Volume 7, Chapter 419 – Just Who Is the One with Mental Problem Here?

Jin Hu froze for another moment before his expression twisted into sheer terror. With a trembling voice, he turned to his father beside him and said, “Father! My Essence Soul has been trapped by someone!”

“Who? Who trapped your soul?” Elder Jin urgently demanded.

“I don’t know. You should be aware. I had hidden my soul inside a spatial ring and entrusted it to Junior Brother Liao to carry outside. Just now, when I tried to connect with it, he said the container had been sealed shut by someone’s Divine Sense, making it impossible to break free.” Jin Hu forced himself to sound calm as he explained.

“What about you?” Elder Jin immediately turned to Bao Gang.

“I-I’m the same!” Bao Gang sucked in a sharp breath as he replied. Due to his lower cultivation level, the pain in his head had already become unbearable.

“This definitely wasn’t your junior brother’s doing! He’s been compromised!” Elder Jin’s face darkened with dread.

“So this is how they’ve been exiling their souls! No wonder they could last so long!”

“Indeed. By hiding their souls inside a Spatial Container, they could somewhat weaken the suppression of the Heavenly Dao’s Will. Not a bad trick.”

“It doesn’t weaken it by much. If their souls don’t return soon, the Heavenly Dao will grind them into nothing!”

“These two are in deep trouble. Once their souls are obliterated by the Heavenly Dao, they’ll immediately shatter into scattered souls!”

“Serves them right! Who told them to cut corners?”

The surrounding cultivators either marveled or mocked, their true colors laid bare. After all, the remaining sects present had little respect for the Jinliu Sect and held no fear of them.

“Father! What do we do now? I can’t hold on much longer! If my soul is destroyed by the Heavenly Dao’s will, I’ll be annihilated!”

“That’s right, Master! You have to save us! If something happens to us, who will take care of you in the future?”

Jin Hu and Bao Gang pleaded desperately, their faces twisted in pain and fear. Compared to their earlier arrogance, they were now completely unrecognizable.

“Don’t panic, don’t panic! Let me first scan the area with my Divine Sense.” Elder Jin’s voice shook as he tried to soothe them before immediately releasing his Divine Sense to scour the surroundings for any clues.

“See? See?! I warned you to recall your souls sooner, but you refused to listen. Now look what’s happened! You’ve brought this upon yourselves!”

Qi Huang sneered from the side, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Though the Jinliu Sect members burned with rage, they were far too disoriented to engage in any verbal sparring.

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“You knew their souls were in trouble?”

Cheng Hongling, sharp as ever, immediately caught on and sent a mental transmission.

“Of course I knew! Why else would I have kindly reminded them?” Qi Huang replied, barely suppressing a laugh.

“But how did you know?” Cheng Hongling pressed.

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Qi Huang deliberately kept her in suspense, revealing the truth now would ruin the surprise.

Cheng Hongling gritted her teeth in frustration. She hated this feeling of being unable to see through her own doppelgänger. Yet, since Qi Huang wasn’t entirely her clone, there was nothing she could do but seethe silently.

“Father… hiss… Any progress? My soul can’t hold on much longer!”

After another moment, Jin Hu clutched his head in agony as he forced out the question.

“Ah-Master, save me! My head! It’s killing me!”

Right then, Bao Gang finally collapsed, rolling on the ground with foam bubbling from his mouth.

“Nothing!”

Elder Jin’s face turned ashen.

“Th-then… what do we do? Are we just… waiting to die?”

Jin Hu stammered, his eyes reddening from sheer terror.

Elder Jin hesitated briefly before swallowing his pride and cupping his fists toward the surrounding cultivators.

“Fellow Daoists, as fellow members of the Immortal Alliance, I beg you! Help me locate my son and disciple’s souls! I swear I will repay this kindness tenfold!”

“Empty promises. Everyone here is busy cultivating during the Evergreen Conference, who has time to hunt for lost souls?”

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“Exactly. Your son’s soul is your problem. Don’t drag the Immortal Alliance into this. Why not just say ‘we’re all human’ while you’re at it?”

“I thought the Jinliu Sect was the third-largest immortal sect in the Western Radiance Dynasty? To think someone in Yongning Prefecture would dare mess with your disciples! Seems your influence isn’t all that impressive!”

The surrounding sects not only watched coldly but also took the opportunity to kick them while they were down, revealing the ugliness of human nature.

“Elder Zuo, Steward Cai… could you… please assist us? The Jinliu Sect has always held the Immortal Alliance in the highest regard.”

With no other options, Elder Jin turned to the two Immortal Alliance representatives, his voice trembling with desperation.

“Rest assured, Daoist Jin. With this elder here, no disturbance in the prefecture can escape my notice.”

Elder Zuo didn’t refuse. After all, it was his duty to protect the alliance’s members.

“Thank you! Thank you! The Jinliu Sect will forever follow the Immortal Alliance’s lead!”

Elder Jin nearly wept with gratitude.

Qi Huang, however, smirked faintly.

‘Even if you look, you’d need a suspect first. With everyone masked, how can you confirm who the culprit is unless they slip up?’

With that thought, she immediately sent a mental warning to the one who had acted, instructing them to stay hidden.

Elder Zuo’s vast Divine Sense unfurled, enveloping the entire prefecture. But just as Qi Huang predicted, with no leads and no suspects, his brows gradually furrowed deeper as time passed.

“AHH! I can’t take it anymore! My head’s going to split open!”

At that moment, Jin Hu, too, crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony. Beside him, Bao Gang had already started foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolling back.

“Elder Zuo?! Any luck?!”

Elder Jin pressed urgently.

“Daoist Jin, I must admit. I underestimated this. With no clues and no suspects, even if I see the culprit, I can’t confirm their identity unless they reveal themselves!”

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Elder Zuo shook his head helplessly.

“E-Elder Zuo… then… what do we do now?”

Elder Jin’s voice finally cracked with fear.

“My apologies. I’ve done all I can.”

Elder Zuo could only respond impassively.

“Father! Save me!”

By now, Jin Hu’s body had curled into a tight ball, like a shrimp struggling under scorching sunlight.

“Elder Zuo, I’m begging you! He’s my only son! If you save him, I’ll offer you tribute every year!”

Watching his son teeter on the brink of death, Elder Jin completely lost his composure. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed without thinking.

“Tribute?! How dare you insult my integrity?! Get lost!”

Elder Zuo flew into a rage and kicked him away.

Seeing that things had reached a critical point, Qi Huang lazily interjected:

“Begging him is useless. Beg me instead. Agree to change your names, and their souls will return safely.”

“What?! You-you’re serious?!”

Elder Jin’s face lit up as if he’d grasped a lifeline.

“Of course. But if you’d rather doubt me, that’s fine too. I won’t force you.”

Qi Huang’s tone was deliberately indifferent.

Elder Jin hesitated, conflict flashing across his face.

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“You captured their souls?”

Cheng Hongling sent another mental transmission, disbelief coloring her thoughts.

“Naturally. Did you think I’d just sit around doing nothing?”

Qi Huang replied smugly.

“That doesn’t make sense. You’ve been on the arena this whole time, how did you capture their souls?”

Cheng Hongling pressed.

“Have you forgotten? I have quite a few friends in this prefecture. Asking them for a small favor wasn’t hard.”

Qi Huang led her on purposefully.

“You mean… the Golden Fortune Auction House?”

As expected, Cheng Hongling’s mind immediately went there. After a brief pause, she added, “But how did they even find those souls?”

“They didn’t. I did. Did you really think I was just idling on the arena? The moment I made that bet with the Jinliu Sect, I knew they’d go back on their word. So when I found out they’d exiled their souls, I quietly swept the area with my Divine Sense and soon noticed a Jinliu Sect disciple acting suspiciously. After a bit of surveillance, his mission became obvious. I immediately relayed his location to my friends and had them detain him, along with those two trapped souls.”

Qi Huang recounted the events with a mix of truth and deception. While the general sequence was accurate, the ones who helped her weren’t “friends” but rather her doppelgänger, Huang Di.

At that very moment, Huang Di was leisurely sipping tea at a shop near the Golden Fortune Auction House, patiently awaiting his main body’s next orders. Since he hadn’t exposed the slightest hint of suspicion, even if Elder Zuo detected him, he wouldn’t be linked to the crime.

Hearing the full story, Cheng Hongling’s jaw dropped.

She never expected this supposedly “mentally unstable” doppelgänger to be so meticulous. Anticipating every move, calculating every countermeasure long in advance.

‘Just who has the mental problem here?’

For the first time, Cheng Hongling began to doubt her own intelligence.