"What sword? How exactly did you die?!"

Yun Xiujie was utterly confused. He turned to the young man leading the wandering souls. "Yu Feng, you are a disciple of the Ancient God Sect, born with a divine physique and a pair of Broken Dao Divine Eyes. No specter or illusion should escape your sight! You had seven other core disciples with you—eight in total. How could you fall to this man? Even if his methods are unusual, it's impossible for him to suppress eight formations alone!"

Since Yun Xiujie had been trapped in the Yin Gourd, he was completely oblivious to the events on Mingwang Star.

Yu Feng stared fixedly at Fang Chen with a flicker of resentment in his eyes. He answered Yun Xiujie coldly, "We were ambushed on Mingwang Star, not in Qingming. We didn't have our formations deployed when we died."

Yun Xiujie was stunned. "Mingwang Star?! What are you doing there!? That's occupied territory under our guard! Why were you retreating from the front lines?"

"Orders from above. We had to find someone," said Yu Feng impatiently. "You died too early to get the message. Speaking of which, when you died, was it like us, or...?"

Yun Xiujie's expression shifted uncomfortably as he clearly did not want to recount his own swift defeat. Yu Feng turned his attention back to Fang Chen and pressed for answers.

"That sword strike just now—it was yours? You aren't even a core disciple. How can a single strike possess such overwhelming power? We didn't even have time to react. Are you a sixth-transformation Immortal? Or a seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal?"

"Wait, you said he's not a Core Disciple?" Yun Xiujie butted in.

Yu Feng nodded and said confidently, "I checked him with my Broken Dao Divine Eyes. He has no Formation Heart. I simply didn't expect him to be a high-level immortal hiding his cultivation. I was careless and fell into his trap."

The other seven core disciples exchanged glances and cursed their luck. They had only "awakened" a few years ago and were eager to make their mark, only to be snuffed out before they could even identify their killer.

Yun Xiujie frowned. "No, you're wrong. He is a core disciple. He is Wang Ye from the Enlightenment God Palace."

Wang Ye?!

The name hit them like a thunderclap. They recalled that Yun Xiujie had indeed been slain by a man named Wang Ye. They looked at Fang Chen with renewed horror. If he truly was Wang Ye, why hadn't the Broken Dao Divine Eyes seen the Formation Heart? Was the gap between the Enlightenment God Palace and the Taicang Realm truly that vast?

"Impossible. My divine eyes couldn't be wrong," Yu Feng insisted.

"Wait... this is the Underworld, right? H-how did we get here?" asked someone, trembling. "There are very few places in the Taicang Realm where one can enter the Underworld..."

The realisation dawned on them. This implied two terrifying possibilities. Either Fang Chen had brought them to the headquarters of a top sect, or he had personally unsealed the Underworld on Mingwang Star. Either way, they were in deep trouble.

"Who exactly are you?" demanded Yu Feng.

Fang Chen smiled and cupped his hands. "Yun Xiujie already told you. I am Wang Ye of the Enlightenment God Palace. Now that you understand your situation, it is my turn to ask the questions."

"Hold on," interrupted Yun Xiujie. "Before you ask, tell me. Which Underworld is this?"

Fang Chen waved. "Daoist Yun, you seem to have forgotten your current standing."

Suddenly, the Yin energy on Yun Xiujie's face began to churn. To the horror of the onlookers, his eyes, nose, and mouth vanished, leaving his face as smooth and featureless as a polished stone. Yun Xiujie panicked and clutched at his face, feeling a suffocating agony. A soul couldn't die from asphyxiation, but he will continue to suffer.

Yu Feng and the others turned pale. They finally realised they were no longer high-and-mighty core disciples but instead prisoners.

"Daoist Yu, I ask, and you answer," commanded Fang Chen.

Yu Feng nodded. "We are but wandering souls now. Our only value to you is by providing useful information. If we provide it, I trust you will let us off to reincarnate so we can be human in the next life... and perhaps avoid the demon path."

Fang Chen ignored the platitudes. "Who were you looking for?"

"I don't know. We were ordered by the higher-ups to search. It seems to involve something extremely important, but we didn't have the authority to know the details," replied Yu Feng.

Fang Chen smiled. "I'm not satisfied with that answer. Let's make a deal. Whoever provides three or more pieces of valuable information can leave."

"Are you truly willing to let us go?" asked one of the core disciples eagerly.

"Why not? As Daoist Yu said, you are just souls. What trouble could you possibly cause? Besides, before you became demons, we were peers. Once dead, past sins are wiped clean," encouraged Fang Chen.

One Core Disciple spoke up immediately. "I can give you three pieces of information useful to your current situation."

"First, the eight of us have Life Lamps in our sects. Since they extinguished simultaneously, the Alliance of the Fallen will notice. Within three days, the Starry Teleportation Formation on Mingwang Star will reopen, and beings far stronger than us will descend to investigate. Second, you have been officially wanted by the Black Sun Empire. Third, there is someone in the Shenwang Realm working with us, though I don't know their identity."

The Core looked at Fang Chen expectantly and asked, "Can I go now?"

"Let's test if you are lying," said Fang Chen.

He tapped a decree into the soul's chest. Since the soul was weak, the decree was rudimentary, but effective.

"Repeat those three points. If you finish them, you can leave."

The soul opened his mouth to speak but immediately collapsed and howled in agony. Green smoke rose from his body as invisible flames scorched his spirit.

"You went back on your word?!" shouted Yu Feng in a rage.

Fang Chen chuckled. "As long as he intends to tell the truth, the pain will stop."

Reminded of the condition, the soul focused his thoughts, and the agonizing flames indeed began to recede. Yu Feng and the others were shaken to their core.

What kind of technique is this? Wandering souls are notorious for their lies and deceptions. To have a method that forces a ghost to be honest... it is unheard of.