Chapter 2344

At first glance, the Heart Demon's Soul Search technique and the Bewildering Heart Worm's ability seem somewhat similar — both can extract memories — but the Heart Demon extracts relatively complete memories and can display them for others to view, though it is ineffective on the dead. The Bewildering Heart Worm can also peek at the memories of the newly deceased, but only for its own reading, unable to share with others — after all, the Bewildering Heart Worm puppets personally crafted by Master Dong are few in number.

The bead the Heart Demon tossed out contained Tong Yiyi's memories from these past days, covering both the trivialities of daily life and her observations inside the Heavenly Palace.

Naturally, it also included the full process she had reported to Nie Xiaolou of using the Bewildering Heart Worm puppet to obtain the Heavenly Palace's secrets!

Nie Xiaolou focused on examining these memories; the facts proved that Tong Yiyi had basically concealed nothing.

"The Heavenly Palace's three key Yao puppet experimental grounds, the Immortal's flesh vessel, and the Qinchang formula." Nie Xiaolou murmured, "Could it really be only these three secrets?"

"Only?" the Purple Yang Heart Demon interjected, "They all look pretty major to me. Do you want some earth-shattering secret on top of that?"

"Hard to say, I just feel she's still hiding something." Nie Xiaolou asked it, "Really only these?"

The Heart Demon stayed silent, then groped for a long while before saying: "Deep in her mind, there is a patch of shadow! This is called the 'Heart Abyss'. Usually, what's hidden here is either a past one doesn't want to face oneself, or secrets that can't see the light!"

Nie Xiaolou's interest was piqued at once: "Dig it out and have a look."

The Purple Yang Heart Demon warned: "She buried it too deep. If I want to dig it out, it will definitely damage her soul."

"Dig." Nie Xiaolou didn't hesitate, "As long as she doesn't turn into an idiot or a lunatic, it's fine."

The Heart Demon gave a low laugh, then forcefully poked into Tong Yiyi's mind, both claws burying themselves in up to the wrists!

Her expression was no longer steady, her eyelids twitching nonstop, and pain showed on her face.

This is the 'Soul Search' the Heart Demon excels at most!

It will forcibly tear open the subject's sea of consciousness while severely wounding their soul. What it peels out can be called 'bloody memories'!

Tong Yiyi once again sweated profusely from the pain, fresh blood also flowing from her nostrils. But she was like someone trapped in the deepest nightmare, unable to wake no matter what.

Ignoring her convulsive trembling, the Heart Demon casually tossed out the memory beads it found, one after another.

These memory beads were different from the previous ones — some were black, some black tinged with red, as if stained with blood threads.

Nie Xiaolou opened and examined them one by one, but his brows knitted tighter and tighter.

"None of these have anything to do with the Heavenly Palace."

"Right, these are all memories from her childhood." The Heart Demon chuckled, "Though I've seen plenty of living people's suffering, hers still stands out uniquely. What you did to her tonight, compared to her past experiences, is simply a piece of cake."

Nie Xiaolou said nothing.

Shocking to behold. No wonder Tong Yiyi buried these memories deep in the 'Heart Abyss' — she probably didn't want to touch them herself either.

"Her heart is rotten to the core. This kind of powerful malicious intent and deranged chaos ranks in the top three among everyone I've met, yet she can still maintain her rationality — not bad, not bad!" The Heart Demon was also moved, "How about you give her to me? With my encouragement, she'll definitely surpass True Person Ziyang."

"She's still useful." Nie Xiaolou refused outright, also not satisfied, "Are these all the memories you found? Is there no other secret hidden in her 'Heart Abyss'?"

"Hey, nothing is absolute." The Heart Demon issued a disclaimer, "You can't appreciate how complex a person's sea of consciousness is unless you operate on it yourself."

"If I dig any deeper, her mind will snap, but I can't guarantee I'll still dig up any secrets." It immediately followed up, "So, doing it or not?"

Nie Xiaolou pondered for a few breaths, his gaze sweeping over the wax pills on the table, and let out a light breath:

"Forget it, let's leave it at that."

He threw the glass bottle to the Heart Demon, which withdrew its claws and caught the bottle in one grasp.

The job was done; this was its deserved payment.

However, it secretly left a little something in Tong Yiyi's sea of consciousness.

In this world, some cultivate goodness and some cultivate evil; some guard a clear Dao heart, and some specialize in wicked evil karma. The Great Daos under heaven — as long as the path reaches the end, how is it not different roads leading to the same destination?

Its maneuver was concealed to the utmost; no one detected it.

Nie Xiaolou took out the treasure gourd, pointing its mouth at it: "Go back."

He patted the bottom of the gourd, and it erupted with powerful suction; in a few breaths it had sucked the black-gray smoke shadows in the secret chamber clean, leaving no residue.

The pain on Mei Wuniang's face also vanished, her expression returning to calm.

Nie Xiaolou picked up the wax pill on the table, rubbing it in his hand for a long time, but ultimately did not open it.

He had other calculations.

……

The huge inn had been cleared out, not a single outsider remained.

Nie Xiaolou casually found another west-facing guest room, fetched a basin of clear water himself, took out a scale from his bosom and placed it in the water, muttering incantations.

The water's surface quickly bloomed with frost flowers, and after a dozen or so breaths it froze over; cold vapor rose in wisps, forming a faint, indistinct shadow before Nie Xiaolou.

Scales, armor, whiskers, tail — all clearly present, it was the virtual shadow of a giant dragon.

Of course the room was small, so the dragon's body shrank accordingly to a miniature size.

When it swayed its tail once, Nie Xiaolou saluted and said:

"Emperor Lord."

The concentration of heaven and earth spiritual Qi had risen, so spells like thousand-mile voice transmission could now be used. This place, Beijia, was less than three hundred li from the Lingxu City floating island, still within communication range.

The Demon Emperor's majestic voice reverberated in the room:

"How did it go?"

"The Heavenly Palace sent Tong Yiyi to deliver the funeral for Master Zeng, but halfway she was robbed by the Mou Kingdom's Xin Song. The Heavenly Palace forces lying in ambush then moved out; Xin Song fought a bitter battle and finally broke out with three people. Tong Yiyi took the chance to earth-escape, but we caught her."

Nie Xiaolou then recounted the process of capturing Tong Yiyi and the intelligence extracted from her.

This is Beijia!

For an outsider to defeat the prepared Heavenly Palace and Lingxu City teams here is absolutely impossible; the outcome would inevitably be fleeing in panic or surrendering with bound hands.

Whoever comes, it's the same.

Upon hearing the "Qinchang" formula, the Demon Emperor's voice also turned heavy and solemn: "No wonder our spies could never get the Qinchang secret formula — turns out it was all Master Du Yun keeping it in his heart, never committing it to paper. Only during the handover between old and new Masters does it have a chance to be spoken aloud."

This was also why the Demon Emperor tried every means, insisting on finding out what Master Du Yun said before his death.

That must be the Heavenly Palace's deepest secret.

But the "Qinchang" secret formula? This is truly an unexpected delight!

"Since the founding of Beijia, the Lingxu Saint Venerable has always used the 'Qinchang' secret medicine combined with divine arts to control the vassal Yao kingdoms' rulers, linking their lives with the Heavenly Gods, thereby coercing them into obedience." Nie Xiaolou said solemnly, "Now that we have the formula, we may find a way to break it — this is Beijia's great fortune!"