Heavy Shields Forward! Bone Blades, Second Rank! Yin Cultivators, Reinforce the Baleful Intent!

The moment the light patterns on the communication jade token dimmed, the entire Western Office of the provincial Demon Suppression Bureau sprang into action.

"Quickly locate Linhe's third patrol squad and order them to bring anti-evil armaments to reinforce Green-Mud Ferry at once!"

"Send word to the patrol posts in Anhe, Luwan, and Taiping. All personnel on duty are to assemble along the banks of Green-Mud Ferry!"

"Order the Aftercare Office to follow with cinnabar talismans, artifacts, and spirit-settling medicine. All possessed villagers are to be resettled together. Not a single one is to be missed!"

"Lock down every ferry crossing along the riverbank. Have the village heads lead men to guard every path down to the river. No civilians are to approach the water without permission!"

"Publicly, claim that a water plague has broken out. Every village is to remain indoors and inspect themselves. Anyone daring to spread rumors of evil spirits will be dealt with for disturbing public order!"

"Report to the Hundred-Household Office immediately. Request that the Demon Suppression Army reserve unit stand by, ready to enter the tomb and clear the site at any time!"

Orders came down one after another. The runners in the duty hall raced about without pause, communication talismans flashing one after the next. The entire Western Office was like a wound-up mechanism, operating at full speed.

Green-Mud Ferry was a vital waterway for grain transport. If word of the Yin Domain's spread got out, boatmen would scatter, shipping would be cut off, and the livelihoods of more than a hundred thousand people upstream and downstream would be affected.

Sealing the ferry crossings, suppressing rumors, and claiming it was a water plague were measures to protect the people's lives and stabilize local order.

If there were casualties, the imperial court would naturally provide compensation. But once people's hearts fell into chaos, it would be difficult to gather them again.

Beside the ritual altar on the shore, the Yin tide had already surged forth.

Floating corpses on the river, water puppets in the reed marshes, possessed villagers—they packed together in a dense mass. Their pale bluish faces gleamed with the light of death in the morning mist as they howled and charged toward the breach leaking Yin baleful intent.

Xu Jin stood in the very center of the altar's ruins, unleashing his full firepower.

Streak after streak of golden light swept out like a mower crushing through wheat waves. The front ranks of Yin creatures could not even scream before Yang fire seared them into pools of fetid black water that seeped into the mud beneath his feet.

The power was so great that the aftershocks of sword qi plowed several deep furrows through the muddy shore. Reeds half a man tall had long since been scorched into ash, black ash mingling with black water as it flowed down the slope into the river.

But those outside were not the real trouble. The trouble lay in the depths of the Yin Domain.

The breach in the Yin Domain had not opened all at once. It would take time for the two sides to fully overlap.

Before then, the Yin baleful intent and evil creatures below could only squeeze ashore through the leakage point at the ritual altar along the side passage.

Xu Jin slaughtered the small fry rushing at him while holding the leakage point without yielding.

Whatever came out, he killed one upon seeing one; if two emerged, he cut down the pair. He was truly blocking the opening and farming experience.

Bang!

A water puppet that had charged the fiercest had only just pounced close when, before it could raise its claws, Xu Jin kicked it flying. It crashed into a boulder on the shore and its entire body exploded into a puddle of black water.

Xu Jin stood atop the remnants of the altar, golden radiance flowing around him like a god of slaughter blocking the gate.

Calm, steady, carrying an utterly unconcerned arrogance.

He had killed nearly all the small fry outside. What remained were only the big bosses hidden deep within the Yin Domain.

He raised his eyes toward the water above the side passage entrance and called out.

"What kind of skill is hiding in there? Come on, charge again!"

The evil creatures within the Yin Domain were stirred into restless agitation by that shout.

Yet they were not mindless dead things after all. They had rushed upward in scattered groups before, but after suffering such a loss, they instead began to organize themselves.

The water exploded.

Twelve Yin puppets clad in rusted iron armor stepped over the waves, bone blades extending from their elbows with a ghostly blue gleam.

The foremost puppet was especially massive, with half a bronze general's mask buckled over its skull.

Eight elite disciples of the Profound Yin Hall followed behind it, forming hand seals to activate the formation and twist the surrounding Yin baleful intent into tangible substance.

A hoarse, dry voice rolled from the puppet general's throat bones.

"Heavy shields forward! Bone blades, second rank! Yin cultivators, reinforce the baleful intent!"

The puppets holding heavy bone shields formed a line, shield locked tightly against shield;

Through the gaps, sharpened leg bones thrust outward;

At the rear, the Yin cultivator disciples' hands flew as they continuously poured Yin baleful intent into the formation.

An iron-blooded military formation pressed forward step by step.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The heavy-shield puppets smashed down one step at a time, making the ground tremble faintly. A black wall condensed from Yin baleful intent pushed with the waves, bearing down directly toward Xu Jin.

Xu Jin's gaze fell upon the Iron-Bone Puppet General issuing commands.

"So it's an officer."

"Throw!"

The puppet general gave the order.

Dozens of sharp bone spikes shot out from behind the heavy shields, tearing through the air on a stench-laden wind as they nailed toward Xu Jin from all directions.

Xu Jin glanced at the incoming bone spikes and shook his head slightly.

Rather than block them, it would be easier to kill his way straight in.

With a tap of his toes, he activated the Rainbow Transformation divine ability. His entire body became a golden rainbow as he charged directly into the bone spikes.

Behind him, the Golden Crow phantom raised its head and spread its wings. Crimson-gold feathers blanketed the heavens, carrying pure Yang astral qi as it crashed headlong into the Yin baleful intent military formation.

Charging the formation!

The Golden Crow crashed into the black baleful formation like a blazing sun falling into an ice cellar. White mist of Yin baleful intent instantly steamed into the air.

Xu Jin casually swept his hand, and the front-row shield-bearing puppets shattered together with their shields and bones.

He turned and slashed horizontally, clearing an area within ten meters with a stroke of sword qi, as cleanly as cutting grass.

Deep within the military formation, two puppets raised their shields to form a high platform. The Iron-Bone Puppet General leaped atop it, both hands gripping a bone hammer the size of a human head, its body studded with barbs.

Borrowing the momentum of its descent, it smashed down viciously. Wind howled like a tiger's roar as it sought to smash Xu Jin's head to pieces.

"No matter how heaven-towering the Demon Suppression Bureau's vicious flames may be, you are still only a dead soul beneath this general's hammer!"

Clang!

The vicious light in the puppet general's eyes suddenly froze.

Xu Jin held the incoming bone spike in one hand, leaving it unable to advance even a fraction;

With his other hand, he held up the bone hammer, not letting it sink even half an inch.

"You shout loudly enough, but what a pity—you're a useless wretch with a limp hammer and weak legs. In your next life, drink Yin water for a few more years before coming back."

Both hands exerted force at once.

The bone spike shattered inch by inch, and the bone hammer flew backward.

Behind him, the Golden Crow phantom beat its wings and let out a long cry. Layer upon layer of sound waves spread outward. Wherever they swept, puppet armor shattered and Yin baleful intent melted away.

The Iron-Bone Puppet General bore the brunt of it. Its iron armor burst apart, rotten flesh peeled away, and its bones fell to pieces. Even its soul core was shattered by the sound waves, becoming a wisp of black smoke that dispersed.

[Iron-Bone Puppet General ×1 slain]

[Obtained Demon Fragment ×36]

[Divine ability unlocked: Yin-Domain Adaptation]

[Within a Yin Domain environment, suppression effects are halved, and the power of Yang-aspect techniques increases by 10%]

The instant the divine ability entered his grasp, Xu Jin felt his entire body grow lighter.

The Yin Domain's suppression, which had originally wrapped around him like cold water, weakened by nearly half on the spot. Astral qi flowed ever more smoothly, and the range covered by his sword qi expanded by several yards out of nowhere.

He did not delay. He immediately activated the newly acquired Yin-Domain Adaptation, and the golden radiance around him swelled by another thirty percent.

With a casual sweep, he sent out a fan-shaped arc of sword qi.

Screech, screech, screech—

The remaining Yin puppets and Profound Yin Hall disciples did not even have time to scream before sword qi passed through their bodies. Yin baleful intent burned into white mist that filled the sky, and they crumpled into the black water.

The organized Yin baleful intent military formation collapsed like a landslide in the blink of an eye.

Deathly silence returned to the shore.

Xu Jin withdrew his sword qi and looked toward the tomb passage entrance deep within the side passage.

The small fry had been cleared out.

The true master should be arriving soon.

No sooner had the thought fallen than an enraged roar echoed from deep within the tomb passage.

A gale of black baleful intent swept out through the passage, sending shattered stones flying along the shore and raising black waves several feet high on the river.

A black-robed figure stepped out over the waves, the blue-black pill-cauldron patterns on his face twisting grotesquely in the Yin light.

Hall Master Zhou had arrived.

His gaze swept across the shore—the ritual altar had become ruins, the pill seal had turned to dregs, and his elite subordinates, twelve Yin puppets, and the Iron-Bone Puppet General had all been wiped out. Not even an intact corpse remained.

The Yin baleful intent around him surged severalfold in an instant, pressing even the surrounding water surface downward.

He stared fixedly at Xu Jin in the center of the scene, his voice seeming to squeeze out from between clenched teeth.

"It was you who ruined this lord's three years of planning?"