The Pavilion Saves the Phoenix from Peril; Heart-Questioning Pavilion Punishes Evil and Cuts Away Sin

Long Jinyu became a streak of light that tore through the air before landing steadily in the spacious forecourt of the Yanhuang Lingyun Medical Mansion.

The medical staff, who had received word ahead of time and were already standing ready, hurried over at once. Their movements were swift and silent, clearly well-trained.

"Welcome, my lord!"

Everyone bowed in unison, their eyes respectful.

"At ease!"

Long Jinyu spoke rapidly as he strode forward, carrying Ma Xiaotao in his arms.

"Get her a full examination immediately. Use the best equipment and assign the best doctors! Hurry!"

He carefully laid the still-unconscious Ma Xiaotao on a mobile bed. As he looked at her pale face, the deeper worry in his heart smothered some of the cold fury ignited by the Judgment Sword and his fellow Transmigrator.

He had already transferred a vast amount of life energy into her. Why was there not the slightest sign of her waking?

"Yes!"

The lead physician immediately directed the nurses to wheel the bed toward the treatment rooms inside.

Long Jinyu pointed to the Soul Emperor, who lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, bound by Soul Power. "Take this man to the Heart-Questioning Pavilion and keep him under strict guard. Make sure he stays as he is. Don't let him wake up. No one is to touch him without my orders!"

"Understood!" Two steady-breathed Yanhuang Guards stepped forward, grabbed the Soul Emperor, and carried him away.

Everything had been arranged, but Long Jinyu felt no relief. He followed them to the treatment room and paced anxiously outside its closed door.

That same feeling of helplessness swept over him again. Ultimate Life was no cure-all; he knew little about injuries to the mind, and the system had "gone offline" and played dead at the crucial moment.

"My lord," a young nurse gently reminded him, "you look utterly drained, and your complexion is terrible. Please sit and rest. We'll notify you the moment we have the results."

Long Jinyu seemed not to hear her. His eyes remained fixed on the treatment room door. "No, I'll stay right here..."

Before he could finish, a powerful wave of dizziness hit him, and he staggered sharply.

A strong hand caught him in time. Long Jinyu looked up and saw the concerned yet stern face of Liu Tao, the Medical Pavilion's vice dean.

"My lord."

Liu Tao's voice was steady.

"Your Soul Power and mental strength are severely depleted. It's a miracle you've held on this long. You must have exhausted yourself trying to save Miss Ma, right?"

"Your subordinate understands how you feel, but if you collapse, how terribly guilty will Miss Ma feel when she wakes? Please, take care of yourself."

Long Jinyu opened his mouth to argue, but realized he could barely stand.

The intense battle, his turbulent emotions, the effort of intimidating Xuan Zi, and the life energy he had poured into Ma Xiaotao without regard for the cost had truly pushed him to his limit.

Liu Tao said no more. He took out a delicate Soul Tool shaped like a glazed bottle, warm light flowing within it. It was a "recharging Soul Tool," commonly known as a "Soul Tool Milk Bottle."

"This is a seventh-level Soul Tool Milk Bottle. Please absorb its energy and recover first. Trust in our expertise. Yanhuang Lingyun has gathered the continent's finest medical Soul Masters and technology. We'll do everything in our power."

The nurse added earnestly, "That's right, my lord. Please listen to Vice Dean Liu and let me help you rest in the room next door for a while!"

Seeing the genuine worry in Liu Tao's and the nurse's eyes, warmth stirred in Long Jinyu's heart.

These "NPCs," who seemed to have been created by Sister Su's system, were far more loyal and professional than those exhausting "beasts of burden" at Shrek.

He was their lord and ought to trust them more. Besides, he really did need to calm down and recover.

He suppressed his anxiety and took the Soul Tool Milk Bottle. "All right. Thanks for reminding me. I was too worried to think straight. Sorry for the trouble, big sister."

He stopped resisting and let the nurse support him.

"It's our honor to ease your burdens, my lord!" The nurse was a little overwhelmed at being called big sister, and became even more respectful.

Long Jinyu grumbled inwardly, This NPC-style absolute loyalty... it's exactly like Bone King's Great Tomb...

In the rest room, Long Jinyu held the Soul Tool Milk Bottle as pure energy rapidly poured into his body.

His formidable physique and the deep reserves of his Dragon God Martial Soul showed their full strength. In just a short while, he had absorbed all the energy from two seventh-level Soul Tool Milk Bottles. His depleted Soul Power was replenished, and his mind had grown a little clearer.

He immediately got up, intending to ask about the examination's progress. As soon as he stepped outside, he ran into the nurse from earlier.

"My lord, the examination is still underway. Please be patient."

Long Jinyu pondered for a moment. Ma Xiaotao's examination could not be rushed, but another threat needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

"All right. Notify me the moment there's any news. I'll go to the Heart-Questioning Pavilion for a bit."

"Understood."

Outside the Heart-Questioning Pavilion at the Yanhuang Lingyun Medical Mansion,

six Yanhuang Guards stood at attention before a heavy metal door, their auras deep and still.

"Greetings, my lord!"

"Good. Guard this place well. Aside from the results of Miss Ma's examination, do not let anything disturb me."

"Understood!"

Long Jinyu pushed the door open and entered. Soft light filled the Heart-Questioning Pavilion. Complex runes engraved on the walls and floor formed a dual domain of "calm the mind" and "reveal the truth."

The Soul Emperor was bound in the center of the formation. His injuries had been stabilized, but his Soul Power was completely sealed, leaving him like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Long Jinyu's gaze turned icy. He circulated his Soul Power, and the adaptability of his Nine-Colored Dragon God bloodline manifested. He simulated a strand of pure yet sinister dark Soul Power, then draped a wide black robe over himself to conceal his face.

Long Jinyu altered his voice, making it hoarse and imposing, with the displeasure of someone in a position of power. Then he began to act. "Useless fool! The headquarters sent us to escort you, and you still ended up like this! If I hadn't arrived in time, you'd already be a prisoner of Shrek!"

The Soul Emperor jolted awake from his daze. Sensing the "same-origin" dark aura and hearing the mention of the "headquarters," he was so vulnerable from his serious injuries and the formation's effects that he believed it almost instinctively. "M-My lord! Thank you for saving me! Your subordinate is incompetent! The mission... the mission failed!"

Long Jinyu gave a cold snort. "Hmph! The incident was sudden, and the headquarters didn't tell me the full details of the mission. Tell me everything from the beginning, and leave nothing out! Why did you fail? What powerful fighters were with the target?"

The Soul Emperor suspected nothing and hurriedly blurted out, "Reporting to my lord! Your subordinate is Shadow Fiend. I acted with Lord Ming Lei... Everything was going according to His Highness the Holy Son's plan... but the target had an incredibly powerful dragon Soul Master with her! He was definitely a Titled Douluo! We... we were no match for him!"

Long Jinyu steered the questioning onward. "His Highness the Holy Son plans for every contingency. There must have been another measure in this plan. Did His Highness make any other arrangements regarding that girl at Shrek with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul?"

Shadow Fiend looked bewildered. "Blue... Blue Silver Grass? Your subordinate... your subordinate knows nothing about that. His Highness only ordered us to do everything we could to capture the Fire Phoenix... The rest... was beyond what your subordinate could know..."

Long Jinyu's voice turned icy as he pressed him. "What else do you know? The Holy Son's identity? Other missions?"

Shadow Fiend sprawled on the ground, his breath weak. "My lord... I've really told you everything I know... His Highness the Holy Son is mysterious in his dealings. We are not in a position to speculate..."

Long Jinyu fell silent for a moment. The only sound in the entire Heart-Questioning Pavilion was the Soul Emperor's ragged breathing. The silence bore down on Shadow Fiend with such crushing pressure that his heart seemed ready to leap from his chest.

Suddenly, Long Jinyu let out a laugh whose meaning was hard to discern. It was no longer the cold, sinister act from before. Instead, it carried the aloof mockery of a god looking down upon an ant.

"It seems you really are of no use."

Before the words had even faded, the faint aura of simulated evil around Long Jinyu vanished, like morning mist scattered by the sun.

In its place came a pure, vast pressure, brimming with the breath of life and threaded with the dragon might that made all things submit!

He returned to his natural voice, clear and cold, like a chill spring striking jade.

"Raise your head and see who I am."

Shadow Fiend looked up in abject terror. The person before him was no higher-up from the Holy Spirit Cult!

It was none other than that "girl" who had crushed them in the alley battle, as fearsome as a demon god! Her mismatched eyes held no human emotion, only an unchanging, primeval chill.

"It... it's you!!!"

He looked as if he had seen a ghost, his body trembling violently with sheer terror.

Long Jinyu looked down at him as a judge might pronounce sentence on a condemned prisoner, his words carrying the will of a final verdict:

"I'm very dissatisfied with your answers. But your crimes are already clear enough."

"For the sins you have committed, I should have killed you on the spot and scattered your soul to the winds, so that the innocent souls who died by your hand might rest in peace."

Despair welled in Shadow Fiend's eyes as he heard this.

"But..."

Long Jinyu changed tack, his tone steeped in utter disdain.

"Death would be far too easy for you. It would merely let your filthy soul escape its guilt."

He slowly raised his hand. Green light, brimming with life, curled around his fingertips, yet it filled Shadow Fiend with boundless dread.

"I sentence you to a fate worse than death."

"I will strip away the Soul Power you cultivated through evil arts and destroy the foundation of your crimes. From now on, you will no longer be a Soul Emperor of the Holy Spirit Cult. You will be nothing but the lowliest, most base servant in this Yanhuang Lingyun Medical Mansion."

"With those bloodstained hands of yours, you will scrub the floors and tend the flowers and plants here. You will watch the people your kind harmed regain new life in this place."

"I want you to spend every day in this land of pure righteousness, radiant with life, and spend the rest of your days turning your sins over in your mind, seeing moment by moment just how hideous the darkness you once followed truly was."

"This is the most thorough and ironic rejection of you—and of the evil cult behind you."

As his words fell, green light sank into Shadow Fiend's body! Amid his shrill screams, his Soul Power crumbled like an avalanche, and his Martial Soul Origin was utterly shattered...

At that very moment, the nurse's urgent voice came from outside the door:

"Reporting, my lord! Miss Ma's examination results are in!"