Investiture of the Gods: Childhood Sweetheart Daji, Starting with Quasi-Saint Cultivation

Chapter 131 The Lingering Echoes of Yinjiao

The seventh hour after Yin Jiao disappeared.

Above Chaoge City, among the 365 stars of the Investiture of the Gods, the position of the "Yearly Grand Duke" dimmed for a moment, only to be filled by a new star. The light shifted, and the Heavenly Laws automatically corrected this anomaly—at least on the surface.

Inside the Lingxiao Palace, the Jade Emperor sat on his dragon throne, listening expressionlessly to the reports from the all-seeing and all-hearing beings.

"Yin Jiao's soul has dissipated, and his true spirit has returned to heaven." Venus stepped forward. "This old minister has examined the matter and found no trace of external interference. It seems that... his Dao foundation collapsed on its own."

"Self-collapse?" Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, frowned. "Yin Jiao's investiture as a deity was less than three months ago, and the incense offerings are still strong. How could it possibly collapse on its own?"

"It may be related to karma from his previous life," Venus said vaguely. "The gods on the Investiture of the Gods all need time to solidify their positions."

The gods inside the hall whispered among themselves.

The Jade Emperor raised his hand, and the discussion immediately ceased.

"This matter ends here." His voice was flat and even. "The position of the year's Grand Duke has been taken over by Yin Hong, and the Heavenly Laws will continue to operate as usual. Court adjourned."

The celestial officials dispersed.

Only Nezha remained motionless in the corner. He stared at the spot where Yin Jiao had disappeared, his Fire-Tipped Spear slightly warm in his hand.

As the incarnation of a lotus, he should have been devoid of emotion and feeling.

But in the instant Yin Jiao vanished, he "heard" a faint noise—like metal rubbing together, or like glass shattering.

---

Chaoge, the secret chamber of Qingyuan Manor.

Su Yunbai opened his palm, and a wisp of extremely faint blue smoke floated in his palm. This was the "residual aura" that Jiang Xiaowu had collected from the place where Yin Jiao disappeared, using the Iron Blood Army's secret techniques.

"It's not that the soul was scattered," Yunxiao analyzed with his zither music, "It's more like... being forcibly extracted."

Qiongxiao conjured frost at her fingertips, which enveloped the wisps of smoke: "There was a struggle when it was pulled away. Look, there are three knots in the tobacco shreds; these are traces of the soul's resistance."

King Zhou stared at the green smoke: "He said 'emotional module overflow.' Module... that word shouldn't appear in the world of Investiture of the Gods."

"So the system is clearing anomalies." Su Yunbai closed his palm, the green smoke seeping into his skin, nourishing and preserving it with the Law of Emotion. "Yin Jiao may have awakened self-awareness, triggering the cleanup process."

The door to the secret room opened, and Bixiao slipped in, carrying the sleeping Su Wutong in her arms.

"Something's wrong with the child," Bixiao said in a low voice. "Wutong was talking nonsense in his sleep just now."

"What did you say?"

She said, "Daddy, there are so many eyes blinking in the sky; they're watching us."

Everyone fell silent.

Yang Chan suddenly spoke up: "I...I also dreamed of similar things. But I forgot them when I woke up, until Bixiao brought them up just now and I remembered them."

Memory shielding.

Su Yunbai and King Zhou exchanged glances, both seeing the chill in each other's eyes.

"We can't wait any longer." King Zhou stood up. "We must take the initiative. Since the system has a cleanup program, it means it's afraid of the spread of variables. We need to find the world's 'underlying rules' before it eliminates more people."

"How do I find it?"

"A loophole." A glint flashed in King Zhou's eyes. "Every system has loopholes. My transmigrator identity was the first loophole, Yun Bai's Path of Love was the second. Now, the Yin Jiao incident is the third—it exposes that system cleanup takes time and leaves traces."

Yunxiao nodded: "We can deliberately create some 'minor anomalies' to observe the system's reaction and pinpoint its operating mechanism."

"Too dangerous," Qiongxiao objected. "That's like using yourself as bait."

"But we're already here." Su Yunbai looked at the sleeping sycamore tree. "The children can see 'eyes,' which means we were marked long ago."

A brief silence fell over the locked room.

The sound of a night watchman's drum came from outside the window: it was exactly 9 PM.

Su Yunbai made a decision: "We'll split into three groups. The first group, His Majesty and I, will test the system's limits—we'll each try to trigger the 'protocol warning' in our own ways. The second group, Sanxiao and Yang Chan, will protect the child and Chaoge, while monitoring the city's emotional fluctuations. The third group…"

He looked at Jiang Xiaowu and Ao Ling.

"Investigate the people, events, and places Yin Jiao came into contact with before his death. In particular, check if he exhibited any unusual behavior before he uttered the phrase 'error code'."

Jiang Xiaowu nodded: "There are Yin Jiao's former subordinates in the Iron Blood Army. I'll go ask them."

Ao Ling added, "The Dragon Clan has a secret method to trace the residual aura, so I'm going to the scene."

"Be careful," Su Yunbai said solemnly. "If you sense anything is wrong, retreat immediately without hesitation."

The group accepted the order and dispersed.

Only Su Yunbai and King Zhou remained in the secret chamber.

"Your Majesty, shall we go first or shall I?" Su Yunbai asked.

King Zhou smiled wryly: "My system has crashed; it's difficult to even trigger a warning. You go first; the Great Path of Love is the biggest variable right now."

Su Yunbai closed his eyes and concentrated.

The Law of Emotion gradually rose from 78% to 79%—a breakthrough that came naturally, as he had been stuck at a bottleneck for the past three months.

The silvery light spread out, enveloping the mountain villa and extending to half of Chaoge City.

The people in their sleep felt a sense of inexplicable peace, children smiled, and the old people's furrowed brows relaxed.

Emotional resonance is a daily practice for Hunyuan cultivators.

But this time, Su Yunbai deliberately amplified one direction: **questioning**.

He incorporated his doubts about the reality of the world into the laws of emotion, like salt in water, silently seeping into the dreams of all beings.

It won't directly awaken people, but it will plant a seed: people who dream of blue skies and white clouds tonight might think the sky's color is too fake; people who dream of their relatives might think their relatives' smiles are too standard.

The quantity is very small and scattered.

But if this world is truly a program, this kind of "collective subconscious questioning" should trigger some kind of detection mechanism.

After an incense stick has burned.

Su Yunbai's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He "saw" it: above Chaoge City, a very faint grid-like light film appeared, with a tiny "eye" phantom at each grid node, slowly scanning the entire city.

Sure enough, there was a surveillance system.

He maintained the output of the Law of Emotion while touching one of the "eyes" with his divine sense.

hum!

The familiar snow noise reappeared.

This time it was clearer; he captured more information flow:

"Unusual emotional fluctuations detected..."

Source: Primordial Chaos Cultivator Su Yunbai (Subject Number: Test Subject-7749)

"The nature of fluctuations: collective unconscious pollution"

Threat Level: Low (Not reaching the cleanup threshold)

"Activate the response plan: Distract attention by releasing 'auspicious events'"

Information flow interrupted.

Su Yunbai opened his eyes, his face pale: "It wants to bring good fortune."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a gasp of surprise came from the east of Chaoge City.

In the night sky, a star suddenly shone brightly, trailing a seven-colored tail as it streaked across the horizon—a rare "auspicious star shower" that occurs only once in a century.

People flooded the streets, kneeling and cheering.

The nascent doubts were completely washed away by the joy brought by the auspicious omen.

Su Yunbai dispersed his laws and took a deep breath: "The reaction was very fast. From detection to response, it took no more than three breaths."

King Zhou's expression turned grave: "And it gave you a number. Test subject - 7749... There are 7748 more ahead of you?"

"Or more."

The two remained silent.

At this moment, Jiang Xiaowu sent back a message:

Three days before Yin Jiao disappeared, he met with Wen Zhong in private. The content of their conversation is unknown, but Wen Zhong later consulted the "Ancient Witch Clan Secret Manual".

Almost simultaneously, Ao Ling's message arrived:

"At the site of Yin Jiao's disappearance, there were trace amounts of 'non-existent matter' residue. According to the Dragon Clan's secret techniques, the properties of this matter are similar to the fragments of the conduit from the 'Soul Extractor'."

Su Yunbai's pupils contracted.

Is Wen Zhong investigating the secret texts of the Witch Clan? What are the Witch Clan's specialties? — **Spirit communication, rituals, and communication with heaven and earth**.

The term "soul extractor" directly points to external intervention.

"Your Majesty," Su Yunbai turned his head, "it seems that Grand Tutor Wen... has also noticed something."

King Zhou gripped the Emperor's Sword tightly: "I'm going to find him."

"careful."

"The same to you."

King Zhou transformed into golden light and fled.

Su Yunbai remained in the secret chamber and opened his palm again. The wisp of green smoke remaining from Yin Jiao, nurtured by the Law of Emotion, actually condensed into a small piece of... **crystal**.

It is translucent, with light spots flowing inside.

He probed in with his divine sense.

Fragmented images flood in:

—In the Tai Sui Temple, Yin Jiao looked at the bronze mirror and muttered to himself, "I seem... not to be here."

He secretly flipped through the supplementary register of the Investiture of the Gods, his finger tracing over each name: "They're all fake...it was all arranged..."

—The final scene: He kneels in the center of the temple, hands clasped around his head, screaming in anguish, "Let me out! I'm done acting!"

Then, the screen abruptly stopped.

The crystal shattered and turned into powder.

Su Yunbai stared blankly at his palm.

Yin Jiao didn't "awaken"; he **collapsed**. The moment he realized the world was illusory, his consciousness couldn't bear it, triggering the system's forced cleansing.

So, those of them who already knew the truth but still remained rational...

Is it more dangerous or safer?

Outside the window, the auspicious starlight continued to fall.

The seven-colored light illuminated the night sky, so beautiful it seemed unreal.

Su Yunbai suddenly remembered Wutong's dream talk.

"There are so many eyes blinking in the sky."

He looked up at the dazzling starlight.

Perhaps what the child saw was not the stars.

These are indicator lights for the surveillance camera.

---

The Moon Star, deep within the Moon Palace.

Daji evaded the patrols of the golden-armored warriors and infiltrated the forbidden area, the "Star Gazing Platform." This was the core of the Taiyin Star, theoretically capable of accessing all the underlying data of the celestial bodies.

She placed her hand on the star chart in the center.

Divine power infused.

The star chart lit up, but instead of displaying star trails, it showed rows of scrolling runes—those green runes again.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to interpret it.

"The Operating Log of the Investiture of the Gods World (Excerpt)"

"Timestamp: Year 12784, Battle of Muye Node"

"Key variable: Subject-7749 (Su Yunbai) broke through the threshold of emotional law, triggering a humanitarian awakening."

"System Correction Plan: Deploy a Saint-level intervention (Master Tongtian) to guide the plot back to the main storyline."

"Correction result: Partial success. Humanitarian efforts are preserved, but brought under control."

"New Threat: Test Subject-7749 continues to evolve; the current concentration of Emotional Law has reached the dangerous threshold of 81% (System records have been tampered with; actual value: 81%)"

Recommendation: Enable deep cleaning protocol.

Daji felt ice-cold all over.

Deep cleanup... what does that mean? Does it mean erasing Su Yunbai? Or erasing all anomalies?

She continued scrolling down, but the journal entry suddenly stopped.

A line of red text appears on the surface of the natal chart:

"Warning: Unauthorized access. Visitor: Taiyin Xingjun - Daji (NPC ID: 0037)"

Solution: Memory format (mild)

Golden light burst forth from the star chart, engulfing Daji.

Her last thought was to tear off a piece of her clothing and carve two words with her fingernails:

"Deep Qing"

Then, everything returns to zero.

Chaoge, Wen Zhong's residence.

When King Zhou opened the door to his study, Wen Zhong was staring blankly at an ancient scroll.

The bamboo slips were not covered with words, but with bizarre pictures: humans were chained to pillars, with beams of light shining from above; stars were pulled by threads, like marionettes; and beneath the earth were countless gears and pipes.

"What is this?" King Zhou asked.

Wen Zhong looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

"This old minister searched through all the secret texts of the Wu tribe and finally found this at the very bottom of the ancestral temple of the Yin Shang dynasty." His fingers trembled as he traced the bamboo slips. "This is not an artifact of the Wu tribe; it is... something much older. It depicts 'the truth of the world.'"

King Zhou looked closely.

Although those drawings are abstract, combined with what we know today, the meaning is clear: this world is a manufactured cage.

"Has Yin Jiao seen this?"

"I've seen it." Wen Zhong gave a bitter laugh. "That's why he went mad. This old minister is almost mad now too. Your Majesty, tell this old minister, it's all fake, isn't it?"

King Zhou remained silent for a long time.

"Grand Tutor," he spoke slowly, "if I said that I am not even from this world, would you believe me?"

Wen Zhong was stunned.

Then, the old minister who had served three generations of Shang kings slowly knelt down and touched the ground with his head.

"This old minister... believes."

"Because only in this way can everything make sense."

Outside the study, the auspicious starlight in the night sky gradually faded.

A deeper darkness is descending.

---

In an inconspicuous house in the south of Chaoge City.

Yang Chan held Su Nianqing in her arms and hummed a lullaby softly.

The child in her arms suddenly opened his eyes, and a blue light flowed deep in his pupils.