The night at the Sanxingdui ruins was shattered into fragments by sweeping searchlights.As Chen Jiuzhang and his team climbed over the perimeter fencing, they caught sight of an archaeology crew loading bronze masks onto a truck.But in the hollow eye sockets of those masks… flickered ghostly blue flames.
Suddenly, Shen Qingluan's bronze mirror grew hot. Within it, the lab coat of the lead professor reflected faintly—the outline of a cherry blossom emblem.It was the very symbol Old Wu had warned them about.
"Split up!"Chen Jiuzhang pressed the jade slip into his palm. The slip and his birthmark began to glow in unison, pointing the way toward the Divine Tree sacrificial pit.
Zhang Chengying whipped out a thermal imaging device he'd bought online.The screen lit up with countless red dots forming… a Taiji diagram.
"This isn't right! There's something underground… it's… dancing square-dancing?!"
Before he could finish, the ground exploded.Twelve bronze birdmen burst forth, their wings engraved with symbols identical to the sakura-marked drones they had seen earlier.
"They're modified shikigami crafted by Japanese onmyoji!"Shen Qingluan lashed out with the Imperial Seal fragment, but its jade light was reflected back by the birdmen's wings.
Thinking quickly, Chen Jiuzhang embedded the Heavenly Talisman fragment into a compass:
"Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions — Kang Jinlong!"
A beam of golden light descended from the sky—but the moment it touched the birdmen, it was devoured into black mist.
Worse yet, from deep underground came the sound of shackles snapping.The Bronze Divine Tree began to rise slowly.Twisting around its crown, the reliefs of Yamata no Orochi began to writhe.
Just as disaster loomed, Old Wu reappeared from nowhere, slamming his Tui Bei Tu cigarette scroll onto the Divine Tree.
"You little bastards—let me show you what the ancestors left behind!"
The ancient book dissolved into streaks of light, seeping into the Divine Tree's veins.The sun disc at its top began to hum, condensing part of the black mist into a solid object—The Serpent-Slaying Blade, forged by Zhang Tianshi's ancestor!
"Catch!"Old Wu hurled the blade toward Chen Jiuzhang, just as soldiers from the Institute of Paranormal Phenomena swarmed in and surrounded him.
The instant Chen Jiuzhang caught the blade, a flood of ancestral memories surged into his mind:
During the Shang-Zhou era, Yamata no Orochi attempted to devour the Chinese dragon veins.Zhang Tianshi's ancestor used the Divine Tree as a forge, and the souls of seventy-two Daoist masters to create the Serpent-Slaying Blade.Upon completion, he left a prophecy:"When the Golden Crow returns to its place, the blade shall find its destined hand."
"Watch out!"Shen Qingluan threw herself in front of Chen Jiuzhang, blocking a drone-fired spell-arrow.Her blood-soaked lab coat tore open, revealing a Daoist robe embroidered with the Ziwei Star sigil.
"Jiuzhang… do you remember how you died for me ten lifetimes ago?This time… let me…"
She couldn't finish.The Divine Tree trembled violently.The phantom of Yamata no Orochi broke through the canopy—its gaping maw revealing the imprisoned figure of Bixi, the stone turtle.
Zhang Chengying charged in on his DIY battle-scooter, breaking through the birdman line.From his basket, USB drives made of thunderstruck wood formed a Big Dipper formation.
"Cut the soap opera! Let's fry this overgrown snake!"
Chen Jiuzhang gripped the Serpent-Slaying Blade.His birthmark and the blade erupted in golden light.As the blade touched Orochi's phantom, he heard a voice echo in his mind—it was Zhang Tianshi:
"The breaker of fate is not the blade… but the human heart."
In the distance, helicopter blades thundered.Standing in the flagship chopper, Miyuki Watanabe held a Yin-Yang Jade, which resonated with the Orochi phantom.
"Chen Jiuzhang… did you think a single blade could defy destiny?Naïve."
Behind her, seventy-two mechanical corpses began assembling into a giant Demon-Subduing Golem.On its chest pulsed a counterfeit Heavenly Talisman, glowing with a sinister red light.
The space-time around the Divine Tree began to distort.Chen Jiuzhang felt his strength draining away.
Suddenly, he remembered Old Wu's words.He thrust the Heavenly Talisman fragment, the Imperial Seal shard, and the Serpent-Slaying Blade into the Divine Tree.
"If this is a game… then let me be the one to end it!"
In that moment, the power of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions descended from the heavens.The Divine Tree exploded into a pillar of light, piercing the sky.The phantom of Orochi let out a furious, unwilling scream before dissolving into the light.
But the crisis was far from over.
Miyuki Watanabe smirked and activated the Demon-Subduing Golem.
As Chen Jiuzhang stared at the fake Heavenly Talisman glowing in its chest, he knew—
The real battle… was just beginning.