In legend, besides their various mysterious mountain hermit techniques, Crow Tengu were even more famous for their swordsmanship. A thousand years ago, it was said that the Crow Tengu of Anmashan passed on their sword art to Minamoto no Yoshitsune. A millennium later, the Yingzhou Sword Art passed down still contained much of the Crow Tengu's essence.

Although later generations could not reach the terrifying mastery of the founders who could slay demons and startle deities, there were still secret techniques from the New Yin Style that could match them.

The Six Secret Swords, originating from the same source as the Crow Tengu, were known as the Tengu's Victory, also recorded as the Tengu Transcription.

At this moment, what Tianshi'ao put on display was the sword technique he was most proficient in among the six styles, the 'Continuation Lightning Sword.' After a brief build-up of power, the Ten Grip Sword swept across.

The illusory landscape of Qingqiu fluctuated, and the mist dissipated abruptly, revealing the labyrinthine streets of Ginza.

Only after a long while did a thin gash appear in the void, accompanied by a burst of lightning.

The Continuation Lightning Sword itself was known for its lightning-fast speed. Although its lethality did not compare to Yan Flying and the 'Tengu Transcription 'Ao',' one slash could cut through a haze of dreamlike illusions, turning the illusory into the real and the real into the illusory. It was specifically designed to counter grand Source Substance applications like illusions.

Since becoming a Crow Tengu, Tianshi'ao had practiced this sword technique day and night, harboring the thought that one day he could proudly face Ground Ye Xueya.

With the Ten Grip Sword in hand, its power could increase tenfold. The illusion that the Qingqiu Legion had spent days meticulously crafting was torn open by his casual stroke.

Without waiting for Tianshi'ao's orders, the Sublimators, fueled by tenacity, let out a ghostly yell. Their blood boiling, they rushed fearlessly into the breach.

Ye Xueya, that mysterious woman, had gone through many struggles at the Border and never revealed her trump cards, keeping her methods tightly concealed. All those who had seen them were already dead. Tianshi'ao was not willing to take any risks. A Fourth Stage against a Third Stage, and with the Miracle Imprint in hand, the momentum was on his side. He was all for playing it safe, using his overwhelming advantage to crush this minor setup. Just let these people test whatever tricks Ye Xueya still had up her sleeve.

"Are you that cowardly?"

Ye Xueya's light laughter came from the fragmented Ginza, "Even after advancing to the Fourth Stage, you haven't matured at all. Men need to be brave to attract women. Someone like you, who doesn't understand romance—did you ascend to a Crow Tengu, or a Turtle Prime Minister?"

Tianshi'ao's expression remained unchanged. He stepped forward, and the Ten Grip Sword descended again.

BOOM!

Columns of fire swept across. The surging heat from above rapidly contracted and condensed into a thin line, cutting through numerous divergent trajectories before erupting.

Consequently, a heat wave swept through. The entire Ginza shook abruptly, and a narrow street turned to ashes in an instant.

Hidden in the deepest part of the labyrinth, the Mitsukoshi Great Building suddenly revealed its presence.

The Sublimators who stormed in seized the opportunity.

"Follow me!"

In the midst of chaos, a Sublimator from Deer's Sing Hall suddenly shouted, his flushed face lifting. His hands clenched tightly, and a wicked wind arose out of nowhere, carrying a group of people out of sight. Only grey-black rain scattered haphazardly around.

After darting through layers of danger, they reappeared above the fragmented sky, just a stone's throw from the side of the Mitsukoshi Great Building.

Then, in mid-air, the Sublimator with the flushed face realized his body had been cut in two, though he didn't know when.

Opening his mouth to say something, the Stigma of the Transformed Creature Genealogy, 'Fire Train,' inside him cracked open, and he suddenly exploded into a shower of blood, wildly spattering all around.

The Border Relic 'Tenacity Infusion Stick,' extracted by Shan Lao, could temporarily skyrocket a Sublimator's combat power to an incredible degree when augmented by tenacity, nearly doubling it for an hour. The downside was that immediately after this hour, the Sublimator would be utterly powerless. Furthermore, due to the excessively inflated strength, they would incur a 'Kamikaze' debuff, causing them to self-destruct upon receiving severe injury.

Although the enhancement was strong, its sinister nature meant the Naval Soul was not a good thing.

Being only a hair's breadth from the Mitsukoshi Great Building, it was naturally not difficult for the incoming Sublimators. In a snap, more than a dozen Sublimators with flushed faces had already broken the glass and burst in.

Then, they saw an iron rod, even more exaggerated than the Tenacity Infusion Stick, sweeping across with a fierce wind, roaring and booming loudly.

The one at the forefront exploded on the spot, bursting into flames like a bomb.

The iron rod itself melted from the self-destruction of the dying Sublimator. The Dongxia Ascender who had originally swung it was blown backward, barely caught by a comrade.

"Are you alright?" Shen Yue gasped.

"I'll be fine even if you aren't!"

Guan Hai's eyes widened. Supporting himself against a wall as he rose, his muscles swelling once more, he pointed at his forehead and declared, "The overtime for two hundred people's shifts isn't enough! Let's add two hundred more!"

"You're buffed! Quick, here's more!"

Without a second word, Shen Yue slapped two hundred shifts' worth of 'overtime' onto his back. Guan Hai swelled up again, Plasma nearly bursting from his pores as he turned a fiery red.

Immediately afterward, Shen Yue's fingers moved quickly, applying all the reinforcement quotas to his other teammates until his own were depleted. Then, he stepped back, took up his gun, and began laying down covering fire, his weapon spitting out a rapid RAT-A-TAT-TAT.

After volunteering and undergoing considerable training, he was no longer as weak as before, truly finding his place in the action team. If Jin Mu could see this day, he'd surely feel gratified for him, wouldn't he?

Another roar came from outside the building.

Time was pressing. Both the Yingzhou Sublimators injected with Naval Soul and the Social Security Bureau officers overwhelmed by 'overtime' felt the pressure, instinctively speeding up. The entire building, carved into a labyrinth, started to quake.

Had it not been an Abyss building assimilated by Hell, it might not have withstood the frenzied struggle of dozens of Sublimators.

No, perhaps it would have collapsed much earlier, during the struggle between the Heart Moon Fox and the Crow Tengu outside.

A hoarse laughter, like that of a Night Owl, rang out, spreading across the sky.

His grey-black wings unfurled. Tianshi'ao, grasping the Miracle Imprint, used an external recovery technique from his swordsmanship to instantly replenish his energy. Like a whirlwind of fire, he slashed twice in the blink of an eye. The interlacing secret sword strikes formed a massive fiery cross that pressed down from the sky.

An unstoppable force!

The hastily mended illusion of Qingqiu shattered in an instant. Countless silver trajectories, remnants of Ye Xueya's illusory divisions, collapsed under the slash of the Ten Grip Sword.

In a moment, Ginza was several meters shorter.

It was as if it had been hammered three inches down by an infinite force.

The outer buildings collapsed with a roar, and dust billowed forth.

Again, the Ten Grip Sword descended!

A ghastly crevasse appeared on half of Ye Xueya's body. The glow of fierce flames emerged on the sword wound, piercing deep into her bones. Even though her transformation was timely and her Stigma was not damaged, the Mitsukoshi Great Building, hidden in the fog, finally revealed a side profile.

"What's happened here?" Tianshi'ao mocked with a laugh. "Ye Xueya, it's rare to see you in such a sorry state!"

Ye Xueya's expression remained unchanged. She merely looked up at the enemy in the sky and lamented softly, "A Tengu, huh? The Twenty-Eight Mansions also have a similar name... yet they are completely different things."

The Ten Grip Sword descended.

In an instant, a harrowing slash appeared atop the Mitsukoshi Great Building.

But immediately afterward, a white light that made even Tianshi'ao's heart tremble burst forth from within the building. It swept silently, and all the Yingzhou Sublimators who had rushed inside lost their voices.

As if they had been erased.

Gone.

Dead.

Just like the scene Huai Shi had witnessed on his first night in Xiematai, wherever the white light passed, whether it was the Sublimators from the Social Security Bureau or the invading Yingzhou People, all turned to ashes.

It was the only Dark Gold Level Item among all Dark Gold Level Items with a usage limit.

A brutally simple Map Cannon.

Everyone touched by the white light had to die, including the user.

Tianshi'ao inhaled sharply, cold sweat breaking out on his back. He was terrified.

He didn't think that he, as a Fourth Stage Sublimator with Divine Nature, would be one-shot killed by the white light. What was more troubling was that if he were to be hit, the rules of the Joyful Framework would undoubtedly apply to him, the interloper. Then he would be like an insect caught in a spider's web, awaiting the Giant Goose Group's eighty-one ways of toying with him... The thought of how close he'd come to rashly charging in made him shudder with fright.

This vixen had hidden such a sinister trap! Indeed, she was a lifelong enemy, not to be underestimated purely based on Rank.

Seeing that the long-prepared trap had failed to catch Tianshi'ao, Ye Xueya couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

"This is going to be troublesome..."

Heart Moon Fox was best at Positional Warfare, especially this kind of prepared defensive counterattack. As long as Tianshi'ao entered Ginza, there was still a fight to be had. But now, he was slowly eroding her positional advantage from the outside with the Miracle Imprint.

It was like a high-walled fortress facing constant mortar bombardment—eventually, it would break.

Moreover, a Third Stage fighting a Fourth Stage already had a chance of victory so slim it was touching, one that could top the charts for moving Dongxia's collective heart. Now, with Tianshi'ao being so cautious, the hope of turning the situation around seemed even more elusive.

Ye Xueya frowned, waved her hand, and took out an old hanging scroll. After shaking it twice, she tossed out three enormous monkeys that could have been baboons or old apes.

The three Old Monkeys tumbled to the ground, scratching their ears and cheeks. These Border Variants were hired through a Legion Contract with the Mitsukoshi Great Building: one was named Unspoken, another Unheard, and the third Unseen.

But now, Unseen stared fiercely, Unheard listened intently, and Unspoken rambled incessantly from the moment it hit the ground.

"Miss Ye, why have you called us here? Have you changed into a new outfit? It looks nice, but the hairstyle doesn't suit you, and your complexion is a bit too pale. You seem upset. With such a stern look, you'll get forehead wrinkles when you grow old. Hey, why aren't you speaking? Are you feeling unwell? If you're not feeling well, you should quickly see a doctor and not waste time standing here. By the way, what do you need us for? Is there an enemy? I've told you before to be kind to others and show more mercy; otherwise, this endless cycle of vengeance will never cease. Let me see where the enemy is... Damn, the Miracle Imprint? And a Fourth Stage? Why didn't you say so earlier? We can't fight that!"

"I would have, if you'd given me the chance," Ye Xueya retorted, glancing at it indifferently.

She shook her head. "I know you can't win. Don't worry, I won't send you to your deaths."

"Then why call us out?" Unspoken asked, perplexed. It was about to prattle on, but then it saw Ye Xueya's gradually chilling smile.

"Just to let you watch," she said, lifting her gaze toward the sky. "And lend a hand when necessary. It's always good to be prepared."

The roar erupted again.

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