"My name is Lu Da, and I am the Priest of the Wu Yue Sect in the Black Wind Desert. The Moon Sect destroyed the Black River God that we fostered in Xiansha City, so I was sent by my superiors to destroy the Moon Sect," the bald priest said dejectedly.

"The Black River God was supported by your Wu Yue Sect?" Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow.

Lu Da nodded.

"Why would you support the Black River God?" Yuan Ming pressed on.

"I really don't know. I'm just a lowly Priest. The higher-ups only tell us to carry out tasks and never disclose the reasons to us. I guess they are afraid of leaking secrets," Lu Da glanced at Yuan Ming and cautiously spoke.

Yuan Ming wasn't surprised by this response. If the Wu Yue Sect hadn't kept its resurgence secret, it would have been detected by the major factions long ago.

"What about that statue?" He pointed to the goddess statue nearby.

"That object was distributed by the higher-ups. It can accumulate Desire Power. Every once in a while, someone from above comes to take it away and replaces it with a new one," Lu Da seemed resigned as he spoke.

Yuan Ming waved his hand, sending out a streak of green light to draw the statue over, and examined it carefully, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

Indeed, the statue had accumulated a considerable amount of Desire Power, but it was carved from a kind of black wood, not made of Nine Nether Iron.

"It seems the Wu Yue Sect is collecting Desire Power. The Black River God did so, the Nether Iron Gourd obtained from the Six Desires Venerable did so, and this statue does the same. What exactly is the Wu Yue Sect's purpose in resurfacing this time?" Yuan Ming pondered silently.

He waved his hand to take the Storage Bag from Lu Da's waist. Lu Da's face twitched, but he said nothing.

Yuan Ming's Divine Sense entered the bag, which contained quite a few items: about fifty thousand Spirit Stones, numerous spiritual materials, elixirs, two Jade Scrolls, and other miscellaneous items.

He casually picked out an item from the Storage Bag. It was a luminous blue glove, thin as a cicada's wing, with a flowing water-like luminescence on its surface and emitting fluctuations of Soul Power.

"What is this?" Yuan Ming didn't rashly touch the gloves but looked at Lu Da.

"This is a soul artifact bestowed by the higher-ups called Empty Gloves. Only Soul Cultivators above the rank of a love witch can use it. It can alter the memories of others," Lu Da honestly explained.

Yuan Ming's eyes flickered. The ability to alter memories was a capability of the Sleeping Witch; these gloves were indeed a valuable item.

"Did you use these Empty Gloves to alter Xu Che's memories?" He recalled something and looked at the unconscious Xu Che beside him.

"Yes, but I was forced into it. The higher-ups ordered me to do so, and I had no choice but to obey," said Lu Da.

Yuan Ming suddenly understood. No wonder Xu Che had looked at him with hatred in his eyes just now; it was very likely that Lu Da had altered Xu Che's memories to make himself appear as Xu Che's enemy.

"Can memories altered by the Empty Gloves be restored?" he asked.

"As long as it hasn't been more than a year, they can be," Lu Da hastily said.

Yuan Ming felt relieved. Xu Che was an important subordinate of his, so it was good that his memories could be restored.

He stowed away the Empty Gloves and continued to look through Lu Da's other possessions. He quickly went through everything and finally picked up two Jade Scrolls and a white Jade Album.

One Jade Scroll contained a Soul Cultivation Method: Dream-Entering Technique.

This method was very special. When cultivating, it would cause the practitioner to fall into deep sleep. Even ordinary people, once asleep, would automatically start to recuperate their Divine Soul. The Dream-Entering Technique allowed one to enter deep sleep and strengthen the Divine Soul Power in their dreams.

The deeper the cultivation of the Dream-Entering Technique, the deeper the sleep and the better the effect on training the Divine Soul. Quite mysterious.

"Good, I've obtained another Soul Cultivation Method," Yuan Ming was pleased inwardly and then looked at the other Jade Scroll, his expression changing slightly.

This Jade Scroll recorded the distribution of Wu Yue Sect's power in the Black Wind Desert, the location of various strongholds, their strength, and so on.

The Wu Yue Sect did not only support the Black River God but also the Wuxiong God, the Crow Snake God, and many other deities, widely spread across underground cities in the Black Wind Desert, recruiting mortal followers and collecting Desire Power.

A cold light glinted in Yuan Ming's eyes. With the Wu Yue Sect and his own Moon Sect becoming sworn enemies, with this Jade Scroll, he could turn the tables on the Wu Yue Sect and root them out entirely.

He put away the two Jade Scrolls and picked up the white Jade Album, frowning immediately.

Seeing this, Lu Da quickly lowered his head.

The white Jade Album was an artifact similar to an Image Capturing Pearl. Each page displayed scenes of intercourse between men and women, with Lu Da being the man and the women being different people—innocent maidens, mature women, a whole range of them, reaching into the hundreds.

Yuan Ming closed the Jade Album and a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at Lu Da.

In those scenes, the women all had vacant expressions and were in a state of captivity; obviously, they were coerced by Lu Da.

This man had harmed so many women and even used a Recording Artifact to record each incident. The purpose was clear without asking; he surely often took it out to enjoy, which was truly despicable.

"Fellow Daoist, please spare my life. I didn't want to do this. My Divine Soul has been tampered with. Every month, I would be overwhelmed with desire. If I did not consort with women, I would fall into a frenzied and out-of-control state. Only by practicing Dual Cultivation of the Divine Soul can I quell these fires," Lu Da pleaded urgently.

"Your Divine Soul was tampered with?" Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming sent his Divine Sense toward the man's Divine Soul once again.

Like during the previous Soul Search, his Divine Power was swiftly blocked.

Yuan Ming's expression hardened, and with a flick of his finger, a soul crow shot out, diving straight into Lu Da's forehead and disappeared within.

Caught off guard, Lu Da's body stiffened, and a look of intense terror appeared in his eyes.

The soul crow unleashed the Soul Collision Divine Ability, slamming fiercely into Lu Da's pink Divine Soul.

At this moment, a surge of violent pink light suddenly burst forth from within Lu Da's Divine Soul, transforming into a chaotic and disordered pink halo that exploded outwards.

Yuan Ming's soul crow bore the brunt of it and was instantly dispersed by the pink halo.

Yuan Ming hurriedly redirected the power of his Divine Sense to stabilize his own Sea of Consciousness and resisted the impact of that force.

At the same time, a sudden change occurred!

A pink light ring re-emerged in Lu Da's mind, and a phantom figure appeared, seemingly a woman, who looked towards Yuan Ming.

A shock ran through Yuan Ming's heart, and he quickly operated his Cultivation Technique to protect his body.

On that towering black goddess statue, a strong fluctuation suddenly surged, and bright crystal light burst from its eyes, appearing as if the stone statue were opening its eyes.

The Desire Power within flowed out like a tidal wave, transforming into two beams of light that entered the body of the phantom woman.

The phantom woman quickly solidified into a figure, a woman in a pink dress holding an item resembling a tree branch with five forks, from which dazzling pink light radiated.

"Free Venerable! Don't..." Lu Da's face showed an extremely frightened expression as he let out a terrified scream.

In the next instant, the phantom woman merged into the top of his head, and Lu Da's frightened expression returned to calm, his eyes turning pink. A majestic Soul Power fluctuation immediately emanated from his body, remarkably reaching the Sleep Witch Realm.

The pink tree branch also appeared in his hand, nearly solidified, emitting strong fluctuations of Desire Power as if all the Desire Power from the goddess statue was gathering there.

"Body seizing?" Yuan Ming stepped back, his expression becoming serious.

His thoughts raced, and he swiftly slapped his waist.

A gray shadow shot out from the Spiritual Beast Bag, it was the Three-eyed Crow, which merged into the nearby white Illusion Space and disappeared without a trace.

"Who are you to dare to forcefully intrude the Sea of Consciousness subordinate to my Divine Sect?" "Lu Da" shifted his gaze onto Yuan Ming, questioning him sharply.

At this moment, although he still had his original appearance, his voice had changed to a woman's tone, crisp and pleasant, like the tinkling of spring water, directly flowing into one's heart.

With the sound, the surrounding Illusion Space hummed as if vibrating from a sonic boom, showing signs of collapse.

Yuan Ming quickly activated the Night Parade of Hundred Demons, and a white light shot out, restoring stability to the Illusion Space.

Dozens of thick chains appeared out of thin air, tightly entwining Lu Da's body.

"Hehe, quite a sophisticated Illusion Technique, capable of condensing into an Illusion Space. However, it's ineffective against me," "Lu Da" scanned the surroundings, smiling slightly, waving the pink tree branch in his hand.

A burst of pink light erupted, containing immense Desire Power, which melded into the chains and the white space.

The chains and the white space quickly turned pink, and numerous feelings of panic, hatred, and despair, along with negative emotions from the Desire Power connection with Yuan Ming's Sea of Consciousness, transferred into it.

These emotions seemed magnified many times over, much more intense than the Desire Power transmitted by the believers of the Moon Sect.

Yuan Ming, startled, quickly severed the mental connection with the Illusion Space and leapt backward.

However, the white space did not disappear and was rapidly dyed pink.

Suddenly, Yuan Ming's view shifted, and the white space vanished, revealing a vast open plain with lush green grass and drifting White Clouds.

"A new illusion? However, this is my Dream Butterfly Illusion Space!" At first, Yuan Ming was taken aback, but then he sensed the familiar aura rippling through the surrounding space—it was his Dream Butterfly Illusion Technique.

Yet, the Dream Butterfly Space was being controlled by someone else, turned against him.

"This pink light can actually directly control my Illusion Technique! Just now, Lu Da called out to the Free Venerable? Could it be another Venerable from the Wuyue Sect has descended?" Yuan Ming's heart grew wary.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a gust of wind pressing down from above and hurriedly looked up, only to see Lu Da appearing in mid-air, swinging the pink tree branch again.

Bang!

A massive pink hand appeared from thin air, descending straight from above as if to swat an insect, heading straight for him.

This pink hand wasn't an illusion, but a tangible attack, infused with both the essences of Soul Power and Desire Power, similar to the Great Black Sky God Palm, except without the presence of mana.

An overwhelming pressure, like a torrential deluge, crashed down, leaving Yuan Ming as a piece of seaweed in a storm-tossed sea, wavering and on the verge of destruction.

Yuan Ming stepped forward, and a shadowy black light suddenly emerged from his lower half, sweeping aside dozens of feet in distance with incredible speed, his movements as elusive as a specter, using the Ghost Shadow Escape Technique from Dugu Feng.

He had found this Escape Technique in Dugu Feng's storage magic tool; the Ghost Shadow Escape was a form of Yin Escape Technique. Since Yuan Ming was a Soul Cultivator and his Lifebound Magical Treasure possessed Pure Yin Attribute, his practice of it was particularly synergistic.

Over the past few months, he had been continuously studying and had begun to grasp its principles.

With a "bang," the pink giant palm struck where Yuan Ming had been standing, blasting out a ten-foot-wide crater.

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