Chapter 295: Blood Infant Sacrifices to the Void, the End Begins (5k, Seeking Subscriptions)

Is Liu Rujin dead?

No, only her physical body is destroyed.

At this moment, she is using the trump card of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator: her divine soul has entered her Nascent Soul, abandoning her body to flee.

"Of course, judging by the performance of these Fudong cultivators, this move is not a trump card at all."

Du En quickly captured her current specific location; the reason is actually quite simple, because her Nascent Soul is currently trapped by a layer of obstruction.

The Statue Casting Art he used earlier actually only extended a hand, and only the hand was shattered, so the true purpose was to suddenly envelop her when her Nascent Soul abandoned her body to flee, transforming into a thin layer of earth armor to trap and seal her, thereby marking and restricting her.

Originally, according to Liu Rujin's predetermined plan, she was to make good use of the characteristics of the Nascent Soul stage and take advantage of the operation of abandoning her physical body to launch a surprise attack during the gap when Du En was careless or caught off guard.

But now that is no longer possible; although she could truly erupt and break this shell very quickly, she has already lost the opportunity from just a moment ago.

Thus, she stopped the action of trying to break it.

The air quietly became exceptionally heavy, with killing intent overflowing, enough to make one lose heart.

"Hahaha! Little one, so much time has passed, and that bitch still hasn't appeared. It seems she won't be able to make it in time to collect your corpse!"

Inside the earth armor seal, her voice was somewhat low at this moment, returning to the state it was in at the very beginning; it sounded full of emotion, but in reality, it was as cold as the rocks in an ice cave, completely devoid of any feeling. Facing the predicament before her, especially the giant cannon that Du En had once again urged and was crashing down with a boom, she felt not the slightest fear or concern.

"Roar!"

A roar sounded!

It's here!

Du En did not slacken; his body was wrapped in thick earth armor, his Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body was pushed to its peak, and golden flames ignited on the outside, appearing like a cloak and crown, while also burning the rising wind and sand to pull open a great curtain of fire and sand.

Brilliant golden light erupted in his eyes, and three layers of mana star rings rotated rapidly, as if they were burning, bringing a gurgling surge of mana. Supported by the state of Flourishing Life, it never burned out, and its endless cycle temporarily took shape.

Just as he was prepared, a blood-colored oriole suddenly tore through the earth armor trapping it, spread its wings and rose directly, carrying fierce blood light, and crashed straight into the giant cannon that looked like a falling meteor.

Thud!

The two were actually deadlocked for a moment, the impact of mixed mana spreading to the surroundings, stirring the environment of spiritual energy, raising wild waves of spiritual energy, scraping another layer off the devastated ground, and crushing the few remaining special buildings.

Du En was expressionless, stepping forward to move; the spiritual energy in the air exploded, unable to stop him, and his speed was so fast that his body seemed to move through space, arriving directly in front of this blood oriole.

Her scarlet pupils turned, and with a forceful shake, the giant cannon shattered; then, with a swoosh, she appeared at Du En's side and pecked fiercely, a strike capable of easily pecking through a fourth-grade low-tier defensive magic treasure.

That curtain of fire and sand quickly struck, covering her head-on, but in the next moment, the blood light on her body ignited, covering her in blood flames; the two types of flames, golden and scarlet, thus began a tug-of-war and conflict.

Her momentum slowed, as there was still wind and sand permeating the area.

At the same time, another new giant cannon fell; its momentum was even greater because Du En began to wildly pour in mana, crudely piling up even higher power!

Thrust!

As the blood oriole flapped its wings, a long, blood-colored pillar suddenly pierced out from the devastated ground beneath them, directly topping and shattering this larger and stronger giant cannon!

"Roar ah!!!"

The blood oriole let out a thick, heavy beast roar, not at all like a bird's cry; even while burdened by the fire and wind-sand, it could still carry them along to move through space, avoiding the attack Du En was taking the opportunity to turn and strike with.

This charged punch was very heavy!

And as long as the speed is fast enough, it is equivalent to moving through space!

Therefore, as soon as she reappeared, she could still see an armored fist continuing to strike toward her, giving her no chance to dodge again, and it directly slammed hard onto her beak.

In the head-on collision, the sharp beak and the earth armor shattered together.

After the earth armor shattered, the fist inside was revealed.

Red-brown in appearance, it seemed to hide some kind of flowing fire, faintly revealing a certain madness.

At this moment, the blood oriole could feel a natural fear and terror from it, instinctively flapping its wings in a mess; it did not choose to move through space, but instead made an unconscious physical retreat, and the distance of this displacement was even faster and longer.

She wanted to retreat, but unfortunately, she could not!

Because just after retreating a distance, trees suddenly grew on the ground, and vines suddenly sprouted in the air.

Countless various wood-attribute plants, either growing in the air nearby or gripping the ground tightly, directly wrapped around her, binding her tightly.

Furthermore, wooden stakes grew on them, directly resisting the burning blood flames, forcibly piercing through the outer shell, crazily devouring mana, and feeding it back to those wood-spirit plants, forming a situation of mutual reinforcement and collective exertion.

So she wanted to escape, but could not!

Even the space movement she recalled at this moment could not be executed because the Wood Growth Art and the Mana-Devouring Wood Stakes had already locked her down.

Just like when the Statue Casting earth armor wrapped around her earlier, she could not use space movement to escape.

When all is said and done, the battle of immortal cultivators is a battle of mana and cultivation.

Spells cannot target space?

That is only because the mana driven by internal force is not strong enough, and one's own cultivation is not high enough!

Therefore, now that Du En is disregarding the depletion, wildly pouring in mana, and fiercely increasing the quantity, with Flourishing Life compensating for the lack of quality, he can form a powerful interference and obstruction, making it impossible for her to escape!

The golden flames overwhelmed the scarlet flames, burning fiercely, and the wind and sand blew up, further obscuring and cutting the surroundings; Du En's fist was still moving straight toward her, like a piece of land pressing over, deeply imprinted in her eyes!

Her instinctive panic disappeared at this moment, because that was originally a rootless tree, nothing more than a false imitation brought about by performing the Nascent Transformation Secret Art.

Her inner essence was a cold, unfeeling tool with all distracting thoughts and instincts excised!

So at this moment, there was only action taken without hesitation to achieve the mission!

Blood Infant Sacrifices to the Void!

In the pile of rubble in the distance, the young man who was miserably digging his head out lifted his eyes and saw that the blood oriole, which had been heavily trapped and was about to be smashed to death by a punch, suddenly disappeared.

It was very abrupt, making one feel exceptionally uncomfortable, dizzy, and causing their vision to go dark.

Looking closely again, not only did the blood oriole disappear, but even that space, along with Du En and other things inside, all evaporated on the spot!

The scene left only a pitch-black, deep void, like a torn scar, which made him not dare to look directly at it, because he felt that if his eyes or divine sense looked at it for even a moment longer, they would shatter on the spot, and he was terrified in his heart.

Then, he scanned the surroundings with his divine sense.

He saw only ruins everywhere, empty and devoid of people, without a single living thing, and it quickly became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

It was truly too quiet, permeated with a sense of falseness, as if the fierce battle just now was only an illusion, just a hallucination born from him accidentally inhaling that psychedelic incense.

But now that he was still trapped in the ruins, with pain everywhere on his body, and his Golden Core dim within his dantian—the fact that he had almost been shattered by the aftermath just now—reminded him in reality that this was no hallucination.

Two Nascent Soul stage cultivators were truly just fighting a great battle here!

This entire long street, including several nearby streets and a large area in a corner of the Changle Inner City, was destroyed and smashed by the aftermath of their spell-casting!

If not for the fact that few people lived in this vicinity, this wave alone would likely have resulted in heavy casualties and corpses strewn everywhere!

So, where is the City Lord? Where is the Superintendent? Where are they all right now?

A Nascent Soul battle has occurred inside this Inner City; could it be that they have all fallen, and this city has actually already fallen?

Or perhaps, am I truly just inside an illusion?

The young man's thoughts were in a chaotic mess, completely unlike his state when he had just stepped out this morning.

Then, in the next moment, the City Lord he had been longing for finally returned.

The return of Ying Dongqing did not just add a touch of beauty to this ruined land, but also caused the city defenses, which had been dead and halted, to begin restarting their operations.

In an instant, debris was cleared, broken structures were repaired, and various critical points were reshaped, as if stitching a wound with needle and thread; although it was still unsightly, it had at least stopped festering further.

The young man was also scooped out from the pile of rubble in the process, staring blankly at that figure he had dreamed of; he was somewhat bewildered, vaguely realizing something, and even more dumbfounded and incredulous.

"Is he... a spy who has infiltrated us?"

"No, he can be considered to have some small merit; he allowed me to detect the enemy's location and kill two of them in advance, clearly weakening the opponent, otherwise, we would have truly been doomed this time."

Du En's calm voice rang out, causing the young man to turn his head abruptly to look, only to see him walking safely; the space-sacrificial art of that Blood Warbler Liu Rujin had not taken his life at all.

However, that move was indeed terrifying; he felt as if he had been thrown into a meat grinder, and only by relying on the characteristics of the Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body and the blessing of the Reflective Life Flourishing Glory was he able to forcibly endure it; it is no exaggeration to say he was shredded thousands of times in the process.

Finally, when the enemy's momentum ran out, Du En exerted his remaining strength to break through it and jump back out.

So he looks now like a piece of porcelain that has just been glued together, full of shocking cracks, and even his clothes were just changed on the fly.

At this moment, Du En is repeatedly popping recovery pills, because the Reflective Life Flourishing Glory ended the moment he jumped out, entering a one-hundred-day cooldown period.

Ying Dongqing breathed a slight sigh of relief, but did not seem overly worried.

Because she was not surprised that Du En possessed trump cards capable of defeating enemies across a greater realm.

Even if that enemy was weakened, they were still an existence far stronger than the Golden Core stage.

That he truly succeeded, apart from some shock, only left her thinking, "as expected."

After all, he is highly regarded by the upper echelons; in a sense, he is a seed of a heaven-gifted genius, distinct from ordinary geniuses, so it is perfectly normal for him to be taught methods for life-saving bursts of power.

As for things like side effects?

The higher-ups have plenty of treasures and precious pills; even if his Golden Core were burned dry, they could likely pull him back.

She was actually quite envious of this, and said aloud: "Traveler is truly heroic; this humble one is truly filled with admiration!"

"City Lord is too kind with the praise."

With a casual, polite remark, it jolted the young man back to his senses, only for him to fall back into a daze, appearing utterly dejected.

Re, really the City Lord?

I...

Eh?

Wait, this Traveler is actually?!

Only at this moment did he belatedly realize that he had once had a conversation with Du En, and had also frequently seen him on the way to practicing spells...

Thinking of the previous events, his complexion changed repeatedly; embarrassment, awkwardness, and shame—all sorts of emotions surged one after another.

Ying Dongqing's gaze looked over, somewhat wary and vigilant: "Is he truly not a person who has infiltrated as an enemy? Of those seven small cities, not one Golden Core stage survived, and many Foundation Establishment stage were the same; next, I fear we must check city by city, one by one, to completely root out all hidden dangers."

It was precisely because of this that she had been dragged into patrolling the city earlier; even though she sensed that Du En had already started fighting, she was anxious but could only resolve what was in front of her first.

Although she knew and was certain that Du En must have had burst-power methods to fight the enemy, she could not be completely unconcerned; in short, she had to be as fast as possible, primarily to demonstrate loyalty.

Now she can officially breathe a sigh of relief, but she still cannot truly relax; after all, the extent of the infiltration in Changle City is still unknown, and at the same time, the encirclement and suppression by Zhang Qing is still ongoing.

"No need to be nervous; I took the opportunity to collect some things, and next, as long as we take them to be deciphered, we should be able to derive a screening method."

Du En spread his hands, revealing another pile of Golden Core remnants; this time they were not shattered as thoroughly and appeared in larger pieces, the result of him piercing the enemy's dantian and then gently crushing them.

Perhaps because they had contained a Nascent Soul, these gold-and-red-tinted Golden Core fragments did not dissipate quickly; as long as they were stored properly, they could be utilized.

Ying Dongqing secretly kept an eye on the dejected and emotionally conflicted young man; seeing that he had no unusual reaction to this, she finally set aside that bit of wariness, took these fragments, cast a spell to preserve them, and then directly transferred them to the Hub City.

It will still require the Great Cultivators to take action to solve this as quickly as possible!

Subsequent matters were very simple; when the first batch of official support personnel from the Hub City arrived, Ying Dongqing accompanied them to support Zhang Qing's side, delivering a powerful blow to the still-stubborn Fudong rebels.

Du En returned to the City Lord's Mansion, and with the defenses fully activated and authority temporarily handed over to him, he continued to take pills to heal his wounds.

He did not encounter any more attacks.

By the time he had recovered sufficiently, and it was not yet noon, the mopping up of the Fudong remnants had already been completed.

By this time, the method for dealing with that kind of infiltration and lurking tactic had already been rapidly deciphered and created by the Hub City, and was being added to the defensive measures of the various City Lord Mansions.

Next, they would focus on conducting detailed and meticulous screenings of the eight cities including Changle City, as well as sixty other surrounding cities.

In other words, they needed to gather everyone and have them all pass through the City Lord's Mansion.

Ying Dongqing returned with Zhang Qing and the others, with some Hub City personnel accompanying the team.

It was not that the others had fallen; the Hub City personnel had not suffered casualties, as they were all Nascent Soul stage with impressive means, and had already gone to those small cities to take charge of the screening process.

This matter is estimated to take a few days; after a few days, this area will be able to become clean.

The matter was considered to have come to an end, and they had managed to scrape together some merit at the end, so it wouldn't look too bad; therefore, although Zhang Qing and the others were all injured and many of their subordinates at the Golden Core stage had fallen, they were now quite relaxed, and upon seeing Du En, they immediately surrounded him, which made the Hub City people somewhat concerned and secretly cast sidelong glances.

"Haha, if not for Traveler Du showing his might this time, we would have truly wasted our time and been unable to shirk the blame!"

"No need to be so polite; it was originally a situation where everything would have been fine as long as the Hub City took action."

Hearing this remark from Du En, the Hub City personnel simply pretended not to hear it.

Because in this matter, no matter how tight personnel were, squeezing out a double-digit number of Nascent Soul stage cultivators would not have been a problem.

Yet in the end, they did not, and only today did twenty-something of them arrive at once.

They appeared to have come prepared, likely intending for others to do the hard and tiring work while they came at the end to reap the rewards.

If not for the ripples caused by Du En here, Zhang Qing and the others probably wouldn't even have gotten a sip of soup, and might even have been condescendingly lectured afterward, told that they had worked so long for nothing, wasting time and resources in vain, or something of the sort.

"Traveling Inspector, there is no need for modesty; I must also offer my thanks this time, otherwise this land of Changle would likely already be in ruins, and I would have had no choice but to make a trip to the front lines myself."

Ying Dongqing spoke up at this moment, quite deliberately elevating him, and through her choice of self-reference and attitude, made her own stance clear.

Consequently, Zhang Qing fell into silence at once, and the hearts of every person from the Pivot City trembled.

As expected of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, their thoughts shifted rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they had all arrived at an answer.

Zhang Qing's smile was even more radiant, and his tone and demeanor were even more humble: "Yes, yes, yes, this humble one thinks the same; there is no need for such modesty from the Traveling Inspector!"

The attitudes of those Pivot City personnel also changed greatly, and they gathered around one after another.

"Exactly so, Traveling Inspector Du can be said to have the primary merit this time!"

"How could those Fu Dong thieves compare to our genius!"

"Traveling Inspector Du is a young hero, with a future that is limitless!"

"..."

A pile of circular, repetitive talk was laid on directly, with flattery following flattery; hearing this, Du En was immediately lost in thought, and looking at Ying Dongqing again, he saw only that this woman was feigning mystery and smiling lightly, as if she had expected this all along and had done it on purpose.

And so.

When the group returning from Changle City converged with the assembled Golden Core stage cultivators and arrived at the City Lord's Mansion to first undergo screening and inspection, what met their eyes was the scene of a bunch of Nascent Soul stage cultivators surrounding Du En and speaking sweet words.

The part that had followed Zhang Qing and the others to pursue the enemy could at least be barely understood, but those who had not participated in the action teams and had remained to guard the inner and outer towns were basically just bewildered.

Traveling Inspector Du's status was indeed extraordinary, but for even those high-nosed people from the Pivot City to be like this, it seemed a bit too strange!

And among them, naturally, were those Golden Core stage cultivators who had lingered in the inner city, waiting for arrangements or to be sent to the front lines; these people were even more shocked to the point of speechlessness, completely unable to understand why a group of Nascent Soul stage big shots would flatter Du En in such a way.

It wasn't as if they hadn't seen this person before; when he had lingered in the city earlier, they had actually caught glimpses of him, whether by gaze or by divine sense.

At that time, Du En had appeared obscure and ordinary, and even now, he was still concealing his cultivation, presenting only the outward appearance of a mid-stage Golden Core.

Therefore, they felt a strong sense of contrast.

(End of this chapter)