"Dark Underworld."
"Where the dead return."
"Lend me the Yin Soldiers."
"Guide the lost."
"Rest and uphold righteousness."
"Cleanse the mortal world."
"In my name..."
The thin Bamboo Pole Man held a skull in his left hand. He split open the index finger of his right hand and, while muttering incantations, used his blood to write one strange, unfathomable symbol after another across the skull.
Upon seeing those symbols,
the robust woman standing beside him, her face full of mockery, also put away her smile.
A solemn expression appeared on her face.
Though she often mocked the Bamboo Pole Man in her words,
it was merely a consequence of her personality.
From beginning to end, she had never underestimated his strength. Not only had she not looked down on him, she was actually somewhat wary of him.
And now,
after seeing the symbols he had written, the wariness in her heart had risen to its peak.
"Could he really connect to the Dark Underworld...?"
"I heard that his teacher once obtained part of the Buddhist Sect's inheritance. Judging from this, it seems that was indeed true. Though the main branch of the Buddhist Sect remained in their homeland, its offshoots had scattered, and some inheritors had left."
"It would be perfectly normal for some of them to have been left behind in the Small Worlds along the way."
"Though they were passed down from generation to generation,"
"by later ages, they no longer possessed much power."
"His teacher was not only cold-blooded and perverse, but also sinister and cunning. If he discovered the Buddhist Sect's inheritance, he would surely seize it. I just never expected that old bastard, despite being so paranoid and extreme, would actually pass on something genuine to him."
The woman was deep in thought.
Suddenly,
she