"Memory Hunter." Leyvi frowned. "Ugh... this name scares me. I am not going to become addicted to hunting for people's memories, right?"
"It could happen. There have been many cases like that. So do not overuse it. You might end up being affected by other people's nature or witness the horrible things they have done and go mad yourself." Alita warned.
However, she was not truly worried. Those who became affected usually had weak wills. She had seen the bloody body training he had undergone last month, the repeated destruction and regeneration of his flesh. It was indeed a quick way to cultivate the body, but only those with extraordinary willpower and conviction could endure such horrifying pain. Therefore, Leyvi would almost certainly not be affected by others' nature.
What had surprised her when she observed Leyvi's training was how perfectly suited Mr. Bison's power was for this method.
Even if destruction and regeneration was a valid approach, the damage distribution had to be proper. Uneven damage would cause unbalanced strengthening, and the body might end up feeling strange, unable to exert power correctly. But Leyvi did not have to worry about this, because he had a suitable shortcut.
The Heavenly Lord Diamond Body possessed damage penetration power and spread damage evenly. It was a great ability in battle, but by coincidence, it was also excellent for the destruction and regeneration method. Since Leyvi received evenly distributed damage throughout his body, all parts could grow stronger at the same pace, avoiding bodily imbalance.
"Haa... alright. I have no intention of using this technique frequently anyway. I do not want to use it if possible. Situations like this are the only exception. I need to know who is targeting my panda wife." Leyvi said.
After that, Leyvi left the room and headed toward one of the cultivation chambers to study the soul-searching technique he had just obtained.
Since it was a technique that involved the mind rather than the body, his consciousness slipped into the internal storage space, where he began learning in earnest. The method itself was not particularly complex, but it placed a steady strain on his mind. After practicing for a while, he had to withdraw and rest before continuing again. This cycle repeated several times, each attempt refining his understanding a little more.
By the next day, Leyvi felt he had reached a level where he could at least attempt it.
He returned to the room where the souls were being held. Only Anda, Layla, and Sayu were there at first, quietly waiting. However, once Alita informed the others, they quickly made their way over. None of them wanted to miss seeing a soul-searching technique in action.
By the time everyone had gathered, Alita's projection appeared as well, forming seamlessly within the room. As the airship's tool spirit, she could manifest anywhere at will.
"You've learned it already?" she asked, a hint of surprise in her tone. While the technique was not difficult, mastering it within such a short time was still uncommon.
"I have," Leyvi replied, though his expression remained calm. "But I'm not sure if I can execute it properly."
"It's fine. We have plenty of nascent souls here, so you can practice with them. Don't force your spiritual sense to stay if you feel pain. The first few attempts are usually rough," Alita said, her tone steady as she continued giving instructions. "Also, the smaller and more detailed the memory, the harder it is to find. Basic things like identity should be easier, unless the person has lived carefully hiding it. And…"
She went on, adding a few more reminders, each one precise and practical.
Leyvi stood quietly, his gaze fixed on the souls drifting inside the crystals as he listened without interrupting.
"Are you hesitating?" Alita asked after a moment. "They tried to harm your family. You don't need to feel pity, even if their souls are damaged in the process."
Leyvi shook his head slightly. "No, that's not it. I'm just wondering… how much angrier I'll get after I find out who's behind this, on top of what I'm already feeling."
The room grew a little quieter.
Anda looked at him without speaking. She knew him well. Leyvi was someone who preferred to smile, someone who avoided anger whenever possible. Seeing him like this felt… heavy. When he lost that lightness, the entire atmosphere seemed to dim.
The others felt it too. No one said anything, but the mood shifted all the same.
Leyvi exhaled slowly, letting the tension settle into something more controlled.
"Alright. I'm starting. Give me some space."
At his words, everyone immediately stepped back, leaving a clear area around him.
Leyvi stepped forward and placed his hand near one of the crystal balls. The nascent soul inside drifted quietly, but the moment he closed his eyes and extended his spiritual sense, the calm did not last.
As soon as his spiritual sense made contact, he felt resistance. It was instinctive, a natural rejection that tried to block him from entering further. However, the difference in strength was too great. Leyvi pushed forward without hesitation, breaking through the barrier with force. A faint sense of pain echoed back from the nascent soul, but he ignored it and continued.
His awareness slipped into the sea of consciousness.
At first, it felt unstable. His spiritual sense spread outward, meeting resistance at every direction, but that resistance weakened quickly as he continued to press forward. The more ground he covered, the more control he gained. Eventually, the struggle faded, and an avatar appeared within the space. It was the owner of the soul, fully exposed, no longer capable of hiding.
Leyvi immediately moved to engulf it. The moment he did, everything collapsed into motion. Memories surged into him all at once.
He did not enter them one by one. Instead, they crashed into him like a flood breaking through a dam. Images, sounds, sensations, and emotions overlapped chaotically. A child learning to walk. A boy being reprimanded. The first success in condensing Qi. The rough taste of wine. The clash of blades. The warmth of blood. A crying face. The weight of coins. The biting cold of night. The chaos of battle.
It was too much.
Leyvi's mind struggled to keep up as the memories poured in without order or pause. It felt as if he had been thrown into a violent current, dragged along without control. His head spun, his senses blurred, and a nauseating dizziness rose within him, far more intense than anything he had experienced before.
He clenched his teeth and forced himself to focus.
Memory Hunter activated.
The effect was immediate. The overwhelming torrent did not disappear, but it began to narrow. The chaotic flood slowed, separating into clearer streams. The movement of the memories became more manageable, allowing him to perceive them instead of being drowned by them.
Even so, the volume remained immense. A person's identity was not contained in a single moment. It was built from countless fragments across an entire lifetime.
Leyvi pressed on, guiding his awareness through the flow, filtering what he could and discarding what he did not need. Gradually, the chaos thinned, and certain details began to stand out. Faces lingered longer. Voices became clearer. Patterns started to form.
He was close.
Clues began to surface, pointing toward the identity he was searching for. But just as he was about to reach deeper, something changed.
The nascent soul trembled violently.
The sea of consciousness became unstable. Memories began to fragment, breaking apart before he could grasp them. The entire space started to collapse in on itself, as if it could no longer sustain the intrusion.
Leyvi immediately sensed what was happening, but before he could react, the connection was severed.
Outside, the crystal ball flickered once. Then it went still. The nascent soul had dissipated completely.
Leyvi withdrew his spiritual sense at once, his breathing heavy as he opened his eyes. A dull ache throbbed in his head, and for a moment, the world around him felt unsteady, as though his mind had not fully settled back into his body.
"Are you alright?" Anda asked, already stepping closer.
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." Leyvi wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead and steadied his breathing.
"Did you find anything, Husband?" Layla asked, her voice softer now.
"I saw a few things," Leyvi replied after a short pause. "He was an Alchemic Knight… and he came from the Central Region."
The room fell silent.
Those few words carried more weight than any long explanation.
Alita's gaze lingered on him for a moment, a trace of surprise in her expression. She had expected him to struggle, to retreat after the first overwhelming wave of memories, perhaps needing several attempts just to stabilize himself. Instead, he had pushed forward until the soul itself collapsed under the strain and still managed to extract meaningful clues.
It seemed she had underestimated his mental endurance.
Anda let out a quiet sigh. "I suspected as much. To mobilize a force like that, it could only come from there."
Leyvi nodded slightly, then exhaled. "Let me rest for a bit. I think I can do better on the next attempt."
He turned to Selene, and she immediately nodded. She knew her husband needed her mind-healing power.
Selene led Leyvi to another room, a little shy about demonstrating her mind healing power in front of the others. Unlike physical healing, her mind healing power was delivered through her twin curls. She had to make them bounce to activate it, which she found ridiculous.
After his mind was rejuvenated, Leyvi tried the soul-searching technique again on another nascent soul. This time, it was much easier. He pushed through the flood of memories more smoothly, filtering with greater control.
When he was done, his expression was dark.
He had learned who was behind the kidnapping attempt.
It was the Holy Son of the Alchemy Dominator Sect. The strongest alchemy sect in the Cloud Continent.