"Master Gu, quickly find out who was responsible for extraditing Liu Erwa! Bring him to me immediately!" Judge Yan, his face pale with anger, finally spoke.
Due to the shortage of Soul Guides at the moment, in order to execute tasks more efficiently and reduce the workload of Soul Guides, the Underworld Realm had long simplified the workflow for Soul Guides. They no longer needed to report each task individually. Instead, the Work Inspection Team randomly inspected their work.
This meant that Judge Yan and his team couldn't immediately know who was responsible for extraditing Liu Erwa. Therefore, Master Gu had to immediately contact the Soul Guidance Department and, based on the time Liu Erwa was brought to the Upper Realm, identify the Soul Guide responsible from the list of Soul Guides on duty at that time.
While Master Gu was contacting the Soul Guidance Department, Eight, as per Dao Lao's request, repeatedly played the footage of the mold spirit energy appearing. Finally, after repeated comparisons by the Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System, it determined the Mold Fortune Level of that mold spirit energy to be three stars.
"No wonder that Soul Guide ignored Liu Erwa's crying and seemed to be waiting for Liu Erwa to stabilize emotionally before guiding him to ascend. It turns out, he was actually waiting for that mold spirit energy to approach," Hao Yun exclaimed, enlightened after watching the footage of the mold spirit energy appearing several times.
Dao Lao, keeping an eye on his system screen, repeatedly confirmed the data of the mold spirit energy in Liu Erwa's body and the mold spirit energy in the footage. He answered, "That's right. But we still don't know why that Soul Guide took the risk to help the mold spirit energy enter the Upper Realm. However, the good news is, that mold spirit energy is now trapped in Liu Erwa's body. Once we can separate it, we'll have a way to find out the whole story."
The footage continued. After a brief interruption in Liu Erwa's line of sight, it regained brightness, revealing a magnificent and magical landscape.
The scene showed vast cliffs with exceptionally smooth and sharp rocks. The cliffs plunged deep into a seemingly boundless and bottomless, red-clouded abyss with occasional flashes of lightning. Flames occasionally spewed out from the clouds, making one feel a suffocating heat even through the screen.
Liu Erwa's gaze then lifted to the sky above the cliff. Above the cliffs was a starry night sky, giving Hao Yun, watching from outside the screen, a feeling of swimming in a vast sea of stars, peaceful and serene. However, the brightly lit walls of the cliffs, the giant city guards, the formations of semi-mechanical, semi-skeletal flying beasts, and the occasional bursts of white light rising from below the cliffs, constantly reminded Hao Yun that this was not a tranquil and comfortable starry sky, but the majestic and solemn boundary of the Underworld Realm. And from the design of the castle, it was obviously not the Spirit City where Hao Yun was currently located. It's estimated that the place Liu Erwa was heading to was the Soul Management Center mentioned by Master Gu before? Hao Yun speculated.
The Soul Guide quickly brought Liu Erwa into the formidable-looking castle, into a somewhat sinister circular hall. After inspecting Liu Erwa, a humanoid creature wearing a large black robe that covered its face and had a thick, snake-like tail handed a soul entry application form to the Soul Guide.
Once the extradition priest filled out the application form, he waited for Liu Erwa to stand aside and wait. Everything at this moment seemed just like any other normal extradition task. But Hao Yun knew that this situation was not as calm as it seemed, because under Dao Lao's Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System monitoring, it was discovered that the Soul Guide had indeed successfully brought the mold spirit energy into the Underworld Realm.
Soon, the humanoid priest with the snake tail completed Liu Erwa's entry permit. Then, the Soul Guide once again guided Liu Erwa's soul into the green door on the other side of the circular hall. Immediately, the scene shifted, and they appeared in a place that looked like a courtroom. The entire room was white, much brighter than the previous hall.
In the middle of the room stood a tall judgment platform made of a stone material with a metallic sheen. Seated on the platform was a brightly colored octopus. Yes, that's right. It was like an octopus that had been cooked to perfection. According to the nameplate on the judgment platform, this octopus was surprisingly Judge No. 2010611 of the 13th District of the Underworld Realm, and his name was Paul.
Seeing this, Hao Yun couldn't help but exclaim in his heart: Wow! Isn't this octopus the famous oracle during the World Cup, "Octopus Paul"? Could it be that after retiring, Octopus Paul came here to become a judge?
Just as Hao Yun was lost in thought, Judge Yan beside him said in confusion, "Huh? Something's not right! This is very strange!"
Judge Yan gestured for Eight to rewind the footage on the screen and stop it at the moment before the Soul Guide and Liu Erwa entered the green door.
At this point, Master Gu, who had already issued a thorough investigation order to the Soul Guidance Department, also turned his gaze back to the huge screen in the center of the hall and quickly understood Judge Yan's meaning: "That's not just an ordinary door connecting two halls; it's a special passage connecting the Soul Registration Hall and the Judgment Hall. Since there are many registration halls and judgment halls in the Soul Management Center, and they are quite far apart. Therefore, when we built this castle, we constructed many transit green passages inside for the priests to quickly move to the target area."
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"So, you mean, they shouldn't have appeared in the Judgment Hall immediately after entering that green door, right?" Dao Lao asked. Dao Lao didn't work in the Underworld Realm, so he didn't know much about the structure of these castles. But even so, he immediately understood what Master Gu meant.
"Exactly. The green door is a passage. Even though it has the ability to quickly transfer priests, unless the destination is relatively close, it doesn't have the ability to instantly transport the priest to the destination. Moreover, the No. 2010611 Judgment Hall is one of the farthest from all the Soul Registration Halls. Even if they depart from the nearest registration hall, according to the time on Earth where Hao is, it would still take at least fifteen seconds to get the priest there," Master Gu continued to explain.
Master Gu added, "Furthermore, due to the special status of Soul Guides, besides using the exclusive teleportation spell of Soul Guides, they cannot learn additional teleportation spells. Therefore, theoretically speaking, that Soul Guide doesn't have the ability to instantly transport Liu Erwa from one end of the green passage to the other. If he used the Soul Guide's exclusive teleportation spell, then the Soul Guidance Department should have records of it."
After listening to Master Gu's explanation, Judge Yan nodded and said, "Master Gu is right. So, it's absolutely impossible for that Soul Guide and Liu Erwa to have instantly arrived at the No. 2010611 Judgment Hall. If I'm not mistaken, Liu Erwa's memories in that green passage were completely erased. And that Soul Guide is the prime suspect for thoroughly erasing his memories."
Hao Yun and Dao Lao simultaneously realized where the problem lay. Fortunately, Judge Yan and Master Gu were very familiar with various situations in the Underworld Realm, otherwise they might have completely overlooked this obvious but not easily detectable flaw.
At this point, everyone's attention was focused on the Soul Guide. Now, all suspicions pointed to him. As for the identity of this Soul Guide, it could only be known after waiting for the Soul Guidance Department to verify the results.
"I have a question," Hao Yun raised his hand to signal everyone, "How did that Soul Guide manage to bring the mold spirit energy into the Underworld Realm? How did he hide the mold spirit energy and successfully evade the surveillance of the Underworld Realm?"
Judge Yan sighed, thoughtfully staring at the Soul Guide on the screen as he said, "Ah! I also want to know the reason behind this. Theoretically, we priests and mold spirit energy repel each other, and none of our defensive spells can provide protection for mold spirit energy."
"However, due to the Divine War, many changes have occurred in the realms of the gods. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that some priests, for certain purposes, cooperated with the mold spirit energy privately, or even forcibly integrated the mold spirit energy into the holy body. Once a priest forcefully merges with mold spirit energy, the priest does have various abilities, including using divine power to conceal the mold spirit energy. But the cost of doing so is also enormous."
"What great cost will they pay?" Hao Yun asked curiously.
Judge Yan sighed again and said, "Ah! Even if the priests who do this are not killed on the spot by the realms of the gods, their behavior of allowing divine power and mold spirit energy to coexist will ultimately cause their holy bodies to explode due to the repulsion between the two incompatible forces."
After speaking, Judge Yan glanced meaningfully at Dao Lao and then at Hao Yun. The implication seemed to be reminding Dao Lao not to let Hao Yun do such a foolish thing. After all, as an assistant to a mold spirit energy tracking priest, Hao Yun often deals with mold spirit energy. If he is inadvertently misled by the power of mold spirit energy, then the problem will really be serious.
After receiving Judge Yan's well-intentioned reminder, Dao Lao also sighed deeply with profound meaning. Hao Yun, on the other hand, shook his head vigorously, indicating to Judge Yan and Dao Lao to rest assured that he would never touch something so dangerous. He values his life very much, especially now, after unexpectedly encountering such an adventure, Hao Yun cherishes his life even more.
Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the hall. At the same time, a panicked voice approached from outside the hall: "Bad news! Judge Yan! Something big has happened!"
Soon, the owner of the voice rushed into the main hall. He was a tall and thin old man, with hair and skin so pale they lacked any trace of color. Judging from the black robe he wore and the holy wings behind him, he must be a Soul Guide. However, unlike other Soul Guides, he did not cover his extremely thin face with a wide hood, yet he still looked very spirited.
Following behind this old man was another Soul Guide. As soon as the two priests entered the main hall, they both knelt before Judge Yan with a thud. Then, the old man continued to speak in a panicked voice, "Judge Yan, something bad has happened! The identity of Soul Guide 6180 has been tampered with!"
"The identity of the Soul Guide has been tampered with? Quickly, tell me, what exactly happened?!" Although Judge Yan didn't understand what the old man was saying, as soon as he heard that the identity of the Soul Guide had been tampered with, his eyes widened immediately.
Upon hearing Judge Yan's question, the other Soul Guide, whose face was not visible, first patted the gasping old man on the back, indicating for him to catch his breath. Then, he pointed to the holographic screen locked on the Soul Guide's image and said in an equally anxious tone, "Reporting to Judge Yan, my name is Cui, and I am Soul Guide DY-6180. The person shown in the image is someone who impersonated my identity and went to the N31 timeline of Earth to extradite Liu Erwa."
"What?! The Soul Guide extraditing Liu Erwa was someone impersonating another Soul Guide?" Hao Yun exclaimed incredulously. Judge Yan and the others were also shocked to hear this news.
"Then quickly tell me, what exactly happened?" Judge Yan gestured for the two Soul Guides to rise and urged Cui to explain immediately. From his very serious expression, it could be seen that impersonating a Soul Guide was a very serious violation of discipline.
After standing up, the Soul Guide named Cui first respectfully bowed to Judge Yan again, and then said, "Report to the master, this matter has been going on for some time. Cui had just completed a Soul Guide task, and immediately received a letter from home, saying that my wife's due date was approaching and she needed to give birth immediately. So, Cui immediately applied for temporary leave from the superiors, intending to go home for some time to take care of my wife and daughter."