Chapter 129: Listening to the Strings, Questioning the Spirits

In the recording, Ji Minghuai shed his usual icy demeanor, his expression filled with an unusual gentleness and affection when facing his wife.

"What are you saying, Brother Huai? I'm telling you, Ji Minghuai, don't even think about leaving me behind to go alone." She had already sensed the danger in the situation before them.

Deep down, she knew that this journey might be a one-way trip, yet she was willing to accompany him. Perhaps they were just overthinking it.

Just then, a beast tide surged toward their location. Strangely, as the beasts neared them, they stopped in their tracks; the spiritual beasts, which had seemed to lose their minds, suddenly regained their senses. As they tried to turn back, they discovered a barrier blocking their path. Under the pressure of spiritual attacks, a massive blood array materialized, enveloping all the beasts.

Ji Minghuai and Qi Yanwei both stood up. Gazing at the array right before them, Qi Yanwei looked at Ji Minghuai. "The Kuimie Great Array!"

The beasts trapped within the array were affected by its power, one after another appearing to lose their spiritual energy, rendered completely immobile. Distant cries for help echoed; through the recording, Ji Jiuxuan and the others saw several people trapped in the same array.

Ji Minghuai and Qi Yanwei had initially intended to leave, but their mission jade tokens began to light up, flashing incessantly.

"Brother Huai?" Qi Yanwei wanted to pull Ji Minghuai away. She was selfish; there were children waiting for her at home, and she wanted her husband to live. This place filled her with deep unease.

"It’s alright. I can break this formation. Once it’s broken, the mission will be complete. A-Wei, wait for me on the side." Ji Minghuai felt a faint premonition. So many cultivators had sacrificed themselves here, and since the mission had been assigned to him, he could not hide. If he retreated, the task would likely fall to his junior brother. This matter had to be brought to an end.

He split his spiritual energy into five strands, striking out in five directions. His hand seals moved with mysterious speed, sending ripples of spiritual energy toward the formation. With a loud boom, the array vanished, but in that same instant, another array surged into the air. Ji Minghuai rushed toward Qi Yanwei, only to find the massive blood-colored array instantly encasing them both. Other cultivators recognized Ji Minghuai and rushed toward them in delight, but after only a few steps, they all vanished on the spot.

The power of the array intensified, and the five Kuimie formations reappeared. This time, the spiritual beasts within were also inevitably swept away. Qi Yanwei acted as a guardian for Ji Minghuai, attempting to break the formation. Though both possessed formidable spiritual power, under the influence of the ancient dual arrays, they were unable to break free and ultimately vanished just like the others.

The sound of the zither ceased, and the image cut off. The five spirit cores disappeared without a trace.

Silence filled the room. Initially, they had paid little attention to the human remains in the deep pit, but now, the realization left them speechless. Ji Jiuxuan refused to believe they were dead; the life-soul tablets in the Ancestral Pavilion were still intact. If they had perished, those tablets would have gone dark long ago.

Refusing to give up, she pulled out the recording stone and played the scene again. This time, Ji Jiuxuan pointed to the white light surrounding her parents. "Look, isn't this different? There is white light on Mother and Father."

"Spatial teleportation!" At that moment, both Nie Xingyuan and Min Chengjun noticed the anomaly.

"So, Father and Mother were teleported somewhere else, we just don't know where, right?" Though she didn't voice it, over the years, her growing longing for family and her attachment to them had made her increasingly worried about her parents. The cold, hardened heart she had in her previous life had become softer.

"Don't worry, A-Jiu. Senior Brother and his wife are not dead; they have been transported elsewhere." Min Chengjun walked over, crouched down, and said with great sincerity. He had never stopped investigating. Other intelligence suggested they were indeed trapped somewhere, but why those people kept trying to abduct A-Jiu remained a mystery. One thing was certain: there was a reason they wouldn't give up on A-Jiu. She had to be protected. If she remained safe, perhaps her parents would be more secure.

"I will send more people to investigate." Min Chengjun pondered, then sent out several orders via his communication jade token.

"Thank you, Junior Uncle." Ji Jiuxuan felt a bit more settled.

Inside the void of the ring, the phantom shadow spoke to Long Xuan with a grave expression. "So the enemy is not dead, and it might be related to the disappearance of A-Jiu's parents?"

Long Xuan nodded. "My senses confirm as much." His memories were incomplete, but the fragments he held told him this even involved A-Jiu. "There is a possibility they sensed A-Jiu's trail through her parents and are trying to take her." After a silence, he added, "Another possibility is that Ji Minghuai and his wife were too difficult to handle, and this person has been bored for too long and grown interested. They might want to capture A-Jiu as a hostage."

The latter was not entirely impossible. Though he didn't recall the specifics of the enemy, he remembered the temperament. The phantom shivered. "What is the strength of the one in your memories?" He had intended to lurk by A-Jiu's side to protect her, never expecting such complications.

"We must recover all the soul fragments, otherwise it will be as difficult as ascending to heaven. But one thing is certain: when you and I fell and our souls were shattered, that person didn't fare much better. So, we cannot be certain of their current state." It was a miracle they had survived; he never imagined that enemy was still alive.

Because the matter involved Ji Minghuai and Qi Yanwei, Min Chengjun and the others remained uneasy. Meng Jiao stayed behind to guard Ji Jiuxuan, while Min Chengjun, Nie Xingyuan, and Yao Zhaoxi returned to the Qiuying Ancient Forest.

The major incident here had drawn much attention; in a short time, many from other sects had arrived. When Min Chengjun and his companions arrived, the crowd parted to let them through. Without exchanging pleasantries, Min Chengjun and Nie Xingyuan established a defensive perimeter and set up a spirit-replenishment formation, with Yao Zhaoxi standing at the center.

Fairy Yao of the Xuantian Sect was widely renowned. Upon seeing this formation, the crowd went silent, not daring to disturb them. Perhaps because the death energy was so dense and the remains so numerous, the moment the zither music began, the surroundings darkened as if it were midnight. When using the "Listening to Strings to Question Spirits" technique, if there were too many spirits, the environment would manifest in such a way.

Points of green fluorescent light slowly emerged from the pit, and the skeletal remains began to take on the appearance of the people they were in life. The cultivators from other sects watching from the side recognized the attire of their own sect members; some who recognized the fallen could not help but burst into tears. Some rushed over to collect the remains into ash urns, documenting everything with recording stones.

By the end, every single skeleton in the deep pit had been checked, and none belonged to Ji Minghuai or Qi Yanwei. Instead, they discovered several remains of Xuantian Sect disciples who had been missing since they fell years ago.