FATE: Target of Grand Master

Shortly after Xia Yan and his followers left the trial, a caravan transporting timber was heading towards Edo Castle in the forest outside Edo.

Suddenly, the captain of the guards at the front raised his hand, signaling the team to stop.

"What's going on? Can we take a break now?" asked one of the timber workers.

Another, noticeably older worker replied, "What are you thinking? We just finished our rest not long ago, how could we possibly rest again?"

"Then why did it stop?"

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?"

Just as whispers began to circulate within the ranks, the surrounding samurai guards shouted, "Quiet!"

The group immediately regained its composure.

At this moment, about ten meters ahead of the group, a corpse lay horizontally, and five crows were pecking at it, making the scene look extremely bloody and eerie.

Given the recent blood moon phenomenon, the captain of the guard is now extremely cautious about any strange occurrences.

"Go check ahead. Be careful."

The captain of the guards ordered one of his men to go and examine the body.

The guards, following orders, slowly approached the corpse. However, the crows were not frightened away by the guards' presence and continued to peck at the flesh and blood on the corpse, staining their beaks and feathers with large patches of crimson.

"Go! Go! Go."

The guard drew his samurai sword, threatening to strike, which drove the flock of crows back into the sky.

Looking down, the corpse was that of a rather attractive woman, but unfortunately, her intestines and stomach had been pecked open by crows, leaving her in a mess.

The person is dead, and his body is left to be eaten by crows in the suburbs. This perfectly illustrates the phrase "to die a horrible death".

The guard sighed, a pang of pity rising in his heart.

After indicating that there was nothing amiss behind him, the guard sheathed his knife, grabbed the corpse's arm, and prepared to drag her to the roadside.

Just then, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes and bit the guard's arm.

"what!"

The guard immediately let out a scream.

Upon seeing this, the captain of the guards and several guards immediately drew their swords to prepare for the rescue, but at that moment the crows circling in the sky swooped down and attacked the guards frantically.

Not only that, a large flock of crows flew out of the forest and attacked the entire group.

Despite the guards' best efforts to kill the crows, they were like locusts, impossible to eradicate completely.

Meanwhile, the guard who was attacked by the corpse quickly lost his life.

"Forget about the timber, everyone escape towards Edo Castle!"

The captain of the guard made a decisive decision, but the unarmed laborers had already been pecked to the ground and scattered by the crows.

"Hurry up!"

Ignoring the laborers, the captain of the guard led the remaining guards and charged forward desperately.

Just as the group passed by the guard being bitten by the female corpse, the female corpse and the guard suddenly sprang out, each pouncing on one of them and then biting him.

Upon seeing this, the captain of the guard swung his knife at the female corpse, but the corpse grabbed his arm instead.

The captain of the guard couldn't understand why the female corpse had such strength that he couldn't move. But the next second, he didn't need to think anymore, because the female corpse had already bitten his throat.

Thus, under the siege of crows and zombies, the entire transport team was wiped out, with no survivors.

Once they confirmed that there were no living people around, the zombies, as if given a command, gathered together and were pecked at by countless crows in the sky as food.

The air was filled with the sounds of flesh being torn apart, which went on for a long time, as if the crows were never full.

The pecking process ultimately ended with everyone's flesh and blood being completely devoured.

Just then, a tall, handsome but extremely wicked Onmyoji slowly emerged from the forest. It was Ashiya Doman, who had been defeated by Xia Yan and the others earlier.

Ashiya Dōman used his paper shikigami to draw a pentagram in the air, and the surrounding crows immediately flew into the magic circle one after another.

In fact, those crows were also Ashiya Dōman's shikigami. Everything that just happened here was a trap set by Ashiya Dōman to absorb the magic power of these humans.

"Hmm~"

Ashiya Dōman was fairly satisfied with his gains this time, but when he thought of Xia Yan and the others who forced him to use his backup stand-in, Ashiya Dōman immediately revealed a sinister expression.

Exhaling a breath, Ashiya Dōman calmed himself down and was about to leave when he heard a haughty female voice.

"Oh my god, isn't this Ashiya Dōman-san? How did he end up resorting to killing ordinary people to gain magical power?"

Ashiya Doman's eyes sharpened instantly, because he recognized the newcomer's identity—Dissolve Lilith.

Lilith walked toward Ashiya Doman with a mocking expression, her sharp feet making a "thud" sound on the stone-paved path.

Ashiya Dōman sensed the threat and unhesitatingly released a large number of vengeful spirits to attack Lilith.

Upon seeing this, Lilith immediately spun around on the spot, making a ballet-like movement.

The spinning speed was so fast that it directly shredded the attacking vengeful spirits.

After eliminating all the vengeful spirits, Lilith stood still and said in a mocking tone, "The Onmyoji who claims to be Abe no Seimei's greatest enemy actually ambushed a young girl. How utterly ungentlemanly."

Ashiya Doman also sneered, "Your AI-generated defective product can only serve as an antivirus software at best, yet you dare to aspire to be human."

Lilith wasn't angry at all and continued, "Oh, that's right. I'm just acting as antivirus software, specifically to kill viruses like you that have infiltrated the trials."

"A little girl who's still wet behind the ears."

Ashiya Doman quickly formed hand seals and summoned a giant black raven, preparing to pounce on Lilith. However, the raven was killed by the cross-shaped sword beams kicked out by Lilith's feet as soon as it was summoned.

Subsequently, Ashiya Dōman summoned several more shikigami, all of which were easily dealt with by Lilith.

"You wretched little brat, if my best substitute hadn't been destroyed, how could I have lost to you!"

Seeing Ashiya Michiman's angry expression, Lilith laughed even harder.

"A coward who lost to Xia Yan and didn't dare to show his face again before Xia Yan left dares to boast that he can defeat me. That's the funniest joke I've ever heard."

Ashiya Dōman stopped arguing and instead drew a pentagram magic circle, preparing to escape.

Lilith dodged and kicked Ashiya Doman aside, interrupting his spellcasting.

Ashiya Dōman, clutching his chest, revealed his final act of defiance.

"Even if you kill this substitute of mine, I have many backups. You can't kill them all."

"You mean the 13 body doubles hidden on these islands and in the China region?"

Seeing Ashiya Michiman's surprised expression, Lilith stomped on his head with satisfaction.