"Well then, in your opinion, will your elder from Moon Jade personally come to rescue you?" In the grand hall, Lu Ye's voice echoed as he fixed his gaze unblinking on Sun Ying, who was kneeling on the ground not far away.

Sun Ying dared not lift her head, exerting every effort to appear fragile and helpless. Hearing his words, she immediately replied, "She will. The ancestor will definitely come to save me. She values me greatly and often says that I can inherit her legacy in the future!"

She was undoubtedly a smart woman. Saying that no one would come to rescue her would surely spell imminent doom, so regardless of the true situation, she would bring up the Moon Jade Realm behind her to intimidate Lu Ye and the others. This response was undoubtedly her best choice.

"If I were to let you go back now, would anyone from the Qingli Dao World still come to invade this remote corner of mine?" Lu Ye asked again.

Sun Ying promptly raised her head, revealing a face stained with tears that accentuate her beauty, her expression sincere: "If you can let me go, I will be eternally grateful. I will persuade the ancestor not to disturb you here!"

Lu Ye stared at her: "But I severed your arm, and you said you wanted to kill my whole family."

Sun Ying displayed an uneasy expression, hesitated for a moment, and timidly said, "It was my ignorance, and my words were offensive on occasion. Those were careless words, Fellow Daoist, please don't take it seriously! As for the severed arm... it is in Zhao Tianmu's hands; once I return, it can be reattached. Zhao Tianmu, that person, abandoned me to save himself. Once I return, I will have the ancestor take his life as a punishment for his reckless behavior in this world!"

"Very well!" Lu Ye seemed quite satisfied, instructing, "Lift your head and look at me!"

Sun Ying obediently complied.

The instant their gazes met, a fierce and overwhelming divine soul power surged. Sun Ying's expression changed as she exclaimed, "You..."

As soon as she spoke, she fell silent.

Lu Ye was also motionless.

Feng Wujiang and the others, seeing this, understood at once that Sun Ying had been forcibly dragged by Lu Ye into a soul struggle state.

Though this woman appeared very submissive and cooperative, answering every question and seeming to hold nothing back, who could tell which of her words were true and which were false?

Such questioning could only glean some basic information and could not ascertain its truthfulness.

The only way to acquire accurate information and intelligence was to probe the psyche!

Setting aside everything else, the question Lu Ye asked — whether people from the Qingli Dao World would still come if she were released — was clearly not something to be trusted based on Sun Ying's response.

The woman's malice was evident to everyone. Having suffered such a loss here, if she indeed had Moon Jade's support, how could she easily let it go?

If she were freed to return, Zhao Tianmu's fate would be anticipated by everyone, but it was also very likely that she would lead her Moon Jade back to avenge the disgrace.

The questioning process was also a means of letting Sun Ying lower her guard gradually. Otherwise, even with Lu Ye's abilities, it wouldn't have been possible to so easily drag her into a soul struggle state, unless he relied on some specific exotic treasure like what Liew Yuemei used against him.

Such exotic treasures do exist within the Nine Provinces, but they aren't very effective against people at the Constellation stage.

In the grand hall, everyone waited silently, only the constant clash of psyche forces between Lu Ye and Sun Ying echoing.

On an unseen battlefield, Lu Ye wielded the Soul Severing Saber, launching a frantic assault on Sun Ying's psyche defenses.

Within her psyche lay a soul treasure of exceptional quality, providing protection. Lu Ye could not discern the exact form of this soul treasure, but at the moment, it transformed into a protective layer, isolating Sun Ying's Divine Sea and preventing Lu Ye's psyche spirit body from penetrating easily.

He could only forcefully attack!

Sun Ying, deeply unnerved by Lu Ye's sudden change of demeanor, felt the overwhelming power of his psyche. Her psyche spirit body could only retract into her Divine Sea, relying on the protection of the soul treasure, continuously pleading for mercy and earnestly assuring him that she spoke nothing but the truth.

Lu Ye would not be swayed by her noise. Standing on opposing sides, reconciliation was impossible, not to mention the deeds of this woman on the Unparalleled Continent; Lu Ye could not allow her to leave alive.

Since Zhao Tianmu brought Sun Ying to the Unparalleled Continent, countless concealed Nine Provinces cultivators have been found, captured, and subsequently brought before Sun Ying, to be harvested to enhance the Million Souls Banner's quality.

In less than half a month, no fewer than a thousand Nine Provinces cultivators perished at this woman's hands; her hands were stained with their blood.

Lu Ye feared for Li Baxian and others being found, particularly for Hua Ci's safety... he couldn't bear to imagine such a scenario.

The Soul Severing Saber is specifically designed to deal with psyches, but as Lu Ye's cultivation advanced, its power gradually waned because his enemies grew stronger.

Though it still served its purpose, it wasn't as effective as during the True Lake and Divine Sea periods.

Especially noting the high tier of Sun Ying's soul treasure, Lu Ye found that the Soul Severing Saber's potency could not easily overcome the treasure's protection.

Sun Ying continued begging, "Please, stop. I'm telling the truth. I can swear an oath. You must believe me. As long as you let me leave alive, I'll do whatever you ask."

Perhaps she initially harbored other intentions, but after Lu Ye displayed his ferocious determination, she was left with only one desire: to survive.

Seeing Lu Ye pause his assault, Sun Ying rejoiced, thinking he had had a change of heart. She was about to speak when, in the next instant, she witnessed a scene that filled her with terror.

As Lu Ye's Divine Soul Power surged like a tide, a battered battleship emerged behind him. At first glance, the ship seemed shrouded in spectral energy, evoking an extreme sense of discomfort. Sun Ying had no idea what this ship was, but the moment it appeared, even her psyche began to tremble.

Lu Ye swiftly landed on the deck, and with a surge of spirit force, the dilapidated battleship was rejuvenated.

Soon after, figures began to appear on the battleship—none other than Qin Zong, Xiao Jianming, Zhou Xing, Xu Qingwei, and others he had encountered on the Ghost Ship!

Back on the Ghost Ship, Lu Ye had made an unconventional choice at the last moment, and as a result, received a gift from the Ghost Ship. Since then, a battered battleship had drifted within his Divine Sea, unremarkable on ordinary days, yet when activated, it appeared as if the Ghost Ship had returned.

This was certainly not the real Ghost Ship. Strictly speaking, it was merely an imprint of the Ghost Ship, carrying some of its features.

Even now, the figures of Qin Zong and others were manifestations imbued by Lu Ye's Divine Soul Power.

They lacked spiritual intelligence and could only act under Lu Ye's command.

The crew took their positions, the Array hummed, and the battleship surged with energy, sending a massive beam of light thundering forth.

This attack was far more powerful than any strike Lu Ye had ever made with the Soul Severing Saber; the massive beam crashed against Sun Ying's soul treasure's protective barrier, sending huge ripples cascading outward.

One strike followed by another!

The scene was grand, akin to the eruption of an interstellar battle.

However, it was an assault from one side and a passive defense from the other.

Sun Ying stared in dumbfounded shock...

In a battle of souls, victory or defeat was determined by the strength of each psyche. It was normal to use soul treasures, but was there any soul treasure like this in existence? Sun Ying felt Li Taibai was bullying her; seeing that he couldn't break through her soul treasure's barrier, he actually summoned a battleship to deal with her.

She felt so wronged she wanted to cry, thinking that she was merely at the Constellation Early Stage. How could she be worthy of such treatment?

Yet in that moment, she couldn't even find the time to cry. With just one strike, her psyche was shaken and unstable. After two strikes, she was left dizzy and dazed.

While she had a soul treasure of excellent quality to protect her psyche, even the mightiest soul treasure depended on the psyche for support. Her soul treasure was a gift from her own Moon Jade, and she couldn't fully wield its power. Even Lu Ye himself could forcibly break through given enough time, let alone with the aid of the Ghost Ship.

Under such immense impact, how could she possibly have a good outcome?

Seeing that the protection was on the verge of collapse after two strikes, Lu Ye quickly withdrew the Ghost Ship. With further attacks, he wouldn't be able to control the strength, and if he unintentionally obliterated Sun Ying's psyche spirit body, he would lose any chance of extracting useful information.

He switched back to wielding his saber, and this time everything went smoothly; Sun Ying hadn't recovered yet when her soul treasure's protection was completely breached.

Lu Ye charged in, and with a few slashes, he dimmed Sun Ying's psyche spirit body to an extreme, eliciting continuous screams.

Lu Ye finally refocused, gritting his teeth, and constructed a divine rune on her psyche spirit body!

A touch of telepathy!

Others might have secret techniques specifically designed to delve into the depths of the psyche to uncover secrets, but Lu Ye hadn't cultivated any such technique. What he had was just this single touch of telepathy, a divine rune that wounded a thousand foes while hurting a thousand of his own.

Once this divine rune was formed, both sides' psyche secrets would be laid bare. Of course, if Lu Ye's psyche far exceeded that of the opponent, he could suppress their probing.

But if the difference wasn't substantial, Lu Ye had no recourse. The gap in psyche strength between him and Sun Ying was present, but not enough to completely suppress her.

In other words, while Lu Ye was probing her psyche secrets, Sun Ying also had some opportunity to probe his own secrets.

Since acquiring this divine rune, Lu Ye had only ever activated it once!

That was during a trial activation in the Blood Refinement World.

It felt awful! Throughout the process, countless jumbled information flooded uncontrollably into his mind. The ordeal was far worse than when he explored the Talent Tree's leaves.

So, since then, Lu Ye hadn't activated this divine rune again.

But now, aiming to accurately gauge intelligence on the Qingli Dao World, he had no choice.

In truth, Lu Ye had considered using Soul Taming. If he turned Sun Ying into a soul slave, he might gather accurate information.

However, the requirements for Soul Taming were higher. Sun Ying was a mentally sound and spiritually intelligent Constellation, unlike the previously mind-dull Dao Thirteen.

He had successfully enacted Soul Taming on Dao Thirteen because Dao Thirteen was a simpleton, but dealing with Sun Ying would be impossible. Forcing it might even lead to backlash on himself.