World’s No. 1 Swordsman

Just before dawn, Wang Sheng and the other four, along with several Daoist masters, set out again and cleared another nearby hideout of corrupt cultivators.

This time, the target was a nightclub. They captured a total of seven corrupt cultivators. Two resisted fiercely and were killed on the spot, while the others, all young, surrendered quite obediently. After finishing the task, the five stood outside the nightclub watching the police clean up the aftermath, waiting for the car to pick them up.

Shi Qianzhang sighed. "Why do these corrupt cultivators all go for the path of harvesting yin to replenish yang? You don't see many female corrupt cultivators harvesting yang to replenish yin."

"Want to be a victim yourself?" Wang Sheng joked.

Shi Qianzhang quickly shook his head. "No, no, I've given up on all that."

He then gave Liu Yunzhi a deep look. "I used to be way ahead of Little Liu, but I've been stuck at the Seed Formation Realm for too long. Now, he's overtaken me."

Liu Yunzhi responded calmly with a smile, seemingly unbothered by the nickname "Little Liu."

Huai Jing chuckled. "What, Qianzhang, you lost your virginity too many times in the past?"

For once, Shi Qianzhang actually blushed. "I was young and stupid back then. I was in such a slump, I ate garlic chives three times a day[1]. Nearly went down the path of harvesting yin to replenish yang myself."

The three other men quietly took a step away from him.

Mu Wanxuan didn't quite understand what they were talking about. Still, she knew that as long as she stayed by Wang Sheng's side, she had nothing to fear from any fiends or devils.

Just then, tires screeched from the street corner. Two SUVs pulled up by the roadside, and Mou Yue hurried over. As planned, she urgently called out, "Emergency! Hurry!"

The five quickly gathered and split into the two vehicles according to the pre-determined arrangement. Wang Sheng and Mu Wanxuan rode with Mou Yue, while the other three hopped into the other vehicle, chatting and joking along the way.

After getting in, Mou Yue subtly winked at Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng instantly understood that everything was proceeding as planned.

Still, the act had to be convincing. Hence, he asked, "What happened?"

The driver, who was also from the Special Investigation Unit, glanced curiously at Mou Yue, their team captain. Mou Yue handed over a tablet with a serious expression.

On the screen was a video seemingly recorded on a phone. Devilish qi surged out from the Devil-Sealing Well. Dozens of monks sat around it with their eyes closed, chanting sutras. However, their Buddhist light was already growing faint.

Wang Sheng replayed the video a few times, carefully examining it. There were no signs of editing or tampering—whoever doctored this had made it flawless.

Even Mu Wanxuan began to look a little anxious.

Worried that Wang Sheng might actually fall for it, Mou Yue subtly gave him a hand signal before retrieving the tablet.

Naturally, the footage was fake. Their operation was progressing steadily. The video had already begun circulating online, and the Special Investigation Unit had used various means to detect many known corrupt cultivators heading toward the fake Ziyan Temple. Besides the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect, many others were coming over to cause trouble or scheme against righteous cultivators.

"Still, we can't afford to be careless," Wang Sheng warned. "Try to alert as many experts as possible. The more prepared we are, the better."

Mou Yue nodded solemnly. "Don't worry, Daoist Master Wang. We have already prepared everything. That ancient devil won't be causing any real chaos."

In other words, the Special Investigation Unit had already prepared enough force to handle the corrupt cultivators.

Wang Sheng nodded. "Good."

Nevertheless, a vague unease lingered in his heart. Cultivators had to improve their spiritual consciousness. Hence, sometimes, the resulting intuition could warn them of danger.

He closed his eyes and carefully ran through the entire plan in his mind. Slowly, the unease began to fade. There didn't seem to be any major flaws.

The idea was to use the ancient devil to stage a show and bait the corrupt cultivators into action. The biggest risk was that a fight between cultivators could damage the real seal, but the fake Ziyan Temple eliminated that concern.

Through voice transmission, Wang Sheng reminded Mou Yue, "Don't let your guard down at the real Ziyan Temple either."

Since Mou Yue didn't cultivate and couldn't use voice transmission, she had to turn around before replying, "Don't worry, Daoist Master Wang. The Special Warfare Unit is arriving soon, and the monks at the temple are also a force not to be underestimated."

The real Devil-Sealing Well was heavily guarded as well, with plenty of skilled monks watching over it. Now, Wang Sheng truly had no further worries. At worst, the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect wouldn't fall for the bait, and the Hua Republic authorities would have simply built a temple for nothing.

In the vehicle behind them, Huai Jing happily chatted with Shi Qianzhang and Liu Yunzhi, making the Special Investigation Unit member driving the car sigh in resignation. Among the younger generation of cultivators, Mu Wanxuan and Wang Sheng still seemed the most reliable. Wang Sheng, of course, had no idea any of this was going on. To prevent leaks, the Special Investigation Unit had kept knowledge of the plan tightly contained.

The journey took over two hours. During that time, another video began circulating online. In the footage, devilish qi was surging from the Devil-Sealing Well. Several pale-faced high monks were lying on the ground, one of them coughing up blood.

Everything looked very realistic, and the acting felt completely natural.

Still, Wang Sheng spotted a flaw. Normally, Buddhist light and devilish qi would erode each other. However, in both videos, the two opposing forces remained completely separate, never mingling.

Since the videos were already out, though, Wang Sheng didn't bother saying anything. They would wait and see how things developed.

He closed his eyes again to focus on his cultivation and continued meditating on the immortal sutras. Just then, he heard Mou Yue whispering his name.

Opening his eyes, he saw Mou Yue handing him a pink neck pillow. Although a bit puzzled, he still took it. He then turned to his senior sister, finding him already dozing off without realizing it.

"Haa..."

Waiting to break through a bottleneck did have its perks—one could openly slack off without having to meditate.

"Senior Sister, here's a pillow for you."

"Oh..." Mu Wanxuan drowsily took the pillow, slipped it skillfully around her slender neck, and continued nodding off in her seat.

Wang Sheng couldn't help but glance at his senior sister for a moment. Dressed in the Soaring Celestial Dress, she looked like an untouched lotus flower—pure and otherworldly.

Mou Yue watched the pair in the back seat with a smile, but she soon remembered they were still on duty. She quickly put on a solemn expression again. If they were going to act, they had to fully commit to it.

At 7:30 AM, the SUVs arrived at the base of the mountain where the fake Ziyan Temple had been set up.

Two groups of cultivators had already gone ahead. The first to arrive were a few Golden Core Realm cultivators and more than a dozen Shu Sword Sect elders who were stationed nearby. Wang Sheng's group was the third wave.

They waited briefly before another seven or eight Daoist masters arrived by car. After meeting up, the entire team headed toward the summit where the fake Ziyan Temple was.

Among them, Wang Sheng's group of five was the only younger generation present. Still, Mu Wanxuan, Wang Sheng, and Huai Jing were all quite capable and had just participated in an international exchange event. It was perfectly reasonable for them to be included in this joint operation.

Instead of going up the mountain, Mou Yue and the other Special Investigation Unit members headed straight for a nearby military base. After all, their part in the operation was already complete.

Figures flitted swiftly through the mountain forest.

Wang Sheng grabbed Liu Yunzhi with his left hand and Shi Qianzhang with his right. They barely managed to keep pace with the Daoist masters leading the way. Mu Wanxuan and Huai Jing ran to his left and right at about the same speed, but before long, their group started falling behind.

Mu Wanxuan's weakness had always been her lack of skill in footwork techniques, and Huai Jing, who followed the path of Buddhist arts, wasn't exactly known for agility either. Still, they didn't lag too far behind the seven or eight Daoist masters ahead.

When they finally reached the mountaintop and saw the fake Ziyan Temple shrouded in thick black smoke, they instinctively halted.

The primal qi here was extremely chaotic. The entire temple was wrapped in dark mist, making it impossible to scan the interior with spiritual consciousness. They could only barely make out a few Golden Core Realm experts shifting around above the smoke.

This is...

"Amitabha," Huai Jing frowned deeply, his devil-subduing staff already glowing golden.

Just then, an ordinary man wearing a gas mask ran out of the smoke, holding a scroll of white paper. He pulled off the mask.

"What are you all doing just standing there? Get inside, quick! The director says the next scene is about to start!"

The five all sighed in relief. Some rolled their eyes, others shook their heads with wry smiles. Mu Wanxuan couldn't help but laugh.

Wang Sheng snapped his fingers, and their small team immediately held their breath and plunged into the rolling black smoke, entering the lively chaos of the fake Ziyan Temple.

They were all veterans at fighting fiends and protecting righteousness. Nevertheless, acting in a performance like this still made them a little nervous, just like the older Daoist masters.

***

Meanwhile, in an SUV slowly winding its way down a mountain road, Mou Yue frowned slightly as she stared at the tablet in front of her, which displayed the command group chat for the operation. Lines of messages popped up on the screen one after another.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far. The righteous cultivators they had contacted were arriving at the fake Ziyan Temple one after another. More and more corrupt cultivators had begun appearing throughout the Shu region as well, rapidly converging toward the area.

The SkyWeb system had detected several experts from the Yin-Yang Al-Creation Sect. They were now making their way over, likely hoping to take advantage of the situation.

The operation appeared to be proceeding perfectly. Still, Mou Yue couldn't help but feel that things were going a little too smoothly. After some thought, she picked up her phone but hesitated. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to call Chi Ling.

What could she even say to her captain? That she just had a bad feeling? At best, she'd get a lecture, and at worst, they'd dock her pay.

She tapped around on the tablet for a while until a live feed from the real Ziyan Temple appeared. Two to three dozen monks were chanting sutras beside the Devil-Sealing Well, which remained as calm and undisturbed as ever.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

The Special Investigation Unit member driving asked, "Sister Yue, are you alright? You look really tired."

"I'm fine," Mou Yue replied with a yawn. She casually closed the video feed. "Let's just meet up with the captain at the base first. Once I'm there, I'm going to find somewhere to get some sleep."

However, Mou Yue failed to notice that in the instant before she closed the feed, one of the elderly monks chanting beside the Devil-Sealing Well suddenly opened his eyes and glanced, almost unconsciously, toward the direction of the surveillance camera.

1. Garlic chives in Chinese culture are traditionally considered a yang-boosting food. It is believed to stimulate male virility, sexual energy, and libido. He is humorously implying he was overwhelmed by desire. ☜