"Young Master Ye, we failed to see their true nature before and were kept in the dark by the traitors Lu An and Yan Jie. Not only were we unable to protect our fellow sect members, we indirectly helped them harm the heirs of the Sword Realm. We have sinned!"
Elder Zheng suddenly spoke with an expression full of self-blame, and as he spoke, he moved to kneel before Ye Yunfei to beg for punishment. The other two elders chimed in, their faces filled with anguish and remorse.
The three of them recalled their various actions within the Sword Realm during this period, realizing they had been deceived by Lu An and Yan Jie, and had unwittingly become accomplices in harming the other heirs of the Sword Realm. Their hearts were heavy with guilt.
"There is no need for the three elders to blame yourselves. Lu An and Yan Jie were exceedingly good at disguise and had the Blade Realm backing them from the shadows. Even I spent considerable effort to uncover their true faces.
You had the best intentions for rebuilding the Sword Realm, but you were simply exploited by traitors."
Ye Yunfei quickly raised his hand, releasing a gentle energy that stopped the three men from kneeling.
"Elders, the traitors have not necessarily been entirely rooted out yet. The Sword Realm still faces a great crisis. The most urgent task now is to cleanse all the traitors as quickly as possible, protect the remaining heirs of the Sword Realm, and not wallow in self-blame."
Ye Yunfei said.
"Young Master Ye, you are right."
Hearing this, the three elders felt a chill in their hearts, raised their heads, and replied in unison.
"Young Master Ye, you are right.
From now on, we three will fully cooperate with you, investigate all traitors, make up for our mistakes, and protect the heirs of our Sword Realm!"
The three elders declared with firm resolve.
"Good!
Three Elders, starting now, immediately cease all actions summoning Sword Realm heirs. Seal all temporary passageways between the Sword Realm and the outside void. Leave only one emergency contact point, guarded by trusted individuals. Strictly prohibit anyone of unknown identity from entering the Sword Realm, and strictly prohibit any Sword Realm heir from leaving without permission, to prevent traitors from escaping or more agents of the Blade Realm infiltrating."
Ye Yunfei thought for a moment and said.
"Young Master Ye is right. I will take charge of this matter and arrange for people to seal all channels connecting the Sword Realm to the outside!"
Elder Wu immediately responded.
As he spoke, he turned and left, the Sword Dao energy around him surging. He quickly disappeared outside the palace.
"You two elders shall conduct individual interrogations and searches on all the heirs who have already returned to the Sword Realm.
Anyone who has Blade Realm energy within them, carries a Blade Realm token, has a Blade Realm mark within their Soul Body, or whose words are evasive or behavior suspicious, detain them temporarily and hand them over to me for personal interrogation.
We must eliminate all traitors; we cannot let a single one slip through."
Ye Yunfei looked at the remaining two elders and spoke.
"Good, we will act immediately according to your wishes, Young Master Ye!"
The two elders heard Ye Yunfei's words and replied simultaneously.
"Rest assured, Young Master Ye. We will scrutinize meticulously, letting no traitor escape, and falsely accusing no innocent fellow disciple!"
Before the words faded, the two turned and left, each gathering their trusted aides to begin a comprehensive investigation of all heirs who had returned to the Sword Realm.
Within the council hall, only Ye Yunfei and the surrounding Sovereign God slaves controlled by him remained.
Ye Yunfei stood with his hands behind his back, gazing outside the palace. The investigation led by the three presiding elders was currently underway. All the Sword Realm heirs were being gathered in a large plaza to undergo the search.
"Master, should this subordinate bring people to assist the three elders with the investigation?"
Liu Qing stepped forward and asked respectfully. The other Sovereign God slaves also voiced agreement, their eyes filled with respect and loyalty.
"You may go and help maintain order.
Also, if you recall anyone who is a traitor, point them out and inform the three presiding elders."
"We obey!"
The slaves chorused in reply and filed out of the palace.
The Soul Power imprint of Sword Elder floated beside Ye Yunfei, his tone laced with a hint of worry.
"That Lu An and Yan Jie could return to the Sword Realm so smoothly and summon so many Sword Realm heirs back, causing such a commotion up until now without any resistance, is highly abnormal.
Although this Sword Realm has become ruins, there are still many remnant souls left behind by the old ones from ancient times. Why hasn't a single one of those old-timers come out to stop this farce?
Logically, with so many Sword Realm heirs returning and making such a disturbance for so long, those residual remnant souls should be aware."
At this moment, Sword Elder transmitted his thoughts to Ye Yunfei.
"The ancient Sword Continent was a truly vast world, extremely expansive, comparable to several world clusters outside.
In ancient Sword Continent, besides our Tianjian Sect, there were many other large and small forces. Of course, the vast majority of forces in ancient Sword Continent belonged to Sword Dao schools, primarily focused on sword cultivation.
In that ancient battle, our Tianjian Sect fought alongside those other Sword Dao forces against the external enemy. No single sect stood aloof.
In that battle, among the major forces of our Sword Realm, many sword cultivators perished, but most left behind remnant souls that have been lying dormant within this continent.
The remnant souls of those ancient sword experts are one of the foundations of our Sword Realm, always safeguarding us.
But now, why hasn't a single remnant soul come out to stop the traitors like Lu An and Yan Jie from causing trouble?
Lu An and Yan Jie openly and brazenly summoned so many Sword Realm heirs back. For our Sword Realm, this is an extremely harmful action, prematurely exposing the sect forces and Sword Realm heirs we have developed outside over the years, thereby inviting pursuit from the Blade Realm.
Could the remnant souls of our Sword Realm's ancient experts not understand this principle?
Impossible!
Therefore, there must be something peculiar about why those remnant souls aren't coming out to stop this."
Sword Elder continued.
"Grandmaster, your reasoning makes sense.
This situation is indeed abnormal."
Ye Yunfei, upon hearing this, also frowned slightly and replied.
"However, I will find a way to investigate and uncover the truth."
Ye Yunfei added.
"Traitor, you think you can escape!"
Right then, an angry shout suddenly rang out.
Ye Yunfei's eyes narrowed, and then his figure flashed as he dashed out of the palace, shooting into the air.
Ye Yunfei had already seen three men fleeing in disarray in the distance.
Elder Zheng, holding a longsword with Sword Dao energy raging around him, was slashing out golden sword rays, blocking the path of the three fleeing traitors.
The people following Elder Zheng also swarmed forward, forming an airtight encirclement that trapped the three men in the center.
"Young Master Ye, these three individuals all carry Blade Realm tokens.
They were just found while searching their spatial rings."
Elder Zheng waved his hand, and three blade-shaped tokens flew out, landing before Ye Yunfei.
"They are indeed Blade Realm tokens. It seems we have three fish that slipped through the net."
Ye Yunfei gave a cold smile.
"Young Master Ye, let me interrogate these three properly."
Elder Zheng said.
"No need, let me handle it."
Ye Yunfei said plainly.
As the words fell, countless transparent Puppet Soul Threads instantly shot out from Ye Yunfei's Soul Sea, invading the Soul Seas of the three men and coiling around their Soul Bodies like venomous snakes.
Not long after, these three men became Ye Yunfei's slaves.
Ye Yunfei looked up at the void of the Sword Realm. Sunlight pierced the thick clouds, scattering across this abandoned land, yet it still couldn't dispel the scent of blood in the air or the pall of conspiracy.
In the following period, the three presiding elders led people to continue searching each Sword Realm heir one by one.
In the end, five more traitors were found.
One was a First Level Sovereign God, the other four were Heavenly Gods.
Ye Yunfei employed the Puppet Soul Thread Secret Art, subduing all five of these traitors and making them slaves.
"To think you managed to cultivate this legacy secret art of the Soul Race. This art has brought you too many benefits."
Sword Elder couldn't help but sigh.
Soon after, the operation to cleanse the traitors concluded. No other traitors were discovered.
Throughout the operation, Ye Yunfei had been observing from the sidelines, secretly probing with Mind Reading Art. In the end, he confirmed that all traitors had been cleansed.
"Continue interrogating Lu An and Yan Jie, see if there's anything new to discover.
Especially Lu An. He was the one who led the effort to gather numerous Sword Realm heirs back to the Sword Realm."
Sword Elder said to Ye Yunfei.
"Good."
Ye Yunfei nodded.
Then, taking Lu An and Yan Jie, Ye Yunfei found a secluded spot, set up a small formation space, and entered it.
Lu An was thrown on the ground, body limp as mud, his gaze unfocused. The bloodstain at the corner of his mouth had long since dried and blackened.
Having lost his dantian and meridians, he lacked even the strength to struggle. Only his Soul Body still trembled faintly, clearly not yet recovered from the despair of having his cultivation utterly destroyed.
"You might as well use the Soul Power Starry Sky Art to directly devour his Soul Body and obtain his memories. That would be the fastest and most straightforward way."
Hun Lao said to Ye Yunfei.
"Sound reasoning."
Ye Yunfei nodded.
And so, Ye Yunfei immediately began performing the Soul Power Starry Sky Art to start devouring Lu An's Soul Body.
"What is that?"
Suddenly, Ye Yunfei's expression flickered. He sensed an extremely faint, obscure Soul Power fluctuation in the most hidden corner of Lu An's Soul Sea. It was like a hibernating snake, concealed behind layers of soul mist, completely distinct from Lu An's own soul aura.
That fluctuation was exceedingly hidden and bizarre, emanating a chilling sense of dread.
Ye Yunfei's Soul Power slowly approached and finally saw the true face of that fluctuation: a subtle, dark golden point of light.
"There's something strange!"
Ye Yunfei's heart tightened. He immediately urged his Puppet Soul Threads, wanting to entangle this dark golden speck and forcibly extract it from Lu An's Soul Sea.
At the same time, Ye Yunfei performed the Soul Weapon Great Method. Over two thousand seven hundred Soul Power weapons instantly condensed, arranging a tight, impenetrable sealing formation within Lu An's Soul Sea to prevent the speck from escaping.
However, just as the Puppet Soul Threads were about to touch the dark golden speck, the light erupted with a dazzling dark golden radiance. All the soul threads entwined around it instantly shattered. A powerful Soul Power shockwave abruptly erupted, instantly breaking through the Soul Power sealing formation Ye Yunfei had set up.
"So strong!"
Ye Yunfei's face changed drastically. He hadn't expected this seemingly faint speck to contain such formidable power.
At this moment, Lu An, who lay on the ground, suddenly took on a ferocious expression. His throat issued incoherent, muffled groans as his Soul Body violently trembled. The force erupting from that dark golden speck was impacting his Soul Sea.
But this terrifying assault lasted only for an instant before abruptly ceasing. After breaking through Ye Yunfei's Soul Power seal, the dark golden speck didn't linger in the slightest. Transforming into a stream of light, it followed Lu An's glabella and fiercely rushed out of his Soul Sea.
"Where do you think you're fleeing!"
Ye Yunfei's eyes narrowed. His figure flashed, instantly blocking the speck's escape path. His longsword abruptly left its sheath as a brilliant sword blade was unleashed, carrying sharp Sword Dao laws as it cleaved toward that dark golden speck.
Simultaneously, Ye Yunfei once again condensed Puppet Soul Threads. Countless invisible soul threads interwove into a net, cast out to firmly trap the speck of light.