Just now, in that brief moment, he didn’t even dare meet Li Yanchu’s eyes directly. Having spent years traversing ancient tombs, he had long been tainted by a considerable amount of murderous and yin qi, so much so that he was nearly considered a kind of heretical demon himself. If that were the case, he might’ve gone blind on the spot, just like those eyeballs hidden within the walls. The moment Li Yanchu had revealed that technique, it immediately drew the attention of the demon-slaying team within the tomb. A peculiar gleam flashed through Daoist Master Yuanyi’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but nod slightly to signify that he highly approved of Li Yanchu! If this man were a disciple of Yongxing Temple, he would undoubtedly pass his teachings down to him. In the future, whether in spell duels or demon extermination, he’d be an incredible asset! Li Yanchu was calm, composed, bold, and ever-improving; just that temperament alone was extremely rare. Meanwhile, Granny Chang’s lips curled into a faint smile. When she caught sight of Old Ghost Wu, his face even paler than before, she found it all rather amusing. “Oh?” she said with mock surprise. “Old Ghost Wu, your cultivation must’ve advanced again. Your face is practically a perfect shade of ghostly white[1]!” The cultivation technique practiced by Old Ghost Wu’s lineage focused on corpse rearing, meaning the paler one’s face, the deeper their cultivation. But at this moment, Old Ghost Wu’s unsightly expression had nothing to do with his cultivation. It was purely because, right after he’d just reprimanded Li Yanchu, the man had turned around and stared those evil spirits to death! Before long, the group arrived at the end of the passageway, where a tightly shut giant door awaited them. Carved onto the door were grotesque images of malevolent ghosts and three celestial maidens among them. The carvings of the three celestial maidens were vividly lifelike, and their curvaceous and graceful figures were clad in ethereal garments. To Li Yanchu, they bore some resemblance to the flying apsaras of Dunhuang[2]. However, they were surrounded by terrifying demons, each with a unique and ghastly form. They were so disturbing that just one glance at them could make one’s heart skip a beat. The craftsmanship of the carvings was simply too realistic. The twisted, sinister aura they exuded seeped through the ancient bronze, unsettling all who beheld it. Everyone examined the tomb gate closely and was astonished to discover that it was made entirely of bronze. A monk from a Buddhist sect reached out and gave the bronze tomb door a push, but it didn’t budge in the slightest. “I’ll do it!” Yan Chixiao, whose towering figure resembled an iron tower, stepped forward. His aura was even more fierce and intimidating than the typical rough-and-tumble mercenaries of the jianghu. From a distance, he looked like a standing savage bear. His muscles and bones had undergone special training, rendering his body impervious to sabers and spears. The brute strength he possessed was even more astonishing. If a man like him were on the battlefield, he’d be the kind of peerless warrior capable of breaking through city gates by sheer force alone. He was basically a human siege weapon. He pressed both palms against the bronze tomb gate, sunk his qi into his dantian, and let out a low, focused shout. The veins on his arms bulged like writhing serpents, and his muscles swelled with terrifying force. His arms were thicker than an average man’s thighs. But even with such overwhelming brute strength pressing against the door, this bronze gate didn’t budge in the slightest! Yan Chixiao lowered his stance and rooted himself like a horse, and the stone tiles beneath his feet cracked at once. He let out a fierce roar and shoved forward with explosive might. He was straining so hard that white mist burst from his nose and mouth. Yet, it was useless. The bronze door remained utterly unmoved. Worse still, the grotesque demon carvings on the gate suddenly reached out their arms and clamped down on Yan Chixiao’s own! Startled, Yan Chixiao’s eyes widened. Just moments ago, he had been entirely focused on pushing the door, and he hadn’t expected that these demon sculptures would suddenly come to life! He immediately tried to retreat, but the demon figures on the gate seemed intent on pinning him there. Once they seized his arms, they refused to let go, and the two sides locked in a fierce struggle. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI★Fire.net Daoist Master Yuanyi’s sword came crashing down, and the strike carried the faint roar of wind and thunder. Sensing a tremendous threat, the demon’s arms instantly released their grip and reverted back to lifeless stone sculptures. Yan Chixiao suddenly felt a weight lifted off him. He stumbled backward several steps in quick succession, each step leaving deep imprints in the ground. Only those who had experienced the strength of those bronze demon carvings firsthand could truly understand that bone-deep fear. At this moment, the demon-slaying warrior, brandishing his thick-backed, narrow-edged saber, was consumed by fury.Without hesitation, he drew the ghost-headed saber from his back. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he slashed down at the demon statue with brutal, unrelenting force. He was about to shatter this damned bronze gate with a single slash! “Hold on!” Wang Yunting cried out in alarm. Just moments ago, he had carefully examined the strange bronze gate and had formed a rough idea in his mind. Now, seeing Yan Chixiao draw his saber and strike at the gate, he couldn’t help but shout out in panic. If his guess was correct, this tomb gate wasn’t solid. It was hollow inside! And within it likely contained either a highly toxic mixture of lead and mercury, or a violently corrosive acid like nitric acid. The former was an extremely deadly poison. If released, it would create dense, noxious fumes, posing a serious threat to everyone present. The latter would instantly corrode human flesh, possibly even dissolving someone’s skin entirely in moments. It was fine to hack off the bronze demons’ arms, but Yan Chixiao, consumed by fury, was now delivering a blow with terrifying speed! His heavy ghost-headed saber was forged from black iron. Not only was it incredibly sharp, it had claimed the lives of 953 people, and it radiated a powerful aura of killing intent. Together with Li Yanchu’s Jiaoslayer, it was considered a saber of karmic retribution, and a weapon that could serve as a spiritual anchor in its own right. Before Wang Yunting could finish his warning, Yan Chixiao’s saber was already coming down on the bronze gate. A sudden, deafening crash rang out before sparks flew in all directions. The ear-piercing noise was so sharp it caused everyone present to wince and their eardrums to ache. The one who intervened wasn’t Daoist Master Yuanyi. Though his sword was devastatingly effective against yin spirits and demonic entities, it wouldn’t necessarily be able to stop someone like Yan Chixiao. After all, brute strength like Yan Chixiao’s required more than spiritual power to restrain. This was simply a difference in profession. The person who stepped in and blocked Yan Chixiao’s attack was none other than Li Yanchu. This young Daoist who neither wielded a sword nor a horsetail whisk, but instead wore an ancient, unadorned long saber at his waist. With just one slash, he forced Yan Chixiao to retreat. Unlike Li Yanchu, Yan Chixiao was actually somewhat well-known in the cultivation circles of Beifeng Prefecture. His profession as an exorcist was an ancient one. It blended body-hardening training and hard qigong with brutal combat and was centered around wielding a weapon steeped in killing intent. They were unlike martial artists of the jianghu, who refined elegant techniques. Instead, exorcists pursued pure physical strength and cultivated the Ghostslayer Saber Art, a style that was savage and overwhelming. All exorcists throughout history bore the surname Yan, and this ancient family’s bloodline contained a unique, inherent power. Members of the Yan family were almost without exception towering men of immense strength. That kind of raw, violent force made others extremely wary. Even someone as highly cultivated as Daoist Master Yuanyi wouldn’t have been confident in blocking Yan Chixiao’s ghost-headed saber just now. And yet, this exorcist from the Yan family, known for his brute strength and ferocious saber techniques, had just been forced back by a single slash from a young Daoist in full view of everyone. It was simply unbelievable! Even Yan Chixiao himself, who had witnessed Li Yanchu single-handedly take on an entire host of ghost soldiers with one saber, was still utterly stunned. His arms tingled faintly; clearly, the force behind Li Yanchu’s attack just now was no less than his own. In fact, it might have even been slightly stronger. Wang Yunting finally breathed a sigh of relief. If Yan Chixiao had managed to break through the tomb gate just now, the consequences would have been disastrous. 1. The RAW actually uses ‘脸色铁青’ (literally ‘steel-green’) instead of pale/white. In Chinese culture, 脸色铁青 is used to describe someone whose face has taken on a dark, livid color due to extreme anger, rage, or suppressed fury. It paints a picture of someone so furious that the blood seems to have drained from their face, or conversely, surged in a way that gives them a strange, unnatural hue. While there is ‘green with envy’ in English when it comes to green expressions, it doesn’t quite fit the context here considering that no envy is involved here. I have chosen to use pale/white instead as the equivalent color/expression in English. ☜ 2. During the early spread of Buddhism in China (around the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties) the celestial figures depicted in murals were sometimes referred to as feitian or feixian, with little distinction between the two. As Buddhism took deeper root in China, the artistic representations of Buddhist feitian and Daoist feixian gradually blended together. The term Dunhuang flying apsaras refers specifically to the divine figures painted in the murals of the Dunhuang caves, and over time, it became a distinctive term used within the context of Dunhuang mural art. Apsaras is a Sanskrit term originally referring to heavenly maidens or celestial dancers in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. ☜