Attempting to Mutate Martial Souls

Bang!

Zhao Fu, determined to kill himself, did not bite through his tongue. Instead, he smashed his head hard against the ice.

"Patriarch Zhao, be careful. What if you knock out your teeth?" Tang Ling said gently, holding up her right hand without lowering her gaze from the floating ice block above it.

"No matter what you want to know, I won't say a word!" Zhao Fu spat out the ice shards in his mouth, shouting with his tongue numb from the cold.

"You don't need to speak. I have my own methods." Tang Ling slowly rose to her feet and raised a hand, placing a barrier around the room.

She then stopped before Zhao Fu and pressed a hand atop his head. The next second, Zhao Fu was pinned firmly to the chair by an invisible force.

Not long after, Tang Ling slowly withdrew the Soul Search Technique after obtaining her answers. She pursed her slightly pale lips and raised her hand to remove the barrier.

"Senior Sister, are you all right?" Tang San had long grown accustomed to her methods, yet he looked at Tang Ling's complexion with concern.

Tang Ling braced herself against the table, closed her eyes, and shook her head. "I'm fine. A-Xuan, don't worry."

Though curious, Xue Qingxi wisely did not step forward to ask. Instead, he went to the other side of the room, brought over a cup of warm water, and handed it to Tang San.

Tang San swiftly took it and held it out to Tang Ling. "Senior Sister, drink some water. It'll settle you."

Tang Ling opened her eyes at his words, took the cup, and sipped from it. Slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air, she sighed inwardly. Soul searching truly was unpleasant work, especially when searching a soul this foul.

Tang Ling shuddered, took another sip of water, and tried her best to ignore the reeking stench and clammy sensation from moments ago.

"Qingxi, we've already learned everything we need. Notify the Notting City garrison and have them imprison these people. Enter from the rear—don't disturb the students." After finishing her water, Tang Ling looked at the cautious Xue Qingxi beside her and gave her orders.

"Yes, Teacher. Then we'll administer Tendon Weakening Powder and imprison them for life." Xue Qingxi agreed, watching Tang Ling's expression as he spoke.

Tang Ling nodded in satisfaction and said softly, "That will do. Go handle it, and take Xue Qi with you. We'll discuss the rest tonight."

Seeing the color return to Tang Ling's face, Xue Qingxi let out a breath of relief. Then, smiling brightly, he accepted the task and headed toward the rear courtyard.

"Senior Sister, should we head back too?" Tang San looked at the two unconscious men before asking Tang Ling for her opinion.

Tang Ling nodded and looked toward the silent Tang Jiukong. "Jiu Kong, wait here for a while. Nolan should be back soon.

"I left him a letter. Give it to him, and he'll know what to do. Once he's made the arrangements, return to the small courtyard on your own.

"You know the way, right?"

"I do, Miss. Thank you, Miss. Please go back and rest." Tang Jiukong lowered his head in reply, his hoarse voice brimming with excitement.

Tang Ling smiled and nodded. Then she pulled over the notebook on Nolan's desk, picked up a brush, wrote a line, and handed it to Tang Jiukong.

Tang Jiukong quickly accepted it after seeing it, gratefully clutching the ordinary-looking letter that was worth a fortune.

Once Tang Ling saw him take it, she pulled Tang San from the office and quickly headed downstairs.

"Whew! I finally feel alive again! That man's soul was dark and foul—I could still vaguely smell it even after withdrawing the Soul Search Technique!" Tang Ling stepped through the gate separating the front and rear courtyards, deeply inhaling the rich scent of vegetation from the rear courtyard.

"Then next time, should we interrogate them directly? I have tools specially made for the Tang Sect." Tang San looked at Tang Ling with heartache and made a suggestion.

"Fine!" Tang Ling agreed without hesitation. "This time, the situation was urgent. We finally had a lead, and he was determined to die rather than cooperate.

"But fortunately, though the process was difficult, the result was good."

"Which faction was controlling things from behind the scenes?" Tang San stepped forward and pushed open the small courtyard's gate, asking as he walked.

Tang Ling followed him inside, turned her head to instruct Roger to prepare a late-night snack, then led the others to lounge on the living room sofa. In a cold voice, she said, "He was only at the very bottom and didn't know much.

"However, from the evil technique he obtained, I managed to piece together part of what the faction behind him intended to do."

"That faction wants to mutate Martial Souls, turning useless Martial Souls into rare ones." Tang Ling tilted her head, her eyes filled with icy coldness, before she scoffed. "What wishful thinking.

"Martial Souls are innate. Even sacrifice cannot accomplish such a thing!

"Zhao Fu believed his son's Martial Soul was useless, so he offered up the people they required in exchange for a cultivation technique for Zhao Qian."

"No wonder he supported the work-study students in Notting City!" Tang San frowned in horror, his tone icy. "Senior Sister, did you see where they made their transactions?"

"It was in the Zhao Clan's basement. There should be a Blood Pool inside.

"Zhao Qian cultivated there every time. He was lazy by nature, and after cultivating for so long, he had only managed to form one Blood Bead. He hid it in his body and could throw it out at the right moment to save his life.

"And that man told Zhao Fu that with prolonged cultivation, the Martial Soul's power would increase and it would definitely mutate."

Tang Ling explained coldly. Then she let out a faint sigh. None of this had happened before the reset. Could it be that the contamination left behind by the foreign Heavenly Dao was not limited to what surrounded the Son of the Heavenly Dao?

With that thought, Tang Ling quickly stood and headed upstairs. "A-Xuan, tell Qingxi about this when he returns, then send a flying letter to Uncle and have him keep an eye out. I have something to do."

"Got it, Senior Sister!" Tang San answered loudly as he watched her retreating figure, understanding the importance of the matter.

He then sat cross-legged on the sofa, cultivating as he waited for the others to return.

Elsewhere.

"Little Heavenly Dao, stop sleeping. Hurry and take a look at your worldline!" Tang Ling pulled the little sphere from her spatial storage and looked at it with a serious expression.

The drowsy Little Heavenly Dao heard her last sentence and instantly bounced into the air, grabbing Tang Ling and dragging her into the void.

"What is it? What happened to my worldline? Why are there gray patches in my worldline?!" Little Heavenly Dao stared at the scattered gray spots in the void and cried out in alarm.

"If I knew, why would I be calling you? Hurry and trace what happened." Tang Ling raised a hand to hold down the excited sphere as it flailed about, pointing at the innermost gray speck.

Little Heavenly Dao immediately pulled out the timeline and carefully examined it, comparing it against the course of the world before the reset, which had been orchestrated by the foreign Heavenly Dao.

"It was him! My son's father was behind this!" Little Heavenly Dao suddenly pointed in a direction and shouted, motioning Tang Ling closer to look. "The world trajectory of that bad thing had its biases. Before the reset, Tang Hao was labeled one of the righteous because he was Tang San's father.

"In this life, without the Son of the Heavenly Dao's protection, his deeds were exposed."

"To develop the Clear Sky Sect, he not only pursued a relationship with a Soul Beast in an attempt to obtain a Spirit Ring, but also secretly raised inheritors of the pure-blooded Clear Sky Hammer!

"He's utterly insane! And Qian Xunji too—they weren't enemies at all, but partners!" Little Heavenly Dao furiously accused them as it traced along the timeline.

"Then Tang Jiukong is a child of the Clear Sky Sect?" Tang Ling arched a brow in amusement and spoke faintly.

"Yes, yes! How does Little Ling'er want to handle it?" Little Heavenly Dao looked at Tang Ling and asked for her opinion.

"Of course, we'll raise him properly. I'm rather looking forward to seeing that child Jiu Kong overturn the Clear Sky Sect." Tang Ling gazed with great interest at Tang Hao's twisted face within the timeline.

"I'll listen to you!" Little Heavenly Dao nodded heavily, then began to giggle as it imagined the scene.

"Are the other gray spots because of this too?" After it finished laughing, Tang Ling pointed to the other gray specks and asked.

"No, but these gray spots have no source that can be traced." Little Heavenly Dao muttered dejectedly as it continued flipping through the timeline.

"Check Qian Xunji." Tang Ling pondered for a moment upon hearing that, then pointed toward a name belonging to someone already dead.

Little Heavenly Dao quickly searched through the timeline. Upon seeing the result, it instantly sucked in a sharp breath. "He's already dead—how could he still affect so many people?"

"Someone must be spreading it under his name. Compile the names of these gray spots, and I'll have someone investigate their connections." Tang Ling looked gravely at the gray contamination points scattered across different places.

Then, seeing that Little Heavenly Dao's power had not increased, she let out a faint sigh.

Feeling her gaze, Little Heavenly Dao cried out guiltily, "I'll cultivate properly! Next time, I'll definitely be able to help you trace the karmic lines!"

With that, it plunged headfirst into the timeline, trying its best to ignore the laughter behind it.