The peacock paused strangely in mid-air.
Chu He’s entire body was so tense that it seemed he would immediately break free and charge forward if Zhou Hui let go. He stared intently at the peacock’s movements in the air and suddenly asked with doubt, “Wait, what is that?”
A black seam suddenly split open in the air in front of a peacock, as if spacetime had been torn open from the inside.
“His barrier collapsed?” Zhou Hui guessed.
Just as Zhou Hui finished speaking, Yan Lanyu’s figure suddenly fell from the rift, plummeting toward the ground!
“Maha!” Chu He cried out. “Catch him!”
The peacock dove down like a bolt of lightning, grabbed the back of Yan Lanyu’s collar with its sharp talons, and lifted him into the air, tracing a beautiful U-shaped arc. Then, with a powerful flap of its brilliant wings, it trailed long golden flames as it swooped down from the sky toward Chu He.
“Roar—!”
Behind it, the magic dragon was instantly enraged. It let out a heaven-shaking roar, then twisted its body and chased straight after them toward the ground!
If the phoenix hadn’t been there, Maha might have led the magic dragon directly to the ground, then flapped his wings and flown away, leaving his dad to fight the dragon to the death. Maha would have been delighted to see either of them fall. If they were both seriously injured, he might even have come back for a cheap shot, killing his father first, then slaying the dragon, before magnanimously allowing his younger brother Jia Louluo to have a piece of dragon meat.
But his mother was on the ground at this moment.
After nirvana, a phoenix needs several thousand years to reach its peak combat power. Strictly speaking, he was still a young phoenix and it was hard to say if he could face the magic dragon head-on.
Maha reluctantly gave up a perfect opportunity for patricide. He flew over the heads of the group, dropped Yan Lanyu, and then flapped his wings and charged toward the shrine!
With a loud thud, Zhou Hui caught his third daughter as she fell from the sky and shouted back, “Go, Da Mao! Dad believes you can pull aggro! I’ll definitely… for next year’s Qingming Festival…”
Chu He shouted sternly, “Be careful!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the gloating Zhou Hui and the distant, teeth-gritting Maha both turned their heads.
The magic dragon opened its giant maw and, ignoring the Peacock King it had been fiercely fighting, crashed straight down toward Zhou Hui!
The magic dragon’s attack was not just about impact; its demonic breath was immense and highly toxic. In the Four Evil Paths, the magic dragon held a very high status. Legend had it that the gates of hell were guarded by dead magic dragons, and the dragon-shaped bone carvings on the four great bronze gates of hell confirmed this.
The magic dragon’s bloody maw was like a cave, its ferocious fangs like crisscrossing stalactites. From its depths, it spewed a large cloud of blackish-purple demonic breath, reaching them in an instant.
Zhou Hui: “#￥%&(&…”
Maha: “@#￥%&*￥%…”
Their expressions of gloating and teeth-gritting instantly swapped. Maha immediately did a drift in the air and turned around.
Zhou Hui’s mind was filled with a roaring “Why?!”. He tossed Yan Lanyu toward Chu He and drew his long saber!
From the start of the battle, Zhou Hui’s goal had been his third daughter plus the Kusanagi. He planned to grab them and leave. The Esoteric School was none of his business; those people were his eldest son’s scheduled New Year’s Eve dinner.
As for the magic dragon, it was an unplanned factor. No one wanted to face it head-on. First, its massive size made it inconvenient to fight, and it was easy to get caught in the crossfire. Second, whoever made the first move would easily give the other side an opportunity.
Even Chu He secretly felt that this was a mess the Esoteric School had created, and they should be the ones to clean it up.
But now the magic dragon had come knocking. Its frontal assault was unstoppable, so Zhou Hui could only swallow his grievances and draw his saber to fight. While resisting the corrosive toxic breath, he had to remain constantly vigilant against Maha stabbing him in the back.
—Just at this critical moment, the magic dragon suddenly raised its head.
Zhou Hui’s blade passed right between its two largest fangs. Then its massive body lifted, swept over Zhou Hui’s head, changed direction, and charged straight at Chu He!
Chu He was stunned.
“Get out of the way!” Zhou Hui suddenly reacted. “Its target is Yan Lanyu—!”
In that split second, Chu He grabbed Yan Lanyu’s collar and threw him backward. The peacock arrived just in time, catching him in mid-air with perfect coordination.
Before Zhou Hui could praise his eldest son, the peacock flapped its wings, flew across the battlefield, and smashed little brother Yan right at Zhou Hui before turning and fleeing!
Zhou Hui: “…”
Zhou Hui was at a loss for words. He caught little brother Yan with one hand and fiercely gripped the hilt of his saber with the other. Fine currents of electricity crackled up the entire blade, then crisscrossed and erupted into a large shower of sparks.
The magic dragon’s massive tail swung viciously, crashing down amidst countless falling bricks and stones!
Zhou Hui roared and met it head-on!
—Just as the two were about to collide, the roar of a helicopter’s propellers came from the northwest.
The sound was almost drowned out by the fierce battle on the ground and the crashing of buildings, but it quickly grew closer, until it was almost directly overhead. Then, the cabin door opened, and a burly man emerged carrying a cannon, the muzzle rotating as a green light beeped.
Whoosh—
BOOM!
A gleaming shell shot across the sky and hit the magic dragon’s raised head, exploding in a cloud of dust and firelight.
The next moment, a piercing dragon’s roar rose up, shaking the heavens and the earth!
Zhou Hui said, stunned, “Buddha Ash?!”
On the helicopter, Yu Jingzhong lowered the cannon and shouted back into the cabin, “Jump—!”
Several dark figures leaped from the cabin doors on both sides like dumplings, instantly disappearing into the thick smoke. The uncontrolled helicopter’s nose dipped, and then the violently twisting dragon’s head descended from the sky. With a loud crash, the propellers and cockpit turned into a burning fireball!
Yu Jingzhong, who had been at the forefront, rolled on the ground with his cannon, then got up, bent over, and with extreme precision, leaped over the dragon’s spiky tail as it rolled across the ground.
“Brother!”
Zhou Hui was incredibly moved. Just as he was about to say, “As expected of my ironclad buddy, what are you doing here?”, he saw Yu Jingzhong completely ignore him and charge straight over, dropping to one knee beside Yan Lanyu. “Yan Lanyu! Wake up! What happened?!”
Zhou Hui: “…”
Zhou Hui, having suffered malice from his son and a blow from his brother in quick succession, felt a little overwhelmed.
Yan Lanyu was in bad shape. He was unconscious, his head had been hit at some point, and blood was streaming down his temples, looking exceptionally terrifying. Yu Jingzhong felt along his hair to the source of the bleeding and got a rough idea of the wound’s size and depth. He didn’t dare press acupoints to force him conscious, so he quickly tore off a piece of his own clothing, pressed it against the wound, and hoisted him onto his back.
“Why are you here? Who did you bring?” Zhou Hui shouted over the noise.
“A few from Group Two! Wu Bei is here too!” Yu Jingzhong said as he ran. “This dragon was summoned by the Esoteric School. Leave it, let the Japanese handle it themselves! Let’s go!”
Not far away, several members of Group Two quickly took down the shrine’s sorcerers, clearing a path through the thick rubble. Further in the distance, the dragon’s body thrashed wildly in the night. Its head and thick neck were burned a horrifying black by the Buddha Ash, and scales, bones, and muscle tissue rained down.
The group ran quickly down the mountain. As they ran, Zhou Hui asked, “What exactly happened? Did you get field ops permission?!”
“No—! None of the group leaders in Beijing could get out! I sent a coded message to Wu Bei, and he entered the country directly from the northeast with a few men…” Yu Jingzhong slid down the snowy mountain path and, ignoring the snow on his head, got up and ran again. “Quick, quick, Wu Bei got a car waiting for us up ahead. Let’s go meet up with him!”
Zhou Hui was curious. “Why the rush? Uh, actually, I could take on this dragon if I had to, it would just take some time…”
“No, don’t waste time!” Yu Jingzhong finally told the truth. “Wu Bei alerted the Self-Defense Forces when he entered the country, and the Esoteric School knows too. They’re on their way now!”
Zhou Hui turned back and exchanged a look with Chu He.
“Lead… Leader Zhou, it’s not our leader’s fault!” a young man from Group Two from the northeast said, so hot that he was taking off his jacket as he ran. He revealed a green dragon tattooed on his left arm and a white tiger on his right, as well as a tank top with the words “Northeast Blue Dream Beauty and Hairdressing Vocational and Technical College” printed on it. He panted, “Dep… Deputy Yu said he needed Buddha Ash. When our leader entered the country, he took us to a Japanese temple and got a Buddha statue…”
“How could buying a Buddha statue attract the Self-Defense Forces?” Zhou Hui asked, puzzled.
“Don’t even start! It was stolen!” Yu Jingzhong said angrily. “It was the golden body statue of a deceased living Buddha that the temple worshiped!”
Zhou Hui’s and Chu He’s eyes twitched violently at the same time. The young man from the hairdressing school was still arguing, “We had no choice, the monks wouldn’t sell it. Our leader had his reasons…”
The group thundered down the mountain path and instantly plunged into the dense forest.
The forests of Ise are very famous, known locally as the Jingu Forest. They cover a vast area and have a natural landscape, largely maintaining their original environment. It’s easy to get lost even during the day, let alone in the freezing cold of night.
Zhou Hui looked back several times. On the mountain path, Maha had been trailing far behind them, not daring to get too close because he was wary of the Buddha Ash. After entering the forest, he must have lost his way and soon disappeared.
Just then, lights flashed brightly in the distance, followed by the roar of wheels. An SUV cut a path through the waist-high bushes, executed a beautiful fishtail drift, and stopped steadily in front of them.
Wu Bei leaned out of the driver’s seat and shouted, “Over here, over here! Get in!”
Zhou Hui yanked open the car door. “Not bad, kid. Where’d you get the car?”
Wu Bei said leisurely, “Oh, the foot of the mountain is swarming with the Self-Defense Forces. I just grabbed one…”
Zhou Hui was speechless. The group quickly piled into the car. The last person was still getting in when the SUV shot off like an arrow, speeding bumpily through the forest and sending everyone tumbling.
Yu Jingzhong laid Yan Lanyu down on the back seat, lifted his eyelids to check his pupils, then checked his temperature and pulse. A look of anxiety crossed his face.
Zhou Hui rummaged through the back of the car, found a bottle of water, and handed it to Chu He.
Chu He took a couple of sips and said to Yu Jingzhong, “It’s fine, don’t worry.” He bit his index finger, dripped a little blood into the water bottle to dilute it, then held Yan Lanyu’s head and carefully poured the water onto the wound.
“This…”
“True phoenix blood is too potent for humans, it might burn him. Diluting it will stop the bleeding in a few minutes. Actually, my tears are more effective, but… I can’t really cry on cue.”
“Will he wake up then?”
“It’s better if he doesn’t. Right now, only his Yin-World Soul is in his body. His Yang-World Soul and the Mirror Heart are bundled together somewhere…” Chu He suddenly had a realization and looked up at Yu Jingzhong with suspicion. “Did he give the Mirror Heart to you?”
“What?”
“The Yata Mirror Heart! Did he put something into your soul?”
Yu Jingzhong had a bewildered expression on his face. He was suddenly pushed down by Zhou Hui, who reached a hand directly into his chest.
Yu Jingzhong watched with wide eyes as a hand disappeared into his chest. Someone with less nerve would have gone mad with fear. After fumbling around for a moment, Zhou Hui casually withdrew his hand and said to Chu He, “As expected, it’s in his soul. Both the Yata Mirror Heart and little brother Yan’s Yang-World Soul are here. This makes things much easier.”
“Yan Lanyu’s what soul is in my body?” Yu Jingzhong asked, stunned. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s a long story, we’ll explain later. In short, little brother Yan died once, so he has two souls in his body. One of them, the dominant one, was used by him to wrap the Mirror Heart and place it in your soul to protect you from the Yata Mirror’s harm. Why did he do this? Probably because he knew he would be hunted by the Esoteric School and wanted to leave the Yata Mirror with the Special Department…”
Chu He interrupted Zhou Hui, “—No, it’s because Deputy Yu also has an unyielding soul.”
“Huh?”
“Deputy Yu has the qualifications to wield the Yata Mirror, but without the protection of a Yang-World Soul, the Yata Mirror is like a double-edged sword that can cause the user’s soul to scatter. The purer, more unyielding, and more uncompromising a person’s soul is, the more they can bring out the Yata Mirror’s greatest power, and the greater the risk of backlash. Your soul has a lot of potential in this regard. If your Four Pillars of Destiny also matched, you might even be able to refine a yin-yang dual soul.”
The car was bumping violently and the noise was loud. Yu Jingzhong didn’t quite understand and was about to ask when the car suddenly stopped, sending everyone lurching forward and things scattering all over the floor.
Zhou Hui sat up. “What’s wrong, Old Wu?”
The SUV had already left the forest. The open ground at the foot of the mountain was brightly lit, packed with a dense row of large vehicles. Soldiers in camouflage from the Self-Defense Forces surrounded the area in layers. At the very front, several rows of onmyoji in kariginu robes stood ready—they were disciples of the Esoteric School.
“There’s a roadblock, we have a flat tire.” Wu Bei pointed to the white smoke slowly rising from the front of the car. “There are caltrops on the ground.”
An SDF officer stood in front of the headlights of a large vehicle, holding a loudspeaker and shouting in Japanese, “Everyone out of the car! Get out of the car immediately for inspection! Or we will open fire!”
Everyone face-palmed in unison.
It was supposed to be a simple grab-and-go mission, but now they had burned down their Buddha statue, destroyed their shrine, and alerted their military to come and surround them… Zhou Hui’s frustration was beyond words. He could only give Wu Bei a look, and they opened their car doors and got out at the same time.
Everyone else followed. On the open ground, the SDF soldiers immediately raised their guns and cautiously approached them step by step.
“Later, you and Group Two handle these SDF guys. Feng Si and I will deal with the Esoteric School,” Zhou Hui said quietly to Wu Bei. “Deputy Yu needs to protect little brother Yan, be careful not to expose him…”
Wu Bei nodded almost imperceptibly.
The first few SDF soldiers approached, pointing their guns at each person. In front of Zhou Hui and Wu Bei, who looked the most combat-ready, there were two gunmen each, one on the left and one on the right, pointing at their heads, while several others came up to search them.
Zhou Hui nodded at Wu Bei.
Wu Bei’s sharp eyebrows narrowed. Just as he was about to make a move, a sudden—BOOM!—came from behind.
It was so sudden that the ground shook violently. Everyone staggered and fell. One of the SDF soldier’s guns even went off, and with a bang, everyone ducked and covered their heads.
Zhou Hui looked back and exclaimed, “What the hell?!”
Behind them, in the mountain forest, a huge black shadow rose up, letting out a long howl amidst countless broken branches and a foul wind. The blast of air instantly billowed everyone’s clothes backward.
It was the magic dragon!
—The magic dragon’s entire head had been melted by the Buddha Ash, revealing its hideous skeleton. All its fangs were exposed, and its front claws were raised high. With one swipe, it caused half a hill to collapse with a roar.
The SDF soldiers were completely dumbfounded. They all shouted and retreated, many of them falling again in the tremors after running just a few steps. Several officers roared and charged forward, firing at the magic dragon, but the bullets were like pebbles. The magic dragon swiped again, and the earth cracked open, forming a dense web of fissures.
Chu He caught a ricocheting bullet that had just whizzed past him when the gun went off. “Zhou Hui!”
Zhou Hui said indignantly, “I knew it! I knew I couldn’t avoid this slacker today! Damn it, this stupid Esoteric School…”
Chu He shouted, “No! I mean Maha—!”
A fierce wind came from behind. Zhou Hui immediately ducked. In a flash, the peacock shot past. Half a second later and it would have run its dad clean through.
The peacock turned, folded its wings, and transformed into Maha as it landed, casually tossing a blood-soaked person onto the ground.
It was Aida Yoshihide, lying motionless on the ground, unclear if he was dead or alive.
The reason Aida Yoshihide was here was probably because Maha still remembered the tribute he had been promised and the Esoteric School as a big cafeteria. He had actually turned back midway to the shrine and dug him out of the ruins—from this perspective, he was quite responsible.
The corner of Zhou Hui’s mouth twitched. After a moment, he tightened his grip on his saber and turned around. “Long time no see, son. Hope you’ve been well? Dad really missed you. I hear the scenery in the Sea of Blood is nice lately. Dad will send you back to play in the mud right now…”
Maha said lazily, “I think it’s better to turn you directly into part of the scenery of the Sea of Blood. What do you think, ‘Dad’?”
Father and son stared at each other from a distance, the atmosphere instantly tense.
At that moment, there were several more loud booms from the nearby forest. Trees were uprooted one after another, and the magic dragon’s body broke into several pieces upon impact!
It turned out that when the magic dragon was fighting the Peacock King, its body had already been covered in wounds from the peacock’s golden flames, held together only by its powerful demonic breath. After being hit in the head by the Buddha Ash, the surging power of the living Buddha’s golden body, a natural enemy of demonic breath, almost immediately burned off its scales and emptied its demonic breath. After crashing through the forest, it finally could no longer support its heavy body.
The SDF soldiers thought their attacks had been effective and immediately swarmed forward, firing their guns.
However, dragon- and snake-like creatures are like centipedes that don’t die even when cut. The severed dragon head immediately opened its mouth and spewed a large cloud of toxic breath, instantly melting the few SDF soldiers at the front!
The horrifying scene made everyone scream. The situation was extremely chaotic. Yu Jingzhong threw Yan Lanyu on his back and retreated, shouting, “Wu Bei!”
“Deputy Yu!” Wu Bei squeezed through the crowd with his men.
“Let Zhou Hui deal with his son! Everyone get in the car, we’re leaving first!”
Wu Bei nodded and turned to see two Esoteric School disciples charging at them with talismans. He grabbed the burning talismans with both hands, crumpled them into paper balls in his palms, and tossed them aside before kicking the disciples several meters away.
“Hmph,” the soul poet Wu Bei gracefully retracted his foot, opened the car door, leaped in, and quickly started the SUV.
Yu Jingzhong gestured to Chu He across the crowd, then turned and ran for the SUV.
There weren’t many people in front of him at this point; he was only a few meters from the car door. Just as he was about to reach it, he suddenly felt a movement on his back, followed by a sharp gust of wind at the back of his neck.
Yu Jingzhong instinctively turned. At that moment, an unexpected sharp pain hit him, instantly making his vision go black!
“Yan…”
Deputy Yu sank to his knees in a daze, forcing his eyes open through the pain. He saw that Yan Lanyu had slid to the ground and, after staggering half a step, stood firm.
“Yan… Yan Lanyu!” Yu Jingzhong realized something, and a changed, hoarse roar rang out. “Don’t go over there! Come to me!”
Yan Lanyu just watched him quietly. The swirling air currents lifted his hair, and the burning flames reflected in his eyes with a terrifying brightness.
“Don’t go! —Wu Bei! Wu Bei! Someone!”
Wu Bei rushed out of the car. Yu Jingzhong clutched the back of his neck and staggered to his feet.
But Yan Lanyu suddenly smiled, reached into his pants pocket, pulled out something shiny, and dangled it at him, his smile tinged with sadness.
Yu Jingzhong’s pupils instantly constricted.
—It was the lighter he had dropped in the car in his haste to flee after his confession!
“Yan, Yan Lanyu…” Yu Jingzhong trembled slightly and stepped forward. “Come back…”
Yan Lanyu brought the lighter to his lips and pressed a kiss on it, then decisively turned and charged toward the magic dragon!
Wu Bei was just a hair’s breadth from grabbing him, but in that split second, he was knocked back by a flying SDF soldier and staggered several steps. In that brief interruption, Yan Lanyu had already run dozens of meters, his figure flashing in the night.
Wu Bei said, stunned, “What is he trying to do, commit suicide?!”
“No… no,” Deputy Yu gasped heavily. “He wants to end all of this. He has a way to take those people down with him…”
Yu Jingzhong pressed hard on the back of his neck, swallowing a mouthful of hot, metallic saliva mixed with blood.
The next second, he suddenly strode to the car, slammed the door shut, stomped on the gas, and cranked the steering wheel. The SUV roared through the crowd, made a sharp turn, and sped like lightning in Yan Lanyu’s direction.
