Yin Yang Soul Searcher

South Gate.

The general, clad in armor, silently walked to the huge gap in the city wall and stood there without uttering a word.

Just then, the bolt on the south gate suddenly came loose on its own, and then the gate creaked open, revealing billowing smoke all around.

Bai Jueming turned his head and saw two paper figures with childlike appearances suddenly emerge from the smoke of battle. The paper figures wore long, diagonally-fastened indigo tie-dyed robes. Their pale faces were flushed with two sickly red patches of blush.

Luo Wuju sat on a chair carried by paper figures and slowly walked out of the smoke of battle.

Bai Jueming gaped, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Had the explosion alerted the underworld? Had it blown something from the netherworld up here?

Bai Jueming turned around and found that Han Xueshan and several Yin-Yang Masters all had the same expression.

Just then, a cough came from behind the paper figure. Cheng Yanbing waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him, and a girl in a light blue dress was beside him; it was Tang Weiwei.

Seeing Bai Jueming staring in disbelief, Cheng Yanbing stepped forward and greeted him, "Brother Bai?"

Bai Jueming snapped out of his daze and pointed at the four paper figures: "Brother Cheng, did they come up from below?"

"What are you talking about?" Cheng Yanbing explained, "That's my junior brother. He bought those paper figures from the coffin shop, and he modified them with arrays."

Why would people in the mortal realm like to play with things from the underworld? Bai Jueming felt a surge of grievances in his chest, unsure whether to vomit or not.

"You saw it too, right? This guy is just an idiot who only knows how to study formations." Cheng Yanbing explained, then looked at the injured people on the street: "I'll go help them first."

Bai Jueming stared at his retreating figure in disbelief. How could you say such a thing? Aren't you only good at researching pills too?

"Sister, is your injury healed?" Tang Weiwei walked up to Han Xueshan and asked with concern.

"Thank you, Miss Tang. Thanks to your medicine, I've fully recovered. I'm so sorry I haven't been able to come and thank you in person for so long." Han Xueshan gave a rare smile. Then she remembered that she had used this wretched woman's money to do her a favor by buying her pastries last time!

"Oh, don't be so polite." Tang Weiwei waved her hand, indicating that she shouldn't take it to heart.

"Miss Tang, what brings you here?" Bai Jueming smiled elegantly.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Weiwei said, "Master said there was an explosion at the South Gate and asked my two senior brothers to come out and help, so I went out with them."

Bai Jueming nodded. The Craftsmen's Hall was quite well-informed, sending people so quickly. But shouldn't the Yin-Yang Hall be the first to investigate such matters?

Luo Wuju walked to the huge breach in the city wall, glanced at the general standing there, examined his injuries, and then said, "How come you weren't blown up?"

Upon hearing this, everyone around was stunned. Was this someone trying to cause trouble?

Upon hearing this, the general was taken aback at first, then stared at Luo Wuju with a cold gaze and an unfriendly expression.

"Do these two have a grudge?" Bai Jueming thought immediately.

Luo Wuju said with some confusion, "Why are you looking at me like that? I am a fourth-rank official, you may not be my match."

Upon hearing this, the general's coldness vanished, replaced by a murderous intent. He slowly walked towards Luo Wuju, clearly about to make his move.

"Oh dear, that's not how it is." Tang Weiwei quickly ran between the two to break up the fight: "General, you've misunderstood."

"What my senior brother meant was, with such a huge explosion, why was you the only one who survived?"

"Yes, isn't that what I meant?" Luo Wuju looked at him with some confusion.

The general snorted coldly, ignored him, and continued to stand in front of the gap without saying a word.

"Do you think normal people in your family talk like this?" Bai Jueming finally understood why Cheng Yanbing called him an idiot...

Luo Wuju turned his head and looked at the huge gap in the city wall with some emotion, saying, "This city wall was set up by my master and me back then. I advised my master a long time ago that the formations he set up were too weak and should be dismantled and rebuilt."

"He wouldn't listen to advice, and now look what's happened..." Luo Wuju shook his head, feeling somewhat sorry for the fallen soldiers.

Just then, several Onmyoji dressed in black uniforms leaped from the distant rooftops and landed on the scene. Leading them was the square-faced Fangzheng Hall Master, followed by the Scarface Hall Master, Li Zhengshan, and the Muscle and Bone Hall Master. The warriors behind them landed almost simultaneously.

At this moment, Zhou Dahai and his two companions were still on their way on horseback... There was nothing they could do; that's how low-level Onmyoji are.

After the hall masters arrived at the scene, they first conducted their own investigations. The four hall masters were both partners and competitors.

After a cursory inspection of the scene, Shen Fangzheng walked up to the general and asked, "General, what happened here?"

The general stood there blankly for a moment before saying in a hoarse voice, "Let the deputy hall master interrogate me." After saying this, he fell silent again.

Shen Fangzheng nodded silently, and then continued to investigate the scene.

Bai Jueming walked up to Li Zhengshan and whispered, "Brother Shan, why are there so many people here?"

"This matter has alarmed His Majesty, who is demanding results from the Imperial Advisor," Li Zhengshan explained in a low voice. "You arrived early; have you found the murderer?"

Bai Jueming shook his head: "The murderer should have escaped by the time we arrived. Besides, I'm not even a sixth-rank official, so I can't perform soul-searching on these dead soldiers."

Li Zhengshan nodded, and then the four hall masters gathered together to discuss a solution.

"Gentlemen, you should already have a general understanding of the situation," Shen Fangzheng, with his square face, suggested. "Let's perform a soul search first, and then we can bury these soldiers as soon as possible."

The hall masters had no objections; having more people search souls would allow them to exchange information and fill in any gaps.

The general standing there turned and glanced at him, seemingly moved by his words.

The four gang leaders acted simultaneously, each selecting a corpse that was close to the blast radius.

Bai Jueming followed behind Li Zhengshan. He selected a corpse with not too much bloodstains. Black soul power slowly emerged in his hand, flowing downwards like ripples of water, and then slowly seeped into the corpse's forehead.

Bai Jueming silently observed this scene, thinking of the Yin-Yang Master from last night. Why was he a white mist? Brother Shan is also a fifth-rank cultivator, so why isn't he a white mist?

Bai Jueming then observed the soul power of the other hall masters, and without exception, it was all black. This was strange.

Just as Bai Jueming was feeling puzzled, he saw Shan Ge, who had just closed his eyes, suddenly open them, his palm hovering in mid-air, his face filled with disbelief, and he froze on the spot.

At this moment, Han Xueshan noticed that the other three hall masters also had the same expression. Shen Fangzheng was the first to come to his senses. He stood up and sent another soldier to search the soul. After a moment, he opened his eyes and stood there without saying a word.

"Master, what's wrong?" Bai Jueming waved his hand in front of Li Zhengshan.

Li Zhengshan then came to his senses and looked at his three colleagues. Each of them had the same expression as he had just had.

"We can't search their souls anymore," Li Zhengshan muttered. "The souls of these soldiers have been destroyed by the Onmyoji!"

What?! Bai Jueming stared at the corpses strewn across the ground, a chill creeping over him, and he trembled uncontrollably. His first thought was, could this have been done by that Onmyoji from last night?! What was his purpose?

After Li Zhengshan finished speaking, he gathered with the other hall masters and began to discuss countermeasures.

Then, as if he had thought of something, Bai Jueming began to examine the corpses one by one.

Han Xueshan followed behind him and asked, "What are you looking for?"

Bai Jueming didn't answer. Instead, he turned over a corpse with relatively little bloodstains, lifted the armor on the corpse, and roughly examined it. Without looking up, he said, "Call Brother Cheng for me."

Seeing Bai Jueming's serious expression, Han Xueshan didn't argue with him. She walked towards Cheng Yanbing, who was treating the people.

Bai Jueming frowned deeply as he looked at the corpse before him. He had some guesses in his mind, but he still needed a professional coroner to verify them.

In no time, the two reached Bai Jueming's side. Cheng Yanbing asked, "What happened?"

"Brother Cheng, could you please help me identify the fatal wound on this corpse?"

"Is there something wrong with the body?" Cheng Yanbing asked as he began to search the body.

"This body has no fatal external injuries, only a few small cuts, as if from flying pebbles," Cheng Yanbing muttered with some doubt. "Such a huge explosion, no fatal external injuries? How did he die?"

This was precisely what puzzled Bai Jueming. The bodies showed no fatal external wounds and hadn't bled much, so they shouldn't have been killed by the explosion. Furthermore, Bai Jueming noticed that several bodies were lying face north, some distance away from the rest of the corpses...

Cheng Yanbing then placed his palm on the corpse's chest, closed his eyes, and sensed for a moment: "The internal organs have been shattered!?"

Then Cheng Yanbing said with some surprise, "He wasn't killed by an explosion, he was killed by a high-level cultivator!"

Sure enough, Bai Jueming's inner thoughts were confirmed. At such close range, the explosion was instantaneous and there was no time for him to react and escape. The only explanation was that some soldiers did not die after the explosion, but were all caught up by high-level cultivators and left no survivors.

Cheng Yanbing then examined several other corpses without fatal external injuries. Without exception, they had all died from shattered internal organs caused by the shockwave.

Cheng Yanbing concluded, "It seems that after the explosion, the high-ranking cultivator killed everyone to prevent his identity from being revealed."

"This result is invalid." Bai Jueming shook his head: "The hall masters have already searched their souls, and their souls have all been destroyed. If it's just to protect their identities, they could easily disguise themselves, saving the time of destroying their souls and escaping as quickly as possible."

This suggests that the mastermind's destruction of the souls had a deeper meaning and was definitely not for protecting their identity. However, on the other hand, by doing this, wouldn't the mastermind have shifted all suspicion onto the Onmyoji?

Using his identity to conceal a deeper purpose! It seems this Onmyoji is very confident in his identity; will no one know who he is? Not necessarily!

Bai Jueming turned his gaze to the general standing there, the only living person present!

"There are Onmyoji involved here?" Cheng Yanbing said with some surprise, "Has your Onmyo Palace produced a traitor?"

Bai Jueming gave a bitter smile. How could someone who could do such a thing be a member of the Yin Yang Palace?

It's important to know that only Onmyoji of rank five or higher can destroy souls. Bai Jueming figured it was most likely the Onmyoji he and Han Xueshan had seen last night. That person could also be a self-taught Onmyoji who had mentored him. Another possibility was that someone from Beichen had come...

If the explosion really was caused by that Onmyoji last night, why didn't he eliminate himself and Han Xueshan beforehand? Eliminating uncertainties beforehand—he couldn't possibly be afraid of the Onmyoji on night duty... Was it because of the existence of the demon race?

If you connect all of these things together, is it really possible for a human to solve this kind of case?

The demon race, the explosion, the unique Four Seasons Master of Western Shu, the uncontrollable wild Yin-Yang Master, and the general who was not killed. Is it really because he is so powerful that he did not die?

If someone can find out, I'll just eat it!