Otherworldly Affairs Office

Before Pei Yan, the frozen pond was now almost entirely gone, a massive crater above which the Black-robed Man hovered in mid-air. The first sight that met the eyes was the severely injured Shangxing, his leg trapped under a giant chunk of ice, unable to move. Besides Xia Yu and Zhao Yuanhu who struggled to stand, the rest of the investigation bureau team was submerged in ice debris, life or death unknown.

"Mobilize all origins, abandon defense, attack with full force!" Pei Yan's remaining eye was bloodshot with fury, gritting his teeth as he commanded in his mind.

"But this will significantly reduce your chance of survival!"

"I said full attack!"

"Yes!"

Li Songtao looked with disdain at Pei Yan standing at the edge of the crater, his body emitting intense blue light, gun barrels constantly ejecting from his body. Usually unpredictable, he suddenly lost interest in this kid who dared to challenge him, thinking that those who were oblivious to the situation did not deserve to survive in this world.

With this thought, he slightly raised his arm, and three ice needles floated at his fingertips, flicking them away casually. After completing this action, Li Songtao didn't even cast another glance at him, shifting his gaze to the two people at another corner of the pond, in his eyes, Pei Yan was already a dead man.

But just as he was about to end the lives of everyone present and leave, the sound of the machine gun, which he both despised and feared, roared once more. Startled, he turned his head to see that the kid was miraculously still standing there alive!

The next moment, he looked down, incredulous at the ripples on his body's protective array. Continuous failures and the other party's repeated reckless provocations pushed Li Songtao to the brink of fury!

With a raise of his hand, spiritual power surged madly into his palm. No, how could this be! His spiritual power was dissipating halfway through gathering!

In his panic, Li Songtao focused his gaze, and suddenly noticed a scar-faced man behind that kid! Not just one, but one, two, three! Five people had suddenly appeared in the arena, and he hadn't noticed a thing!

"Don't worry, keep attacking, leave the rest to us." Gu Shenghui stood behind Pei Yan, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, speaking calmly.

Throughout, Pei Yan gritted his teeth and persevered. Upon hearing this sentence, tears finally uncontrollably flowed from the corners of his eyes, he choked and said, "You, you finally came! The team, and everyone...!"

"Rest assured, everyone's vital signs haven't faded, Elder Lin will definitely revive them. As for what this man did to you all tonight, we will repay him tenfold." As Gu Shenghui spoke, the long scar on his face trembled with anger. Throughout the night of battle, he had lost several colleagues from the bureau, and the Shangxing he had personally brought out was now also life or death unknown!

Such intensive cross-plane incursions were obviously not coincidental, these guys finally took a tentative first step!

If we don't strike back immediately, their next actions will surely become more aggressive!

So whether it was the newly established investigation bureau or the decisions by higher leadership, they reached a high degree of agreement on this incident. Faced with such provocative actions, retreat was unacceptable; we must respond with the strongest counterattack!

Li Songtao's and Gu Shenghui's gazes met in mid-air. Seeing the scorn in the scarred man's eyes, Li Songtao grew both furious and indignant, yet he never stopped. With a clap of his hands, twelve talismans floated in front of him, and with a wave of his large hand, he prepared to use his cultivation technique to strike back.

At that moment, however, the scene before him abruptly changed. The familiar battlefield vanished in an instant. One second, he was hovering over the pond's deep crater, and the next, he found himself in the Abi Hell, surrounded by countless souls, transformed into evil spirits by those he had cruelly murdered before, their hair disheveled and limbs severed, crying and lunging towards him to claim his life.

"A mere trick!" Li Songtao snorted coldly, ignoring the evil spirits tearing at his body. He muttered incantations while rapidly forming hand seals, finally letting out a loud shout. A beam of green light shone from his body, and the evil spirits around him turned into mist, wailing more faintly as they dispersed.

As the illusion gradually dissipated, Li Songtao's eyes widened in rage. In just the blink of an eye, the twelve talismans before him had vanished. In a fit of shock and anger, he looked around to find himself encased in strange characters, their source being the continuous flow of black ink from beneath the scarred man's feet. These characters were wrapped around him with transparent thin threads, firmly binding him and continually suppressing the release of his body's spiritual power.

"Ah! How dare you ants insult me so!" Li Songtao roared, his body radiating golden light. A tiny golden bell began to glow under his mental command, slowly brightening from his chest. As he muttered incantations, the bell grew larger and larger, quickly enveloping his entire body.

Just as the golden bell was about to burst forth and help breach his bindings, a radiance rose from the ground, circled Li Songtao, and forcibly drew the golden bell from him. In stunned disbelief, he watched as it carried a beam of golden light and drilled into the body of a young girl wearing a light veil by the pond.

Fear! For the first time that night, Li Songtao felt fear. Whether it was Pei Yan's bizarre devouring ability or being subdued by an alliance, although angered, he felt no fear. Since he had audaciously come to the Daoist Plane, he was prepared to face the experts of this plane and even be surrounded.

However, just now, a treasure, the Heart Desire Glazed Bell, which had been custom-made by his uncle and painstakingly nourished with his essence and blood for hundreds of years, was effortlessly taken away. Even more frightening, his body did not react at all, as if the treasure was never his but belonged to the opponent.

The protective array was becoming increasingly faint under that metal kid's rapid gunfire, his body and spiritual power suppressed by black characters and silver-white threads, unable to move. Even worse, if he relaxed his mind slightly, waves of colorful mist would attempt to invade his body, threatening to plunge him into another illusion.

Before tonight, Li Songtao never imagined being pushed to such a desperate state in a world of ants, his shame and anger causing him to lose his sanity. With a wild roar, he opened his mouth wide, spiritual Qi from the Daoist Plane's rift behind him poured maniacally into his mouth, and as his body rapidly swelled, six sharp swords hovered behind him.

Just as he prepared to unleash his might, using magical artifacts to sever his bindings, that clear radiance flickered again. This time, it not only took all six swords suspended behind him but his Heart's Wandering Bell, heeding the young girl's command, fiercely struck its former master.

Interrupted in his attempt to harness the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi by his prized Heart Desire Glazed Bell, insult, grievance, anger! A combination of emotions overwhelmed him, and the once-arrogant Li Songtao could no longer withstand the blow, and as his spiritual Qi leaked from his body, he spat out a mouthful of blood from his heart, his figure rapidly wilting.