“What do you mean?” The female ghost snickered, “You’re a Hellguard, I’m a Hellguard, and my son is also a Hellguard. Do you really think that a single Hellguard can stand against two on equal footing?”

Qin Ye smiled faintly without saying another word.

He had just been wondering why the two Hellguard-class Yin spirits didn’t turn tail and run despite seeing the appearance of an Emissary of Hell of equal rank. After all, any evil ghost that had lived for more than a hundred years would most certainly have fled in an instant.

But now, he knew.

“So, you’ve only been dead for fifty years. That explains your ignorance…” He smiled faintly and began to walk over, dragging his spirit streamer behind him, leaving a trail of blood along the ground. Soon, he arrived right in front of the two Assassins of the Underworld and revealed a perfect, toothy smile at them.

The child licked his lips avariciously. The female ghost also narrowed her eyes as a murderous intent surged from the depths of her heart.

A split second later, leaving a sonic boom suddenly pierced through the air, and Qin Ye’s spirit streamer swept over like a bolt of lightning. The blazing pupils of the previously relaxed Assassins instantly shrank, and they leapt back madly with a shrill shriek.

Fast…

Terrifyingly fast!

Unimaginably fast!

“Trying to hide?” Qin Ye snorted, and a silver soul shackle shot out from his left sleeve, binding up the child’s upper body in an instant.

Sss!!! The child cried out miserably as its small frame suddenly swelled like a balloon to two meters in size. It desperately used its expanding body to fight and attempt to unravel the chains binding it, but to no avail at all. The chains emerging from Qin Ye’s sleeves appeared to be endless, and as the child expanded, so did the length of chain emerging from Qin Ye’s sleeves, thereby rendering the child’s efforts futile.

ROAR!! Then, the chains slowly tightened, and the child unleashed a primal, beastly roar at the top of his voice. His body had already expanded to the grotesque size of three meters, and he desperately sought to dash away from the roof of the building. But just as it was approaching the door from where they had come, a golden talisman on the chains suddenly flared up, triggering the abrupt convergence of Yin energy around. Then, with one final heart-rending scream, the child was actually snapped right in half by the contracting chain!

Whoosh… Yin energy scattered everywhere like grim, fluttering butterflies. As the Yin energy slowly receded, it soon revealed the dumbfounded expressions on the female ghost’s face.

How is this possible?!

She gasped and turned her head sharply, staring in disbelief at where the child’s Yin energy was promptly dissipating from. Her bloodshot eyes widened, while her jaws hung agape. There wasn’t a single trace of terror. Instead, she was completely swamped with an overwhelming sensation of astonishment.

Instant death?

How is something like that even possible?

Someone instantly disposing of another entity of the same cultivation level? That’s something which I’ve never seen before in my fifty years of death!

Three long seconds later, she turned her head around stiffly and stared blankly at Qin Ye as she asked, “How… did you do that?”

Yet, the only response she got was in the form of a simple wave of Qin Ye’s hand. The talismans on the spirit streamers promptly scattered like paper money falling from the sky, revealing a spear on the inside.

Then, as soon as the fluttering talismans landed on the ground, they immediately flared up with a deep black luster, and they… promptly began to swirl around, forming a wall of talismans that blocked off all escape routes.

“Do you know why your daolord didn’t come over personally?” Qin Ye dragged his spear along the ground and smiled genially at the remaining Assassin of the Underworld.

She shook her head stiffly.

Dong… Qin Ye stepped forward, and the Yin energy in the surroundings stirred greatly. The female ghost looked up in horror, only to discover that even the Yin energy at her own disposal had now appeared to turn its back on her, scurrying straight towards Qin Ye as though pledging its allegiance to the Lord of Hell. A feeling of extreme uneasiness began to burgeon in her heart.

“Because he’s afraid.” The tip of the spear drew out sparks along the ground. Qin Ye continued to plod forward slowly, but surely, “Didn’t your beloved daolord tell you that all Emissaries of Hell have an absolute advantage over Yin spirits of an equal or lower cultivation level?”

Dong!

Qin Ye took another step forward. The female ghost’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably. How terrifying… The fear in her heart was no different from that of a rat staring at a cat, or that of a mosquito staring down a spider in its web. It was a primal sense of fear that had spread from her heart.

What the hell is this thing?!!

Dong… A third step. Qin Ye was now no more than three meters away from the female ghost, and the anxiety in her heart came to a head. With a shrill shriek, the hair on her head suddenly lashed out and weaved themselves into a massive net, while she scrambled away to the corner of the roof, leaning back heavily against the wall of talismans behind her.

“Don’t come any closer!!” She shrieked at the top of her voice.

Ignoring her cries, Qin Ye continued to plod towards her. Step by step, his pace quickened. Three meters… two meters… and just as he closed the two meter gap, something in the female ghost’s heart snapped! With another loud shriek, her web of hair suddenly rushed straight for Qin Ye like the rising tide of the sea.

“Die… DIEEE!!!” She screamed with fanaticism, almost as though she were desperately trying to hide the intense fear that enshrouded her heart. Ding, ding, ding… A series of crisp clinking sounds rang out, and Qin Ye was promptly wrapped up with hair like a jet black cocoon. The female ghost trembled in astonishment - she hadn’t expected her attack to go so smoothly. Nevertheless, she quickly snapped back to her senses and hurriedly tightened the binding of her hair around Qin Ye!

Kkkkrrrr… It sounded just like a tightening bowstring. Her eyes appeared completely bloodshot. Her hair had evidently been reinforced through the soaking of decades’ worth of corpse fluid. It was incredibly thick, and even carried the plague of corpse poison with it. Anyone who was trapped in her binding of hair like that was bound to die - or so she thought. But somehow… her heart continued to be plagued by an unending sense of fear and terror.

“How dare a fellow Hellguard attempt to play god before me?!!” She screamed wildly as more hair emerged from the cracks in the ground, twisting, spinning and weaving tightly together to form a giant black hand that grabbed the black cocoon in front of her. And then, she squeezed with all her might!

BOOM!

The Yin energy in the vicinity trembled violently. This was an unbelievably powerful strike delivered by a bona fide Hellguard-class Yin spirit, and the shockwave from her attack could easily be felt hundreds of meters away.

Whoosh…

But a split second later, her hair quickly scattered, only to reveal a clump of dense Yin energy right in the middle of the cocoon.

She was completely flabbergasted.

The female ghost stood at the rooftop, in front of a tide of hair. Her lips trembled slightly, and her body shuddered as she stared dumbfounded at how Qin Ye was simply walking right out of the heart of the darkness.

Completely unharmed.

“There’s no need to be surprised.” Qin Ye quipped with indifference, “Prestige of the Luminary. Not a single attack coming from an entity of the same realm as I am will be able to breach these defenses of mine… Speaking of which, don’t you think you should be washing your hair? There’s a fishy smell about it.”

No response.

The netherflame in the female ghost’s eyes flickered wildly. A split second later, she screamed in terror and sought to flee down the stairwell like a lunatic.

Evil ghost…

This man is the true evil spirit! An authentic nefarious ghost!

There were no longer any trump cards hidden up her sleeves, and this was clearly not a situation she would be able to get out of with sheer dumb luck. Their earlier exchange had taught her a simple yet profound truth - they were entities that were on completely different planes of existence.

Run… run as far as I can! What the hell is he?! He’s way too terrifying!!!

Qin Ye didn’t even attempt to obstruct her.

Instead, he simply hefted the spear in his hand, and then his entire silhouette shifted so quickly that it left an afterimage. His robe flapped wildly as he tore through the void, leaving a deafening sonic boom in its wake. Yin energy converged around the spear like a ferocious black dragon, before promptly roaring towards the female ghost. She didn’t even get the change to turn around. The only thing she heard was the rush of a stormy wind behind her. An intense fear set over her heart, and she cried out, “Spare--...”

And then, she knew nothing more.

Her consciousness went blank.

Approximately two seconds later, she roused from her stupor, only to be electrified with an excruciating pain that surged throughout her body. She sought to scream, to cry out for help, but she soon discovered that… a long spear had at some point run straight through her body and pinned her to the ground. The slightest of movements would send a mind-numbing pain throughout her body.

Tap… A pair of feet stopped right at her sight. Primal fear engulfed her entire being, completely washing away all desires for flesh and blood, and even any measure of allegiance to the daolord altogether. In that very moment, she could only find the strength within her to cry out feebly and desperately, “Spare me… spare me…”

Her head turned around mechanically, and she glanced at Qin Ye in a pious and humble manner, almost prayerfully, as she fervently suppressed the intense pain coming from her chest, “Please… have mercy on me… my… my cultivation journey wasn’t easy… I hope my lord can show me some mercy…”

Qin Ye squatted down and patted her face gently, “Don’t worry. You won’t die for now.”

“I’ve still got many, many questions that need answers. It’s not everyday that I come across a Hellguard after all… and an Assassin of the Underworld to boot. I refuse to believe that you’re not a trusted aide of the daolord.”

Then, he took out a soul sphere, “Well? Are you going to do it yourself, or should I lend you a hand?”

“T-thank you my lord…” The female ghost gritted her teeth and ignored the excruciating pain emanating from her chest as she transformed into a nethergale and rushed into the soul sphere. The talismans around the soul sphere immediately lit up in a series of flaring lights, before shrinking back tightly together and growing dull once more.

That’s the last of them… Qin Ye sighed and took one final glance at Wang Chenghao’s corpse, Li Jixi’s corpse, before sweeping a gaze around the swirling wall of talismans around him.

“But it looks like there are still some loose ends to tie up…” He stretched out his hand and clenched his fist, and all of the talismans swirling around him promptly flew back and adhered onto the spear, promptly transforming into a mourning staff. Meanwhile, his gaze had already turned to the outskirts of the neighbourhood.

The rain had already stopped at some point in time.

Everything was still dark, and yet the entire neighbourhood spanning over a thousand meters in circumference had already been cordoned off with tape. As soon as the swirling talismans vanished, he instantly heard the clattering sounds of military men disembarking and unloading equipment. Military vehicles of all shapes and sizes were already pulled over in the neighbourhood, while the spotlights above the vehicles were all shining straight towards the rooftop.

HIs white pupils enabled him to see every strand of Yang energy with pristine clarity. Thus, he could also tell that the building he was on was already filled with military personnel from the eighth floor down. There were even teams of snipers perched atop buildings some two hundred meters away from him. Their laser sights were switched off, but it was evident that their iron sights were completely trained on him.

There were a total of at least three hundred cultivators gathered below right now… He silently lit an Incense of Paramnesia. Following that, the Yin energy around him transformed into illusory crows, and he stepped onto their backs and began to drift down to the ground.

He needed a way out of the incident tonight.

He needed to find a suitable excuse to explain how Qin Ye got here, and how Li Jixi and Wang Chenghao perished in the call of duty.

And to that end, his current form proffered him the perfect solution.

…………………………………………………

Guan Gen kept the cigarette in his lips and stared at the roof with bloodshot eyes.

Exactly one hour ago, the eruption of Yin energy was first detected in the vicinity.

Half an hour ago, practically the entire regiment of troops garrisoned in the city arrived right outside Hunting Zone D-69, where they witnessed with their very own eyes the appearance of the swirling wall of talismans, and they also personally felt the clash between two Hellguard-class entities.

And yet, the clash lasted no more than ten seconds - from the initial terrifying shockwaves of clashing Yin energy, to the domineering declaration of victory of one of the entities.

It’s over?

Just like that?

The last image on the surveillance monitor had revealed that Wang Chenghao, Qin Ye and Li Jixi were all in the building.

What’s going on? Someone like Li Jixi… He couldn’t bring himself to condemn Li Jixi’s actions. He didn’t agree with the course of action undertaken, but he had always attributed it to the difference in their worldviews. Someone like that… bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. So what exactly is it over here that had caused him to deprioritize all of his other missions and come to this god forsaken place? Did he already know that there was going to be a clash between two Hellguard-class Yin spirits?

“Damn it…” He bit down hard on the cigarette butt, before spitting it onto the ground. Just then, the moon suddenly dimmed, and a silhouette appeared to drift down amidst a cacophony of caws.

“On alert!!!” Everyone jolted back to their sense and raised their vigilance to the extreme. The Special Investigations Department was clothed with the authority to temporarily take command of all military forces. Thus, with a single wave of his hand… Click, click, click... Thousands of black muzzles immediately pointed towards the sky, locked and loaded.

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