Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

The air inside the hall began to grow restless and agitated.

Ma Da was among the top in martial skills within the sergeant ranks and an old-timer of the Zhēn'ān Sì, while Niu Da was a junior officer who had developed mana, already reaching the mid-stage of refining essence and transforming qi.

Two full-grown men, not making a sound, just disappeared like that?

Yi Chen exchanged a glance with Lin Baihu, both understanding the meaning in each other's eyes.

"Something's happened."

Yi Chen abruptly stood up, and taking the lead, he prepared to head out with the others to search, followed closely by Lin Baihu, half a step behind.

Just then, a weird wind suddenly arose, and the lanterns in the hall went out instantly, while the door of the living room slammed shut with a loud bang.

Only the burning charcoal remained as the sole source of light in the room.

A braver junior officer stepped forward to forcefully pull at the doorknob several times, only to find that the door seemed to be cast shut with iron on the outside, utterly immovable.

"Daoist priest, what should we do now?"

A sergeant asked Yi Chen.

Unbeknownst to them, Yi Chen had become the spokesperson and backbone of this troop.

"What should we do?"

"Make a cold dish of it!"

"Get out of the way."

"These shenanigans, not taking this poor Daoist seriously at all."

"Daring to mess with someone under my protection."

A fierce smile appeared on Yi Chen's face as he powered his thigh, which suddenly swelled noticeably, and he viciously kicked the gap in the middle of the double doors.

The doors flew backward as if hit by a cannonball, disintegrating into pieces mid-air.

With the others staring dumbfounded, Yi Chen strode over the threshold and went on his way.

"Everyone follow me, search room by room. Don't even overlook the cellars."

Yi Chen's roar was particularly grating in the silent night.

Upon hearing the command, the sergeants felt a surge of courage, standing straighter as they hurriedly followed suit.

The sergeants weren't afraid of the call to action, after all, if the boss was leading the charge, they had nothing to fear.

What they feared was the opposite, being told to go ahead while the boss watched from behind.

Like the classic scene from the past life's "Journey to the West," where the Hydra told Bèngbō Ér Bā to eliminate Tang Sanzang and his disciples... that would unnerve anyone.

Was Yi Chen afraid at this moment?

Actually, he felt not so scared.

The sneaky ghostly thing in the shadows only dared to play small tricks, seemingly unable to deal with them openly.

Otherwise, why go to all this trouble? A straightforward assault would have sufficed to roll over their whole troop.

Not only do corpses speak, but incidents do as well.

As the ghostly presence in the shadows weakened, Yi Chen grew bolder.

In such times, as the leader, what one should do is gather everyone together to prevent being taken down one by one.

The last thing one should do is divide the forces.

Understanding that things are always changing, one must look at issues with a developmental perspective.

If one were to still be overly cautious now, thinking of using others' lives to fill trenches, then they wouldn't be smart—that would be aiding the enemy.

Feeding them, in a way.

In no time, the entire mansion became a hive of activity; Yi Chen kicked open one door after another and, like the enemy entering a village, the sergeants started ransacking, even stabbing under the beds with knives.

No one.

No one.

No one.

There wasn't a single soul, as if everyone in the separate courtyard had vanished, not even a servant to be seen.

At that moment, a group of about seven or eight people approached from the left at the corner, including the maid Yue Ya, who had had a conflict with Yi Chen earlier. They were part of the group.

Leading them was a man and a woman dressed in white, the two practitioners of the Fire-Worshipping Dao they had seen during the day.

Lin Baihu stepped forward to negotiate with the leader in white, and the two groups proceeded in a clear but united manner.

For some reason, a faint unease began to emerge in Yi Chen's heart.

After finishing the search in the kitchen and everyone prepared to move on to the next location, the slight unease in Yi Chen's heart started to grow stronger.

No, something was off.

He seemed to have forgotten something.

He kept feeling that he had overlooked certain details.

Yi Chen's gaze fell on an osmanthus tree ahead, where a large piece of bark had been scraped off.

At that moment, alarms went off in Yi Chen's heart, and he suddenly raised his hand, signaling the group to stop, and looked back toward the rear of the team.

"A fellow Taoist of the Fire-Worshipping Sect, where is your junior sister?"

The man in white was taken aback by Yi Chen's words.

"Isn't my junior sister right behind me?"

He looked over his shoulder, and what he saw made his soul nearly jump out of his body.

His junior sister was indeed behind him, but there were two of them...

As Yi Chen's words fell, the two identical 'junior sisters' suddenly realized there was another person exactly like themselves next to them, and they both hopped out of the line at once.

"You're the fake one, senior brother, believe me, the one opposite is the fake one, a wicked spirit."

"You're the one who's fake, senior brother, believe me, she's the fake one, a wicked spirit."

The 'junior sister' from the Fire-Worshipping Sect had a somewhat baby-faced look, youthful and pretty, naively charming, and now they both accused each other of being illusions conjured by wicked spirits.

"Nice try, wicked spirit, daring to impersonate me. I dare to verify my true identity with an exorcism charm, do you?"

One of them, becoming anxious, pulled out an exorcism charm from her pouch and stuck it on her own forehead.

"Why would I not dare?"

The other, showing no weakness, also took out an exorcism charm and stuck it on her forehead.

However, the exorcism charms had no reaction at all and could not verify their true identities.

"Senior Brother, that wicked illusion certainly doesn't know our secrets," one said.

"You peeked at me bathing when you were little."

Everyone's eyes immediately turned towards the man in white.

The man in white, embarrassed, touched his nose and drew out the magic artifact, a long sword, pointing it at the other 'junior sister' and shouted:

"How dare you! You wicked spirit, pretending to be my junior sister!"

Yi Chen: "..."

Lin Baihu: "..."

The crowd: "..."

At this moment, the 'junior sister' pointed out by the man in white's sword suddenly became desperate, her eyes misty as if she were about to cry.

"Senior brother, must I really speak of what happened in the cornfield?"

The man in white's face turned bright red, and he returned the sword to its sheath.

The crowd: "..."

Just as the situation became deadlocked, Yi Chen had an idea and stepped forward briskly, positioning himself between the two women.

"I happen to have a small method of identifying the real from the fake, though the process might be somewhat unpleasant."

"Would you two be willing to undergo it?"

"Willingly, Taoist Priest, please proceed," both 'junior sisters' said in unison.

Slap!

Slap!

Yi Chen closed his eyes, and in a flash, both his heavy palms landed on the cheeks of the individuals, instantly causing their faces to swell up.

"You're the wicked spirit!"

Without waiting for a response, Yi Chen burst out in an angry roar, drew the Dragon-Slaying Sword with surging deep purple Pure Yang Inner Qi, and in a flash, cleaved the 'junior sister' on the left in two.

The bisected 'junior sister' fell to the ground, still screaming: "Taoist Priest, what is the meaning of this?"

"Taoist Priest, what is the meaning of this?"

The crowd was shocked, then they looked at Yi Chen with admiring eyes. 'The Taoist Priest certainly has amazing abilities.'

The remaining 'junior sister,' finally clearing the mist from her eyes, beamed with joy as she tried to run towards the man in white for comfort.

At that moment, another sword light streaked by like a whip, and under the ghostlike gaze of the crowd, the remaining 'junior sister' was also cut in two.

"You're a wicked spirit too~" Another eerie voice floated through the air.

"Taoist Priest, it hurts so much~"

"Taoist Priest, it hurts so much~"

The other half of the 'junior sister' lay on the ground, lips still moving, repetitively saying the words as she tried to crawl towards the man in white.

The officers from the Department of Peace and Order looked at Yi Chen's demonic silhouette and felt tingling on their scalps.

"Taoist Priest, what about... my junior sister?"

The man in white felt as if he was losing his mind and he turned to ask Yi Chen.

"You're a wicked spirit too~"

Yet another sword light, whip-like, descended upon the man in white's head, only this time it struck vertically.

Yi Chen then looked towards the people from the Department of Peace and Order.

The officers from the Department of Peace and Order suddenly looked terrified and stepped back in unison.