Two rows of patrol soldiers stood on either side of the avenue, each holding a silver-white halberd with its tip pointing upwards and the blade gleaming coldly.
At the end of the Great Road, the Verification Hall deep within the Heavenly Palace could be vaguely seen. Inside the hall, light shone brightly, and countless divine runes of order intertwined in the void to form a vast and intricate verification network.
“Enter in formation. No whispering, no looking around, and no using your spiritual power privately.”
The inspector gave the order in a cold voice.
The procession filed in along Shenguang Avenue. David walked in the middle of the procession, his steps leisurely.
He could sense that the gazes of the patrolling soldiers on both sides of the road were like invisible blades, constantly scraping across every passing cultivator.
Those eyes, imbued with the probing power of the Orderly One’s divided soul, could pierce through the superficial disguises of ordinary cultivators and reach straight into their meridians.
David’s disguise was not exposed.
His chaotic origin was sealed in the origin space, covered by the Daoist rhyme disguise of the Myriad Tide Heart Imprint, and the outermost layer was the spatial folding of the fragments of the Heavenly Spiritual Pivot.
The entire defense line was as tight as a fortress with layers upon layers of defenses. The patrol soldiers could only see the outermost layer of orthodox spiritual energy fluctuations at most, and could not go any further.
After the team entered the verification hall, David’s eyes quickly swept across the entire area.
The verification hall was extremely spacious, with a dome tens of feet high. There were no pillars inside, and the entire space resembled a hollowed-out silver-white giant egg.
Three enormous divine mirrors floated in the center of the hall, arranged in a triangle. Each mirror was more than a person tall, and its surface was covered with densely packed Dao patterns, emitting probe fluctuations of different frequencies.
The three divine mirrors are connected by a divine light of order, forming a seamless verification network.
The first verification is the spiritual power verification.
The divine mirror at the very front emits a probing light screen, scanning the cultivator’s entire body’s meridians to check whether the flow of spiritual energy is consistent with orthodox Taoist methods.
The second layer of verification is the roadbed verification.
The divine mirror on the right emits a probing light curtain that penetrates deep into the dantian to examine whether the foundation structure matches the orthodox foundation.
The third layer of verification is the verification of the spirit and soul.
The divine mirror on the left emits a probing light screen that touches the spiritual platform of the soul, reads the frequency fluctuations on the surface of the soul, and judges whether the cultivator’s Dao heart is in line with the orthodox Daoist methods.
The three verifications were conducted simultaneously. Anyone who failed any one of them would be immediately marked as a heretic and taken away directly by the inspector from the side of the palace.
David noticed that more than ten inspectors were already standing on the side of the hall. Behind them was a tightly closed side door with a sealing formation engraved on it. The cultivators who were taken away never returned after leaving through that door.
The team began to pass through the verification network one by one.
The cultivators at the forefront paused briefly under the triple divine scrutiny. They passed the spiritual power verification and the foundation verification smoothly. However, during the third level of divine soul verification, one of the cultivators suddenly trembled and his face turned deathly pale.
A blinding red light flashed above the divine mirror on the left, and a sharp alarm sounded in the hall.
“The third verification failed.”
The inspector’s cold voice rang out, “Heretics. Take them away.”
The cultivator didn’t even have the strength to struggle; he collapsed to the ground as if his bones had been removed, and was dragged towards the side door by two inspectors who grabbed his arms.
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but only a hoarse sound came from his throat.
The side door closed behind him, shutting out all sound.
The queue continued to move forward.
Every ten or so people, one would be taken away. Some were marked in the first level, some deviated in the second level, and some completely collapsed during the soul verification in the third level.
David noticed that the vast majority of those who were taken away collapsed during the third verification.
The soul verification is a true gateway to hell.
He subtly sensed the monks who had passed the verification.
After they emerged from the verification network, their faces were even paler than before, and the light in their eyes was even dimmer.
After their souls were forcibly read and verified, they seemed to be suppressed and recalibrated by some force, and even the last remaining trace of their self was worn down.
It was Ye Qing’s turn.
Ye Qing took a deep breath and stepped into the verification network.
His expression was calm, his breathing even, and his steps unhurried. The first spiritual power verification, the divine eye scanning his meridians, showed everything was normal.
The second level of Dao Foundation verification involved the Divine Mirror probing into his dantian. The covering layer of the orthodox shackles was functioning perfectly, completely concealing his Devouring Dao Rhyme. The verification result was normal.
The third level of soul verification.
The divine mirror on the left emitted a probing light screen, touching Ye Qing’s spiritual platform.
David sensed that Ye Qing’s soul trembled slightly for a moment. The tremor was so subtle that David’s perception was far superior to that of any cultivator in the 26th Heaven that he would never have been able to detect it.