My heart sank, and only then did I realize I was looking at the ground beneath my feet.

My head wasn't chopped off?

As these thoughts flashed through my mind, it felt like something had been severed within me, and I suddenly felt a wave of relief.

Master Liu's trembling voice came from behind me: "Suc... succeeded! We succeeded!"

I abruptly stood up and heard a voice from the sky, like a resounding bell, carrying divine authority: "Innocent in life, fate can be used, may become Yama."

"Bullshit!" I snatched the Nine-Ring Soul-Slaying Blade from Ye Yang: "I won't be any Yama. I'll be a Yaksha, and devour all the ghosts here."

"May become Yaksha, slay ghosts to attain the Dao!" The voice in the sky actually agreed.

In that instant, I felt the blood in my body boiling and burning, as if it could explode at any moment.

The killing intent within me also surged wildly under the agitation of that hot blood, like a martial arts master's *gangqi* (internal energy), released from my body.

As I strode out with the Soul-Slaying Blade, my eyes were bloodshot, and I looked like a demon.

When Ye Yang followed closely behind me, the first thing he saw was the ground covered in prostrate ghosts. The rampaging evil ghosts from just a moment ago were now like small animals that had encountered a natural enemy, lying on the ground trembling, unable to muster the slightest resistance.

I walked up to a ghost, raised my blade, and slashed down. The ghost's head flew half a meter away, crashing against the opposite wall and exploding into phosphorus fire. As the headless soul collapsed, I stepped on the phosphorus fire and walked towards the next ghost...

As I walked, heads rolled on the ground, and phosphorus fire flowed like water. One by one, the ghosts collapsed under my blade. Master Liu's voice trembled behind me: "You... you're too bloodthirsty... Heaven values life. Let them go!"

Deaf to his words, I strode forward and finally saw the figures of Shi Yu and Lin Sihan.

Their hands were tied, and they were forced to kneel on the ground, like two death row inmates awaiting execution.

As I slowly walked towards them, Lin Sihan screamed, "Li Po, you've been tricked! If you don't kill us, you'll be innocent. If you kill us, you'll be guilty, and you won't be able to leave this place. He Hao Yu is deliberately trying to trick you into killing people!"

Lin Sihan and the others had heard my angry roar in the room earlier.

A Yaksha, as a ghost king, can devour ghosts without guilt. However, a Yaksha is not a judge in the mortal realm; killing people is definitely a sin.

If I killed Lin Sihan and Shi Yu, the Soul-Slaying Blade's earlier success in absolving my sins would be in vain. He Hao Yu, hiding in the library, wouldn't give me a second chance to sever my fate.

As I dragged the long blade step by step towards Lin Sihan, the nine rings on the blade rang like the calls of death, and Lin Sihan couldn't stop trembling: "Li Po, think carefully. The poison in your body hasn't been cured yet. If you kill me, no one can cure you."

Shi Yu then said, "He's a descendant of the Snake King. He might be better at poisoning than you are. You might not be able to stop him from curing it."

"You..." Lin Sihan couldn't bother arguing with Shi Yu anymore: "Li Po, you can't kill me. I'm not alone; I have a powerful force behind me. If you kill me, they won't let you get away with it."

As I walked forward without a word, Lin Sihan finally stopped pretending: "Li Po, I'll tell you the truth. I'm a disciple of the Soul Sect, and this is just a false soul of mine."

"If you kill her, you can only severely injure my main body, but you won't kill me. When I recover, it will be your death."

"Then let's see who dies first!" I roared and slashed down. Lin Sihan's head rolled to the ground without closing her eyes.

Ye Yang then stepped forward and stabbed Lin Sihan in the center of her brow with his sword.

A flying sword, severing the soul from afar!

Ye Yang was using the false soul to strike the opponent's true soul.

I could do the same, but Ye Yang acted first to preserve my innocent status.

I turned to Shi Yu with the blade: "Now it's your turn. You added that line very well. Killing Lin Sihan will cause me to be guilty, and you'll be able to escape, right?"

Shi Yu desperately raised his head and said, "Do you also want him to kill me?"

"Li Po! I thought you were a righteous person. I didn't expect us to be the same kind of person! To survive, for profit, anyone can be sacrificed."

I stepped towards him and suddenly slashed horizontally without warning, cutting into Shi Yu's neck from the side with the Soul-Slaying Blade, killing him on the spot.

As Shi Yu's head rolled, Ye Yang slightly raised his eyebrows, but his expression quickly returned to its original indifference.

I looked up at the top of the building and said, "He Hao Yu, shouldn't you come out and meet me?"

As soon as I finished speaking, applause rang out from upstairs, and someone slowly walked down the stairs: "Not bad, not bad. Among the sorcerers who have entered this building to kill me, there have been no less than eighty, if not a hundred. But no one has ever trusted Old Liu. The fact that you dare to gamble your life with him shows that you're different."