Duty-bound to fight the Japanese

Wen Ning and the others circled around.

They approached the old house again from the other side of the woods.

Zhong Kui and Xie Bi'an followed silently behind him. The Ghost Messengers spread out in orderly ranks, forming a silent cordon in the snow.

The old house was a Japanese-style building with black roof tiles and wooden walls. Dead vines covered its corners, making it look like a coffin half buried in snow beneath the moonlight.

Xie Bi'an lowered his voice.

"The Barrier is right at the front entrance. You can't see it with the naked eye."

Hearing this, Wen Ning circulated his magical power, and the air before his eyes warped slightly.

A dark red membrane of light enveloped the old house, wrapping the entire building tightly like red plastic wrap.

Wen Ning activated the Five Thunder Righteous Method, and lightning danced over his hands.

Then he glanced at Xie Bi'an.

Xie Bi'an nodded slightly and raised a hand, signaling the Ghost Messengers behind him to spread out and seal every exit.

Wen Ning channeled his magical power. The Five Thunder Righteous Method became a dazzling arc of electricity at his fingertips and shot into the sky.

The clouds split open. A bolt of lightning descended, striking the dark red Barrier directly above the old house's front entrance.

A muffled explosion rang out. A huge breach tore through the membrane, with lightning darting along its edges and rapidly spreading until the entire Barrier burned into fragments.

The instant the Barrier shattered, three black shadows rushed out of the old house at once.

Their bodies were formed from thick black smoke. Their outlines barely held a humanoid shape, but their limbs were grotesquely twisted. Their faces had no features except for a constantly moving mouth. They looked like figures molded from riverbed sludge.

Wen Ning gave them no time to react.

The Five Thunder Righteous Method was still active in his palm. Lightning flew from his hand, turning into a white arrow.

It struck the foremost Shikigami squarely in the chest.

Before the Shikigami could even scream, lightning pierced his entire body. His black smoke exploded in the glare and dispersed above the snow.

The other two Shikigami lunged at him together, one from the left and one from the right.

Wen Ning formed a hand seal with his right hand and activated the Eight-Nine Mysteries.

A new arm sprouted beside each of his existing arms, and all four channeled the Thunder Arts at once.

Four bolts of lightning shot at the remaining two Shikigami from four directions. Just like that, all three Shikigami were dealt with.

At the edge of the woods stood the old man, leaning on his wooden staff. He had been about to head home.

But he still couldn't stop worrying about this place, so he had come to take a look.

The old man gazed at the distant night sky illuminated by lightning.

The Immortal Spirit within him saw the scene as well, then spoke slowly, a trace of fear in his voice.

"That boy really is from the Thunder Department."

The old man saw Wen Ning's four arms.

"Didn't you say he was an officially appointed deity of the Thunder Department, venerable spirit? This looks even fiercer than that."

The venerable spirit was knowledgeable, after all, and named the technique.

"Eight-Nine Mysteries."

But the old man clearly had no idea what the Eight-Nine Mysteries was.

"Venerable spirit, what's the Eight-Nine Mysteries?"

The venerable spirit's voice rang out in his mind.

"You know Erlang Shen, Yang Jian, don't you? The Eight-Nine Mysteries is what he cultivates. This young man isn't just some random Heavenly Official in the Thunder Department. He has someone backing him."

The old man drew a deep breath as he watched the lightning flames still burning above the old house.

"Then I'm afraid everything inside that old house will be burned clean tonight."

Lightning flames blasted open the old house's front entrance. Wen Ning stepped over the threshold and entered the front hall. A middle-aged man in a black kimono stood at the foot of the stairs, forming seals with both hands and chanting unintelligible incantations.

Two companions stood behind him. A young man knelt on the floor, drawing a talisman array.

The other, a slightly older woman, was preparing to summon new Shikigami.

When the Japanese Onmyoji saw Wen Ning enter, they stopped chanting. The oldest of them wore a strange smile and spoke in broken Chinese.

"A brainless Chinaman, just as I thought. You actually dared to barge in like this."

With that, he flipped both hands, sending over a dozen paper talismans into the air. They turned into streams of thick black smoke, each condensing into a Shikigami.

Black smoke instantly swallowed the entire front hall. Over a dozen Shikigami lunged at Wen Ning together, piercing shrieks ringing through the smoke.

Wen Ning didn't retreat, nor did he intend to.

These Japanese Onmyoji had clearly infuriated him.

Especially with that word, "Chinaman."

He circulated his magical power and drove the Five Thunder Righteous Method to its fullest. It was no longer merely a glow of lightning. Electricity poured from Wen Ning's body like flowing water.

His Thunder Arts flooded the entire front hall.

The lightning filling the hall engulfed the Shikigami summoned by the Japanese Onmyoji, dispersing them without leaving even a trace.

In less than half an incense stick's burning time, over a dozen Shikigami had been wiped out.

The smiles froze on the Onmyoji's faces.

They hurried backward, trying to escape into the basement entrance.

Wen Ning gave them no chance. The sea of lightning surged forward and engulfed all three Onmyoji.

"When you were experimenting on living people in Unit 731, did you ever imagine this day would come?"

Wen Ning looked down at the Onmyoji struggling on the floor and slowly clenched his fist.

As his fist tightened, the Onmyoji trapped in the lightning screamed without cease.

The middle-aged Onmyoji's eyes widened. His lips trembled as he tried to say something, probably to beg for mercy, but there was no chance of that now.

The sea of lightning slowly grew more violent, then fell completely silent.

Lightning kept darting through the eyes, ears, noses, and mouths of the three Onmyoji engulfed within it. Clearly, Wen Ning had cooked even their internal organs with electricity.

Seeing that he had physically delivered the three Onmyoji to the afterlife, Wen Ning withdrew his Thunder Arts. His four arms became two again.

He glanced back at Xie Bi'an. Seeing that Wen Ning was finished, Xie Bi'an nodded and shackled the three Onmyoji's souls. They had yet to come to terms with their deaths. When they realized they had become ghosts only to be shackled by Ghost Messengers, they began struggling.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

Seeing that the three ghosts still refused to behave, Fan Wujiu stepped forward and lashed them.

"B-behave yourselves! Keep violently resisting the law, and I'll whip you to death!"

The Ghost Messengers tasked with sweeping the area returned as well. Each held several chains, with a ghost shackled to every one of them. All the ghosts wore Japanese military uniforms from World War II.

Meanwhile, a thunderous crash came from the basement.

Now it was Zhong Kui's time to take center stage.

Zhong Kui said to Wen Ning and the others,

"No need to follow me. It's just one little ghost."

Then he entered the basement. He didn't keep them waiting long before emerging again. Yamamoto was bound in Zhong Kui's chain, his graying hair hanging over his forehead and concealing his cloudy, yellowed eyes, which burned with stubborn defiance.

Zhong Kui walked into the front hall.

"Everything taken care of?"

Wen Ning answered,

"All taken care of. They've all become ghosts."

Seeing that everything had been handled, Zhong Kui said,

"Then let's head back."

With that, he walked out of the old house. Wen Ning followed behind him and stepped through the front entrance.

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