The next day, 7 AM.
Northeast Wei Dao Division.
Huang Qingshan was asleep, face down on his desk. He was utterly exhausted. In recent days, as the conflict between the Senluo Division and the Wei Dao Division escalated, especially after the deaths of five Qilin Guards, he hadn't had any proper rest, managing only two to three hours of sleep each day.
He had just finished relaying the deployment plan and was finally able to relax, intending to catch a quick nap. He'd fallen asleep instantly.
However, he had only slept for a short while.
A violent knocking at the door woke Huang Qingshan. He quickly wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth:
"Come in."
As he spoke, the office door opened, and his assistant rushed in breathlessly:
"Team Huang, something's happened! The mastermind from the Senluo Division has appeared and taken away the representatives from the five northeastern families who came to negotiate with us. The Qilin Guards providing protection are currently engaging the对方."
"What did you say?"
Huang Qingshan, who had been groggy from sleep, instantly became alert, despite his lack of rest. He stood up in shock.
The next moment.
Without hesitation.
Huang Qingshan gave a stern order:
"Do they think our Wei Dao Division is full of cowards? Go inform the eminent monks at Mount Wutai, and the nearest Qilin Guards. Have them all rush over. This time... we absolutely cannot let the mastermind escape! Kill as many as there are bodies!!"
"Yes!"
Immediately, orders were dispatched from the Northeast Wei Dao Division headquarters to Wei Dao Divisions across the northeast.
...
Meanwhile.
In the northeast, at a resort hotel belonging to a Wei Dao Division outpost.
At this moment.
From afar, thick smoke billowed from the resort hotel, punctuated by occasional explosion-like sounds and blinding flashes of fire. Even from outside the resort, the scene was visible.
"What's happening?"
"Isn't that the Daxing Resort? It's on fire! Quickly call the fire department."
The speakers were citizens outside the resort. They had been eating breakfast and preparing to go to work when they heard an explosion. They faintly thought they heard roars, like those of foxes or weasels, and then upon looking out, they saw the resort ablaze.
"Was it a gas explosion?"
"It must have been a gas explosion. Look how huge the fire is; wouldn't a gas explosion have this much power? But why would there be a gas explosion out of nowhere?"
"Could it be some weasels from the mountains, chewing on a gas tank? I don't know if it's my imagination, but I thought I heard a weasel's cry earlier. It must be my imagination, it's so far away."
"Wait, you said a weasel's cry? ... You heard it too?"
"Damn it, you guys heard it too?"
As the citizens discussed amidst themselves.
They all saw vehicles, large SUVs, on the road leading towards the resort. Through the open car windows, some citizens vaguely glimpsed not firefighters or hotel staff, but... monks?
At the same time.
Inside the resort hotel.
The ancient-style hotel buildings, courtyards, and flowerbeds were all destroyed, the ground littered with debris. The fountain sculptures were broken, only the overflowing sprinklers spraying water haphazardly, further soaking the ruined ground. Surrounding buildings were dilapidated and burning.
Boom!
A deafening explosion.
From amidst the ruins, a massive foundation wall vibrated, and a weasel as tall as an adult human emerged from below. It held a load-bearing wall weighing several hundred pounds in one hand, and a small weasel in the other. Its eyes were fixed on a figure in front of it.
"Senluo Division, you've gone too far! Do you really think my Huang family is easy to bully!!!"
In front of it.
The figure appeared to be a high school girl, but her entire body was covered in stitches, the work of a tailor.
She had learned that the representatives of the five northeastern families were here and had arrived early, causing the destruction of the resort hotel.
As the adult-sized weasel spoke.
More figures emerged from other ruins.
Some were human, but there were also three terrifying figures: a snake at least five meters long, a white fox the size of a lion with its fur bristling with rage, a hedgehog half a meter tall, and a giant rat with a tail thicker than an arm.
These were the representatives of the five northeastern families: Hu, Huang, Bai, Liu, and Hui. Apart from the Huang family, the other four families' representatives.
They glared at the tailor, their anger no less than the Huang family's, perhaps even greater.
"Senluo Division, hand over Hu Shiliu!"
The white fox spoke human words, its voice cold and sharp.
The Hu Shiliu it mentioned was the most beloved granddaughter of Hu Ba Taiye, ranking sixteenth, named Shiliu. She had been taken away by the Senluo Division a while ago.
Subsequently.
The five northeastern families all voiced their demands.
However.
Facing the representatives of the five northeastern families and the Wei Dao Division Qilin Guards present, the tailor offered no response. Her expression was icy, colder than the one she had shown when seeing Fatty. Coupled with her stitched face, she appeared numb and terrifying.
She reached out a hand, emanating a chilling aura that surged like a tsunami, engulfing the small weasel in the adult weasel's grasp.
"Senluo Division!!"
"Too much bullying!!"
The five northeastern families and the Qilin Guards present all moved. Although their individual strengths were no match for the tailor, as representatives, each possessed the strength of a Ghost King.
"Roar————"
The weasel roared, its voice like thunder, causing the surrounding stones to shatter. The sound waves collided with the tailor's tsunami of ghostly energy. The impact created deep craters in the ravaged ruins, making the scene even more desolate.
However.
No one had time to dwell on this. Compared to dealing with the tailor, they could afford the loss of this resort worth hundreds of millions.
For a moment.
The white fox unleashed a white light, akin to immortal magic, the art of the Hu family. It condensed into white fox tails, each larger than a truck, lashing out at the tailor, aiming to dismember her.
The black snake writhed its body and charged towards the tailor with incredible speed, faster than a car. As it moved, it left cracks on the ground. In an instant, its body seemed to split like cells, transforming into over a dozen black snakes, opening their monstrous mouths to bite at the tailor.
The giant rat and the hedgehog were more direct, their fur bristling and transforming into sharp quills, shooting at the tailor like a barrage of raindrops, faster than bullets.
The five northeastern families revealed their true forms and attacked.
This scene.
Was extremely rare. Now, with the tailor's appearance, they had no choice but to join forces.
Seeing this.
The tailor said nothing more. More chilling ghostly energy surged from her body, blasting away the weasel's sonic waves, along with the weasel itself.
Simultaneously.
As the dozen black snakes attacked, a fist, seemingly from a left arm detached from a man, leaped up. The fist, from bottom to top, smashed towards the head of the nearest black snake.
Boom————
The earth cracked.
The black snake's head was smashed into the ground.
The other black snakes fared no better. The tailor spread her other hand behind her, blocking another black snake attacking from behind. Then, she grabbed it and whipped it like a whip towards the other giant black snakes, also shattering the white tails lashing from the white fox.
As for the attacks from the Hui and Bai families.
The tailor showed no fear, letting their quills strike her, enduring them all with her bare body.
All of this.
Happened in less than a few seconds.
Looking again.
All the dozen black snakes were shattered or torn apart, turning into black smoke and merging into a single remaining black snake. However, the black snake was coughing blood, clearly severely injured. The Huang family's weasel was also the same, blown away by the ghostly energy and spitting blood as it fell, only able to hard-counter and protect the small weasel in its arms.
"The five northeastern families are nothing more than this."
To further provoke the attention of the five northeastern families, allowing Fatty to safely refine his artifacts, the tailor said these words leisurely.
In her words.
A figure faintly appeared in her mind: plump, with fair skin, and a smile that, in her eyes, was foolish.
It was Fatty's figure.
Back when Fatty first joined the Senluo Division and was going through his chuunibyo phase, he often said such pretentious, chuunibyo lines. She never expected to use his words to show off one day.
However.
The effect was excellent.
The five northeastern families became even more enraged.
And as her words left her lips, the tailor seemed to sense something. She suddenly raised her left hand, pinching with her index and middle fingers.
Clang!
A Tang dao, inscribed with ghost-exorcising talismans, was caught between her fingers.
The attacker was a Taoist priest, a Qilin Guard of the Wei Dao Division, who had tried to act during a moment of the tailor's lapse in attention. However, he was still discovered by the tailor.
The next moment.
As the tailor's fingers pinched, the Tang dao was crushed. Simultaneously, waves of corpse energy flowed from her fingers along the broken Tang dao, invading the Taoist Qilin Guard.
The opponent's expression changed, and he quickly let go of the Tang dao.
Seeing this.
The tailor sneered:
"Your Tang dao skills are quite good. Are you from the Sheng Xuan Sect? Too bad, your strength is far inferior to Sheng Xuan's."
Before she finished speaking.
The tailor seemed to notice something. She saw that the Qilin Guards who hadn't acted before, under the cover of the five northeastern families and the Taoist Qilin Guard, had finally set up their formation.
The leading Qilin Guard held a Maoshan incantation:
"Formation rise! Seal the demon!"
An Yin Yang Bagua diagram lit up on the ground. From the four cardinal directions of the Bagua, red lines shot out, binding the tailor's limbs.
The tailor recognized this formation.
It was the Yin Yang Demon Sealing Formation of Maoshan arts. With four Qilin Guards performing it, it was sufficient to trap and kill a very powerful Ghost King.
"Good... Huh?!"
Others, seeing the tailor restrained, were about to cheer, but their voices stopped abruptly less than half a second later.
It sounded like iron chains being snapped.
The tailor, who had just been bound by the Yin Yang Bagua, let out a ghostly roar in the next instant. To their horrified gazes, she forcefully broke the binding lines of the Yin Yang Bagua and broke free from the restraint.
"Damn it, just how strong is this woman?"
"We can't let her stay. Give her more time, and she'll definitely reach the level of Han Ba."
The five northeastern families and the Qilin Guards showed shock.
As they spoke.
The tailor, having broken free from her restraints, said nothing, only coldly stating:
"If this is all you've got, you can die now."
As she spoke.
The tailor was about to make a move.
However, just as she was about to take a step, a melodious monk's voice echoed from behind her:
"Amitabha, benefactor of the Senluo Division. If they are not enough, what if you count us in?"
Her voice was not loud.
Even the tailor and everyone else focused their attention. The person who spoke had just arrived at the entrance of the resort. Yet, despite being hundreds of meters away, their voice seemed to resonate directly in everyone's ears.
The Abbot of Mount Wutai!
The tailor recognized the arrivals, or rather, several of them. There were six in total. Each was elderly, but despite their age, they exuded an aura of vigor and an air of immortal grace.
These six included monks, Taoist priests, lamas, and an elder in a traditional Tang suit.
These were the older generation reinforcements from the Wei Dao Division.
At the same time.
They were also one of the highest-tier combat forces in the northeast!
Seeing them, the tailor's cold eyes finally showed a hint of change. She had finally waited for these people. Although she was in danger, and might even die here, the purpose of diverting Fatty's attention had been achieved.
...