The commotion will be a little loud later. Arrange people to handle the aftermath as soon as possible.

"Zhou, the branch altar master, is Red-Browed Old Monster's direct disciple. He's been stuck at the early Grandmaster stage for years."

"He has over twenty elite disciples guarding the front of the main burial chamber, pretending to launch a fierce assault to draw the Demon Suppression Bureau's attention. It's a feint."

"The entrance to the lower secret chamber is guarded by the Yin-Baleful Soul-Ensnaring Formation, with twelve Yin puppets taking turns on watch. An ordinary Intent Comprehension cultivator wouldn't even be able to find the way inside."

"The true Danding inheritance is in the alchemy chamber at the very bottom, wrapped in Yin water from the earth veins. No one but the altar master can approach it."

He paused, then revealed even his most crucial trump card, with a trace of self-assured confidence still in his voice.

"On the new moon night three days from now, the altar master will refine the living souls of three villages along the shore. Then, taking advantage of the Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon's shedding, he'll recast its demon body and refine it into a new anchor for the Yin Domain. With the Danding Yin Art, he'll break through to the peak of the Grandmaster realm in one stroke."

After blurting it all out in one breath, his chest heaved violently. As he looked at Xu Jin, there was a trace of pleading in his eyes, but also a trace of confidence born of having something to rely on.

The Danding inheritance and the Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon were Profound Yin Hall's greatest assets in Green-Mud Ferry.

Xu Jin raised an eyebrow slightly after hearing this.

A feint at the front, soul refinement from the side, using the corpse demon to forge an anchor and break through. Their calculations were indeed meticulous.

Unfortunately, their greatest asset had already been destroyed.

"There's something you may not know."

His tone was calm, as though he were mentioning some trivial matter.

"The Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon you relied on was refined by me into complete destruction of body and soul several days ago."

"Even the demon crystal it left behind has become nourishment for my cultivation."

The instant his words fell—

Sshhk—

Sword qi sliced straight across the youth's neck.

The youth did not even manage to scream. His head lolled to one side, and his body crumpled limply to the ground.

The black-robed deacon jerked his head up, all color draining from his face in an instant.

Then his gaze swept over his nephew's corpse on the ground. His whole body shuddered, as if every bone in him had been pulled away.

His nephew was dead.

The sole inheritor of the Danding inheritance was dead.

Even the Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon, their last hidden ace, was gone.

The two things two generations had guarded for more than a century had vanished in an instant.

"You... you killed him?"

His expression shifted from shock to disbelief, then churned into bone-deep madness and venomous hatred.

"I'll make you pay with your life! I'll destroy your soul!"

Baleful Intent surged wildly around him. His black robe billowed as he lunged at Xu Jin like a madman.

Xu Jin's gaze turned icy. A golden arc condensed in his palm, and he thrust it straight at the charging deacon.

Pfft—

Golden light pierced through the man's chest. The deacon's body abruptly stiffened. He looked down at the bloody hole in his heart as black blood spilled from his mouth, then toppled backward rigidly.

[Slain Profound Yin Hall Deacon ×1]

[Obtained Demon Fragment ×12]

Xu Jin withdrew his sword qi and glanced expressionlessly at the two corpses on the ground.

Leaving the Profound Yin Hall's Danding inheritor alive would only create future trouble.

If he spared him today, he would use the Yin arts he had learned to harm even more people someday.

As for taking hostages for interrogation and killing them once they had outlived their usefulness, that was a decision an enforcer ought to be capable of making.

A woman's mercy could not save the people of Green-Mud Ferry.

He turned and walked to the center of the ritual altar, crouching down to inspect the formation eye beneath it.

Black Yin water trickled upward, its frigid aura piercing to the bone. This was the core nexus drawing the Baleful Intent from beneath the water onto the shore.

The black alchemy seal was embedded in the center of the formation eye. Its patterns shared the same origin as the diagrams on the Danding Inscription Stone Tablet. It was a Baleful Intent-drawing ritual artifact specially made by Profound Yin Hall.

Xu Jin fully opened his Yin-Soul Eye and carefully scanned the formation eye's channels three times.

Sword qi gathered at his fingertips, and he slashed at the formation markings along the edge of the alchemy seal.

Crack—

The alchemy seal shattered at once.

The next second, a dull roar rose from underground. A wave of frigid Yin energy several times denser than before surged out from the formation eye.

Xu Jin had anticipated it. Golden radiance flared around him as he forcibly withstood the first wave of Baleful Intent.

The true core of this mid-tier Yin Domain was still in the Danding Secret Chamber below.

Unless he sealed off the source beneath them, the breach here could never truly be plugged.

The fluctuations of the Yin Domain rapidly spread through the waters.

In mere moments, disturbances erupted one after another all along the shore.

At the temporary settlement, the three victims who had been suppressed by cinnabar talismans suddenly went mad at the same time. They smashed their heads violently against the earthen walls, their foreheads streaming with blood, yet felt nothing.

Wang Lei and two constables desperately pinned them down, their palms slick with cold sweat. He immediately pulled out a communication talisman to report to Xu Jin.

At the village entrance, an old fisherman had just cast his net when he looked up and saw more than a dozen pale bluish-white corpses floating on the river, drifting toward the shore with the current. Beneath the dense ripples, even more dark shadows lurked.

The fishing net in his hands dropped to the ground with a slap, and his legs went weak.

The village dogs seemed frightened out of their wits. With their tails tucked, they cowered in the corners by the walls, barking madly toward the riverbank, their voices full of terror.

The Baleful Intent that had been lying dormant in households throughout the village, not yet fully erupting, seemed to have received an order and activated all at once.

The possessed villagers broke free from their guards and staggered in a flood toward the ritual altar.

Xu Jin stood beside the altar with his Yin-Soul Eye fully open.

As far as his eyes could see, points of Baleful Intent, large and small, converged here from every direction like a rising tide.

The small fry had burst from the nest.

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the main burial chamber of Sunk Tomb.

Altar Master Zhou sat cross-legged atop a stone platform with his eyes closed, resting his mind.

He had brought over twenty elite disciples to block this place for half a month, all to nail the Demon Suppression Bureau's attention firmly to the front and buy time for the soul-refinement plan in the side passage.

He had vaguely sensed that something was wrong with the Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon two days ago, but had not confirmed it. He had merely assumed the Baleful Intent was unstable during its shedding period.

He had thought that as long as he held out until the new moon night, refined enough living souls, and recast the Yin Domain's anchor, he could still break through to the peak of the Grandmaster realm in one step.

Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open.

The aura of the ritual altar in the side passage had been cut off.

His connection to the life-bound alchemy seal had shattered as well.

And the Yin Domain... the Yin Domain had actually ruptured?!

"Bastard!"

Altar Master Zhou let out a low roar. Baleful Intent exploded around him, and fine bluish-black patterns surfaced across his face—the mark of having cultivated the Danding Yin Art to a profound level.

The opportunity he had planned for three years had been ruined. Someone had destroyed the side-passage altar and even collapsed the Yin Domain's breach!

Once the Yin Domain expanded, the disturbance would become too great. The prefectural Demon Suppression Bureau would certainly send a large force.

By then, let alone breaking through, he would not even be able to preserve the Danding inheritance.

"Move! Return to the lower alchemy chamber!"

He could no longer spare any thought for the feint at the front. With a flash, he darted toward the depths of the tomb passage.

The elite disciples behind him hurried after him, and the group raced at full speed to reinforce the Danding Secret Chamber.

The Danding inheritance was the root of his life. Nothing could go wrong with the Yin Domain's core.

He wanted to see which blind fool dared to ruin his plans. He would rip out that person's soul and refine it into the Yin Domain, where they would never be reborn for all eternity!

Beside the ritual altar on the shore, the Baleful Intent grew ever denser.

Xu Jin took out the communication jade token at his waist and crushed it to activate it.

This was the emergency communication talisman issued by the Hundred-Household Office, linked directly to the duty station of the Demon Suppression Bureau's Western Office in the prefectural city.

A pale golden communication array lit up in his palm.

"Xu Jin, patrol inspector of the Demon Suppression Bureau at Green-Mud Ferry, reporting an emergency."

"The Han Dynasty Danding Yin Domain in the Sunk Tomb waters has ruptured. A mid-tier Yin Domain is expanding toward the shore; the entire Profound Yin Hall branch has returned to defend the lower alchemy chamber, and multiple cases of Baleful Intent possession have appeared in the three villages along the shore."

"I request reinforcements from the Hundred-Household Office."

Silence lingered at the other end of the jade token for two seconds before the stunned voice of the duty officer came through.

"A mid-tier Yin Domain rupture?! There's a Yin Domain in that Han tomb?"

"Inspector Xu, the situation is grave. Retreat immediately to a safe distance! The Hundred-Household Office will deploy reinforcements at once. Do not rashly venture deeper before they arrive!"

Xu Jin raised his eyes toward the shore.

A black mass of water puppets and possessed villagers had already gathered several dozen paces away. Their pale bluish-white faces appeared and vanished amid the morning mist, and their numbers continued to grow.

"Retreat isn't possible."

"The Yin Domain follows the river. For every step I retreat, another village's people will suffer."

"The commotion will be a little loud later. Arrange people to handle the aftermath as soon as possible."