One person: Orochi, starting with Feng Baobao's Eight Heroes.

“Interesting. These are not ordinary ghost soldiers. They are the product of someone forcibly combining obsession and Qi using special methods.”

After saying that, he formed a hand seal in front of his chest, and the blue Qi surged suddenly, transforming into a three-meter-high seawall phantom.

The Eight Banner soldiers who rushed in crashed into the sea wall, just like waves crashing against rocks, instantly breaking down into the most primordial Qi flow and dissipating into the air.

"this..."

Lü Ren's eyes widened.

"Did it directly dissolve the structure of Qi?"

Wugensheng offered no explanation, and looked up at the sky.

The forty-meter-long lightning blade was faintly visible in the clouds, and each strike caused the ground to tremble.

Even more terrifying is that tengu shikigami, which regenerates from the torii gate every time it is destroyed, and its size increases with each attack.

"Hold on, I'll go take care of the core issues."

Before Wugensheng could finish speaking, he had already shot towards the mountaintop like an arrow released from a bow.

"Watch out for the Heavenly Blade!"

Lu Ci shouted, but saw that Wu Gensheng did not dodge or avoid it at all, letting the lightning strike his head.

In the blinding flash of lightning, Wugensheng's figure only paused for a moment before continuing to rush forward.

Even more astonishingly, the heavenly blade that struck him shattered into countless bolts of lightning that scattered and fled.

Chapter 266 Core

At the torii gate atop the mountain, the tengu crow let out a piercing shriek and brought down its six-meter-long katana with the force of wind and thunder.

Without dodging or avoiding, Wugensheng formed his right hand into a claw and grabbed directly at the blade.

"Crack!"

He crushed the steel katana with his bare hands.

Before the crow-like dog could retreat, Wugensheng had already leaped up and slapped it in the chest.

The shikigami let out a shrill scream and vanished into black smoke.

But in less than three breaths, the talisman on the torii gate moved on its own without any wind, and the black smoke condensed and took shape again.

This reborn tengu is eight meters tall and has grown a second pair of wings on its back.

"It's endless, right?"

Wugensheng sneered and flashed towards the torii gate.

The tengu hurriedly tried to intercept, but he dodged to the side and then kicked the entire torii gate in half with a whip kick.

Amidst the flying sawdust, Wugensheng's gaze locked onto the stone statue inside the shrine.

It was a statue of a hideous demon with a yellowed talisman pasted on its forehead.

"Got you."

He reached out to peel off the talisman, but then heard a whooshing sound behind him.

The reborn Tengu flapped its four wings and slashed down with all eight katana at the same time.

Without turning his head, Wugensheng waved his left hand behind him, and the blue Qi flow transformed into a barrier to block the attack. With his right hand, he steadily peeled off the talisman.

"Do not--"

The tengu let out a final scream before its body collapsed.

Wugensheng crushed the talisman and turned to walk towards the Japanese sword stuck in the center of the mountaintop.

It was a strangely shaped, curved longsword, its blade covered with blood-red runes, and it was the core of the entire Qi formation.

He took out a yellowed talisman from his pocket and stuck it to his palm.

"Unloading Warriors, heed my command!"

The talisman spontaneously combusted without fire, transforming into golden light that enveloped his right hand.

Wugensheng gripped the hilt of the knife and exerted force—

"rise!"

The entire mountain trembled.

The Japanese sword was forcibly pulled from the ground. The moment the blade left the ground, the lightning-filled sky sword swirling in the sky made a loud bang and then vanished into thin air.

Down on the battlefield, everyone felt a sense of lightness.

"The Heavenly Blade has disappeared!"

Lu Ci exclaimed in surprise.

Lu Ren looked up at the mountaintop and saw Wu Gensheng standing there, holding a Japanese sword. The sunlight gilded him, making him look like a god of war.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain, three altars were arranged in a triangular pattern on the open ground.

Jin Zhenhai had white hair and beard, and he walked with the Seven Star Step, leaving a glowing footprint on the ground with each step.

His apprentice, Jin Shanzhao, followed closely behind, the two walking in perfect unison.

"Heavenly Righteousness, protect my true form!"

Jin Zhenhai let out a loud shout, and the master and apprentice stomped their feet at the same time.

The glowing footprints suddenly lit up, forming a semi-transparent barrier of qi that repelled all the approaching Eight Banner soldiers.

"Master Zhang, we're all set here!"

Jinshan wiped his sweat and shouted.

On the central altar, Zhang Shoucheng, dressed in an apricot-yellow Taoist robe and holding a peach wood sword, had a two-meter-long sheet of yellow paper laid out in front of him.

Eight Taoist priests stood behind him, each holding a ritual implement.

"True Martial Emperor, subdue demons and vanquish evil! So be it!"

Zhang Shoucheng dipped his peachwood sword in cinnabar and wrote imperial edicts on yellow paper with a flourish.

Strangely, he suddenly frowned halfway through writing, and his pen paused.

"Senior brother?"

A young Taoist priest nearby asked in a low voice.

Zhang Shoucheng shook his head and continued writing, but his eyes held a hint of doubt.

When the last stroke was made, the entire sheet of yellow paper spontaneously combusted without fire, but the ashes did not scatter; instead, they coalesced in the air into the shape of three command arrows.

"go with!"

Zhang Shoucheng pointed his sword, and three command arrows shot into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

But he knew in his heart that the content of the edict seemed to have been interfered with by some force when he was writing it.

Not destruction, but... modification?

In his mental world, Chen Qi was standing in a state of chaos.

He reached out and slashed forward, tearing a hole in the space like a piece of cloth.

Just then, a golden light flew out from the crack and unfolded into an imperial edict in front of him.

"This is... Zhang Shoucheng's True Martial Demon-Slaying Order?"

Chen Qi read the contents carefully and suddenly smiled.

"You want to request the True Martial Emperor to bestow the sword talisman? Interesting."

He gathered golden light at his fingertips and added a few lines of text to the original edict.

"...and I request 100,000 heavenly soldiers to slay the demons with flying swords..."

After finishing writing, he nodded in satisfaction, folded the edict back into the shape of an arrow, and waved it out of the crack.

"If you're going to play, play big."

Chen Qi muttered to himself as he drew two swords from thin air.

One is a modern-looking Dongfeng Greatsword, and the other is an antique peach wood sword.

He then took out two more talismans and affixed them to the twin swords.

Chapter 267 True Fear

The cinnabar characters on the talisman immediately lit up with a red light.

"All generals of the Thunder Department, heed my command!"

Chen Qi held his swords in both hands, crossed them in front of his chest, and blue lightning began to crackle around his body.

"Heavenly thunder and earthly fire, ~ transform into the edge of a sword!"

In the material world, the location where Shuten-dōji was standing was completely shrouded in a cloud of black mist.

Suddenly, the black mist contracted violently, revealing a terrifying figure within—

Its body, originally three meters tall, swelled to five meters, and dense, blood-red runes appeared on its skin, with two curved horns growing from its forehead.

The most terrifying thing was the flaming longsword in its hand; the flames burning fiercely were actually black.

"You ants, feel true fear!"

Shuten-dōji's voice was like the scraping of metal as he raised his long sword and slashed down.

A crescent-shaped black blade of energy roared out, carving a three-meter-deep trench in the ground wherever it passed.

"Get out of the way!"

Liao Huzi roared, but instead of retreating, he advanced.

At this moment, his eyes had turned into the vertical pupils of a snake, and his body was swirling with blue qi.

This was the state in which Liu Kunsheng was completely possessed.

Liao Huzi concentrated all his power in his right index finger, and the blue Qi flow swirled and compressed, forming a light spot the size of a pinhead.

"Break it on me!"

He pointed out with his finger, which met the terrifying black blade energy head-on.

Point to point!

"boom--"

Amidst the deafening explosion, Liao Huzi was thrown more than ten meters by the shockwave, spitting out a mouthful of blood upon landing.

But he successfully deflected the blade's energy, sending it grazing the edge of the altar and splitting a distant boulder in two.

"Old Liao!"

Lu Ci wanted to rush over to help, but was blocked by more Eight Banner soldiers who surged forward.

Shuten-dōji let out a piercing laugh.

"A last-ditch effort! With the next stroke, I'll cleave you all in two!"

It raised its flaming longsword once more, and this time, the black flames on the blade surged, forming a giant blade that was a full twenty meters long.

At this critical moment, a clear and melodious sword cry suddenly rang out from the sky—

"Zheng!"

A golden light descended from the sky and struck Shuten-dōji's wrist precisely.

The black flame longsword clattered to the ground and vanished as sparks.

"Who?!"

Shuten-dōji roared and looked up.

Above the clouds, countless golden-armored celestial soldiers could be vaguely seen arrayed in formation.

But what caught the most attention were the three intersecting sword lights flying in—