"A matter like this..." Qiao Shun frowned. "We will need to soulsearch her."

"EH?!"

Mei let out a cry of terror.

Soulsearching... she had heard so many terrible stories about it! In the books she read, victims would spasm in agony as their souls were pried open, and by the end, they'd be reduced to nothing but an idiot!

"No no no no!" Mei stammered. "We're a virtuous sect, right? Y-you can't do this!"

Yang Fei waved his hands in a hurry.

"Calm down, calm down!" he said.

But Mei backed away slowly, her face pale.

Xiao Mei began to snicker.

What!

Mei's frightened face turned confused, then furious. They were both the same person and about to be soulsearched, so why would Xiao Mei take joy in her misfortune at this moment?

Wait! Could it be?

A horrible thought suddenly entered her mind. She imagined a scene...

———

"AHHHH!" Mei cried out.

"Hahahah!" Qiao Shun laughed evilly. "We now have all the info we need!"

Mei crumpled to the ground in a heap. Smoke billowed out of her ears, her eyes crossed and her mouth drooling uncontrollably.

"Urgh... 1 + 1 = 4. I so dumb now, urgh..." she groaned.

Xiao Mei laughed.

"Haha! This body is mine now!" she said.

"Ahhh! I too stupid to do anything about this!" Mei cried.

Qiao Shun laughed as Xiao Mei snatched the body with ease.

"Hahaha! With Xiao Mei around, no one will know what we did to the original Mei!"

"All according to plan." Xiao Mei said.

The two of them shook hands, their evil laughter filling the hall.

———

Xiao Mei! That bastard!

She pretended to be nice and said she'd be fine with a wooden puppet body, but this was her goal all along!

But Mei froze as a brilliant idea entered her mind.

"Wait!" she yelled. "Xiao Mei has a copy of my memories too, right? You don't have to search me, you can search her instead!"

Xiao Mei spluttered.

"Hey! What in the world are you thinking?" she yelled.

"I know what you're thinking! You want me to become dumb so you can take over my body!" Mei yelled back.

"What?!" Xiao Mei yelled even louder.

At that moment, Yang Fei suddenly slapped his hands together. The loud clap echoed through the halls, Mei and Xiao Mei halting their argument.

"You're overthinking it! As you said, we're a virtuous sect, so we won't harm you!" Yang Fei said.

"R-really?" Mei sniffed.

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"Hah... if we used a demonic art intentionally, all the good karma we've accumulated for centuries would be lost in an instant." Yang Fei sighed.

He reached to his chest and suddenly pulled out a strange white stone that glowed with a mysterious light tinged with rainbow specks.

A heaven stone? Mei had seen one during the ceremony where she and the other disciples broke into the Foundational stage, but she wasn't sure what they were used for exactly.

"I swear a Heaven Oath! The soulsearching technique I used will not harm you in any way, nor will it divulge information you do not wish to reveal!"

The stone suddenly glowed with a golden light that washed through the halls, illuminating the dark halls with boundless gold.

Mei was stunned. This aura... why did it seem familiar? Somehow, it reminded her of her inner demon that took the form of her grandma. The last time she met it, she pulled at some kind of weird thread and the inner demon fled, claiming it was just some kind of playful spirit.

That was really weird... She still had no explanation for that event.

At the same time, a strange feeling entered her soul. It was as if a higher force above was watching over them and overlooking the deal. She tried to resist, but her skepticism faded and was replaced by belief.

Ah! Why was she so worried? Mei relaxed. What Yang Fei said was definitely true!

Xiao Mei looked up in dismay. Uwa, creepy...

"Also I'll give you 1000 jade." Yang Fei said.

"1000 JADE?!" Mei gasped.

No way! That was like... maybe 100 days of chopping vegetables for the octopus chef Hai Huang? And recently she got scammed by the stupid beggar Bagai buying a useless painting at Baiwan, so she needed to refill her pockets quickly!

"Okay, I'll do it!" Mei said excitedly.

Qiao Shun's eyes stared at her with utter disdain and contempt, as if he was looking at a cockroach. But Mei ignored him.

"Alright, alright." Yang Fei sighed.

He reached into his bag and took over a white orb, pressing it against Mei's forehead. It was cool to the touch and surprisingly comfortable.

"Close your eyes and focus on the memory. The orb will try to draw the memory and imagery from your mind, so try to cooperate and don't resist."

It was that simple? Tsk... why'd he have to say something as misleading as "soulsearching" then?

But she wasn't going to complain because she was getting a free 1000 jade out of the misunderstanding. Heheh.

Mei shut her eyes and did as he said, thinking back on the memory. Invisible tendrils from the orb seemed to reach into her mind and helped her search. Huh... this thing could also help people remember things?

Slowly, the memory surfaced.

It was a vision of the sect master bending down and coughing out black blood, but it was blurry and indistinct. It seemed her memory of that event had somewhat faded.

But the orb reached further into her mind and dug up more memories. It was as if her memory had threads that connected to yet more memories, and the orb was pulling them out of the clouded waters of her mind.

Such a strange feeling! The memory grew clearer and clearer before her eyes, and every detail was restored!

The sect master coughed violently, the grotesque sound of his vomiting echoing. The splat of the black blood hitting the ground, the exact movements of the tendrils that writhed out of it, the way the sect master heaved painfully and clutched his chest...

It was as if she was seeing the sight before her eyes once more.

But Mei suddenly returned to the real world as Yang Fei pulled the orb away. Ah... it was almost a shame. Being able to recall a memory in such perfect detail was so comfortable...

Ah! What was she thinking? Shouldn't the sight of the sect master in such pain be unnerving?

Mei's eyes turned to the orb and a faint longing entered her eyes. If she had it, she could relive much more pleasant memories with it so easily. She could probably even recall the lessons the sect master gave that she was only half paying attention to! Studying would be such a breeze, she could quickly flip through the book in a minute then retrieve the memory easily!

Yang Fei shook his head.

While the soulsearching orb was technically harmless, it was also dangerously addictive. If left in careless hands, the person might choose to shut themselves off and only relieve the most pleasant of their memories endlessly in perfect detail, as if trapped in an illusionary world.

"Let's review the memory," he said.

Yang Fei and Qiao Shun touched the orb with their foreheads at the same time. They closed their eyes as they viewed the stored memory together.

Mei gasped.

What... in that pose, they looked like they were about to kiss!

She snickered quietly with her hand over her mouth. If she had a recording artefact of sorts, she would definitely take a photo. Such a shame...

A few moments later, Yang Fei and Qiao Shun separated with darkened eyes.

"It's true..." Qiao Shun said.

Yang Fei's face was grim.

"I didn't want to believe it... but it really is a sign of demonic qi."

"Tsk. That stupid old bastard." Qiao Shun cursed under his breath. "A demonic cultivator must have coerced him somehow!"

"It shouldn't be possible. For the last thousand years, he remained in the sect and would only visit lower worlds for recruitment occasionally." he mused. "Who could be strong enough to force the sect master into such a state?"

Mei backed away awkwardly as they discussed urgently.

She looked down to the ground, ashamed of herself. Such an urgent and terrible matter was happening, but she was laughing about two elders looking gay...