"Did you really think you could get away after committing such sins?"
A sudden voice startled the women who were preparing to flee.
"Who's there!" The dancing girls shouted fiercely, raising their hairpins once again as weapons.
But the voice vanished just as suddenly.
They waited forever.
No sound followed.
The women swallowed hard.
Finally, one of them couldn't take it anymore. "Elder, forget about it. If we stay any longer, the Imperial Guard will truly arrive."
"Fine, let's leave quickly!"
After a moment's hesitation, the woman who was clearly the leader waved for the others to retreat, then held her hairpin tightly and stayed behind cautiously.
"You're actually cautious!"
The voice spoke again, but this time, it came from directly behind the feminine-looking woman.
"I hate cross-dressers the most, especially freaks like you!" The figure not only appeared but also casually raised a long blade, slashing toward the woman.
Crack!
The woman split into two halves!
However, the expected blood didn't appear; only an outer shell had been shattered.
Inside stood a black-bearded brute with buckteeth.
"What kind of person dares interfere with the affairs of the Xieshen Cult!" The disguised man realized his identity had been exposed and swiftly turned around, pointing his hairpin at the handsome man behind him.
"If it weren't for Hidan tracing your aura, I might never have found you lot," said the handsome young man behind him, muttering to himself while the cursed blade in his hand gleamed ominously.
Ye Liang looked at the bearded brute dressed as a woman with disgust.
In his previous life, even among cross-dressers, they were usually delicate-faced or at least somewhat feminine-looking.
This brute, however, had nothing going for him—crooked teeth, dark skin, and hideousness all combined.
Thinking that this grotesque creature had earlier pretended to be a charming beauty almost made Ye Liang vomit.
"What kind of people dare attack our Leader!"
The women who had just fled outside rushed back in upon seeing their leader exposed. No longer pretending, they all tore off their female disguises.
Each revealed themselves to be ugly men—buckteethed, grimacing, utterly revolting.
Gross! That's way too much!
Ye Liang felt a surge of nausea rise in his throat.
Without hesitation, he swung his blade at the group.
Heads rolled one after another until only their leader remained.
"Now tell me, what's your name, and where is the site of the Xieshen Cult?" Ye Liang asked coldly, barely suppressing his disgust.
The hairy brute trembled with fear.
He didn't know where this guy came from, but he was clearly a ruthless killer—who'd kill without hesitation if crossed.
"Sir! Please don't kill me, I'll tell you everything!" the brute begged desperately.
Just then, rows of Imperial Guards were approaching the scene.
Without wasting more words, Ye Liang grabbed the brute and instantly disappeared using the [Shifting Body Technique].
They reappeared on the mountain behind.
"How long have you been in this line of work?"
"I've been doing this for several years now, as the Xieshen Cult has always lacked sufficient funding."
"Under my humble service?" Ye Liang suddenly looked weirded out.
"Sorry, just slipped out..."
The two arrived at an abandoned temple, resembling one of those haunted houses from ancient times. Inside, besides spider webs, were only broken and dilapidated divine statues.
The Buddha statues had long fangs and wide eyes like copper bells; they definitely didn't look benevolent!
"Reporting to you, Lord, after helping young Hidan finish the ritual, our Xieshen Cult was completely wiped out."
"Vanished? What happened to your Xieshen Cult?" Ye Liang asked curiously.
After completing the immortality ritual, the Xieshen Cult should have grown stronger—why would it vanish instead? It was truly perplexing.
Upon hearing Ye Liang's question, the dark-skinned man continued, "After completing the ritual, all of us cultists dreamed about the Evil God. He told us the offerings we'd provided earlier weren't sufficient and demanded our lives as compensation!"
"At first, we didn't take it seriously—we thought the Evil God was just joking since we had already sacrificed 999 virgin boys and girls. How could that not be enough?"
"But what happened afterward was absolutely horrifying!" At this point, the dark man instinctively took a step back, scanning nervously at the Evil God statue before him, his face drenched in cold sweat.
Ye Liang cooperatively stepped out of the Evil God's temple with him.
The dark-skinned man continued, "Since then, members of our Xieshen Cult started falling ill one by one. First, tumors grew on their heads, their teeth protruded outward, and their entire bodies turned increasingly black. Soon, even the healthiest individuals looked neither human nor ghostly!"
"Don't let my hideous look fool you—I used to be a dashing young stud with flawless skin and killer charm!"
The dark-skinned man cracked a joke.
"Just when we thought we were doomed for sure, the former high priest made a radical decision—to utterly destroy the Evil God Temple!"
"Destroy the temple?" Ye Liang couldn't help but exclaim.
At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the Evil God Temple wasn't merely old and ruined; many of the statues inside were also incomplete. Perhaps this was the method employed by the former leader.
"And did that work eventually?" Ye Liang asked again.
"We don't know exactly. The former high priest brought many capable followers into the Evil God Temple, but none of them ever came out. Us foot soldiers didn't dare go in either—we had no clue what was really happening in there."
"Here's the thing—the moment the leader went inside, everyone's illness stopped."
As the dark-skinned man said this, he suddenly seemed saddened.
Ye Liang gave a slow nod, realization sinking in.
So that's why those men had such darkened skin and protruding teeth before—it must've been the curse from the Evil God.
Suddenly, he reached toward the cursed blade behind him, his gaze turning icy cold!
"Lord, what are you doing?!" The dark-skinned man immediately sensed something was wrong. Just as he was about to flee, he felt a chill at his throat—Ye Liang had already severed his head.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine virgin boys and girls! You actually think you deserve to live?!" Ye Liang angrily roared.
He stepped back into the Evil God Temple.
Once inside, he unleashed [Amaterasu] to burn away the surrounding cobwebs, then scanned the temple carefully.
Other than the colossal Evil God statue at the center, the remaining Buddha statues were badly shattered. Especially the two statues at the sides—one's head had even been severed off entirely.
"This must be the work of that cult patriarch. Judging from the wound markings, the attacker was at least a Kage-level master!" Ye Liang walked over and touched the traces.
The crack on the Buddha statue's head was incredibly smooth, as though sliced by some unearthly blade.
He examined the broken Buddha statue again.
Suddenly!
At the severed neck area of the statue, he spotted a centuries-old skeleton already turned to dust!
"Could there actually be something hidden inside?!"
Ye Liang suddenly realized something!
He quickly swung [Onikiri — the Demon Blade], unleashing a sweeping sword aura that burst outward in all directions!
"Peng peng peng!"
A deafening series of explosions rang out!
Except for the central Daibutsu, all other weathered Buddha statues split open!
Hmph!
Ye Liang sharply exhaled.
It matched his suspicion exactly.
All the surrounding Buddha statues had been hollowed out and packed full—corpse after horrifying corpse!
Some weren't even fully dried yet—they had become desiccated corpses!
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