The massive plaque above the temple gate had long since faded, and the characters eroded away, so much so that it was impossible to tell what had once been written there. Within the temple stood a towering tree, and its gnarled, twisted trunk evoked a deep sense of unease. It wasn’t until Li Yanchu approached that he realized that the things hanging from the branches weren’t prayer tags or wooden amulets. They were flayed and skinned desiccated corpses hung in terrifying density. Just a casual glance revealed three to four hundred of them, which was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. It wasn’t just the overpowering yin qi; the sheer horror of the scene was enough to send a chill down one's spine. The temple gates slammed shut on their own without the faintest breeze. Hearing this, Li Yanchu turned and glanced back at the sealed doors. After a moment of silence, he resumed his pace, walking deeper into the temple. Soon, he arrived at the main hall of the grand temple. At its center stood a familiar statue: Lady Qingyi. But unlike her usual serene and dignified image, this one bore a face of resentment and malice. Her expression was dark and twisted, and her eyes were filled with obsession and madness. As Li Yanchu stepped into the hall, he suddenly began to hear a strange sound. It was faint and unclear, and the more he tried to focus on it, the harder it became to discern. Only when he drew near the statue did the whispers grow clearer. “Save me... save me...” “Save me... save me...” Li Yanchu’s gaze darkened as he stared at the statue. Suddenly, the incense burner before the altar flared to life. Three sticks of incense lit themselves. A sickening stench burst forth, like the putrid reek of waterlogged, rotting corpses. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novęlfire.net Immediately, a barrier of invisible energy appeared before Li Yanchu. It was his Qi Shield, imbued with demon-repelling and purification properties. With that, the foul miasma was blocked at once. Yet the haze grew, turning dark green-black and slowly spreading across the entire hall. The statue of Lady Qingyi became even more sinister, as two streams of blood tears trickled down its face. Plop, plop, plop. From outside, the peeled corpses hanging on the tree began to fall, like ripe fruit dropping from a tree. Each body that hit the ground instantly rolled over and stood upright, one after another. All of them turned their eyes toward the temple hall. Surrounded by this terrifying spectacle, Li Yanchu’s gaze grew sharp, and his fighting spirit blazed. “This is your turf, huh? Then I want to see exactly what you’re capable of.” He raised his saber toward the gloomy, blood-weeping statue of Lady Qingyi and sneered coldly, “Come!” The aura around the statue grew increasingly frigid, as blood began to gush from its base before seeping outward. Outside the temple, those desiccated corpses suddenly stirred as if receiving a command and surged into the hall like a relentless tide. A dense, writhing sea of the dead closed in from all directions! Li Yanchu’s mind moved. The divine talismanic armor reappeared, covering his entire body. That ancient, majestic Daoist relic now adorned him once again, and it made him look like a divine general from the Celestial Court. Pure yang qi erupted, surging fiercely around him. His qi and blood ignited, boiling over in a furious blaze. Li Yanchu placed his hand on the hilt of his saber and stayed as still as a mountain. Then, as the first wave of corpses lunged forward, he suddenly drew the Jiaoslayer! A brilliant arc of saber light swept out, thereafter the twisted corpses were cleaved cleanly in half and fell like stalks of wheat under the scythe. Instantly, the crowd thinned, but the next wave surged forth without hesitation. Meanwhile, thunder rumbled faintly around Li Yanchu’s body as he swung his saber down with a mighty roar, and the burning inner force of the triple-enhanced Jiaoslayer formed a massive spectral saber, which was more than ten zhang long. The blow tore open the earth in front of the temple. Wherever the saber light passed, the corpses were reduced to ash and utterly annihilated. With the talismanic armor and the triple-enhanced saber, Li Yanchu’s strength had reached a terrifying new realm. Against such sheer might, these cursed undead linked to the temple’s evil aura and granted unholy regeneration stood no chance. Their greatest weapon, their ability to rise again and again after being slain, was completely suppressed by the Jiaoslayer. Wherever the saber’s energy swept past, the desiccated corpses were instantly incinerated by the searing internal force and reduced to nothing but ash. This temple had originally been a deadly trap, designed for nearly certain death. Those grotesque corpses capable of countless rebirths were enough to grind any cultivator’s will into dust. The only sliver of hope actually lay within that massive incense burner. Just like that time in the tomb, when the yin-yang master lit the Wicked Incense and summoned the passage of yin soldiers, the three sticks of incense in this burner were also the key to breaking the formation! But Li Yanchu didn’t rely on that. Instead, he cut down hundreds of undead head-on through overwhelming power alone. In just three or four breaths’ time, he had already seen through their strange tricks and turned this death trap into a massacre. The dried corpses shattered by Divine Astral Hand could regenerate in the blink of an eye and reform their bodies again and again, giving off a sense of eternal, relentless persistence. But those slain by the Jiaoslayer were reduced to ash with no chance of reformation. “As expected of a triple-enhanced divine artifact!” Li Yanchu was overjoyed. The Jiaoslayer could directly counter this strange power of death-and-rebirth. This reminded him of the strange villagers in Longmen Village, who could also resurrect repeatedly until they eventually fused into a grotesque flesh-mountain corpse. “I wonder... can this saber sever such a twisted cycle?” Li Yanchu couldn’t help but consider it. The talismanic armor had dramatically boosted his martial strength, blocking most attacks and allowing him to strike with impunity. Just with these two divine relics, he had already swept clean all the fiendish corpses within Lady Qingyi Temple! Li Yanchu suddenly plunged the Jiaoslayer into the ground. A towering sea of fire erupted around him, engulfing the surrounding evil corpses in an instant. No matter how horrifying the creatures were, they were all utterly annihilated beneath his saber! In just moments, the entire temple was cleansed of unholy beings. They were scorched to ash and erased completely. “What a pity,” Li Yanchu murmured, “this is Lady Qingyi’s soul realm. Slaying evil spirits here doesn’t earn any merit.” He stepped directly before the idol of Lady Qingyi with the triple-enhanced saber, now shaped like a Tang Sword, in his hand. Then, a wild grin crept onto his face. “How much more blood do you plan to shed? We haven’t even started fighting, and you’re already self-harming?” Li Yanchu’s words crushed both his person and spirit[1], and he had gone full taunt mode. The main hall suddenly grew dense with yin qi. Not only did blood continue gushing from the statue of Lady Qingyi, but now the walls and floors of the entire temple began to ooze blood. In the blink of an eye, it threatened to become a vast sea of blood, ready to engulf Li Yanchu completely. At this time, his brow lifted slightly as he calmly pulled the Eight Trigrams Mirror from his robes and raised it high. A brilliant white light illuminated the great hall of the temple. In an instant, the sea of blood vanished without a trace. Only the dark and vicious-looking statue with blood tears flowing from its eyes remained. The statue suddenly lowered its head and glared at Li Yanchu, filled with seething malice. It seemed to have truly flown into a rage, and a great terror was about to descend! “By the Five-Lightning Spell, all who dare not meet my gaze are heretical devils, slay them!” As he spoke, a surge of lightning aura flashed through Li Yanchu’s eyes. Boom! Boom! Then, the eyes of the statue of Lady Qingyi blasted apart with a resounding crash. 1. The phrase 杀人诛心 literally means “kill the person and punish the heart.” It conveys the idea of inflicting harm not only on someone’s body but also on their mind, reputation, or inner resolve, essentially attacking both their physical being and their spirit. In this context, I chose to translate it as “crushed both his person and spirit” because it captures the dual effect of the action: the words inflicted emotional or psychological harm that was as devastating as a physical blow. In Chinese, 心 (xīn) literally means “heart,” but its meaning extends beyond the physical organ. It often refers to a person’s mind, emotions, or inner self, and encompasses the seat of thought, feeling, and moral consciousness. In literary or idiomatic contexts, 心 can encompass what English speakers might call the “spirit”, “soul”, or “psyche”, because it represents the core of a person’s inner life. So in 杀人诛心, translating 心 as “spirit” emphasizes that the harm is not just physical but affects the very essence of the person. ☜