"Oh, got it. I'll be careful going in. Thanks for the advice, senior..." Shawn Young said.
"What are you mumbling about over there?" Jade Swann, who was standing nearby, saw Shawn Young grinning at thin air and asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing. Let's go..." Shawn quickly withdrew his spiritual sense, then grabbed Jade Swann's hand and the two walked straight into the valley.
As soon as they stepped into the valley and walked a short distance, Shawn suddenly sensed something was off ahead. He focused his gaze and, in a fleeting moment, saw a gray shadow darting quickly in a corner not far to the left. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the dense forest.
"Hm? What was that?" Jade Swann also sensed something strange and exclaimed in surprise.
"No idea... Let's go check it out! But be careful, it could be a trap set by the enemy..." Despite his surprise, Shawn didn't forget to warn Jade Swann.
"Got it!" Jade Swann nodded, tightened her grip on the divine weapon 'Raikiri,' and carefully moved left with Shawn.
The two rounded a bend in the valley and were suddenly stunned by the scene before them...
They saw a stretch of low hills, undulating across the landscape. Since the soil was barren, most of the area was covered in sparse wild grass. But what shocked Shawn and Jade Swann most was a patch of unusual plants at the center of the hills.
These plants were completely out of place with the barren land around them—not only were they lush and vibrant, but they spanned dozens of acres and were arranged in a bizarre pattern across the hills.
"Huh? What did you say? Nether Millet? You actually recognize this plant?" Yan Xiaoyu asked in surprise, eyes wide.
But Shawn Young didn’t answer her. Instead, he made a quick hand seal with his left, swept aside the leaves of the nearest plant with his right, then reached down and yanked the entire plant up by the roots. The soil beneath parted, and a horrifying human face was revealed—left eye streaming tears, right eye streaked with blood, the skin a ghastly blue, the body dried and shriveled almost to a mummy. Clearly, this person had been dead for a long time.
"Ah! There’s a corpse!" Yan Xiaoyu yelped, jumping back in fright.
Shawn stepped forward and, following the same method, uprooted several more plants in succession. Sure enough, beneath each one was a dead body, all looking nearly identical.
The weirdest part? All these corpses were clustered together, and the roots of the plants were embedded right in their hearts, tangled and fused with the dead bodies. The sight was both horrifying and bizarre—and every single corpse was male!
"That’s right, this is Nether Millet—extremely yin in nature. It thrives on death and feeds off male corpses, converting pure yin into yang. That’s how it can produce such gorgeous flowers... Plus, its blossoms can gather spirits and summon ghosts, packed with powerful Nether Essence that reverses the flow of yang!"
"Uh... What exactly is this 'Nether Essence that reverses yang'?" Yan Xiaoyu asked, looking baffled.
"Basically, 'Nether Essence that reverses yang' is a mix of yin and yang energies, forced together in a way that goes against nature. It’s totally the kind of thing you’d find in evil sorcery or dark Taoist magic," Shawn explained, keeping his tone casual.
"Hahaha... Such a miraculous technique, and you call it evil sorcery! Clearly, you have no taste!" A voice rang out from within the patch of Nether Millet, speaking awkward Mandarin. It was shrill and strange, neither male nor female, making it impossible to tell the speaker’s gender.
[End of this section. Click next page to continue reading!]
"Who’s there? Who’s inside..." Shawn Young jumped, swept his left hand, and sent a gust of force to part the Nether Millet ahead. His view widened instantly, and he saw someone standing with their back to him atop an especially tall Nether Millet. The figure wore a bizarre gray robe and held a vibrant flower from the plant, inhaling its yin energy with a look of pure bliss.
"Kid... we meet again!" The person spoke while slowly turning around to face Shawn.
"Ah! You... you're Daniel Nagumo!" Shawn finally saw the person’s face and couldn’t help but shout. It was none other than Daniel Nagumo, who’d been left for dead after Shawn’s infamous 'chrysanthemum explosion'!
"Heh... Kid, ever since I learned you were the one who sabotaged me, I’ve been thinking about you nonstop!" Daniel Nagumo sneered, his eyes flashing with menace, his tone turning vicious.
"Oh, haha... So it’s Young Master Nagumo! Long time no see—how’ve you been? You look pretty lively, even out here admiring the flowers. Is your body all healed up? Is your chrysanthemum still itching?" Shawn, knowing they were mortal enemies, didn’t hold back with the sarcasm.
"Itching, my ass! Damn brat, if Hayato Falcon hadn’t saved me, I’d be dead because of you! Today’s the day we settle the score." Daniel Nagumo spat out each word with hatred.
"Hahaha... Daniel Nagumo, honestly, just imagine—a bamboo that long and thick shoved up your chrysanthemum, and you survived! You could probably go toe-to-toe with the Invincible East. I’m genuinely curious, is your chrysanthemum still as radiant as ever? Want to show me?" Shawn teased shamelessly.
"Uh... Yeah, how did he survive having something that huge shoved up his... rectum? It’s honestly a miracle!" Jade Swann had been there at the time; though she hadn’t seen Daniel Nagumo’s ordeal firsthand, she’d heard plenty in the reports and couldn’t help but be curious.
"Maybe he always wanted to be a woman..." Shawn said, eyeing Daniel Nagumo’s 'delicate' appearance and making a bold guess.
"Ugh... That’s disgusting!" Jade Swann recoiled, clearly not ready to accept a man turning into a woman.
"Are you two done yet? Listen up—I'm the main character here!" Daniel Nagumo, fed up with their relentless teasing, shrieked, his anger boiling over as they treated him more like a clown than a master.
"Hahaha... I told you, he’s turning into a monster! Just listen to that weird voice..." Shawn kept up the venomous banter, knowing that riling Daniel Nagumo would make him lose his cool—and in a showdown between experts, losing your cool is the beginning of disaster.
"Damn brat, go to hell!" Daniel Nagumo finally snapped, hurling the Nether Millet flower in his hand and raising both arms in a circular hand seal. His billowing gray robe puffed up dramatically.
At the same time, his once-fair hands suddenly turned fiery red, marked with strange silver patterns, and his nails darkened to jet black—creepy as hell.
"Hmm... That’s a yin-yang hand seal. Looks like he’s about to use onmyōdō to summon ghosts..." Jade Swann recognized the gesture; it was the classic summoning seal from Japanese onmyōdō.
"Summon ghosts? I’d love to see what kind of freaks he can bring out!" Shawn squinted, figuring Daniel Nagumo would call up the corpses buried under the Nether Millet. If that was the case, a blast of palm lightning would wipe them out in no time.
But instead, Daniel Nagumo formed the seal and began chanting rapidly, reciting the onmyōdō incantation: "By this command! Descend, spirits of the true! Bind the wicked souls! Hundred ghosts, obey—submit! Bear the lotus! The void! Supreme victory—subdue! Reveal yourself! Reveal yourself!"