The Dao Heart Demon Talisman, something Ye Zhen had only read about in ancient texts before, had never been seen by him in its physical form.
Once a martial artist’s cultivation breaks through to the Dao Entrance realm, the Divine Soul Oath no longer has much binding power. The Divine Soul Oath uses the martial artist’s own divine soul power as a medium, so how binding could it possibly be?
Usually, only those martial artists who have condensed a primordial spirit use primordial spirit power to evoke the Heaven and Earth Laws to swear an oath, which has considerable binding power on those who swear it.
Yet still, there are many nuances involved, such as true body versus false body, and so on.
Additionally, the Demon Race evokes their Ancestor Spirit Bloodline to swear oaths, and the followers of the Heavenly Temple Demon God Palace swear by the tributed Divine Monarchs and Divine Kings, among others.
While these have some binding force on those who swear, they aren’t absolute.
Currently, the issue of the Jade Scroll Spirit Shadow is a deadlock for the Heavenly Temple. No matter how venomous the oath, it still cannot make the Heavenly Temple rest easy.
Thus, the Heavenly Temple resorted to using the Dao Heart Demon Talisman.
This Dao Heart Demon Talisman is crafted by those who have reached even the middle-late stage of the Dao realm, using their own essence blood to evoke the Heaven and Earth Laws and refining it with secret techniques over nine days and nights before eventually creating this Dao Heart Demon Talisman.
After using this Dao Heart Demon Talisman, the user simultaneously evokes their own Innate Divine Soul and the Dao Heart Demon Talisman through a secret technique and swears something akin to a Divine Soul Oath.
Then, they activate the Dao Heart Demon Talisman in response to the oath.
If, years later, the oath-taker has not fulfilled their promise, the holder of the talisman may directly activate it.
If one asks oneself and confirms that the promise made when the Dao Heart Demon Talisman was activated has been fulfilled, the talisman will turn to ashes upon activation. If not, the divine soul will suffer a violent backlash, and the Innate Divine Soul of the one who activated the Dao Heart Demon Talisman will be afflicted with a heart demon.
This heart demon, rooted in the Innate Divine Soul, cannot be eradicated for life.
Being afflicted with such a heart demon not only dooms one’s martial arts path, but the chances of entering a state of devilry during cultivation, leading to complete obliteration, is unimaginably high.
This Dao Heart Demon Talisman is extremely domineering; as long as the talisman’s creator’s cultivation isn’t significantly lower than the user’s, even a Creation Realm expert cannot escape it.
It’s most convenient for restraining some powerful figures.
However, crafting this Dao Heart Demon Talisman is not easy. During its creation, it directly extracts three drops of the creator’s Origin Essence Blood and causes a slight decline in the creator’s cultivation and mental state.
For these reasons, virtually no Dao realm expert is willing to create a Dao Heart Demon Talisman unless absolutely necessary.
This is why Dao Heart Demon Talismans are extremely rare.
Truth be told, the conditions proposed by the Heavenly Temple are as normal as they could be.
The only thing Ye Zhen needed to consider was whether the Heavenly Temple would tamper with the Dao Heart Demon Talisman.
Ye Zhen readily agreed to the Heavenly Temple’s two conditions.
"You, Heavenly Temple, first submit a petition to revoke the investigation on me related to the Shahe City Branch Temple; then, after you gather all the items listed in my conditions, I will hand over the original spirit shadow of the Jade Scroll,
along with the spirit shadows of all the Divine Records, and the list of all who have seen these spirit shadows, to you. Finally, we will activate the Dao Heart Demon Talisman to verify authenticity, how about it?" Ye Zhen said.
"No problem!"
Mu Xu agreed very readily, "By tomorrow morning, our Heavenly Temple will petition to clarify this matter and also withdraw the surveillance on you. Afterward, I will come as a representative of the Heavenly Temple to apologize to Commander Ye."
By then, completing the transaction and activating the Dao Heart Demon Talisman to verify authenticity shouldn’t be an issue, right?"
Nodding, Ye Zhen secretly felt slight regret. His list must have been too modest if the Heavenly Temple could gather all the items within half a day.
In retrospect, even the wealth of a single branch temple like the Heavenly Temple is so enormous, so how massive must the wealth be when summed up from the lower court, upper house, and the Three Great Holy Lands of the Heavenly Temple?
The following morning, Baili Fei, the Moon Hall Master of the Heavenly Temple, holding the Staff of World Incineration, requested an audience with the Holy Son of Heaven, Great Zhou.
The Staff of World Incineration signified the personal visit of the Heavenly Temple Sun and Moon Divine Monarch. Even the Holy Son of Heaven, Great Zhou, dared not neglect such a formal ceremony.
He immediately convened the court ministers along with Prime Minister Bai, the Chief Sun Priest of the Ancestor God Temple, to receive Baili Fei with impeccable etiquette.
"Your Majesty, this old man has come today to request your assistance with a matter." After some polite exchanges, Baili Fei broached the main topic.
This caused a solemn curiosity among Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long and the court ministers.
They couldn’t understand why the Heavenly Temple would go to such lengths to discuss this matter in advance, while the Grand Assembly, which was to determine the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy Ye Zhen’s investigation, was to be held the following day?
In the eyes of the ministers of Great Zhou, Baili Fei’s grand gesture with the Staff of World Incineration to rally the court was likely aimed at dealing with Ye Zhen, whom else could it be?
"Master Baili, please speak. As long as it’s reasonable and feasible, I will certainly grant it." Ren Venerate Emperor replied calmly.
"This old man thanks Your Majesty in advance." Baili Fei continued, smiling warmly.
"Your Majesty should be aware of the slaughters at the Luo Prefecture Branch Temple. After our investigation, we at the Heavenly Temple have determined it was the work of the Demon Clan, including the incident at the Shahe City Branch Temple, which was led by a Soul Demon Sovereign from the Demon Clan."
Upon hearing this, Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long and the ministers of Great Zhou were greatly astounded. They had initially thought that the Heavenly Temple intended to make things difficult for Ye Zhen, but unexpectedly, upon opening their mouths, they set the frame of reference for the matter themselves, thereby exonerating Ye Zhen.
This left many ministers, who had prepared to take the Heavenly Temple to task, suddenly feeling like their efforts had been for naught. All the preparations made over several days to counter the Heavenly Temple’s accusations suddenly became irrelevant.
However, the ones who were most aggrieved were Prince Lik Ji Yuan and West Patrol Xio Qiangu.
One sought revenge for his son’s lost title, while the other wanted to remove Ye Zhen, a thorn in his side. Both had been all fired up for their respective motives.
But in the blink of an eye, their most steadfast ally had played them for fools.
How could they not be angry?
If not for being in the court, Prince Lik Ji Yuan and West Patrol Xio Qiangu might have grabbed Baili Fei by the neck to question what was going on.
Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long, too, was extremely curious about this.
Nonetheless, facing the crowd’s reactions, Baili Fei, the Moon Hall Master, seemed unperturbed and continued to speak at his own pace.
"The actions of the Demon Clan this time have indeed been outrageous, as if there were no one within the Heavenly Temple or the Great Zhou. It’s been far too presumptuous!
A half-day ago, the Chief Masters of our Three Great Holy Lands issued an imperial edict simultaneously, intending to take retaliatory action against the Demon God Palace.
However, with complex situations on the Demon Clan’s side, involving the Human-Demon Battlefield, intelligence, retreats, and such matters, this old man requests Your Majesty’s decree so that the West Patrol, the stationed troops at the Human-Demon Battlefield, and the major Ancient Teleportation Formations in the vicinity may assist the Heavenly Temple in its cause."
Having finished, Baili Fei tapped the Staff of World Incineration lightly.
Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long and his ministers were left speechless by his words. The so-called request for cooperation turned out to be about this.
Since it was against the Demon Clan, why not cooperate?
On the spot, Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long issued a decree, instructing the relevant departments to cooperate as deemed appropriate, facilitating the Heavenly Temple’s cause. The West Patrol was commanded to fully assist and act when the opportunity presented itself.
Since the Heavenly Temple had attributed the slaughters at the Shahe City Branch Temple and the Luo Prefecture Branch Temple to the Demon Clan, the accusations against Ye Zhen were naturally void and automatically dismissed.
Compared to the significant action the Heavenly Temple was preparing to take, revoking the accusations against Ye Zhen seemed merely incidental.
Of course, as long as Ye Zhen, the aggrieved party, didn’t speak out, no courtier would be foolish enough to hold the Heavenly Temple accountable or reproach them for previously maligning Ye Zhen.
After the Grand Divine Master Shouhui and a host of Divine Masters, Heavenly Patrol Department personnel, and the priests of the Barbarian Spirit Hall stationed outside the posthouse where Ye Zhen resided had all withdrawn, Ye Zhen learned of the court proceedings from Liuu Feng.
Regarding this matter, Ye Zhen had nothing to say apart from giving a thumbs-up.
Simply requesting to retaliate against the Demon God Palace and circulating the report conveniently resolved the accusations against Ye Zhen.
Not a bit of face was lost!
Of course, expecting the Heavenly Temple to publicly admit they wronged Ye Zhen and to retract the accusations with humility, indirectly acknowledging their mistake, would certainly never happen.
The current situation was, indeed, the most amicable resolution.
Nineteen days later, Ye Zhen regained his freedom!

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