Sorry, I'm Actually an Undercover Agent

"No!"

Seeing Fu Lin and the other twenty-four women born at the yin hour escape, the vice cult leader's eyes nearly split with rage. In that moment of distraction, a finger sword flashed past, carving another bloody gash across his body.

Looking at the three elders lying on the ground and the scattered bodies of the cultists, a cold gleam suddenly rose in the vice cult leader's eyes.

"You forced my hand!"

The vice cult leader reached into his robes and pulled out a small blue-and-white porcelain bottle. He removed the stopper, and a thread of icy air wafted from its mouth. Without hesitation, he tipped it up.

A drop of dark black blood slid from the bottle into his mouth.

The next instant.

His entire body convulsed violently, and his frame rapidly swelled. His black robes burst apart layer by layer, while veins like venomous snakes bulged across every muscle. In an instant, he grew to over two meters tall.

"Evil Spirit Blood?!"

Li Nianru, who had been strolling about with ease, suddenly changed expression.

Lin Nan, hiding off to the side, also sensed the sinister aura seeping from the vice cult leader.

"Humans can actually drink Evil Spirit Blood?!"

A thought suddenly flashed through Lin Nan's mind.

Boom!

The vice cult leader's massive body slammed over like a truck, sending Li Nianru flying and smashing her heavily into the wall, where she left a deep crater.

"Roar!"

The vice cult leader seemed to have lost his mind. Like a great ape, his eyes were blood-red, as though flames might burst from them at any moment. He lunged at Li Nianru again.

"Origin-revering qi passes through the triple burner, fire gathers in the palm and all evils vanish. Blazing Fire Palm!"

Li Nianru's cold voice came from the hole in the wall.

In an instant, blood qi surged forth like a raging sea. The boiling blood qi gave rise to fiery force, forcibly blasting the vice cult leader's body out through the hole.

"Roar! Roar!"

The vice cult leader crashed heavily onto the ground, then quickly sprang back up. Black smoke rose from his skin.

Yet, as if he felt no pain, he charged at Li Nianru again. One large and one small figure exchanged fists and palms beneath the statue, locked in a fierce battle.

In the blink of an eye, the aftermath of their battle whipped up gusts of wind, sending shattered stones flying in every direction.

At that moment.

Lin Nan hid at the edge of the main hall, watching with rapt attention, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

"A martial master! This is the realm above martial artists—the battle between martial masters!"

There were no martial arts experts of such a high level anywhere in the outer city.

Every move they made carried profound grace, seemingly far more mysterious than the basic martial arts of the outer city.

Li Nianru's Origin-Revering One-Qi Art especially broadened his understanding of martial arts. The Wave-Treading Step created distance, the Blazing Fire Palm launched frontal attacks, and the Azure Wood Finger struck vulnerable points. Such a flexible and varied fighting style greatly expanded his martial arts thinking.

"Help... help me..."

Just then, a weak cry came from the ground.

Lin Nan looked down and saw a man in dark elder robes, his body riddled with bloody wounds, struggling to crawl to Lin Nan's feet and clutching at his trouser leg.

It was Elder Lai Quan!

"Th-the main hall... there's medicine... in the hidden compartment... hurry... bring it to me..." Lai Quan said weakly.

"Alright." Lin Nan nodded.

Joy appeared on Lai Quan's face.

Pfft!

Lin Nan drew the steel saber from his waist and thrust it fiercely into Lai Quan's chest through one of his wounds.

"Y-you..."

The joy on Lai Quan's face instantly froze, leaving only shock and incomprehension.

"Sorry, but I'm actually an undercover agent. Now, I just want to be a good person."

Lin Nan sighed and casually pulled out his steel saber.

"You... you passed the three trials to join the cult... why..."

Lai Quan pointed at Lin Nan with a trembling finger, then collapsed to the ground with deep unwillingness. Soon, his breath ceased.

Boom!

Just then, a tremendous crash erupted from the center of the main hall.

Two figures separated in midair and landed at opposite ends of the hall.

"Pfft!"

Li Nianru's plain white robes were now covered in countless bloody gashes. Unable to hold on any longer, she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. It splashed across her white mask and dripped from its edges.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The vice cult leader on the other side was no better off. His clothes were in tatters, and blood streamed from the countless holes pierced through him by the Azure Wood Finger.

They had actually both suffered heavy injuries!

"What are you standing around for?! Get over here and help!"

The vice cult leader's aura was in chaos, and he could barely remain standing. He turned toward Lin Nan in a panic and roared.

"No problem!"

Sensing the weakness in both of their auras, Lin Nan stepped out from the ruins at the edge of the hall.

Li Nianru was momentarily stunned beneath her mask.

"This kid didn't run?"

The vice cult leader's expression brightened when he saw Lin Nan, and he hastily pointed at Li Nianru.

"It's that bitch! Kill her for me!"

Whoosh!

Before his words had even faded, a cloud of lime powder flew straight into the vice cult leader's face.

The vice cult leader froze for a moment, but quickly reacted. He blew out a sharp breath, scattering most of the lime powder at once.

But in that brief opening.

Lin Nan moved!

"Wave-Treading Step!"

"Blazing Fire Palm!"

"Earth Fiend Fist!"

Lin Nan's blood qi suddenly churned violently, rushing into his legs and arms in almost a single breath.

The three external training arts intertwined in an instant. His entire body became like a descending battle-axe, tearing straight through the air.

He struck with everything he had, holding nothing back!

The vice cult leader's expression abruptly changed.

Under normal circumstances, this level of power would not even compare to one of his hands. But now—now, after he had forcibly raised his cultivation by drinking Evil Spirit Blood, at his weakest moment!

Caught off guard, he did not even have time to dodge. He could only raise both arms to shield his head.

Bang!!!

A massive impact erupted!

The vice cult leader let out a miserable scream. Lin Nan's force smashed his arms inward, while the blazing power of the Blazing Fire Palm and Earth Fiend Fist struck his forehead.

His mask shattered into pieces, revealing an aged, wrinkled face. Blood streamed from every one of his distorted features.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Li Nianru's white figure flashed forward. Her Azure Wood Finger, like a sharp blade, slipped through the wound Lin Nan had created and pierced straight into the vice cult leader's forehead.

Crack.

Lin Nan landed slowly on the ground, intense pain shooting through both arms. In that instant just now, it had felt as if he had struck not flesh, but refined steel. The tremendous recoil left his arms aching fiercely, as though his bones had cracked.

Was this the steel sinews and iron bones of a Sinew-Bone Realm martial artist?

Li Nianru stood where she was, her expression complicated as she looked at the vice cult leader's now lifeless body and his familiar face.

"It was actually Qin Lu, Steward Qin of the Qin Family..."

"You're saying he was Steward Qin of the Qin Family in the inner city?"

Lin Nan paused, and then a flash of insight struck his mind.

The Qin before us was merely the vice cult leader of the Blessed Life Cult. Then who was the cult leader? Could it possibly be the head of the Qin Family in the inner city—Elder Qin of the inner city?

Before the two could think further.

A faint baby's cry suddenly echoed through the previously quiet hall.

"It's coming from inside the statue! It's the crying from that chant earlier! It hasn't disappeared!"

Only then did Lin Nan realize that with the death of the Blessed Life Cult's vice cult leader, the fog in the hall had not weakened. Instead, it was growing thicker and thicker.

"Don't panic. It's the evil spirit the Blessed Life Cult wanted to sacrifice to and control. It hasn't awakened yet."

Li Nianru's eyes darkened. She swiftly pulled more than twenty jade talismans, as well as several unknown gray talismans, from her sleeve pouch.

With a flick of her fingers, the talismans turned into streaks of light and shot outward, attaching themselves around the statue. Gradually, the crying in their ears began to fade into the distance, as though the unknown infant were slowly drifting away.

"I temporarily sealed it with Suppress-Evil Talismans. This is a second-rank evil spirit, and I can't deal with it. We need stronger martial arts experts!"

Li Nianru said in a grave voice, "Leave this place first!"

The two exchanged a glance, then quickly raced up the underground stairs toward the surface.