Soul-searching forcibly lets you view the memories of the person being searched.
It causes severe damage to the soul; at best, the victim’s soul is injured, at worst, they’re left an idiot.
How bad it gets depends on the caster’s control and the victim’s resistance.
But obviously, Bai Hansu wasn’t going to be careful with a demonic cultivator, and the demonic cultivator wasn’t going to just let her search his soul without a fight, so the outcome was pretty much a given.
Still, Bai Hansu did manage to find some clues in the demonic cultivator’s memories about what she wanted to know.
The demon lord these two brothers served was the Ji Hun Demon Lord, who ruled the northern part of the demon lands.
Judging by the layout of the cultivation world, the demon lands were already up north, so Ji Hun, who was even further north, was the one with the least contact with the righteous side.
She’d thought he was just some marginalized demon lord, but turns out he was the type to “keep a low profile and get big things done.”
As she kept looking, the key point finally appeared.
In the demonic cultivator’s memory, one day a group of people wearing Duyie Sect robes came to see Ji Hun Demon Lord, the red crow insignia on their hems glaringly obvious.
How could a small, no-name sect get an audience with a demon lord? It wasn’t until the leader, shrouded in a black robe, took out a silver herb… Got you.
Bai Hansu’s eyes filled with murderous intent.
Even though she knew this was just a memory fragment, she could barely stop herself from wanting to wipe it out.
Later, this demonic cultivator saw the Duyie Sect people again, this time when they were showing off their results to the demon lord.
That unknown alchemist, at their first meeting with the demon lord, had captured a righteous cultivator, forced him to eat a leaf from that silver herb, then kept him alive with all sorts of spiritual medicines.
When the time was right, the alchemist cut off the man’s flesh and refined it into a pill, which he then offered to the demon lord.
The demonic cultivator didn’t know exactly what the pill did, only that after trying it, the demon lord was overjoyed and rewarded Duyie Sect with a pile of treasures, keeping the alchemist by his side.
Not long after, several demon lords issued bounty orders, putting clear prices on the heads of talented righteous disciples.
That was all this demonic cultivator knew.
It wasn’t much, but it was already way more than Bai Hansu had expected.
Bai Hansu opened her eyes and casually scattered the souls of the two men.
The three demonic cultivator lackeys behind them were so scared their eyes rolled back and they nearly fainted.
“Don’t kill us! We don’t know anything! We—we just followed the boss here, we haven’t killed any of your people!”
Bai Hansu didn’t care to listen to their excuses.
Everything had already been exposed in the memories of those two demonic cultivators.
A bunch of bandits who made a living by killing and robbing—how could they possibly be good people? How could their hands be clean?
Letting them go would just mean they’d spread the news, and then the demon lord would target those kids.
No way that was happening.
After cleaning up all traces, Bai Hansu picked up her qin and left.
“Miss Bai!” Wen Jiayin, sharp-eyed, immediately spotted Bai Hansu walking over and hurried to meet her.
“Did you get the answers you wanted?”
“I’ve got a general idea.
I know what I need to know.” Bai Hansu nodded slightly.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting.”
“It’s nothing, really! We haven’t even properly thanked you for your help yet, what’s a little wait?” Wen Jiayin waved her hands quickly.
Zhi Chang’an, standing behind Wen Jiayin, stared hard at Bai Hansu, probably trying to spot something suspicious.
But Bai Hansu was so calm that she couldn’t see a single flaw!
But whatever, they’d be parting ways soon anyway.
No way this woman could just follow them for no reason!
“Miss Bai, what are your plans next? We’ve already made up our minds—we’re heading to the Mist Zone in this secret realm, the one no one’s ever managed to explore.
If you’re not going that way, I’m afraid we’ll have to say goodbye here.” Wen Jiayin sounded a little regretful.
She really liked Bai Hansu’s personality—she was someone you could be friends with.
But if Bai Hansu had her own plans, then they’d just have to part for now.
If fate allowed, they’d meet again someday.
Yeah, yeah! Hurry up and go! Zhi Chang’an was practically radiating dislike, but she never expected that Bai Hansu would say, “It’s fine, we’re headed the same way.
That’s my destination too.
But don’t worry, I’m not planning to fight you for any treasures inside.
I just found out the demonic cultivators are after this secret realm too, and I want to see if I can settle an old grudge.”
Pfft! What old grudge? As if things could be that convenient! You’re just making up excuses to get close to Jiayin! And even if you really do have some grudge to settle, dragging Jiayin along will just get her caught up in your dangerous mess!
Maybe because Zhi Chang’an’s dissatisfaction was written all over her face, Bai Hansu glanced at her and added, “If we run into any danger, I promise I won’t drag you into it.”
“What are you saying, Miss Bai? Do you think we’re that kind of people? You didn’t stand by and watch when we were in trouble, so of course we’ll do the same for you.
Don’t tell me you think we’re the type to forget kindness?” Wen Jiayin looked serious, making it clear that even if they weren’t as strong as Bai Hansu, they could still help! After all, the strongest anyone could be in this secret realm was peak Foundation Establishment, and they could at least protect themselves.
And if they made it out, even better—Master had given her “nuke-level” weapons to throw around.
Didn’t matter what monsters came at them, she’d blow them all to bits!
Li Youxi nodded too, and even the reluctant Zhi Chang’an agreed.
Of course they weren’t the type to be cowardly or ungrateful, so Wen Jiayin made the decision—they’d go together.
Bai Hansu was a woman with a story and a lot of knowledge.
In their short time together, Wen Jiayin had picked up a few things, like how Bai Hansu had someone very important to her who’d been hurt by demonic cultivators, and things probably weren’t looking good.
Otherwise, Bai Hansu wouldn’t look so sad whenever she mentioned her.
Funny thing was, for some reason, Wen Jiayin felt a strange sense of familiarity and closeness when she looked at Bai Hansu, as if she saw a shadow of someone she knew in her.
Maybe it was that special sense of kinship that kept Wen Jiayin from having the same doubts as Zhi Chang’an.
“Thank you all.
Thank you… Miss Wen.”
“No need to be so polite! If you don’t mind, just treat us as friends!” Wen Jiayin patted her chest.
“Friends? Hmm, since we’re friends, can I call you Ayin?” Bai Hansu’s eyes sparkled with hope.
Faced with this version of Bai Hansu, Wen Jiayin had no resistance at all.
She blurted out, “Sure! Then I’ll call you Hansu? Susu? Little Snowflake?”
That last nickname was just something Wen Jiayin made up on the spot.
She had no idea that in the future, at certain times, this obviously cutesy nickname would be used almost as much as another one.
But that’s a story for another time.
