Chapter 181: No Way Back on This Journey (31)
The chains came crashing down like a tidal wave from the sky.
Yan Shixun could even make out the mottled bloodstains left inside the chain links, and the stench of blood and decay that had accumulated over time lingered around his nose.
With a slight tilt of his body, he narrowly avoided a chain that had been aiming straight for the crown of his head—it brushed past him with only inches to spare.
His tall and lean figure weaved through the web of chains with ease and grace, nimble like a panther. He stepped precisely into the tiny gaps between chains, steady and unflinching amid the bloody wind and the chains that whistled past him, drawing closer step by step to the warden ahead.
The leading ghost official couldn’t withstand the power of the talismans in Yan Shixun’s hand. It began to wail, rapidly disintegrating—its already-rotting flesh shriveled and clung to the bones before crumbling entirely into a pile of brittle, broken bones. The ancient official robe hung loosely, falling over the remains like an empty shell.
The gong, whose legacy must have spanned centuries, also slipped from the ghost official’s hand.
With a sharp clang, it shattered into pieces upon hitting the ground.
It felt like a signal.
The Yin officials who had been silently staring at Yan Shixun began lifting their heads one after another. The paper masks that had covered their faces fluttered down like drifting funeral money scattered in the wind, as if a funeral procession had begun.
In that instant, Yan Shixun saw all of their faces clearly.
They were no longer the dignified figures described by Li Chengyun or those he had once seen himself. Now, they looked grotesque and terrifying, just like the first Yin official whose mask had fallen.
Their blood-red eyes no longer held the authority of an official; instead, they brimmed with deep resentment and unwillingness, emotions so intense they nearly burst forth.
Their faces were mottled with rotting flesh, so far decayed that the bones underneath were clearly visible, their original appearances unrecognizable.
A chill ran through Yan Shixun. He hadn’t expected that it wasn’t just one Yin official that had gone wrong—but *all* of them had transformed into vengeful spirits.
Now that they had lost the deterrent power of the face-covering paper, they looked nearly indistinguishable from the malicious ghosts bound by chains beside them.
Back when he had met Haiyun Temple’s Taoists at Binhai University, the latter had mentioned that the Taoists stationed near the highway were originally responsible for tracking the Yin path… These Yin officials had escorted evil spirits through the human realm before. This was not their first time.
But the underworld had collapsed. All its overseers had perished, even the King of Hell had not escaped. These Yin officials should have remained behind in the ruins of the netherworld, guarding it even more strictly to prevent evil spirits from escaping as the suppressing forces weakened.
So why had they emerged into the human world in such an overt manner?
More importantly—
The talismans in Yan Shixun’s hand gradually dispersed the heavy mist born of nether energy. As the haze cleared, the vast distance ahead finally began to reveal itself.
His eyes widened slowly.
—The line of underworld soldiers and wardens escorting the evil spirits stretched so far, he could not see the end of it!
The evil spirits wore garments from many different eras, their cries echoing as they endured punishments of varying forms. Some of these dynasties had long passed, separated by hundreds or even thousands of years.
Even with a rough mental estimate, Yan Shixun figured that there had to be over ten thousand of them.
And in that moment of clarity, a dreadful thought crossed his mind: Had all of hell spilled out into the world? How else could there be *so many* evil spirits?
Moreover, judging from the agile and powerful movements of the Yin officials, what Yan Shixun had just done—sealing off the entire Abyss of Ghostly Qi and re-suppressing Hell beneath the mortal world—had not affected them in the slightest.
But… how could that be?
Though waves of shock surged in his heart, Yan Shixun’s face revealed nothing. He still wore a slight smile on his lips, looking utterly fearless in the face of the Yin officials.
A fierce wind blew from behind the white, mist-like Yin officials, blasting directly toward Yan Shixun with a force as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Yet he walked calmly through the wind. The hem of his coat flared wildly behind him, but his steps remained steady and unhurried, unaffected by the resistance. His Martin boots landed firmly on the ground.
As he moved forward, golden light radiated in waves from the talismans around him, pushing back the surrounding ghostly aura with irresistible force and clearing a pure space in the midst of the gloom.
But the evil spirits caught in the wave didn’t see it that way.
They trembled violently, howling in agony, as chunks of flesh peeled off their withered bones. They could only watch helplessly as the talismans imbued with overwhelming power approached. They wanted to flee, but the chains of the Yin officials bound them tightly, giving them nowhere to run.
The leading Yin official was finally disturbed by the power of the talismans—far beyond the limits of ordinary mortals. Slowly, he raised his head. Beneath his tall white hat, blood-red eyes locked onto Yan Shixun, his gaze cold as it swept across the living man before him.
“You… what are you?”
The Yin official opened his mouth. His jaw, lined with incomplete teeth and bone, moved with a harsh, rasping noise, like bark scraping against stone. The sound was colder and more chilling than any snake slithering along the ground.
“You are not human.”
The Yin official spoke with certainty. “Among humans, gods, and ghosts, you have no place. What kind of monster are you?”
Yan Shixun lifted his eyes, a smile curling at his lips.
He tilted his head back arrogantly and replied, “I am the mortal destined by the Great Dao to kill you.”
“You can call me a monster, because the ones I’m here to kill… are monsters like you.”
Before his words even faded, Yan Shixun had already launched forward like an arrow released from a bow, forming hand seals as he charged at the Yin official.
“I already told you—this path is not meant for you!”
His eyes were cold and severe, his voice laced with a sharpness like frost. “If you refuse to leave, then I’ll make you leave!”
His swift movement stirred a violent gust, tearing through the air with a series of sonic booms.
His long, slender fingers traced a pattern through the air, and the formless wind solidified in golden light, gradually forming the shape of an eight trigrams sword—which he gripped tightly.
The Great Dao had no form, yet it birthed Heaven and Earth.
At that moment, Yan Shixun was one with the Dao. The heavens looked down upon him, and thus, all of nature—plants, rivers, mountains—bowed before him.
Harmless air became the sharpest blade, sweeping out in front of him.
Between yin and yang, there was always a boundary that must not be disturbed.
Even if something tried to cross that invisible boundary, as long as the Dao existed, the boundary would remain—silently guarding life and death.
Now, that boundary, which had been obscured by thick ghostly aura, reappeared right before Yan Shixun.
The howling wind cut through the road, leaving a deep trench as stones flew in all directions.
Every evil spirit caught in the sword’s wind, including the ghost officers at the front, wailed in pain as they were reduced to piles of withered bones, collapsing swiftly to the ground. Blood and torn flesh splattered across the asphalt.
Yan Shixun pointed his sword downward and smiled directly at the Yin officials.
“Turn back now. Yin and Yang are distinct. One more step forward…”
There was no blade, no sword aura, yet the sheer authority in his voice alone was enough to paralyze the Yin officials.
Beneath their tall white hats, countless blood-red eyes stared straight at Yan Shixun glowing in golden light.
They finally realized that this living man, who had blocked their path yet hadn’t turned to dust like the others, was unlike any mortal they had encountered before.
The Yin officials, who had stood still until now, finally moved.
Their white mourning garments dragged across the ground, but the feet beneath never touched the road—they hovered in midair.
An Yin path stretched out from beneath them, pushing forward, even toward the boundary Yan Shixun had drawn, aiming to break through and swallow the entire highway and forest.
But the moment the ghostly aura touched the boundary, a piercing, explosive sound rang through the air. Sparks of golden fire erupted, and in a sudden burst—“whoosh!”—a wall of flames soared several meters high.
One of the advancing Yin officials was caught off guard and swept into the flames. Fire licked his white mourning clothes, racing rapidly upward along the hem.
In an instant, the fire devoured him whole.
The other Yin officials were stunned, frozen in place. Even their outstretched hands dropped to their sides. They stared at their companion who had been instantly reduced to ashes without even a single scream—and for a long while, no one spoke.
Then, their eyes slowly turned to Yan Shixun, now filled with deadly intent.
“I said, anyone who crosses this line… dies.”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t really think I was joking, did you?”
“Well, then I must apologize. I have a terrible temper… but one good trait.”
He curved his lips into a smirk. “I don’t joke. I prefer solving problems… with action.”
“Mortal. You seek death.”
Hundreds of Yin officials spoke in unison, their cold, rasping voices overlapping like echoes in an empty cavern, growing colder and more haunting with each repetition.
Thousands of eyes locked onto Yan Shixun, their ghostly gaze assessing him like he was already a dead man.
Because of his decisive actions, the Yin officials—who had initially ignored him and assumed he would be ground into dust like any other mortal—were finally beginning to realize, slowly but surely, that this reckless mortal truly intended to block their path.
They were furious now.
White figures overlapped and multiplied. It became impossible to distinguish where the Yin officials ended and the mist began. Blurred shadows interwove into a field of white, disorienting to the eye.
From beneath their long white sleeves, skeletal hands pierced the air, shooting toward Yan Shixun’s skull with lethal intent, aiming to crush the spiritual center of the living man’s soul and show him the futility of his arrogance.
Their rotting faces twisted as decayed flesh writhed. Grinning with sinister delight, they were already savoring the sight of the living man groveling and begging for mercy.
But in the very next moment—
Yan Shixun lifted his eyes lightly, his gaze filled with relaxed, mocking amusement as he looked at the Yin official.
A chill struck the Yin official’s core. His mind—long corroded by ghostly energy—began to stir with sluggish, clumsy awareness.
Something felt wrong.
But it was already too late.
To the Yin official’s eyes, the mortal before him moved in slow motion. Each motion stretched time itself.
He could only watch as the mortal raised his hand—its palm etched with golden talisman marks—and, completely unafraid of ghostly corruption, grabbed directly at the long white robe.
That hand gripped his arm tightly—so tightly that this being, dead for hundreds of years, actually felt pain again.
Agonizing fire seemed to burn through his bones and into the very depths of his soul. The Yin official couldn’t help but open his rotting mouth and let out a low, mournful scream.
In stark contrast to the struggling ghost was Yan Shixun’s unwavering confidence.
“You guessed right.”
Yan Shixun watched as the white mourning cloth in his grasp began to smolder, blackening and curling from the edges as if scorched by tongues of flame. As he confirmed his suspicion, his pupils contracted, a sudden chill gripping his heart.
The reason he could face Yin officials without being harmed by ghostly aura… was because he was born with the Evil Spirit Bone Transformation.
But the power fueling his talismans at that moment—belonged to Ye Li.
Even though he didn’t understand why, in a world where all the gods had perished and vanished, Ye Li could still exist as a ghost deity.
But despite Ye Li’s power being cold and laced with the aura of death, it was also pure.
Unlike the chaotic and filthy energy of malevolent ghosts, Ye Li’s aura was steady and powerful.
It was the righteous force that only those who had grasped the Dao could possess—a presence acknowledged by Heaven and Earth.
So, when Yan Shixun realized that not only evil spirits, but even the Yin officials were being harmed or even burned to ash by this power—just like the evil spirits—doubt began to stir in his heart.
Ye Li was a ghost deity tied to life and death. If these Yin officials truly belonged to the underworld, then in some sense, they should be on the same side as Ye Li. So why were they being harmed by Ye Li’s power?
At that moment, as Yan Shixun looked closely at the Yin official he had pinned under his hand, the answer suddenly came to him.
His initial instinct had been correct.
These so-called Yin officials were rotting all over, their energy chaotic and foul. How did they resemble officials of the underworld? They looked more like prisoners being dragged along—no different from malevolent ghosts.
“You’re not an Yin official of the underworld anymore, are you?”
Yan Shixun wasn’t frightened by the gruesome sight of the Yin officials’s decaying face peeling away. He smiled calmly and asked, “You’ve already become an evil spirit.”
As soon as he said this, the Yin officials who had been struggling desperately froze, and the way he looked at Yan Shixun was filled with dread.
A mere mortal, just a mortal… How could this be!
And then, the entire highway suddenly fell into a dead silence.
It was like a secret someone least wanted exposed had suddenly been torn open—not by a powerful opponent, but by someone so insignificant they hadn’t even registered their presence.
The Yin officials felt a surge of fear and rage bubbling in their chests.
At last, they looked seriously at Yan Shixun and belatedly realized—this mortal was unlike any exorcist or Taoist they had encountered before.
In fact… this kind of power—was it truly something a mere mortal could possess?
He could draw the line between the living and the dead, block the path of spirits, and even injure emissaries of the underworld.
Yan Shixun’s presence began to instill wariness among them. They exchanged glances, and from each other’s decaying, frost-bitten faces, they saw the same intent.
Obstacles… must be eliminated!
The next moment, chaos erupted.
The malevolent spirits, originally bound by the Yin officials’ chains, suddenly let out ear-piercing, miserable howls. The chains binding them rapidly tightened, digging into their flesh, snapping bones, and finally compressing their entire forms like overinflated balloons—until they burst violently.
Blood splattered, flesh flew.
One after another, the malevolent spirits exploded, echoing with loud bangs across the desolate road.
A blood mist hung like frost, curling and spreading until it enveloped the entire area.
Yan Shixun’s vision turned into a blur of crimson.
Stunned, he watched as all the malevolent spirits were destroyed by the Yin officials themselves. The very ones meant to restrain evil had now become more terrifying than the evil they were meant to contain.
These beings, designed to punish the sinful, had been seduced by power. Dissatisfaction and greed grew unchecked in the absence of order in the underworld.
And so, one day, a thought occurred to them—what if I claimed this power for myself?
Thus, every evil spirit became a source of strength for them.
When the spirits were destroyed, their sins and karmic burdens were transferred to the Yin officials, corroding their bodies day by day. Once dignified faces became grotesque and decayed.
Fearing retribution from Heaven and Earth, they draped themselves in mourning cloth and covered their faces with white paper, striving not to reveal a single mistake, hoping to avoid divine punishment.
For a long time, their actions went smoothly.
Until one day, the ghost mountain outside the city of Binhai—meant to serve as a spiritual waypoint—suddenly vanished. A newly deceased soul with deep attachments stirred a surge of ghostly energy, redirecting the path of the dead into uncharted territory.
The ghostly energy devoured the new soul. The Yin officials watched coldly, unhurried.
They waited for the soul to be completely consumed, believing that once it was gone, the path would return to normal, and they could continue toward their destination.
Just a bit longer…
But instead of resolution, the soul broke free from the ghostly tether—and standing before the Yinpath, was a mortal who dared to block their way, wielding terrifying power with brazen arrogance.
The Yin officials did not know who this mortal was, but they came to a unanimous decision.
—They could not allow a mere human to reveal their secrets and expose them to the cosmic order.
He must die—right here and now!
Veins bulged, blood rushed beneath rotting skin, and with the paper masks gone, the Yin officials’ faces completely lost their human shape—becoming monstrous, demonic.
Amid the blood and gore, hundreds of Yin officials surged toward the border of the spirit path, ramming into the barrier Yan Shixun had drawn, determined to crush him here and eliminate the threat once and for all.
Behind them, hooves scraped the ground, horses neighed, and spears were raised again, inching forward.
The underworld soldiers—once paused—marched on.
Beneath their ancient armor, no faces or skin could be seen. Darkness consumed every visible trace. It was as if they had never had faces at all—only ghostly energy corroding their bewildered souls. These were the spirits of fallen warriors who had wandered old battlefields, taken and enslaved by corrupt Yin officials. Bound ever since, they wandered the spirit path aimlessly, not knowing where they were being taken.
An endless army surged forward, the underworld energy thick enough to become nearly tangible, crashing against the invisible barrier again and again in waves.
With each collision, the deathly aura of the ghosts clashed against the life-giving charm symbols—yin and yang battling fiercely, each trying to devour the other.
The advancing underworld soldiers struck like sharp spears, launching charge after charge.
Yan Shixun held his sword across his chest, his gaze unwavering and sharp, showing not a hint of fear. He stood his ground with absolute determination.
One man standing guard—no ghost could pass.
But the charm spells had their limits.
Yan Shixun was only a vessel. He had borrowed Ye Li’s power but was not Ye Li himself, so the force he could wield had its boundaries.
Even experienced Taoists struggled to contend with a single Yin official—many wouldn’t even survive the encounter.
Not even the most seasoned masters from Haiyun Temple dared to be careless before an Yin official, knowing that a single misstep meant death.
Never before had anyone heard of a mortal resisting the might of the underworld.
—Let alone nearly all its Yin officials!
Since records began, there had never been a tale of a lone mortal opposing an army of Yin officials and soldiers.
The underworld forces pressed forward, yet Yan Shixun still smiled.
Even as cracks spidered across the invisible barrier in front of him, like shattered glass ready to break into countless pieces. Even as the golden glow of his charm symbols faded into dim embers.
Still, he showed not the slightest panic.
“You want to invade the mortal world?”
Yan Shixun scoffed. “Keep dreaming!”
The underworld might have thousands of soldiers—but the human world had thousands of exorcists.
And he was the first—and had to be the strongest—line of defense.
Behind him stood the entire production crew, Lan Ze and Cheng Jing, the rescue teams, countless departments, and the millions of lives in Binhai City.
No matter what, he would never allow these Yin officials, now fallen into darkness, to cross the line between life and death and harm the living.
Countless blood-red eyes stared at him. The Yin officials’ rotting faces twisted into grotesque, unsettling grins.
“If underworld soldiers pass through, then all living beings must die!”
Their raspy, ghastly voices fell like curses, and the barrier began to shake violently, finally unable to hold back the pressure. It started to unravel.
Golden motes scattered, falling like snowflakes.
*Crack!*
The fractures shattered completely. The invisible barrier collapsed with a deafening crash.
From beneath white mourning cloths, bloodstained bones shot toward Yan Shixun’s chest, claws sharp enough to pierce flesh, reaching for the warm, beating heart beneath—to rip it out and make this insolent mortal die in agony and regret.
But before the claws could even touch the hem of his robe, a furious voice roared from the distance—
“How dare you!”
A deep, cold voice thundered from behind, laced with fury and wind.
Yan Shixun, muscles tensed and prepared to fight, suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around his waist and pull him back—right into a firm, cold chest.
Like a towering mountain—unshakable, indomitable.
With him there, the world would never fall. Humanity still had hope.
Doubt rose in Yan Shixun’s heart, but he quickly recognized the voice. It was Ye Li.
Shocked, he looked up, but from this angle, he could only see Ye Li’s tightly clenched jaw.
Ye Li’s lips were pressed in a line, brimming with barely contained fury. His brows arched sharply, dark, arcane patterns rippling at his temples, and his narrow eyes burned colder than winter frost.
He held Yan Shixun tightly in his arms, his powerful frame shielding the exorcist completely. His gaze turned toward the enemy—icy, murderous, and resolute.
He raised his strong arm, fingers forming a seal at lightning speed.
The complex, mystical movements stirred all the ghostly and life energies in the air, crashing like waves upon a rocky shore, rumbling loud enough to shake the heavens.
The Yin officials stared in astonishment at the man who had suddenly appeared. A deep, soul-shaking fear rose from the very core of their spirits.
They had already died once, and yet at this moment, they felt again the terror of impending death.
It wasn’t the respectful fear they had once felt when facing the King of Hell—it was something deeper, something tied to the very fabric of life and death itself. It came from the soul’s instinctive dread of crossing between the realms of yin and yang.
The Yin official closest to Yan Shixun, who had been just a single step away from reaching him, didn’t even have time to realize what was happening. With a look of confusion still frozen on his hideous, twisted face, he trembled under Ye Li’s furious gaze and instantly melted into a pool of blood, splashing onto the highway.
The rest of the Yin officials were even more terrified. They didn’t know who this person was or how he possessed such overwhelming power.
…No.
They did know.
But that terrifying possibility trembled on the tips of their tongues, too dreadful to speak aloud or accept as truth.
Fengdu… the Great Emperor.
A being who existed alongside the Dao of Heaven and Earth, who perceived the flow of sun, moon, and the yin-yang of life and death, and who held divine authority.
Transcending the five elements, ascending through the Eight Trigrams, reaching the realm beyond the Nine Heavens, he had achieved the state of ultimate perfection.
All beings—humans, gods, and ghosts alike—fell under his dominion, subject to his command.
Wherever the army of Fengdu passed, all trembled and bowed their heads in submission.
Some of the older Yin officials, just by recalling the ancient days when Fengdu still walked the mortal world to judge life and death, couldn’t help but start to shake. Their eyes, fixed on the pair standing ahead—Yan Shixun and Ye Li—were filled with dread.
How… how could it possibly be Fengdu?
Fengdu had withdrawn from the human world for over a hundred years. It had been declared that the mortal realm was beyond saving, no longer worthy of the gates of Fengdu being opened.
Fengdu’s presence had all but faded from the world. So much so that many young Taoists believed Fengdu was nothing more than a legend.
Even these Yin officials hadn’t seen a single trace of Fengdu in over a century.
So why—why would the Great Emperor of Fengdu, who had long since sealed himself away in the mountains, appear here now?
Then, one of the Yin officials suddenly recalled—the mortal who had blocked their path earlier, the power he had held… seemed strikingly similar to the terrifying force now engulfing the heavens, earth, and forests.
It was just that this mortal carried ghostly energy that concealed his original fate, even obscuring whether he was truly alive or a malevolent ghost, and thus distorted their perception.
But even with the King of Hell long dead and gone… how could the Great Emperor of Fengdu possibly be walking the human world again?
This line of thinking caused the Yin officials to overlook the most obvious truth—they never realized the connection between Yan Shixun and Fengdu.
Not until now.
Not until the Emperor of Fengdu appeared before them, his wrath shaking the heavens and earth.
A sudden, indescribable regret surged in the hearts of the Yin officials. Some even let out panicked wails, believing that Heaven and Earth had discovered their existence and thus summoned the Emperor of Fengdu to judge their sins and karma.
After all, before Fengdu, all evil was judged, all karma made just.
There was no being—human, god, or ghost—that Fengdu could not judge. Everything under heaven and earth, the five elements of yin and yang, all fell under Fengdu’s authority.
They correctly guessed the Emperor of Fengdu’s intention, but they had guessed the reason wrong.
—It wasn’t Heaven and Earth that summoned Fengdu.
It was the Emperor himself, enraged and coming to protect the exorcist he loved.
The Yin officials’ faces twisted in terror. Under this nearly world-ending pressure, their survival instinct kicked in—they turned and fled.
The remaining evil spirits were trampled underfoot by the Yin officials in their desperate escape, leaving behind mangled flesh and bone, and wails of pain.
The hooves of the underworld soldiers’ mounts pounded restlessly against the ground. The startled horses spun and bolted, weapons clashed in a chaotic clamor.
The once seemingly endless line of underworld soldiers instantly fell into disarray, scattering like sand in the wind.
But the Yin officials could no longer care about any of that.
Their bodies, wrapped in white mourning cloth, trembled. Their blood-red eyes bulged, almost falling from their sockets. Their souls were taut with horror.
Only their feet never dared stop moving.
The cold breath of death crept up swiftly from behind, the chill of a blade’s edge pressing against the backs of their necks.
The Yin officials even felt that if they dared turn their heads or pause for just a moment, they would be struck down by the wrath behind them—blood would spray, and their souls would be annihilated on the spot.
In the previously silent mountains and forest, the overlapping cries of evil ghosts and Yin officialss echoed hauntingly, eerie and unsettling.
A violent wind and dark mist surged beneath Ye Li’s feet. The road where yin and yang had once clashed was now rapidly consumed by spreading darkness, dragging the road and the entire forest with it into the abyss.
In Ye Li’s embrace, Yan Shixun clearly saw vague ghostly figures appearing beside Ye Li.
Those ghostly figures stood silently behind him, clad in elite armor, gleaming with a snowy chill.
They looked like soldiers following their general—ten thousand elite warriors who had fought and bled on the battlefield, now bowing their heads before their commander with unwavering loyalty.
While their general lived, they fought for their country and their people.
When their general died, they followed him to the underworld, guarding the balance of life and death.
One after another, solid black ghostly forms stood behind Ye Li, arrayed in neat ranks, silent but imposing.
It was the aura of those who had truly seen blood—who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Sharp, unstoppable.
An army pressing the border, shaking heaven and earth.
The grim and majestic pressure swept through the mountains and the road.
Even the officials protected on the other side of the road could faintly see a few vague ghostly silhouettes in the darkest hour before dawn.
The Taoists protecting them grew anxious, craning their necks toward the distance, hoping to see how things stood—whether Fellow Daoist Yan could block the Yin path here, keeping those evil ghosts and Yin officials from entering the densely populated areas of Binhai City and endangering civilians.
Left by the roadside, Lan Ze also faintly sensed the ghostly aura from the path drawing him in. His mind grew hazy for a moment, spirit clouded by the ghostly energy. In a daze, he lifted his leg, as if to step toward the path.
Cheng Jing was startled and quickly grabbed him, yanking Lan Ze back into his arms.
Feeling the warmth of his lover and the wild pounding of his heart, Lan Ze finally snapped out of it.
Cheng Jing’s face was filled with lingering fear of nearly losing his beloved, and he held Lan Ze tightly, unwilling to let go.
Lu Xingxing bounced anxiously in place, practically wishing he could charge forward himself—anything was better than just waiting around in helpless panic.
On the other side of the road, where everyone’s eyes were fixed, Yan Shixun remained in Ye Li’s arms. For several seconds, he didn’t understand why Ye Li had suddenly appeared, or why so many soldiers followed him.
Yan Shixun could tell that these ghostly soldiers were entirely different from the fleeing underworld troops.
Compared to them, the original underworld soldiers now seemed like scattered rabble, a loose formation falling apart under the overwhelming presence of the new army.
This new army was truly an elite force, forged through countless battles.
Neither life nor death could shake them.
They remained silent, only loyally following.
They had marched down from blood-red battlefields under the dying sun, and within their souls, only one unwavering belief remained—
For their commander, they would charge forward!
Above all else, they would shake the heavens and challenge the Dao itself!
Ye Li held Yan Shixun tightly by the waist. His fear of almost losing the exorcist turned into rage and resolve.
His eyes, sharp as blades, locked onto the fleeing Yin officials and soldiers. At that moment, his blade was drawn.
“Those who disrupt the balance of life and death shall not be allowed to live.”
“This is the judgment—of Fengdu.”
His deep, cold voice fell.
At the same time, his hand, forming a seal, struck downward with force.
Immediately, the black mist turned into a ferocious beast, opening its bloody maw to devour the fleeing evil ghosts and Yin officials.
Banners fluttered violently, cold steel shining.
The soldiers drew their blades and advanced in full armor.
Long swords rose high.
An Yin official fell to the ground in terror, eyes wide as the blade swung down.
Putrid blood and flesh splattered across the ground.
A panicked horse had its leg severed, tossing its underworld soldier from its back.
A long spear struck diagonally, impaling an underworld soldier completely, blood trickling down. The corpse on the spear became a new banner.
The crushing pressure of overwhelming authority terrified the ghosts, breaking their spirits.
But no matter how wildly they tried to flee, they couldn’t escape the siege of ten thousand elite troops.
Yin officials fell one by one beneath the long swords, their blood and flesh smeared across the earth.
The wailing of the ghosts echoed through the mountains, startling birds into flight.
Heaven and Earth watched, silently giving Fengdu their tacit approval.
Meanwhile, Yan Shixun, for once, was left stunned by the sight before him. He didn’t react immediately.
This overwhelming and sudden victory felt like a puzzle piece from the wrong box—it wouldn’t fit into the picture in his mind no matter how he tried. He couldn’t piece together what had happened.
He even forgot that he was still held tightly in Ye Li’s embrace, the force of it nearly pressing him into Ye Li’s body.
Ye Li, however, couldn’t forget. Yan Shixun hadn’t wanted him to interfere, and had entrusted Zhang Wubing and the others to him, asking him to stay behind and ensure their safety.
Though unwilling, Ye Li agreed—he couldn’t bear to restrict his exorcist’s choices.
But from a distance, he suddenly sensed that the power he had lent was being rapidly depleted, and Yan Shixun seemed locked in a desperate battle.
Fearing that Yan Shixun was once again trading injury for injury—like last time when he ended up in the hospital for half a month—Ye Li came to check.
What he saw nearly made his heart stop.
—An evil ghost was about to harm his exorcist!
A terrifying ghost claw was just inches from Yan Shixun, about to strike.
In a fury, Ye Li formed the Fengdu seal.
The gates of Fengdu opened. Ten thousand banners returned to the mortal realm. The army descended.
The evil ghosts fled in all directions but could not withstand the might of the elite troops. They were cut down.
On the highway and in the wilderness, blood and torn flesh of ghosts lay everywhere.
Yan Shixun stared for a long time before finally regaining his senses.
“You…”
He turned his head, looking at Ye Li beside him, his expression complicated.
“This is… the power you lent me?”
Ten thousand ghost soldiers… This was the true “borrowing of the underworld army”!
Compared to this, those earlier Yin officials were just filth.
Yan Shixun was shaken. His suspicions about Ye Li deepened even more.
Yet when Ye Li heard Yan Shixun’s voice, the cold sharpness in his features slowly softened.
A gentle smile reappeared on his cold, handsome face. He lowered his head kindly and replied to his ghost-expelling companion, “No.”
“The power I can lend you includes all of me.”
“As long as you desire it—take as much as you want.”
“There’s only one condition.”
Ye Li gently held Yan Shixun’s hand. His voice was soft, yet solemn, as he made his vow: “You walk with me.”
“Until we reach life and death, pass through life and death… whether you become human, god, or ghost, I will follow.”
Yan Shixun looked up and met Ye Li’s gaze, only to feel as though he had fallen into a vast, boundless world.
Within it, the sun, moon, and stars all moved in their eternal rhythm.
But the moment he entered that world—those celestial bodies began to move… around him.
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