Chapter 860: Scram
Qi Xuansu no longer hesitated. He sank his breath into his Dantian, and all 365 of his body spirits lit up in succession. Then he threw a punch, his 365 body spirits punching in unison.
His surging blood qi struck the talismans on the stone stele first.
The talismans ignited at once, crumbling to ash and fluttering down, revealing the true face of the stele beneath.
It was an ancient stone stele, carved with a single large character that read, “Seal.” Moss covered it, and the entire stele was riddled with cracks, from which black and red mists continuously leaked.
Without the red strings and talismans suppressing the stele, the ominous energy leaking from the stone kept accelerating.
In the next moment, Qi Xuansu landed a solid punch on the stele.
The stele shuddered with a boom. The cracks spread visibly as fine gravel and dust cascaded down.
This place should have had many shinkan stationed here. However, due to the fierce battle in Ise Province and the overwhelming offensive from the Chancellor’s Office backed by the Daoist Order, the Ise-jingu had mobilized almost all its forces, and even this critical location was left unattended.
After the great war, the Ise-jingu had suffered heavy casualties. Demons ran rampant, ghosts roamed the night, bandits plagued the roads, and even the Daoists had personally intervened. No matter the cause, the Jingu was stretched too thin to bother with these forbidden zones for the time being.
One could say the war had left Ise Province battered and bruised. It also crippled the Ise-jingu. If not for that, after the unexpected death of the Kampaku and the chaos in the military ranks, the Chancellor’s Office would never have retreated peacefully to Xiujing. It was only because the Jingu lacked the strength to pursue that they let them go unhindered.
This worked in Qi Xuansu’s favor, allowing him to break the seal directly.
Had it been during the Ise-jingu’s prime, the very moment Qi Xuansu broke the first formation, he would have alarmed the defenders, or perhaps even been turned away at the foot of the mountain.