Yin Yang Soul Searcher

The capital city was shrouded in a light drizzle. Inside a luxurious mansion.

The artificial hill in the back garden is covered with mottled moss, its surface a mix of green and black. Rainwater meanders down the cracks in the rocks, forming a thin stream at the foot of the hill before finally flowing into the pond below.

Rainwater pattered into the pond, creating countless tiny ripples, like a beautiful melody. A few koi carp swam back and forth in the pond, seemingly trying to avoid the unexpected raindrops.

A richly dressed man stood on the pavilion next to him, his back to the Four Seasons Master dressed in black, admiring the koi in the lake.

Copper bells hung from the eaves of the pavilion. Raindrops pattered on the bells, producing a clear and melodious sound. The man closed his eyes, a look of rapture on his face.

Master Siji leaned against a pillar in the pavilion, his sharp eyes fixed on the man's back, and said, "I hope our cooperation will be sincere. Tell me what you have done."

The man grabbed a handful of bait and casually tossed it into the lake, where koi carp scrambled for it: "I've already told you everything I needed to say."

"After you were injured in the fight with the demons that day, I disguised myself and went to find Yu Haochu. Fortunately, there were no demon cultivators lurking in his mansion at the time, otherwise killing them would have caused a lot of trouble."

"I asked him why he had such a powerful demon cultivator helping him. At first, he was unwilling to tell me, so I had to threaten him with his collusion with the demon race and his embezzlement of mineral resources. If he didn't tell me, his entire clan would be wiped out."

"I didn't expect him to be so stubborn this time. He's like a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water. Anyway, I already know he colluded with the demon race to embezzle the mines. He's going to die either way, so he might as well disgust me a little before he dies." The man shook his head helplessly, thinking that Yu Haochu was too old to be so childish. He was an Onmyoji, and he had plenty of ways to find out the truth. It was just that there was a formation inside the mansion, so it wasn't convenient to show his strength.

"I will hand over to him the evidence of his embezzlement of mineral resources over the years, and I promise that this is the last time, and that we will be even after this. Moreover, I will not threaten him again if I have no evidence. As for his collusion with the demon race, I have no proof."

"When faced with the choice of survival, no one will make the wrong choice."

"Finally, he told me that the demons sought his help to obtain information about the First Prince and to discuss strategies against his army. Furthermore, their next objective was to blow up the South Gate, retrieve the gunpowder inside, and use it against the First Prince's forces!"

"Your selfishness is ingrained in the very bones of the Great Xia people. You're capable of betraying the court for your own purposes. You don't even care about the lives of your entire clan?" Master Siji shook his head slightly with a mocking smile.

The man ignored the Four Seasons Master's sarcasm and continued, "Sure enough, not long after I left, an explosion occurred at the South Gate. I've been hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity."

"The demon race and Yu Haochu's idea is good, but I think their plan is not perfect. Even if the demon race kills all the soldiers after stealing the gunpowder, it will attract the soul search investigation of the Yin Yang Palace, making it easy for people to guess that they took the gunpowder to target the Crown Prince's formation."

"I gave them a little something extra, destroying the souls of all the soldiers. This prevented the Yin-Yang Palace from searching their souls to find out who stole the gunpowder. As a result, the Yin-Yang Palace would be stuck on the question of who stole the gunpowder and wouldn't be able to think deeper about the demon race's purpose in stealing it."

"Because there are too many forces involved, including an unknown Onmyoji like me, a Season Master like you, and someone who can destroy formations with ease..."

"In this way, the Yin-Yang Palace will be unable to figure out the demon race's purpose in stealing gunpowder. I have hidden this matter, which makes it easier for the demon race to take action against the Crown Prince. This is the same as our goal."

"But unfortunately, the Yin-Yang Palace eventually found out that it was the demon race who took the gunpowder. Those fools of the demon race, by cooperating with that array master to attack the Craftsmen's Palace, exposed many details of the stolen weapons. In the end, Bai Jueming of the Yin-Yang Palace combined these details with the various events that happened in the capital to figure out their purpose."

"Your Great Xia's hall master is quite capable, able to guess the demon race's purpose from these clues." Master Siji nodded in affirmation.

The speaker paused slightly, then gave a wry smile: "Bai Jueming is not the hall master, but an eighth-rank Yin-Yang Master of the Yin-Yang Hall."

"An eighth-rank Yin-Yang Master isn't a hall master, how could he guess the demon race's purpose?" Master Siji asked with surprise, then added, "What about the hall masters of the Yin-Yang Hall? What are they good for? They're not even as good as an eighth-rank master?"

The man was speechless for a moment, and could only say coldly, "We'll get rid of this kind of clever person sooner or later!" Then he continued.

"The demon race's purpose has been exposed, which led to the Great Xia sending many people to support the First Prince during yesterday's battle. Originally, the demon race could have suppressed the First Prince, so you could have taken the opportunity to strike and easily kill the First Prince."

"But unfortunately, due to the support from Great Xia, the demon race was ultimately at a disadvantage. This also affected our plan. Although you chose a good time, launching a sneak attack the moment the First Prince killed Jinxiu, when he was most likely to lower his guard, unfortunately, the First Prince was not so easy to kill..."

"Although the demon race eventually stole the auspicious beast's corpse, they paid a heavy price, and our plan failed as a result..."

"Failure is the norm in life; we can only look for opportunities later," Master Shiki said with some regret.

The man snorted coldly, clearly dissatisfied: "Do you think it's easy to find another opportunity like this? And that Bai Jueming, someone as clever as him will only cause trouble sooner or later!"

"Tsk tsk tsk," Master Siji clicked his tongue, "Your Great Xia can fight amongst yourselves to your heart's content. We Western Shu are happy to see this scene, hahaha!"

The man first snorted coldly, then covered his face with a black robe and prepared to leave.

Master Siji was taken aback at first, then asked, "You're going out again? What are you going to do? Isn't everything over?"

The man said coldly, "That fox has already been captured by the Yin-Yang Palace. Sooner or later it will reveal the truth. What do you think I should do there?"

Master Siji laughed heartily: "Then be careful when you're doing things, lest you get caught by the Yin Yang Palace. Otherwise, things will get really messy."

Inside the Yin-Yang Hall.

Upon hearing Jinxiu's words, Bai Jueming stroked his chin, thinking to himself, "So, my guess was correct."

I once guessed when the Four Seasons Master ambushed the Crown Prince that the Four Seasons Master was not an ally of the demon race, because the Crown Prince had been fighting against the demon race for so long. If he was here to help the demon race, the Four Seasons Master would have appeared long ago!

Now, with Jinxiu's words, he is even more certain that the Four Seasons Master came for the Crown Prince, intending to kill the First Prince and cause internal strife in the Great Xia Dynasty.

The reason the Onmyoji destroyed the souls of the soldiers in the South Gate case was to conceal the fact that the demons had taken the explosives. This way, it would be difficult to guess that the demons intended to attack the Crown Prince since no one knew who had stolen the gunpowder.

If no one supports the eldest prince, it will be much easier for the Four Seasons Master to eliminate him; they share the same goal in this matter.

"Another question is, how did the Four Seasons Master and the Yin-Yang Master know that the demon race was going to attack the First Prince? They couldn't have guessed it just by taking your explosives, could they? They certainly didn't have as many clues as we did, they shouldn't have been able to guess it," Bai Jueming asked, staring at the brocade on the table.

Jinxiu's expression was very serious. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I think Yu Haochu betrayed us because only he knew our plan. And since Yang Liu and I failed to capture the Four Seasons Master, we haven't been to Yu Haochu's residence."

Bai Jueming pondered for a moment, then concluded that this was the only possibility. That person held Yu Haochu's life in their hands, and it wouldn't be difficult for them to threaten him into obtaining the demon race's plan.

Finally, Bai Jueming held up one finger. "Regarding the Yin-Yang Master threatening Yu Haochu to seize the mineral resources, what was his purpose in taking them? Forging weapons? Which faction does he belong to?"

Jinxiu shook her head: "Let alone us, even Yu Haochu probably doesn't know what kind of minerals an Onmyoji needs or what he does with them. As for which faction he belongs to, besides your Great Xia and Beichen, is there anywhere else where an Onmyoji could be born?"

The hall masters naturally knew about the Soul Lamp, and at this moment they couldn't help but ponder where this wild Onmyoji came from.

Bai Jueming pinched his brow in annoyance; this wild Onmyoji was indeed not so easy to investigate. He then waved his hand, "I'm done. You can continue."

Next up is the South Gate case.

The case at the South Gate was not solely led by our demon race; another force was also involved!

After the death of Minister of Works Yang Yongyuan, Yang Liu and I hid in a restaurant to try to kill Lianzhu, cutting off all clues.

Unfortunately, your arrival has disrupted our plans, forcing us to abandon our plan to kill Lianzhu.

Just as we decided to leave, two people burst into the room: a man in black who was very familiar with formations, and a burly man with a third-grade cultivation level.

Lianzhu was a spy for their faction, responsible for gathering intelligence while infiltrating the capital. He knew everything about what Lianzhu had done. However, he didn't kill us. Instead, he sought cooperation from our demon race. He trapped the two of us in a restaurant, and then Peng Li appeared and began negotiating with the two men.

"The two of them are the culprits who framed Cheng Yanbing and caused him to lose the elixir."

"Which faction do they belong to?" The deputy hall master, who had been listening quietly, couldn't help but ask, his gaze behind his mask suddenly sharpening as he asked in a cold voice.

Jinxiu was still afraid of him, feeling that he killed demons without blinking an eye, and couldn't help but shrink back. She cautiously said, "We don't know. He never revealed anything from beginning to end, and we haven't found any clues about the faction he belongs to..."

"You demon cultivators can analyze things based on the slightest clues?" The deputy hall master scoffed, cursing, "Useless!"

Vice Prince, do you have to be so idealistic...?

Jinxiu was so frightened that she dared not be angry or speak.

Go on!

Jinxiu shrank back: "The two of them came to us wanting to cooperate. Their target is Qiao Shou, the master of the Craftsmen's Hall."

They hope to use our power to lure away two disciples from the Craftsmen's Hall, Cheng Yanbing and Luo Wuju. They want to harm Qiao. In return, he will help us when we steal the auspicious beast's corpse.

At that time, Peng Li was worried about how to transfer Hai Feng, a fourth-rank official, away. Hai Feng was stationed at the south gate and was reinforced by an array, so it was difficult to subdue him in a short time. If he activated the array, even Peng Li, a third-rank official, would have a hard time taking away the gunpowder.

We hit it off immediately.

Peng Li used his compass to disrupt the formation inside the south gate during the surprise attack, while the two of them were responsible for drawing away Hai Feng, a fourth-rank official.

No wonder Luo Wuju said the mastermind had the ability to steal gunpowder and deliberately sabotaged the formation; it turned out they were just trying to lure him out to repair it. The person behind it all is very familiar with the staffing of the Craftsmen's Hall!

"I have another question," Bai Jueming interrupted her.

Why do you ask so many questions? Jinxiu cursed inwardly!

The other hall masters in the room also looked at Bai Jueming, their expressions seemingly echoing Jinxiu's thoughts.

Bai Jueming didn't mince words and asked directly, "Since those two were transferred away from Haifeng, why not just kill him? Why let him go back?"

"They probably don't want to make a move. A fourth-rank martial artist—if we can't deal with him quickly, it will attract the attention of your night watch personnel. Besides, he's already achieved his goal; there's no need to kill him," Jinxiu said after thinking for a moment.

"Alright, continue."

After transferring Luo Wuju from the Craftsmen's Hall, we began planning the miasma in the town. Our aim, of course, was to lure away Cheng Yanbing, Qiao Shou's eldest disciple.

He caused the people there to be poisoned by miasma. Cheng Yanbing was a researcher of elixirs, and he would definitely go to the scene if the people were poisoned on a large scale.

As he expected, Cheng Yanbing was transferred. With this, both of Qiao Shou's disciples had left the Craftsmen's Hall!

"Didn't Qiao Shou have three disciples? Are you looking down on my Tang Weiwei?!" Bai Jueming felt indignant on behalf of Tang Xinshi.

In this way, the arrival of the man in black caused the formation to temporarily malfunction, and the departure of the two disciples ensured that no one in the craftsmen's hall could operate the formation in time to allow it to recover quickly.

At this moment, the array master and the third-rank strongman began to attack Qiao, and Peng Li was able to take the opportunity to sneak into the Craftsmen's Hall. As for what he did in the Craftsmen's Hall, I don't know.

The deputy hall master's gaze, hidden behind his mask, fell into deep thought. Did the Grand Preceptor already know that the array master was going to attack the Craftsmen's Hall, that he had sent him there to help Hall Master Qiao? And how did the Grand Preceptor know this?

Bai Jueming interrupted Jinxiu once again: "As far as I know, Peng Li went to the craftsmen's hall and stole the magical artifacts that were to be made for Yunzhou. Because His Majesty decreed that the artifacts would be transported to Yunzhou after they were made, and then the Prince of Gaoyang would be sent as the vanguard to attack your demon race."

"Are you demons afraid of war? So you're deliberately stalling for time?"

The deputy hall master nodded with great satisfaction, his gaze towards Bai Jueming filled with deep appreciation.

This young man is truly extraordinary. Not only is he meticulous and attentive to details others overlook, but he also relentlessly pursues the truth. Li Zhengshan has struck gold!

If given time to cultivate, becoming a hall master would be a sure thing! He might even become a deputy hall master!

The hall masters looked at Bai Jueming as if they had seen a ghost. How did you know about something that even our hall masters didn't know beforehand, and in such detail? Have you also been promoted to hall master?

Jinxiu wanted to give Bai Jueming a disdainful look, but she was also afraid of the deputy hall master beside her. So she could only shrink back: "We demons shouldn't be afraid of war. I don't know why Peng Li stole those magical artifacts."

"Isn't it that formation master who needs it?" Bai Jueming asked.

"I don't know either." Jinxiu shook her head, not daring to lie.

"Go on."

That was the end of it. Yang Liu and I rushed to the Tu Yun Mountains and hid there, waiting for the arrival of the First Prince.

Thus, all the schemes involving the demon race became clear.

These matters seem complicated, but in reality, the demon race didn't do much. The main problem was the involvement of various forces, which made everything appear chaotic and contradictory.

Bai Jueming mentally reviewed the situation of the demon race.

First, Yang Liu refined the ferocious beast and waited for the right opportunity.

Then Peng Li found Yu Haochu and obtained information about the Crown Prince's route and the gunpowder at the South Gate.

Then they moved the ferocious beast to the Tuyun Mountains.

Then he worked for Yu Haochu, killed Yang Yongyuan, and searched for the mastermind behind threatening him to embezzle the mine.

Then they stole the gunpowder and waited for the arrival of the eldest prince.

The murder of Yang Yongyuan and the search for the mastermind behind the embezzlement of mineral resources involved two opposing forces...

"The waters in the capital are really murky," Bai Jueming thought to himself.

"You have lived up to the Imperial Advisor's high regard; capturing this fox is a great achievement!"

"That's what the deputy hall master said."