Meanwhile in Yang Qing's courtyard
Yang Qing's eyes had turned pure white like the moon and it wasn't only his eyes, his whole body including his hair turned pure white. It seemed like his whole being and even demeanor had transformed into a celestial body more specifically the moon.
There was a tranquil yet solitary sense to him. Some of the people present like the judges and the inquisitors were not surprised to see him in this state as they had seen that form on him more than once.
However, Cao Ying and his friends felt their minds go into a gentle blankness almost as if they were hypnotized. Bolin and Haishi were not doing any better either as they seemed a bit dazed too though theirs was a little bit less severe compared to Cao Ying and his fellow institute friends.
About a minute later Yang Qing's look went back to normal and with it, the effects that came along with his prior look disappeared.
"Sorry about that," said Yang Qing to Cao Ying and the rest once he noticed their puzzled looks after they had come off their dazed stupor.
They only remembered Yang Qing's hair color start to transform from his usual green into a pure white color. After that their minds went blank. Bolin and Haishi's minds went blank a few moments after that when Yang Qing's eyes turned into two moons.
Bolin couldn't help but reevaluate this new boss of his, the same applied to Haishi too. From their earlier experience in the green fog swamp, Feng Xin was the scariest cultivator they met so even amongst the crowd they feared and revered Feng Xin more than the rest. For one it was because everyone present had restrained the auras that accompanied their cultivation realm for obvious reasons and the other was because Haishi and Bolin were too weak to even sense their cultivation realm.
It was hard to fear something unknown at the same level as a fear you know, a very real threat that you have personally experienced.
This was what happened to Bolin and Haishi. Even if they knew Yang Qing was Feng Xin's boss, to them Feng Xin seemed much scarier as they had experienced a part of his abilities whereas Yang Qing seemed like a happy-go-lucky goofy boss.
However, they now had to reevaluate this boss of theirs with a lot of wariness attached to it meanwhile Cao Ying and his fellow students had completely different reactions as they looked at Yang Qing with shining eyes that were filled with awe which made Yang Qing feel rather embarrassed as he rubbed his nose.
Mao Yunru and the rest of his inquisitors threw a questioning look toward him almost as if asking what had happened.
"There was a loose end pending on the first case. Now it can be considered officially closed. I was right about the sect master. He really was the mastermind behind the whole plan while Peng Zhen was just the executor," said Yang Qing as he smiled clearly pleased with himself.
"Excuse me for a bit I need to give a heads up to the review committee," said Yang Qing as he fished out a communication talisman from his storage ring and called the review committee.
They were the ones in charge of following up on the sentences the Judges made on their cases. Its supervision, implementation, and enforcement fell under their purview.
...
A special location within the main headquarters of the cultivation order society
"STOOOOOOOOOP!!! STOP I WILL TALK," said a young man with deep red hair who was currently kneeling as he was bound to the floor of the room with white golden chains that had sickles penetrating the young man's body.
His body kept producing black smoke almost as if something was being cleansed from him. The whole room was radiant white almost without embellishment.
"Stop it!!! I said I will talk...I will tell you everything about the scarlet blood ghost hands," the young man with the red hair hurriedly pleaded as he saw one of the three old men surrounding him raise his palm with a kind smiling gesture on his face.
This young man was none other than Dong Yanlin who had earlier pretended to be a rogue cultivator so he could infiltrate the green fog swamp sect with the intention of stealing the tupelo tree. However, his plan backfired when he ended up with his body decimated by one of the talismans Feng Xin had unleashed to track Peng Zhen and the rest.
But here he was with a fully formed body, unlike the bloody blob he was a few hours ago in the courtroom when he had parasitized Peng Zhen.
However, he was the farthest thing from being exhilarated on having his body reformed. All this was because of the three old men surrounding him. They all seemed different ; one was short and rotund with bird-like eyes like an owl's, the other was middle height with a careless and slovenly appearance as his hair and beard were all over and messy with wrinkled robes however despite all that he had an otherworldly charm that made the clumsy appearance seem perfect. The last one was thin, tall, and had his eyes closed. There was a white lotus flower symbol on his forehead that kept spinning almost like cleansing everything around.
Though those old men seemed vastly different from each other they had one thing in common which was the robes they wore. They had pure red robes with the words, special inquisition etched on the back.
They were seated in futon cushions as they surrounded Dong Yanlin.
When Dong Yanlin got transported here it was the short rotund owl-eyed old man who reformed his body with a wave of his hand, a few complex seals, and a few herbs he had never seen before being added to the mix.
It took only three hours before his body was fully reformed by that old man. However, his celebration of having a body was cut short when he was asked to inform on his organization. His placing in the organization, their branches, other known parties they were known to be in cahoots with, whether his attack on the green fog swamp sect was a planned move from the scarlet blood ghost hands or was he acting alone, who his backer was seeing how many treasures he had on him for a core formation expert.
Of course, Dong Yanlin wouldn't be a proper member of an underground organization if he willingly divulged that information without first mocking his captors endlessly and with tonnes of creativity and flair at that, denying all knowledge of what scarlet blood ghost hands even is and also last but not least hypothetically threaten them using the weight of scarlet blood ghost hands that he was definitely not a member of and how they would give the three old men the most painful of deaths if they even touched a hair of his despite not being a member of the scarlet blood ghost hands.
Two of the three old men only kindly smiled at this, almost as if enjoying a play from their favorite grandchild. They even clapped a few times at Dong Yanlin's creativity on how their deaths would be. It was only when Dong Yanlin was fully done did the last sleeping old man finally act. He sleepily flicked his forehead and chains got produced from the floor deeply entrenching themselves into his body.
The chains seemed intangible and benign as they had a gentle healing feel to them but the moment they made contact with Dong Yanlin's body it was like magma had been poured on him. The pain was not only on his body but his soul too.
He had been enduring that torture for almost two hours now. He broke ten minutes after the chains pierced him but for some reason, it seemed like his voice had been sealed no matter how much he tried to yell he was turning traitor. It was only now that he could finally speak.
"Who would have thought such a young child would have so many innocents death on him? The scarlet blood ghost hands sure know how to nurture their young.
Kid, those chains you see before you would have no effect on someone who hasn't slaughtered the innocent but to someone who seems like they have slaughtered women, children the old alike it has a torturous effect like what you are enduring now.
This is the chains of retribution and remorse. The stench of grievance and slaughter on you must have ruined Mo Ye's sleep for him to choose to act against a little core expert like yourself mister Dong Yanlin.
Forgive me I even forgot to introduce myself. As the host, it is rather unbecoming of me.
Hi, my name is Feng Lei, to my left is Xu Ling, and to my right, the person currently asleep and the one currently giving you a good clean bath is Mo Ye.
We are special inquisitors. Our job is to seek information on special organizations just like yours so we will be in your care from now on. Do be as detailed as you can. Mo Ye if you would, please," gently said Feng Lei the slovenly dressed old man.
Mo Ye the sleeping old man waved his hands and the white gold chains disappeared as the spinning white lotus on his forehead came to a stop.
Dong Yanlin fell onto the floor like a wooden log as partial relief washed over him though he still felt like he was still being mildly burned.
"Now we can continue but before that, I need to take care of the pesky seal. You scarlet blood ghost hands members sure are ruthless even to your own members," said Feng Lei as he pointed his right index hand towards Dong Yanlin's forehead.
Dong Yanlin flinched but the expected pain he expected to find was not there. All he heard was a clanking sound from his mental sea like something had been shattered.
Unbeknown to him there was a blood seal on his forehead that had appeared and cracked like shattered glass a millisecond after it appeared.
"Now Dong Yanlin we can start," Feng Lei joyfully said as a kettle of ginseng tea and biscuits appeared in front of him.
...
Inside a dark cave filled with red glyphs all over, and floating grey candles was a man in his late thirties with a half-man bun ponytail and scarlet red robes that they may have well been robes made of blood. He was currently missing an arm.
"I can't believe I got injured just from talismans, what if the owner had been there…" the man couldn't help but sigh.
He was currently sitting in a lotus position as he stared complicatedly at a small black pool in front of him. He seemed to have resolved himself as he made a few hand seals that were absorbed by the ghostly floating candles which later plunged themselves into the black pool forming a complicated circular script that had an eerie green glow to them.
"Gui'er what is it? Does it have anything to do with why my spiritual mark on the Ao Yin saber was severed?" an elderly voice sounded from the black pool as it congealed to form an old man's face. His features were not visible with only a general outline of the face forming in the black sludgy pool. It was slender with a long slom beard that narrowed downards like a cone.
"Master this unfilial disciple regrets to inform you that Dong Yanlin is missing and your Ao Yin saber too," the man called Gui hurriedly knelt and bowed his head that it touched the floor as he addressed the face in the black blob. His shoulders were faintly trembling.
"What happened?" the elderly voice calmly asked.
The calmer the voice sounded the more fearful the man called Gui seemed.
"I think Dong Yanlin got captured by the Order along with your saber. I tried to recover both him and the saber but I was too weak. I ended up having to escape before reinforcements could arrive. Please punish this disciple for his uselessness," said Gui as he further lowered his head that it even created a small round caving on the ground.
"I was wondering who was strong enough to take your arm? So the Order is involved?
What was Yanlin involved in to draw the attention of the Order?" asked the elderly man.
"I'm not quite sure as he was very secretive about it, all I know is what he was involved in had something to do with the green fog region. I did manage to see a couple of individuals with the inquisitor I was chasing after. They seem to belong to some sect with a tupelo tree symbol. If my guess is not wrong whatever Dong Yanlin was involved in had something to do with them.
I can stay and find out more master," said Gui.
"No need. With Dong Yanlin in their custody, you have to assume they know about you already and the hideouts you are currently using. The Order seems to have found a way of cracking the self-implosion seals we place on every member's mental sea for secrecy based on how many branches and members fell to their hands in the past few years.
Luckily that silly boy doesn't know much. It's a shame, he was a promising child.
Gui'er you will need to cease all activity and lay low to safeguard your other identity. We spent a lot of effort creating it. Go resume your post and forget about all other matters. You are to refrain from having contact with any known blood ghost hand member with the only exception being your senior sister. She will be your only point person to us from now on. All pertinent information will be relayed to you via her and vice versa.
As for the matter concerning Dong Yanlin, we will leave it be for now. The Order will definitely be on high alert on any matter concerning our organization. We are not in a position to engage with them at the moment but that eyesore may not be around for very long.
A repeat of the myriad beasts sect isn't that far off hehehehe," the elderly man chuckled as his image disappeared.
Gui's back flinched at that ending statement. He waited till almost five minutes had elapsed before he finally got up.
"I guess it's time I went back to my sect," said Gui as his body dissolved into a puddle and reformed once more into a middle age man's body with a slim build and stern face.
The same half-man bun ponytail was still retained however a part of his hairline had white strands adding a mature charm to it. His swords which were red along with the black scabbard with scarlet clouds transformed into a sky blue scabbard with the sword guards transforming into feather-like grips. His scarlet robes were now sky blue with white cloud patterns around it with a small feather symbol in the middle.
He removed a token from his storage ring. It looked like a feather sword with the name Ai engraved on it. He put it in his pocket before he used one of his dual swords as a flying sword and flew out of the cave.
Once he was a few meters away the cave dissolved into a black puddle that then evaporated away. All that was left was bare land that smelt a little rotten.
