The Earth Veins trembled. In the hands of the beautiful nun, Aoi Monshou, the Wooden Fish erupted with a brilliant light, transforming into an azure barrier to shield the entire private hot spring inn.

The water in the hot spring pool suddenly boiled like lava. Beneath the eaves, the twelve Bronze Wind Chimes trembled in the blizzard, emitting a clear, metallic ringing. The blizzard howled, seeming to grow even more ferocious.

Waves of Zen Sound and Buddhist Chanting arose as golden script and talismans bloomed like flowers across Aoi Monshou’s graceful body. The azure barrier trembled ceaselessly. Gradually, the chanting shifted from peaceful, solemn, and steady to sharp and panicked, before finally turning into a piercing shriek.

Finally, Aoi Monshou could hold on no longer. The eerie blue light in her single eye was abruptly extinguished, and her graceful body disintegrated. The barrier shattered into fragments that rustled as they fell, vanishing without a trace.

Chiba Yuki coughed up a mouthful of blood. She grabbed her daughter and quickly retreated three steps. With a loud crash, the tatami mat where they had just been kneeling collapsed. Eight white-bone snake heads burst from the ground, and a foul miasma instantly corroded the edges of the painted screens.

"Mama..." Asatsuyu and Yukigiri cried out in terror, hugging her mother tightly.

Holding her daughter, Chiba Yuki knelt at the edge of the collapsed tatami mat. The miasma burned black holes into her simple white inner robe.

Spewing black mist, three of the white-bone snake heads lunged toward Chiba Yuki and her daughter, snapping their jaws.

Chiba Yuki pushed her daughter behind her, bit her finger, and summoned the heavily injured Aoi Monshou once more, preparing to fight to the death.

Although Aoi Monshou was heavily injured, its body flickering in and out of existence, it still had the strength for one last fight.

"I’ll risk everything!" Chiba Yuki snarled.

"Don’t be afraid. I’m here."

A gentle voice rang out. The Armored Man descended from the sky, crashing through the roof. The moment he landed, he reached into the void, and the 3,600-kilogram White Jade Golden Hook Rod materialized in his grasp. He brought it down in a vicious overhead strike.

Even with its blazing demonic aura and immense, vicious power, the Great White-Bone Snake could not withstand a full-power blow from Li Xiang.

Three snake heads were instantly obliterated, and the Eight-Headed White-Bone Snake dragged its ruined body away in retreat.

An earthy yellow light bloomed from Li Xiang’s body as he used the Earth Escape Technique to give chase. One pursued and one fled, and soon, Li Xiang found himself deep beneath Mount Fuji.

The altar was still there. When the remnants of the Mitsui Conglomerate saw the mysterious Armored Warrior appear, they panicked and scattered in all directions. But this was deep underground—Li Xiang’s home turf.

Activating the "Earth Pivot World Record," he caused the tunnels to collapse one after another, burying the last of the Mitsui Conglomerate’s scum along with the bodies of the previously sacrificed young women.

Li Xiang continued his pursuit downward and soon arrived at the shore of a magma lake.

The magma lake churned with dark golden waves, and the entire underground cavern was scorchingly hot. The Eight-Headed White-Bone Snake had returned to its lair, coiled next to a dark red crystal that was over three meters tall.

This crystal was known as the "Eight-headed Nether Crystal." It was where the Eight-headed Remnant Soul lay dormant, and it had been floating in the heart of this magma lake for several hundred years. In just a few more centuries, Orochi would be able to return from the dead.

Eight serpentine, blood-red patterns swirled across the Nether Crystal’s surface. Whenever magma washed over it, the crystal let out a wail like that of a Bone Flute.

Li Xiang estimated he was at least five to six thousand meters below sea level. He had never been here before. The last time, he had only descended about a thousand meters to harvest the special Earth Vein known as the "Obsidian Holy Vein." He’d thought that was all, but who knew that Orochi’s remnant soul and Crystal Core were hidden so much deeper.

Li Xiang leaped forward, swinging the White Jade Golden Hook Rod. He unleashed a storm of strikes that enveloped both the Great White-Bone Snake and the dark red Crystal Core at the lake’s center.

As he closed within ten meters, a system prompt appeared: "Detected: Tier Thirty-Third, Divine Level Mutated Creature—Eight-headed Remnant Soul."

’Since my system activated early, this data is probably inaccurate.’ Orochi was just a remnant soul, barely clinging to existence. Although it was stronger than many Extraordinary Beings, Li Xiang was sure its true strength was no match for his own.

As the most powerful combatant on the planet, Li Xiang had been virtually unrivaled since his rebirth and the start of his new life.

Drawing support from the Crystal Core’s energy, the Great White-Bone Snake seemed to grow even stronger. It swept up a monstrous wave of magma to crash down on Li Xiang.

But Li Xiang, clad in his Giant Whale Saint Armor, was fearless. With every strike of his rod, he shattered the Great White-Bone Snake’s attacks. Finally, he found an opening. The White Jade Golden Hook Rod in his hand began vibrating with Spiritual Power. With unrivaled might, he thrust it like a spear, stabbing viciously at the dark red Crystal Core.

The White Jade Golden Hook Rod had a sharp spear tip at its end. Backed by Li Xiang’s Giant Power of over one hundred thousand jin, it could pierce through several meters of solid steel as easily as stabbing through tofu.

However, the Crystal Core, which was over three meters tall and about 1.8 meters in diameter, was incredibly tough. Li Xiang’s spear tip only penetrated a small fraction of the way—about twelve to thirteen centimeters deep—before it could go no further.

The Eight-headed Nether Crystal trembled violently. Spiderweb-like cracks spread across its dark red surface as a sudden transformation occurred. The eight serpentine remnant souls dissolved into a sky-filling black mist that enveloped Li Xiang.

The world around him changed in an instant. Li Xiang felt he had been transported to a mysterious world, completely cut off from the outside.

Here, black mist roiled everywhere, touching neither sky nor ground. It was just like the Netherworld.

He was floating naked in the void. His Giant Whale Saint Armor was gone, as was his White Jade Golden Hook Rod.

’Am I in my Divine Soul state?’ Li Xiang realized quickly. He remembered how Jiang Cai’Er had often "started a face-to-face group chat" by pulling her own Divine Soul, his, and the Dragon Vein Spirit’s into a unique, secret realm so they could communicate.

’I can’t believe Orochi had a trick like this up its sleeve,’ Li Xiang thought in amazement. But then again, it made sense. After all, in its prime, Orochi had been a Divine Level yokai.