After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

On the other side, Xie Jinchen faced the Vajra Subduing Demon Formation formed by ten monks alone.

Once the Buddhist formation was complete, the ten people's auras were linked, and the Buddhist light flowed faintly, like an invisible golden cage, trapping Xie Jinchen in the center.

The air itself seemed to carry a solemn power that suppressed evil spirits.

Xie Jinchen's expression was cold and stern, and wisps of dark red murderous aura began to emanate from his body.

The malevolent energy clashed with the surrounding golden Buddhist light, producing a faint hissing sound.

"Subdue the demon!"

At the command of the leading monk Huitong, three monks in front of him stepped forward simultaneously, their staffs gleaming with Buddhist light, launching a fierce attack from three directions—upper, middle, and lower—in a triangular formation.

Xie Jinchen's eyes narrowed, and he slid half a step to the left and back, narrowly avoiding the attack.

At the same time, his left hand flicked his fingers in quick succession, and three dark red evil energies flew out, striking the middle section of the staff.

The malevolent energy and the Buddhist light collided violently. The three monks felt a strange, chilling, and trembling force coming from their weapons. Their Buddhist power stagnates slightly, and their attack slows down by a fraction.

In that brief moment, Xie Jinchen had already slipped through the gap in the staff and struck one of the monks in the side with a backhand.

The monk hurriedly swung his staff to block, but Xie Jinchen's palm technique suddenly changed, transforming his palm into a finger, and his murderous aura struck the monk's wrist acupoint.

The monk was shocked and hastily changed his move, but his wrist was still struck by the evil energy, causing a sudden numbness and pain, and he almost lost his grip on the staff.

"Rotate! Lock!"

Huitong, with his extensive experience, immediately changed tactics.

The formation shifted, and the two monks who were originally on the flanks instantly filled in, one of them wielding an iron staff and sweeping it across Xie Jinchen's lower body.

The other person's palms flew, creating layers of Buddhist palm shadows that enveloped Xie Jinchen's upper body.

At the same time, strong winds came from behind and to the left and right.

Xie Jinchen had no way to avoid it.

"Clang!"

With a clear, resonant sword cry, the moment the longsword was drawn, an even more intense aura of malevolence erupted.

Xie Jinchen flicked his wrist, and the sword light transformed into a dark red light screen that protected his body.

The sounds of metal clashing and energy colliding rang out in rapid succession.

Xie Jinchen's body trembled violently, his tiger's mouth split open, and a trickle of blood flowed down the hilt of his sword.

Although he blocked most of the attacks, his left shoulder was still struck by a sharp palm wind, leaving a charred palm print on his shoulder that stung painfully. Furthermore, Buddhist power attempted to invade his meridians, but was forcibly expelled by the baleful energy circulating within his body.

At the same time, two monks who attacked from the side and rear were also forced back by the sword energy he swung backhand.

One of them had his monk's robe ripped open on his chest, and blood seeped from the wound. As the evil energy invaded, his face instantly turned several shades paler.

"Change formation! Lotus Strangulation!"

Seeing that conventional formations were unlikely to bring about a quick victory, Huitong immediately changed his formation again.

The ten monks moved in an intertwined manner, their steps becoming more complex. The Buddha's light, like golden lotus petals closing and rotating inward, pressed down on the center with the power to crush everything.

The pressure suddenly increased, as if the air had been sucked out, making it suffocating.

Xie Jinchen felt immense pressure. His sword danced like a wheel, unleashing his murderous aura to its fullest extent. A constantly flickering protective shield of murderous aura formed around him, colliding violently with the golden lotus petals that were attacking him.

Several more wounds appeared on his body, and blood seeped out.

The monks besieging Xie Jinchen were also suffering, as the corrosive power of the evil aura was extremely insidious, constantly depleting their Buddhist power.

Two people were injured by the sword energy, and their movements became sluggish. The originally flawless formation began to show a slight, imperceptible stagnation.

Just when the battle reached a stalemate—

"Little Master~"

A deliberately coquettish call suddenly rang out from the sidelines.

The sound was out of place with the surrounding shouts of battle, yet it possessed an eerie penetrating power, clearly reaching the ears of many.

Everyone subconsciously looked over and saw that Wang Dazhuang, with Xiao Zhuang's charming face, had arrived with dozens of black-clad guards.

His gaze swept across the room and accurately located the young monk Huixin, who had previously been the most shy.

Ignoring the fierce glares from the other monks beside him, Wang Dazhuang swayed his slender waist and walked towards the position where Huixin was.

As they drew near, the paper hand slid ambiguously down the young monk's neck, its voice sending shivers down his spine:

"Little master, you were avoiding me in the teahouse, not even glancing at me properly. Now, with all the swords flashing, it's terrifying!"

"Why don't you... return to secular life, put down the stick, and take a good look at me?"

Wang Dazhuang's eyes curved into crescent moons as he gave her a charming and alluring look, his voice sweet and cloying, "This humble servant...likes you so much~ Your heart is beating so fast~"

Huixin was young and vigorous, and had grown up in the temple since childhood. He had never experienced such a scene before.

He had already blushed from being teased by this woman, and now, caught off guard by her whispering sweet nothings in his ear during the intense battle, his mind was thrown into chaos.

Huixin felt a rush of heat to her head, her cheeks instantly turning as red as a boiled shrimp, and even the roots of her ears turned bright red.

My mind went blank; all thoughts of formations, Buddhist scriptures, and verses vanished instantly.

The staff he was holding trembled slightly, almost slipping from his grasp, and the Buddhist power circulating within his body was disrupted, causing his breathing to become chaotic.

He stammered, his eyes darting around in a panic: "You, you female benefactor! Stop, stop talking nonsense! Ah, Amitabha! Forgive me, forgive me!"

He tried desperately to calm himself, but the alluring face and the eerie touch lingering on his neck swirled in his mind like a curse.

It was in that instant that my mind went blank.

The Vajra Subduing Demon Formation consists of ten people as one, with their breaths connected and their minds in harmony.

Huixin's sudden and intense emotional fluctuations and disruption of Buddhist power were like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly transmitted to the other nine monks through the array.

"Um?!"

"Wisdom! Guard your mind!"

"A demon bewitches the mind!"

The other monks, especially Huitong who was in charge of the formation, immediately sensed something was wrong and spoke up to reprimand them, trying to stabilize the situation.

However, this slight disturbance caused the formation, which was already sluggish due to Xie Jinchen's resistance, to fluctuate even more noticeably.

The golden Buddhist light of the formation dimmed.

Seeing this, Xie Jinchen did not hesitate at all. He drew a fierce aura in the air with the tip of his left finger and shouted:

"Borrowing the power of Heaven and Earth, breaking through the barriers of Yin and Yang!"

"The evil spirits surge forth, the core of the formation—"

"open!"

A phantom talisman instantly took shape, and with a flick of his sword tip, it flew toward the feet of Huixin, who had lost her composure.

"boom!"

The talisman exploded, and the baleful energy frantically eroded the Buddhist power connection at the node. The entire golden lotus strangulation array trembled violently, like a gear that had gotten stuck, emitting a piercing creaking sound.

Xie Jinchen followed his sword, transforming into a dark red streak, carrying a murderous aura and sharp sword intent, as he slashed down at the cracked node of the formation.

"Pfft!"

The two monks blocking the path of the formation were the first to be hit. Their barely condensed Buddhist light shield was slammed into them by Xie Jinchen's long-awaited all-out attack, the sword energy mixed with the mind-corroding evil wind.