Chapter 59: Even His Posture Alone Reveals Terrifying Strength

Dong-rumble—dong-rumble!

The relentless sound of gongs and drums echoed continuously across the sacrificial square, painting the entire stage in a vibrant and celebratory atmosphere.

Ghost villagers performed the lion dance with utmost vigor, moving with such fluid agility and vivid realism that onlookers might have mistaken the lions for living beasts. Other ghost villagers held wine in their mouths and torches in their hands, roaring out gouts of fierce fire that stunned the entire audience. More extreme still, some clutched sharp daggers and dramatically carved their own hearts straight out of their chests, placing them tremblingly upon sacrificial platters while their headless or heartless bodies continued to dance wildly in the ritual trance.

Xiezhi and Department Chief Ancheng felt as though they were witnessing the prosperity of Yin-Yuan Village before it had transformed into a desolate wasteland.

"If the ritual they are repeating is the one from the past, does that mean the Yin-Yuan Deity sank its demonic claws into this village many years ago?" Department Chief Ancheng frowned.

The Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs had been established for many years.

Its various systems were already quite comprehensive, and domestically, it had basically achieved the prevention of supernatural incidents before they occurred, or their prompt handling to prevent the spread of influence.

Yet how could a place like Yin-Yuan Village escape detection entirely before the incident?

Even after the "Desolate Village Chronicles" incident five years ago, they had investigated this place for a full two months, practically turning the soil upside down to inspect it.

Still, they had found no lingering disasters or supernatural artifacts whatsoever.

It was only because of this that the case had been archived and judged as a non-threatening disaster-node. Some even felt it unnecessary to define it as a disaster-node at all, since truly nothing remained.

Who the hell knew how those five idiots had managed to find the place where the Yin-Yuan Deity was sealed!

"Well, once we return, you will write a self-criticism report and hand it to me. If the investigation back then had been more meticulous, and we had sealed or dealt with the Yin-Yuan Deity in advance, today's events could have been avoided. You bear responsibility for this," Xiezhi said expressionlessly.

Department Chief Ancheng: "?"

We're peers, my friend!

How did you manage to act like my boss?

"Heh, old Xie, that joke is a bit chilly," he joked cheerfully.

However, Xiezhi slowly reached out and produced ten paper talismans from thin air, stating flatly, "I am not joking."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The talismans flew toward the sacrificial stage as if they had eyes, instantly surrounding it.

In an instant, a faint blue light emanated from the talismans.

Projections of the individual faces of the ghost villagers performing the ritual emerged above their heads, except that these projections were tightly bound by bizarre chains.

"Judgment Court! Open!"

Xiezhi's voice suddenly brimmed with majesty.

Those ghost villagers even stopped what they were doing, abruptly dropping to their knees on the ground to kowtow to him.

Simultaneously, a distinct golden radiance flared in Xiezhi's eyes, as if he could see through all secrets and sins.

He swept a glance across the ghost villagers on the stage.

A moment later, he sighed.

Waving his hand casually, he said, "Utterly wicked and profoundly ignorant, your souls have rotted to the absolute core. Come back to repent in your next lives."

Clang—

The moment his voice fell, the shackles on the ghost villagers' soul projections instantly shattered.

They were no longer bound by the Yin-Yuan Deity!

Yet before they had even time to cheer in jubilation.

Pale golden projections of sharp swords hovered above their heads, quietly descending in tandem with Xiezhi's wave.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The next second, dozens of ghost villagers collapsed simultaneously.

Their souls wailed as they were pierced by the swords, dissolving between heaven and earth amidst agony and resentment.

The next life was the only cold joke Xiezhi had told.

Because they would never have another life.

"Let's head to the ancestral hall; the source of the shackles binding these villagers is over there." Xiezhi narrowed his eyes, looking toward the distant ancestral hall.

In his vision, countless pitch-black chains extended from that direction, binding every single villager, torturing and tormenting their souls.

Yet Xiezhi felt not a shred of sympathy.

He could likewise see that the souls of these villagers were already filled with filth.

It was just that the number of these shackles...

Was simply too vast.

The Yin-Yuan Deity, capable of binding so many souls, was likely far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.

Hearing Xiezhi point out the direction,

Department Chief Ancheng's lips curled into a slight smile.

With a fierce stomp of his foot, his entire body shot forward toward the ancestral hall like a cannonball, raising his knuckles—calloused and hardened from years of training—to smash down ruthlessly.

Boom—

A towering cloud of dust billowed into the air.

The sight of massive amounts of shattered bricks and tiles flying outward and houses collapsing made Xiezhi's mouth twitch.

The ancestral hall, which had originally been built rather large and exquisitely, had nearly half of its structures collapse under a single punch from Department Chief Ancheng. The long corridor in particular was reduced entirely to a sprawling expanse of ruins.

Just as Department Chief Ancheng had said before entering the village—

He was very good at beating people.

Translated, this meant that in terms of physical damage, he considered himself a powerhouse.

"Where are the ghosts?! Come out and face me head-on!" Department Chief Ancheng's arrogant voice echoed from within the ancestral hall.

He twisted his neck, demolishing the buildings one by one with a level of savagery that would cause anyone watching to shake their heads and declare it far too violent.

Nor did he need to worry about being sneak-attacked on a mental level by that so-called Yin-Yuan Deity.

Xiezhi was still watching from below.

He knew that stubborn mule well.

Aside from the initial moment upon entering Yin-Yuan Village where a tiny bit of mental energy had dropped due to the suddenness of the event, he hadn't felt any mental shock whatsoever until now.

It was obvious that Xiezhi was exerting force behind the scenes to suppress or block it in advance.

Though he talked a big game about making him write a self-criticism report, when it came to doing what needed to be done, he never slacked off.

How did those young people put it again?

Just a total tsundere.

"Ten o'clock direction, two hundred meters away." Xiezhi's voice rang in his ear.

Department Chief Ancheng did not hesitate in the slightest.

His body shot forward once more.

A mere two hundred meters was a distance he could cross in the blink of an eye.

There, he abruptly spotted a pig's head, rotted to the point where only its skeletal framework remained, floating suspended in mid-air.

Even though its hollow eye sockets seemed devoid of anything, merely locking eyes with it made Department Chief Ancheng feel as though his head was being violently battered by a hammer.

A sudden wave of dizziness flooded his brain.

"Silence!"

Before Department Chief Ancheng could begin losing mental energy, Xiezhi's majestic voice, bolstered by the active Judgment Court, rang out once more.

In an instant, the dizziness vanished completely.

The floating shell of the pig-headed ghost also jerked violently, as if it had suffered some form of attack.

Xiezhi's own figure appeared beside him out of nowhere.

"The Yin-Yuan Deity, is it? I know you possess rationality. Now, I ask and you answer."

Xiezhi raised his head and spoke calmly.

The blue light surrounding the ten paper talismans by his side grew increasingly pronounced, and his aura climbed steadily, an inexplicable sense of oppression radiating from his person.

Even Department Chief Ancheng, standing right beside him, felt the nervous unease of a thief or robber encountering a police officer.

He felt as nervous as if his inner filth had been stripped bare and laid out ready to face judgment.

Good grief, this guy's Judgment Court was getting stronger and stronger; he hadn't felt this kind of pressure when standing beside him in the past.

"First, how long ago did you begin meddling in Yin-Yuan Village? Second, what is the purpose of your descent? Third, who sealed you? Give me the specific details."

Xiezhi's tone was unhurried.

Just like a veteran homicide detective interrogating a criminal with a fragile psychological defense, he had no fear that the target would stubbornly lie.

Under the Judgment Court, spiritual entities were powerless to resist.

Hearing this, the pig's head turned to look.

Unexpectedly, it merely transmitted a wave of bizarre mental fluctuations.

Xiezhi was able to glean the meaning the entity wished to express from these ripples—

"Yin-body... changing faces... lunatic?"

"Penguin... aura... hatred?"

"Praise... disaster?"

Xiezhi's expression grew increasingly unnatural.

The entity's rationality appeared somewhat chaotic.

Yet the final words filled him with a trace of unease.

[Praise the Disaster]

This was the creed of an extremely influential evil organization known as the [Disaster Cult].

This meant that either the Yin-Yuan Deity had been the handiwork of the Disaster Cult from the very beginning, or something had been tampered with by the cult while it was sealed.

"You—"

Hum—

Before Xiezhi could continue his judgment,

A roaring sound echoed within his mind.

Following closely was a powerful constraint that locked onto Xiezhi's mental energy with a death grip, rendering him unable to mobilize the artifacts and equipment capable of dealing with spiritual entities.

The talismans floating around Xiezhi also grew dim.

[Remaining duration of the Mental Shackles — 30 minutes]

[This is a Legendary-tier item effect, which cannot be dispelled by items of the same tier or lower.]

A reverse-triangle-like symbol gradually surfaced upon the pig-headed ghost's forehead, and immediately afterward, its aura instantly crushed his Judgment Court.

"Not good! This is a trap set by the Disaster Cult!" Xiezhi said through clenched teeth.

That symbol basically confirmed that the entity was connected to the Disaster Cult, and furthermore, it had left behind a powerful and highly targeted trap-item.

It would only trigger when artifacts and equipment specialized against spirits were used on the Yin-Yuan Deity.

It was as if the opponent had anticipated long ago that someone would come to probe the memories of the Yin-Yuan Deity.

And had applied an insurance policy beforehand.

A [Legendary]-tier item, at that!

This was a trap specifically tailored for him!

"Old Fist! Run!" Xiezhi shouted with a pale face.

Department Chief Ancheng was no fool either.

The instant he saw the talismans around Xiezhi weaken, he grabbed the man by the collar, turned on his heel, and intended to pull him out of Yin-Yuan Village first so they could reconsider their strategy.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, the Yin-Yuan Deity moved.

Boom—

Heavenly thunder rolled down, encircling the entire ancestral hall.

In a split second, a cage of lightning formed.

They had become trapped beasts.

"Though I dislike male bodies... your... physical strength is acceptable... spiritual strength is superior... as a temporary vessel... barely passable." The Yin-Yuan Deity drifted toward them in a stuttering, halting manner.

It clearly intended to use these two as its temporary vessels to descend into the mortal world!

Its current state was actually far from optimal either.

Its present strength was only temporary, and it would soon lose its rationality and power once more.

Unless it found a suitable vessel for descent.

Swallowing the other party's soul and flesh was the only way to maintain its mighty power for a sustained period.

The seal that damned penguin had tossed aside so casually was also terrifyingly strong; without a sufficiently powerful soul for it to possess, it truly had no way to break free from this humiliating pig's head.

Once it returned to the mortal realm.

The very first thing it would do was hunt down that damn lunatic who could change his face! His vessel was the best of all!

Watching the pig's head draw increasingly closer to Xiezhi,

Department Chief Ancheng found that no matter how he attacked, any physical-level damage simply passed right through the pig's head.

He began to feel afraid.

They really might capsize in a drainage ditch this time!

Clang—

Right at this moment of extreme tension,

Accompanied by the sound of air being rent and brick and stone being pierced, all three figures inside the lightning cage cast their gazes toward the source.

They unexpectedly found a bizarre, rusted, and broken sword stuck into the ground, its hilt wrapped in layers of bandages.

A figure walked in from outside the cage.

Upon making contact with the terrifying lightning, the figure merely paused for the fraction of a second, then walked right through unscathed, exactly as if he were simply lifting his foot to step up a stair.

Plucking the sword up from the ground,

The youth extended his index finger, raised his arm level with his shoulder, leaned his upper body slightly backward, and turned sideways toward the Yin-Yuan Deity, striking a sharp, classic JoJo pose.

He tilted his head and spoke with serene nonchalance: "Trash, do you still want to sleep underground for five years? Or are you planning to sleep forever this time? Both the black-hearted penguin and I can fulfill your wish."

The moment his voice fell, Xiezhi and Department Chief Ancheng actually saw the Yin-Yuan Deity suspended in mid-air freeze in its tracks.

It even retreated backward by a considerable distance.

It seemed utterly filled with terror toward the youth before it.

For the Yin-Yuan Deity recalled, from the youth's words, the profound powerlessness it had felt when facing that bizarre penguin, an entity that could snuff out its life as effortlessly as crushing an ant.

Power stripped away at a mere whim.

True form sealed away with a single thought.

This fear was amplified infinitely by Wu Wang's [Fear Spreader] effect, making it feel as though that penguin were about to leap out and whack it with a crutch once more.

Of course, Xiezhi and Department Chief Ancheng were entirely oblivious to all of this.

In their eyes, the youth had simply subdued the Yin-Yuan Deity with a single finger, leaving it utterly cowed and terrified.

Just from that stance alone, one could tell he was terrifyingly powerful!

Damn! Where on earth did this bigshot come from?!