"While you were dissecting a person earlier, did you notice anything unusual as well? Is that why you wanted to get to the bottom of it?"
Ding Ling did not answer the husband and wife, Su Quanzhong and Gao Yulan. Instead, he asked this question.
Su Quanzhong froze, then nodded without denying it:
"Whenever someone in the city commits a crime, I sentence them to death! Then I try to find something that distinguishes them from real humans. Unfortunately, after all these years, aside from the fact that they turn into Black Mist and disperse after death, unlike living people, I haven't been able to detect anything unusual in any other respect."
His cultivation was not particularly high, and the limits of his eyesight were low as well. It was understandable that he could only investigate this far.
That was what Ding Ling thought to himself before asking:
"Did Shen Yuan say anything?"
"No."
Su Quanzhong stared intently at Ding Ling:
"My lord, have you already noticed something wrong?"
Gao Yulan looked at Ding Ling nervously, her delicate hands anxiously clutching the hem of her clothes. She had used so much force that her hands had already gone pale.
"Indeed."
Ding Ling glanced at Gao Yulan and did not hide it from the couple:
"Your wife's soul is different from yours."
"...Everyone's soul is different."
Su Quanzhong was silent for a long while before replying.
Ding Ling neither agreed nor disagreed. He only said:
"But your wife's soul is too ethereal, almost illusory and unreal. It lacks the solidity and substance that your soul and mine possess. To put it simply, one is like earth that can be touched, while the other is like the moon reflected in water, which can only be seen."
"...So that's how it is."
Su