The Heavenly Prison's third underground level, Punishment Hall.
Fang Mo sat on an old wooden chair. On the stone table before him lay the section of glasslike hair crown and a strand of silvery-white hair.
He had taken the hair out of the copper tube and placed it at the very center of the stone table. The lingering Divine Soul presence on its surface gave off an exceedingly faint fluorescence in the dim lamplight.
Nian Nu'er's voice rose from his Soul Depth.
"My lord, the soul presence on this strand of hair has already begun to fade. If you don't act now, it will dissipate completely in half a day."
"I know."
Fang Mo extended his right hand and pinched the strand between his index and middle fingers. Prison Suppressor Patterns lit up at his fingertips, and dark-gold light of law slowly seeped along the hair's grain.
This was no ordinary soul search.
The white-haired elder's true body had already fled back to the Imperial Palace. Fang Mo had only a single hair bearing a lingering Divine Soul presence, so the information he could extract was extremely limited.
But even that would suffice.
The instant the Prison Suppressor Patterns touched the soul presence on the hair, a series of chaotic images flashed through Fang Mo's vision.
In the Imperial Clan Court's Underground Palace, three coffins lay side by side in the darkness.
The stone door to the fourth layer slowly opened, and the panting of a Fierce Beast came from within.
A gaunt figure wearing a bright-yellow Dragon Robe stood before the stone door, both hands trembling.
The scene shifted.
Time receded further.
Fang Mo saw a burly man standing at the entrance to the Imperial Clan Court's Underground Palace, holding a long saber that still dripped blood.
He recognized