Chapter 3: Soul Search

As Qu Yi led over seventy law enforcers through one spatial transmission hall after another on Yingxian Island, they were constantly watched by various people. Among them were spies from the other nine sects, who tried to obtain information about the Tianhuo Star Region and the Liuhe Sword from Qu Yi and his team. However, Qu Yi and his enforcers kept moving forward without pause and finally returned to Liupan Star. From the spatial transmission array in Sihai City, they were directly transported back to the Law Enforcement Hall’s transmission hall. But as soon as they stepped out of the array, they noticed a figure with immense aura in the hall. This person was elegant and ethereal, exuding an otherworldly grace; his noble bearing inspired a sense of reverence. He was Tai Ming, the leader of the Taiyuan Sect. The sect leader himself was coming to greet them! Hearing the messages transmitted by others, Qu Yi and the seventy law enforcers immediately bowed in respect before Tai Ming. “Sect Leader!” they called out in unison. With a calm expression, Tai Ming glanced at Qu Yi and his team and said calmly, “From now on, all of you will stay by my side and assist me in investigating matters related to the Tianhuo Star Region.” It turned out that Tai Ming, having failed to obtain the Liuhe Sword and instead lost the Baguang Sword, was filled with anger. He decided to investigate personally. Upon arriving at the transmission hall, he wanted to avoid others and ensure that Qu Yi and his team only interacted with him, so as to prevent them from being influenced by spies from other sects and to obtain genuine information. The seventy law enforcers looked confused, but Qu Yi immediately understood that he and his team would be imprisoned until the matters concerning the Liuhe Sword and the Baguang Sword were resolved. “Yes, Sect Leader!” Qu Yi and the seventy enforcers replied in unison. Then, Tai Ming took off ahead, with Qu Yi and the others following behind, flying toward the headquarters on Taiyuan Mountain. Taiyuan Mountain was towering, reaching straight into the sky—extremely majestic. At that moment, Tai Ming led Qu Yi and his team to the middle of the mountain, where there was a magnificent building called the Mianbi Hall, covering an area of ten square miles. The hall was vast and solemn, with eighty-one rooms, each containing a mysterious array that isolated it from the outside world. Tai Ming stopped in front of the entrance to the Mianbi Hall and glanced at Qu Yi and his team.

“All of you, as you went to the Tianhuo Star Region on a mission related to the secret behind the loss of a precious treasure within the sect, must temporarily stay in this Wall-Facing Hall for a while. Once the sect uncovers the truth and finds no fault with you, rewards will surely be given for your efforts, so there’s no need to worry,” Tai Ming said calmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Qu Yi and the seventy law enforcers silently accepted Tai Ming’s words upon hearing them.

“Yes, Sect Leader. We will definitely cooperate with the sect’s investigation,” all the law enforcers replied firmly.

Immediately afterward, Qu Yi and the seventy law enforcers entered one of the rooms in the Wall-Facing Hall, waiting for the experts from the Taiyuan Sect to conduct their investigation.

……

Tai Ming returned to the top of Taiyuan Mountain, where the Jinyuan Palace served as the core meeting place of the Taiyuan Sect and also as Tai Ming’s residence. As soon as he arrived at the Jinyuan Palace, a figure descended—tall and thin, with long hair and a head slightly larger than average, who stared at Tai Ming calmly.

“Shan Hun, I’m entrusting to you all the law enforcers who returned from the Tianhuo Star Region. Extract all their memories from that period there; I have important uses for them,” Tai Ming said softly.

In the Taiyuan Sect, once one reached the HeTi stage, they would be classified under the “Liang” surname, allowing them to choose a new name with “Liang” prefixed. Those who reached the GuJie stage were classified under the “Shan” surname, allowing them to add “Shan” to their names.

This Shan Hun possessed a powerful skill: Soul Search. It enabled him to find whatever he wanted within others’ souls.

Due to the Six-Union Blade and, even more so, the loss of the Eight-Directions Sword, Tai Ming had to summon Shan Hun to use Soul Search on Qu Yi and the seventy law enforcers, extracting all their memories from their time in the Tianhuo Star Region.

“Yes, Sect Leader. I’ll finish it for you quickly,” Shan Hun said with a smile, showing great confidence.

Since he only needed to extract the memories of these law enforcers at the ShenShen stage over a certain period, this powerful figure in the middle stage of GuJie was quite confident. However, if he were to extract all their memories, it would be more difficult, as many of these people had practiced for thousands of years, and their memories were not so easy to sort through completely.

“Go and finish it as fast as possible!” Tai Ming said, his voice somewhat urgent.

Shanhen immediately picked up the change in Tai Ming’s tone and realized that even the usually composed sect leader was somewhat disturbed. So Shanhen instantly teleported away to the Wall-Facing Hall.
…
Shanhen entered a room and, without greeting the law enforcement member who was practicing inside, sent his spiritual consciousness straight into the member’s vital spirit, knocking him unconscious.
Then, Shanhen’s spiritual consciousness went straight to a certain part of the law enforcement member’s soul and extracted all his memories from the Tianhuo Star Region.
In a short while, Shanhen finished searching the soul and left the room immediately to go to the next one, continuing the search.
In one of the rooms, Qu Yi was inside.
“Qu Yi, Taiyuan Gate still has some capable people—they sent a soul expert to search these law enforcement members’ souls,” the Voice of the God of Tools rang in Qu Yi’s mind.
At this point, Qu Yi understood why Tai Ming, the sect leader of Taiyuan Gate, had imprisoned him—there was such a plan behind it.
“God of Tools, can you alter my soul memories?” Qu Yi asked via spiritual communication.
After a while, seeing Qu Yi growing anxious, the God of Tools replied leisurely, “Qu Yi, I am the God of Tools. If just a beginner in souls tries to deal with you, wouldn’t that mean I, the God of Tools, could just commit suicide?”
Receiving a positive reply, Qu Yi smiled lightly before urgently adding, “God of Tools, you also need to cover up Huang Yuan’s memories.”
After all, during the time in the Inner Thirteen Stars, Huang Yuan had witnessed three Eight-Directions Swords and one Six-Directions Knife. If these memories weren’t erased, Qu Yi would be exposed right away.
“That’s certain. Judging from the order in which that guy is searching souls, it seems you’ll be next before he goes to Huang Yuan’s room. So I’ll cover up your memories first and then help Huang Yuan,” the God of Tools said with a hint of amusement.
At this point, Qu Yi was completely at ease.
※※※
Shanhen finally arrived at Qu Yi’s room. After passing through the formation that sealed the room, he sent out a spiritual consciousness that penetrated Qu Yi’s vital spirit.
Qu Yi didn’t resist at all and simply collapsed to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
All of this was under the control of the God of Tools, so Qu Yi wasn’t worried at all and allowed Shanhen to attack.
“Hm, this guy’s vital spirit is rather strange!”

It turned out that the Artifact God, since Qu Yi’s original soul was that of a six-headed humanoid monster, did not want the Good Soul to see it fully. So, it used a special technique to hide the five heads surrounding Qu Yi’s original soul, leaving only the central head visible. As a result, the Good Soul found this seemingly incomplete soul somewhat strange, but it could not see through the Artifact God’s deception.

Then, the Good Soul’s spiritual consciousness entered Qu Yi’s soul and searched through certain sections, looking for all his memories from his time in the Tianhuo Star Region. The Artifact God had already used a secret method to create a set of memories that covered up Qu Yi’s original memories, allowing the Good Soul’s consciousness to extract whatever it wanted.

The memories fabricated by the Artifact God—those of Qu Yi with the law enforcers—would certainly remain unchanged. Only the memories of Qu Yi acting alone were altered, showing him meditating in some hidden formation. In particular, the memory of Qu Yi commanding his subordinates to use the Eight-Directions Sword and the Six-Directions Blade in that cave on the Inner Thirteen Stars was changed to one where, upon returning to the cave, he saw Huang Yuan teleport in, followed by Li Zhong. At that moment, Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, and Shuo Xu also entered the cave. The leaders of these two factions fought each other, and Qu Yi and Huang Yuan immediately left using a spatial teleportation array.

In short, all memories of Qu Yi having contact with the Eight-Directions Sword and the Six-Directions Blade were altered.

After searching Qu Yi’s soul, the Good Soul’s lips twitched slightly, as if it had obtained some new clues—at least it had discovered the presence of Li Zhong, Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, and Shuo Xu.

Then, the Good Soul went straight to Huang Yuan’s residence, wanting to immediately examine Huang Yuan’s memories to cross-verify them with Qu Yi’s memories and gain more information.

At that time, the Inch-World Ball turned into dust, penetrated the residence’s formation, reached Huang Yuan’s room, and also entered Huang Yuan’s soul. The Good Soul’s consciousness entered Huang Yuan’s soul and began searching right away.

The Artifact God also immediately altered some of Huang Yuan’s memories—though only a few. It changed the memory of Li Zhong capturing Huang Yuan and teleporting him to the Inner Thirteen Stars to one where Huang Yuan himself used a spatial teleportation array to go there, with Li Zhong following later. The rest of the memories were identical to Qu Yi’s memories.

After extracting Huang Yuan’s memories, the Good Soul smiled. At least it now knew that the whereabouts of the Six-Directions Blade must be in the hands of Li Zhong, Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, and Shuo Xu.

After that, the Good Soul dutifully went to the other residences and searched the souls of those law enforcers one by one.

Soon, the satisfied Good Soul left the Wall-Facing Hall immediately and then teleported back to the Golden Source Palace, where he met Tai Ming, the leader of the Tai Yuan Sect.
“Leader, I’ve completed it,” said the Good Soul with a smile.
Tai Ming had waited for three days before the Good Soul arrived. Though he appeared calm on the surface, he was actually very anxious.
As soon as he saw the Good Soul, Tai Ming exclaimed, “Good Soul, how did it go? Did you find anything?”
The Good Soul nodded with a smile and said, “Yes!”