"I"ve narrowed it down much further." Qin Yun stopped his inference. With one step, he crossed the void and came to a spot high in the sky. He looked down from the clouds at a rather lofty city. The city spanned about five hundred kilometers in width. "His true body is within twenty-five hundred kilometers of this city. Outside the city, it"s rather desolate. There are just too few large gatherings. Those of the Mental Demon lineage all enjoy manipulating the hearts of people. This Moxiu is likely in a place where it"s populated.

"That also means… he is likely inside this city."

Qin Yun looked at the city.

…

In a residence inside the city.

"Oh? Where is this?" A single-horned man who was tied up and dressed in gorgeous clothes gradually woke up.

"Have you awoken?" A voice sounded. A plump youth was sitting on a chair as he looked down at the man who was lying on the ground.

"It"s you. That merchant?" The single-horned man suddenly recalled something. He immediately shouted angrily when he found himself tied up, "You despicable merchant. How dare you touch me? Quickly release me, or not only will you die, but even your loved ones and the clan behind you will all die!"

"Wouldn"t you still seek revenge on me even if I released you?" The plump youth wore an exaggerated look of fear. "If I release you, you will still kill me. If I don"t release you, I"ll still be in big trouble in the future… Aiyaya, what should I do? Should I do such a clean job of killing you that no one can figure out how you died? Is that the way I can escape any trouble?"

The single-horned man"s expression changed slightly as he held back his anger through clenched teeth. He said in a deep voice, "Don"t worry. As long as you release me, all will be forgiven."

"Aiyah, the esteemed young son of the City Lord, do you think I"m really that foolish? That I would obediently listen to you and release you?" said the plump youth with squinted eyes.

"Speak. What do you exactly want?" The man continued tolerating the youth"s impertinence. "You must have a motive for capturing me. Tell me your motive."

The youth gently clapped his hand.

Immediately, a puppet Guardian walked in while shoving a woman in front of it. Having exerted strength, the restrained woman collapsed to the group, right beside the single-horned man.

"Second Yu. Do you know who he is?" The woman immediately glared at the plump youth. "How dare you imprison him. Are you crazy?"

"Second Yu?"

The youth was immediately enlightened. "You are this s.l.u.t"s fiancé, Second Young Master Yu? Second Yu, why do this? It"s only a woman. You are also a fiendish cultivator… Why do you care about such things? In the future, I"ll find you women who are adept in the mesmerizing fiendish arts. They will be much better than this s.l.u.t."

The youth smiled at the woman. "Heard that? In the eyes of the Young City Lord, you are just a s.l.u.t."

The woman"s expression was nasty.

"She flung herself onto me, and all I did was fool around with her," said the youth immediately. "How do you want me to compensate you? Feel free to speak."

"Young City Lord!" The woman refused to believe that the esteemed young city lord would be so amenable to threats.

"Shut up," the youth berated her furiously.

The woman immediately did not dare say another word.

The youth smiled immediately. "Second Yu, why don"t we become life-and-death brothers in the name of the Fiend Ancestor?"

"Oh, it"s too late." The youth scoffed. "s.l.u.t, didn"t you wish to pander to this esteemed young city lord? I"ll let you accompany him the for all eternity, then you two will be satisfied."

"Brother Yu!" The youth"s expression changed.

"Kill them," instructed the plump youth.

"Yes." The puppet Guardian immediately obeyed the order and went forward.

"You are mad. You won"t be able to escape if you kill me. You are doomed. Even your clan will…" the youth was still speaking.

"He"s the son of the City Lord! Second Yu, Yu Fei. I was wrong, really. How can you bear to kill me? Did you forget how…" The woman was reeling in fear at that moment. She never expected Second Yu to be that gutsy.

"Phuah! Phuah!"

The puppet Guardian swiped his saber down as a flash appeared, slicing through the City Lord"s son and the woman.

"Clean it up nicely." The fat youth stood up and left.

"Yes," replied the puppet Guardian respectfully.

The youth returned to his room and began drinking. His mouth suffused a smile. "Very good. After killing that bulls.h.i.+t young son of the City Lord and that woman, I have indeed lessened the karma. Yu Fei"s soul shows less resistance to me. I"ll do a few more things to make Yu Fei"s father more pleased. When his soul becomes one with my true self… I shall have an additional avatar."

"Once I master this avatar, I can use it to cultivate back into my true body even if my true body were to be killed."

"Once Yu Fei is done, I"ll have five avatars."

The Mental Demon lineage was one that existed between reality and illusion to begin with.

Moxiu had originally discovered that Yu Fei"s soul had an affinity with him. He was delighted, and secretly transformed into an incorporeal Mental Demon that infused into the soul of Yu Fei, a son of a merchant.

He had first used his patience to slowly trigger the desires in Yu Fei"s heart and while he was being influenced by his desires…

Moxiu as a Mental Demon began to slowly infiltrate.

Now, Moxiu was already completely in control of Yu Fei"s soul. It was even to a point where he would be able to perfectly fuse as one in a couple more days!

As for the City Lord or his son? To an Ancestral Fiend, they were nothing but ants!

"However, now that my disciple, Moncanton, has been killed, I wonder who that half-step Ancestral Fiend is." The youth frowned as a ferocious glint flashed in his eyes. "I"ll slowly seek you out."

…

The day ushered in the night.

In the night sky, Qin Yun was looking down from the clouds.

"I still have to shrink the region more."

"There are more than a hundred million beings in a twenty-five hundred kilometer range of the city. Moxiu might be any one of them." Qin Yun pondered. "Once he is alerted, I won"t be able to stop an Ancestral Fiend of the Mental Demon lineage if I"m not prepared."

An ordinary Ancestral Fiend could be killed easily..

But Moxiu…

He had a very special vital essence. He could oscillate between reality and illusion, making his ability to escape much stronger.

"According to the Green Touring Palace"s intelligence, Mental Demon Ancestral Fiends have three extremely powerful life-preservation means—Myriad Fiendwalk, Mental Demon Avatar, Undying Mental Demon. However… an Undying Mental Demon is likely only something Patriarch Mental Demon had mastered. The other two Mental Demon Ancestral Fiends are relatively weaker and are only at the ordinary Ancestral Fiend level. It"s likely they have only mastered the two mystic arts, the Myriad Fiendwalk and the Mental Demon Avatar.

"That"s why I can"t be careless. Just a tiny slip up would allow Moxiu to escape."

Myriad Fiendwalk?

Mental Demon Avatar?

As long as he was careful, he was still confident of cracking the art and successfully killing Moxiu.

"I"ll first probe the karma." Qin Yun looked down as his eyes glowed. The thought processes of an Essence Soul at the pinnacle Golden Immortal level was extremely fast.

"There are 110 million humans and 600,000 demons in the city. Outside the city, there are about 30 million humans and 600,000 demons."

"I can see each and every one of their karma."

"Strange."

Qin Yun frowned slightly. "None of them have blurred the secrets of heaven? From the looks of it, Moxiu has integrated himself into a lifeform, and is living in this world using that lifeform"s ident.i.ty.

"To allow him to hide so perfectly, would that mean he"s using the Mental Demon Avatar as mentioned in the Green Touring Palace"s intelligence?

"He must have allowed his Mental Demon Avatar to continue cultivating, and it should reach the Fiendcelestial realm at the very least so that it would have a sufficiently long lifespan. If not, a mortal"s life is too short. It"s not worth it to cultivate a Mental Demon Avatar with that.

"So a being of at least the Fiendcelestial realm?

"There are twelve Skyfiends and 3500 Fiendcelestials within the area."

Nothing could hide from Qin Yun"s probes.

He did not even dare cast his domain, afraid that he would alert his prey. Instead, he spied through s.p.a.ce. Due to his attainments in s.p.a.ce-time, Moxiu was unable to discover Qin Yun.

"He is among one of those twelve Skyfiends and 3500 Fiendcelestials." Qin Yun sat cross-legged on the cloud. He began mult.i.tasking as he monitored the three thousand plus candidates.

…

Time flew by.

The next morning.

Inside the Yu family"s residence in the city.

"Dad! Dad!" The plump youth looked delighted.

"What"s the hurry?" A curved-horned elder who was reading through a dossier frowned. Although they were originally human, they had begun growing fiendish characteristics after cultivating in the Fiendish Dao.

"Dad, I broke through. I"m at the second firmament of the Fiendcelestial realm," the plump youth said in excitement.

The elder was delighted hearing that. "You have broken through? You took three hundred years to become a Fiendcelestial, but it did not take you even ten years to break through to the second firmament? From the looks of it, my son is someone who succeeds late in life!"

The elder was very excited.

Although he was a businessman, this was still a world of cultivators. He always hoped that his family clan would produce a powerful expert.

"Hahaha, you are much better than those brothers of yours. You reached the second firmament so quickly. In the future, there is a definite chance of you reaching the third firmament of the Fiendcelestial realm… There might even be a possibility of you touching the Skyfiend realm." The elder was happy. "That way, our Yu family would stand out."

"Dad, I just reached the second firmament," said the youth. "I"m still far from the Skyfiend realm."

"Right. Let"s take it a step at a time." The elder was overjoyed.

The standing his son had in his heart went from being an ordinary son out of all his numerous children to first place!

After all, the third firmament Fiendcelestial realm was certain. There was a chance of him becoming a Skyfiend!

"This Yu Fei probably has not seen his father smile much since he was young, much less made his father so excited and happy," thought the youth. "His soul"s resistance against me is weakening. Soon, I will fuse with him completely."

…

High in the clouds.

Qin Yun was monitoring three thousand plus candidates simultaneously.

"Yu Fei, a second firmament Fiendcelestial. He cultivated for three centuries to become a Fiendcelestial; yet, he took fewer than ten years to reach the second firmament? The speed at which he cultivates accelerated that much?" Qin Yun instantly kept Yu Fei in mind as his suspicions of this candidate rose sharply.