Chapter 570: The News from Fengdu

Could it be… the reincarnation of Erlang Shen?

Li Yan's eyes lit up, and he moved forward with excitement.

Chengdu Prefecture is now awash with demonic qi; though they have many allies, such as the Bamboo Grove Six Idlers and the impending Qingcheng reinforcements.

But Li Yan remained uneasy.

He knew the most crucial piece was still missing.

He also had a faint premonition that the root of all this was tied to Erlang Shen, yet his reincarnation remained elusive, acting as if none of it concerned him.

His most vivid impression of this Chengdu magnate was his love for mutton—burning it late at night made it hard not to connect the dots.

Night fell like a dome, stars and moon hidden, wind and snow howling around, plunging the midnight dock into utter darkness.

Perhaps due to the frequent strange events, even the Dadaxiaoxiao fishing boats moored at the dock stood empty.

No fishing lights remained, only snow piled along the boat edges.

Li Yan strode through the flying snow, fingers weaving the Yang Seal, unleashing his full spiritual power to search for Erlang Shen's reincarnation.

But after only two steps, he narrowed his eyes and stopped.

"Come out!"

Li Yan gripped his scabbard with his left hand, coldly facing forward.

Instantly, the wind ceased and snow vanished—dead silence fell; faint yin mist rose from the ground, soon obscuring the distant river surface.

"Living Yin Officer?"

Li Yan glanced around, his expression darkening.

He had sensed someone trailing him, circling to encircle him—clearly hostile intent.

Given Chengdu's current state, this wasn't unusual.

Whether the Shu Prince's Mansion, the Ghost Opera Troupe, or the Worship Dragon Cult, all held grudges against him; they'd seize any chance to strike.

But he never expected it to be Living Yin Officers!

Wu Qu, after a traitor in the Huangquan Organization caused the death of his closest friend, had grown disillusioned and decided to quit.

He had revealed some secrets about the Living Yin Officers to him. Combined with what Li Yan saw in Fengdu, he now understood the current Living Yin Officer system.

In short, it was a mess.

Its core scripture is the Six Paths Scripture; its techniques blend Buddhist and Daoist methods, with features from various lineages, divided into the "Ksitigarbha Scroll" and the "Xuanming Scroll."

Their cultivation ranking system is the Three Great Precepts.

The Yin Law Precept, the Yunchang Precept, and the Yama Precept.

As long as one's spiritual cultivation is sufficient and precepts are followed, one gains Yin Bureau abilities—for instance, the Yin Law Precept grants the Soul-Grabbing Chain.

It seems to lower the entry barrier.

But Li Yan knew the upper limit of today's Living Yin Officers had been locked.

The array trapping him now emitted yin-sha qi, rising into the air and coalescing into six invisible vortices arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.

These are the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper.

This is precisely the "Southern Dipper Six Stars Soul-Sealing Array" from the Xuanming Scroll.

Li Yan truly couldn't fathom why these people were targeting him.

Huh~

No sooner had the words left his mouth than thick fog rose ahead.

From the mist emerged an old man dressed as a merchant, wearing a conical hat and holding a Chanzhang.

He lifted his head—beneath the hat were eyes brimming with venomous hatred, and his right hand began forming seals.

"What's the rush?"

Li Yan frowned, letting out a cold snort. "If you want to fight, at least explain yourself. I don't want to kill someone blindly—don't make me kill you in ignorance!"

He said this partly out of confusion, partly to buy time.

The enemies surrounding him weren't just the one before him.

The "Southern Dipper Six Stars Soul-Sealing Array" required at least six cultivators to set up—given their cultivation level, they couldn't trap him alone.

Moreover, a chilling sensation prickled his back.

Another expert lurked in the shadows.

Or perhaps a new-style firearm was aimed at him.

The moment he showed the slightest opening, they'd strike!

"Hahahaha…"

Hearing Li Yan's question, the merchant-dressed man let out a shrill, eerie laugh, gritting his teeth: "Fine! Let you die knowing why!"

"The Huangquan Organization split—because of you!"

"What?!"

Li Yan's expression showed clear surprise.

He'd heard from Wu Qu that the Huangquan Organization had grown steadily over the years, but became a mix of good and bad, filled with conflicting voices.

His own affairs had sparked arguments, and ultimately, because of their opposition, he'd refused to join the Huangquan Organization.

He never expected consequences to follow.

Seeing Li Yan's calm face, the man grew even angrier, screaming: "You orphaned little bastard—if you hadn't meddled, none of this would've happened…"

"Die!"

Li Yan's eyes flashed with murderous intent; suddenly, he stepped forward.

This exposed an opening.

But it was a feint—in the instant his foot landed, his supporting leg exploded with force, and he shot sideways.

Boom!

In the darkness, gunfire roared.

The spot where he'd stood shattered into flying debris.

Indeed, someone had fired a sneak shot—perhaps fearing detection, they'd kept their distance and used spiritual power to assist.

Had Li Yan not understood firearms, he'd have been hit.

Meanwhile, the merchant-dressed man, ever ready, saw Li Yan dodge the shot and immediately attacked.

He clenched a seal with his left hand, gripped his ritual staff in his right, stepped forward, and slammed it hard into the ground.

Instantly, the surroundings transformed:

Black snow howled, air frozen into icy needles; countless naked figures, their bodies covered in frozen blisters, flesh stripped away by the cold wind, revealing frozen crimson muscle.

Piercing wails rose like mountain surges and ocean tides.

What was heard, seen, smelled…

All assaulted the mind.

Yet Li Yan remained calm, unshaken.

This was a secret technique from the Living Yin Officers' "Ksitigarbha Scroll":

The Eight Cold Hells Method!

The Eight Cold Hells include the Blister Hell, the Burst Blister Hell, the Clenched Teeth Hell, the Ah-Jiu-Jiu Hell, the Hu-Hu Hell, and so on.

The Eight Cold Hells Method, combined with the Southern Dipper Six Stars Soul-Sealing Array, could plunge one into hell—those with weak spirits would instantly lose their souls.

It looked terrifying, but false is false.

With a clang, he drew his Duan Chen Blade, feet crossing like shifting shadows, charging toward the merchant-dressed man.

Boom!

Gunfire erupted behind him—but missed entirely.

As Li Yan neared, his left hand suddenly pulled a flintlock pistol from his waist and fired.

With a thunderous blast, fire and smoke exploded outward.

The merchant-dressed man, startled by Li Yan drawing the pistol, halted his spell and leapt back.

But he misjudged completely.

Li Yan used the flintlock pistol to compensate for his weakness in mid-range combat; since realizing enemies were growing stronger, he'd abandoned direct assassination.

Thus, the flintlock pistol was loaded with scattered pellets.

Great power, wide coverage.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Several muffled thuds—the man screamed, collapsed, his right calf now a bloody pulp.

Simultaneously, the Eight Cold Hells vision vanished.

Seeing Li Yan approach, he went berserk, threw away his staff, clasped his hands into seals, and chanted: "Om! Ban! Zha! Sa! Duo! Hum!"

The "Ksitigarbha Scroll" and "Xuanming Scroll" each had three secret methods, all fused from Buddhist and Daoist traditions.

This was the "Vajrasattva Extinguishing Sin Chant" from the Ksitigarbha Scroll.

Each chant rang like a great bell.

Ordinary people hearing it would be shaken to their core.

But Li Yan was protected by his armguard "Thousand Thoughts"; the copper coins on his left arm jingled, disrupting the chant entirely.

"What are you waiting for!" Seeing his secret method fail, the merchant's eyes filled with terror as he shrieked.

Clatter!

Invisible chains rang out from his body.

It was the Soul-Grabbing Chain of a Living Yin Clerk, clearly meant to block him with this divine art.

But it was like showing off swordplay before Guan Yu.

His Soul-Grabbing Chain was no more than a meter long, and the quality of yin qi it gathered meant nothing to Li Yan.

CLANG!

Li Yan blocked with his left arm; the Gangsha qi gathered by his guard "Thousand Thoughts" effortlessly swept the chain aside, then he slashed his blade upward.

Blood sprayed, a head flew into the air.

"Big brother!"

A shrill cry came from the darkness afar.

Then a cruel voice rang out.

"At that time, the World-Honored One emitted great light to illuminate the Yanluo Kingdom…"

Not a single line, note, or word was out of place!

After hearing this, Li Yan's eyes blazed with even greater killing intent.

This was the incantation used in the current Six Paths Scripture to summon the Yin Bureau's troops — utterly different from his Luo Feng Scripture, yet equally potent.

These people, to kill him, had actually deployed the Gang Command!

Without hesitation, after severing the merchant's head, Li Yan leapt again, landing seven or eight meters to his right.

BOOM! The merchant's corpse was shredded by the firearm.

The new-style firearm required time to reload its magazine; Li Yan abandoned dodging left and right, dragged his blade behind him, tapped his toes against the ground, and moved like Eight Steps Chasing a Cicada toward the source of the voice.

At the same time, the opponent summoned the Yin Bureau's troops.

HOOO~

In an instant, chilling yin winds surged around them.

The "Southern Dipper Six Stars Soul-Sealing Array" they had set up was shattered almost instantly by the Youming yin sha qi.

Profound darkness, accompanied by the clanking of armor, rolled in.

Li Yan showed no fear; he charged into the darkness with his blade.

As the array collapsed, the attackers revealed themselves — men and women, dressed differently, yet all in lavish attire.

Farther away stood another man, holding a Divine Fire Gun.

Summoning the Yin Bureau's troops carried taboos; these people dared not watch, closing their eyes and waiting for Li Yan's death.

In the darkness, chains clinked incessantly.

Li Yan paid no heed, advancing with his Soul-Grabbing Warrant in hand.

Wherever he passed, the yin soldiers retreated in droves.

He now held the office of "Heavenly Official"; earthly deities and spirits dared not approach, and the Yin Bureau's troops could not arbitrarily apprehend him.

Completing the Full Luo Feng Method meant he was officially registered in the Underworld.

These yin soldiers had no authority to arrest him.

CRACK!

Arriving before a woman who had been setting up the array, Li Yan without hesitation twisted her head clean off, then slashed his blade to sever another's head.

He now knew their identities.

Most likely, they were those who had opposed his entry originally.

The Soul-Grabbing Warrants of Living Yin Clerks were issued randomly.

Not everyone was willing to uphold the righteous path; many within the Yellow Spring Organization used this status to profit.

Looking at their attire, not one of them was poor.

Li Yan had broken the agreement, naturally angering these people.

As he had suspected, these six array-setters had low cultivation — barely entered the First Floor, relying only on numbers to successfully form the array.

With their eyes closed, they never even understood what happened before they lost their lives.

But at the same time, the yin soldiers, unable to apprehend him, quickly dispersed.

The darkness mixed with yin winds vanished at a visible pace.

The man holding the gun was a middle-aged man.

What surprised Li Yan was that the man wore the uniform of a Commandant's Office — black robe, official boots, silver-threaded Taotie motifs — clearly a gunner trained by the Commandant's Office.

He never expected the Yellow Spring Organization had infiltrated even this far.

This man also possessed divine arts; hearing footsteps, he immediately opened his eyes, saw Li Yan approaching with his blade, and screamed as if seeing a ghost: "You… you're still alive!"

Saying this, he raised his gun to fire.

PUFF! PUFF!

The moment he moved, two blades of light flashed.

Li Yan had launched his two Soul-Cutting Flying Knives, piercing straight through the man's tiger mouths from ten meters away.

The Divine Fire Gun clattered to the ground.

"AHHH—!"

The man screamed in agony, then felt a chilling cold spread from his arms, rapidly engulfing his entire body, freezing him solid — he could only stare helplessly as Li Yan drew near.

"I ask, you answer."

Li Yan's gaze was cold. "Say one word too many, and I'll carve you into a human pole. What's happened in the Yellow Spring Organization?"

The man was clearly terrified by Li Yan.

He had never before seen someone unafraid of the Yin Bureau's troops; he stammered out the reason.

It had to do with Wu Qu.

A few days ago, during a Yellow Spring Organization gathering, Wu Qu, filled with rage, stormed in and accused them of having a traitor among them.

The Yellow Spring Organization was already divided; some seized the chance to mock and pressure everyone into taking oaths before an altar.

Intended merely to embarrass their rivals, they never expected someone would panic and immediately try to flee.

They were caught by the organization's masters, who then learned the truth.

The leaker was none other than these people.

They had long been blackmailed by a group, who planned to coordinate an inside-out attack — detonating hidden explosives aboard their ship as they sailed to sacred mountains for worship.

It was a vicious scheme: the entire ship was loaded with new-style gunpowder, concealed by precious artifacts that blocked divine detection.

Numerous mysterious figures lurked in the rivers near Luo Feng; seeing them inspect the vessel, they realized the plot was exposed and vanished without a trace.

Though they narrowly escaped disaster, the Yellow Spring Organization was thrown into utter chaos — that very day, they began accusing one another, even coming to blows.

In the end, several senior leaders of the Yellow Spring Organization declared the world had changed, and the hunting of Living Yin Clerks had likely resumed.

Given the current state of the organization, targeted attacks would not cease; thus, the Yellow Spring Organization had fractured completely amid mutual suspicion.

From now on, they would only interact with those they trusted.

Many former Living Yin Clerks had changed identities and left.

These people were all corrupt, exploiting their Living Yin Clerk status to amass wealth; now that the Yellow Spring Organization had split, their protectors had scattered for profit…

They had come to Chengdu to exchange their houses and land for silver notes.

Someone happened to be negotiating at Mingxiang Pavilion and spotted him — he wasn't carrying his Soul-Grabbing Warrant, so he hadn't noticed.

"Hmph, the Yin Bureau must be blind to have chosen you!"

Li Yan sneered, then frowned. "No — you're all outsiders. This dock is close to the shantytown. With such a commotion, who helped you cover it up?"

"I… it was the local boat captain."

The Commandant's Office man, drenched in cold sweat, trembled as he spoke: "I used my Commandant's Office token to have them clear the area."

"What an idiot — sold out without even knowing it…"

Li Yan cursed, then swung his blade.

Before the head even hit the ground, he turned toward the dock.

On the calm water, waves suddenly churned — a rotting wooden boat rose, its deck bound with iron chains holding row upon row of bronze coffins.

At the bow stood an old fisherman, his face as pale as a corpse, his eyes utterly black.

CRACKLING!

Terrifying yin sha qi caused ice to form around the boat.

Li Yan sensed something, "Water Ghost Artisan, Master Tian Qi?"

The arrival was none other than one of the southwestern demonic masters under the Prince of Shu.

But as Li Yan prepared himself, the old fisherman suddenly stared to his right as if seeing a ghost.

From the opposite cabin emerged a wealthy-looking man with a full beard, holding a lamb leg, grumbling:

"You've been fighting nonstop — when will this ever end!"

(End of Chapter)