Yin Yang Soul Searcher

Letting them fight like dogs, weakening each other's strength, is beneficial to social harmony and stability, and also to the rule of dictators.

It's a pity that even giving them a chance was useless. The imperial court had made preparations in advance, withdrawing its forces and clearing the area for them. But unexpectedly, those righteous people, who were outnumbered, were actually killed...

Chen Shiyu's strength far surpasses theirs; it must be said, cultivation by evil cultivators is indeed fast.

In that battle, almost half of the martial arts sects perished, and Shadow Pavilion also suffered heavy casualties. However, Chen Shiyu was also seriously injured as a result.

The matter should have ended here. Regardless of their past grievances, the imperial court had achieved its goal: weakening the power of the martial arts world!

Chen Shiyu's mistake was that he was arrogant and thought he was invincible. He didn't take the imperial court seriously. After the war, he even slaughtered civilians to restore his cultivation and improve his evil skills!

This behavior is intolerable to the Great Xia Dynasty. Normally, minor squabbles are tolerated, and the court turns a blind eye. But now you dare to disrupt social harmony, stability, and development? You've really gone too far!

Subsequently, the imperial court dispatched experts and a large army to forcibly suppress the rebellion, eradicating Shadow Pavilion from the martial arts world and capturing its leader, Chen Shiyu, alive. This earned applause from the martial arts community and won them a wave of popular support.

After that, Chen Shiyu was imprisoned in the Yin-Yang Palace prison, where he suffered physical torture and mental torment every day.

So no matter how powerful you are, don't even think about going against the imperial court! Unless that court is almost three hundred years old...

As for the connection between Chen Shiyu and the Craftsmen's Hall, it all started with Qiao Shou.

Back then, Qiao Shou, the head of the Craftsmen's Hall, was ordered by the emperor to forge a magical artifact. Qiao Shou racked his brains but could not forge it. Finally, he had a flash of inspiration and came up with a solution.

That is, using a living human body as the foundation and combining it with the corpse of a mythical beast, the two might be able to be successfully refined.

Without further ado, Qiao Shou personally went to the Yin-Yang Palace to ask the Imperial Advisor for death row inmates. The Imperial Advisor naturally offered his full support, saying, "It's all for the Great Xia; why distinguish between you and me?"

After careful selection, Qiao Shou chose Chen Shiyu, the strongest cultivator in the Heavenly Prison. After all, ordinary cultivators could not withstand the damage from the auspicious beast's corpse, and Chen Shiyu's strength was only at the third rank. Even if something went wrong during the refining process, Qiao Shou could grab him and refine him in an instant!

Then Qiao Shou had a sudden inspiration: he dissected Chen Shiyu's body alive and refined the auspicious beast's corpse into its body. As for the result, it was both a success and a failure.

After Qiao stitched up the corpse's wounds, Chen Shiyu was rendered immobile. He carried the aura of the auspicious beast, but he refused to wake up.

Qiao decided to first place the body in the craftsmen's hall and then think of another way.

Just then, the Third Prince came to the Craftsmen's Hall to ask for medicine. Coincidentally, Qiao Shou was not in the Craftsmen's Hall, and the half-dead corpse suddenly exploded.

The explosion nearly razed the entire Craftsmen's Hall to the ground, and the Third Prince was seriously injured, almost losing his life as a result.

Then came Emperor Taikang's boundless rage. He severely reprimanded Qiao Shou and hurled a few insults at him. He also sternly told him that he was never allowed to do such a thing again!

Qiao Shou ignored Emperor Taikang's lukewarm reprimand, but he never again used living people to craft magical artifacts. This was a considerable show of respect for Emperor Taikang.

The Third Prince's injuries nearly cost him his life, but in the end, it was thanks to the world's number one weapon refiner, Qiao Shou, that he was able to personally refine a elixir and pull the Third Prince back from the brink of death.

From then on, the Third Prince never went to the Craftsmen's Hall again. Even if he had to go for something, he would send a servant to run the errand.

After the Third Prince recovered, he suddenly felt that it was good to be alive. The blue sky and white clouds of nature, the scenery of the high mountains, everything was so beautiful. The Great Xia was so big, he wanted to go and see it.

Then the Third Prince, alone, shouldered his pack and began his journey through the martial world.

In fact, the Third Prince had told the First Prince that he wasn't simply experiencing the beauty of nature, but rather wanted to go out and hone his skills, improving his strength as he feared such a tragedy might happen to him again.

Since the Third Prince had such ambition, no one seemed to have any reason to stop him, so they let him go.

"That doesn't make sense, does it?" the First Prince retorted, frowning. "In that explosion, Chen Shiyu was half-dead and completely unable to move. How did he survive? And even become a formation master?"

Qiao Shou sighed, his face appearing even older: "I only realized it too late; I've been tricked!"

"When I finished refining him, he appeared half-dead. I thought I had failed, but I never expected that he was just faking it! To be precise, he was perfectly aware of his surroundings. He was just playing dead!"

"This person is indeed exceptionally cunning! He must have considered this carefully; he is well aware of the dangers he will face if he awakens."

"If he is completely lifeless, I will consider the refining method to have failed, and I will definitely tear his body apart and take out the auspicious beast's corpse, since the auspicious beast's corpse is much more precious than him."

"So Chen Shiyu appeared to me in a half-dead state, which prevented me from proceeding with the next step of the refining process and made me hesitate about whether to remove the auspicious beast's corpse and choose someone else to refine it."

The eldest prince inwardly exclaimed, "Good heavens! How could my uncle so casually utter such cruel words? This is using living people to refine! How is this any different from evil cultivation?"

There is a difference; this behavior is protected by the laws of the Great Xia Dynasty and is legal and compliant...

"Since then, I've been hesitant, but without a good refining method, I've left Chen Shiyu's body untouched. He must have known that as long as he's hanging there, half-dead, he'll have a chance to escape!"

"As expected, on the very day I left the Craftsmen's Hall, Chen Shiyu, who had been plotting for so long, finally found his opportunity. He actually managed to ignite the raging fire in the alchemy furnace, causing it to explode!"

Qiao's whisk flew up on its own, pointing towards the alchemy furnace that occupied a third of the room. Since the explosion, Qiao had reinforced the furnace again, which was why Peng Li, who was also a third-grade cultivator, was unable to take the magic treasure inside.

"The Third Prince was also unlucky; he arrived at the Craftsmen's Hall just when I was away."

At this point, Qiao Shou frowned: "But this behavior is truly perplexing to me. How could a mere third-rank martial artist possibly cause the alchemy furnace to explode?"

"That explosion nearly razed the entire Craftsmen's Hall to the ground. Many of the magical artifacts that had been refined in the alchemy furnace were destroyed! And many more magical artifacts were scattered all over the ground."

"It was after that explosion that Chen Shiyu's body disappeared without a trace. That's when I realized I'd been deceived by him." Qiao Shou said with a self-deprecating smile, somewhat helpless.

The eldest prince nodded as if he had just realized something, and only then did he have some understanding of the details of the bombing case from back then.

"Wait a minute, Uncle, with your abilities, how could you not tell if Chen Shiyu was faking it?"

Qiao shook his head: "That's the innate divine power that the auspicious beast itself possesses, which is why I couldn't figure it out."

"Even you can misjudge people sometimes?" The eldest prince chuckled.

Qiao Shou glanced at the eldest prince expressionlessly.

The eldest prince's smile faded, and he said with a serious expression, "Then how did he become a formation master? Is that also an innate ability of that auspicious beast?"

"No." Qiao Shou gently shook his head: "This person knows nothing about formations. He was able to set up a formation so easily without using formation stones, all thanks to a magical artifact from the Craftsmen's Hall: the Breathless Compass!"

"The Breathless Compass?!" the eldest prince exclaimed in shock. This was a magical artifact that had existed in the royal family of the previous Liang Dynasty.

The founding emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty suffered many losses at the hands of this magical artifact, but he eventually conquered the country, and the artifact was naturally left to gather dust in the craftsmen's hall.

You...you actually lost this magical artifact?! Qiao Shou, what is your punishment?!

The eldest prince asked cautiously, "Uncle, does Father know about this?"

Qiao Shou glanced at the First Prince, seemingly lost in thought. She simply said, "He knows about this."

Oh, that's okay.

"Actually, I had my suspicions ever since the elixir case. Later, my eldest apprentice even told me personally that no trace of the array stones was found in 'Chen's Pharmacy.'"

"At this point, I became even more certain that this was the work of the Breathless Compass. At that time, I was certain that Chen Shiyu had returned to the capital, but I never expected that he would be alive and well until now. Afterwards, I told that guy from the Yin-Yang Palace what I had learned."

At this point, Qiao frowned, a puzzled look on his face: "That guy is really amazing. He was so badly injured, and he didn't even leave the house, yet he was able to predict that Chen Shiyu was going to attack me."

"Oh?" The eldest prince became interested. "How did the Imperial Advisor know that?"

"I initially thought Chen Shiyu's return to the capital was to seek revenge on that guy, after all, Chen Shiyu suffered a lot of torment in the Yin-Yang Palace back then. The pill case also indirectly proved that Chen Shiyu was targeting that guy. So, some things that happened in the capital afterwards made that guy wary of Chen Shiyu."

"But what I don't understand is that after the explosion at the South Gate, that guy actually anticipated that Chen Shiyu was going to take action against me by knowing that the South Gate formation was destroyed!" Qiao Shou said with some emotion.

"This isn't right, is it? Just based on this incident, how can the Imperial Advisor be so sure that Chen Shiyu's target is you?" The First Prince looked astonished. The Imperial Advisor is quite something.

Qiao Shou nodded: "That guy is that confident. He sent me a message through the deputy hall master to warn me to be on guard, and also had the deputy hall master lurk by my side to help me at any time."

"That doesn't make sense either," the First Prince interjected at the opportune moment. "If the Imperial Preceptor could have foreseen that Chen Shiyu would target you, would he have needed the Deputy Hall Master's help? As long as you're in charge of the Craftsmen's Hall, how could Chen Shiyu possibly cause any trouble?"

"I don't know what that guy is thinking! He could have predicted that Chen Shiyu was going to make a move against me, yet he told me not to be on guard, but to pretend to fall into his trap and to use every means to test Chen Shiyu's methods during the battle!" Qiao Shou frowned. He had been puzzled by this for a long time and couldn't figure out what the Grand Preceptor was up to.

"Although I have some conflicts with that guy, I still trust his judgment in this kind of matter. He wouldn't go so far as to kill me."

"As he predicted, what happened next was exactly what happened. I had already sent Luo Wuju to repair the formation of the male city gate. Chen Shiyu also had the demons deliberately spread miasma in order to lure Cheng Yanbing away so that he wouldn't be in charge of the craftsmen's hall. After that, the imperial court sent people to ask for help, so I naturally sent Cheng Yanbing and Tang Weiwei to help."

"You know what happened next. Chen Shiyu joined forces with a third-rank martial artist to seek revenge on me. The deputy hall master who had been lurking here was teleported away with me. Afterwards, the demon race came to the Craftsmen's Hall and took away the magical artifacts that were made for Yunzhou. Fortunately, I reforged this alchemy furnace, otherwise many of the magical treasures inside would have been lost again."

"A master strategist, a visionary! The Imperial Advisor is truly a divine being!" the eldest prince exclaimed in great admiration.

The moment the words left his mouth, the eldest prince realized his mistake. His expression turned serious, and he commented coolly, "The Imperial Advisor does have some skill."

Qiao tugged at the corner of his mouth, then slowly closed his eyes.

The room fell silent for a moment.

The eldest prince understood that it was time for him to leave. However, he hadn't yet achieved his goal; how could he leave so easily?

The eldest prince smoothed the blond hair on his forehead and put on a fawning smile: "Uncle, actually, I also came here this time..."

Empress Qiao sneered and then interrupted the eldest prince: "I have told you the truth you wanted to know. Go, find Chen Shiyu, and avenge me."

"Forehead....."