The opening scene reveals the story of Yao Lao, alarming the Soul Emperor.

The Inner Affairs Pavilion is located three hundred paces west of the main hall of the Heavenly Gang Hall. It is a three-story stone building with a gray-black exterior, and its outer walls are inlaid with countless fragments of Soul-Suppressing Stones.

When Hun Yu arrived, it was still dark.

Standing guard in front of the pavilion were two two-star Dou Zun. The one on the left had a short beard, while the one on the right had a shaved head. Both of them had the silver-lined emblem of the Inner Affairs Pavilion embroidered on their shoulders.

Short-bearded man frowned when he saw Soul Feather's white robes.

"Halt! Anyone here, please register."

Hunyu didn't stop; with her fan resting on her shoulder, she walked straight into the doorway.

The bald man stepped forward and blocked the doorway, placing one hand on Hunyu's shoulder.

"Don't you understand? Unauthorized personnel from the Imperial Household Department are not allowed inside. Who are you?"

Hunyu glanced down at the hand on his shoulder, said nothing, and pulled out a black card from his pocket.

The dark red patterns on the cards reflected a layer of light on the faces of the two guards.

The bald man's hand bounced up as if it had touched red-hot iron.

Short-bearded man's knees buckled, and he had to hold onto the door frame to avoid kneeling down.

"Your Highness, did the Palace Master personally issue this order?"

"All the top-secret operation files from the Intelligence Division over the past year have been brought to me."

Hunyu put away the black card, used her fan to push aside the bald man's arm, which was still frozen in mid-air, and walked through the door.

"Including copies that have already been destroyed."

"My lord, please wait a moment. This is beyond my ability to decide; I must ask the Pavilion Master..."

"The temple master's token is here. You can invite whoever you want, but the draft must be placed on the table within one incense stick's time."

Hunyu's voice drifted down from the corner of the stairs, neither too loud nor too soft, with a matter-of-fact tone.

"I won't punish you for going over time, but the Temple Master will."

The two guards exchanged a glance, and the bald man turned and ran towards the backyard, running even faster than a night patrolman.

The second floor of the Internal Affairs Pavilion is a long, narrow archive room with stone drawers on all four walls. Each drawer is sealed with a gray seal, and the soul patterns on the seals are still slowly flowing.

Hunyu sat behind the only stone table in the center of the archives room, a white feather fan lying flat on the table.

He is waiting.

What we're waiting for isn't the draft.

Footsteps came from the stairs; it wasn't one person, it was three.

Leading the way was a middle-aged man wearing a silver-gray inner armor. He had a narrow face, high cheekbones, and deep-set eyes. He habitually raised his chin when looking at people.

Behind him were two burly Dou Zun, both with auras above three stars.

The middle-aged man stopped opposite the stone table, his gaze sweeping over Hunyu's white robes and fan, and the corners of his mouth turned down slightly.

"So you're the Soul Feather from the collateral branch?"

"right."

"My name is Hun Xiao, commander of the Inner Armor Battalion under the Five Heavenly Venerables, and also in charge of the night duty of the Internal Affairs Pavilion."

He put his hands behind his back.

"I've seen the Palace Master's black token."

"It's good that we've met."

Hunyu's finger slowly traced a line across the fan surface.

"Where's the original draft?"

"The original manuscript is in the third secret chamber. The seal requires the simultaneous removal of three soul runes, and I only have one."

Hun Xiao spoke slowly, but every sentence carried a confident air of "what can you do to me?"

"Of the other two, one is in the hands of the Pavilion Master, who went to Zhongzhou three days ago and is not in the hall."

"The third path is in the hands of the Five Heavenly Venerables."

He emphasized the words "Five Heavenly Venerables" very much.

"If you want to access the items in the secret chamber, you'll have to wait for the Pavilion Master to return, or you can speak to the Five Heavenly Venerables in person."

Hun Yu did not look up.

His finger rested on a golden feather on the fan, his fingertip gently tracing the feather's texture.

"Soul Howl Commander".

"Um?"

"You just said you've seen the black card."

"I've seen it."

"Do you even know what rank a black token represents in the Heavenly Gang Hall?"

Hun Xiao narrowed his eyes.

"I understand, it's equivalent to the Palace Master's personal presence."

"It's as if the Palace Master himself has come."

Hunyu repeated the six words, his tone as flat as if he were reciting a rule written on a wall.

"Now I'm standing in front of you with this sign, asking you to open the secret room."

"You told me I didn't have enough keys and that I had to go find the Five Heavenly Venerables."

He finally raised his head and looked into Hunxiao's eyes.

"Are you in line with the Temple Master?"

Hunxiao's Adam's apple bobbed.

The two Dou Zun behind him also changed their stance; the one on the left leaned forward halfway, while the one on the right had his hand on the hilt of his weapon at his waist.

Hunyu picked up the fan from the table, turned it over so that the tail of the fan was facing forward, pointing to the center of Hunxiao's chest.

Think it through before you act.

"You're attacking me, which means you're attacking the black card."

"Taking action against the Black Card is taking action against the Palace Guard."

"Killing me, a piece of trash without any fighting spirit, is no different than stepping on an ant."

"But after you've stepped on it, the temple master asks you why there's blood on my sign. What are you going to say?"

"You said your Five Heavenly Venerables made you do it?"

Hun Xiao's face paled.

It wasn't because he was afraid of Hunyu, but because he couldn't find any loopholes in this logical chain.

He took a half step back, a very stiff half step.

"I have no intention of taking action."

"Then let's open a secret room."

"We definitely don't have enough keys..."

"The black card itself represents the highest level of unlocking authority."

Hunyu slammed the black card onto the table, and dark red patterns spread from the card onto the stone table, extending along the cracks in the tabletop into the floor.

All the Soul-Suppressing Stone fragments in the entire Internal Affairs Pavilion emitted a very low hum, like a sleeping beast being awakened.

The sound of three seals being released came from the direction of the secret chamber on the third floor, one after another, crack, crack, crack, each sound deeper than the last.

Soul Howl's pupils contracted slightly.

He finally confirmed that the sign was genuine.

It's not the symbolic kind of "equivalent to the presence of the Palace Master," but rather the kind of "true power" where the Palace Master has sealed a portion of his soul power inside, which can directly override the authority of all the sub-level members of the Heavenly Gang Palace.

"Commander, the seals on the third floor have all been broken."

The voice of a Dou Zun behind him trembled.

Hun Xiao took a deep breath and stepped aside.

"please."

Hunyu put away the black card, picked up her fan, and walked past him.

As he passed by, the fan was almost touching Hunxiao's shoulder.

"Please convey this message to the Five Heavenly Venerables for me."

Hun Yu didn't even turn his head.

"I'll make a record of every time his men stop me."

"We'll settle the score together in three days."

The footsteps went up to the third floor and disappeared at the entrance to the secret room.

Hun Xiao stood still, his expression changing several times before finally settling on a bitter look that was quite unpleasant.

The Dou Zun behind him leaned over and lowered his voice.

"Commander, should we inform the Five Heavenly Venerables?"

"Nonsense, hurry up and go."

Hun Xiao squeezed out four words through gritted teeth.

The footsteps were hurried as they ran downstairs.

The secret room on the third floor.

Hunyu closed the door, leaned against it, and breathed heavily for a few moments.

The icy coolness of the black card seeped into his body through his chest, calming his overly rapid heartbeat.

The secret room was not large; all four walls were covered with jade slips embedded in stone troughs, arranged by year and month, the oldest dating back ten years.

He didn't rush to look at the jade slip.

His gaze fell on the floor in the very center of the secret room.

There was a fist-sized Soul-Suppressing Stone embedded there, its color much darker than the fragments on the wall, with a layer of pale blue fluorescence slowly flowing on its surface.

This is the spatial anchor point of the entire secret room.

Hunyu crouched down and took out a thin gold thread from his sleeve, something he had hidden in the secret compartment of the fan handle for a long time.

One end of the gold thread was wrapped around the base of the Soul-Suppressing Stone, while the other end was tucked into his sleeve and secured against the pulse on his wrist.

Then he stood up, dusted off his knees, and began to peruse the first volume of the jade slip.

He really needed to see the contents of the jade slip.

But the golden thread on the Soul-Suppressing Stone is what he really came to take tonight.

New footsteps came from the direction of the stairs outside the door.

It was very light and steady, with no fluctuations in battle aura, but the intervals between each step were so precise that they were uncomfortable to the touch.

Hunyu put the jade slip back into the stone trough and turned to face the door.

The door was pushed open.

The person standing outside the door was wearing a dark blue robe, with the gold thread emblem of the Great Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Gang Palace embroidered on the hem.

Hunyuan walked in.