Yunxi understood Xun Kun's concern and spoke first. "You are all at mid Divine Transformation now. Let's assist the Underworld and guide Azure Star's cycle of reincarnation back onto the proper track. Once the Heavenly Dao here is complete and the power of Laws stabilizes, it should repay us in some measure. Do not forget the merit we spent. One way or another, we must be reimbursed a portion."
Han Lian clapped, excited. "Ran Xi is right. When the Heavenly Dao here is whole, even what slips through its fingers will be enough for us to advance."
"Amitabha. Sow cause, reap effect. Let us first help the Underworld bailiffs finish their task, then speak of these matters," Yun Chen said, ever pragmatic.
The four left the cultivation room. After greeting Black and White Impermanence, Yunxi put away the law-house. Four cultivators and two bailiffs vanished from the scenic zone.
Three days later, the star network reported a major natural disaster. Due to crustal movement, multiple geological calamities struck Azure Star: earthquakes, mudslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions. The chain of disasters caused heavy casualties and property loss. As of the broadcast, the death toll continued to rise, and the number of missing kept climbing.
Among the dead were members of the Wei Lan family. While inspecting family industries outside, their vehicles were buried by a mudslide. By the time they were dug out, all inside had suffocated. The only survivor was Wei Lanlan, who had been home alone.
Ancestral lands of several families also suffered grave incidents, and many core members met misfortune in succession. One family's accident might be a coincidence. Many great families in a row drew sharp attention.
People connected these events with the celestial phenomenon five years ago and, earlier still, with the film Reincarnation, arguing that Heaven was cleansing those who had overused reincarnation. Panic swept Azure Star. No one knew whether they were on the list to be "cleaned."
Han Lian hid in midair, hands forming seals to call down a great snowfall, preparing to use a blizzard to quietly cull another portion of Azure Star's population whose souls were on the verge of turning evil.
This was the method they had agreed upon as relatively gentle. Natural disasters cannot be avoided. After large-scale calamities, deaths are, sadly, expected. Black and White Impermanence seized the chance to collect souls. It was clean, swift, and efficient. The two bailiffs had been so busy their faces had grown thin.
"Amitabha. Even though we used Heaven's disasters to collect the souls of those who should die, it has stirred terror among the people. This cannot continue," Yun Chen said with a chant, frowning at Han Lian as she sealed the storm.
After she drove the blizzard down, Han Lian turned. "Then trouble yourself to contact Ran Xi. See if she has a better way. Or we erase Azure Star's memories of the 'reincarnation system' now."
That had been their final step. Erasing the memories of an entire world required all four working together. One alone could not do it.
Yun Chen nodded and took out his communication jade, sending their situation to Yunxi.
Yunxi was partnered with Xun Kun, dealing with the stubborn cases. Through insiders in the Special Department, these people had pieced together fragments of the truth. To avoid being cleansed, they tried to turtle up, retreating into hardened shells to escape the calamity.
It would not save them. Yunxi felt like the reaper in this play, directing a hundred kinds of "accidents" so Black and White Impermanence could take those obstinate souls.
At the instant an elevator plummeted, the rotten soul of a certain guilty party was seized into White Impermanence's grasp.
Xun Kun moved to shield those who should not die. They became the survivors of the elevator incident.
After reading the jade, Yunxi said to Xun Kun, "Someone is guiding public opinion from the shadows, trying to inflame the panic."
Xun Kun drew back his demonic energy and said in a low voice, "We need to purge those memories early."
"Han Lian and Yun Chen think so too."
Xun Kun nodded and turned to White Impermanence beside him. "The situation has changed. We will first cleanse Azure Star's memories related to the 'reincarnation system.' You two bailiffs can rest for a day."
White Impermanence drew the chained souls into the soul-mirror. Too exhausted to speak much, he only waved to show he had no objection.
The pair and the bailiff went to regroup with their companions.
They rode Xun Kun's flying boat again. Since beginning to aid the Underworld with aberrant souls, this was the first time the four had gathered together.
Black and White Impermanence had already returned to the Underworld to hand over their captures. The souls could not remain by their side long, so they were operating separately.
Han Lian took out her treasured tea leaves and brewed a pot of fragrant spirit tea. Each of the four held a white jade cup. No one spoke.
For five years they had known no peace. The task had gone smoothly overall and was now in its final phase. No one expected saboteurs to jump out at the end.
When Yunxi finished her cup, she spoke first. "Do you think the evil cultivator sensed something and is making one last struggle?"
Xun Kun set down his cup. "Very likely. These five years of cooperation with the Underworld have brought us news from many directions. Azure Star is not the only place with this problem. It is obvious the Underworld has claws belonging to an evil cultivator within it.
As one small world after another reconnects to the Underworld, those claws will notice. A final desperate strike is not out of the question."
"Amitabha. Your analysis makes sense," Yun Chen said. "If a small world perishes by man-made catastrophe, their goal is still achieved."
Han Lian poured herself a second cup and looked heavenward with helplessness. "We worked ourselves to the bone to set Azure Star on the right road. We cannot let the evil cultivator pick the fruit. If not for our steady growth in cultivation these five years, I would think we were spinning our wheels."
They had already felt the feedback of the Heavenly Dao. As the Laws neared completion, the four had begun to comprehend them.
Along with that came a faint repulsion. It was clear that once the last batch of problem souls entered the Underworld and their task was complete, they would be expelled from this small world. To protect the realm, the Heavenly Dao would instinctively suppress them.
Yunxi drained her cup, then lifted her hand. Spiritual power traced glowing lines in the air. The inscription came from the beast-skin manual given by an ancestor of the Witch Tribe. It could erase memories on a vast scale, perfect for their current task.
Once she finished drawing, Yunxi swept the inscription toward the other three. "An inscription to erase related memories. Learn it, then we move."
They had taken ninety-nine steps. This was the last.
Feeling the power flowing in the inscription, the three began to sketch in midair.
The next day, the four and the bear activated the array once more. A colossal circular array wheel blanketed all of Azure Star. The four and the beast simultaneously used spiritual power, demonic power, Buddhist power, and bestial power to outline the inscriptions and send them into the wheel. The array gleamed with golden light, then sank into the blue planet.