently.

"...Aah!!!"

Xu You let out a miserable scream. Both hands clutched his face, his ten fingers sinking in and pinching out lines of blood.

The veins on his forehead bulged, and it was as though the crown of his head had been caught in a vortex.

Surging origin energy gathered at his forehead.

Faintly, a weak "humanoid soul spirit" could be seen condensing in Xie Xuanyi's palm.