When in Doubt, Soul Search

Wang Kongyun flew straight to the county office and ordered all officials of Qingshui County to gather at the yamen.

Zhou Chang'an received the summons. Though somewhat worried, he still hurried toward the yamen, stopping by the adjacent courtyard to call upon Lin Ruohe and his son along the way.

After all, Lin Ruohe was the county's chief clerk. Although Lin Zhaohe was merely a scholar of the first degree, under Lin Ruohe's arrangements, he had also secured a modest position as a scribe in the yamen.

"Father, what should we do? Should we flee?" Lin Zhaohe asked anxiously.

He believed he had covered his tracks perfectly, and that any investigation would only implicate Zhou Chang'an. However, Wang Kongyun's unrestrained slaughter in the city that morning-where he brutally murdered hundreds of people in succession-had thoroughly shattered his courage.

"Flee? Fleeing now will only throw us into disarray. Besides, can we even escape?" Lin Ruohe stroked his beard and said sternly. "Trust Zhengming. He planted immortal methods upon us; they will definitely not find anything."

Lin Zhaohe felt a measure of relief, yet his heart still pounded with dread. "I heard from the servants that the fiend kills to seize souls, flaying skin and stripping bones. Can Uncle Yuanshan's methods truly protect us against that?"

Lin Ruohe naturally knew something of the tragic state within the city. His spirit visibly waned as he let out a heavy sigh. "Things have reached this point. We can only place our faith in Yuanshan."

Soon after, the two joined Zhou Chang'an and headed to the yamen together.

Zhou Chang'an looked at Lin Zhaohe's overly terrified demeanor. A flicker of suspicion rose in his heart, and he silently filed the observation away.

The three walked steadily toward the yamen. Lin Zhaohe kept conversing with Zhou Chang'an, his overwhelming dread gradually settling down.

Before long, the yamen was packed with the various officials of Qingshui County. From the deputy magistrate and county defender down to the guards and clerks of the six departments, there were dozens of people in total.

Wang Kongyun looked at the dense crowd and asked Secretary Bai, "Is everyone here?"

"Reporting to you, sir, all are present," Secretary Bai replied respectfully.

Cao Qianyuan stood to the side, silently observing Zhou Chang'an and the others while his mind churned. When Wang Kongyun returned, he had informed him that the mastermind behind Zhu Zhen's murder was among the yamen officials.

Wang Kongyun stared at the crowd and let out a long laugh. The Soul Banner in his hand swelled with the wind, manifesting a dark, shadowy barrier that enveloped everyone present.

The expressions of Zhou Chang'an and the others changed drastically. Panic and terror gripped them, each man terrified that Wang Kongyun was about to slaughter them all.

Wang Kongyun said flatly, "After my thorough investigation, I have confirmed that the mastermind is among you."

At these words, the officials' faces paled. None had expected that the one who murdered Zhu Zhen was one of their own colleagues.

Huang Yuancheng stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Sir, all the officials of Qingshui County are here. We are entirely at your command."

He glanced at Zhou Chang'an without leaving a trace, then looked away. Although he considered Zhou Chang'an the most suspicious, the man was usually quite dull-witted and seemed incapable of executing such a scheme.

He then shifted his gaze to Lin Ruohe and Instructor Lu Ling. Between the two, Lu Ling was the prime suspect. After all, he had been squeezed out of power by Zhou Chang'an years ago. If he had killed Zhu Zhen to frame Zhou Chang'an or the Huang family, he stood to gain the most.

However, he could not rule out others. The Zhou and Huang families controlled ninety percent of Qingshui County's business. Perhaps the Lin or Lu families, or even immortal clans from other counties, were secretly plotting to topple their two families-or perhaps it was even someone from his own ranks.

Zhou Chang'an also stepped forward. "Sir, as you investigate the county magistrate's cause of death, we will follow your orders and dare not conceal the slightest detail."

At a moment like this, clearly stating one's compliance was the sensible course.

The other officials quickly echoed his sentiments, terrified that any perceived slight would draw Wang Kongyun's wrath.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chang'an and Huang Yuancheng took the opportunity to constantly scrutinize the crowd, hoping to discern some clue from their reactions.

Wang Kongyun scoffed impatiently. "Such endless prattling. Once I perform a Soul Search on the lot of you, the truth will bare itself."

These words nearly scared the officials to death. Even Huang Yuancheng, a veteran of officialdom, stumbled backward, staring at Wang Kongyun in sheer terror.

Cao Qianyuan's expression shifted, and he hurriedly spoke up. "Deacon Wang, absolutely not."

"These officials form the foundation of Qingshui County. If they lose their lives to your Soul Searching, I fear the county will instantly plunge into chaos, and countless commoners will die needlessly in the fallout."

Even though Wang Kongyun had slaughtered hundreds earlier, Cao Qianyuan could tolerate it. But a large-scale Soul Search was utterly unacceptable.

If every official in Qingshui County perished in a single day, even with newly appointed successors, it would take time for them to fully assume control. With various factions vying for power, the county's hundred-plus villages would inevitably descend into turmoil. Ultimately, the mortal commoners would suffer, and the resulting toll would be far more catastrophic than a few hundred lives.

Zhou Ping also revealed himself, cupping his hands toward Wang Kongyun. "Please, Immortal Master, reconsider."

On the other side, Huang Zhengqing suddenly appeared. He first cast a surprised glance at Zhou Ping, then respectfully addressed Wang Kongyun. "Immortal Master, such a Soul Search will surely leave Qingshui County in unrest. Please consider the countless commoners of this county."

He had not expected Zhou Ping, who had remained on Baixi Mountain for decades, to make such a rare descent. It seemed the Zhou family, relying on that Green Jade Pill, had successfully produced a second Qi Condensation cultivator.

The two had come for different reasons: the former for his nephew's safety, and the latter purely to protect Huang Yuancheng.

As long as the imperial court stood, anyone seeking to govern a region as an official had to earn scholarly honors. Otherwise, even immortal clans would remain confined to a single domain.

Although the Huang family boasted many members, their scholarly discipline was lacking. This was a common affliction among many clans: the larger and more sprawling the family, the easier it was for its members to sink into petty scheming and neglect their proper cultivation of knowledge.

Thus, Huang Yuancheng was genuinely the only scholar to pass the provincial exams in the entire Huang family.

If Huang Yuancheng were to perish, the blow to the Huang family would be severe.

Take the current Zhou family trading company and the Huang family merchants-they could act with such brazen impunity only because they had backing from above. If a hostile official took control, they could easily disband the businesses under the pretext of disrupting the people's livelihood.

However, only officials who harbored deep resentment toward immortal clans would employ such methods. Most officials chose to govern jointly alongside the immortal clans.

Even though Zhu Zhen's conflicts with Huang Yuancheng and the others had grown increasingly volatile, it was all part of the unspoken rules of society. After all, while the Huang and Zhou families obstructed his political achievements, they still spent plenty of silver to fund his worldly pleasures.

Cao Qianyuan looked at the few dozen people and said flatly, "Let me handle this."

His heart-questioning technique could only interrogate one person at a time, which was why he had allowed Wang Kongyun to act as he pleased earlier. To question hundreds of people would have required at least a day or two, if not longer.

But now, with only a few dozen officials present, it would take no more than an hour or two. It would not delay them for long.

Hearing this, Wang Kongyun reluctantly took a seat to the side.

Zhou Ping and Huang Zhengqing finally let out sighs of relief. Wang Kongyun was a Demonic Cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Condensation; even ten of them fighting together would be no match for him.

Cao Qianyuan called every official forward for questioning one by one. If anyone harbored guilt in their heart, he would naturally sense it.

When it was Lin Zhaohe's turn, his heart practically leaped into his throat. His entire body trembled with profound terror.

"What is your name?"

"This lowly one is named Lin Zhaohe."

"Did you order the people at Yichun Tower and Wangchun Tower?"

"It wasn't me."

"Did you murder Zhu Zhen?"

"Reporting to you, sir, it wasn't me."

...

Throughout the interrogation, Lin Zhaohe felt an invisible force continuously pulling at his mind, like a swimming fish struggling to leap from the water. Yet, every time it flared, a mysterious power forcefully suppressed it.

"You may step back."

Sensing nothing amiss, Cao Qianyuan had no choice but to continue the interrogations.

As the sun sank westward from its zenith, Cao Qianyuan's expression turned increasingly ugly. Astoundingly, not a single person showed any sign of guilt!

Wang Kongyun naturally witnessed the results of the heart-questioning. He shot to his feet and snarled, "Since you cannot question it out of them, step aside and let me perform a Soul Search!"

His tone was so chillingly severe that it pierced the minds of everyone present, leaving them frozen to the bone, as if they had been plunged into an icy abyss!

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