Yin Yang Soul Searcher

"Ah~, but Master Zhengshan treats me like a brother, how can I leave him? If I abandon him for some cultivation resources, wouldn't I become a treacherous person who betrays his principles for personal gain? Can you really trust Master Qingshui to cultivate such a disloyal person?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhengshan's maggot-like brows gradually relaxed, and he felt much better. This brat still had a conscience.

Master Shimizu snapped out of his daze and fell into deep thought. Had I been too impulsive? How come I couldn't see any of the qualities this kid had mentioned? Should I observe him further?

Since Bai Jueming had said that, he could conveniently back down: "Since Brother Bai has put it that way, I won't force you. If you change your mind, you can come find me anytime."

The deputy hall master was the person with the highest cultivation level present. Only he noticed Han Xueshan's little actions and couldn't help but praise her in his heart, "Well done."

"Alright, alright, you can go down and discuss this matter again. Summarize what you know." The deputy hall master leaned back in his chair, stroking the monster skull in his hand.

The hall masters agreed, and Li Zhengshan took the lead in reporting what he and the other hall masters had gained in the town. Based on various clues near the town, and the fact that some villagers in the town saw a man and a woman on the hillside by moonlight that night.

Li Zhengshan inquired in detail about the appearance of the man and woman. The villagers couldn't remember clearly, but based on their general descriptions, Li Zhengshan deduced that the man and woman were Jinxiu and Yangliu!

Shen Fangzheng and his group then recounted how they rescued Master Qingshui, and how the demon race hid in the Tuyun Mountains, where many ferocious beasts lurked...

Li Zhengshan then understood why the Master of Qingshui Hall called Bai Jueming his savior. It was all thanks to Bai Jueming's timely guess of the demon race's purpose that the Yin-Yang Hall was able to quickly gather manpower to rescue people, and incidentally, send a portion of its forces to assist the First Prince...

The deputy hall master listened expressionlessly and nodded. These matters were no longer important; after all, Peng Li had already taken the auspicious beast's corpse, Yang Liu was dead, and Jinxiu had been brought to justice. Now it was time for reckoning!

"How did your investigation at the Yu residence go?" The deputy hall master's gaze, hidden behind his mask, was fixed on Bai Jueming, clearly indicating that he had some expectations of him.

The other hall masters who went to the Yu residence with him naturally understood the deputy hall master's meaning and gave this opportunity to Bai Jueming to make a name for himself.

Bai Jueming sighed and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to the Vice Hall Master: "Vice Hall Master, please forgive me. I am incompetent. I arrived too late, and Yu Haochu has already been silenced and his soul destroyed. I also couldn't find any useful clues in the manor."

"The soul was destroyed?" The deputy hall master's expression beneath his mask remained largely unchanged. Instead, he asked, "Was it done by that Onmyoji at the South Gate?"

"I suspect it was done by the same person, because that Yin-Yang Master had connections with Yu Haochu regarding the mineral deposits, giving him ample reason to kill him to cover it up. Moreover, we brought back a trace of soul power from Yu Haochu, which can be compared with the soul power found at the South Gate earlier."

"They handled things quite thoroughly." After saying this, the deputy hall master closed his eyes, having already given up hope on the clues about the Yu family. With the intervention of the Yin-Yang Master, the clues about the Yu family were completely cut off. Thinking this, he heard Bai Jueming speak again.

"We haven't come away empty-handed. We've made some progress on the mineral deposits."

"Oh?" The deputy hall master opened his eyes. "Tell me about it."

"Our subordinates discovered Chu Jiangyuan's body at Yu Haochu's house. He was the one who helped Yu Haochu steal mineral deposits. Through soul searching, we learned that he transported the stolen mineral deposits to Lijia Town, the border area between Shangzhou and Jingzhou!"

"Li Family Town?" The deputy hall master's gaze, hidden behind his mask, narrowed slightly. He wondered to himself, "Could this matter be related to Shangzhou?"

"Are there any other clues?"

"Uh, that's all," Bai Jueming replied.

The deputy hall master looked around at everyone and nodded: "Go back, I'll go report to the Grand Preceptor."

Everyone agreed and then left the room. Bai Jueming followed Li Zhengshan back to Zhengshan Hall.

The large room fell silent for a moment. The deputy hall master stroked the monster skull in his hand, then slowly closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

This morning, as soon as Jinxiu told the truth, she went to report it to the Imperial Advisor. After listening, the Imperial Advisor simply nodded indifferently.

It didn't say that this was the Onmyoji's dereliction of duty, nor did it say that the Onmyoji had done anything meritorious. Moreover, the Imperial Advisor seems completely indifferent to this matter? What exactly is the Imperial Advisor trying to do?

Discarding the distracting thoughts in his mind, the deputy hall master headed towards the ninth floor.

Stepping into the water-like formation, the deputy hall master clasped his hands in a salute and said, "Grand Preceptor, there is news from the Yu family."

The Imperial Advisor, dressed in a long robe that was half black and half white, sat cross-legged on a huge Tai Chi diagram. Upon hearing this, he merely gave a lukewarm "hmm."

The deputy hall master continued to recount Bai Jueming's investigation at the Yu residence, as well as the whereabouts of the mining incident.

Upon hearing the deputy hall master recount how Bai Jueming found Chu Jiangyuan's body, then used soul-searching to locate the mine and analyze Chu Jiangyuan's behavior, the Grand Preceptor nodded and couldn't help but praise, "This Bai Jueming is so intelligent; he's a promising investigator. He's meticulous and leaves no room for error."

The deputy hall master was greatly surprised. He never expected that Bai Jueming would receive such praise from the imperial advisor. As long as Bai Jueming performs well in the future, he will surely have a bright future!

The deputy hall master nodded and echoed, "Bai Jueming's ability to investigate cases is indeed more impressive than some of the hall masters of the Yin-Yang Hall."

Then, a wisp of soul power appeared in the deputy hall master's hand. This was a wisp of soul power extracted from Yu Haochu. Near the end of the meeting, a hall master handed this wisp of soul power to the deputy hall master. The deputy hall master stretched out his palm and the wisp of soul power floated in the air.

The deputy hall master said respectfully, "This is a wisp of soul power extracted from Yu Haochu. Bai Jueming is very certain that this is the same person as the Yin-Yang Master who destroyed the souls of the soldiers at the South Gate. To be on the safe side, I would like to ask the Grand Preceptor to confirm it again."

The Imperial Advisor did not speak, but simply waved his hand to retrieve that wisp of soul power and held it in his palm. He first rubbed it for a moment, then squeezed it hard, and that wisp of soul power instantly vanished into thin air.

The deputy hall master stood aside, his eyes revealing respect and fervor. The Grand Preceptor's injuries should be almost healed. Judging from the way he was rubbing his soul, his cultivation might have improved even more than before!

"It's the same person," the Imperial Advisor said calmly.

The young man was right. After receiving confirmation from the Imperial Advisor, the Deputy Hall Master clasped his hands and pleaded, "Imperial Advisor, this Yin-Yang Master has repeatedly opposed our Yin-Yang Hall, causing us so much difficulty in investigating the case. He is truly hateful."

"Should we send someone to secretly investigate his whereabouts? My suggestion is that we have our spies in Beichen inquire about which Yin-Yang Masters in Beichen have advanced to the fifth rank or quietly left the Beichen Yin-Yang Palace during this period."

After all, advancing to the fifth rank of Yin-Yang Master is not easy. It requires a large city with a population of over one million and a place with a powerful array. Only the Beichen Yin-Yang Palace, the Great Xia Yin-Yang Palace, and the Imperial City are the three places that can do this.

All the advanced Onmyoji at these two locations in the Great Xia Dynasty are under their control. The advancement location of that unknown Onmyoji can only be the Onmyo Palace in Beichen, which is undoubtedly a good direction for investigation.

"Your idea is good." The deputy hall master's voice was deep and resonant. "However, doing it this way is too difficult. Infiltrating Beichen is easy, but gathering information about the Yin-Yang Hall is difficult."

"How should we investigate? We can't just leave him like this, can we?"

"Of course we'll investigate. Take a look at this letter first." The Imperial Advisor took out a letter, flicked it lightly, and the letter flew into the hands of the Deputy Hall Master.

The letter had a large character "商" written on it, so there was no doubt that it was another letter from Shangzhou.

With a sense of doubt, the deputy hall master opened the letter. After reading it for a while, the contents of the letter became increasingly horrifying. The deputy hall master's expression behind his mask grew more and more shocked, and his hand holding the letter trembled slightly.

"Who, who is this person, to dare do such a thing in the Great Xia? This person must be found and torn to pieces!" The deputy hall master tightened his grip on the letter in his hand.

"Let's investigate in this direction. This must be what that Onmyoji did." The Imperial Advisor's voice echoed in the Vice Hall Master's ears. "Instead of dwelling on how he advanced to the fifth rank, let's investigate how he became an Onmyoji in the first place!"

The deputy hall master snapped out of his daze, looked at the contents of the letter, and said, "Since those two Onmyoji have disappeared, I will send two more hall masters to investigate. We must get to the bottom of this matter."

The Imperial Advisor interrupted the Deputy Hall Master, saying, "There's no need to send a Hall Master over. I think Bai Jueming is quite clever. Although his cultivation is a bit low, he was able to see through the demon race's conspiracy and is indeed worth cultivating. Why not let him go and investigate the truth?"

The deputy hall master was taken aback; he hadn't expected the Grand Preceptor to value this person so highly. He then said, "Um, isn't this a bit too risky? After all, he's only at the eighth rank... and he's only been with the Yin-Yang Hall for less than half a month..."

"High cultivation level doesn't necessarily mean strong investigative ability, and the length of time one has been in the Yin-Yang Palace doesn't necessarily indicate loyalty, does it?" the Grand Preceptor retorted.

After a moment of contemplation, the deputy hall master nodded, then added, "If he encounters any danger... given his cultivation level..."

"Young people need more experience; that's settled then."

The deputy hall master stood there in silence for a moment. Since the Grand Preceptor insisted on this, he couldn't say anything more.

"Also, go to the palace and report to His Majesty the news of the Yu family being silenced, Yu Haochu's collusion with the demon race, and the destruction of his soul. Let's leave this matter at that for now."

"Yes," the deputy hall master said no more, bowed and withdrew from the ninth floor.

Zhengshan Hall.

Bai Jueming discovered the demon clan's conspiracy and made such a great contribution. Li Zhengshan couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder and laugh heartily, indicating that he had really brought honor to Zhengshan Hall this time, so he decided to give him half a day off to go home and rest.

Bai Jueming was naturally more than happy to do so, and had been running around since yesterday afternoon, truly exhausting himself.

As soon as Han Xueshan and I stepped out of Zhengshan Hall, we saw Jia Qingshan sitting listlessly on the threshold of the room, looking longingly at the eaves opposite.