An angry Japanese curse echoed from outside the Illusion Realm. Though Qin Fan was unfamiliar with the language, he couldn’t help but flash a grim smile at the sound.

After the Binding Spirit Spell had taken effect, he ignored the series of illusions unfolding before his eyes.

As the Evil Spirit Zen Staff hanging in the sky plunged down and embedded itself deep in the ground, he walked toward it with a cold expression. Within his Divine Sense, a small stone near the Evil Spirit Zen Staff was faintly radiating a Qi Mechanism.

In response, a cold sneer formed on Qin Fan’s lips.

The next moment, he yanked the Evil Spirit Zen Staff from the ground. Surging with the Mixed Element True Qi in his body, he smashed it down forcefully upon the stone!

BOOM—!

With that one smash, the entire Illusion Realm began to tremble.

The stone struck by the Zen Staff was instantly pulverized into the finest dust. The Qi Mechanism within the stone also faded rapidly in that same instant.

「Outside the Illusion Realm.」

SPURT—!

Reacting to Qin Fan’s smash, an Onmyoji suddenly coughed up a mouthful of Essence Blood, which contained the very essence of his Life Source.

"Lord Dofei!"

"Lord Dofei!"

"Lord Dofei!"

The many Onmyoji, their life forces linked, cried out in alarm as they felt Dofei’s vitality rapidly fading away.

"I can’t go on! That... that Huaxia man has figured out our... our... our flaw in the Illusion Realm! You... you must get away from him! Sur-sur-survive! I hear the summons of the great goddess Tian Zhao. I... I will go join her now! You must, you must stay alive! SPURT—!!!"

As he finished speaking, Dofei violently spat out another mouthful of Essence Blood. This became his final mark left in this world.

The next second, he collapsed heavily to the ground.

The Binding Spirit Spell could restrain living beings, but as Dofei’s life force completely vanished, the spell bound to him naturally dissolved.

It just goes to show how selfish human nature can be. The Onmyoji, who had been in a state of extreme sorrow, immediately fell silent upon hearing Dofei’s claim that their weakness had been discovered. Even Chizuru and the others couldn’t help but widen their suddenly frozen eyes.

He figured out the flaw we were forced to leave in the Illusion Realm? This—! How is this possible? But if it isn’t possible, then how can Dofei’s death be explained?

Before they could recover from their stunned panic, back in the Illusion Realm, Qin Fan swung the Evil Spirit Zen Staff up again after smashing the stone.

Like a GPS finding its target, the Evil Spirit Zen Staff spun in mid-air for a moment before once again plunging toward the ground.

Smiling as he pulled out the Evil Spirit Zen Staff, Qin Fan took out a True Fire Talisman and tossed it to the ground. Then, his Eyes of Golden Flame flared as he focused on the talisman!

The next second, blazing True Fire erupted from the ground with destructive power!

"Damn it, damn it, no—! NO—!"

「Outside the Illusion Realm.」

Within the searing flames of the True Fire, an Onmyoji, bound invisibly and unable to move, began to scream madly. At this moment, he felt as if he were trapped in Purgatory’s furnace.

"Lord Chiba!"

"Lord Chiba!"

After Dofei, and now facing Qin Fan’s second attack, the remaining Onmyoji who were still barely alive wailed piteously. But no matter how much they screamed, they could not change the situation.

The Onmyoji named Chiba, though his body was outwardly unharmed, began to emit the smell of burning flesh. His internal organs were being mercilessly incinerated by the raging True Fire.

The frantic curses lasted for three seconds before falling silent.

With a thud, he collapsed. Another one down.

"Damn it all, damn it all! Lord Chizuru, what do we do, what do we do?! If this goes on, we’re all going to die!" Sangui desperately tried to move, but he was completely immobilized. With Dofei and Chiba dead, he could no longer bear the psychological collapse and began to shriek in panic.

What to do? How the fuck should I know what to do!

It wasn’t just Sangui who was panicking. Chizuru was now completely drenched in a cold sweat.

Turtles in a jar? Fish on a chopping block? Just waiting for death? That was their exact state right now. Death—a word that had once seemed so distant to him, to Chizuru. For an Onmyoji, a mere photograph was often all it took to eliminate an adversary, without even needing to lift a finger. But now, death felt so close! So close that he couldn’t think of a single countermeasure. In every constructed Illusion Realm, the Realm Imposer’s Life Source had to be present. To make the Life Source leave, all one had to do was dispel the illusion, which was normally a simple task. But now they were completely bound, unable to make any move to dispel it! Chizuru would have never imagined that the secret of the Illusion Realm was known to Qin Fan, much less that his opponent would immobilize them both inside and outside the realm before picking off their Life Sources one by one. Faced with such an unexpected Divine Skill, he couldn’t come up with a countermeasure. He couldn’t even begin to think of one!

"AHHH—!!!"

Just as Chizuru was sweating bullets in panic, a heart-wrenching scream erupted. Another Onmyoji fell.

One after another, again and again.

In the blink of an eye, three of their comrades had died without a visible cause. This sight utterly shook the souls of the surviving Onmyoji. This complete helplessness while waiting for death plunged them into a spiritual torment they had never before experienced.

"Lord Chizuru!"

"Lord Chizuru!"

As the leader and a High-Level Onmyoji, Chizuru was now their only hope. However, their trembling calls received no response. Yes, Chizuru was a High-Level Onmyoji, but he had never encountered a situation like this.

"Damn it, don’t panic, don’t panic! Calm down! Let me think, let me think!" he shouted incoherently.

But just as his words fell, a series of thuds sounded in quick succession. This time, without making a sound, two Onmyoji suddenly collapsed, dead, with blood pouring from their seven orifices.

THUD—!

THUD! THUD—!

The intervals between deaths grew shorter and shorter, like falling dominoes.

Before Chizuru could come up with any ideas, he was the only Onmyoji who had constructed the Triple Extremity Yin Yang Illusion Realm Array left alive—a general with no army.

"Damn it all! Damn it all! Damn it all! Long live Yamato! Long live Japan! Long live! Long live! Long live forever!"

At this point, still unable to think of any countermeasure and no longer sensing the connected auras of any other Onmyoji, Chizuru realized the situation was hopeless and began to roar hysterically.

It was a terribly unjust and frustrating end for a High-Level Onmyoji, a man who had looked down on even great leaders like Pei An. But there was nothing to be done. He had underestimated the people of Huaxia. It wasn’t that he had overestimated himself, but that he had truly underestimated them.

With his Life Source controlled within the Illusion Realm and his body immobilized outside of it, he saw no hope of survival in this predicament. And such a hysterical roar was a common display of desperation for the men of Japan. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Sure enough, as Chizuru’s roar died down...

SPURT—!

SPURT! SPURT—!

SPURT! SPURT! SPURT—!

He vomited three large mouthfuls of Essence Blood in quick succession. His bulging eyes were filled with immense unwillingness and stifled frustration.

But what good did it do to be indignant? Ultimately, his fate could not be changed.

With a final boom, a great High-Level Onmyoji of his generation came crashing down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He died with his eyes wide open in grievance.