He Had Already Begged for Mercy—How Could This Man Strike Without Warning?

The yin cultivator disciple stared at Xu Jin, trembling all over, his teeth chattering, his eyes full of fear and struggle.

His Adam's apple bobbed. Just as he was about to speak, Xu Jin across from him suddenly frowned.

A flash of black light swept over the man's body. He was merely a living cultivator who practiced sinister yin arts; there was not the slightest trace of a demonic or ghostly aura around him.

Not a demon, nor a yin soul.

Which meant that killing him would not make the Compendium of Divine Powers drop even half a demon fragment.

His expectation of earning some fragments while passing by had come to nothing, and irritation immediately welled up in Xu Jin's heart.

After all that trouble, killing a living person was a total loss.

Just then, a sinister voice drifted out from the depths of the forest. Passing through layers of shadowed trees, it slowly reached everyone's ears:

"Little boy, this old man offers you a word of advice: leave some room when dealing with others, and you may meet again someday. Release the man, and Profound Yin Hall will remember this favor. But if you insist on taking things too far, the Demon Suppression Bureau's rules will not be able to protect you."

The voice came first from the left, then the right, making its precise location impossible to discern. It carried the arrogant air of someone leaning on age and seniority, as though he had Xu Jin completely in his grasp.

Wang Lei and the other two had only just reached the edge of the forest when their expressions changed in unison upon hearing the voice.

"There's another ambush?" Yan Tao gripped the hilt of his saber, his astral energy instantly rising to its peak. "It's Elder Ge of Profound Yin Hall, Wang Defa's right-hand man."

A crimson-gold flash flickered at Xu Jin's fingertips. Without the slightest hesitation, it shot straight through the yin cultivator disciple's brow beneath his feet.

The man did not even have time to scream. His eyes bulged sharply, and his body crumpled to the ground. Even his soul had been burned clean away.

Only then did Xu Jin raise his gaze toward the source of the voice, his tone openly provocative.

"Hiding in the back and playing tricks? If you have the guts, come out and save him yourself."

The forest fell silent in an instant.

Elder Ge had clearly not expected this young man to refuse to play by the rules.

Rather than negotiate with a captive, he had simply killed him without warning?

Elder Ge had intended to use Profound Yin Hall's name and the Demon Suppression Bureau's rules to pressure him, forcing him to hold back for fear of consequences. Instead, his punch had landed in cotton, and he had even lost a disciple.

"Good. Very good." The sinister voice turned colder, tinged with anger born of humiliation. "You ignorant brat, do you really think Profound Yin Hall is made of clay?"

As the words fell, the aura deep within the forest suddenly withdrew, leaving behind not the slightest fluctuation of yin baleful energy.

Trying to run?

Xu Jin gave a cold laugh. Black light lit up in his eyes, and in the blink of an eye, a black figure fleeing at high speed appeared in his vision to the front left.

"Think you can get away?"

With a wave of his hand, the Molten Gold Flying Sword shuddered in midair. Crimson-gold sword qi exploded outward, transforming into a fan-shaped curtain of sword light several yards wide. Carrying searing heat, it swept through the forest to the front left.

Wherever it passed, grass and trees instantly charred and curled. Even the rotting leaves on the ground were scorched into open flame.

Boom—!

A muffled blast, accompanied by the shockwave of exploding black baleful energy, came from within the forest.

A black figure shot out in miserable disarray, stumbling onto the edge of the scorched woodland.

The old man wore a gray robe, its hems and edges burned black and curled. He clutched a pitch-black jade plaque tightly against his chest.

It was Elder Ge.

His face was so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water, and the look he gave Xu Jin held both shock and rage.

He had intended to use the terrain to slip away without a sound. Who could have expected this brat to possess a method capable of pinpointing his position so precisely, and even unleash a wide-reaching curtain of sword light to force him out?

This method was far more ruthless than that of an ordinary Demon Exterminator in the Comprehension Realm.

"Little boy, what exactly do you want?" Elder Ge lowered his voice, all of his earlier arrogance gone.

Having just taken the lingering force of that sword curtain head-on, he understood perfectly well.

His sinister yin arts were utterly suppressed by that golden sword qi. If they truly fought, he had no chance of victory.

Xu Jin stepped over the charred fallen leaves toward him. "Nothing much. Weren't you acting pretty tough just now? Come out and keep talking."

Elder Ge's mouth twitched. In his heart, he cursed the disciple who had passed along faulty information eight hundred times.

What ordinary trainee? This was clearly a calamity star!

His thoughts raced as he forcibly squeezed out a smile. Reaching into his robes, he took out a black crystal core the size of a pigeon egg.

The crystal core gleamed with cold light, with faint black mist swirling within it. The moment it emerged, the surrounding yin energy grew several degrees denser.

"Please calm your anger, young friend. This old man failed to recognize greatness before him." Elder Ge held the crystal core out toward him, lowering his tone to the utmost. "This Baleful Gathering Crystal Core is the core of a soul-nourishing formation. It is worth ten years of cultivation for an ordinary yin cultivator. This old man is willing to offer it as an apology in exchange for my life."

Xu Jin's gaze fell upon the crystal core, and his pupils contracted slightly.

A Baleful Gathering Crystal Core.

Several scattered clues instantly linked together in his mind—

The Baleful Gathering Soul-Nourishing Formation at the mass graveyard, the remnant souls of three hundred years of the Western Pacification Army, the villagers disappearing one after another in the western outskirts, the three scattered yin cultivator strongholds...

Profound Yin Hall was doing far more than simply cultivating yin soldiers.

Wang Defa intended to gather three Baleful Gathering Crystal Cores, draw upon the yin energy of the earth veins, use army souls as bones, wandering souls as flesh, and the missing villagers as sacrifices, then refine a Golden-Armored Baleful Corpse!

The one at the mass graveyard was the first, tempered using the army's baleful energy;

The one at the funeral parlor was the second, used to gather wandering souls;

The third was hidden in the main altar. That was the core of the corpse-refining process.

No wonder Wang Defa had chosen to protect the other three strongholds first rather than avenge what had happened at the mass graveyard.

This plan to refine a baleful corpse was his highest priority.

"Looks like you know your stuff." Seeing his expression shift slightly, Elder Ge hurriedly continued, "The main altar is located at the ancient battlefield ruins deep inside the mountain. The third crystal core is nearly finished being cultivated, and the baleful corpse refinement has reached its final stage. This old man can take you there. I only ask for a chance to live."

Xu Jin looked up at him. "How is the formation eye at the main altar arranged? How many guards are there? What is Wang Defa's true cultivation level?"

Elder Ge's eyes flickered as he stammered, "The formation eye... the formation eye was personally arranged by the elder. This old man only knows the general details. There are not many guards, only a dozen or so disciples... Elder Wang Defa's cultivation is unfathomable. He is at least a Grandmaster Realm expert..."

As he spoke, a vicious gleam flashed through his eyes. His fingers quietly withdrew into his sleeve, reaching for a communication jade talisman hidden beneath it.

I'll steady this brat first. As long as I send the message, once the elder arrives with reinforcements, I'll make sure he dies without a burial ground!

Xu Jin saw the viciousness flash through his eyes and did not waste another word.

A flash of sword light.

Before Elder Ge could even react, he felt a chill in his chest.

Looking down, he saw a bloody hole pierced straight through his chest.

"You..." Elder Ge stared wide-eyed, his face filled with disbelief.

He had already offered up a treasure and begged for mercy. How could this man strike without warning, not giving him even the slightest room to maneuver?

Xu Jin recalled his flying sword, his tone calm. "You can't even speak properly. There's no use keeping you alive."

Elder Ge's body swayed before he crashed heavily to the ground, completely devoid of life.

Not long afterward, Wang Lei, Yan Tao, and Lin Yue hurried to the side of the mountain stream.

What greeted their eyes were two charred corpses. Elder Ge lay on the ground with his eyes still open in death, faint white smoke still rising from the bloody hole in his chest.

All three froze.

They had only been a moment late, yet even Elder Ge was dead?

He was the number two figure in Profound Yin Hall, a vicious character who had run rampant through the western outskirts for years and given even full-fledged Demon Exterminators terrible headaches. And he had been slain just like that by a trainee?

Yan Tao looked at the corpse on the ground, then at Xu Jin standing in the clearing with a flying sword in hand. His Adam's apple bobbed, but he could not speak for a long while.

Xu Jin ignored their shock and bent down to pick up the Baleful Gathering Crystal Core from Elder Ge's robes.

The yin baleful energy within was so dense it seemed on the verge of overflowing. One could only imagine how many lives they had harmed.

He had never considered himself a model of righteousness, and his moral bottom line had always been rather flexible.

He simply liked using his own methods to turn things he found unpleasant into something he could stomach.

As for yin cultivators like these, who slaughtered innocent commoners and refined dead souls into evil things, this was no longer merely something he found unpleasant.

They absolutely deserved a heavy punch.