Chapter 238

Heavily armored cavalry carved a bloody path through the sea of monsters.

Mu Yi and the others quickly followed up, denying the monsters any chance to continue encircling.

However, just as Mu Yi and the others were about to step out of the encirclement, a seductive, soft voice rang in the air, its malice making their scalps tingle.

Another hero! Long time no see!

Ah~ You've finally come; I've been thinking of you day and night!

You don't like the welcome ceremony I prepared for you?

What surprise have you brought me this time?

The languid voice, with its unique charm, slipped into the ears of several people.

Zongwang Prompt: You are under charm's influence, currently making a willpower check...

——War Order - Encouragement

Come to your senses! Don't let her influence you!

Mu Yi shouted loudly, without hesitation using the War Order, and the soldiers whose eyes had glazed over instantly regained clarity.

However, a few soldiers who reacted half a beat slower were instantly devoured by the swarming monsters.

Suddenly, the sky filled with dark clouds; the black layers rolled in waves, a huge black shadow descended from the heavens like a collapsing mountain, crashing down on Mu Yi and the others.

The grotesque, eerie shadow coalesced into faintly visible tentacles, striking down with the force of thunder.

"Slash!" Guan Linglong leapt out of the barrier, and the sword-wielding officers behind her likewise charged out; Mu Yi instantly imbued them with Cloud Energy.

Hundreds of blades flashed skyward; the blade light sliced the descending tentacles to pieces, and the severed tentacles turned to shadow, beginning to coalesce again in the sky.

Go!

Seeing this, Mu Yi didn't look back, ushering everyone into the barrier and racing off into the distance.

Really surprising! What surprise will you bring me next?

Hero~

In the underground seal of the Imperial City, the innkeeper's eyes flashed with scarlet light; before her stood a motionless human silhouette, like a stone statue.

Hehehe~

The innkeeper covered her mouth and laughed loudly, the laughter even reaching beyond the seal.

The giant white lotus atop the Imperial City once again spewed endless white snowflakes, scattering them outward from the city.

The seal itself began to ripple, and the earth trembled in response.

Damn it! What madness is this evil god up to now?

Inside the Imperial City Palace, the emperor flanked by concubines felt the world spin and couldn't help cursing aloud.

Since the Bai Lian Descent, he hasn't heard a single piece of good news.

The grim-faced Qing emperor waved his hand to dismiss the crowd, fell into silent thought, and after a long while shouted at the door.

Someone! Go fetch the high monks!

Tell them I agree to their terms: if they can rid us of this damned evil god, I will make Buddhism the state religion and perform the heavenly sacrifice ceremony to enshrine the Buddhas for them.

Then play music, then dance!

After a despairing roar, the emperor once again indulged in pleasure.

Having fled the Imperial City's range, although the blizzard again obscured vision, the monster density dropped sharply, and Mu Yi and company managed to escape danger and return to safety.

Mu Yi and the others' expressions grew grave; the moment the shadow appeared in the sky, they realized they had underestimated the true power of a Legend.

Still sealed, its projection in the atmosphere blotted out the sky, as if it wanted to tear the world apart and unleash a cataclysmic frenzy.

Of course, if that were all, it would merely be a bit larger in size—nothing to fear for them.

But Mu Yi and the others felt the shadow's power—a force forged from the harmony of its soul and body, shimmering with divinity and divine might.

Merely the tip of the iceberg shown by long-range spellcraft already exerted on Mu Yi a pressure no less than that of beings like Xiangliu, and indeed even greater.

Even sealed within, they could sense its world-shattering might.

How much of this is psychological effect remains unclear, but one thing is certain: it is immensely strong, absolutely stronger than any foe Mu Yi has ever faced.

What unsettles Mu Yi most is that, upon locking eyes, he felt not the arrogance of a strong one looking down on the weak, but utter indifference.

Although its gaze fell upon them, they meant nothing to it; to it, they were as insignificant as ants.

Even when Mu Yi displayed the power of the Reincarnation Barrier, it showed not the slightest reaction.

Mu Yi vaguely suspected he had picked the wrong opponent; their foe is indeed a Legend, possibly far stronger than he estimated, perhaps even a higher-tier Legend capable of truly battling deities.

Although Mu Yi is in a dungeon, since he's come, Mu Yi doesn't intend to leave; no matter what kind of enemy the opponent is, he couldn't just give up at first sight.

Never mind how strong the opponent is, slash it first and talk later!

"My familiar discovered a temple ahead!"

A phantom eagle landed on Lilyanna's shoulder, bringing her new news.

"But it's strange, the temple looks like an abandoned place, with no one in sight!"

Following the direction Lilyanna pointed, Mu Yi used his Thousand-mile Eye to look over and indeed discovered a temple.

Inside the temple, no humans could be seen, but statues were everywhere.

Mu Yi's gaze fell on those statues, instantly penetrating their surface and seeing the wailing souls inside.

Those aren't statues at all, but humans whose souls have been imprisoned by evil magic.

"No release! No release!"

"I hate! I hate!"

"You beasts, I curse you to a miserable death!"

The imprisoned souls wailed, and Mu Yi could hear the pain of being unable to be released from their mournful cries.

「We must have come to the right place; this should be the Qing Court's Jia Xian Temple, and it looks like it's the Snake Temple among the Jia Xian! 」

Mu Yi withdrew his gaze; the imperial city was inaccessible, so taking action against the Jia Xian wasn't a bad idea. As the Jia Xian of the Qing Court that substitutes for the gods of heaven and earth to maintain order, it might bring them some good news.

The situation of the Jia Xian temple complex was similar to that of the imperial city; both were shrouded by some kind of barrier, and the frenzied snow could not penetrate it, only falling abundantly outside.

「Let's go to the center and take a look; we have too little information on hand, we need someone who knows the situation! 」 Mu Yi told his decision to the rest of the teammates.

La Ge Na nodded without objection, the little fox had no opinion either, and when Mu Yi turned his head to look at Lily.

Lily pondered for a moment, the magic book beside her flickered, as if it were calculating something.

「Then let's go take a look; I'll first buff your status, I'm afraid we can't avoid a fierce battle! 」

After a moment, Lily nodded and began casting buff magic on the few of them.

After a brief adjustment, Mu Yi led the way toward the building complex; since we'd decided to go in and have a look, there was no reason to hesitate.

Although they knew nothing, at the center of the vast temple complex stood an extremely tall building; without thinking, one could tell that was the key point.

The frenzied snow vanishes without a trace when it hits the ground, which is why, despite the sky full of snow, there is no accumulation on the ground.

This phenomenon, which defies common sense, lets one immediately sense that something is strange.

However, it seems that because of this strangeness, the heaven-and-earth environment itself has become eerie; amidst the flying snow, some rain mixes in, making the ground quite muddy.

The road to the temple complex is a muddy mountain path; Mu Yi glanced at the ground, which was covered in dense traces of some creature's movement.

The traces left by crawling creatures winding back and forth are very obvious.

The air also reeks of a fishy ocean smell.

At that moment, Mu Yi suddenly heard a sound of something scraping the ground.

He turned his head and saw, amidst the flying snow, a giant python about as thick as five people, hurling a red tongue as it sped over the hill to attack them.

And the creature's body emanated the traces of a monstrous mutation; it seemed that even these Jia Xian were having a hard time under the frenzied snow's influence.

「Watch out, enemies are approaching! 」

Mu Yi's vision can pierce the frenzied snow, so he sees farther than the others and spotted the giant python's silhouette first.

As the giant python drew nearer, a stronger fishy stench assailed Mu Yi's nose.

Only then did he realize the source of the oceanic fishy smell in the air.

This python's body exuded characteristics of marine life, giving off a strong oceanic fishy odor, even more pungent than that of the previous mutant creatures.

Within its gaping maw, several tentacles had actually grown, a sight that is extremely hard to stomach.

However, what caught Mu Yi's attention was that this giant python was clearly no ordinary beast; its forehead bore some irregular protrusions.

It seemed to be on the verge of evolving into a boa.

Yet even such a giant python was being corroded by the frenzied snow; Mu Yi furrowed his brow, the situation seemed even worse.

He himself couldn't even recall how many times he had felt things were going badly.

But there is no doubt that this world is heading toward the brink of destruction.

Just as the giant python drew nearer, a flicker of fear flashed in its slit pupil, which still retained some sentience, and it sensed the threat of death.

The giant python halted its advance, quickly coiled itself into a ball, then raised its head and fixed Mu Yi with a stare from its blood‑tinged slit pupil.

「Does it still have sentience? 」

Mu Yi watched the giant python's movements with interest.

The part of its body touching the ground twitched in some subtle way, and its whole body began to slowly retreat backward…

But Mu Yi was not willing to let it go so easily; perhaps he could obtain something from the giant python's soul.

「Thud!! 」

Without the slightest hesitation, Mu Yi drew his holy sword and charged forward, then, with a suffocating frenzy‑charged airflow, he reached the giant python's front before the roaring sound even arrived!

Then came a downward slash of the holy sword!

「Splat!! 」

The giant python's body was covered in smooth, tight scales, yet when faced with the holy sword coated in holy light, it was easily sliced open.

The severed body sprayed out foul‑smelling blood; Mu Yi instinctively dodged the blood, which hit the ground with a sizzling sound, obviously highly corrosive.

A flicker of surprise crossed Mu Yi's eyes; he had aimed this strike at the python's vital point, but he hadn't expected it to dodge in the blink of an eye.

Although Mu Yi didn't focus much on boosting his personal combat power, he hadn't neglected improving it either.

「I lack a handy weapon! 」

Mu Yi narrowed his eyes, watching the writhing snake tail on the ground; his attack missed the spot he wanted, which in a duel between experts is a rather fatal oversight.

Although the holy sword could also be used, it was obvious that his true forte was the blade.

Without his battle‑axe, the impact on his combat ability looked like more than just a trifle.

However, the makeshift Asura long blade he condensed was too fragile; it might not even pierce the opponent's defense, making the holy sword more effective.

In the moment Mu Yi was pondering, the giant python, stimulated by pain, did not flee; instead, its bestial nature flared, and it seized the chance to attack him.

Although the giant python showed signs of evolving into a boa, it still had not abandoned the python's attack style: tearing bites and constriction.

After all, that is what they are most familiar with and skilled at.

It is the form and attack method that their ancestors, over the course of their lineage, shed enough extraneous bloodlines to retain as the most suitable for survival.

Although this giant python should have inherited the Jia Xian legacy, it seems more likely that, due to mutation, it was expelled and exiled, able only to loiter outside the barrier.

In this state of muddled consciousness, the giant python's attacks became even more pure.

Its striking speed even far exceeded its normal pace.

Just as Mu Yi was about to dodge the counterattack, he suddenly felt his body tighten; the giant python's torso seemed to have wrapped itself around him for some unknown reason!

Magic? Divine ability?

It was as if some frames had been lost; the body seemed to flash and coil around him.

But faced with an absolute disparity in strength, such a surprise move could only bring a little bit of delight.

Holy light burst forth, and the holy sword cut the giant python into several pieces in just a few strikes.

Crimson flames ignited from the Asura armor, incinerating the spurting foul-smelling blood.

Mu Yi reached out to grab the giant python's soul, but the python's soul turned into a red flash and vanished into nothingness in an instant.

Mu Yi narrowed his eyes, his mouth twitching; he clearly felt the python's soul flying toward the imperial city.

"Could it be that all creatures parasitically mutated were actually having their souls absorbed by the other side?"

Mu Yi narrowed his eyes in thought; the surprises brought by He Luo God were too many, even reaching the point of shock.

He briefly shared the situation with his teammates, and the group continued forward.

No matter what, they needed to enter this barrier once.

They simply had too little information; they needed more.

"Huh?" As soon as Mu Yi stepped into the barrier's range, a gaze immediately fell upon him from the shadows.

Mu Yi met that gaze and looked over; the light came from the nearby Temple, where several imposing snake-headed idols were projecting their gazes.

After seeing Mu Yi and his companions, their gazes instantly shifted from wary scrutiny to greed and malice.

"Beasts are beasts; even if they wear a god's skin, they cannot change!"

Mu Yi stared at that familiar malicious gaze, recalling the several unascended Jia Xian he had slain earlier, and a cold killing intent flickered across his face.

(End of chapter)