A wild gale rose out of nowhere, carrying the chill of the Nine Netherworld.

Fist-sized rocks were easily flipped up, slamming into the surrounding cliff walls with loud bangs; tree trunks as thick as a bowl were snapped in half at the waist, and a layer of ashen frost swiftly formed over the broken surfaces...

Li Yan and Lv San lay low behind a boulder, yet were still whipped by the stray gusts until their robes snapped in the wind and their faces stung.

They focused their gaze, only to see darkness and black mist intertwined and rolling, the darkness expanding now and then to devour great swathes of fog. Two tall phantoms could be vaguely seen within, flickering and colliding at extreme speed.

This internal struggle within the Yin Bureau did not last long.

After roughly seven or eight breaths, the two entangled forces suddenly separated.

The darkness receded like the tide, shrinking back into the ground and disappearing. The surging black mist also rapidly contracted, along with the faces of the Three-eyed Yin Constables and numerous ghost pawns within it, all together fading and vanishing.

In the end, there was only a faint, cold Yin aura left, and a ravaged scene.

The gale died down, and the flying sand and stones gradually settled.

Li Yan slowly let out a long, turbid breath and tucked the Hook Paper into his robe.

Although the Five Dao General had already left, with many things unspoken, the goal had been achieved: that Three-eyed Yin Constables of unknown origin and his troops had been forced to retreat.

What remained was for the Yin Bureau to wrangle over it internally; in the end there would be a conclusion.

Lv San leaned closer and whispered in puzzlement, "Just now, that was..."

"Yin Bureau business."

Li Yan put away the Hook Paper, his tone calm. "Someone broke the rules. Since the Five Dao General personally made a move, that’s his stance made clear. There’s a lot involved behind this; we’ll talk later."

As he spoke, another chill killing intent had already torn through the air and arrived.

Seven or eight black figures shot over from different directions, their bodies weaving among the slick rock walls and gnarled ancient trees, moving so fast they almost left afterimages.

They were not masked like ordinary assassins; instead, they revealed attire and features full of foreign flavor: black caps on their heads, dark Chitose or suikan robes on their bodies, Tachi blades at their waists, their steps eerie as they moved, carrying a peculiar rhythm.

Seeing this group of Japan pirates, Li Yan’s eyes narrowed.

This southern expedition involved Japanese forces; he had long anticipated it, and before departure had already requested the relevant dossiers from the Captain Bureau and the Xuan Sacrificial Officers.

The methods of the people before him very much matched what was recorded about Cultivators of the "Yoshida Divine Path" and the "Two Divine Paths."

Yoshida Divine Path was founded in Japan’s Shimadzu Period by Yoshida Kanju, proclaiming itself the "sole Divine Path," rejecting Buddhism and Confucianism, honoring only the Divine, and advocating "unity of God and man."

Their spells mostly relied on blessing words and talismans, borrowing the power of natural mountains and rivers.

The Two Divine Paths, on the other hand, originated from the earlier "original land manifesting traces" theory, viewing the Buddhist Great Sun Buddha and the Divine Path’s Amaterasu as one and the same; Buddha and God fused, their methods often mixing Esoteric Sect True Words with Divine Path sacrificial rites.

Within the East Japan Xuanmen, these two branches were not originally considered top-tier, and their lineages each had limitations, yet the people before him moved with an air of sinister strangeness.

The two Japan pirates in black caps at the very front were rapidly chanting obscure syllables while forming seals with both hands.

There was no sign of the usual Five Elements magic power condensing at their fingertips; instead, wisps of black smoke seeped out. That black smoke was not pure Qi; it resembled some kind of rune written in essence blood, twisting and stretching in the air, faintly forming Sanskrit characters, yet different from the orthodox Sanskrit of Central Earth or Tianzhu, every stroke filled with ferocious bloody Bane.

"Blood-colored Sanskrit... As expected, it’s a variant of Yoshida Divine Path’s ’Blood Prayer’ lineage." The dossier records flashed through Li Yan’s mind.

Yoshida Divine Path emphasized "Purity," but the dossier’s notes mentioned that some of its more extreme offshoots, in pursuit of quick results and raw power, often used their own blood essence or even Life Soul as the lead, forcibly fusing Divine Path Blessing Words with Esoteric Sanskrit to create this insidious and overbearing "Blood Mantra."

Once the incantation was completed, it carried filthy, corrosive evil power.

Almost simultaneously, three more Japan pirates were closing in from the flanks.

They did not chant spells, but instead took from their robes small wooden shrines or fragments of Scripture, cupping them in their palms, their expressions solemn as though performing a sacrifice.

As their low chanting sounded, a faint white mist arose around them; within that mist, the illusory shadows of Buddha statues and Divine Path emblems flashed over one another, exuding an air of jarring incongruity.

This was precisely the manifestation of the Two Divine Paths’ "Buddha and God as One."

This power was not blazing, but carried a heavy, constricting weight.

Where it passed, even the falling raindrops seemed to slow by a fraction.

The two groups coordinated seamlessly, forming an encircling, suppressive formation.

If it were an ordinary Cultivator, suddenly facing such unfamiliar foreign Evil Skills, panic and disarray would be hard to avoid.

However, Li Yan was ready.

He shifted his step, his body sliding backward several feet like a swimming fish, neatly slipping past a streak of Blood Mantra light that shot toward him.

The spell light brushed past him and struck a bluestone behind; the stone surface immediately let out a faint sizzling sound as several deep grooves were corroded into it.

The edges of the grooves were dark red, reeking of blood.

Li Yan did not rush to counterattack, instead watching coldly.

Judged by Central Earth standards, the individual cultivation of these pirates was not particularly profound. But the spells they wielded were bizarre, and they echoed one another, forming an efficient combined assault formation.

Li Yan swept the Duan Chen Blade horizontally with his right hand and pulled out the flintlock gun with his left.

Boom!

With a deafening blast, the upper half of a pirate’s body exploded into a spray of blood and flesh.

The pirates’ assault faltered for a brief instant at the sight.

They hadn’t expected that someone of Li Yan’s level would actually use Firearms.

Their leader, a pirate with a vicious face and a short plume stuck in his black cap, showed a flash of surprise in his eyes, which then turned into even deeper ferocity.

He rattled off orders in Japan tongue, and the remaining pirates immediately shifted formation.

This was exactly the moment Li Yan had been waiting for.

The enemy formation changing did concentrate their strength, but it also cost them their agility.

His figure suddenly surged forward, no longer passively defending. Lightning crackled all over his body, the Arm Guard Thousand Thoughts drawing on Astral Bane Energy, his presence terrifying.

Before he even arrived, two streaks of light had already whirled out.

The two black‑robed pirates at the very front were pierced clean through the chest on the spot. The pirate leader’s eyes filled with shock and fury; clearly he hadn’t expected Li Yan’s counterattack to be so fierce and precise.

However, just as Li Yan was about to close in, a sudden change erupted!

The leader who had been forced back, along with two other pirates beside him who had never gone all out and seemed to have weaker cultivation, almost simultaneously reached into their robes and flung their hands outward!

"Clatter—" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Their hands were empty, yet the sound of chains rang out in the air.

At the same time, a chilling aura that made the Divine Soul tremble swept forth.

This aura was all too familiar to Li Yan.

It was exactly the "Soul Hook" used by Yin Living Yin Constables when reaping souls!

The Soul Hooks shot out, aiming straight at Li Yan’s forehead, heart, and Dantian—three vital points. They were as fast as lightning, and carried a bizarre suction that locked onto the Divine Soul, leaving no room to dodge!

Li Yan’s pupils shrank sharply.

The Japan pirates really had obtained the power of a living Yin messenger.

There was no way they could have cultivated this on their own.

The Soul Hook was a symbol of Yin Bureau authority, tied to Netherworld laws; without recognition through Hook Paper, it could not be wielded.

Behind them there had to be orthodox power from the Yin Bureau supporting them!

In the blink of an eye, the three Soul Hooks were already in front of him. That bone‑deep chill, stabbing straight into the Divine Soul, was a hundred times more dangerous than any blade, fist, or kick.

As the Soul Hooks swept toward him, Li Yan stopped holding back.

He flicked his right hand, and two clattering sounds rang out at the same time.

They were his two Soul-hooking Thunder Locks.

In the span of a single breath, the five invisible chains twisted around each other.

Li Yan’s Soul-hooking Thunder Locks were Yin Bureau Divine Power, a re‑forged artifact personally decreed by the Thunder Department; in grade they were far beyond these few stolen imitations. Not only did they crush the enemy Divine Skills, but blinding lightning suddenly exploded along the chains!

With a crackling roar, electric serpents raced back along the Soul Hooks in backlash. The pirates’ bodies convulsed violently as if struck by heavy hammers, and they were flung back several zhang, slamming hard into the mud.

Their hair stood on end, their faces were charred black, and blood gushed from their mouths and noses.

This was the telltale sign of Divine Skills suffering backlash.

Li Yan’s gaze went cold; just as he was about to step up and finish them off, the rocky ground beneath his feet suddenly shuddered.

Rumble—

A muffled thunderous roar came from the cliff face opposite.

The entire cliff shook violently, boulders collapsing, dust billowing into the sky.

Under everyone’s horrified gaze, a gigantic shape the size of a hill burst out of the earth.

The thing looked like a Tai Sui that had been rotting for years, a dark, sludge‑black lump of flesh, soft and putrid, its surface covered in slimy folds and unidentified mucus. Around the mass, more than a dozen pitch‑black tentacles as thick as water barrels stretched outward, each lined with suckers.

They flailed wildly, lashing air and rock alike. Every impact made the earth shake and the mountains quiver, sending up great sprays of mud and stone.

A stench, reeking of soil and rot mingled together, spread through the air on the wind.

Li Yan frowned. "Black Earth Mother?!"