Otherworldly Affairs Office-Chapter 710: Prohibition (Please Subscribe)

Pei Yan turned his head and saw that it was Gu Shenghui who had grabbed his shoulder. After whispering with him for a while, Pei Yan nodded and turned to Li Songtao, asking, "If I'm not mistaken, even if you want to answer my question right now, you can't, can you?"

Hearing this, Li Songtao raised his head with a helpless, bitter smile and said, "That's right! Any clues about this operation and the core secrets within the organization are all under prohibition. Forget about you trying to retrieve soul memories unsuccessfully, I can't even speak about it if I wanted to. Everyone involved in this operation is under the same prohibition. Once we attempt to discuss operation-related matters with someone who isn't under the same prohibition, our consciousness will automatically block us from speaking or writing."

Li Songtao paused for a moment, then looked at Pei Yan, who was about to speak, and interrupted, "Don't bother. If I'm tortured to the point of losing consciousness and I subconsciously reveal information during interrogation, the prohibition will automatically destroy my soul once it determines there's a possibility of a leak. You might think I'm speaking nonsense, but if you don't believe me, feel free to continue trying. Either way, it's a dead end."

"Then Suhabaru is also under the same prohibition?" Hearing this, Pei Yan hesitated for a moment before he asked further.

"Of course, but don't even think about putting him and me together and eavesdropping on our conversation. It's impossible. If my subconscious even remotely senses a chance of information leak, the prohibition will activate, and it's beyond my control," Li Songtao immediately guessed what Pei Yan intended to do and explained preemptively.

Finding no immediate way to break the prohibition, Pei Yan paced around the room, finally scratching his head and gesturing at Li Songtao, laughing bitterly, "Ha ha! Your organization is meticulous, and you even know about the subconscious! Alright, alright! Slick! This spellwork is advanced!"

With that, Pei Yan turned and looked around at everyone present, mocking himself, "Look at how well they keep secrets, and then look at us! If this spell were widespread, there wouldn't be any traitors or spies, the antagonists would master the core technology!"

"Hmph!" Cao Jiu Zhou snorted coldly and said, "Fellow Daoist Pei, do you think our Immortal Palace doesn't have similar spells?"

"Oh? You guys have such spells too? Then..." Pei Yan stopped mid-sentence, the implication clear: then why do you still have so many internal issues.

"Sigh, Fellow Daoist Pei, imposing prohibitions on someone's consciousness to prevent probing into core memories, such spells aren't difficult." Cao Jiu Zhou sighed and turned to point at Li Songtao, "But spells like the one imposed on his consciousness and soul are so strict that, leaving aside whether the elders of the Immortal Palace would accept such mistrustful insults, even if we accepted it, do you think such spells have no harm to the body?! Everyone's soul is the part most unsuitable for cultivation and most prone to harm. Being tampered with like this, even after the prohibition is lifted, it would take years of nurturing to recover, and worse, it could even affect one's cultivation progression."

"I see, thank you for your guidance, senior." Having learned something new, Pei Yan bowed to Cao Jiu Zhou in thanks and continued, "If it's as you say, the price they paid must be significant, which means they must have big plans. It seems something major is going to happen at the Immortal Palace's grand election."

"Indeed! This matter is of great importance. I must report back to the Sect Leader and ensure it receives due attention. We absolutely cannot let the Hell Realm tragedy repeat in our Daoist Realm." Knowing the urgency of the situation, Cao Jiu Zhou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Finding no useful information here, he bid farewell to Gu Shenghui and hurried back to the Immortal Palace to report.

After Cao Jiu Zhou left, Pei Yan felt much more relaxed. He fetched a chair and sat in front of Li Songtao, crossing his legs and lighting a cigarette, speaking slowly, "Since you can't talk about this mission, then talk about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" Li Songtao tilted his head and weakly asked back.

Pei Yan shrugged and blew out a smoke ring, saying nonchalantly, "Just say whatever you can. Let's start with your spellwork—how do you switch your states?"

"Can I have something to eat and drink?"

"You Immortals still need to eat and drink? I thought you all practiced Fasting!" Pei Yan teased in surprise.

"Immortals? In the end, we're still human. With Spiritual Qi supporting us, going without food for over ten days is no problem. But now that I've lost all my Spiritual Qi and am imprisoned, after last night's battle and being tortured for so long, isn't it normal for me to be hungry?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"That's about right! If you consider yourself human, then we have a foundation for equal conversation. Isn't it tiring to always be so high and mighty?" Saying this, Pei Yan signaled to Jiang Feiyang, who then left and returned with a tray shortly after.

By now, Pei Yan had released Li Songtao from the rack. With handcuffs and shackles, Li Songtao rubbed his sore shoulders, no longer showing the arrogance he had when he first met Pei Yan. He first grabbed the water on the tray and drank greedily, then grabbed buns and began to devour them voraciously. Seeing the tray of buns quickly empty, Pei Yan instructed, "Bring him two more trays!"

After a while, watching Li Songtao, satisfied after eating five trays of buns, sitting cross-legged in front of him, Pei Yan extinguished his cigarette butt and asked with a smile, "Are you full? Ready to answer my question?"

"You can't do it!"

Hearing this cryptic sentence, Pei Yan questioned in confusion, "What can't we do?"

"Weren't you asking about my previous state transformation? It's useless even if you know—it's something you can't do!" Amidst the clinking of handcuffs, Li Songtao raised his hand to smooth his messy hair and asked, "Do you remember the Devouring Demon?"

Pei Yan was momentarily stunned, then recalled what he was talking about—the monster Li Songtao summoned during his first field mission. Once killed, the monster would emit a black smoke mixed with resentment, which would invade the killer's body, suppressing the Spiritual Qi within and potentially controlling the weak-willed, turning them into new victims.

Thinking of this and recalling Li Songtao's state at that time, Pei Yan exclaimed in surprise, "You're saying you've become that kind of monster too?" Watching Li Songtao nod at him, Pei Yan said in disbelief, "Why would you do that! Even in pursuit of power, it's not necessary to turn yourself into something neither human nor ghost!"

Seeing Li Songtao preparing to counter, Pei Yan waved his hand and said, "I know what you want to say, yes, I've also undergone various modifications to my body, with similar objectives. Even someone like Suhabaru, I can understand and accept, but you, what's the difference between this and being a living dead? Turning into such a wretched state, even if you became invincible, what meaning does it hold?"