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After Canglan Xuanxian left, Gu Yun continued to sit under the Tongtian Divine Tree with a sour expression.
Everything was going wrong, as it often did.
But he was still waiting for the next report...
Finally, another cultivator arrived before him and knelt down to greet him: "Your Excellency, the interrogation results are in!"
"Speak." Gu Yun couldn't even be bothered to raise his eyelids.
"In the Dead Soul Forbidden Area, there are a total of 1,322 practitioners from the Xuantian Realm. However, after interrogating and searching their souls one by one, we found that none of them possessed the 'Primordial Soul Lantern' you mentioned!"
Upon hearing this, Gu Yun was absolutely furious.
"...No?!"
"How is that possible? The Dead Soul Witch King himself said that it was nearly killed by the Primordial Soul Lamp. That treasure was carried by an ant who came here from the Xuantian Realm!"
"I must get that lamp!"
"Do I have to punish you for your incompetence before you can do your job properly?!"
His voice carried the power of a dragon's roar, and the sound waves shook the air. The cultivator who had come to report the progress was only a Golden Immortal—how could he withstand such a fierce dragon's roar? He was immediately blown away and fell heavily to the ground.
If Gu Yun wasn't already furious about the bad news...
If this matter wasn't resolved right now, Gu Yun would not let it go.
The Primordial Soul Lamp was the treasure Gu Yun was currently eyeing!
Ever since he learned from the Dead Soul Witch King that day that the treasure had been brought to the Small Xuantian Realm by a cultivator from the Xuantian Realm, Gu Yun had immediately taken action to acquire it.
Although he had attempted to search the soul of the Dead Soul Witch King, the Witch King had understood Gu Yun's thoughts.
"Even if I die, I must not let the running dogs of the immortal world gain any benefit before I go!"
The soul search failed.
Gu Yun had no choice but to send people to sweep the entire Dead Soul Forbidden Area!
All the living cultivators who had come from the Xuantian Realm were captured, escorted to his territory, and locked up.
After all, the Primordial Soul Lamp was of great importance, and Gu Yun naturally didn't want other immortals to get involved.
Moreover, recently, everyone had been a bit disunited. Though the relationship couldn't be called completely deteriorated, it was no longer as good as before.
So, Gu Yun had no intention of sharing this important information.
He planned to get this treasure for himself first!
However...
After interrogating and searching the souls of more than a thousand people, there was no trace of the treasure?
Look, this didn't make sense! There was no need for the Dead Soul Witch King to lie to him—what he said about the lamp was absolutely true.
So, Gu Yun could only arrange for more thorough interrogations.
It was better not to leave any problems...
Either they were incompetent, or they were keeping the treasure for themselves!
After a while, the Golden Immortal finally stood up, trembling, and said hesitantly: "Please calm down, Immortal Lord. I have tracked everything down and will not slack off!"
"Although there is no news about the treasure you need, there is another new development!"
"...Speak the truth, don't hide anything!"
Gu Yun snorted coldly and softened his tone.
But even so, the Golden Immortal still felt a chill run down his spine.
He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. "Master Immortal, after searching the souls of those practitioners, we found that five of them are missing!"
At least, the Golden Immortal had not returned empty-handed.
He knew now that the more than one thousand cultivators were not all sent by the Xuantian Realm!
There were four girls and one man whom they hadn't captured.
Although the Golden Immortal considered that the five might have been killed by the wandering ghosts in the Dead Soul Forbidden Area, this was unlikely because he had seen much more through the memories of those whose souls were searched.
Among the four girls, there was a leading girl with powerful swordsmanship and high talent, and she wielded an excellent quality magic sword in her hand!
It was unlikely that she would have been killed by those vengeful ghosts.
"You mean, there are four human female cultivators and one male cultivator whom you haven't captured, and there is no trace of them in the Dead Soul Forbidden Area?"
Gu Yun's dragon eyes suddenly lit up.
Things were starting to take a turn!
"Yes, but it's unlikely that they've left the Dead Soul Forbidden Area. They don't have the 'Array Key,' so it's impossible for them to get through…"
The Golden Immortal was unsure whether this new development would satisfy Gu Yun. After all, these were just five ordinary cultivators. No matter how powerful they were, they couldn't do anything about the formation.
Though there was a young monk among them who was an anomaly...
The Golden Immortal even felt that the young man didn't look like a cultivator. He was too ordinary, with very little presence. Now that he could not be found, it was likely that he was dead.
Even if there was a treasure, it had nothing to do with that incredibly useless guy.
"Haha, don't underestimate the power of that lamp."
"Although I have never seen the Primordial Soul Lamp, compared to it, the Immortal King's magic formation is not enough."
Gu Yun sneered.
"What?"
When the Golden Immortal heard this, his eyes widened. "Immortal Venerable, do you mean that the treasure lamp can actually break the Immortal King's magic formation?"
"Perhaps."
Gu Yun smiled and said, "That's normal. Even the Immortal Emperor would probably covet that lamp..."
"It's better to believe it. Since five monks are missing, we can infer that they are still alive and have escaped the Dead Soul Forbidden Area!"
Of course, Gu Yun didn't know whether the Primordial Soul Lamp could break the formation. After all, it was a treasure he wasn't even qualified to see. But Gu Yun didn't want to miss any possibility. Since the more than one thousand people had no clues about the Primordial Soul Lamp and had never even seen it, it could only be the remaining five!
Anyway, in the Xiaoxuantian Realm, the Immortal Lord could have anyone he wanted.
No one could escape!
"Since the Immortal Master is so sure, I will arrange for people to capture the five who escaped the forbidden area!"
The Golden Immortal immediately said respectfully, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.
"Fine."
Gu Yun waved his hand. "Make portraits of the five and distribute them secretly to the loyalists. Have them spread out a wide net and search the area around the Dead Soul Forbidden Area. They won't be able to get too far in just a week."
"But remember, stay away from other immortals to avoid complications."
Gu Yun waved his sleeves, signaling the Golden Immortal to retreat.
"Yes! Please wait for good news, Immortal Master!"
…
In the deserted city.
Inside Gu Heng's residence.
From the back room came the sound of incessant blacksmithing.
"Huh~"
"Finally done!"
Gu Heng stood beside the forge, let out a long breath, then stretched out his arms and pinched his back and shoulders.
"I haven't forged in a while, and my body is a little stiff."
For some reason, he hadn't felt tired at all when he was in the Holy Dragon Cave or the Dead Soul Forbidden Area. Swinging his sword had been as easy as drinking water. But as soon as he returned to the forge and swung the hammer, he felt exhausted...
At least, he had finally completed the gift for the little girl.
"I hope she can use it."
Gu Heng murmured, then wrapped the ice-blue sword he had forged in cloth.
He had created a prototype of the sword when he was still in Aoki Castle, but it had only been the roughest prototype.
It was mostly a spur-of-the-moment decision to forge something and see how it went.
Later, he had become busy with other matters and had set the sword aside.
Over the past week, Gu Heng had gone through the process again, refining the rough sword prototype...
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