Ying Guang's steps were not loud, but each thud was foreboding as he approached Yingtao. The members of the hunting party could only watch helplessly.

But a shrill scream broke the silence.

"No! Stop!" Fei An screeched.

The wind leaders stared in shock as she finally made her presence known. She leaned over the bannered wall of her clan and grasped it so hard, her fingers turned pale. Tears that had been slowly flowing from before now gushed out as a stream as she began to truly sob, rivers of mucus running down her face.

"Ying Patriarch... please don't hurt Yingtao! I've already lost my brother, I don't want something to happen to one of my best friends too!" she choked. "Please... please... she is your daughter, isn't she?"

Yingtao's eyes stopped trembling for a moment as they turned to gaze at Fei An. But her paralysed face made her feelings unknown.

"Fei An!" the Wind Matriarch waved her hands in a panic. "Don't cry, don't cry! There, there..."

She hurriedly took out a handkerchief and wiped her descendant's face gently.

"Fei An, we're sorry. Old Feng and I only wanted to avenge your brother, not hurt you further," she said gently.

"Un." Fei An sniffled.

The Wind Patriarch still seemed angered, but at the sight of Fei An, he seemed to hesitate. Finally, he let out a deep sigh before taking in a breath.

"Fine!" he shouted. "Ying Guang, on behalf of our descendant, we shall call off the soulsearch. We'll even reimburse you for the jade you've spent!"

One of the Wind elders behind him jolted.

"But Patriarch! It's simply too expensi..."

The words of the elder died out as he saw the deathly glare of the Wind Matriarch.

Huh? Baiyun was stunned for a moment, but that confusion quickly turned to joy. The case could be resolved just like that, without bringing harm to him or Yingtao? It felt almost too good to be true.

But Ying Guang's stoic face finally shifted, into a deep and heavy frown. The very sight made Baiyun's heart sink; he immediately realised what came next would not be good.

"Thousand Winds Clan. After leading us on and forcing my daughter into this position, you now dismiss her resolve?" Ying Guang spoke slowly, disdain dripping from his voice. "Do you think the Ying clan is a joke?"

The Wind Patriarch slammed his fists onto the wall.

"Wait! You're not-"

"I honour the determination of my kin. The search continues." Ying Guang boomed.

"NOOOOOOOOO! Please! Don't do it! DON'T!"

Fei An screamed with all her might and shook the court with ear piercing screeches. Baiyun winced as he tried to cover his ears. But with his left arm missing, he could only cover one of them.

"YING GUANG!" the Wind Patriarch yelled furiously.

Ying Guang looked the old man dead in the eye and scoffed. He snapped his fingers and conjured a soundproof barrier, blocking out the rage of the Wind Clan.

With the barrier around them, all was silent again.

Baiyun could only stare blankly. A peaceful resolution was already on the table, one that could even mend the conflict with the Wind Clan. Why did Ying Guang have to antagonise them again? All this would achieve was harming his daughter!

He could not comprehend the man's deranged actions. It didn't make a single lick of sense to him.

Was this truly just to test her resolve? Even for a warrior clan, this was taking it too far... There had to be more to Ying Guang's actions!

But all he could do was clench his fists in anger helplessly.

Outside the barrier, Fei An lunged from her seat and shot into the air desperately. Her ancestors floated into the air as well, following her.

Meteor Clan Head Lang Duan had been sweating bullets and fidgeting the entire time, glancing at the creepy lady of the Infinite Array Clan anxiously. Seeing the actions of the Wind Clan, his eyes finally lit up once more.

He shouted something before leaping over the wall and launching himself towards the barrier, even faster than the Wind Clan in his panic!

The judge's eyes were wide open at the chaos, and he yelled something furiously as he slammed his palms onto the podium. Baiyun could not hear him, but it was easy to guess the intent. How could so many elders be acting like such hooligans in court?

Lang Duan ignored him and summoned a giant hammer, swinging downwards and shattering the soundproof barrier into a thousand fragments.

But it was too late.

A horrifying crunch echoed as needle pierced dense bone. Ying Guang had already stabbed Yingtao with the implement.

"Do not interfere. Once the process begins, it cannot be stopped without harm." he said coldly.

Baiyun turn to the sight with dread in his eyes, only to realise the implement did not pierce Yingtao's skull. Instead, it had been stabbed onto the back of her neck instead, crushing a part of her spine. He felt slightly relieved. Even if that was the improper usage, the potential for permanent damage was far lower.

But that did not quell the rage of others.

"Bastard!" the Wind Patriarch shouted.

Fei An screamed as she shot forward in a blur, the winds trembling around her as qi exploded from her meridians abnormally! But before she could crash into Ying Guang at full speed, the Matriarch disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of her.

She screamed incoherently as the Matriarch wrapped arms around her, both as comfort and as restraints.

"Stop! You're only going to injure your friend if you rush in recklessly!" the Matriarch said. "It's too late to stop Ying Guang!"

But Fei An had become completely beyond reason, spit flying out of her mouth like a rabid animal as her pupils shot around erratically. Anyone could recognise the signs; she was about to undergo qi deviation at this rate!

The Matriarch hurriedly fed Fei An something as she struggled. The young girl's eyes fluttered for a moment. Her flailing fists slowed into weak punches, then slow taps, until finally, she slumped into the old woman's arms, fast asleep. The court was finally spared from her screams.

Baiyun sighed. It was a bit heavy-handed, but it was better than letting her rampage until she entered qi-deviation. Most likely, she would be calmer when she woke up later.

Ying Guang merely scoffed at the sight. It was easy to tell he was looking down on "weak-willed trash" of other clans. He snapped his free hand and materialised a smaller soundproof barrier. This time, Baiyun and Ying Shi were not in its radius.

The court was silent for a moment.

"He stabbed it into the back of her spine instead of her brain..." the judge muttered. "Could a Soulsearcher truly be used that way?"

"Hmph. At the very least, her mind won't be scrambled if he fails." the Wind Patriarch harrumphed. "What a dog of a father..."

The Matriarch sighed and shook her head as she returned to his side.

Baiyun had been relieved by the sight, but hearing that the Soulsearcher was truly meant to be inserted into the brain, he only grew more confused by Ying Guang's actions. It seemed the Ying Clan truly had some relation with soul arts.

Now that he thought of it, it was very strange that Yingtao could resist the soul field of the Spring Delusion Mantis after being caught by it once. If that attack truly could be resisted merely by experience and willpower, why would the mantis be so feared?

The same went for Yang Xiao the "Clapping Guard", who could resist the aura of all the Nascent Soul elders here despite seemingly only at Qi Gathering.

Could it be that the true focus of the Ying Clan was soul arts, but were merely disguising it as "iron will"? That would be a stupid farce easily seen through in other worlds, but no one here understood soul arts enough to see through it. It didn't seem like the practitioners at the Ying Clan were aware either, not even Yingtao.

And if Ying Guang was trying to keep the soul arts of his clan under wraps, why was he openly showing his soulsearching skills?

Baiyun pondered the Ying Clan, but without using his eye art, the operation did not wait for him.

Ying Guang had already begun the procedure, all four of his shackles lighting up and extending streams of light towards the Mind Spike embedded in Yingtao's nape.

Every pore and orifice of hers glowed with light, and her eyes were so bright that they shone like lanterns. Without her bloodshot eyes visible, it was hard to tell if she was still conscious.

Ying Guang's eyes were shut with such force that creases and crevices formed all over his face, his eyebrows deeply furrowed. If his eyeballs weren't refined, perhaps they would have popped from the sheer pressure.

The crystal orb on the Judge's podium lit up, mist flowing out of its stand and rising into the air. A massive cloud of mist 10 metres wide swirled in the air before stabilising into a mirage, revealing a dark musty cave. A simulated stench wafted out as well, making a few of the elders frown.

Baiyun immediately recognised the sight. It was the den of the centipedes!

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The mirage twisted strangely as it shifted; no matter which angle one looked at it, the same view would be shown, a somewhat disorientating effect.

Murmurs of surprise rose all over the court. No one expected the abnormal procedure to succeed! The two men of the Trade and Treasury Association seemed particularly excitedly as they wrote in their notebooks in a frenzy.

It seemed a lot of clans would reach out to the Ying Clan to ask about the new soulsearching method after this incident.

Within the mirage, a Lifesap root hung on the ceiling of the cave. Jingfeng was smiling ear to ear as he held a spatial gourd. Mirage Baiyun in armour did not look as excited, staring off into the distant tunnels with worried eyes instead.

The Wind Clan watched with conflicted look in their eyes. Perhaps this was the last time they would see the young master again. Fei An was slumped in her matriarch's arms, unable to see her brother again for the final time. Whether it was a shame or for the best was hard to say.

"50 litres! We actually harvested that much already!" Yingtao whispered as she reached for the roots with her gourd.

She and Jingfeng exchanged a few excited whispers, tho the latter seem a little worried they were pushing their luck.

But mirage Baiyun's eyes constricted. He hurriedly smacked Yingtao on the shoulder, gesturing in a frenzy.

Something was emitted out of the mirage, and the crowd could feel Yingtao's emotions, more specifically, her bewilderment at those words. It was then when an immense aura erupted over the caves, distorting the scene!

Before Yingtao could react, she vanished from the cave and appeared in a field of wildflowers. Petals fluttered in the gentle wind, swarms of butterflies dancing through the air. Songbirds chirped from blossoming trees, their feathers colourful as prisms as they flew joyfully.

Despite being tossed into this illusion so abruptly, no confusion of hers could be felt from the mirage. It was as if she had been in the field all along, and had never been in the dark cave. All that could be felt was the strange serenity and bliss she felt at that moment, as she enjoyed the embrace of the wind and the beauty of nature.

The elders murmured to themselves. So this was the sight that enthralled so many...

But a hand grabbed the back of Yingtao's neck, yanking her towards the ground.

She felt alarmed as she fell, bracing for impact against the flowers. But only hard rock struck the back of her skull, and it seemed to jolt her awake.

In the real world, Baiyun mused to himself as he watched the mirage. So that was how she subconsciously interpreted the jolt of soulsense he sent into her nape, which was what actually woke her up. Violence and pain from outside would not be enough to break such an illusion.

The peaceful sounds were replaced by frantic footsteps and heavy breathing, as the delusions of spring faded away into dark caverns. Yingtao raised her head and saw Baiyun with gritted teeth, dragging her and Jingfeng away with all his might.

That couldn't be right however. Baiyun had been wearing armour, and his helmet had not been damaged enough to show his face.

But that minor inaccuracy was pushed away as Baiyun realised a bigger discrepancy. Neither of his hands were bleeding!

To rouse the two from the illusion, he sent jolts of soulsense into them so violently, his left hand erupted with blood! That blood even seeped into Jingfeng's robes, but the clothes were still clean within the mirage.

Baiyun suddenly realised something. This soulsearch method did not extract the true vision, instead displaying how the events were remembered! Yingtao must have felt Baiyun was gritting his teeth back then, and also failed to notice the injury of his hand.

Or was it due to Ying Guang's interference?

Yingtao steeled herself with a deep breath, shaking herself off from Baiyun's grasp and getting to her feet. She tossed Baiyun and Jingfeng onto her back instead as she ran with all her might, her breathing heavy with fear.

The elders frowned as they watched from their seats.

"Could it be that she never saw the mantis's true form? This search would have been wasted then..." the Judge muttered.

Baiyun nearly choked. He hoped not; knowing the court, this would somehow put him back in the position of getting searched.

Wait.

His heart sank as he saw the scene before his eyes, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

This was when the mantis was sending death marks to them! None of this was noticed by Yingtao, but he recognised it. It was not reflected in the mirage, but his eyes would have been bleeding at that moment as he tormented himself in search of a solution without sacrifice.

Futile, of course.

A loud bang echoed as something unknown exploded. It would have been Baiyun's left hand and metal gauntlet detonating.

Jingfeng yelled in pain at that moment as the shrapnel dug into him, but the mirage merely showed him screaming without reason, as Yingtao did not know why.

Within the mirage, Baiyun suddenly shifted on her back, shoving Jingfeng off and kicking him away with all his might!

Jingfeng's face was frozen in terror as he flew through the air.

The Wind Patriarch bellowed as the Matriarch covered her mouth in horror.

An aura of fury erupted from the patriarch and flooded the massive chamber, the court entering an uproar! Even Baiyun's supporters stared in shock, Mohei pausing his muffled shouts of anger for a moment with widened eyes.

Baiyun's eyes constricted. He should have known...

He overthought it! Of course Ying Guang wouldn't have any reason to alter the mirage!

But before another second could pass, a glowing radiance shone from Jingfeng's body. Blades of qi erupted from his chest and tore him into shreds. His haunting screams of agony echoed through the court as his mangled body fell to the ground.

The elders went silent. The Wind Patriarch deflated in an instant, his aura fading away as he stared at the mirage blankly.

Within the vision, Yingtao fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?" mirage Baiyun screamed at her. "RUN!"

It was then when the court finally saw Baiyun's eyes from Yingtao's perspective. They had been pulverised into a mess of gore, fresh blood flowing down from his face. His face was twitching uncontrollably, as if he was about to scream and cry at any moment from the agony.

Mohei could not take the sight and covered his eyes, while Sanguang vomited on the spot.

"Your eyes..." Yingtao stammered.

But she froze as a low scuttle echoed through the caverns. Twin scythes emerged from the edge of a dark tunnel, wreathed in pure white qi and glinting brightly. The mantis marched into view and showed the rest of itself.

Terrifying yet beautiful, it had a lithe body that seemed far too frail for violence. It had wings that resembled elongated flower petals, its abdomen a giant flower blossom that filled the air with a floral scent.

The sight was strikingly vivid, as if Yingtao had engraved the very sight into her mind; without a single discrepancy unlike before. Her terror at that moment radiated from the mirage, crushing upon the audience of lower cultivation. Those of Core Shaping winced, while those of Foundational clutched their heads. Mohei and Sanguang fainted from the pressure, tumbling from their seats and hitting the ground to the alarm of their parents.

Baiyun briefly considered if he should crumple as well, but seeing Ying Shi beside him endure it, he decided not to. He was supposed to be a servant with enough willpower to withstand the soul field of the mantis after all.

An awful ear piercing fizzle suddenly filled the court.

The clouds of the mirage began to distort, before dissipating. Yingtao's body was convulsing despite the paralysis, her eyes rolling into whites as foam frothed from her mouth. Perhaps reliving the memory of the mantis was too much for her.

Ying Guang hurriedly pulled the Mind Spike out of her spine before she could harm herself further, careful even in his haste. His hand shot into his ring with lightning speed, stuffing a pill into her mouth faster than the eye could see. A medicinal salve was next applied to the back of her neck and wrapped densely in bandages.

Baiyun's heart was pounding like a drum as he awaited the reaction of the court. Reliving the scenes through Yingtao's memories had weakened his strange detachment.

The silence that followed was brief, but it felt like hours to him. The tension built painfully. with every second that passed.

Finally, the judge spoke.

"The might of Unparalleled Insight.... I see it has not been exaggerated." he said slowly. "But it is a shame. Merely the backlash of witnessing the Mantis's might injured him to such an extent. I suppose for a mortal interfering in a battle between cultivators, this can be considered getting off lightly."

Eyes from all over the court landed on Baiyun.

Ying Guang flicked a finger towards the soundproof barrier he had conjured, shattering it with ease. His other hand held his slumped daughter by her back.

"Yang Xiao!" he shouted. "Come here!"

A small clatter came from beneath a seat of the Ying Clan as the guard revealed himself from his hiding spot. He ran panickedly, stumbling down the stairs and looking like he would fall at any moment, but the frantic waving of his arms somehow kept him balanced. He rushed onto flat ground, the momentum of the steps carrying him to the podium in an instant.

Ying Guang did not comment on the less than dignified approach, merely tossing the kid a small wooden boat.

"Take Yingtao back to the clan immediately for treatment." he said. "I will entrust this Windshroud Boat to you."

"Y-yes!" Yang Xiao stammered as he bowed profusely.

He stuffed the boat figurine into his robes, hoisting the larger woman onto his back with great difficulty. Finally, he rushed out of the courtroom as fast as he could, slowing only as he scaled the stairs upwards.

The court session continued.

Hour by hour, it dragged on from day til midnight.

Only then was everyone dismissed.

Baiyun was battered and exhausted, but somehow, he was alive.

Some people wanted to talk to him, most notably Mohei, Ying Shi and Laohe, but the Judge declared no clan would be allowed to make contact with Baiyun for a few days. Even Yue was chased away, rendering him blind once more.

They walked out of the dark hall, accompanied by nothing but the sound of echoing footsteps and the occasional thuds of a walking stick. Baiyun let out a faint sigh of relief as he finally left the foreboding castle.

The shine of a lantern that shone with green-white light caught his attention, his ruined eyes merely seeing an ambiguous blur of green. It hung from a black mechanical carriage entirely made of metal, without even a horse or a driver.

"This carriage is your ticket home." the Enforcer said. "You have a few days before you'll be fetched for border duty, so make the most of your time."

Baiyun nodded in silence as he entered the carriage. The steel door creaked ominously before shutting loudly behind him, the vehicle moving without a moment of waiting.

He sighed as he slumped in the seats, his eyes turned towards the night sky out of habit, hoping to see its constellations. But all he saw darkness. He listened to the gentle rumble of the carriage wheels, as well as the chirps of the crickets in the grass.

But try as he might, he could not get the court case out of his mind. Most of it was was irrelevant to him, but he thought over and over about what had happened.

The Ying Clan would be punished by the sect harshly. Not only did Ying Guang fail to supervise his son, resulting in the death of another clan's young master, his clan also neglected to provide a supervising Elder for the hunting party.

As for Baiyun himself, the situation was complicated. For nearly an hour, there was a huge bout of argument between the clans, but it was ultimately decided he would be spared. It was ruled that Jingfeng was already marked for death, so kicking him away to save Yingtao was justified. Even the hard-headed elders reluctantly agreed.

There was a bit of confusion as to why the mantis had only marked Jingfeng however. The court came to the conclusion that the mantis must only be able to mark 1 target at a time, and treated it as valuable information. Baiyun sweated, hoping the misunderstanding wouldn't backfire on them. It would be bad news for him if the mantis survived a potential revenge attack, retaliating with intent to destroy WanLing.

But despite pardoning Baiyun, for the sake of the Wind Clan's face, the Judge declared the act could not go unpunished. The Wind Clan remained silent the whole time, the Patriarch and Matriarch looking down wordlessly. Cruel irony... he would even have preferred for them to speak against him.

Baiyun would be sent to the "Beast Borders" to serve as a guard for the next 5 years. He was not given many details about what the location would be, but the sect spirits would bring him there 2-3 days later.

The Stormseeker Matriarch wanted to hand him a reward for saving Sanguang as promised, but the judge forbade her as Baiyun was now a criminal. It was quite frustrating; he wondered for a moment if he could ask her again when the incident died down.

It was unlikely he could directly contact her with his status however, and there was a good chance she had only been posturing. A clan leader directly rewarding a servant was unrealistic to begin with.

After Baiyun's incident had been dealt with, the court moved on.

The Wind Clan declared they would hunt down the Mantis at all costs. The Mirage Orb had recorded its soul aura from Yingtao's memories, so they could replicate that information into search artefacts.

A few elders mused that perhaps it was a good thing Yingtao had searched instead, as such an accurate aura could not have been extracted from a servant's memories. Ying Shi gnashed his teeth at the sound of it, but Ying Guang did not react.

Lang Duan, Meteor Forge Clan Head was still in a panic. He offered to round up the full attack force of his clan to join the effort, even letting the elders of the Wind Clan borrow his best weapons and artefacts. In exchange, they would give him the wind crystal. After all, with Yingtao taking the blow for Baiyun, he could no longer obtain it as a bribe.

He froze as the Wind Patriarch scoffed with disdain, but the offer was reluctantly accepted.

The rest of the clans had no interest in hunting such a dangerous beast, deciding to bolster their defences instead. More resources would be invested into formations and artefacts, and Elders would now routinely search and investigate the sect for any strange beasts that could be from the Beast Continent.

The Matriarch of the Tranquil Ocean sect would dispatch more spirits to the Beast Borders, increasing surveillance. Baiyun's heart sank at that moment, as he realised he would not be able to use divine thread freely despite having to fight for his life.

What a long day it was...

Baiyun was beyond exhausted. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to truly sleep for the first time in 8 years.

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