Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 150 - 137: The Big Fish on the Hook (Part 2)

Chapter 150: Chapter 137: The Big Fish on the Hook (Part 2)

"But now she’s been captured and brought into Suiyu Mountain. If her familial clan has been keeping an eye on her, they should soon find this nearly half-public news..."

Zhang Yao thought about this, and couldn’t help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

With Hu Weiwei as this crucial bargaining chip in his hand, he could calmly sit in his fishing spot, waiting for her backing demon cultivation clan to come knocking.

With his current strength, late stage Foundation Establishment is enough for a head-on fight, and with more than a few trump cards, he naturally has ample confidence.

Soon, Zhang Yao left this shack and stealthily infiltrated underground, headed to another Taibai Pure Gold mine district.

Upon arriving at another resting area, after interrogation and verifying intelligence from Sun Qian and several other demon cultivators, Zhang Yao felt much more at ease.

"Right, there’s also that peculiar lad..."

As he was about to leave, Zhang Yao suddenly recalled the scene he witnessed during the day and felt intrigued.

"When things are abnormal, there must be a reason. Better go have a look."

With this thought, he once again used the Mountain-Penetrating Earth-Digging Skill, returned to the resting area of the Black Jade Mine District, and came to that particular shack.

Silently and invisibly:

The Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light emerged once again, this time Zhang Yao targeted Wu Silei, who was sleeping next to Hu Weiwei, and again used the "Soul Capturing and Thought Extraction Technique."

"During the day, why were the fellow male cultivators in the shack afraid of you?"

Zhang Yao directly approached the subject, asking the question he was most concerned about as he looked at Wu Silei’s blank and dazed expression.

Unexpectedly, a technique that had always worked like a charm encountered an anomaly this time—

"Heh heh..."

Wu Silei rolled his eyes and emitted a dying gasp-like sound, with explosive aura gathering in his mind.

"Not good!"

Zhang Yao’s face changed instantly, realizing the situation, he swiftly placed a palm on Wu Silei’s head, with a forest-white glimmer flowing like turbulent waters.

Under the fully powered Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light by Zhang Yao, the explosive aura in Wu Silei’s mind struggled a few times before being suppressed, and the lad slumped back onto the straw.

"Divine Soul Magic Ban..."

Zhang Yao slowly withdrew his palm, his brows tightly furrowed.

Being able to cast a Divine Soul Magic Ban at least requires a Foundation Establishment master proficient in Divine Soul Dao Skill, and usually aims to protect some kind of secret.

This indicates that his earlier question had already touched upon the critical secret protected by the ban. With Wu Silei losing consciousness, the ban automatically judged that he couldn’t keep the secret and would self-destruct his divine soul on the spot.

If Zhang Yao hadn’t reacted quickly and used the Desolate Soul-shaking Divine Light to suppress it, it might have already alarmed the Foundation Establishment master behind it.

"Behind these miner slaves, there actually is a Foundation Establishment master..."

Zhang Yao squinted his eyes, thoughts flickering rapidly:

"Who might it be? An enemy of the Haihe Association? External tomb raiders? Or tribulation cultivators trying to steal ores?"

The likelihood of the Haihe Association’s enemy is small since they wouldn’t stoop to such low methods.

As for tribulation cultivators stealing ores, ever since the reform to yearly sending, they haven’t appeared for many years; comprehensively considered, external tomb raiders are the most possible.

"Unexpectedly, there’s an incidental gain, catching two big fish at once."

Zhang Yao raised his head, his gaze sweeping around the shack.

Those few male cultivators in the day were fearful and apprehensive of this young man, which should be related to the secret behind him, indicating that the informed individuals are not limited to a few miner slaves.

"Truly skillful, able to evade numerous overseers and supervisors, secretly connecting them." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Heh... and rightfully so, I consecutively canceled their down-mine period for more than half a month, giving them this opportunity..."

Zhang Yao shook his head, thinking to himself:

"It seems I need to closely monitor the activities in the Black Jade Mine District for the upcoming period."

"Moreover, within those overseers, there might be hidden traitors, and even the two supervisors, Lao Zhou and Old Chen, could have issues!"

Sitting in Suiyu Mountain enjoying privileged treatment comes with the greatest responsibility.

Under normal circumstances: he only needs to ensure mine district production. However, if there’s large-scale rioting, casualties, or severe damage to the veins, he would still be held accountable.

To prevent such situations, he must closely monitor from now on and take action at critical moments.

"This is really interesting..."

Zhang Yao glanced deeply at Wu Silei and Hu Weiwei, then turned to leave silently, a cold glimmer flickering in his eyes:

"I want to see who’s behind this, daring to act recklessly in the presence of the mighty!"

......

More than a month swiftly passed.

Since detecting the potential conspiracy of collusion, Zhang Yao had been patrolling secretly, gradually obtaining various clues.

However, he did not act rashly nor did he inform anyone of this discovery. Instead, while investigating several major supervisors, he discreetly set hidden arrays in key locations in advance.

On this day:

At the edge of the Black Jade Mine District, thick white fog covered dozens of feet, inside which lay thousands of miner slaves.

"No, don’t..."

Hu Weiwei murmured unconsciously, revealing sharp little claws, her body continuously twisting as if resisting something.

"Hahaha..."

Not far from her lay Wu Silei, who let out a joyful laugh, seemingly lost in a pleasant dream.

Zhang Yao stood with his hands behind his back, his divine thought observing the scenes within the white mist, watching the reactions of these people.

"Buzz!"

Moments later, the Soul Thought Bead buzzed and trembled, as large clouds of white mist converged into it. A flash of radiance appeared and fell into Zhang Yao’s hand.

"The Soul Thought Aura is almost completely collected."

Zhang Yao observed for a while, noticing streams of aurora in the Soul Thought Bead, almost filling the entire bead with only a trace of void left.

"At most, another session tomorrow, then the work for collecting Soul Thought Aura can be announced as completed."

Zhang Yao collected the Soul Thought Bead without showing any change in expression, issued a few usual instructions, and then rode the Escape Light straight away.

Upon returning to his cave dwelling:

"Hmm..."

Zhang Yao sat behind his desk, took out the Soul Thought Bead, and examined it carefully without speaking.

After nearly two months of observation and exploration, he had basically understood the technique for creating the Soul Thought Bead, though with his current artifact refining level, he couldn’t replicate it.

Moreover, he discovered something even more interesting:

"The Soul Thought Aura collected through the Soul Thought Bead, as I speculated, is filled with strong emotional stimuli which can be artificially guided and refined."

"However, my Soul Thought Bead can’t achieve this, probably only the ’Main Bead’s’ controller could..."

Upon thinking about it, he immediately came to a judgment in his mind.

Since the Soul Thought Bead has this function, it definitely harbors some concealed purpose.

Zhang Yao guessed this Soul Thought Aura might be one of the keys wielded by Celestial Treasure Tower or the Four Major Golden Core Powers to control the ’Realm Breaker.’

From the cultivation technique’s inception, gradually imposing influence and infiltration. This process continues until the injection of ’Soul Thought Aura,’ perhaps only then the great success is achieved.

"Seems like for my future cultivation needs of Soul Thought Aura, I’ll have to find ways to gather it entirely by myself!"

Zhang Yao resolved within himself, warning himself:

"This matter is life-critical, and absolutely should not fall into others’ hands."

Constructing the ’Array of Ten Thousand Souls’ Thoughts’ requires an enormous amount of Soul Thought Aura.

Collecting from Qi Refining Cultivators would require tens of thousands of Qi Refiners; if the target turns to ordinary people, it demands more than a million, and the time consumed is immeasurable.

Zhang Yao’s initial thought was to gather part himself, the rest through rewards and purchases, acquiring from some evil cultivators.

But now it seems, this thought evidently won’t work. Anything associated with the divine soul might hide vicious and treacherous traps, so doing it personally is the safest option.

"Hmm?"

At this moment, Zhang Yao seemed to sense something, furrowing his brows, a cold smile surfaced in his mind:

"Quite bold!"

"Relying on cultivation a layer higher than mine, daring to probe with divine thought in broad daylight!"