Chapter 776: Taiyin

“Protector-in-Chief! I’ve done all I can. What comes next must be handled by the army’s sorcerers or priests!”

The coroner continued examining the corpse of the western barbarian, especially lifting the eyelids to check the whites of the eyes: “This man’s soul must have already scattered at the moment of death. Even with secret techniques, it would be difficult to make him reveal any information…”

“Hmm, let Master Yin take over!”

The Protector of Feng stepped back, and from behind him emerged an old man dressed in a black robe with dark skin, resembling a skeleton.

“Yellow Swamp and Netherworld, heed my command, O soul, return…”

Although Master Yin appeared frail enough to be blown over by a gust of wind, he now gave Zhuo Tie an eerie and sinister feeling. As he listened to the strange incantation chanted in an unusual tone and felt the morgue immediately turn chilly and windy, Zhuo Tie shivered involuntarily, suddenly realizing something and beginning to tremble all over.

The reason was that the figure standing before Zhuo Tie, Master Yin, was actually a “Grand Yin Priest”!

What exactly is a Grand Yin Priest? Simply put, they are similar to Western necromancers!

Of course, they are somewhat more reputable than their Western counterparts. It is said they have been blessed by the supreme god of darkness. Although they can employ various methods to control the undead, they still maintain a certain level of restraint and continue to shoulder the original responsibility of protecting souls, thereby avoiding the disgraceful fate suffered by their Western counterparts.

The technique Master Yin was currently employing was no ordinary soul-soothing spell, but rather the legendary soul-binding technique!

A secret skill said to be capable of stealing souls from anywhere, as long as the soul has not reincarnated or completely perished.

Because of this unique skill, Grand Yin Priests and necromancers were once uniformly opposed by all deities. If this skill were to be widely developed, they could eventually transform into “Soul Thieves”—a kind of evil demon specialized in stealing souls from divine realms and the underworld!

Woo woo!

The chilling wind blew, and faint ghostly wails could be heard.

Zhuo Tie involuntarily shivered, watching the corpses that seemed about to come alive at any moment, holding his breath.

These Grand Yin Priests could not only capture souls but also forcefully gather residual soul fragments from the target’s body even if the target’s body and soul were completely destroyed, thereby extracting the desired information.

“Spit!”

However, in the next moment, Master Yin’s expression suddenly changed drastically.

A thick black mist emerged from the corpse, taking the form of a black snake, directly lunging at him.

Hiss! Bang!

With a flash of dark color, several guards had already rushed in front of the Feng Protector, firmly shielding him.

“I am fine!”

The Feng Protector waved his hand: “Master Yin?”

“Lord, not only has this man’s soul scattered, but someone has tampered with his body as well. There is no residual soul essence left, and there was even a countermeasure…”

Master Yin clasped his hands in salute, though his current condition was clearly far from good.

Not only was his chest stained with blood, but his eye sockets had turned into bloody holes.

“This… Quickly summon the best healer!”

Zhuo Tie, seeing Master Yin’s condition after being bitten by the black snake, spoke with a trembling voice.

“No need!”

Although Master Yin had lost his eyes, he now laughed heartily: “Years ago, my Lord saved my life. I decided then to sacrifice my eyes in return. I never expected it would come to this. I have failed you, my Lord, and today I must bid you farewell!”

Saying this, he walked straight out the door, ignoring everyone else.

Although he had gone blind, he seemed to see even more clearly than an ordinary person, and his figure disappeared into the night.

“If even Master Yin is powerless…”

The Feng Protector did not stop him but sighed deeply: “It seems this incident must involve a prince, and even one who governs the dead…”

“A prince? A true god?”

Zhuo Tie’s eyes widened, feeling his head swell with confusion.

Any matter that involved deities immediately became a hundred times more complicated.

“Where is the cultivator who completed the mission?”

The Feng Protector suddenly asked.

“Oh, I remember, I remember! This mission was completed by a newly formed small team, consisting of only two members—one is a local resident, a student from the Huaxia Academy, and the other is a foreign mercenary.”

Zhuo Tie hurriedly replied.

“Huaxia Academy?”

The Feng Protector shook his head: “Even if the academy’s master came personally, it might not be easy to capture these people unscathed… What about the foreign mercenary? What is his name? Do we have detailed records?”

“This…”

Zhuo Tie’s face immediately showed hesitation.

After all, the daily influx and outflow of people in the New Territory Port was enormous. As long as they did not leave the port or stay for long, they generally left little detailed information.

“We only know the gentleman’s name is ‘Wu Ming.’ He seems to be extremely interested in books and archives. I have already given him a New Territory Jade Pendant…”

“You gave him a jade pendant? Very well!”

The Feng Protector nodded, a glint of sharpness flashing in his eyes.

…

At the same time, inside the Federation’s archives room.

It was a huge library-like space. The walls were thick, the windows small, and the air was stuffy. The indoor lighting was dim; even during the day, one had to read by candlelight or oil lamps.

Wu Ming sat before a large desk, surrounded by various scrolls and documents.

Those he had already read were placed aside, forming a thick pile like a mountain of books.

“So it turns out… the Great Chang Empire is not native to this world either… Or rather, this world itself is made up of many elevated continental fragments pieced together?”

Wu Ming put down the book and sighed. The current world was filled with various inexplicable rules.

“Even the coordinates of the original Sear world have changed…”

The universe contains worlds, and worlds contain continents.

The Sear universe had already been strange enough, containing only one Sear world and one Sear continent.

But this world seemed to be composed of numerous elevated continental maps pieced together! It was only one world but transcended the previous cosmic form.

“Or could it be… that after the universe’s elevation, it reaches this level?”

Wu Ming thought quickly.

He had a premonition that this world might exist in a higher dimension and be much closer to eternity!

“According to historical records, the Great Chang Empire was originally just a native dynasty in a lower realm. Later, through a stroke of luck, the world was elevated, and even the dynasty’s founding emperor gained sufficient benefits to become a true god!”

“Then came the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries. Western nations, the wilderness territories, and more civilized nations were discovered one by one, as if emerging from the void…”

“In reality, it wasn’t that they ‘discovered’ these nations, but that the entire Great Chang Empire had already merged into the new world, just like the current Sear continent. Although a leap had occurred, the lowest-level farmers and peasants were completely unaware…”

Wu Ming mused: “Actually, that founding emperor of Great Chang should have become the Celestial Emperor. And because the ceiling of this world is very high, he gained sufficient resources to make a breakthrough…”

The status of the Celestial Emperor would not exceed level seven, as limited by the world.

The path of the Great Immortal was to transcend the world!

But in this higher-dimensional world, some common sense had clearly been broken.

Of course, whether this current world could truly be called a “world” was still uncertain in Wu Ming’s mind.

“Although the Eight Principal Deities have no clear forms, it is commonly believed among the people that after the Great Chang Emperor’s breakthrough, he completely abandoned his personality, merging his divinity with the mysterious cosmic rules, becoming the embodiment of the Celestial Deity…”

Wu Ming shook his head: “To extinguish one’s humanity like that, even if one achieves the status of a Great Immortal, what joy could there be?”

Compared to ordinary true gods, the Eight Principal Deities represented certain cosmic principles, the product of highly concentrated rules, and did not require faith to sustain their power, seemingly carefree and free.

However, once one becomes such an existence, one almost completely loses basic humanity. Even if the opportunity were right in front of him, Wu Ming would not choose this path.

“Still, their path to becoming Great Immortals is worth learning from!”

Wu Ming mused, then looked at a black ring on his hand.

The ouroboros statue was lifelike, with every scale clearly visible.

“I’ve already checked all the religious texts from both East and West, and none mention the worship or totem of the ouroboros. Of course, it’s also possible it belongs to another foreign race…”

This world is not solely dominated by humans. Outside the two major Eastern and Western powers, there are many non-human races that have created civilizations no less advanced than those of humans.

In their countries, there are naturally gods as well.

However, judging from those Western barbarian followers, the ouroboros ring is very likely a token of a certain prince from the West.

“I’ve picked up another trouble…”

Wu Ming stood up, stretched, and casually threw the honor citizen jade token on the table.

“Hey! Sir, you dropped something!”

An old librarian rubbed his eyes and loudly reminded him.

“I don’t need that anymore. It’s yours!”

Wu Ming casually replied and then walked into the main hall of the Federation.

The bustling crowd never ceased. A large number of people stared intently at the giant screen and the constantly updating content.

The once-hottest Protectorate mission had already disappeared, and now the top mission was an exploration task.

“Exploration of the sea?”

A cultivator beside Wu Ming couldn’t help but exclaim in disbelief: “The reward is already this incredible just for mapping out a clear sea chart?”

“They say it’s the convergence point of a new world. Perhaps we might discover a new continent!”

“With my elder brother’s Treading the Sea Art cultivation, wouldn’t this trivial matter be easily accomplished?”

“Haha, my good brother, don’t tease me like that!”

…

The crowd bustled, with many cultivators gathering and discussing enthusiastically.

As for Wu Ming, he looked at the marked location, his eyes flashing with sharp glints.