Chapter 125: Breakthrough

"On my command, fire at will!"

Jiang Luyu finished his order and was the first to pull the trigger. Hot bullets streaked from the barrel, slamming into the ghost ninjas standing just a few meters away.

"Bang-bang, bang-bang, bang-bang...!"

Hearing their director's command, the members of the special task force raised their pistols and unleashed a hail of gunfire upon the zombie-like ghost ninjas. In an instant, the corridor was choked with thick smoke and the pungent scent of gunpowder.

The bullets tore through the bodies of the ghost ninjas as if striking dried branches; a single shot was enough to shatter one of them into pieces. Fourteen officers fired over three hundred rounds, each reloading multiple times until the ghost ninjas had all vanished from sight, leaving nothing behind but scattered remains across the floor.

"Good. Move out!"

Fang Panguo took the lead, flashlight in hand, and stepped into the smoke-filled hallway. The officers followed in pairs; their formation revealed them to be seasoned veterans of real combat.

Meanwhile, a profound transformation was unfolding in the long corridor on the tenth floor. Eighteen dark figures, each with a golden character for "Jiang" embroidered on their chests, darted through the pitch-black passage. The stone walls of the corridor shifted, transforming from solid rock into hidden doors. From these portals emerged dozens of black-robed sorcerers, who brandished their staves and surrounded the eighteen ninjas.

Without a word, the sorcerers launched a physical assault, casting blue spells that surged from their staves toward the ninjas hidden within the shadows.

"Prepare for battle!"

"Clang!"

In the darkness, a high-ranking ninja’s eyes flashed. No sooner had he spoken than the sound of blades being drawn echoed from all directions.

Another chaotic melee began. In truth, ninjutsu relies not only on blades but also on willpower and supernatural abilities, allowing it to withstand sorcery of an equal level. The collision between ninjutsu and sorcery erupted in a blinding light, rendering everyone invisible to one another. The sheer force of the energy pressed everyone tightly against the walls, threatening to tear them apart. It was like a pressurized canister—if you force more air in, it will eventually burst. Given that the corridor was fully enclosed, it had become exactly that.

Most of the combatants were left in a disheveled state, their clothes shredded by the shockwaves and their arms and chests marked by lacerations.

Realizing that using supernatural powers in such a confined space would lead to mutual destruction, the dozens of sorcerers drew their own samurai swords and charged the eighteen Jiang family ninjas, opting for a human-wave tactic.

The flashing steel illuminated the corridor, and combined with the blue sorcerous flames from the staves, the hallway became as bright as day.

"Great elemental spirits, let your flames consume these ignorant mortals!"

An ethereal voice drifted from the void. The tone betrayed a figure of immense significance. As the voice faded, the staves held by the sorcerers underwent a transformation.

Following the command of that ethereal voice, the blue flames on the staves of more than forty sorcerers miraculously converged, forming a massive, blue elemental serpent that spanned the three-to-four-meter-tall hallway. It lunged at the eighteen Jiang ninjas lurking in the shadows, catching the mid-to-high-ranking ninjas off guard and forcing them to scramble.

"Task force officers, do you remember what I taught you? To fight evil with human strength, you must use your own blood! On my command, join me and strike down this elemental serpent!"

Following Fang Panguo's order, the members of the task force bit their fingers, dripping their blood into their muzzles before leveling their guns at the blue serpent.

"Bang-bang, bang-bang, bang-bang, bang...!"

Bullets shot from the barrels at high velocity, leaving thin red lines in the air. As they neared the elemental serpent, the bullets suddenly slowed, glowing with a blood-red light and trailing crimson smoke as they pierced deep into the serpent’s massive, fathom-long body.

"Hiss...!"

"Crackle!"

The bullets bypassed the serpent’s elemental defenses, burying themselves deep within its core before detonating. The resulting burst of blood energy radiated outward, causing the pale blue form of the serpent to disintegrate. The creature let out a wail of agony, sounding just like a living beast.

"Boom!"

With a thunderous explosion, the serpent formed by the flames of forty-plus sorcerers vanished without a trace. The sorcerers themselves collapsed to the ground, transforming into dozens of half-meter-long lizards, only to be secretly dispatched by the eighteen Jiang ninjas under the cover of darkness.

Fang Panguo was well aware of the presence of the ninjas; otherwise, his existence as the first-generation Corpse King of thousands of years would have been in vain. He knew these ninjas were on his side, which was why he had helped them destroy a serpent that possessed power far beyond that of a mid-to-high-ranking ninja.

Through the research conducted by his task force, Fang Panguo had uncovered a secret: the blue flames on the staves were the true source of the sorcerers' power. Extinguishing those flames was equivalent to stripping these demonic cultivators of all their strength.

Fang Panguo did not linger. Once he confirmed his theory, he led his team rapidly toward the seventeenth floor. Just after they departed, three black-robed figures appeared from the void. They stood there like phantoms, silent and motionless.

The Qinghua Group had ceased all operations, and the roof was swarming with SWAT teams. The owner, Sakata Ichiro, had been taken into custody to await prosecution by the state.

Yet, throughout the entire process, Sakata Ichiro appeared entirely unfazed, as if he possessed some powerful trump card hidden up his sleeve.