Yin Yang Soul Searcher

The morning sunlight gently bathed the earth. Several early birds chirped and twittered in the treetops of the courtyard.

Bai Jueming was awakened by the little girl's knocking on the door. Her older sister had prepared breakfast early in the morning. Today, she planned to take Xiaotang to the silk shop to see if she could work there.

After having breakfast, Bai Jueming strolled to the Yin-Yang Hall, where he first checked in with his colleagues. Then, everyone was summoned into the main hall by a minor official.

Li Zhengshan was sitting there leisurely sipping tea, and seemed to be in a good mood.

"Brother Shan looks so relaxed, it seems he's alright." Zhou Dahai, the first to step into the lobby, thought to himself.

Bai Jueming, dressed in a dashing Yin-Yang Palace uniform, walked into the hall, tossed his head, and casually tidied his hair: "Brother Shan, you were looking for us?"

Li Zhengshan put down his teacup and said cheerfully, "Well done! Although the mastermind is dead, our Zhengshan Hall stumbled upon the demon race's conspiracy by accident. Not only do we not have to go to Liangzhou, but the Vice Hall Master will also receive a reward!"

Upon hearing this, the four people below the hall beamed with joy. This was truly an unexpected delight.

Zhou Dahai rubbed his hands together and asked, "Brother Shan, what good stuff did the Vice Hall Master give us?"

"Two Breakthrough Pills," Li Zhengshan said succinctly. He inwardly apologized, realizing he hadn't wanted to hide it from them for so long, but they wouldn't work diligently unless he put pressure on them!

"Breakthrough Pill!?" Zhou Dahai and the other two exclaimed in shock almost simultaneously.

Bai Jueming, standing to the side, looked puzzled. "Is it some kind of powerful pill?"

After Wang Pang whispered a few words of explanation in his ear, Bai Jueming suddenly realized that the thing for breaking through bottlenecks was something he was born with; it wasn't very useful. Look at how ignorant you all are!

Li Zhengshan picked up his teacup and took a sip: "This kind of stuff is fatally attractive to people stuck at a bottleneck. It's especially true for Onmyoji, because we can take two!"

Next comes the distribution of rewards based on merit. But here's the question: who should receive such a precious elixir?

"You've all done a great job in solving the case, and I don't know who to give it to. How about this: whoever reaches the cultivation bottleneck first gets one?" This was Li Zhengshan's well-thought-out decision, and it was also to prevent discord within their group.

Bai Jueming said he didn't care, since he didn't need it anyway. Shan Ge's behavior, however, impressed him. He could have kept it all for himself, but he still took it out. Such a boss was rare these days.

Zhou Dahai suggested from the side, "Brother Shan, I think we should give him a piece of black jade instead."

Li Zhengshan looked at Zhou Dahai with some surprise, and even Wu Yong and Wang Pang beside him nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Dahai then continued, "Mo Yu made contributions twice, in the pill case and this Yang Yongyuan case; otherwise, we wouldn't have found a direction for our investigation so quickly. Moreover, he's currently at the lowest level of strength. Giving him a pill will help him improve his cultivation as soon as possible. Wouldn't that make investigating cases much easier in the future?"

Wang Pang and Wu Yuan nodded in agreement, both having a clear understanding of their own roles. Although they were both Onmyoji, they themselves had no opinions or clues about the cases during the investigations, and could only serve as tools. It would be better to let the capable people improve their skills and lead the investigations, so they could follow behind and still receive rewards.

"Brother Shan, actually I..." Bai Jueming was about to refuse when Zhou Dahai patted him on the shoulder: "Don't be so polite. If you really feel bad about it, then treat everyone to a drink at Qingyue Tower."

The three men grinned mischievously.

Li Zhengshan nodded. Since the others had no objections, he had no reason to disagree. "Alright, Bai Jueming will take one, and the rest will be taken by whoever's cultivation is stuck at a bottleneck."

Bai Jueming accepted the pill and thanked his colleague. It was good that he accepted the pill; if he showed too much resistance, it wouldn't be like a low-level cultivator, and he shouldn't reveal that he hadn't encountered a bottleneck.

"Next, make several copies of the demon race's portrait and distribute them. Then, strengthen security patrols in the capital," Li Zhengshan instructed. "These two demon cultivators are quite powerful, so be careful. If you have any leads, come back and report. The Vice Hall Master will send warriors to capture them."

Zhou Dahai and the other two accepted their orders and took their leave, while Bai Jueming was kept behind by Li Zhengshan.

"Brother Shan, what's wrong?" Bai Jueming asked, puzzled.

After thinking for a moment, Li Zhengshan asked directly, "Do you know how an ordinary person can become an Onmyoji?"

After thinking for a moment, Bai Jueming said uncertainly, "Brother Shan, did you become an Onmyoji after being mentored by someone?" This was the conclusion the original owner had drawn from his many years of experience in the black market. The original owner had never encountered a rogue Onmyoji in all these years, which suggested that the method to become an Onmyoji was not simple and was controlled by the people of the Onmyo Palace.

"You guessed part of it." Li Zhengshan nodded, then explained, "For an ordinary person to become an Onmyoji, they need to sense a trace of soul power on a battlefield with tens of thousands of corpses, and then be guided by a skilled Onmyoji before they can become one!"

Bai Jueming's expression was solemn. He had long expected that there was indeed something wrong with his identity!

So, it turns out that soul power was born, and I was enlightened. This is the standard way to become an Onmyoji. I have never been to a battlefield in my entire life, so how could I sense that trace of soul power? Yet, I was indeed enlightened and became an Onmyoji! How is this possible?

"I'm sure you've realized your identity is suspicious," Li Zhengshan said solemnly. "After the mining case, the Deputy Hall Master investigated your identity. I always thought the Deputy Hall Master knew your background and gave you the opportunity to investigate. I never imagined that even the Deputy Hall Master didn't know back then."

"My identity has already alarmed the Vice Hall Master?" Bai Jueming's face was filled with disbelief. He suddenly felt as if he were standing naked in front of Li Zhengshan. His little secret, which he had kept hidden deep in his heart—being guided into cultivation by a certain Yin-Yang Master—was completely exposed before the Yin-Yang Hall. Was there anything in this world that the Yin-Yang Hall couldn't find out?

"Has the Vice Hall Master uncovered anything?" Bai Jueming believed that even if his identity was questionable, the Yin-Yang Hall wouldn't harm him. The fact that he was standing here talking to Li Zhengshan was the best proof of that!

Li Zhengshan first shook his head, then said, "The deputy hall master couldn't find out anything. In the end, after consulting the national advisor, he finally understood how someone like you who has never been on the battlefield could become an Onmyoji."

Bai Jueming raised his head, his face full of curiosity. He also wanted to know why that Onmyoji had called him a born Onmyoji. Was it related to his passive ability? Back then, when he was almost killed by that assassin, it was a piece of his spine that saved him.

Li Zhengshan held up three fingers and gestured in front of Bai Jueming with a serious expression: "The first is a male infant born on an extremely yin day."

"The day of extreme Yin?" Bai Jueming murmured, stroking his chin. So this was his birthday. It was simple; there were at least eight or ten thousand babies born on that day. It wasn't the key point at all.

"Secondly, a trace of soul power will naturally be generated in the body of a male infant who has been on the verge of death."

"Near-death state!? How can a newborn baby boy survive a near-death state?" Bai Jueming's pupils suddenly contracted, and he blurted out the question without thinking.

Wait! That spine on my back!!! Could it be that helped me survive the near-death experience?!

This is the Supreme Bone!!!

Could this spine be something I was born with? Unfortunately, I have no memories of my infancy, so it's impossible for me to recall them.

There's another possibility: this spinal bone was planted in me by that Onmyoji! But wait, if it was planted by an Onmyoji, I couldn't possibly have no memories, because I became an Onmyoji three years ago under his guidance. The original owner was already fifteen years old then; there's no way she could have forgotten.

Li Zhengshan continued, "Third! And most importantly! The Onmyoji who mentors you must be at least a third-rank master! Only when all three of these conditions are met can you become an Onmyoji!"

Bai Jueming didn't know what a third-rank Yin-Yang Master meant, and his reaction was not as shocked as when he heard the second piece of news.

"A third-rank Yin-Yang Master—there are probably only two people in the entire world with such cultivation. Our Imperial Advisor, and the Imperial Advisor of Beichen!"

"What?!" The news he received today left Bai Jueming completely dumbfounded. Just what was the original owner's identity? Was he the emperor's illegitimate son? Or the imperial advisor's illegitimate son? Or the Beichen imperial advisor's illegitimate son? This kind of thing couldn't possibly happen to a commoner!

"The Vice Hall Master asked me to ask you, do you still remember how you became an Onmyoji?" Li Zhengshan interrupted Bai Jueming's thoughts.

Now that the Yin-Yang Palace knows everything, there's no point in hiding it; it would only arouse suspicion.

Then Bai Jueming recounted the events of that night. First, his eldest sister saved an old man, and then the old man, upon seeing him, declared himself a born Yin-Yang Master. After giving him some pointers, the old man left and never appeared again.

Looking back now, it's possible that the eldest sister was already involved in the scheme to save that old man. How could someone with a cultivation level of rank three or higher be saved by an ordinary person? She was definitely after him.

After listening, Li Zhengshan nodded silently. Bai Jueming's story was like a tale told by a storyteller in a teahouse. A mysterious old man recognized him as a martial arts prodigy, one in a million, and then Bai Jueming entered the world of cultivation. His cultivation then soared, and he roamed the martial world freely...

Of course, Bai Jueming hasn't yet become a legend in the martial arts world. After all, no protagonist needs to sign a contract of servitude to pay off debts or take a punch from their own bodyguard for ten coins...

"That old man is right. The deputy hall master also said that if a dying baby comes back to life, he is a born Yin-Yang Master. After all, such people are extremely rare."

Could it be that spine on my back that helped me survive the near-death experience? But is that spine something I was born with? That's too fantastical.

Furthermore, Li Zhengshan didn't ask how he survived the near-death experience, suggesting that this wasn't important to them. No, that's not quite right; it's not that it wasn't important. How could he possibly remember surviving a near-death experience as an infant? Perhaps, for the Yin-Yang Palace right now, knowing and guiding the Yin-Yang Masters is the most important thing!

Bai Jueming suggested, "Brother Shan, why don't you ask me in my dream? See if you can find out the identity of that Onmyoji?" Bai Jueming slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten about the Onmyoji's methods.

"It's no use." Li Zhengshan sighed. "Onmyoji understand Onmyoji best and know how to defend against their methods."

That makes sense, Bai Jueming nodded. If the memories in his head were useless, then there would be absolutely no leads to investigate. Then Bai Jueming said, "So, we're not going to investigate the Onmyoji behind me?"