I, the number one master of metaphysics, have achieved legendary status in the entertainment industr

In the abandoned textile factory area in the west of the city, the moonlight was obscured by thick clouds, with only a few broken streetlights emitting a dim yellow light.

Lu Fan stood alone in the open space in the center of the factory area, surrounded by mottled factory buildings and rusted machines.

The wind howled through the broken window.

He was dressed in a simple black tracksuit, a jade pendant peeking out from under his collar. In his hand he held a sword, its blade engraved with runes that gleamed faintly in the darkness.

"They're here." Lu Fan suddenly looked up.

Three figures appeared simultaneously from three directions, forming a triangle that surrounded him in the middle.

On the east side stood a middle-aged woman dressed in Miao ethnic clothing, with dark skin, adorned with various bone ornaments and silver bells around her neck, and holding a bamboo cane wrapped with red thread. She was Long Sangu, a member of the Xiangxi corpse-driving lineage.

On the west side stood a short, stout old man, wearing a gaudy cotton-padded jacket, his sparse hair tied into a small braid, carrying a worn-out leather suitcase. He was Huang Laoxian, a shaman from Northeast China.

To the north stood Qingsong. His face was even paler than before, his eyes sunken, clearly indicating that the backlash had not fully healed, but the venomous light in his eyes was even stronger than before.

What caught Lu Fan's attention most was that standing next to Qing Song was a person completely shrouded in a black robe, whose face was obscured and even gender was difficult to discern. Yet, the chilling and eerie aura emanating from this person caused the jade pendant on Lu Fan's chest to vibrate slightly.

"Lu Fan, I didn't expect you to actually dare to come alone." Qing Song sneered. "Should I call you brave, or foolish?"

"I'm more than enough to deal with you all by myself," Lu Fan replied calmly, his gaze sweeping over the other two. "Third Aunt Long, Old Immortal Huang, you're both influential figures in your respective territories. Why bother getting involved in this mess?"

Long Sangu chuckled, her voice hoarse and unpleasant: "Master Qingsong promised to give me three zombies that would remain intact for a hundred years. This is a good deal."

Old Immortal Huang rubbed his hands together, squinted, and smiled, "Little brat, I don't want to make things difficult for you. But Qingsong promised to help me find the lost 'Immortal Seal,' which is extremely important to my family. How about... you hand over the jade pendant, and we go our separate ways?"

Lu Fan shook his head: "I'm sorry, what my master gave me cannot be given to others."

"Then don't blame us for being impolite!" Qingsong shouted and took the lead in attacking.

He formed hand seals and chanted incantations. Three streams of black energy shot out from his sleeves, transforming into three ferocious snake shadows that lunged straight at Lu Fan's face.

Lu Fan neither dodged nor avoided; with a flick of his peach wood sword, golden light flashed.

"break!"

The three black snakes instantly disintegrated.

But at the same time, Aunt Long shook the bamboo cane in her hand. The bell rang eerily, the ground around them began to shake, and pale hands emerged from the earth—seven zombies dressed in Republican-era clothing!

"Rise!" Long Sangu shouted sternly.

Seven zombies leaped out of the ground simultaneously, their movements stiff yet swift, and pounced on Lu Fan.

Lu Fan formed a hand seal with his left hand and drew a talisman in the air with his right sword finger: "The profound origin of heaven and earth, the root of all qi—Golden Light Mantra, open!"

Golden light spread out from him, enveloping the zombie and slowing its movements, with hissing white smoke rising from its skin.

"You've got some skill!" Upon seeing this, Old Immortal Huang opened the leather suitcase, which was filled with the dried carcasses of weasels, hedgehogs, snakes, and other animals.

He bit his finger, dripped the blood onto the mummified corpse, and muttered, "Please welcome the Huang family patriarch, the Chang family patriarch, the Bai family aunt..."

The dried corpse in the suitcase suddenly came to life, transforming into a series of afterimages and merging into Huang Laoxian's body. His eyes turned into eerie vertical pupils, his fingers grew sharp claws, and his speed increased dramatically, transforming into a blur as he attacked Lu Fan.

Lu Fan blocked the claws with his sword, but was knocked back three steps.

"The shamanic invocation of the immortals is indeed well-deserved of its reputation." Lu Fan wiped away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Boy, it's not too late to hand over the jade pendant now!" Old Immortal Huang's voice became shrill and inhuman.

Lu Fan did not answer, but took a deep breath, planted the peach wood sword in the ground, and quickly formed hand seals.

"I didn't want to use this move..." he murmured, his eyes gleaming with golden light, "but my master said that we should not show mercy when dealing with evil spirits and heretics."

He bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the jade pendant on his chest.

The jade pendant suddenly burst out with dazzling golden light, and the crack completely disappeared. In its place appeared a lifelike golden dragon phantom that roamed across the surface of the jade pendant!

The roar of a dragon echoed through the night sky.

"This is... the aura of a true dragon?!" Qingsong's expression changed drastically. "Impossible! How could something so legendary exist?!"

However, the golden dragon phantom had already detached from the jade pendant, circled once in the air, and then merged into Lu Fan's body.

Lu Fan's aura rose steadily, and the golden light in his eyes almost solidified.

"First move: Dragon Soars Through the Nine Heavens."

His figure suddenly disappeared, and the next moment he appeared in front of Long Sangu, striking out with a palm.

Long Sangu hastily raised her bamboo staff to block, but the staff broke with a crack, and she was sent flying backward, crashing into a low wall.

"Second move, Dragon's Roar Across Mountains and Rivers."

Lu Fan turned around and let out a long howl in the direction of Huang Laoxian. The sound waves solidified and swept out like ocean waves.

The illusory figures of the immortals summoned by Huang Laoxian disintegrated in the sound waves, and he himself bled from his seven orifices and collapsed to the ground.

"The third move..." Lu Fan looked at Qing Song and the man in black robes, "Dragon Battle in the Wilds."

He clasped his hands together, then slowly pulled them apart. A longsword made entirely of golden light took shape in his hands.

Dragon patterns roamed along the sword's surface, exuding an imposing aura.

Startled, Qingsong retreated repeatedly, shouting to the man in black, "Senior! Please help!"

The man in black robes finally moved.

He/She slowly raised his/her hand and took off the hood.

What was revealed was a face so pale it was almost bloodless, appearing to be around thirty years old, with ordinary features, but those eyes—

It's completely black, with no whites in its eyes.

"The Yin Puppet Sect..." Lu Fan's pupils contracted. "Didn't you disappear a hundred years ago?"

"Extinct?" the black-robed man spoke, his voice neither male nor female, carrying a metallic quality. "They've simply gone into seclusion. Qingsong promised to give us a 'dragon energy vessel,' a condition worth my effort."

He/She pointed a finger at Lu Fan: "I want your body."

Before the words were finished, twelve black figures suddenly darted out from the shadows behind the man in black robes—twelve completely black puppets, each exuding an aura no weaker than that of Huang Laoxian summoning the immortal queen!

"The Twelve Yuan Chen Yin Puppet Formation," the black-robed man said calmly. "To die under this formation is your honor."

The twelve puppets moved simultaneously, following some mysterious trajectory, surrounding Lu Fan in the center. With each step they took, the oppressive feeling of the formation intensified.

Lu Fan felt the air around him become viscous, and his spiritual energy began to stagnate.

"Formation techniques, huh..." He gripped the golden sword tightly. "I can do that too."

He plunged the sword into the ground, quickly formed hand seals, and chanted:

"Heaven and earth, in their natural order, disperse all impurities—the Purifying Mantra for Heaven and Earth!"

"Traveling the Five Sacred Mountains, becoming known throughout the Eight Seas—binding away demons and evil!"

"The evil and filth vanish, the Dao's Qi endures—Break!"