When Ding Huan spoke of joining the Blue Star Sect, he detected a strange expression on Lou Buzhi’s face, definitely indicating some underlying issue.
Ding Huan decided to wait for an opportune moment to ask Lou Buzhi about it in detail.
Suddenly, Ding Huan declared loudly,
"Fellow cultivators from the Triple Heaven Star Land, Jiuyuan and the God clan have ambitious designs on our land and plot against the Triple Heaven Star Land. Such actions will never be allowed by us.
Now, four Earth Immortals hiding in Jiuyuan City have been slain by us, but there certainly are still people from Jiuyuan and the God clan lurking in the city.
Anyone with leads should report to the Jiuyuan City Lord Mansion. Whichever informant there is, they will be rewarded handsomely."
After this affair ended, Ding Huan decided to change the name of Jiuyuan City. He didn’t know its previous name, but he would find out soon after asking Yi Qianxing.
As the crowd dispersed, Ding Huan knew cleansing the Jiuyuan cultivators and the God clan cultivators from Jiuyuan City would be no easy task.
At times, human hearts are the most complex.
Even though the cultivators from Jiuyuan arrived in Jiuyuan City to strip away the Triple Heaven Star Land, oddly enough, many cultivators from the Triple Heaven Star Land were helping them.
Relying on the cultivators of Jiuyuan City to report was quite unrealistic.
To cleanse the Jiuyuan cultivators and the God clan cultivators from Jiuyuan City, a more secure method was needed, and the best would be to capture them all in one fell swoop.
While thinking of strategies, Ding Huan arrived at the Jiuyuan City Lord Mansion just as Qi Yonghan and others stepped out.
"Sect Master Ding, all Jiuyuan and God clan cultivators here have been killed. You can stay here with ease."
Ding Huan knew that someone like Qi Yonghan would never bother distinguishing between Jiuyuan cultivators and those from the Triple Heaven Star Land; he would leave none unturned.
Regarding this, Ding Huan wasn’t concerned, for whoever chose to join Jiuyuan City had to bear the corresponding consequences.
"Senior Mu, I plan to enter closed cultivation for some time. The remnants of the Jiuyuan Star and God clan in Jiuyuan City will be under your responsibility. How does that sound?" Ding Huan looked at Mu Chengzi.
He knew Mu Chengzi had long wanted to prove himself but never got the chance, so Ding Huan decided to entrust this task to Mu Chengzi.
Although he was well aware that Mu Chengzi had zero chance of completing it.
"Haha, rest assured, leave it to me. I promise to wipe out all these scum."
Mu Chengzi was brimming with confidence; he had no idea why Ding Huan chose to go into seclusion.
...
With a dozen or so Earth Immortal powerhouses present, coupled with reports from the native cultivators of Jiuyuan City.
Technically, it should have been easy to purge the Jiuyuan and God clan cultivators, but five days went by without the elimination of an additional Earth Immortal strongman, resulting in numerous casualties among the native cultivators of the Triple Heaven Star Land.
Previously, Jiuyuan City was home to hundreds of millions of cultivators. Even now, in a state of decline, there were still tens of millions.
To identify all the Jiuyuan cultivators among the tens of millions was indeed very difficult.
The key issue was the well-entrenched roots of the Jiuyuan cultivators in Jiuyuan City, with many of the locals inclined toward Jiuyuan.
They did not believe that the people of Jiuyuan would destroy the entire Triple Heaven Star Land, but rather felt that Jiuyuan taking control of the Triple Heaven Star Land might be better.
This was despite Ding Huan setting up a Level 8 Killing Trap Array and Forbidden Array that locked down Jiuyuan City, otherwise, those Earth Immortals of Jiuyuan, and even the Immortals, would have fled.
After Ji Xuwen was injured, Cen Huan, who was ambushed with Array tactics by four Earth Immortals, Mu Chengzi, in charge of exterminating the Jiuyuan cultivators, felt that they couldn’t go on like this.
If they continued, it was very likely that they would be isolated and eliminated by the enemy.
In his opinion, they should concentrate their powerhouses to besiege the Jiuyuan cultivators.
Jiuyuan City still had at least four or five Earth Immortal cultivators, and if his people were divided, they would likely be picked off by Jiuyuan’s strongmen.
Since Ding Huan was in closed cultivation, he was now unsure whether his course of action was appropriate and therefore gathered everyone at the City Lord Mansion.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot continue like this. If we do, we’ll surely suffer losses." Mu Chengzi spoke with a tone conveying helplessness.
Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.
He always wanted to help Ding Huan with something, and before going into closed cultivation, Ding Huan had entrusted him with the major task of exterminating Jiuyuan City’s cultivators, which he botched.
This made him deeply ashamed.
"These people have blended into the ordinary cultivators of Jiuyuan City, hiding within the city walls, making it very difficult to single them out," Cen Huan spoke with some resignation.
Three days earlier, she was ambushed by four Earth Immortals from Jiuyuan and a Killing Trap Array. Fortunately, Xun Youshan arrived in time to save her.
"Senior Mu, how about we wait for Sect Master Ding to come out of seclusion?" Liu Yinyu spoke up.
She always believed Ding Huan had a way, so it seemed more prudent to ask Ding Huan about such matters.
"No need to wait. We were helpless before, but now we have a solution," came Ding Huan’s timely voice.
Seeing Ding Huan’s haggard appearance, everyone was somewhat surprised.
Could closed cultivation result in such gauntness?
Ding Huan smiled and took out several Array Plates, "These are Heart Inquiry Array Plates. We’re going to establish an identity system in the entire Jiuyuan City.
Any cultivator in Jiuyuan City must possess a true identity. All cultivators participating in the identity certification will undergo a Heart Inquiry within our Array Plate..."
```
In the beginning, Ding Huan knew that eradicating all the Jiuyuan cultivators in the intricate Jiuyuan City was almost impossible.
Not to mention, they also had to find the cultivators from the God clan.
Therefore, he began his seclusion to study the Heart Inquiry Big Array.
Ding Huan’s Array Dao was already at the peak Level 7, and after days of seclusion, he not only advanced his Array Dao to Level 8 but also successfully constructed the Heart Inquiry Array Plate.
"Heart Inquiry Array?" Mu Chengzi was stunned.
He had a profound understanding of Array Dao and was a Level 9 Artifact Refining Grandmaster himself.
Even he couldn’t set up a Heart Inquiry Array, so how did Ding Huan, whose cultivation was obviously lower than his, manage to construct one?
Not only was Mu Chengzi puzzled, but so was everyone else.
However, individuals like Lou Fenyan and Liu Yinzhu, unaware of the difficulty of the Heart Inquiry Array, felt it was nothing special.
Ding Huan naturally wouldn’t explain the leather scroll and his own Great Universe Technique.
He simply mentioned that he was inspired by the simulation space of the Immortal Bridge created by Wu Zhanxia, and thus, after days of research, he successfully came up with the Heart Inquiry Array Plate.
In fact, the simulation space of the Immortal Bridge from Wu Zhanxia did give Ding Huan some inspiration, which reminded him to create a Heart Inquiry Array.
Pointing to the Heart Inquiry Array Plate he took out, Ding Huan said, "These Heart Inquiry Array Plates also have their limitations. If the opponent’s understanding of the Great Dao is higher than mine, it’s very likely they won’t be found out."
Another situation is if the opponent’s cultivation far surpasses the Earth Immortal Realm, his Heart Inquiry Array would also fail to find them out.
However, Ding Huan believed that in this universe, there weren’t many who could surpass him in the Great Dao, and there shouldn’t be any whose cultivation was far above the Earth Immortal either.
Above the Earth Immortal would be the Immortal Bridge, which was meant for Ascension to the Immortal Realm, wasn’t it?
"What do we do now?" Mu Chengzi dared not take charge carelessly anymore.
Ding Huan said, "We’ll divide our people into four groups and carry out identity verification registration in the four directions of the main city. Anyone who lies will first be registered and then quietly taken away."
The news of the identity registration in Jiuyuan City quickly spread throughout the whole Jiuyuan City, and all cultivators in Jiuyuan City who wanted to prove they were neither from Jiuyuan nor the God clan must go to the main city for identity verification.
During the period from the start of registration until it ends, no one is allowed to leave the main city, anyone leaving the main city is from Jiuyuan.
For those who are unwilling to go to the main city for registration, they will be killed without mercy.
As soon as this news came out, Jiuyuan City immediately descended into chaos.
A group of people stood out in protest, but after Yi Qianxing led people to behead more than a hundred protesting cultivators, Jiuyuan City was completely quieted down.
Everyone obediently went to the main city of Jiuyuan City for identity registration.
Watching as cultivators from Jiuyuan and the God clan were identified one by one and taken away, some of them even of the seventh level of the Earth Immortal, Mu Chengzi and the others were extremely shocked.
The technique of the Heart Inquiry Array wasn’t uncommon, as some Great Sects had used such methods when recruiting disciples or interrogating them.
But normally, that was only used for interrogating low-level cultivators. Once a cultivator’s strength reached the True Pill realm, it mostly became ineffective.
Yet Ding Huan’s Heart Inquiry Array could find even Earth Immortal cultivators, not to mention those below the Earth Immortal.
In a total of ten days, the number of Jiuyuan Star cultivators caught in Jiuyuan City reached more than two thousand six hundred, and seven hundred and sixty-three from the God clan.
Not only that, but there were also tens of thousands of native cultivators from Jiuyuan City who wholeheartedly wanted to join Jiuyuan, trying all means to help Jiuyuan cultivators escape.
Under the Heart Inquiry Array, there was absolutely no escape.
The cultivators from Jiuyuan Star and the God clan were all executed, including some who dared not come to Jiuyuan City for identity registration; they were cleared out as well.
As for those tens of thousands of traitors from Jiuyuan City, all were sent to the mining areas to work in the mines, never to turn over a new leaf.
Ding Huan and others took a month to completely purge Jiuyuan City.
It took a little longer, but throughout the whole process, not a single piece of information was leaked out.
Everyone knew there were definitely problems with Jiuyuan people in Jiuyuan City, yet no useful information could be extracted from interrogation.
Whether it was low-level cultivators or Earth Immortal powerhouses, all had the same response, none knew why Jiuyuan wanted to occupy the Triple Heaven Star Land.
"Alas, it’s a pity our cultivation is still too low. If our strength reached the Immortal Bridge, we would definitely be able to find out through Soul Search," sighed Xun Youshan.
"I guess Soul Search would be useless too, these people might really not know," Ji Xuwen shook his head.
"As long as we control the Triple Heaven Star Land in our own hands, that’s enough. Yi Tuxian, immediately send out the message, one month from now, a conference for the Triple Heaven Star Land will be held in Jiuyuan City.
All Sects and families from the Triple Heaven Star Land are required to attend," Ding Huan gestured for everyone to stop dwelling on the issue.
Ding Huan also knew that Jiuyuan’s occupation of Jiuyuan City was not so simple, and since they couldn’t inquire, he would deduce it.
It was time to strike while the iron was hot, and before the God clan had time to respond, make a trip to the God clan.
As for Jiuyuan’s purpose, and wiping out Jiuyuan, that would come after they dealt with the God clan.
If these traitors from the God clan who survived in the Triple Heaven Star Land and colluded with Jiuyuan’s people to topple the Triple Heaven Star Land were not wiped out, he would not even be able to sleep peacefully.
...
```