Chapter 264: Destroying the Flower (Please Subscribe)

Clang!

Her robes suddenly billowed and fluttered, and An Yan's state changed drastically in an instant.

No longer hindered by the wind and sand, causing grass and trees to wither away, even the golden flames could not invade a single bit; even when magical artifacts flew over, they would veer off crookedly, sensing an invisible repulsion.

To be specific, the mana that spontaneously protected her body—which had been almost useless in high-intensity combat at the same or higher power levels—had now officially transformed into a powerful means that allowed Du En's magical artifacts to simply slide away, unable to get close at all.

It was obvious that she could refine medicinal pills so quickly because she had already been refining them; previously, she had deliberately displayed her life-bound magical treasure to make people think she had no spare time to refine.

But in fact, all kinds of materials were stored within it, and her alchemy attainments were also astonishing, so she had long been secretly refining right in front of Du En!

He had only just realized this during their close-quarters contact.

This made An Yan's pill appear imperfect, still having shortcomings.

For example, facing the simple and unadorned offensive of the Giant Cannon Art, and Du En's decision to decisively abandon other means, manifesting his essence, clenching his fists, crushing the air, and lunging forward—that even simpler and more tyrannical direct attack!

There was absolutely nothing flashy about it, and therefore, there were no obvious points to target!

What a savage fellow...

An Yan hated this kind of person the most, yet she had no good way to deal with him; at this moment, being quickly pulled into close range, she could only frantically burn pills and squander mana to strengthen her now slippery mana barrier, while using various spells that she hadn't practiced very deeply but still possessed considerable power when fueled by heavy mana.

Wood Spirit Pendulum, smash it!

Blazing Flame Blade, crush it!

Flood Wave Art, wade through it!

Golden Spear Art...

No matter what move An Yan used, Du En only had two: either smash with the Giant Cannon to force her to stop, or swing his fists to blow it up directly.

His overall movements were calm and orderly, as if a tool were operating spontaneously, which made An Yan feel secretly terrified and creeped out.

At the same time, even though her constitution had been targeted and changed to become a kind of spirit body—something alchemists generally cultivate to test and consume pills, reducing the negative effects of various medicinal pills—the sheer magnitude and speed of the mana consumption at this moment still made her unable to hold on.

Whether it was the Golden Core or the dantian, and even the meridians, all parts felt heavy and began to surge with pain.

The most critical thing was that because Du En's fists were too powerful and his Giant Cannon Art was truly astonishing, the special-effect pills she had just refined and consumed to counter his situation were seeing their efficacy fade frantically!

Mainly, they weren't "special" enough; she hadn't expected Du En's two methods to be so extraordinary, and she had just been interrupted by him during the refining... she needed to refine another one!

This old lady is going all out; even if I have to sink to being as savage as you, I will make you know what it means to say an alchemist cannot be humiliated!

An Yan made up her mind, invigorating her mana until her body seemed to creak, and then, splitting her focus, she began to use her Red Tip Pot to refine a new pill.

She would obtain the strength of nine load-bearing wild bulls and two mountain-dragging fierce tigers to smash and crush Du En head-on!

To this, Du En chose to accelerate his offensive.

Heh, getting anxious, are we! Just you wait for this old lady!

An Yan gritted her teeth and held on, silently focusing on refining the pill.

The Dao of alchemy, refining pills—the key is clear at a glance: it lies in the firepower; it is fire refining!

Du En's heart stirred.

Because both cooking and artifact refining had pointers in this regard, and now that the two overlapped and he was already close to his opponent, it allowed him to precisely detect the critical moment of her alchemy.

Not yet...

Still a bit off...

Now!

As the saying goes, a miss by a hair is a miss by a thousand miles; as long as one exerts influence at this critical moment, one can make her efforts fall short of success!

And this also lay in that one key point: firepower!

Whether it was increasing the heat or lowering it, both would work, so Du En unleashed the Ice Breath Art.

This spell was something Wang Zhun would need to rely on his specialized Clear Spirit Pupils to see through, and furthermore, Du En had not observed any action of him secretly conveying information to An Yan.

Thus, the consequences of them being together in appearance but divided in spirit, each harboring their own ulterior motives, were officially manifested here.

"Ugh..."

An Yan watched in astonishment as her Red Tip Pot was abruptly covered by a layer of ice shell, which permeated through and directly hindered her operation, successfully interfering with and lowering the internal firepower.

Damn it!

Sensing something was wrong, she hurriedly shattered the ice shell, but the pill spat out from the pot was already ruined—or rather, it had become uncontrollable, and she didn't dare to consume it at all!

"Du En!"

"My move just now—that person over there knew about it."

"Wang Zhun..."

Influenced by these heart-stabbing words, An Yan's reaction slowed by a beat.

Du En's fist struck immediately; this time, it finally shattered that layer of slippery protective mana and landed directly on her face, causing blood to spray from her nostrils and her beautiful face to lose its color.

"Wait..."

"So that's how it is; there was indeed a preset margin, and the physical body was enhanced, but unfortunately, it was still too little and too rushed."

Du En had not the slightest emotion of cherishing the fair and pitying the jade; having finally broken the shell of this troublesome alchemist, he naturally exerted all his strength. His Golden Core vibrated, his star rings shone, and invisibly, it was as if a vast expanse of yellow earth followed his fist, smashing directly into her.

"High-grade..."

An Yan's eyes revealed horror; she wanted to struggle, but she was grabbed by her robes and dragged back, colliding directly with that fist, colliding with that earth.

Splat!

A beauty has perished.

"Hoo..."

In the middle of the devastated sealed area, Du En stopped his movements, unable to help but pant a little.

Looking at the headless female corpse, where the pill power still lingered and the golden flames were slowly burning, he sighed to himself: "Sword cultivators, formation masters, alchemists—the disciples of this Great Cultivator of Yunyi are one more troublesome than the next. I hope this is the end of it..."

If the wheel keeps rolling like this, the next one will be at the Nascent Soul stage.

I imagine that Great Cultivator won't sit idly by anymore; he should step in to stop it.

After all, Du En was already thinking of pulling Meng Changqing over to suppress the others.

In any case, he was the one in the right regarding this matter.

Even this time, it was actually completely justifiable.

"City Lord Tong, I hope you haven't been killed yet."

Regarding this City Lord who looked weak and easy to bully, Du En's impression of him was actually quite good.

Because compared to the other Golden Core stage cultivators he had seen before, this one was truly far too humane!

Therefore, after hastily cleaning up the battlefield, Du En refreshed his Ice Breath Art, moved quietly, and quickly rushed back to the City Lord's Mansion.

The setup of the space isolation had not changed, and the inner city and the City Lord's Mansion had not shut him out; thus, it seemed the problem was not all that serious?

Thinking this, Du En broke straight into the command center.

There was no light in the room, only the faint glow of the crescent moon and stars shining through the open door onto the floor inside, bringing a bit of light.

Tong Wenrong was currently leaning against the wall of the hall, struggling to keep his eyes half-open, looking at his last gasp, with a large pool of blood beneath him, scarlet and pungent, carrying the scent of impending death.

(End of this chapter)