Lin Yu conjured a blue stone platform, and his fingertip Spiritual Power transformed into a carving knife, instantly covering the platform with talismans.
He then pressed the demon's soul into the center of the stone platform, casually took out three soul-suppressing nails that gleamed with a cold light, and with a flash of ghostly blue fire at his fingertips, the nails were enveloped in a chilling yin energy.
With three soft clicks, the Soul-Suppressing Nails precisely pierced the demon's soul at the crown of his head, his heart, and his dantian, pinning him firmly to the stone platform.
Lin Yu took out another bronze lamp, its base engraved with soul-devouring patterns. He placed the demonic cultivator's soul into the lamp, made a hand seal, and a wisp of black energy, like a venomous snake, clung to the demonic cultivator's soul.
With a "sizzle," the wick suddenly burst into a green flame. The moment the flame touched the soul, the demon let out a heart-wrenching scream.
This flame is fueled directly by the demon's soul; as long as the soul exists, the flame will not go out.
The demon's soul writhed wildly within the lamp, sometimes enveloped by flames, becoming transparent and sparse, and sometimes re-condensing under the pull of the black energy, only to be immediately devoured by new flames.
He wanted to beg for mercy, but under this extreme pain, he could only let out painful moans, his eyes filled with fear and despair.
When you tormented the people of my Dragon Nation, did you ever imagine this day would come?
"Since you're so keen on tormenting the people of my Dragon Nation, then I'll use your soul to light a sky lantern, so you too can taste this soul-devouring pain!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yu made a hand seal with his fingertips, his Spiritual Power surging within him, and pointed it towards the bronze lamp.
The green flame of the lamp wick suddenly surged several times over, illuminating the entire dungeon with green light.
The demon's scream rose to its highest point in an instant, then abruptly stopped.
It wasn't that his soul dissipated, but rather that the soul fire had burned deep into his soul, leaving him without even the strength to make a sound.
Whenever his soul dissipates, it will re-condense under the influence of the talisman, and then be attached to the soul fire and continue to burn.
The evil Daoist priest was thus tormented indefinitely.
The evil spirit within the golden bead, seeing Lin Yu's actions, became unusually quiet.
It huddled to one side, not daring to make a sound, for fear that it would be next.
After tormenting the evil Daoist for a while...
Lin Yu lowered his eyes to look at the demonic soul in the lamp, which couldn't even utter a scream. With a slight movement of his fingertip Spiritual Power, the green flame weakened a bit. This soul was still somewhat useful, and Lin Yu wanted to ask it for the information it knew.
"Tell me your name. How many strongholds does the Fire Lotus Society have in Dragon Nation? Are there any other churches of yours in Dragon Nation?"
Lin Yu's voice was icy; if he couldn't produce any useful information, endless torture awaited him.
The demonic cultivator had lost all his previous arrogance. His soul trembled in the flames as he intermittently uttered, "I... I am Honda Hayato. The Fire Lotus Society has three secret strongholds in Hangzhou and Nanjing. Besides us, there are also members of the Onmyōryō... operating in the north."
Lin Yu's eyes were heavy. These cults, operating for so long, had exploited countless ordinary people.
He pressed for details about the exact location of the stronghold and how to contact it. Seeing that the demon had nothing more to hide, he raised his hand and made a hand seal, putting the bronze lamp into his storage bag.
This soul-devouring punishment will continue as long as the lamp burns, ensuring Honda's soul will never find peace.
Then Lin Yu turned to look at the evil spirit huddled inside the golden bead. The bead's scarlet eyes were filled with fear, and it didn't even dare to let out its aura.
"I'll spare your life for now." Lin Yu said calmly, casually putting away the bead, and turned to walk out of the dungeon.
Lin Yu planned to keep this evil spirit for now, as he would need to deal with these petty cults later, and it might come in handy.
Upon arriving at the meeting place on the ground floor, they saw dozens of members of the Fire Lotus Society dressed in kimonos standing alertly at each exit, clearly having discovered the anomaly in the dungeon.
Upon seeing Lin Yu's sudden appearance, they all drew their swords and surrounded him, shouting in a foreign language, their eyes filled with ferocity.
Some people who practiced sorcery even produced scriptures copied from human blood.
The scriptures in these books transformed into evil spirits that attacked Lin Yu.
Unfortunately, even their leader couldn't defeat Lin Yu, so their methods were even more useless.
The breeze created by his raised hand dispersed the dust.
Lin Yu initially wanted to kill them directly, but then he thought that if he only killed them, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't take revenge on the people of Suzhou later.
He looked up at the sky, made a hand seal with his fingertips, and quickly drew talismans in the air with two fingers together. Several talismans flew into the clouds.
The once clear sky suddenly became covered with dark clouds, and countless silvery lightning bolts rolled in the clouds, emitting deafening roars.
This strange celestial phenomenon instantly attracted the attention of the people of Suzhou. Everyone stopped and looked up at the sky, their faces filled with shock.
This is a phenomenon that ordinary people would never see in their entire lives; this is the first time they have ever witnessed it.
At this moment, the location of the Fire Lotus Society was locked in by the celestial energy, facing the very essence of death, which threw everyone into a panic.
They turned to run away, but Lin Yu wasn't about to let them get away.
He pointed his index finger at them and uttered the word "Freeze!"
As soon as the words were spoken, these ordinary days seemed to come to a standstill.
Then, lightning instantly gathered in the clouds, and countless bolts of lightning struck down towards the clubhouse!
Strangely, the lightning's range was precisely locked within the clubhouse, without affecting the surrounding buildings in the slightest.
After the deafening thunder, as the smoke and dust cleared, the once luxurious clubhouse was reduced to a charred ruin, and all the members of the Fire Lotus Society had been struck by lightning and their bodies were never found.
The local people also witnessed this strange phenomenon, and after discovering that the lightning only struck minors, they all clapped and cheered.
Everyone says it must be retribution for the many heinous things these people have done in their daily lives.
Lin Yu looked at the ruins before him and slowly withdrew his Spiritual Power. Without lingering, he transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the horizon of Suzhou City.
I understand what's happening here, but people in other places are still being tormented by these wicked practitioners.
Since he can't target ordinary people like you, Lin Yu will target cultivators.
After leaving Suzhou, Lin Yu headed straight towards Hangzhou.
According to information provided by Honda, the Fire Lotus Society's stronghold in Hangzhou was hidden in an abandoned ancient temple on the outskirts of the city.
They usually use "temple repair" as a pretext to secretly arrest displaced people in preparation for the blood sacrifice during the Ghost Festival.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Yu arrived at the outskirts of Hangzhou.
He concealed himself and followed the yin energy to the ancient temple Honda had mentioned.
From afar, the ancient temple's vermilion gate was already mottled, and most of the courtyard walls had collapsed, seemingly abandoned. However, when Lin Yu scanned it with his Divine Sense, he discovered that dozens of auras were hidden inside the temple.
The familiar, nauseating aura of the Fire Lotus Society was clearly present among them.
In addition, there were also some citizens of the Dragon Nation imprisoned underground, most of whom were pregnant women.