Chapter 454: Soul-Searching and Memory-Seeking, Clues Emerge

Facing a matter like soul-searching, the An Shen side appeared incomparably proficient. A point of dark light flew out from the Longling Mirror and entered the Nascent Soul of that Master Jiuyun. Immediately, that Nascent Soul, with an expression of terror, twisted and transformed directly into a mirror, inside which began to play the person's past life.

Watching this scene, Sheng Zhaoshui could not help but click his tongue in secret.

To be so proficient in the method of soul-searching and memory-seeking, even if one's talent is heaven-defying, let alone saying the amount of practice in the past would be very low! "Sure enough, has Chang Meng been influenced or changed by someone unknowingly? Or perhaps, during the journey of my departure, did he feel some external pressure and have to make changes and concessions?"

Sheng Zhaoshui could not help but ponder, glancing at the calm Du En, then laughed freely, "Whatever, if the sky falls, there is a True Monarch to hold it up. I only need to handle this matter, and I can be relaxed for a few decades or a hundred years when I go back, comfortably watching the scenery of all sides..."

Although this guy was no longer thinking about these things, it clearly did not delay the proper business; his gaze remained stuck on that mirror, carefully screening Master Jiuyun's life.

Du En and An Shen were the same.

Generally speaking, Master Jiuyun was previously just ordinarily cautious and unscrupulous, calculating gains and losses for the sake of strength and cultivation, but overall he was not considered to have committed many evils. In the Qingxuan Star Realm, such people could be said to be everywhere.

From mortal to Nascent Soul stage, there was simply nothing worth noting.

By the time he reached the Deity Transformation stage and established Jiuyun City, his style of conduct began to change. He was no longer as overly cautious as before, but gradually became overbearing and tyrannical. Various evil deeds began to appear, and he would kill people for a moment of joy or anger.

This was also normal; after all, the upper limit of the Qingxuan Star Realm was basically here. Master Jiuyun traveled the world and did not find anyone far stronger than himself, nor could he find a method for ascension, so naturally, he would begin to have some changes.

After holding the power of life and death in a region for a long time, he grew increasingly dismissive of others' lives. Combined with his past cautious temperament, it was very easy to do things like cutting weeds and eliminating roots.

"There are no suspicious points in his one thousand eight hundred years of experience."

The memory reproduction on the mirror surface was very fast, and the people watching were all individuals with powerful Nascent Souls, not ordinary people, so it was very easy to accept. Thus, in just a moment, they had already finished watching the other party's life experience, even the things he himself had forgotten, whether actively or passively, were all revealed again.

But the result was frustrating; there was simply nothing...

"Wait, go back a bit."

Du En narrowed his eyes slightly, and while deep in thought, suddenly pointed out a spot.

An Shen cooperatively played the memory in reverse, stopping at the position he pointed out.

"The number of missing cultivators inside and outside Jiuyun City last year was slightly higher than in the past... This is quite normal, right?"

Sheng Zhaoshui was somewhat puzzled.

Because things like entering the mountains to hunt demons, falling into demon mouths, encountering robberies, killing for treasures, obtaining opportunities, preventing accidents, running away, etc., could all create situations where cultivators go missing.

Saying they are missing, in fact, nine times out of ten, they are dead.

"It's just slightly more than previous years. If you flip back, a dozen years ago, fifty years ago, all the way to the few years when this guy just reached Deity Transformation, they were all years with high numbers. There is no pattern worth suspecting."

Accompanied by Sheng Zhaoshui's words, An Shen brought up the corresponding scenes one by one, all of which were scenes of subordinates reporting the summarized situation to Master Jiuyun.

For a time, the mirror surface was divided into hundreds of different yet similar scenes, and Master Jiuyun, whose consciousness was incomparably clear, also felt as if his own mind was divided into so many parts.

What kind of terrifying and profound soul-searching method is this?

But this is actually very normal. After all, An Shen can precisely delete a target's memory, even the parts hidden within the Nascent Soul cannot escape, and it can even perform soul-searching to the point where a strong, heaven-defying Deity Transformation Perfection Great Flood Dragon is unaware, not even knowing that the Starry Sky Hidden Secrets and clan land information it locked with its own clan's secret techniques have all been obtained by an outsider.

Sheng Zhaoshui felt that he still underestimated the An Shen side.

At this time, Du En also answered his doubt.

"It can only be called intuition. After all, you have never mixed in the bottom layer, so you are not sensitive to the matter of bottom-layer cultivators going missing."

"..."

Sheng Zhaoshui was silent for a moment, then gave a wry smile: "That makes sense."

He recalled Du En's situation at the very beginning.

Burying corpses in the border city, there were many grotesque things.

Involving the layout of the Supreme, involving resentful evil cultivators!

Now this Qingxuan Star Realm is also closely linked to these two sides, so triggering Du En's intuition seems very normal.

—The higher the cultivation of an immortal cultivator, the more special this kind of vague whim will become, involving interference and influence from one's own karma and destiny! Better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't! Therefore, next...

Du En turned his head slightly, his brows raised slightly.

The other two also turned their heads to look, either frowning or narrowing their eyes.

The reason was very simple: that guard was returning, appearing extremely anxious.

Quite naturally, all three had put a little attention on him, and their divine senses had been following his movement, so at this moment, they actually already knew the change in the situation.

"Like this now, it seems like it really hit the point?"

"The specifics are unclear, it is better to be a little cautious."

"Then, how to deal with this guy, what should we do?"

The two people and one god cast their gazes at Master Jiuyun. An Shen had already withdrawn its Dao technique, so that guy's Nascent Soul, which already appeared somewhat thin, became even smaller at this moment, like a bubble that would break with a light poke.

Because it was a bit too weak, it could not hold up.

It is estimated that without them doing anything, it would spontaneously dissipate in the near future, and even forcibly seizing someone else's body would be difficult to achieve.

"Hard to do does not mean it cannot be done."

"According to this guy's concept, if you don't cut the weeds and remove the roots, the spring breeze will blow them back to life."

"Good!"

Thus, a divine fire burned, and it completely turned into ashes.

Du En then took Master Jiuyun's storage artifact, counted it roughly, and put it away, then turned the corpse into ashes as well, and then spoke calmly and normally: "Occupy the magpie's nest, let's act using his identity."

An Shen had no objections and nodded lightly.

Sheng Zhaoshui had some objections, mainly because he had never really done this kind of killing for treasure before, and wanted to satisfy his craving to add some talking points.

However, looking at Du En's appearance, he estimated that he would not waste time with him. If he really spoke up, he would only be accused of not attending to his proper duties, so he just gave a slight wry smile and shrugged, indicating no objection. "Also, I always feel that the dominant power naturally belongs to him. Although this is not impossible, it is still a bit strange. Alas, this human heart, it is always complicated, cut it, and it is still messy..."

While waiting for the guard to come over, Sheng Zhaoshui had the most idle thoughts.

However, after a moment, the person arrived in a hurry.

"Exalted One! Exalted One, it's not good!"

The guard rushed into the hall, only to see a figure standing in front of the high steps; was it not that Master Jiuyun? With his mere Nascent Soul late-stage cultivation, he could not identify Du En's true face at all, nor could he see the one person and one god on the side, so he had no doubts at all, plopped down and knelt on the ground, and began to report.

As soon as the words fell, his eyes blurred, and Du En was already standing to his side, his calm gaze falling, making his heart tremble, inexplicably feeling that the Exalted One was even more terrifying.

The main thing was that Du En did not copy everything; he basically just borrowed the appearance. His gaze, expression, and tone were all as usual: "Specifically, what is not good?"

"Yes, yes, the Young Master has gone missing!"

The guard felt uneasy and apprehensive; after all, if this matter went wrong, he would be dead for sure, and it was completely unlike the trivial, sesame-sized matters from before when the Young Master forcibly snatched a female cultivator and he killed her entire family.

"Oh?"

Du En had long since known the general situation through his divine sense, but at this moment, he still appeared to be implying something, exerting immense pressure on the guard, whose forehead was already oozing dense beads of sweat.

Unlike the Transformation Deity stage of Jiuyun Shangren, who could not control his primordial spirit coercion at all, causing subordinates to feel heartfelt fear after staying by his side for too long, to the point where he was often left sitting alone in the great hall.

What this guard was experiencing now was a different kind of unfathomable pressure; it was not that he was receiving any specific coercion, but simply that he could not help but feel this way when facing Du En.

If one had to describe it, did his gaze and words possess power? In any case, after the guard's pupils drifted unsteadily and he managed to steady his mind, he dared not conceal anything and immediately said what he had just learned: "Young Master, Young Master, because he did not know that I had already handled the aftermath here, snuck out from the West Gate a short while ago, saying he was going to capture that female cultivator's family and execute them in front of her to make her submit obediently, and as a result, as a result..."

"As a result, that beast went missing and vanished without a trace?"

"Yes, that is it. The other attendants did not discover it in time, and by the time the other few guards reacted and chased after him, they could no longer find anyone... This subordinate deserves to die! This subordinate truly deserves to die! This subordinate..."

"That is enough."

"... Yes."

The guard was somewhat stunned; in the past, Jiuyun Shangren had never been this easy to talk to. At the slightest offense, a primordial spirit coercion would press down directly, making people suffocate, and at the worst, a kick would already be delivered, leaving one half-dead, with even the Nascent Soul potentially being cracked.

Why was it like this this time...

He did not understand, he was shocked and suspicious, and his thoughts were chaotic, so he cautiously glanced upward, only to see a pair of calm eyes looking down at him, as if looking at a piece of meat that would die sooner or later.

He shuddered on the spot and was immediately scared limp.

It's over!

He was dead for sure this time! However, if Du En really wanted to kill him, it would be easier than crushing an ant, so this was not the case at all; it was entirely this fellow's own random, self-indulgent speculation.

Of course, this fellow would also have to die later.

So in fact, it was Du En conversing with his companions.

"This fellow looks quite normal; he hasn't been infected by any evil, strange things."

"If that is the case, it really is a coincidence. Just as we discovered anomalies in the disappearance of low-level rogue cultivators, in the blink of an eye, even the City Lord's only son has gone missing. This looks very problematic. Is it a trap?"

"We shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. Looking at the time, Jiuyun Shangren's son must have run out and gone missing beforehand, back when you all hadn't arrived here yet... It couldn't be that the Sect Master is specifically targeting the few of us, could it?"

Sheng Zhaoshui said this with a slightly amused shake of his head, while Du En and An Shen pondered slightly, not refuting these words.

Because if it were truly the handiwork of the Falling Feather Supreme, could the three of them still be so leisurely occupying the magpie's nest? This seemed like overthinking it.

However, the current situation was truly deviating from the normal track and appeared quite baffling; no one could say for sure what was going on. Perhaps it really was the Supreme who acted?

"In any case, since the suspicious points have emerged on their own and there are no other strange anomalies for now, we can only go over together to see what is going on."

Although Du En knew about the disappearance of Jiuyun Shangren's only son, his further expansion and sweep of divine sense did not find any useful traces of the other party, so he still had to go over and investigate on-site to further understand the clear status.

Thus, he spoke to the guard: "Aside from the necessary personnel left behind, have the other guards follow me."

Huh? Not executing me? Hearing this, the guard who was limp on the ground did not recover for a moment and was subconsciously stunned.

Du En did not wait for him and had already stepped toward the outside of the hall.

He shuddered and immediately reacted.

"Thank you for your grace, Master! Thank you for your grace, Master! This subordinate will surely serve with total devotion and atone for his crimes!"

Shouting loudly like this, he hurried to gather everyone.

A moment later.

"Exalted One!"

When Du En walked toward the West Gate of the City Lord's Mansion, the head of the guards, a Nascent Soul perfection stage, hurried over. Beside him followed the guard who had gone to report the order; seeing his swollen eye sockets, it was clear he had been beaten, and he was now following closely with his head tucked in obediently.

"Follow me."

Du En spoke straightforwardly, with a tone of taking it for granted.

"Yes!"

The guard leader felt it was even more of a matter of course, his attitude very proactive. With a wave of his hand, the Nascent Soul stage guards quickly lined up in two rows, took out various ceremonial items to quickly decorate the scene, and someone even pulled over a bronze carriage. The eight Ink Qilin Horses pulling the carriage were exceptionally magnificent and were also fourth-rank spirit beasts equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage.

Du En did not ride it and walked on his own. The guards naturally dared not say anything about this, only silently quickening their pace to follow closely behind the other party, appearing exceptionally self-aware.

They soon walked out of the West Gate of the City Lord's Mansion, returned to the city, and began to move forward along the main street.

However, what the three of Du En did not know was that the moment they had just left the City Lord's Mansion, in the great hall where Jiuyun Shangren had died and turned to ash, accompanied by a slight shimmer in the air, a figure quietly appeared there.

The hands hung low and pressed against the thighs, like a stiff corpse. The pale skin looked as if it had been soaked and bloated, revealing an aura completely different from the living, and a pair of eyes looked as if they had been rotting for a long time, turbid beyond measure.

However, that face was undoubtedly Jiuyun Shangren! At this very moment, he, who should have completely turned to dust and had his body and soul destroyed, had come back to life. Moreover, the divine senses of the three of Du En were actually still shrouding this place and had not relaxed their guard at all, yet they were completely unable to capture the existence here, not even the slight ripple in the air! The whole entity genuinely exuded a sense of weirdness, and Jiuyun Shangren even seemed to be able to perceive the three vast, invisible, and hidden divine senses that he should not have been able to perceive! (End of chapter)