580: Chapter 580 The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons?

"A woman's mouth is a lying ghost."

"I see you're about to start drooling."

Ye Chen replied bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Yan Qingwu subconsciously touched the corner of her mouth, then paused as she realized she had been tricked.

Her face darkened.

But before she could speak, Ye Chen had already sat down on the other side of the low table, picked up another can of beer, pulled the tab, and took a sip.

"What is it, exactly?"

"Hmph!"

Yan Qingwu gave a charming snort, pulled a phone out of her bathrobe pocket, and placed it on the table.

"I just spoke with the old man on the phone."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. "You told him?"

"I did."

Yan Qingwu rolled her eyes.

"However, the old man doesn't understand why you wanted to save the Ancient Tomb Sect, why you took them in as subordinates, and why you would offend the One Clan, Three Sects, Five Gates for a group of unrelated people."

Ye Chen took a sip of beer and said indifferently, "When you get back, explain to the old man that the Ancient Tomb Sect and I share the same lineage and have a great deal of history together."

Yan Qingwu was stunned.

"What lineage?"

Ye Chen thought for a moment before finding an excuse to brush her off: "My inheritance and the founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect come from the same place."

Yan Qingwu suddenly understood.

She had always believed that for Ye Chen to be so powerful, he must have obtained some fortuitous inheritance.

A stroke of luck combined with talent was what made the Ye Chen of today...

Otherwise,

no matter how heaven-defying a person's talent was, it would be absolutely impossible to step into the Golden Core Realm at such a young age.

It would be even more impossible to casually create a Heaven Realm Expert!

But she was very surprised that Ye Chen's inheritance was actually related to the Ancient Tomb Sect.

According to records...

The Ancient Tomb Sect's inheritance came from cultivation techniques dug out of a tomb, which was why it was named the Ancient Tomb Sect.

How could they be from the same lineage?

However,

Yan Qingwu was a smart woman; she didn't press him further and instead asked another question: "Saving them shouldn't be for this reason alone, right?"

"Smart."

Ye Chen smiled.

"Initially, I saved them only for the bronze key, but later I discovered their uniqueness, so I saved them."

"But later I realized..."

"I could completely have them represent me in the Martial Arts Tournament and plant my own forces in the Kunlun Ruins."

"After all..."

"The waters of the Kunlun Ruins are deep. No matter how strong I am alone, I can't keep an eye on it every moment."

"I need a pair of eyes and a pair of hands to watch that side for me and handle matters there."

After listening,

Yan Qingwu's eyes were very bright.

She suddenly felt...

that this man's ambition was exceptionally large.

And he was very far-sighted.

Taking one step while looking ten steps ahead.

Everyone thought he had just acted on impulse, rashly offending the One Clan, Three Sects, Five Gates for a woman and a key.

But in reality, he had calculated every step.

"You are truly terrifying," Yan Qingwu said sincerely. "I'm afraid it won't be long before the Kunlun Ruins experiences a major upheaval."

Ye Chen smiled. "Thank you for the compliment."

"I wasn't complimenting you."

"I know, but I'm taking it as a compliment."

Yan Qingwu was speechless.

Ye Chen shifted the topic and asked, "By the way, what's the situation with the intelligence system?"

Yan Qingwu pulled a folded piece of paper from her bathrobe pocket and spread it out on the low table.

A map was drawn on the paper, marked with dense symbols and text.

"This is the distribution map of the joint intelligence network of the Dragon Group and the Yan Family in Japan."

Her finger pointed to the location of Fukuoka.

"Fukuoka is our core base in Japan. Below it are four secondary stations and twelve tertiary stations, covering all of Japan."

"But just a few days ago, these stations began to lose contact one by one."

Ye Chen frowned slightly. "Lost contact?"

"Yes."

Yan Qingwu's finger moved across the map. "First it was the station in Nagasaki, then Kumamoto, then Oita, and finally Kagoshima... all four secondary stations have lost contact."

"What about the tertiary stations?"

"Seven have lost contact, and the remaining five cannot be reached either; it just hasn't been confirmed yet."

Ye Chen's brow furrowed even tighter.

"What's the cause?"

Yan Qingwu shook her head.

"I don't know. That's what I'm most worried about, and it's our main task for coming here to investigate."

"If they were taken out by an enemy, there would at least be traces or news coming out."

"But there's nothing. It's as if..."

She paused, a hint of gravity flashing in her eyes, "...they vanished into thin air."

Ye Chen leaned against the wall, his fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

"Do you have any suspected targets?"

Yan Qingwu nodded. "Based on the investigation, we suspect it's the work of the Yin Yang Society."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Yin Yang Society? What's that?"

Yan Qingwu took a deep breath and explained.

"The Yin Yang Society is a force founded by the Onmyoji, Seimei Kangyue."

"This person's status in Japan is even more transcendent than the Emperor's."

"Rumor has it he has lived for over a hundred years, is proficient in Onmyoji arts, can control a Hundred Ghosts, and can even communicate with the Underworld."

"Even the Emperor can do nothing about him. In all of Japan, no one dares to provoke the Yin Yang Society."

"In certain special circumstances, the Emperor even needs to personally invite him to get him to act."

She paused, her voice dropping a few notches.

"And only this force could silently control a Hundred Ghosts to devour and eliminate people."

"No living person seen, no corpse found—not a single trace left behind."

"This matches the 'vanishing into thin air' characteristic of the intelligence stations perfectly."

After listening, Ye Chen stretched.

"Controlling a Hundred Ghosts? Communicating with the Underworld?"

"That's a bit interesting."

"I'll change my clothes, and we'll go check out the nearest missing station."

Yan Qingwu was stunned and subconsciously glanced at the wall clock.

"You're in such a hurry?"

"It's already two-thirty in the morning. Don't you need to rest?"

Ye Chen stood up, crushed the empty beer can, and tossed it into the trash can in the corner.

"Rest my ass. I didn't waste much energy killing that group of people."

Yan Qingwu's mouth twitched, and she was completely dumbfounded: "You... you killed over a thousand people..."

That was over a thousand people, not squashing a thousand ants.

For anyone else, even if the targets stood still and let them kill, they would be exhausted by the end.

But what about Ye Chen?

He came back from the fight, took a bath, drank a can of beer, and acted as if nothing had happened.

And now he wanted to investigate the case overnight?

Ye Chen glanced at her impatiently: "Are you going or not?"

Yan Qingwu gritted her teeth and stood up abruptly.

"I'm going!"

Ye Chen didn't waste any more words and turned to go into the bedroom to change.

Yan Qingwu also returned to her room, took off her bathrobe, and changed into her sleek black tactical suit.

The ink dragon sword was tied to her waist, its scabbard hugging her waistline. Not only did it not hinder her movement, but it also perfectly accentuated the curves of her graceful figure.

The two soon met in the hallway and went downstairs together.

Li Mu had already received the notification and parked the car at the entrance.

Seeing them come out, he pushed open the car door, his tone carrying a hint of worry.

"Miss, Mr. Ye, are you really going to that station?"

"I've heard that place..."

...is not quite right."

Ye Chen opened the passenger door and sat inside. "How is it not right?"

Li Mu started the car and explained as he drove.

"That station is in an old mansion on the outskirts of Fukuoka. On the surface, it's an antique shop, but it's actually our intelligence relay station."

"After we lost contact, I sent people to check it out."

"But not a single person I sent came back, and not even a bit of news was sent out."

"After that, we temporarily set it aside. After all, this isn't China; we can't act as freely as we'd like."

Yan Qingwu's brow furrowed. "How many people did you send?"

"Three."

Li Mu's voice was a bit dry.

"They were all Earth Realm experts with good skills and sharp minds."

"But after they went, there was no more news."

"Phones couldn't be reached, GPS signals disappeared, it was as if..."

He swallowed. "...as if they were swallowed by that place."

Ye Chen smiled. "The more it's like that, the more fun it is."

Upon hearing this, Li Mu felt numb.

That place is really sinister...

Yet Mr. Ye actually said it was fun?

But thinking back to tonight's events, he suddenly realized...

In front of Ye Chen, this probably only qualified as 'play'.

...

Twenty minutes later, the car stopped at the foot of a small hill.

Li Mu turned off the engine and pointed forward.

"That's the place."

Ye Chen pushed the door open, got out, and looked in the direction Li Mu was pointing.

Halfway up the hill, an old mansion stood in isolation.

It was a typical Japanese building with black tiles and white walls, its upturned eaves looking like a crouching beast in the night.

There were no other buildings around the house, only a patch of desolate open ground and a few crooked old trees.

There were no lights, no voices, not even the sound of insects.

It was unnaturally quiet.

Ye Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, and his perception from Earth Vein Tracking spread out toward the old mansion like an invisible net.

And then,

his brow furrowed slightly.

There was indeed something in that old mansion.

It wasn't the aura of a living person, but a collection of cold, decaying, and uncomfortable presences.

It was as if something was writhing in the shadows, peering out from the darkness.