(Jian POV)
The talk with Ye Zong reminded me of something. I can 'revive' someone with my True Body technique as long as I have their soul. That means that if I can prevent someone's soul from getting completely destroyed or entering the cycle of rebirth, that person can never die. It'll be useful to keep enemies alive for information and prevent the people close to me from truly dying when they don't want to.
To do that I compile all the books in the Library that have to do with souls into one. I decide to call it 'Soul Manipulation'. It basically allows me to perform Astral Projection, capture the soul, heal the soul, destroy the soul, rewrite the memory of the soul like with Nie Li, and much much more.
After studying the book for a while, I use what I learned from Soul Manipulation and from studying Yu Yan's Divine Spark to refine a few Demon Spirit Stones. These new Spirit Stones will act as a Divine Spark to gather the soul of whoever is connected to it unless that person's soul is completely destroyed.
Unlike Divine Sparks though, these Spirit Stone can only be used once and I'll have to be there to create a body for the soul once it's back. To make use of the Stone, a person only needs to use a drop of blood on it. I and the girls will probably never need these Stone but it's better to have them in case something unexpected happens.
I made one for myself, one for each of the girls, Ziyun's parents, Ning'er dad, and a few Stone without owners in case I ever need them. I didn't tell anyone what the Stone do though. If they start thinking that they can't die, they'll be more likely to do something reckless. I just told everyone it's for an experiment and they trust me enough to give me some blood.
After making the Stones, Ye Zong hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the Ten Thousand Demonic Beast Array and the successful defense against the Dark Guild. Nothing interesting happened at the party. There is no adopted son to cause problems and Nie Li didn't create a problem with the Sacred Family because he doesn't have the full support of the Snow Wind family yet.
After the party, President Gu Yan invited me and Ye Zong to the Alchemy Association. He told us about the Dark Guild members that were captured. There are 5 Dark Guild members in total including Shen Ming and Deacon Yun Hua. The Association was only able to make the three non-important members of the Dark Guild talk and weren't able to do anything about Shen Ming or Deacon Yun Hua so they decide to see if we can.
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Ye Zong wasn't happy about the fact that the Alchemy Association didn't tell him that they capture members of the Dark Guild but he didn't start any trouble over it. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to test my new soul related ability, I went along with them to 'persuade' the prisoners to talk.
The first person we 'talk' to is Shen Ming. He tried to lie and say that he was falsely accused by the Alchemy Association but I exposed him by saying that my 'student' saw him fighting with the Dark Guild trying to capture Nie Li.
When Ye Zong starts to pressure and questions Shen Ming, I secretly use a soul technique to make him more scared of Ye Zong then he should be. It worked wonderfully as Shen Ming starts to spill all the secrets he knows of, about the Dark Guild and how the Sacred Family that are working with them.
I never saw Ye Zong gets so angry before. As soon as he is finished, Ye Zong smashes Shen Ming's head so hard that it went flying off his body. It was a gory scene but Ye Zong didn't even seem to care in his anger. President Gu Yan, on the other hand, looks like he wanted to get as far away from Ye Zong as possible.
Following our 'questioning' of Shen Ming, we went to question Deacon Yun Hua. I manage to persuade Ye Zong and Gu Yan to let me do the questioning by using the excuse that they should go calm down first.
When I see Yun Hua, I didn't bother to talk and just make him fall asleep. Using a soul searching ability from Soul Manipulation, I search Yun Hua's soul for any memories that have to do with the Dark Guild. From him, I learn where the locations of some of the Dark Guild hideout are and a few of their important members. Too bad he didn't know where or who the Demon Lord is and he also didn't know where their main base is.
I did get the location of the entrance to the Nether Realm though. I've been looking for that place ever since I have been here but was never able to find it. As it turns out, I was looking on the wrong side of the St. Ancestral Mountain Range. Now that I found it, I can finally look for the Nether Lord's portal and find the location of the Draconic Ruins Realm.
I don't plan to go with everyone else and have a soul seal put on me even if I can get rid of it. I also don't plan to let the girls do it either. Once I find the portal, I can link it to my array in the Nexus and travel to the Draconic Ruins Realm without anyone knowing. I still might take the test with everyone though. There are a few things in the Nine-Layered Deathlands that are interesting and there is the Death Divine Spark that I can grab for Yu Yan.
Once I sorted out everything I got from Deacon Yun Hua. I wrote down everything I think Ye Zong and Glory City can handle and give it to Ye Zong. It includes things like where the bases of the Dark Guild are, how strong it is, who and what they should watch out for and where the spies in Glory City are.
After Ye Zong got the information, he thanked me and head straight back to the City Lord's mansion to prepare. As for me, I decided to relax a bit more, after all, it'll be half a year until the Nether Lord starts his disciple selection test.