Schemes Gone, Legacy Severed, Nothing Left...

"Was it you who ruined three years of my planning?"

Hall Master Zhou ground his teeth and asked, each word bitten off.

Xu Jin stood with his hands behind his back atop the remnants of the ritual altar, raising his eyes to sweep them over Hall Master Zhou.

"It was me."

"But it wasn't just your three years of planning."

"I also killed the black-robed steward under your command's own nephew—the sole heir of your Danding lineage."

"Everyone else got a single sword stroke. They didn't suffer much. But him? I deliberately slowed down by half a beat. My sword aura first severed every yin meridian in his body before I slit his throat."

"After all, he was a promising inheritor of your Profound Yin Hall. He deserved some special care."

Hall Master Zhou's body jolted violently, his clenched knuckles turning white.

He had still clung to a sliver of hope, believing the boy might have escaped amidst the chaos and that the Danding legacy would not be severed.

Xu Jin's casual words crushed that last shred of hope into dust.

As though he had not seen the man's reaction, Xu Jin continued to twist the knife at an unhurried pace.

"Oh, right. The Yin-Shedding Corpse Demon is gone too."

"I refined its divine soul clean away and swallowed its demon crystal. By now, it has probably long since become part of my battle aura."

He paused, one brow lifting slightly in mockery.

As his words fell, Hall Master Zhou shuddered from head to toe.

The blue-black patterns across his face twisted and wriggled, as though they were about to burrow out from beneath his skin.

The Danding inheritor, the Corpse Demon foundation, three years of planning—three things he regarded as his very life, all shattered one by one beneath Xu Jin's words.

"Ahhh!!!"

He threw back his head and howled, his voice wrenching and heart-rending. The black baleful aura around him instantly surged several yards high, whipping the river's black water into the sky.

"You little beast!!!"

"I'll kill you!!!"

Hall Master Zhou had completely lost his mind.

A black pill mark slowly emerged between his brows and seeped bit by bit into his flesh.

The blue-black patterns on his face spread down his neck and across his entire body, twisting and slithering beneath his skin like living venomous worms.

A suit of Profound Yin Iron Armor condensed around him, its plates carved with yin-script cauldron patterns and gleaming with a cold, ghostly light.

Behind him, the phantom of a three-legged yin cauldron slowly rose. Thick black baleful aura churned from its mouth, dimming even the daylight by several degrees.

"Profound Yin Cauldron Baleful Aura!"

He thrust both palms forward, and the three-legged yin cauldron crashed down at Xu Jin with the force of ten thousand tons.

Wherever the black baleful aura passed, the stones along the bank were instantly corroded into pits, while the river water hissed and sizzled.

This was his trump card, his innate divine ability. Even an ordinary early-stage Grandmaster would have to avoid its edge.

Xu Jin raised his right hand. Molten Gold Battle Aura gathered in his palm into a blazing golden radiance, as though he were holding a tiny sun.

"You sure yelled loudly."

"I just wonder whether your methods can match that voice of yours."

Boom!

The three-legged yin cauldron smashed fiercely into the golden radiance.

The expected scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere never appeared.

The golden radiance in Xu Jin's palm firmly held up the core of the cauldron's baleful aura. Pure yang battle aura spread upward along the cauldron, and wherever it passed, the black baleful aura melted away at high speed like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun, sending great clouds of white mist billowing up.

Hall Master Zhou's pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with disbelief.

"Impossible! You're only at the eighth level of the Intent Comprehension Realm. How could you possibly block my innate cauldron baleful aura?!"

"Trash is trash."

Xu Jin's tone was indifferent as the golden radiance in his palm flared brighter.

"You couldn't protect your inheritor, couldn't watch over your Corpse Demon, and couldn't even guard a ritual altar properly."

"Now you want revenge, only to find you can't even touch me."

"Does it hurt? Are you despairing?"

"Break."

At that single word, the phantom of the three-legged yin cauldron shattered inch by inch, turning into black baleful aura that scattered in every direction.

He stepped forward in the same motion, his palm wreathed in Molten Gold Battle Aura striking straight into Hall Master Zhou's chest.

Crack—

The dark iron armor began to fracture from the chest in a spiderweb pattern, armor plates spraying outward together with black blood.

Hall Master Zhou spewed a mouthful of black blood, his body flying backward like a kite with its string cut before crashing heavily into the river along the side channel.

Boom!

The river exploded into black waves several yards high. The embankment collapsed across a wide stretch from the aftershock, broken stones and black water cascading noisily into the river.

Bubbles gurgled up from the surface, yet no one emerged for a long while.

Xu Jin lowered his hand, and the golden radiance slowly receded.

He glanced at the river surface but did not rush to pursue him.

The monk might run, but the temple could not.

The core of the yin domain lay in the pill chamber below. Even if Hall Master Zhou risked his life, he would never abandon the Danding legacy and flee.

At the same time, a relief force was hurrying along the official road upstream from Green-Mud Ferry.

At its head was Zhang Yao, squad leader of the riverside patrol unit. Walking beside him was a cold-faced young man in a green robe: Shen Ze, an official demon exterminator from the Western Office.

Born into an Evil-Refining family, he was a rising figure of the Containment Faction. Upon hearing that a mid-tier yin domain had emerged at Green-Mud Ferry, he had volunteered to accompany the force.

Half his reason was to answer the order for reinforcements; the other half was to see for himself the Xu Jin who had supposedly received an exceptional promotion.

"What kind of nonsense is this?! I was dragged here in the middle of a perfectly good rotation break. A mid-tier yin domain—if we're unlucky, we'll all die here!"

An older patrol officer complained as he ran. "And who knows how Patrol Officer Xu does his job. He was supposed to guard the ferry, yet he actually let the yin domain rupture!"

"Isn't that the truth?" Another man replied between gasps. "I heard he's only a probationary demon exterminator. He's been in office less than two months, yet he was already put in sole charge of a ferry, all because Hundred Household Commander Li favors him. Now that he's made such a huge mess, we're the ones who have to clean up after him."

Hearing this, Shen Ze curled his lips into a faint smile, his tone carrying a touch of lofty disdain.

"A roughneck from the backcountry, relying on a bit of brute strength to kill a few minor demons, and he really thinks he can hold down a whole region."

"A mid-tier yin domain involves the yin baleful aura of the earth veins. It cannot be settled through the courage of a lone man. When we meet him, all of you will follow my orders. Don't go charging around blindly after him."

Among the younger generation of the Western Office, he had always been one of the foremost figures. He was also from a proper Evil-Refining family, and from the bottom of his heart, he looked down on an exceptionally promoted man like Xu Jin, who had neither foundation nor master.

In his eyes, Xu Jin had obtained the position of patrol officer only because he had stumbled into a few cases by luck and currried favor with Hundred Household Commander Li.

If he truly encountered a hard opponent, he would probably not even know how he died.

Zhang Yao frowned but did not dare respond.

Shen Ze was an official demon exterminator from the Western Office, of higher status than him. As a mere patrol squad leader, Zhang Yao had no authority over the man. He could only laugh awkwardly. "Lord Shen is right. Still, we should hurry on first. If the yin domain truly spreads, none of us will get off easy."

The group ran several more miles ahead.

In the distance, heavy black baleful aura loomed over the river like storm clouds, churning without end in a horrifying sight.

The complaints within the group gradually faded away.

Everyone's expressions changed.

The scale of this yin domain was far greater than they had anticipated.

"Such dense yin baleful aura..." The old patrol officer swallowed. "Can a probationary patrol officer really have held out until now? Don't tell me he hid himself away long ago."

Shen Ze's expression darkened somewhat, yet he still maintained his lofty bearing.

"It would be normal if he hid. It would be stranger if an untrained wild cultivator dared to stand his ground against a mid-tier yin domain."

"When we meet him, we'll stabilize the situation first."

He made it sound casual, but his feet did not slow in the slightest.

Once a mid-tier yin domain completely spread, even he, born into an Evil-Refining family, would not dare claim he could escape unscathed.

The group raced into the foul wind, speeding toward the place where the black baleful aura was thickest.

By the riverbank, Xu Jin had already reached the entrance to the side channel.

With a tap of his toe, he was just about to leap into the river.

Urgent footsteps suddenly sounded behind him, followed by someone calling out from afar.

"Patrol Officer Xu, wait!"

"Shen Ze of the Western Office of the provincial capital, here under orders to provide reinforcements!"

Xu Jin paused and looked back.

Several figures raced over along the embankment. At their head was a cold and proud young man in a green robe, his gaze landing directly on Xu Jin with a high-handed scrutiny.

The reinforcements had arrived.

And one of them had come with ill intent.