Reversing Falsehood and Preserving Truth: All Gods and Gods Are in My Hands

"Lu Yu! Hang in there! Your brother Lei is here to save the day!"

A familiar roar ripped through the darkness. Zhao Lei charged forward like a runaway bull, crashing through the surging phantoms. His tracksuit was covered in sticky liquid, and he was carrying a broken metal rack pole. With a whooshing sound, he smashed it down on the tentacle wrapped around Lu Yu's arm.

Relying on the fact that he wouldn't be devoured by the ethereal spirits, he pounced forward and grabbed the thickest tentacle, pulling backward with his waist and abdomen. "These octopus demons are pretty persistent, let go of me!"

The tentacles were stretched taut, and the force binding Lu Yu loosened somewhat.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lu Yu channeled his last ounce of true power. A flash of light appeared at his fingertips as he severed the tentacles binding his wrist. Staggering, he helped Su Wan up, a metallic taste rising in his throat: "Why did you take so long to get back? Any later and we'd be midnight snacks!"

"Don't even mention it! Suddenly it was pitch black, and I had to circle around three times before I finally found the stairs!" Zhao Lei grinned, kicking away an approaching phantom with a backhand kick, and sweeping a shelf pole to repel several phantoms that surrounded him. "But these things can't hurt me, so it's good to stretch my muscles!"

Su Wan trembled as she took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, the faint beam piercing the darkness.

There were too many ethereal beings, surging in like a tidal wave. Although Zhao Lei was immune to being devoured, he couldn't withstand the sheer number of them. Soon, several thin tentacles wrapped around his ankles, and he staggered and almost fell over. The shelf pole also slipped from his grasp.

Upon seeing this, Su Wan's face turned pale, but her eyes remained firm. Her hands unconsciously clenched into fists, and a faint silver halo suddenly emanated from her body, like a thin veil of moonlight, gentle yet possessing a calming magic.

A miraculous scene unfolded—

The phantoms that were rushing towards Zhao Lei suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed. Their raised tentacles fell limply, their roars ceased abruptly, and they froze in place, losing their power to attack and devour. Even more absurdly, one of the plump phantoms actually emitted a soft snoring sound from its throat.

"What... what's going on?" Zhao Lei was stunned, taking the opportunity to break free from the tentacles, scratching his head with a confused look. "Su Wan, what kind of cheat did you use? It even has a hypnotic effect?"

Lu Yu was also shocked and stared at the silver light flowing around Su Wan. Just as he was about to ask a question, he saw her body sway, and the silver light receded like a tide, and she fell straight to the ground.

"Su Wan!"

Lu Yu quickly bent down to support her and found that she had fainted, her face was as pale as paper, and her breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

"Oh no, she can't hold on any longer!" Lu Yu's heart tightened. Just as he was about to move Su Wan behind the shelf, he heard a clear incantation coming from outside the window:

"The profound origin of heaven and earth, the root of all energies, cultivated for countless eons, to prove my divine power—the Purification Seal!"

Moonlight streamed in through the glass facade of the shopping mall, and Liu Jing's figure burst through the window, accompanied by a man dressed in black.

The man had a cold and stern face, with sharp, piercing eyes, and held a short blade that gleamed coldly in his hand.

"Shen Che, I'm leaving the scene to you! I need to go check on my students!" Before Liu Jing finished speaking, she had already conjured three talismans, golden light flashing from her fingertips.

The man called Shen Che nodded, his figure darting out like a ghost, his short blade drawing a cold arc, precisely slashing at the strongest and most conspicuous ethereal spirit wearing a security guard hat.

The ethereal spirit was about to swing its tentacles in resistance when it was pierced by the pale golden power on the short blade. It let out a piercing shriek, and its body quickly melted away in the golden light, turning into black smoke along with the security guard hat on its head, leaving not a trace.

"Wow! That was so cool!" Zhao Lei's eyes lit up. He grabbed the shelf handle and started charging forward, knocking over the ethereal spirits blocking his way. "Brother Shen, I'll clear a path for you!"

Shen Che didn't stop moving. With his short blade flashing, several of the thickest ethereal spirits were killed one after another. His movements were clean and efficient, without any unnecessary actions.

His gaze paused for half a second as it swept over Zhao Lei, his eyebrows slightly raised—this young man could directly touch the ethereal spirit without being affected, and even physically collide with and interfere with it, without emitting a trace of the power of the Great Dao. This was the first time he had ever seen such a thing. A hint of barely perceptible curiosity flashed in his eyes.

Ignoring the commotion, Liu Jing quickly walked to Lu Yu's side, her fingertips casting golden light on Su Wan's brow, gently smoothing her furrowed brow: "She's just exhausted, nothing serious." After speaking, she turned to look around, her brows furrowing slightly, "There are too many ethereal spirits, we can't kill them indiscriminately, otherwise the repair of the world's rules will cause uncontrollable fluctuations."

She raised her hand and took out a yellow talisman. A wisp of golden light ignited the talisman at her fingertips, and she threw it precisely at the smoke and heat detectors on the ceiling. The alarm sounded, and the fire sprinkler system activated, pouring out a fine stream of water that instantly enveloped the entire mall.

Liu Jing raised her hands to form a hand seal, chanting, "Purifying power, merge into the water!"

The pale golden purifying power spread from her palm and merged into the falling water. The originally transparent water droplets were instantly tinged with a soft golden light, turning into "purifying rain".

Water droplets fell on the ethereal beings, and those still ethereal beings emitted faint hissing sounds. The texture of their bodies rapidly faded, their tentacles curled and contracted, and they completely lost their ability to move, collapsing to the ground like soulless puppets.

"This rain is amazing! It's like it has special effects!" Zhao Lei exclaimed in amazement, letting the purifying rain fall on his body, feeling cool and comfortable.

Shen Che sheathed his weapon and stood aside, his gaze sweeping over the listless, lifeless spirits scattered on the ground. His tone was cold: "We need to count the number of spirits. I've already notified the support team to send over some spirit-soothing liquid." He turned to Zhao Lei, "Aren't you afraid the spirits will devour you?"

"I'm scared! I'm scared of them being all sticky and disgusting!" Zhao Lei scratched his head. "But hitting them is like hitting a punching bag, it's quite stress-relieving."

Liu Jing explained, "Shen Che is the head of the Emergency Response Department of the Central State Branch of the Shouzhen Bureau. Your trait of immunity to the devouring of ethereal spirits is indeed rare, and you may need to cooperate with the Shouzhen Bureau Research Institute for further testing."

"Testing? Is it like in the movies, with all sorts of sensors covering your body?" Zhao Lei's eyes lit up, instantly becoming interested. He even wanted to take off his shirt to show off his muscles. "If that's the case, can you take a few more pictures of me? I want to post them on my WeChat Moments to brag!"

Shen Che didn't reply, clearly unaccustomed to this unpredictable personality. He turned to Liu Jing and said, "The support team will be here in ten minutes. I'll stay here to guard against the executors. You take these three children and leave first?"

"Let's wait together." Liu Jing looked at Su Wan, who was still unconscious, with a worried tone. "The support team has some calming medicine on them. I need to give it to Su Wan. Also, we shouldn't get separated, lest the executors descend elsewhere and harm innocent people."

"Ah!!! Who are you people?! I'm calling the police!"

A piercing scream shattered the silence, and the man in the suit woke up at an inopportune moment. Seeing the "monster" sprawled on the ground and the people soaking wet, he trembled with fear and could barely speak.

Before Liu Jing could respond, Shen Che moved swiftly and delivered a precise chop to the man in the suit's neck. The man's eyes rolled back, and he lay back down stiffly.

Shen Che glanced at the man in the suit whose crotch was soaked, and expressionlessly touched the communication button on his collar: "Bring another bottle of forgetfulness potion."

At Liu Jing's prompting, Lu Yu sat down by the shelf and gave Zhao Lei, who was full of curiosity, a simple explanation of the truth of this world—the existence of ethereal spirits, the power of truth, and the responsibilities of the Bureau of Guarding Truth. Zhao Lei listened with exclamations of surprise and complaints, completely losing his previous tension.

As they were talking, no one noticed that in the corner of the mall, under a display case that had been knocked askew during the chaos, a pair of dark eyes were silently watching them.

It was a small, ethereal creature that happened to be hiding in the blind spot of the fire sprinkler system.