The man speaking pulled out an object wrapped in waterproof cloth from behind his back. He yanked the covering off, revealing a scroll with just two bold characters: "Life" and "Death."
He channeled his spiritual energy into the word "Death." Immediately, a dark and violent force surged from the character and blasted toward the foremost female bodyguard.
Others among the black-clad intruders drew various spiritual items. Some wielded spirit-breaking Tang blades, others unfurled vividly colored paper-crafted dragon heads.
But it was all in vain.
Whether it was the death sigil, the spirit-breaking power of their blades, or the spiritual fire, none of it had any effect. The female bodyguards merely flickered with spiritual light and remained completely unharmed. Not even their momentum slowed.
Their fists cut through the air with incredible force, each strike knocking a black-clad attacker to the ground.
One of the bodyguards moved not only with immense strength, but also shocking speed. She pierced directly into their formation, leaving them unable to react at all.
The attackers wanted to flee, but they had no way out. Every exit was already sealed.
Only a few among them had spiritual items for self-defense. They held out a little longer, but not for long. One by one, their defenses shattered under the relentless strikes, and they too were subdued.
Rain hammered the roof as the final thuds of fists against bone echoed into silence.
The courtyard was soaked, strewn with shattered weapons, crushed radar equipment, and a hundred limp bodies in black rain cloaks, all tied and heaped like firewood. None dared move. None had breath left to speak.
Weapons were confiscated, and the intruders were tied up and tossed into the courtyard like sacks of grain. Kneeling on the rain-soaked stone tiles, most of them were still confused—just what were those "bodyguards"? Why couldn't bullets harm them? Why didn't spiritual attacks work?
Song Miaozhu had the paper soldier constructs guard the captives, then returned inside to undo her possession state. The moment she regained full control of her own body, she summoned the now-unpossessed paper soldiers and had them manifest their spiritual forms before following her outside.
To the men kneeling in the mud, it was like seeing a ghost materialize.
The one who had shouted commands earlier swallowed hard. He had seen her file, memorized her photo, and studied her background. But this girl, the one who had struck like thunder and turned his strike team into fodder, didn't match the cautious artisan he'd expected.
"What are those... things?" one of them asked.
Song Miaozhu didn't answer. She simply looked over the group of masked attackers.
The ones with guns were clearly well-trained. But those who had used spiritual items? They were practically untrained. Yet their cultivation levels were clearly high enough to support high-grade artifacts.
She gestured to the paper soldiers. At once, they stepped forward and removed the masks from the intruders.
Most of the faces were unfamiliar. But the ones who had used spiritual items—those, Song Miaozhu knew all too well. The man who had spoken earlier, the one who used the unfamiliar calligraphy-type spiritual item, was none other than Feng Jinwen, former deputy director of the SEIU's central bureau in the capital.
She turned her gaze slowly across the rest. Her soldiers pulled off mask after mask, revealing faces half-familiar: traitors, criminals, people listed on the underworld's punishment rolls. Others were also on the underworld's punishment list. They were relatively young and had received the standard penalty for mid-grade evil: twelve counts and a forfeiture of ten years of lifespan.
She remembered all their names. The cursed paper dolls for each of them had already been prepared. Each one still had bright spiritual light pulsing at their brows—at least ninety thousand units of crimson spiritual energy.
Song Miaozhu said nothing. Her silence unnerved Feng Jinwen and his companions.
If she had spoken, they might have gleaned some hint of her thoughts and planned their next steps. But her silence, paired with that unreadable gaze, was more terrifying than any words.
Feng Jinwen recalled the first time he saw her. Even through a video feed, he could tell she had something to hide. She had put on a guarded face, but just a few casual questions were enough to trick her into revealing her secrets.
He had thought she was just another clever but inexperienced girl. Someone easily manipulated.
He never imagined this same girl would bring them to ruin. Now he realized that whatever she had hidden before was just the tip of the iceberg. Desperate to uncover more of her cards, he tried to provoke her into speaking. But Song Miaozhu didn't take the bait. Instead, she was calmly deciding how to deal with them.
Should she kill them outright? Or hand them over to the SEIU and curse them to death later?
Either way, she had no intention of letting them walk away. Then she glanced at the high-grade spiritual items in their possession. If these were items meant for SEIU use only... she might need to keep them alive a little longer.
She had to figure out what exactly the SEIU was up to.
Was the organization deliberately using these people to deal with her while keeping a clean image? Or were there still traitors hidden within?
If there were others involved, it would be best to root them out all at once. Otherwise, they might strike again from the shadows. People like these, burdened with evil karma and terrified of death, were willing to do anything to live a little longer. She couldn't let her guard down.
Still, before making her next move, she needed to blow off some steam.
The paper soldiers caught on quickly. They began beating the kneeling attackers—brutally, methodically—and in the process, quietly collected blood and hair samples from each one.
With those in hand, there would be no loose ends. If she wanted, she could have them all killed with a curse at any time.
Once the little paper servants had climbed onto the half-conscious attackers and hidden themselves, Song Miaozhu finally pulled out her phone and called Zhao Huoyan.
"Come pick them up."
Zhao Huoyan, who was up late carving wood sculptures, felt his heart lurch when he heard her voice. "Something happened? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. But your SEIU has a problem."
Whether it was a trap laid by the SEIU or a sign of internal betrayal, either outcome spelled trouble for the organization.
The black-clad attackers carried far too many restricted spiritual items. Paper-crafted dragon heads, spirit-breaking Tang blades, the "Orchid Pavilion Sword Scroll"—the only thing missing was Master He Zhen's embroidered tiger and bear fans, and they would've had the full set of restricted-grade items.
Thankfully, He Zhen's embroidery took too long to produce, and few tiger-bear fans had been made. Otherwise, they might have even faced beast spirits in the form of tigers and pandas.
The peace talismans were also common among those with cultivation. She even found two strings of Thousand-Eyed Bodhi beads. There was no way this could be explained as a few rogue elite crafters selling their goods in secret.
True elite crafters were deeply focused on their skills. Their advanced cultivation was a result of that dedication, which in turn allowed them to produce stronger spiritual items. If one had sold something on the side, it would've been rare. But multiple items from multiple crafters? Unthinkable.
What's more, only the original creator could perform the ritual needed to transfer a spiritual item's usage rights. Unauthorized transfers were impossible. These items weren't hard to sell legally either. Even if someone wanted to go behind the scenes, they'd only sell to trusted contacts.
Restricted spiritual items weren't allowed to be sold at all.
After Song Miaozhu finished listing everything she had confiscated, Zhao Huoyan jumped to his feet. "Please wait for us! We'll be there right away. These items must have left the SEIU without our knowledge."
He knew what it meant to find SEIU-controlled spiritual items in the hands of criminals. He also knew how empty that explanation sounded now.
Worried that Master Song would begin to doubt the SEIU itself, Zhao Huoyan quickly gathered a team and rushed toward Xiaozhu Mountain.
Only on the way did he contact the central bureau to report what had happened.