It was during a clandestine meeting in the plum bossom lane, with doors closed and wine being drunk, that as the Five Evil Gods exhaled their baleful energy, chaos had begun to brew near Old Yin Mountain in the Mingzhou area.

Seven days earlier, the Five Evil Altar Envoy had entered Mingzhou to engage in Biebao's Evil Creation, planting the seeds of this great chaos. At first, no one imagined the disorder would escalate to this degree.

The primary force in this disorder was the small Mule and Horse Gang. Originally, they were a group of businessmen rooted in villages and strongholds. Although they ran a considerable business and had some fierce young men, they were ultimately just common folk, not true members of the jianghu.

Previously, when dealing with them, even a Shopkeeper from a Red Lantern Society manor would be served fine wine and tea. A glare from such a Shopkeeper would make them kneel and kowtow obediently, not even daring to ask why.

And when the Red Lantern Society gathered various Jianghu practitioners to hunt down the Five Evil Altar Envoy, they paid no mind to the Mule and Horse Gang.

They're just a bunch of commoners afflicted by baleful energy, they thought. Who in the jianghu would bother with them?

Because of this neglect, the Mule and Horse Gang was initially ignored for several days. They went around plundering grain, and as their hands became increasingly stained with blood, their baleful aura naturally intensified.

As they wreaked havoc, others began to join them: those whose minds had been bewildered; those who saw their granaries emptied and fields withered and worried about the next year's harvest; or those who were simply malicious by nature, straddling the line between commoner and bandit. They all rushed to join the upheaval.

After several clashes, their numbers swelled.

Especially in the land where the Five Evils converged, the baleful energy itself caused people's hearts to become unsettled, fierce, and brutal. After some arson and killing, even more people were drawn in, and their numbers snowballed.

By this point, those Jianghu practitioners who had initially dismissed these disastrous bandits began to realize that things were not right.

And as the bandit scourge became more widespread, the Jianghu practitioners pursuing the Wealth Evil Altar Envoy into the mountains gradually began to clash with them. Friction arose, and sometimes, if words disagreed, they would directly resort to fighting.

The outcome of these fights greatly surprised these Jianghu practitioners.

An old master from the trick door thought to display a trump card to scare away the bandits plundering grain. However, when the trump card was revealed, the bandits at the front were startled, but those behind, who hadn't seen it, surged forward, jostling each other. Shouting, they swarmed him with dung forks and hoes. In just a few blows, he was pushed down and trampled to death by the crowd.

A Shousui man, accompanied by his two disciples, quickly dispatched two of the bandits' leaders. He thought the remaining ones would surely realize how formidable he was and quickly flee. To his astonishment, these bandits were all red-eyed with frenzy. Unable to see clearly what had happened at the front, they only knew their opponents numbered just three. Who would fear that? They pushed and shoved their way forward. In one rush, they had hacked the Shousui man's two disciples to death with their blades.

The Shousui master, both shocked and enraged, turned and fled, desperately fighting his way out through a bloody path.

As for practitioners of other Paths, whether Haishou or Ghost Walker, they all had their own skills. But when faced with such a large gathering of bandits, especially those influenced by the surging baleful energy, they were even less of a match. The Haishou Path excelled at killing stealthily. But facing that teeming mass of people, where it was impossible to distinguish between commoner and bandit, who could they target? If they truly tried to set up a grand scheme, they would have to fear inviting a backlash upon themselves! And Ghost Walkers, not inherently skilled in close combat, would painstakingly summon a few little ghosts, only for them to be dispersed by the baleful energy emanating from the crowd upon first encounter. They died without even a whimper.

These were just a few accidental clashes in the interim, mostly ending with the defeat and retreat of the Jianghu Path practitioners. Many more Jianghu practitioners, being shrewd, would quickly hide far away upon seeing the unfavorable situation, avoiding any engagement at all.

Now, on the seventh night of Biebao's Evil Creation, a large contingent of Jianghu figures, led by the Red Lantern Society, was pursuing the Wealth Evil Altar Envoy and had arrived near Green Stone Town. Meanwhile, the horde of murderous bandits, who had been pillaging and slaughtering in all directions from the mountains, also converged upon this area from various locations.

The two sides happened to encounter each other here. Seeing that the other side had considerable numbers, both parties were wary, leading to a brief standoff.

During this standoff, just as the Five Evil Gods let out a fierce roar, all the bandits, as if hearing a summons, suddenly felt their inner brutality surge, and with a great clamor, they pushed forward.

"This isn't good..."

Among the Jianghu practitioners, more than half were still unaware of the underlying situation. They wondered why so many bandits had appeared. Mingzhou Prefecture was supposed to be peaceful and quiet; they hadn't heard of such a large band of brigands operating here. Should we shout at them a couple of times?

But the Right Protector of the Red Lantern Society suddenly reacted, exclaiming urgently, "Lady, quickly have our people pull back!"

Red Lantern Lady was also inwardly alarmed. She could sense that these brigands all carried a dense baleful energy. How could these be ordinary brigands? They were more like several hundred small Negative Spirits. The surging baleful energy made her heart tremble.

"They're just a bunch of brigands, why scatter? I'll go kill a couple of them to vent my anger!"

The Left Protector was the first to disagree. She had previously been schemed against by the Wealth Evil Altar Envoy, mesmerized by gold and silver dolls, and had ended up a prisoner of a group of brigands. Although the Lady had rescued her in time, her proud heart was still full of indignation. Now she wanted to take this opportunity to go and display her skills.

But the Right Protector suddenly grabbed her arm, hissing, "Are you tired of living?"

"Path practitioners are indeed highly skilled. But you are not a Shousui. Against ten or eight ordinary people, you alone might manage. But if you face more than twenty, you are no match. If you face more than thirty, even two of you would not be their match."

"If you encounter more than fifty fierce bandits, even if there were five of you, it would be best to hide and pick them off slowly, one by one. Charging in directly would be putting yourself in mortal danger..."

"At that stage, even a Shousui man would have to flee immediately, let alone a half-baked Punishment Soul like you!"

"And now look, those fierce bandits number four to five hundred, and who knows how many more are following behind them. Moreover, they are all reeking of baleful energy. We have less than a hundred people in total. Do you think we have any chance of winning?"

The Left Protector had never considered this problem before. She said blankly, "One hundred Jianghu practitioners against five hundred fierce bandits, that's one against five. We still can't win?"

"The chances are slim!"

The Right Protector said gravely, "You usually look down on those at the bottom too much and don't understand this principle. At night, evil spirits are formidable and can harm people unseen. But if you gather a group of strong men with great courage and abundant yang qi, even evil spirits will have to retreat a great distance, and might even be dispersed."

"This group of bandits has been affected by baleful energy; their courage is high, and their ferocity is strong. Although it's not yang qi, it's baleful energy, which is the opposite of yang qi but just as potent. The moment you clash, it will first cut down your Mana by thirty percent, and when their ferocity erupts, it will destroy another thirty percent of your courage."

"Normally, even with your abilities, would you dare to confront a hundred vindictive souls alone? Just their waves of yin qi would be enough to extinguish your life-force and blow away your soul!"

"If you can't even withstand a hundred vindictive souls, how can you confront a hundred bandits brimming with baleful energy?"

"Besides, even if we take ten thousand steps back and assume we really fight them and manage to repel them, if dozens of our people die or are injured, who will pay with their lives in return?"

As the Right Protector was patiently explaining this, the crowd of bandits and coerced disaster victims, already influenced by the baleful energy from Yellow Dog Village, surged forward with great momentum. They were like a fierce wind blowing head-on, instilling fear in people's hearts.

WHOOSH...

The Right Protector had been anxious for Red Lantern Lady to give the order, but now it was unnecessary. The Jianghu practitioners at the very front, seeing things were bad, had already taken the initiative to run backward, in turn throwing their own ranks into disarray.

The Red Lantern Society and the various Jianghu sects allied with it consisted of people from various Paths. Especially the Red Lantern Society, which had many Shousui men within it. In this kind of chaotic situation, they were the group best positioned to take advantage and survive. So, the Shousui men ran the fastest, leaving those from Paths not skilled in direct confrontation behind.

Regardless of whether it was the Red Lantern Society or the other allied factions, they were, after all, just Jianghu Paths. Normally, they were fierce in fights and brawls, that went without saying. But now, facing these bandits of Mingzhou, who were steeped in baleful energy, their courage had utterly failed them. They even fled with a sense of righteousness.

One moment they would speak of their fellow Jianghu practitioners in Mingzhou, boasting about their numerous experts and great power, as if they were incredibly formidable. But now, just one encounter with the disastrous bandits, and they had instantly collapsed.

"He borrowed the methods of the Jianghu Paths to harm our Altar Envoy and destroy our sacrificial altar. Did he really think he could scare me off from coming here?"

Sensing the surging baleful energy, the Five Evil Gods in Yellow Dog Village roared with laughter. The immense baleful energy seemed to form a black, tangible gale, causing the green gauze tents in the village to rustle violently. These gales carried boundless baleful energy. But when the wind blew upon the green tents, indistinct, ferocious ghostly faces seemed to be squeezed out, as if countless Evil Ghosts within wanted to break through the tents and emerge.

"If he only has these few tricks, it can only mean that this family is truly at the end of its allotted fortune..."

The voice of the Five Evil Gods reverberated through Yellow Dog Village: "If he had dared to show his face officially in Mingzhou and asked those officials to suppress me with their governmental authority, I would have thought a bit more highly of him. But since he insists on hiding his head and showing his tail, while still trying to maintain that pitiful dignity, he will only turn himself into a joke!"

"After leaving Mingzhou, I have always kept my promise and not spoken of his family's affairs to outsiders. But looking at things now, there seems to be no need for that anymore. HAHA..."

"So, that is your purpose?"

Facing this surging baleful energy, the mountain lord's expression seemed even calmer. The swirling gale around the Five Evil Gods was rapidly intensifying with each passing moment, but he remained unaffected. He merely frowned slightly, capturing the main point in the other's words, and said softly, "A new Emperor is to be chosen, and those in the imperial court are also restless."

"So you came to stir up such a massively disrespectful probe, to gauge the foundation here, so you can throw in your lot with another Path in advance?"

"So which one do you plan to pledge allegiance to? Theft Disaster? Or Tongyin?"