Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

The thought had barely crossed his mind when two assassins who had broken through Bai Lu's defenses pounced on Shen Xun.

Their eyes were completely blackened, their broken bones bent at bizarre angles, yet they completely disregarded their physical limits, frantically spreading their ten fingers, their fingertips covered in frozen scabs, and lunging straight at Shen Xun's throat and chest.

The eerie, malevolent energy clinging to them seemed to be drawn by invisible threads, its sole purpose now being to tear apart the person who could suppress evil spirits and threaten the source of the malevolent energy.

Just as the killer's fingertips were about to touch Shen Xun's clothes, the surging, dark shadows suddenly moved.

Two sharp shadow whips suddenly exploded, lashing the two assassins hard in the chest. The two were sent flying sideways like they had been hit by battering rams, crashing heavily into the rock wall.

But less than half a second after landing, they dragged their mangled bodies back toward Shen Xun, their madness undiminished.

This was the death order that was nailed into the shadow body along with the blood pact when Shen Xun uttered "Xie Bi'an, fight!"

From the moment the girl's figure disappeared into the wind and snow, and her true form unfolded, every movement she made was solely to protect Shen Xun.

The Shadow Body, centered on Shen Xun, spreads out a defensive barrier several meters in diameter. Whenever an assassin breaks through the outer defenses, the sharp Shadow Whip will immediately lash out, keeping the enemy three meters away.

However, the outer defenses are on the verge of collapse.

At the front of the car, Old Gu was desperately holding up his shield, blocking the repeated attacks of the three crazed assassins.

The riot shield, which had already been repaired once, was already overwhelmed. Under the killers' relentless and continuous ramming, there was a loud "clang" as the shield shattered completely in the middle, scattering countless fragments everywhere.

Old Gu was thrown back a few steps by the force, leaving him with only a handle in his hand.

Without the shields to block them, the assassins swarmed into the front of the car and the passageway inside the ramp. To everyone's astonishment, they ignored Lao Gu, who was right in front of them, and didn't even block the shovel Ye Zhuo swung at them. Their tiny pupils were fixed on Shen Xun, and they rushed towards him like madmen.

Not only them, but all the assassins in the room were like puppets given orders, completely abandoning their attacks on others. Even when hit by shovels or cut by deer bone knives, they did not pause for a moment, always keeping their eyes fixed on Shen Xun.

"Their target is Shen Xun! Stop them with everything in your power!"

Ye Zhuo shouted sharply, his heart clenching into his throat.

She suddenly turned around and leaped into the air, the long-handled shovel in her hand carrying all her strength as she slashed down at the head of the assassin charging at the front.

The situation had become extremely urgent. She could no longer care about holding back or the bottom line of not harming lives; she only wanted to destroy this crazed puppet with one blow.

Just as the shovel was about to strike the assassin's head, a ring of multicolored, malevolent energy suddenly exploded from the assassin's body. The shovel seemed to have slammed into a block of iron, and a tremendous force of recoil surged through the wooden handle, causing Ye Zhuo's tiger's mouth to split open instantly, blood gushing out. He was thrown back, staggering, and the shovel almost flew out of his hand.

"Something's wrong! Hitting their head will cause a backlash from their evil energy! We'll have to disarm them!"

Ye Zhuo gritted his teeth and roared, immediately changing his slash to a sweep. He swung the shovel horizontally at the assassin's knee. This time there was no recoil, and with a crisp crack, the assassin's leg bone broke.

But the other person still dragged his broken leg and crawled forward like a madman, with only Shen Xun in his eyes.

Old Gu's shield was already shattered. He shouted urgently to Ye Zhuo beside him, "Ye Zhuo, give me the entrenching tool!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already swiftly pulled the entrenching tool from Ye Zhuo's waist, gripped it tightly in his hand, and turned to slash at the back of an assassin who had already circled around to the side to ambush Shen Xun.

Just as the shovel blade was about to touch the assassin's back, the multicolored evil energy within the assassin's body suddenly exploded. The shovel felt like it had struck a solid steel plate, and the huge shock made the entire arm go numb. The shovel crashed to the ground with a "clang".

"Damn it, this weird thing!" Old Gu cursed through gritted teeth, immediately picked up his entrenching tool, and slapped it at the assassin's arm. There was another crisp "crack" sound, but the assassin still pounced straight at Shen Xun without stopping.

"Stop them! Shen Xun can't be disturbed now!"

Ao Luya shouted sharply, shaking the shamanic copper bell in her hand more and more rapidly. The clear and melodious sound of the bell spread out in circles with the power to exorcise evil spirits.

She stopped performing the shamanic dance, drew her deer bone knife, and charged forward, ringing a bell in one hand and slashing with the other, the blade striking the assassin's joints with no mercy.

Wherever the bell rang, the assassin's multicolored malevolent aura weakened slightly, and his charging movements slowed a bit, but his evil intent to rush towards Shen Xun did not diminish in the slightest.

On the other side, the white deer kept charging at the two crazed assassins from behind, its antlers knocking them down time and time again, but the two assassins always quickly got up.

Lin Jian silently counted down in the car, pressing the shutter every time the time was up. The blinding flash of the camera exploded repeatedly in the wind and snow, giving Ye Zhuo and Ao Luya the chance to stop them. She used her only method to build a line of defense for Shen Xun.

But there were just too many assassins. Even though everyone tried their best to break their limbs, and even though Bai Wuchang's shadow whip repeatedly lashed away the approaching assassins, these madmen still refused to give up. Dragging their broken bodies, they crawled madly towards Shen Xun in the snow.

Even more terrifying, the multicolored halos around their bodies grew brighter and brighter, and the pitch blackness in their eyes almost glowed.

The obsession amplified by the malevolent energy turned them into mindless zombies who only stared at Shen Xun, oblivious to their own physical breakdown.

The pressure on the outer defense line was increasing. Ye Zhuo's arm was sore and numb, and blood dripped from the tiger's mouth down the wooden handle of the shovel. Every swing exhausted his remaining strength. Old Gu's arm was so badly jolted back that he could barely lift it. The blisters on his palms burst, and blood stained the handle of his entrenching tool, making it slippery and hard to hold. Ao Luya's breathing was also getting heavier and heavier. Her wrist, which was ringing the bell, was aching uncontrollably, and the speed of her slashing with the deer bone knife was getting slower and slower.

The shadow body that had been protecting Shen Xun was gradually becoming thinner due to continuous depletion.

Every time Bai Wuchang swung his shadow whip and tore apart the evil energy, he had to consume his own shadow power. The originally dense black shadow began to become transparent at the edges, and the speed of interception also slowed down.

Two assassins, using their companion's body as cover, broke through the Shadow Whip's blockade and rushed straight at Shen Xun's face.

It was this moment that made Shen Xun make up his mind completely.

This once again overdraws upon the source, triggering the cycle of reincarnation.

put all one's eggs in one basket.

If it fails, there will be no turning back.

He saw everything: Ye Zhuo's cracked tiger's mouth, Lao Gu's trembling arm, Ao Luya's increasingly urgent bell ringing, the bloodstains on the white deer's fur, and the increasingly faint shadow of Bai Wuchang.

He sensed more clearly that the malevolent energy that triggered the backlash contained a strange power that was of the same origin as but contrary to the Samsara Mark. These assassins were nothing but puppets; their real target had always been him, the Samsara Mark on his body.

The excruciating pain in his fingertips was still lingering. The massive depletion from the previous two attempts to activate his spiritual blood had already damaged his very essence. Ordinary spells were simply no match for this eerie aura. Only by activating the primal power of the Samsara Mark could he break the deadlock completely.

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Xun quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out the few remaining packets of hawthorn preserves, bit open the packaging with his teeth, and poured all the preserves into his mouth. Without even chewing them properly, he quickly swallowed them after a few bites.

The sweet and sour taste had just melted on the tip of his tongue, and the warm, nourishing essence of his spiritual blood slid down his throat into his meridians. But what Shen Xun wanted to activate was the source of reincarnation that was enough to sweep across the entire area.

He closed his eyes, grasping at the meager recovery, and focused his mind entirely on the mark on his left chest, forcibly drawing upon the power deep within his bloodline.

The next instant, crimson blood with a golden sheen suddenly overflowed from his nose and mouth, freezing into several bloody streaks on his face along his chin.

"Shen Xun!" The thin black shadows in the sky instantly converged, and the figure of the White Impermanence girl solidified for a moment beside him. Her soft face instantly lost its color. The spiritual blood depletion from the blood pact, which was almost exhausting her own source, caused her semi-transparent figure to tremble violently.

She knew what Shen Xun was going to do. It was a desperate gamble. If he succeeded, he could suppress all the evil spirits in the area; if he failed, he would never be able to recover his depleted essence, and even the foundation of his reincarnation would be damaged, leaving him with no way back.

But her intervention came too late.

Shen Xun slowly raised the hand holding the peach wood staff, aligning the snake head at the top of the staff with his left chest. The gilded patterns spread wildly along the staff, and the hourglass mark exploded with the first dazzling golden light piercing through the wind and snow.

Meanwhile, the two assassins entangled by the white deer on the slope brazenly pierced their own abdomens with broken bones. Using the mad power of their surging evil aura, they forcefully shook off the white deer and roared as they pounced on Shen Xun, who was casting a spell. Their blood-stained fingertips were less than two meters away from his chest.

The wind and snow suddenly stopped, golden light was about to burst forth, life and death were only a moment apart.