King of Creation-Chapter 697 - 688 Master and Disciple’s Calculations

Halfway up Black Beard Mountain, Ye Zhen’s face was uncomfortably red, and veins on his forehead bulged one after another, making his entire head look swollen, with blood vessels visible everywhere that seemed on the verge of bursting.

Not only that, but even Ye Zhen’s hands, which he pressed on Hou Ba’s head, were trembling uncontrollably, as if they might slip off at any moment.

This was Ye Zhen’s first time performing the Soul Searching Technique, and he had underestimated the negative side effects of its use, especially when Hou Ba’s Divine Soul Cultivation was stronger than Ye Zhen’s.

The memory information a martial artist accumulates from life and cultivation from childhood to adulthood is massive. And now, all that massive information had to be processed through Ye Zhen’s Divine Soul, the pressure of which can only be imagined.

The overwhelming information nearly burst Ye Zhen’s Soul Sea. Even though Ye Zhen was using his Divine Soul Power to constantly disperse the useless memories that had been identified, the speed was far slower than the rapid influx of memories into his brain.

It had already lasted for 15 minutes, and it wasn’t over yet.

But Ye Zhen didn’t want to give up halfway; what if the information he missed was exactly what he needed?

So, Ye Zhen stubbornly persevered.

Bang!

A hundred breaths later, a loud pop sounded as the connection between Hou Ba’s head and Ye Zhen’s palm was suddenly broken, and Hou Ba’s body collapsed to the ground like dough, life and death unknown.

The majestic waves of Divine Soul slowly returned to Ye Zhen’s body.

The Soul Search was complete!

Ye Zhen, nearly exhausting all his strength, had pushed his will to the limit when he carelessly flicked his finger, piercing Hou Ba’s head.

At that instant, Ye Zhen even felt as if he was about to kill himself.

Because of the influx of massive information from Hou Ba’s mind, Ye Zhen even had the eerie sensation that he was Hou Ba.

That feeling was terrifying!

It was only with the aid of Sword Heart Enlightenment that Ye Zhen didn’t lose himself.

In that instant, Ye Zhen fully understood the warning about the Soul Searching Technique recorded in the Secret Record of Soul Refining.

Don’t try to use the Soul Searching Technique on martial artists whose Divine Soul Cultivation is much stronger than your own, as it could bring fatal consequences.

The ideal target for the Soul Searching Technique should be martial artists whose Divine Soul Cultivation is lower than your own.

With a flick that killed Hou Ba, Ye Zhen immediately collapsed to the ground, activating his Divine Soul Power to begin sorting through the information obtained from the Soul Search, identifying what was useful, and dispelling the useless information that had entered his Soul Sea.

It was an excruciating process. At first, every piece of information dispelled felt like killing a part of himself.

However, as more information was dispersed, Ye Zhen’s condition gradually improved, and his speed increased.

About two hours later, Ye Zhen slowly opened his eyes, which suddenly turned incredibly somber.

The moment he opened his eyes, Ye Zhen moved as swiftly as possible to strip off all his clothes, including his underwear and socks; then he produced a Spirit Blaze, incinerating the removed clothing to nothing.

After that, Ye Zhen took out a new set of clothes from his storage ring and changed into them inside out. That was not all; after changing, Ye Zhen’s Divine Sense scanned over every inch of the storage ring and his hair to ensure there were no special Spiritual Power Waves before finally taking a breath of relief.

The reason Ye Zhen did this was because of a piece of information he obtained from the Soul Search.

Having traveled together for half a month, Ghost Shadow Ful Lang had silently planted several special Spiritual Power Talisman Seals on him.

With a special Magic Formula, one could remotely sense the planted Talisman Seals and thereby track down Ye Zhen’s location, which was another of Ghost Shadow Ful Lang’s unique skills.

According to Hou Ba’s memories, even an Establishment King could be tricked by Ghost Shadow Ful Lang’s Tracking Seal in an unguarded moment.

The only downside is that it can only be planted on clothes, accessories, or hair; otherwise, it would be detected.

This led to the scene that unfolded when Ye Zhen first opened his eyes.

After dealing with the Tracking Seal, Ye Zhen’s expression was somewhat frustrated.

This was his first time performing the Soul Searching Technique, and despite the lack of experience and a few dangerous moments, it was successful. The Soul Searching Technique was very successful, but he didn’t find much of the information he needed.

Especially concerning the meeting place with Zhu Ling or the subsequent plans against Ye Zhen—there was hardly any useful information obtained.

There was no helping it; this is the drawback of the Soul Searching Technique, and the reason why many people would never use it unless absolutely necessary, and also why Ye Zhen initially resorted to coercion.

Even the most exquisite Soul Searching Technique can only retrieve three quarters of a martial artist’s memory. The Soul Searching Technique documented in Ye Zhen’s Secret Record of Soul Refining is considered exquisite, successfully retrieving up to half of the memories under ideal conditions.

Indeed, half of the memories simply dissipated in the process of Soul Searching.

Some of the important information that Ye Zhen needed vanished during Hou Ba’s Soul Search.

Of course, it wasn’t all for naught.

Among Hou Ba’s childhood memories, there was an intriguing little story.

Hou Ba became an orphan at a young age, but like many in the True Spirit Domain, he had immense strength—so from a young age, he was sold to work as a mine slave, with food and drink supplied, but life was worse than death.

Every day, rest time wouldn’t exceed two hours, and any negligence would be met with a brutal beating—those memories were a bleak area in Hou Ba’s mind.

Suddenly one day, Hou Ba was rescued, allowed by his savior to kill the mine slave who had tormented him. This person was none other than Zhu Ling, now the Head of the Inner Affairs Hall of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect.

Afterward, he began to cultivate under Zhu Ling’s arrangements. Hou Ba had high talent, and his Cultivation progressed rapidly. Within a few years, he started to serve Zhu Ling.

In Hou Ba’s memory, there are many young men like him who were nurtured by Zhu Ling from a young age, roughly a hundred or so, including Ghost Shadow Ful Lang and Yu Xian.

However, among those who have survived the years of missions, only about ten have grown their Cultivation all the way to the Vein Forging Realm. These are the forces Zhu Ling relies on the most.

As Hou Ba grew older, he naturally understood Zhu Ling’s true intentions. Nonetheless, Hou Ba always saw Zhu Ling as his savior, who had pulled him out of a hellish life when he was younger.

That is why the least likely thing he could do was to betray Zhu Ling!

Besides, Ye Zhen also found several secret bases that Zhu Ling had set up outside and some of the dirty secrets about Zhu Ling’s daily actions from Hou Ba’s memories.

For example, in order to continue his bloodline and produce offspring, Zhu Ling once had them capture female Martial Artists with Cultivation at or above the Spirit Summoning Realm on a grand scale.

After being captured, these women were subjected to his lust night and day in the hope of bearing him a child. Over two to three years, they secretly captured hundreds of female Martial Artists. Eventually, this led to the birth of his son, Zhu Mingxu, whom he treasured like a rare gem.

However, the female Martial Artist who gave birth to Zhu Mingxu was split open with a palm strike by Zhu Ling when Zhu Mingxu was two years old.

Another example, Zhu Ling had quite some enmity with Tus De, the Punishment Hall Elder.

Furthermore, Zhu Ling often siphoned off public resources for personal gain, regularly issuing high-reward tasks from the Divine Sect. These tasks would then be completed by his trusted subordinates like Hou Ba. Most of the rewards ended up in Zhu Ling’s own pocket.

....

All this information could potentially be useful, but frustratingly, Ye Zhen could not find any clues about the second step of Hou Ba’s linkage plan to deal with him.

A few breaths later, Ye Zhen closed his eyes once more.

He had to eradicate all of Hou Ba’s memories from his mind. Otherwise, even the slightest sense of personality disorder could become extremely troublesome in the future.

Just as Ye Zhen closed his eyes to start erasing the memories, a thousand miles away, two streaks of light in the sky suddenly halted.

"Eh, Master, the aura emanating from the tracking seal has just disappeared." Lul Xiao looked startled.

"Disappeared?"

Dressed in a purple robe, with his whiskers fluttering, Bian Daqian’s long brows furrowed sharply. "Yes, it’s vanished. However, it’s about a thousand miles away, and if I’m not mistaken, we’re approaching Black Beard Mountain.

"That Ye Zhen who killed Ling Baiyi could be there!"

At this point, Bian Daqian suddenly turned to his disciple, Lul Xiao, "Xiao’er, are you sure the anonymous Talisman Communication you received isn’t a trap?

"The terrain around Black Beard Mountain is complex, and the distance from our Sect is not too far. Even if the Sect provides support, it will take over two hours to arrive.

"If we have enemies setting an ambush for us, the outcome..."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, just to avenge Ling Baiyi and Yi Shan, taking such a big risk doesn’t seem worth it. Even if you really bring back Ye Zhen’s head, you won’t gain much favor from the Sect Leader!"

"Master, earlier at your Cultivation retreat, I was worried about being overheard, so there’s something I didn’t tell you!" Lul Xiao said.

"What is it?"

"Ye Zhen might have the Demon Cloud Fruit in his possession!"

As soon as these words fell, Bian Daqian looked shocked, his long eyebrows suddenly lifting. "Is this true?"

The Ancient Demon God Temple that appears only once every sixty years was about to manifest, yet he, Bian Daqian, had yet to find the Demon Cloud Fruit required to enter the Ancient Demon God Temple.

Although the Profound Moon Sect had some gains from exploring the Secret Realm of Demon Souls over the years, the supply was limited and Bian Daqian was never allocated any.

Upon hearing this, he immediately took notice.

"It’s true!"

"How certain are you?"

"Ninety percent. Moreover, that kid might have more than one Demon Cloud Fruit on him!" Lul Xiao said.

"More than one?"

A hint of doubt surfaced in Bian Daqian’s eyes, "A youngster whose Cultivation was only at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm Fifth Stage two years ago having one Demon Cloud Fruit is rare enough, let alone more than one. Are you sure you’re not playing jokes on me, lad?"

Lul Xiao swore passionately, "Master, I would dare to deceive anyone but you! That youngster’s behavior in the Secret Realm of Demon Souls was quite peculiar two years ago..."

Immediately, Lul Xiao quickly recounted what had happened within the Secret Realm of Demon Souls two years ago.

After listening, Bian Daqian’s eyes suddenly widened, "Nonsense! Back then, the Sect sent five people into the Secret Realm of Demon Souls. Only you and Guz Bufan returned. The Sect Leader was furious and asked you both for details, and you certainly didn’t tell it like this!"

Upon hearing this, Lul Xiao smiled bitterly, "Master, weren’t we just keeping a little something for ourselves? If we were to tell the Sect that the kid had the Demon Cloud Fruit, would we get a piece of it?

"If we slowly tracked him down, wouldn’t we be able to directly obtain a Demon Cloud Fruit?"

"So why didn’t you tell me until now? Were you planning to keep it from me forever?"

"Master, wasn’t it because there was no trace of that kid until now? I just received information today, so I came to ask for your help," Lul Xiao chuckled dryly.

"Hmph!"

Bian Daqian could obviously tell the truth from lies and coldly huffed, "Then let’s search quickly. To prevent that kid from escaping, we’ll both search Black Beard Mountain from the east and the west. If we find traces of that kid, send a Talisman Communication!"

"Yes, Master!"

As Lul Xiao responded, he looked at his master, Bian Daxing, with a cheesy smile, "Master, if we get one Demon Cloud Fruit, of course I’ll honor you with it. If there are two, I hope you won’t forget... "

"You shameless thing, could I ever cut you out? Now go!" Before his words were finished, Bian Daqian had vanished! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)