Yin Yang Soul Searcher

Bai Jueming first took Han Xueshan to Tangxinzhai and asked the waiter to pack some pastries. Since it was a gesture of gratitude, they couldn't go empty-handed.

When it came time to pay the bill, Han Xueshan's eyebrows furrowed. She had an urge to punch Bai Jueming: "You bitch, why should I pay?"

"Big sister, I went through a lot of trouble to ask Brother Cheng for the elixir that saved your face from being disfigured. Shouldn't you be grateful to him? How much money could a couple of pastries cost you?" Bai Jueming waved the pastries in front of her.

What Bai Jianren said made some sense, but Han Xueshan still felt something was off. She could only pay the money in a daze.

The two arrived at the outer city streets and rode their horses eastward. Along the way, Bai Jueming boasted to Han Xueshan in detail about how he had helped Cheng Yanbing solve the elixir case, which drew eye-rolls from Han Xueshan. However, she couldn't help but feel a little admiration for him.

A three-story pavilion stands quietly in the northeast corner of the outer city, standing out conspicuously among the low houses around it.

Up in the attic, the eaves soar high, resembling a roc about to take flight, exuding an extraordinary aura. The vermilion gate is wide and heavy, with neatly arranged golden door studs that complement the red color, creating a look that is both solemn and magnificent.

On either side of the main gate, two imposing stone lions crouch majestically. Heads held high, chests puffed out, eyes wide open, they gaze ahead, their expressions exuding a quiet, commanding aura. They seem to be guarding this entire realm.

Bai Jueming, seemingly unaccustomed to the world, was completely captivated by the three-story pavilion before him.

With a "Wow!", Bai Jueming blurted out.

This prompted Han Xue to shout with a look of disdain.

Isn't the Craftsmen's Hall the richest department in the Great Xia Dynasty? How come there isn't even a guard on duty? Bai Jueming shook his head and was just about to go up and knock on the door.

Suddenly, the two stone lions guarding the entrance turned their heads and looked at Bai Jueming. A real threat appeared in their large, bell-like stone eyes, and Bai Jueming's steps, which were about to move forward, stopped abruptly in place.

Bai Jueming swallowed hard. His intuition told him that if he dared to take another step forward, the two stone lions would probably pounce on him!

"How the hell do I get in here?!" Bai Jueming looked at Han Xueshan with a pleading gaze.

Han Xueshan shrugged helplessly, then said sarcastically, "Aren't you very close to Cheng Yanbing? I didn't expect him to not even let you in the door."

Even though I'm familiar with the place, this is my first time visiting the Craftsmen's Hall.

Just as Bai Jueming was about to shout, a stone lion with fierce eyes spoke, its voice as rough as the grinding of a boulder: "State your name, you who come!"

"Bai Jueming, I've come to see Cheng Yanbing. He did me a great favor, so I've come to express my gratitude," Bai Jueming explained quickly.

The stone lion then fell into a long silence.

The second floor of the Craftsmen's Hall.

Inside the room, a half-person-high alchemy furnace was burning with raging flames. Sitting next to it, Cheng Yanbing had sparse and messy hair, cloudy eyes, and an unremarkable face blackened by soot.

At that moment, he inserted an ordinary iron sword into the alchemy furnace at an angle. The furnace immediately burst into flames, and sparks that jumped out of the furnace left marks on the carpet and walls.

Cheng Yanbing rubbed his chin, watching the iron sword in the furnace slowly melt into a lump of molten iron, and shook his head: "This material is still not good enough."

Just then, a clear knock suddenly sounded on the door. "Uh, is someone looking for me?" Cheng Yanbing turned around and saw two blurry figures appearing on the door and windows of the room. It was Bai Jueming, who was leading his horse and preparing to enter.

Immediately afterwards, Bai Jueming's voice came from the illusory figure: "Bai Jueming, I'm here to see Cheng Yanbing..."

"Why did you come all the way here to thank me? Brother Bai, you're too kind." Cheng Yanbing wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, walked to the railing of the corridor, and called out to the two men leading the horses below, "Brother Bai, you can come up now. Just toss the horses to Shi Xiang."

The two people at the door looked up at the sound, and the unkempt Cheng Yanbing waved to them.

Following Cheng Yanbing's instructions, Bai Jueming handed the horse reins to the stone lion's mouth. The stone lion suppressed its fierce glint and gently bit the reins with its large mouth. Bai Jueming, looking completely unsophisticated, exclaimed, "So sophisticated!"

The door opened automatically, and Cheng Yanbing came downstairs and led the two into the room. In the center of the room stood a pill furnace, with flames crackling inside.

"Brother Cheng, do those two lions have their own consciousness?" Bai Jueming asked with great interest.

"Those were originally just two ordinary stone lions, both masterpieces of my master. He refined the eyes of a mythical beast called the Azure-Eyed Falcon into the lions' bodies, giving them eyes that could recognize human faces. With the addition of an array, they gained the strength to guard the gate."

Seeing his interest, Cheng Yanbing continued to explain, "These two stone lions usually only have the strength of the third rank, but if someone can control the formation inside them, they can unleash the strength of the second rank."

Wow, that's impressive! Luckily, those two lions were polite and didn't attack directly, or I would have been done for. Bai Jueming nodded, indicating that he understood.

"Brother Bai, why did you come to the Craftsmen's Hall to thank me today? And why are you dressed so formally?" Cheng Yanbing looked Bai Jueming up and down. He was wearing the black uniform of the Yin-Yang Hall, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and an upright figure, with a token tied around his waist.

Bai Jueming handed over the pastries: "Brother Cheng helped me so much last time, I haven't had a chance to properly thank you. These are pastries I specially selected from Tangxinzhai, please try them."

"You bitch! I'm going to beat you to death! I paid for this!" Han Xueshan's pretty face turned red as she fiercely suppressed the anger in her chest.

Cheng Yanbing took the pastries and chuckled, "Brother Bai, these pastries are probably not for my junior sister. She's the only one in our Craftsmen's Hall who likes these kinds of pastries."

Han Xueshan's back teeth were practically grinding to powder; her fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly. "Spending my money to buy pastries for other girls!"

Cheng Yanbing looked at Han Xueshan, whose face was flushed red, and asked curiously, "Miss Han, are you perhaps feeling hot?"

"That's not true," Bai Jueming explained. "Brother Cheng fed her some pills last time, and she was too embarrassed to thank him in person, so her face turned bright red."

"You're Brother Bai's friend, no need to be so polite." Cheng Yanbing waved his hand, indicating that she shouldn't take it to heart.

Han Xueshan forced a smile, trying hard to suppress the urge to draw her sword.

Bai Jueming couldn't bear to look at Han Xue's murderous expression, and quickly pulled Cheng Yanbing aside: "Brother Cheng, besides thanking you this time, I have my own mission. I'm here to investigate a case!"

"Investigate a case? Brother Bai, you must be joking. What is there to investigate here?"

"Brother Cheng, did you go to the home of Yang Yongyuan, the Minister of Works, yesterday?" Bai Jueming reminded him.

"How did you know?" Cheng Yanbing's voice was slightly surprised, his eyes filled with disbelief. "I treated you like a brother, and you actually followed me?"

Why would I bother following a man like you? You're not some guy with a full beard and a round face...

"That's not true," Bai Jueming shook his head and explained, "This morning someone came to the Yin-Yang Hall to report that Yang Yongyuan, the Minister of Works, died at home."

"Yang Yongyuan is dead?" Cheng Yanbing's voice suddenly rose: "He was perfectly fine when I saw him yesterday."

"After receiving the report today, the Craftsmen's Hall dispatched all the staff of Zhengshan Hall to investigate. Yang Yongyuan died of poisoning, and all the people in the mansion have been investigated, so there is no possibility of poisoning." Bai Jueming explained the situation in a serious tone.

"Died from poisoning?" Cheng Yanbing's pupils suddenly contracted, and he murmured in a low voice, "That could frame me, since the life-saving pills and the poisons that cause harm are the same thing."

"No, framing Brother Cheng like this is pointless." Bai Jueming explained his analysis: "To create an alibi, poisoning is the best option for the murderer. By the time the drug takes effect, the murderer will have already fled. Putting aside the interrogation methods of the Yin-Yang Master, even with Brother Cheng's status as the eldest disciple, ordinary evidence cannot frame you."

Cheng Yanbing nodded repeatedly, then patted Bai Jueming on the shoulder. He praised, "As expected of the person who helped me solve the pill case, I knew you wouldn't wrong me."

Bai Jueming rubbed his shoulders and said helplessly, "I believe it wasn't Brother Cheng who did it, but we still have to go through the motions. We questioned everyone in the mansion in our dream but got no clues, so we can only start investigating from the people Yang Yongyuan met alone."

"So you came here to investigate the case, and the reason you brought me pastries to thank me was fake." Cheng Yanbing glanced at him sideways.

"Hehehe, please forgive me, Brother Cheng." Bai Jueming cupped his hands in greeting.

"I always seem to run into all sorts of things. Sigh... Last time, someone framed me in the pill case, and this time Yang Yongyuan's death is related to me! I'm starting to suspect that I might be the mastermind behind it all." Cheng Yanbing stretched out his arm in front of Bai Jueming, his tone slightly helpless: "Let's begin."

"Brother Cheng, relax a bit, or I won't be able to get in." Why does that sound so strange? A vortex of black energy appeared in Bai Jueming's hand and rested on Cheng Yanbing's wrist.

Cheng Yanbing is a fourth-grade cultivator. If he truly resisted the questions in the dream, Bai Jueming would not have been able to enter. Last time at Chen's Pharmacy, he was unaware of Cheng Yanbing's cultivation level. It was Cheng Yanbing who sensed his strength and took the initiative to cooperate.

Han Xueshan listened silently to their conversation, knowing she couldn't get involved. She couldn't analyze the case, nor could she converse in her sleep. But looking at that scoundrel's retreating figure, she really wanted to stab him in the back. He actually used her money to do him a favor!

"Just those two questions?" Cheng Yanbing opened her eyes, surprised by Bai Jueming's quick thinking. He'd only asked two questions in the dream: What was the purpose of going to the Yang residence? Had he poisoned Yang Yongyuan?

"It's just routine business. I trust Brother Cheng's character." Bai Jueming glanced at the door and whispered, "Brother Cheng, why did you ask the Minister of Works for so much ore? If it's inconvenient, just consider it me being nosy."

"His Majesty has already given the Craftsmen's Hall an imperial decree on this matter, so what can't be said?" Cheng Yanbing walked to the alchemy furnace and gestured for Han Xueshan and Bai Jueming to look over.

The two craned their necks to look inside and saw a pool of red-hot molten iron melting at the bottom of the furnace.

"I went to see Yang Yongyuan for this very reason. His Majesty has decreed that the Craftsmen's Hall should forge a batch of magical artifacts. In a few days, Yunzhou will send troops to attack the Great Demon Kingdom to avenge the Grand Preceptor."

So-called magical artifacts are weapons imbued with array formations, enhancing their attack power and resilience. This allows ordinary people to fight against lower-level cultivators.

To launch a war to avenge the Grand Preceptor? Are His Majesty and the Grand Preceptor actually enemies? In the elixir case, Tang Weiwei once sent a letter to the Grand Preceptor, and after the Grand Preceptor read the letter, the matter ended in a muddled way.

I had previously guessed that the letter from the Craftsmen's Hall must have revealed the identity of the person behind it all. That's why the Imperial Advisor said the matter was over. And who is the person who could cause the Imperial Advisor to suffer a loss and prevent him from investigating further? Isn't that the Second Emperor? Or perhaps I'm wrong?

Furthermore, all of Jia Qingshan's shops in the capital were sealed off by the emperor. Finally, he went to the Yin-Yang Palace to request answers in a dream. He himself felt he couldn't clear his name, otherwise he would be going against the emperor. But the Imperial Advisor insisted that Jia Qingshan clear his name—wasn't that going against the emperor?

Now they want Yunzhou to send troops to avenge the Grand Preceptor? Bai Jueming thought it was just a show of face, otherwise why didn't they take revenge as soon as the Grand Preceptor was injured?

Bai Jueming shook his head, not wanting to delve any deeper. The murky waters of the three forces—the Craftsmen's Hall, the Yin-Yang Hall, and the Emperor—were beyond his comprehension.

"My master entrusted me with full responsibility for this matter, and since the Craftsmen's Hall has ample ore reserves, I had no choice but to approach Yang Yongyuan and ask him to transport some ore from various parts of the Great Xia to me. His Majesty has already agreed to this."

"I never imagined that Lord Yang would die after I went to the Yang residence!" Cheng Yanbing said, somewhat indignantly, then seemed to remember something: "By the way, what kind of poison did Lord Yang suffer from?"

"We don't know yet; the coroner is investigating," Bai Jueming replied truthfully.

"Your coroners are all at the ninth or eighth rank. With limited talent and no hope of advancement, you're just coroners who come to the Yin-Yang Palace to coast along. By the time they find out what kind of poison the deceased was poisoned with, the seven-day mourning period will have already passed." Cheng Yanbingyu's lips curled up, her tone slightly mocking.

"Is it really that bad..." Bai Jueming shrugged helplessly. "Well, there's no other way. Who else but a coroner knows how to perform an autopsy?"

At this point, Bai Jueming suddenly realized something, turned to look at Cheng Yanbing, and saw him looking at Bai Jueming with a slight smile in his eyes.

"you?"