41: Cause and effect have been severed. It's as if this person... never existed.

Empress raised her slender brows, Immortal Power already condensing on her fingertips, clearly favoring "violent demolition."

Chu Ye raised a hand to stop her: "We are here for a 'friendly visit,' not to tear the house down."

He took out the heavenly secret abacus and lightly flicked the beads. As the beads turned, a strange Power of Karma spread out, temporarily covering and blurring the Karmic lines associated with the four people's aura, presence, and even the fact that they "intruded."

"Let's go," Chu Ye led the way, "We'll go in 'invisibly.'"

The four people silently merged into the Power Of Will Barrier, as if passing through an invisible curtain of water.

Stepping into the Southern Domain, the scenery changed dramatically.

As far as the eye could see, Buddhist temples and Daoist monasteries stood tall, and the sound of bells and Buddhist chanting could faintly be heard.

Pedestrians on the road mostly wore monastic robes and Daoist attire, their expressions peaceful, as if the entire Southern Domain was shrouded in an atmosphere of tranquility and religious harmony.

"Let's find the person first."

Chu Ye said to the Witch Queen. Their only clue was a cryptic distress letter from a certain "Abbess Jing An" in the Southern Domain.

The Witch Queen closed her eyes and focused, using the Art of Witchcraft to trace the faint trace of Karma and aura left on the letter.

After a moment, she frowned and opened her eyes: "Strange... the aura is completely gone, the Karma severed. It is as if this person... never existed."

"Let's go check out the 'Jingxin Nunnery' where she was."

Chu Ye decided to follow the only lead they had.

They found a secluded nunnery, and a young nun came out to greet them.

When asked about Abbess Jing An, the young nun looked bewildered, pressed her palms together, and replied: "Amitabha, did benefactor make a mistake? Our nunnery does not have anyone named 'Jing An.' This title is also absent from the list of previous Buddhist Abbesses."

Chu Ye exchanged a look with the three women.

Interesting.

A Power Of Will Barrier covering the entire territory, a distress caller who vanished into thin air, and an Abbess whose very existence was erased... Beneath the "purity" of this Southern Domain, a significant secret must be hidden.

"It seems,"

Chu Ye rubbed his chin, looking at the continuous temple eaves in the distance, "We'll have to play detective properly in this 'Buddhist Pure Land'.

And see where exactly that Abbess, who scored 99 on the System, has been hidden."

Chu Ye and his party stood on the soil of the Southern Domain, collectively experiencing cognitive dissonance for the first time.

Abbess Jing An was untraceable in the memories of the local people, and there was no trace of her on the Karmic lines governing the movement of Heaven and Earth.

If it weren't for the distress letter, whose handwriting and Spiritual Energy were still clearly preserved, resting safely in Chu Ye's arms, they would almost believe they had stepped into a vast, lifelike Illusion, or perhaps collectively experienced a logically bizarre dream.

"Let's find someone who knows what's going on and ask."

Empress, who always acted efficiently and directly, planned to replicate the successful experience from the Northern Territory: find a local tyrant and persuade them physically.

The target was quickly locked down: Leiyin Temple, famous and flourishing with incense offerings in the Southern Domain. Its abbot was a High Monk who had attained the Arhat Fruit Status.

However, this "friendly exchange" ① hit an unprecedented snag right from the start.

Facing Empress's Immortal Dao pressure, which was enough to change the colors of mountains and rivers, the Arhat remained utterly composed, like an ancient pine rooted to the ground, not even lifting an eyelid.

Not only did he not yield, but he raised his head and glared furiously, his voice booming like muffled thunder through the Buddhist hall, every word ringing clear: "You have trespassed upon the Sacred Ground of Buddhism and used force to dominate the Dao, committing a great taboo! Defiling the Buddhist Land will surely incur the condemnation of the Heavenly Dao, leading to eternal damnation!"

When coercion failed, the Witch Queen's fingertips glowed with a faint light, preparing to use the more direct Witchcraft Soul Searching Technique.

But just as the Witch Power was about to touch the Arhat's Spiritual Platform, a sudden change occurred!

The Arhat suddenly pressed his palms together, chanted an extremely resolute Buddhist epithet, and his entire body—flesh, Divine Soul, lifelong Cultivation, and even all his memories—ignited like sacrificial firewood!

Dazzling Buddhist Light, accompanied by vast Power Of Will, shot up into the sky, completely engulfing him. After the light dissipated, where was the living Arhat?

Only a solemn and majestic Arhat statue remained, cast entirely in pure gold, standing cold, silent, and eternal in the main hall, indistinguishable from the other ancient Buddhist statues nearby.

The air seemed to solidify.

Everyone looked at this freshly produced "work of art," speechless for a moment.

Good heavens, the purity and hardness of this faith are simply outrageous!

To maintain secrecy, the opponent chose the most thorough "deletion"—account and data, formatted with a single click—physically turning himself into an "unreadable" still life.

Chu Ye rubbed his chin, his gaze becoming playful.

"It seems the waters of this Southern Domain are much deeper than we imagined."

He looked around at the pervasive aura of peaceful Buddhist chanting. "The Heavenly Dao Laws here are probably deeply influenced by 'Buddhist principles'."

"The people living here don't seem like ordinary believers; they seem to have been 'refreshed' at the root by some power. Faith is no longer a choice, but the underlying logic of survival..."

"This isn't piety; this is being 'hardcoded'."

Just as he felt the clue had run dry and he was at a loss, a thread of extremely faint, almost imperceptible strange Qi, like the buzzing of a mosquito late at night, brushed past his perception.

Devilish Qi!

Although it was so faint it was almost nonexistent, Chu Ye had studied Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques and possessed a hound-like sensitivity to this type of Qi.

Following this almost dissipated trace, they finally discovered a secret space deep beneath Leiyin Temple, concealed by layers of Buddhist Restrictions—a gloomy underground prison.

Inside the prison were dozens of emaciated, dying prisoners.

The residual fluctuations on their bodies clearly showed traces of Demonic Path Cultivation, but now, these people were like rotten wood drained of all vitality; their skin was shriveled and clung to their bones, and their eyes were murky and unfocused.

The flame of life was so weak it seemed it would be extinguished in the next second.

At a glance, they seemed like old Demonic Cultivators whose Lifespan was nearly exhausted and were on the verge of death.

"That's wrong."

The Fox Immortal, who had been silent and merely watching coldly, suddenly spoke. Her ice-blue eyes swept over the prisoners, revealing a flash of precise judgment: "The basic Lifespan of their Physical Bodies was not naturally exhausted."

"This state... is more like their Life Origin was forcefully extracted by some overbearing method."

This judgment made the atmosphere even heavier.

They continued walking toward the deepest part of the prison.

The deeper they went, the more stagnant the air became, and a profound, brutal resentment and Killing Intent, almost solidifying into substance, rushed toward them.

In the innermost specialized cell, they witnessed a heart-stopping scene:

A woman was pierced through the shoulder blades and bound at the limbs by countless thick chains flowing with dazzling Buddhist Light, tightly confined to a stone wall covered in scriptures.

However, such severe suppression by Buddhist Light could not completely Seal the terrifying and surging Devilish Qi within her body!

The Devilish Qi was black as ink and viscous as blood, transforming into countless ferocious and painful phantoms as it rolled and surged, emitting silent screams.

Pure Killing Will intertwined with monstrous resentment, making her look less like a prisoner and more like an unparalleled Asura temporarily Sealed here, hailing from the Nine Nether Blood Sea.

Just as everyone was secretly startled by the terrifying Devilish Qi, the Fox Immortal's eyes flickered slightly.

Rarely taking the initiative, she stepped forward, her slender, pale fingers tracing patterns in the air. A thread of pure and icy Immortal Power acted like the most delicate key, accurately touching the crucial points of several Buddhist Light Restrictions.

It was not violent destruction, but deconstruction and temporary shielding using a higher-level power essence.

The moment she acted, Chu Ye keenly noticed a faint trace of... contemplation flash across the Fox Immortal's stunning, millennia-frozen face, as if she sensed an indescribably familiar fluctuation deep within the violent Devilish Qi.

As the key Restrictions were dissolved by the Immortal Power, the Buddhist Light on some chains dimmed slightly, revealing the true appearance of the suppressed woman.

It was a face that could be called peerless beauty. Even though she was paper-pale from long-term torment and exhaustion, with her eyes tightly shut and her breath so weak it was almost gone, her breathtaking beauty could not be concealed.

But at this moment, this beauty, steeped in boundless Devilish Qi and misery, presented a tragic, gorgeous, and dangerously broken feeling.

Chu Ye did not hesitate. He flicked his finger, and a thread of gentle energy containing the vitality of the primordial tree embryo was transferred into the woman's heart meridian, like the first drop of sweet rain on parched earth, temporarily stabilizing her rapidly fading life force.

They should not linger here.

The group quickly and silently left Leiyin Temple's underground prison with the unconscious, mysterious, and Devilish Qi-filled "Female Asura," transferring her to an inconspicuous inn in a border town of the Southern Domain.

After settling their unexpected "haul," Chu Ye stood by the window, gazing at the vague outlines of the temples in the distance, his fingers lightly tapping the window frame.

"Southern Domain... Buddhist Pure Land?"