Chapter 58: Advancing to Soul Restraint! (Part One)

Five more wraiths to go… Six left in the feeding zones…
There’s enough time, and enough numbers!
The Underworld Agent’s badge floated into his chest. Just as he was about to dash downstairs, his gaze suddenly sharpened.
Specters!
A boundless tide of specters!
All around the building, the ocean of dark energy surged like rolling mountains. Crimson lanterns, each inscribed with the black character for “Cao,” dangled from the hands of these specters, who surged forth from all directions.
As vast as mountains, as endless as the sea, blotting out the sky and sun.
“Not stupid. And not slow to react, either,” Qin Ye slowly raised his ghost-headed saber, the shadowy energy about him erupting with a roar. “Can’t hold back anymore? Or have you finally figured it out?”
The sound of swallowing echoed through the lonely night. Dozens, then hundreds of blood-red eyes turned toward the rooftop, where talismans fluttered in the air.
Like a sky full of blood and cold stars.
The robe of the underworld agent danced with no wind, the ghost-headed saber flickered with green flames, and the scene was dead silent.
“Roar!!!”
In the next instant, as an earth-shattering howl exploded from all sides, tens of thousands of specters fell like rain and stars, madly charging toward the rooftop.
No matter the cost—kill on sight!
With a buzz, the ghost-headed saber swept up a wave of green fire, instantly reducing all nearby specters to ashes. But this was only a drop in the ocean; as the first wave vanished, the next surged in from every direction like a tidal wave.
Yes, ordinary specters barely possessed any offensive power. But humans are beings of yin and yang. If too many specters rush into a body, evil energy will invade, the three soul fires will be extinguished, and no one would survive.
Cao Youdao meant to use the simplest and most effective tactic—sheer numbers—to obliterate Qin Ye.
On the rooftop, souls fell like rain, countless specters suicidally charging into the range of the saber’s gleam. There were too many… so many that the green fire upon the saber began to flicker, and tens of thousands was no exaggeration!
Yet at that very moment—
Before Qin Ye could even think of escaping, a voice boomed from fifty meters away, broadcasted loud and clear: “Release!!”
Even before the word had faded, all around the building, a rain of arrows—each one tipped with a burning talisman—shot forth by the hundreds and thousands, as dense as a swarm of locusts. They left trails of dazzling fire in the night, surging at the specters like waves crashing against the shore!
Screeches filled the sky. The heavens had become a playground for specters, tens of thousands swirling around the building, forming a tornado of dark wind in the air, mixed with countless blood-red lanterns, creating a terrifying sight. Under the attack of a thousand burning arrows, the outer ring of specters was instantly annihilated amid shrill howls.
“What is this…” Qin Ye was stunned, his hand on the saber slackening. He never expected this—reinforcements from the Living World’s army!
Looking out, he saw that around the building, a convoy had spread out for a hundred meters, its lights blazing. Not only were there soldiers in camouflage and police uniforms, but nearly a hundred cultivators, their true energy surging, had joined in.
At that moment, a powerful sense of danger swept over him. Instinctively, he drew in the ghost-headed saber, and his underworld agent’s robe transformed into camouflage. The very next second, a gaze landed squarely upon him.
Boom!
As soon as that gaze locked onto him, his body froze as if crushed beneath a mountain.
Not just him—at that moment, every specter in Bao’an City seemed to fall silent for an instant. Beneath the grand insignia, Cao Youdao jerked his head up, sharply inhaling.
“This is… a Wuchang-level presence! The Inspector from the provincial capital, Luanshan, has arrived!”
The other’s aura, compared to Qin Ye’s, was like a candle against the full moon. It felt as if the entire downtown district was laid bare before that single gaze.
The pressure swept the rooftop like a gale, clearing all before it. Qin Ye understood exactly what it was—he was not alarmed, as he had expected this. There had already been a near-Wuchang-level Daoist disciple in Qingxi County; Bao’an City was in chaos tonight, and the arrival of a Wuchang-level force from the Living World was inevitable—perhaps there would even be more than one!
“How bold,” came a hoarse, grim chuckle from the center of the crowd, as a gaunt old man gently doffed his cloak and looked up at the vortex of specters swirling in the sky, which had already pierced a hole in the clouds. “The tiger shows no claws, and they really dare to climb onto our heads!”

Before the words had faded, he slapped the seat of the jeep beneath him and shot forth like an arrow.
“The Liu family, foremost corpse-walkers of Xiangxi… I, myself, will escort you all back to the Underworld!”
Qin Ye watched the old man with unblinking eyes. The man did not fly, but with each light step, he crossed more than ten meters, as if his body weighed nothing.
At the same moment, thirty young cultivators in yellow Daoist robes and yin-yang headcloths leaped from his side. Each wielded a long rope, bells tied all along its length. After dashing ten meters, the Daoists flicked their sleeves, the ropes seeming endless as they intertwined and shot into the sky. With a chorus of crisp ringing, they formed a vast formation of ropes above the roof of the three-story building.
All at once, the ropes drew taut, and everyone could plainly see—dangling from those slim cords, each only a few millimeters thick, were coffins!
Coffins plastered with talismans.
Coffins suspended in midair!
“If you don’t leave now, are you waiting to die?” The old man’s voice snapped Qin Ye out of his reverie. He instantly realized that a battle between Wuchang-level powers and millions of specters was about to erupt; to linger any longer would mean unimaginable consequences if he got caught up in it.
Without hesitation, he slipped away as fast as he could. Just as he reached the bottom floor, powerful waves of dark energy began to seep from the coffins.
As if a hundred asuras were awakening.
Not daring to delay, Qin Ye dashed out of the district at full speed. The instant he left, the sky erupted with howls of rage, as innumerable specters fell like shooting stars!
To meet them were hundreds of corpse puppets, all clad in Qing Dynasty garb, yellow talismans pasted to their foreheads, charging in unison!
Boom, boom, boom!
Thunderous explosions rocked the air, waves of dark and true energy sweeping across a hundred meters. Every twenty seconds, another volley of a thousand burning arrows soared skyward, streaking across the heavens with pinpoint accuracy.
Qin Ye paid it no mind.
His heart pounded faster. Tonight, at last, the true climax had arrived.
The Living World had intervened with force, Wuchang had descended, and the bulk of Cao Youdao’s spectral army was now locked in battle, buying Qin Ye ample time.
“Sixty more merit points… Cao Youdao, when I rise to Soul Seizer, what kind of face will you make?”
11:50 p.m.—the eighth feeding zone is breached!
“Wraith slain. Gained twenty merit points.”
“Current merit: 140 points. Forty more to promotion.”
Meanwhile, at Bao’an Central Plaza, twenty thousand specters gathered, battering the central square. Arrayed against them were the 734th Regiment, the 625th Regiment, twenty full agents and seventy-eight probationary agents, all accompanying the Inspector. The lights of the army and the blue-white sea of ghostly energy clashed, every inch of ground fiercely contested!
Night, 12:39 a.m.
Boom! A thunderous crash. The ground was scored with blade marks, deep gouges slashed into the earth. A female ghost in a white dress screamed shrilly, her form split in two, dissipating into the air as a specter.
The fifth feeding zone is breached!
Qin Ye stood atop the highest cemetery in Bao’an City. The air vibrated, the ghost-headed saber flaring bright green. With a low, resonant hum, the blade curved like a crescent moon, deep blood grooves appearing on both sides.
Now, the saber was nearly a meter and a half long. Serrated edge, five rings on its spine, green fire engulfing the entire weapon—an instrument of slaughter.
“Wraith slain. Gained twenty merit points.”
“Current merit: 160 points. Only forty left to promotion.”
“Damn it!”
Under the grand insignia, with a roar from Cao Youdao, the glass window in front of him exploded into shards.
His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, both arms braced on the table. The floor beneath his feet was cracked, the lavishly decorated room in ruins, littered with broken bottles and expensive cigars. His robe—far more magnificent than Qin Ye’s—billowed angrily, rustling like a furious dragon.
Seven…
Seven whole feeding zones!

Now, two paths lay before him.
First, kill Qin Ye at all costs!
This option was discarded immediately. Impossible. The Underworld Register would allow him to slowly become a Yama; as long as he survived, he could usher in a new era as King Yama! How could he risk such a precious life for a single maggot?
Second, withdraw all specters and pretend tonight never happened.
But this was even more difficult.
Things were spinning out of control…
He never imagined that after the other’s frenzied attacks—and the Special Investigation Unit’s overwhelming intervention—the situation would shift in such subtle yet monumental ways.
If they parted tonight, there might never be another chance to kill him!
To watch the Underworld’s greatest treasure vanish before his eyes?
To see the enemy run amok on his own turf, helpless to stop it?
That humiliation was intolerable!
He said nothing more, his mind racing. After twenty minutes, his face ashen, he finally spoke.
“Kid… you’ve got some nerve… I never imagined the Underworld’s treasure could conceal an agent’s aura. This time, I, Cao Youdao, miscalculated… Ah Qi… Ah Qi!!”
A paper effigy, hiding somewhere, crept out and whispered, “Master…”
“Pass the order… withdraw!” Cao Youdao ground the words out between clenched teeth.
“Yes…”
The paper effigy departed. Cao Youdao braced himself against the table like a statue. Seconds later, with a sudden blow, the table shattered into pieces. He buried his hands in his hair, clutching his scalp.
“Just you wait… you bastard…”
He let out a long, slow breath. His robe shifted, becoming a sharp suit once more. Panting, he slumped onto the last intact sofa, and out of habit, reached for a cigar—only to see the chaos strewn across the floor.
“Damn it!”
He closed his eyes to rest. Ten minutes. Twenty. His order should have been delivered by now. He tried to comfort himself—it was nothing, the Underworld’s treasures all had their own wonders, he still held the upper hand. There was still time…
Yet at that moment, his eyes snapped open.
“What’s this…” Even his voice trembled.
A distress signal…
Another feeding zone had sent out a plea for help.
Just now!
His enemy… had not stopped!