Chapter 164: A Lead Appears

The one who burst in was Xi Teng. He seemed to have rushed over in a hurry, even using a spell for speed, but as soon as he entered the room, he couldn’t stop himself in time and nearly crashed headfirst into Yun Jiao.

Startled, Yun Jiao instinctively tried to dodge — but something else reacted faster than she did.

With a thunk, something flew past her and struck Xi Teng squarely in the face.

Though he was a ghostly soul without a physical body, Xi Teng felt as if his entire spirit had been slammed into. His form flew backward and smacked against the wall with a loud thud.

A round object slid down his face and rolled across the floor — a half-green, half-red fruit. But despite its harmless look, his face felt like it had been dented in.

The three others: “…”

They all slowly turned toward the person with a dark expression — the one who had just thrown the fruit.

Well… perhaps they should be thankful Xi Teng was a ghost. Otherwise, someone might have had to dig him out of the wall.

Xi Teng clutched the spot where he’d been hit, now sporting a huge black eye, and floated back down. Only then did he realize who was standing beside Yun Jiao — the man radiating an icy aura.

“Ma… Master Ancestor?!” His knees immediately went weak, and he dropped to the ground with a plop. “This disciple greets Master Ancestor!”

Ye Yuan gave a cold snort. The fruit he had been about to throw again twirled once in his hand, and he casually popped it into his mouth instead. As expected — the foolish disciples he taught only produced even more foolish ones. Clearly, it was time to set some entry restrictions around here.

“Brother Xi, what brings you here? Something happened?” the old man asked.

Xi Teng came back to his senses and quickly replied, “It’s about the person pretending to be Senior Brother Han — I found a lead!”

“So fast?!” Everyone was surprised. Yuan Jiang was the first to ask, “Who is it?”

“I’m not sure who exactly yet,” Xi Teng said, shaking his head, before his expression turned excited. “But when I followed the list that Junior Sister Yun gave me, I found something strange — most of the people on it were being manipulated by someone else. Those puppet masters seemed unrelated at first, but they all share one connection.”

“What place?” Yuan Jiang asked.

Xi Teng’s expression grew serious. “The Realm of Spiritual Restoration.”

“What?!” Yuan Jiang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“The Realm of Spiritual Restoration?” Yun Jiao frowned. The name sounded familiar. After a moment’s thought, she said, “You mean one of the seven realms of the underworld?”

“Yes.” Xi Teng nodded. “The seven realms are separated by the River of Souls — even ghost judges and underworld envoys can’t cross it freely without the Yama’s order. But those people somehow all have ties with that realm, and they’ve been interacting with it regularly. Yesterday, I tracked one of them down and tried to question him, but he got away…”

“You fought him, didn’t you?” Yuan Jiang said dryly, his lips twitching. This temper of his was exactly like his senior brother’s.

Xi Teng scratched his head sheepishly. “I got a little impatient. Luckily, Senior Brother Ji Qi reminded me to check the guy’s hideout afterward — I did, and I found something.”

He quickly pulled an item from his robes. After glancing at Ye Yuan and seeing no objection, he offered it forward. “Here — this.”

Yun Jiao took it, studying it carefully. It was a short piece of branch, about the length of a palm, faintly exuding both ghostly energy and a subtle demonic aura.

“The Co-life Branch!“ Yuan Jiang exclaimed, eyes widening. Yun Jiao also frowned slightly.

“Huh?” the old man looked puzzled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a part of the body of a plant-type demon,” Yun Jiao explained. “In the Beast Control Compendium, Chapter Three, Section Six, it’s written that whoever carries this branch allows the demon it came from to perceive everything the carrier sees. If the person’s cultivation is weak or their mind unstable, they can even be controlled by the demon. But…” She rotated the branch between her fingers, her eyes narrowing. “Demons shouldn’t exist in the underworld at all — and to bring a piece of their physical body here?”

Only souls could survive long in the underworld. Any living creature — human or demon — would have their body eroded by yin energy and eventually disintegrate into ash. Yet this Co-life Branch showed no signs of decay.

“This one seems… different from ordinary ones,” Yun Jiao said after sensing it for a moment. “The demonic energy and ghostly aura within it don’t conflict — they’re in balance.”

“In other words…” Yuan Jiang stopped mid-sentence, locking eyes with Yun Jiao. A moment later, realization struck them both, and Yuan Jiang immediately formed a hand seal and released it toward the branch.

In an instant, whoosh! — the branch burst into flames. Yun Jiao let go, and it burned to ashes in seconds.

“Wait, why did you burn it?” the old man asked, baffled. “Wasn’t that our clue?”

Xi Teng looked just as confused.

Yuan Jiang’s face darkened as he explained, “The very fact that you could find this branch here means it was active in the underworld. Since the one behind this used it to sense their puppet’s movements — now that the branch was in our possession… what do you think will happen?”

Xi Teng and the old man froze, gasping as realization dawned. “Then… that means the other party already—”

“Knows we’ve found them,” Yuan Jiang confirmed grimly.

Xi Teng’s expression fell immediately, guilt washing over his face. “It’s all my fault! Uncle-Master, what do we do now?”

If their target knew they were being hunted, they’d only go deeper into hiding.

“There’s no helping it,” Yuan Jiang sighed. “We’ll have to go straight to the Yama of the Realm of Spiritual Restoration and investigate. But…” His tone grew more hesitant. “That realm is under the jurisdiction of souls from the demon world. Their relationship with the celestial realm isn’t as friendly as ours with Youling Domain. It won’t be easy — they may not even let us in.”

He turned toward Bai Yu. “Bai Shizhi, since this concerns the Youling Domain, and you’re its new lord, it’s best if you go to negotiate with their Yama yourself.”

“Ah, me?” The old man instinctively glanced at Yun Jiao.

“I’ll go too,” Yun Jiao said immediately. “We need to resolve this.”

“Should we inform Senior Brother Ji Qi first?” Xi Teng suggested. “We can’t travel directly to that realm from the mortal world, and the River of Souls separates the domains. Apart from Uncle Yuan, I doubt the rest of us could cross it. Senior Brother should know a way. Maybe we should—”

“No need.”

The calm, cold voice interrupted him.

All four turned in unison toward the man who had been silently eating biscuits the entire time.

Ye Yuan stood up, raised a hand, and sliced through the air.

The space around them twisted violently — and in the blink of an eye, a dark rift tore open before them. Waves of yin energy poured out. Inside, ghostly silhouettes shifted in the mist, and on a distant stone tablet, two words could be faintly seen glowing: Realm of Restoration.

Yuan Jiang: “…”

Xi Teng: “…”

Bai Yu: “…”

Yun Jiao: “…”

Opening a domain gate without warning — could the Ancestor maybe give a heads-up next time?

“Let’s go.” Ye Yuan glanced briefly at his little disciple, then stepped straight into the rift.

Yun Jiao and Bai Yu, long used to his ways, immediately followed. Xi Teng hesitated only a second before diving in as well.

Yuan Jiang, however, stood frozen for a long moment before realization hit him.

Wait—!

Master was going to the underworld?!

A memory flashed before him — the last time, thousands of years ago, when Master had whimsically gone to the celestial realm… and the disaster that had followed.

He shuddered violently, then bolted after them in panic. “Master! No, wait, don’t—!!”

(Д≡Д)

(End of Chapter)