Chapter 335: Ten Thousand Controls Display Might, Rapidly Penetrating Deep (Ten-Thousand-Character Chapter)

"Let's go! Let's go! Haha, those guys who have no real skills and only know how to run their mouths—I'm definitely going to smash them to pieces later!"

Following closely in Du En's footsteps, Jiang Ying appeared exceptionally eager to try, and also a little puffed up with indignation.

The reason was simple: while observing earlier, she had heard some snide remarks about being cowardly and running away.

At the same time, it was time for Du En to put the many magical artifacts he had refined over the past three years to use in a heavy bombardment.

Her interest in this was quite high; after all, her own blood and sweat were invested in them as well.

Although she didn't actually like killing, it was unavoidable due to their survival situation, and the bloodthirsty temperament she had developed often revealed itself unconsciously.

Du En showed no change in expression at the excitement of the little tail behind him; he simply relied on the Space-Seeking Jade Cicada to choose one of the water vortex nodes that were segmenting the space here.

In his mind, the cicada chirped lightly, indicating the situation ahead.

They had arrived in an area they had never attempted to step into before.

Gradually leaning toward the central main body, the leakage of spiritual energy here was not too severe, and as they continued to advance, it was clear that the closer they got to the center, the better and more stable the overall environment became.

They moved forward rapidly without hesitation, maintaining concealment; other than stopping to collect fifth-tier spiritual items when they spotted them, they ignored everything else.

Thus, after passing through several segmented spaces in succession, they were able to barely maintain a good and stable spiritual energy environment in the new segmented space.

A corner of the Dragon Palace architecture there had not collapsed, and the frame remained relatively intact.

However, as soon as they stepped in, before Du En could even confirm if it matched any of his predictions, a thick, extreme stench suddenly rushed toward them.

"Wah!"

Jiang Ying, following closely behind, immediately let out a miserable shriek.

She possessed a supreme physical body with extremely sharp five senses, and her nose and sense of taste were among them; caught off guard, it was practically like voluntarily jumping into a sea of excrement to swim!

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

She immediately sealed her senses of smell and taste, no longer caring about her demeanor, and raised her hand to fish out a water-element talisman from the bottom of her storage bag—she didn't know who she had gotten it from—and used it on the spot to wash away the lingering odor.

Du En did not mind her actions; instead, he was able to glean some information from them.

The most important thing, of course, was that the natural alertness of her supreme physical body had not detected any substantial danger; otherwise, she wouldn't have been acting with such leisure.

Based on this, attempting to extend his divine sense to investigate was undoubtedly more appropriate.

Then, he saw the source of the stench.

In this part of the Dragon Palace architecture, it was like a seafood graveyard; dead sea demon beasts lay piled up, rotting for a long time, dense and numerous, shimmering with a dull, mottled yellow-white color, just like a nest of dead maggots.

If it were just that, it would still be fine, but the key was that this nest of dead maggots was now moving!

"Corpse transformation?"

Through his divine sense, he saw third-tier shrimp-like demon beasts, as well as human bodies topped with crab heads—corpses that were clearly fourth-tier demon beasts in life—twisting as ink-black, foul-smelling, rotting liquid flowed continuously from their shells and bodies, and then they stood up shakily.

Realizing that outsiders had intruded, the long-dead and rotting Dragon Palace guards were lining up to face the enemy once again.

"..."

Faintly, there seemed to be some other sound.

Gurgle, gurgle~

There really was a sound!

Right in the center of the shrimp soldiers and crab generals, in the very pit of rotting corpses from just before, a sea turtle suddenly leaped out from the very bottom; it had also been dead for a long time, and at this moment, it opened its mouth and, with a retching sound, vomited a wave of foul-smelling corpse water!

"After the shrimp soldiers and crab generals, is it a Turtle Marshal? Looking at this posture, it must have been a fifth-tier great demon in life."

Du En evaluated calmly, while Jiang Ying, watching the shrimp soldiers and crab generals—countless as dead maggots—rush out of the building, riding the foul waves and bringing the foul wind, felt terrified and shocked, subconsciously wanting to turn around and run.

There wasn't much danger, as they were just a bunch of corpses that had been soaking here for nearly ten thousand years; even if they were great demons in life, they were long since rotted through, and a single fierce punch from her could blast them to pieces with a 'pop'.

But the key was that if she did that, the great demon's corpse stench and dirty water would splash all over her, staying with her for a very long time until she reached the outside world, where it might be possible to remove it.

After all, since it was a fifth-tier great demon in life, it could still manage that much!

So, I don't want that!

Jiang Ying's little face turned pale, and she was ready to flee at the first sign of trouble; after all, it wasn't as if there was no way out, and they weren't under the oppression of that scoundrel Bu Yi, so why run up and fight head-on like an idiot!

Then, having retreated back to the previous segmented space, she calmed down slightly and realized that she actually had a teammate...

Seeing that Du En had not retreated and remained where he was, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and run back again.

As soon as she returned, she saw magical artifacts flying all over the sky.

Du En's expression hadn't changed at all; he continued to walk forward calmly.

As he walked, the magical artifacts that had been crowding his storage bag flew out one by one, each with different spiritual light, whistling and clamoring.

They moved in a circle around him, dense and numerous; seen from afar, it was like a pillar of light formed by the convergence of various colors, shocking to the heart, stirring the wind and clouds. Just by flying together, they already exerted a physical influence, scraping the ground, destroying buildings, and blocking the foul wind and stench head-on.

He took a step forward, and the wind and waves retreated a step.

No foul wind, stench, or rotting corpses could get close to him anymore; they could only distance themselves in fear!

The majestic power of fifty thousand fourth-tier magical artifacts being controlled together was terrifying to this extent, leaving even Jiang Ying stunned, as she had never seen such a scene before and had never even imagined it.

She naturally knew about the Ten Thousand Control Art, but she knew even better that it was a useless, chicken-rib technique!

Artifact cultivators and artifact masters might study it, but the key was, where would one easily gather ten thousand magical artifacts of the same tier?

Even with the strong support of a faction, being able to be extravagant and wasteful enough to gather them, one still needed enough mana to drive them, a strong enough soul and divine sense to coordinate and control them, and most importantly, the ability to withstand the pressure.

Otherwise, it would just be a showy display, completely unable to unleash the power of so many artifacts, and they might even collide with each other, ending up worse than controlling just one or ten at a time!

That was the reason it had become a useless technique!

And before this, she had only thought that Du En was stocking up on artifacts, waiting to have a constant supply of ammunition for critical moments; she had never thought he intended to control them all at once.

After all, the number he had refined and gathered by now was already far beyond what a normal Ten Thousand Control Art could control simultaneously.

But she hadn't expected that Du En had actually practiced the Ten Thousand Control Art to this level, capable of controlling a full fifty thousand!

"Heavens! What kind of freak is this? Is he really just a genius?"

Jiang Ying couldn't help but mutter to herself at this moment; even she found it hard to understand the situation before her, racking her brains to recall various clues, only able to think of the fact that in the past three years, Du En seemed to have been controlling artifacts all day long.

But at that time, it was in a reduced state, and he was only maintaining the number of ten thousand, meeting the minimum requirement for practicing the Ten Thousand Control Art.

She truly could not fathom it; could it be that one could reach such a level just by practicing like this?

Is the practice of spells really that simple?

Or was it that he had actually been hiding this trick all along, had long possessed this level of skill, and only hadn't shown it before because he lacked so many magical artifacts?

No, no, no; when it comes down to it, the most crucial point is that his spirit Nascent Soul is so strong!

Can an ordinary strong genius be this strong?

At any rate, she herself is not.

Although in this regard, she is actually at a disadvantage...

Her various shocks and wild thoughts were but a blink of an eye, and in reality, Du En stopped his footsteps at this moment, then a thought stirred.

Violent spiritual light poured out immediately!

Just like opening a sluice gate to release a flood, a wide variety of artifact prohibitions erupted, tearing and sucking at the spiritual Qi, devouring it dry in the blink of an eye, then transforming into various effects; some could cut through the surface space, some could conjure the phenomena of the Five Elements, and others were simply purely overbearing, directly sucking in spiritual Qi, then compressing it fiercely, and then blasting it out violently.

Boom, boom, boom...

Countless foul-smelling shrimp soldiers and crab generals were wiped out in a single encounter, and that corner of the Dragon Palace building was also directly blown into the sky; only the remaining fifth-tier parts within could be spared, but they were also hit by this bombardment, shattering their foul-smelling outer shells.

Clattering like falling rain, reflecting the unscattered spiritual light, it appeared exceptionally crystal clear, and Jiang Ying, who was in shock, had her eyes immediately attracted, keenly locking onto these treasures.

"Gurgle~"

That Marshal Gui, who was a Great Demon in life, was also blown to pieces at this moment, but he still retained a strand of obsession; even though he was already dead, he still had to perform his duty faithfully.

Thus, amidst this bombardment that continued to strike, he instinctively made a move, squeezing out the remaining magic power to drive the dregs of Daoist arts.

Spirit-Detaining and General-Dispatching!

The foul tide should have already been destroyed, but at this moment it suddenly reappeared, and it expanded extremely, turning into a thousand-foot-wide wave, slapping and roaring as it rushed over.

Within the surging turbid waves, the shrimp soldiers and crab generals that had already been wiped out appeared once again, and they were restored to their postures in life; it was precisely a bit of true spirit obsession obtaining a Daoist-molded body, reappearing with the might of the past.

It was not just shrimp soldiers and crab generals, but also various fish soldiers and all kinds of shark generals; any demon beast that swam in the sea could be found within at this moment, which could be called a complete collection of sea demon beasts, enough to reflect the might of the Dragon Clan in its prime, commanding the four seas and stirring up the winds and clouds.

However, these were all meaningless!

Click~

Facing the obsession of the Great Demon and the dregs of Daoist arts, Du En gave full respect, and immediately began to activate the artifact prohibitions within his own magical artifacts, which accounted for three-quarters and were prepared entirely for self-detonation.

It's coming, it's coming!

Jiang Ying felt goosebumps rising all over her body at this moment, a sense of horror as if she were naked and powerless, falling into a meat grinder; she immediately knew Du En's next operation, and was instantly so excited that she stared with wide eyes!

Sure enough, that self-detonation, it came!

Boom...

Only a few hundred pieces self-detonated, directly causing the space to shatter and collapse, resulting in a vacuum torrent of spiritual Qi, which swallowed and buried that entire collection of sea demon beasts, and even wiped out and destroyed the residual rotten corpse obsession of the Great Demon, leaving not a single scrap behind.

There was even a ripple effect, causing this split space, whose inner base was already unstable, to begin sliding toward the result of annihilation, but because the spiritual Qi environment here was already sufficiently stable, it did not collapse instantly and could still hold on for a period of time.

That kind of stench was naturally gone, and Du En put away his magical artifacts while collecting those fifth-tier spiritual objects.

Hmm, the quantity is not small, and the quality is fine; they are basically all fifth-tier mid-grade, it's just that the types are relatively singular, previously they were all wood or stone from the building...

"Oh, oh, oh! It really is such a powerful scene!"

Jiang Ying couldn't help but jump over, her eyes were truly glowing; in her excessive excitement, even Du En could only avoid her edge, otherwise, if she pulled him fiercely, his arm would have been torn off.

She didn't care about this small action now, because she was really excited; not only because the self-detonation just now was shocking, but also because there was a share of her blood and sweat in this self-detonation!

Watching the fruits of her blood and sweat turn into a brilliant moment, she only had a thick sense of satisfaction... Truly a little girl who is easy to fool and exploit, Du En couldn't help but shake his head slightly in his heart.

At the same time, he was somewhat concerned about the current situation.

Those rotten corpses just now were like real rotten corpses, only retaining a few obsessions from their lives, and echoing with some remaining settings of the Dragon Palace, which allowed them to remain and launch attacks on intruders.

Even though he had "killed" them, he did not feel the connection of fate in the dark.

That was a special feeling brought by the divine ability; as his mastery became deeper and his cultivation became higher, it became more and more obvious, and now he basically didn't need to try to bury them to know whether the corpse met the standard.

The Great Demon rotten corpse just now did not meet the standard at all, so he showed no mercy and blasted it thoroughly.

"It's time to continue moving forward."

While lost in thought, he interrupted Jiang Ying's excitement, making her mood instantly uplifted.

"That's right! How much has this blown up? Go find those of other immortal sects, drown them all at once, that's what you call exciting!"

At this time, she was truly a female demon, fearing only that the world would not be in chaos, with dangerous anticipation flashing in her eyes.

Anyway, whether it was Mu Cang or Fu Dong, the people over there didn't look like good things at all; blowing them to death was just acting on behalf of heaven!

They moved forward again, this time with the excited Jiang Ying in front and Du En lagging a little behind.

Thus, they walked through two more split spaces without encountering any more demon beast rotten corpses, getting closer to the center.

The spiritual Qi environment and other aspects became increasingly stable, and even if the magical artifacts self-detonated, it became more and more difficult to cause a chain reaction; the most critical thing was that this place already met one of Du En's expectations.

—There were fifth-tier spiritual objects, completely nested and integrated into the environment, forming a standard fifth-tier spiritual-nurturing land form!

Although it was said that they were to launch an action to push the situation to change drastically and force it to become clear, since the proficiency of this spirit-seeking task was not a complicated or time-consuming thing to brush up, it could be done along the way.

Thus, Jiang Ying, who was impatient and walking faster and faster, just wanting to see Du En blow people up, took several steps out, only to suddenly find that he was gone, having retreated!

Hmm? What's the situation?

For a moment, she only felt confusion, but she didn't think about anything else, like Du En discovering danger and simply selling her out.

After all, although this guy liked to exploit others and was actually full of bad water, he could barely be considered a gentleman, right? It's just that he was very unconventional...

Just as she was lost in her wild thoughts and gradually calming down, subconsciously turning her head, her pretty little head hadn't fully turned around when she saw Du En running back again in her divine sense.

Hmm? Did he forget something? What a careless...

The interrupted emotion was stuck in the middle again, because she saw Du En retreat again.

Hmm???

This time she was truly completely confused and had also completely calmed down.

However, she was not in a hurry to ask, after all, the other party looked quite focused, as if there was something very important.

Within that calm expression, there was a hint of this color.

Should be, right?

In truth, even to this day, Jiang Ying cannot be considered proficient at reading Du En's face; she can only guess by connecting the dots.

"However, I really didn't know before that, within such calmness, one could actually mix in so many emotions. Or is it just because he is too calm, causing the ripples of those normal emotions to be so shallow that only the slightest traces emerge..."

Because she had to wait for Du En to finish his business, she was feeling somewhat bored, and thus pondered this at the moment.

"Eh? Big Sister, that person is really strange, going in and out over there, jumping back and forth repeatedly. I wonder what exactly he is doing?"

The voice that suddenly rang out from behind made Jiang Ying instantly alert, her small face tense as if facing a formidable enemy.

Although she had been distracted by her thoughts just now, both her divine sense and her physical body had actually maintained full vigilance and alertness.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, as long as a single wisp of movement appeared at the edge of her divine sense, a hundred miles away, or appeared within the alert range of her physical body, three hundred miles away, it would have triggered her reaction one after another.

Her soul and divine sense had been specifically trained for this!

Because her supreme physical body was too famous and she often went into the territory of the Limitless Immortal Sect, there was no shortage of people with means to evade her body's vigilance. Naturally, she had to specifically hone her divine sense outside of her physical body to fill in such obvious loopholes.

Yet now, a person had already run right up behind her, at a distance of less than twenty zhang, and it hadn't triggered her alert response at all!

So naturally, she had to act as if facing a formidable enemy!

She spun her body around abruptly, tensed her stance, and instinctively prepared to strike, adhering to the principle of striking first to gain the advantage and stifling a threat before it could develop...

"Apologies, my younger sister was too abrupt; please excuse the rudeness."

A gentle and soft voice rang out, invisibly smoothing over Jiang Ying's tension and movements, and then explained the misunderstanding, "The two of us did not intend to offend; we were merely lingering here, so I hope the two of you will not have any misunderstandings."

The person was gentle, her presence ethereal, inexplicably giving Jiang Ying a sense of trust and closeness.

Coupled with the fact that she already felt a sense of shame toward the other side, she subconsciously stepped back, and the thought of letting Du En self-detonate to bomb them vanished entirely.

Until her back bumped into a hand.

She stopped her steps and looked to the side; it was indeed Du En, who had just jumped back.

Realizing this, she suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed.

"That, I, I..."

"It's fine."

Du En lowered his hand and looked at the two people opposite.

Rui Yi of the Limitless Immortal Sect, and her little follower Junior Sister.

Is it as expected? One of the main factors driving the strange development of the situation...

"So, are we in a state of 'the extreme of adversity leads to prosperity'?"

Amidst the thoughts in his mind, Du En's expression did not reveal his inner voice, and he only spoke thus.

According to the surface situation, they had just finished three years of dormancy, which had been exceptionally smooth, and then just as they were about to launch a new action, they encountered the greatest and strongest threat among these five great immortal sects at this time!

——After the violent death of Chen Long of the Fudong Immortal Sect, this Rui Yi of the Limitless Immortal Sect was the strongest!

Even Du En had not detected her presence just a moment ago!

Therefore, what he said now appeared reasonable and logical.

"This..."

"Du En."

"Greetings, Cultivator Du. I truly have no malice or hostility. Dormancy and hiding here was merely to avoid unnecessary conflict."

"Why is that?"

Du En asked directly.

It was as if his own dormancy was to accumulate strength to better deal with what was to come.

And this Rui Yi could not be like Jiang Ying, who only wanted to hide and play cat-and-mouse in one place because she didn't want to fight anymore.

"Wow! You really have no manners at all. How can you ask so directly and aggressively? At least be a bit polite and put on a show!"

Mm-hmm! That's right!

Jiang Ying couldn't help but agree with the little follower on the other side.

Of course, on the surface she remained tense, while secretly she was readying herself for a fight.

As long as Du En gave the order, that sharp-tongued little follower would be hers to deal with!

As for Rui Yi, she wasn't confident in handling her, so leaving her to him—the backbone, the decision-maker, and the foreman—was only natural!

Rui Yi couldn't help but glance at Jiang Ying, who was also not to be underestimated and whose methods were actually quite cruel, often leaving opponents dead or crippled. She hurriedly pulled her Junior Sister back two steps before her answer came from behind her mysterious veil.

"Because if we fight here, I fear it will let the fisherman reap the profit. Therefore, I believe it is not a suitable or appropriate thing to do. Isn't that what you thought as well, Cultivator Du, which is why you hadn't shown yourself until now to escalate the situation?"

"Who is the fisherman?"

Du En did not commit to her question and only pressed on this point.

However, Rui Yi was not a pushover who answered every question. She smiled vaguely, then changed the subject: "In these days, the remnants have all coincidentally moved toward the center. I imagine we have all vaguely sensed that things are about to change."

Hm?

Have they?

At this moment, Jiang Ying couldn't help but reveal a trace of surprise.

It was immediately captured, causing Rui Yi to ponder secretly.

Du En glanced at her and shook his head inwardly.

Although having an extra helper and laborer is a good thing, it is quite subtle when this helper cannot keep secrets.

Fortunately, he hadn't actually discussed this aspect with her, so nothing had been exposed. This was a good chance to mislead the other side, if it could be misled.

"You're bluffing me?!"

Jiang Ying wasn't truly stupid; she reacted quickly and was immediately enraged, "I actually had a good impression of you, thinking you were different from the others in the Limitless Immortal Sect. You were actually lying to me?"

"Wow! You witch, you really have no sha..."

"Shut up!"

She kicked the ground directly, and a deep trench collapsed with a rumble on the side; it was truly terrifying, causing the spirited junior sister follower on the opposite side to wilt instantly.

With this being a two-on-two fight, she was very confident in her Senior Sister's strength and very self-aware of her own.

She would die!

The kind of death that is extremely miserable!

So, she instantly dared not speak.

Rui Yi raised her sleeve here, covering her junior sister, and seemed to reveal an apologetic look beneath her veil: "I was truly rude just now, it's just..."

"Enough, I think I've figured it out; you are all cunning and crafty, able to see my thoughts or outline in an instant, and then calmly target them!"

Jiang Ying vented slightly, then quickly returned to normal, crossing her arms to show she was used to this, and then very straightforwardly revealed a hearty smile, "Let's be direct, are we fighting now or not?"

Two-on-two could turn into two-on-one in the blink of an eye; as long as the opponent wasn't some heaven-defying genius and was still within the category of a strong genius, then the advantage was purely on her side!

"... It is this concubine who was rude, I shall take my leave now."

Glancing at Du En, who did not stop her and tacitly accepted this matter, Rui Yi ultimately chose to retreat.

Because she had no certainty.

This cultivator Du En, compared to when they last met, was obviously powerful, but now he was permeated with some unfathomable circumstances, becoming mysterious.

It was clearly already the Nascent Soul perfection realm, yet after only a short three years or so, he could have such significant changes; it was truly shocking.

Also, that Jiang Ying could so easily shake off and walk out of the influence was also somewhat surprising; at the same time, when formally setting up a hostile stance, there was even an inexplicably dangerous and obscure sense of anticipation!

What was she anticipating?

Thinking this way, naturally, she could not avoid choosing to temporarily avoid the sharp edge and observe further.

As for their departure, Du En did not stop them either; he only watched and followed from afar until the other party passed through the moving dark water vortex nodes, left this partitioned space, and went who knows where.

Confirming that the people had already left, he then returned to the initial position and began going in and out again.

Jiang Ying couldn't help but ask: "Can I ask now?"

"Speak directly."

"What is her goal? Why do I feel like she came specifically to find us?"

"I'm afraid that is correct; she likely wants to figure out everyone's bottom line before the official action, and perhaps only we were not specifically observed by her before. Mainly, she didn't want to rashly erupt into conflict with us, so she intentionally kept the river water from interfering with the well water."

"In other words?"

"Yes, the Dragon Palace's space looks like it's shattered into a pile of sand, but there is clearly some kind of hidden pattern. Therefore, as long as she guards specific places, once we stop lying dormant, start leaving the outer edge, and make new moves, she can definitely block us."

"So that's how it is. Eh? That's not right; even if there is a pattern, the Dragon Palace is so big, she couldn't possibly block everything..."

"You noticed?"

"A little bit."

Jiang Ying spoke with immediate dejection.

Her anger just now was not fake, because she truly harbored a sense of guilt.

The uneasy entanglement over potentially killing the innocent—this was perhaps her inner demon obsession.

And this obsession, upon meeting Rui Yi, was influenced by her and unconsciously produced a sense of reliance; therefore, upon discovering something was wrong, she became furious, feeling only that she had been severely played!

Then, why was it so easy to be influenced and unconsciously produce a sense of reliance?

Because of purity!

"The feeling she gave me was pure and unblemished, a truly innocent situation. If there were many such people in the Stop-Limit Immortal Gate, then I would have truly been a pure female demon head before."

Jiang Ying said this, and thinking of Rui Yi now, she only felt naturally disgusted, feeling as if she had grabbed something slimy and dirty, and she had to spit it out, "The reason she appears pure is because she split herself off. Tsk! That sharp-tongued little bitch is just a part she split off!"

"I'm afraid so."

Du En did not refute this, because although he hadn't detected Rui Yi's main body just now, he had already been able to detect the anomalies in the other people of the Stop-Limit Immortal Gate.

The one the Stop-Limit Immortal Gate sent this time was actually only one person!

Moreover, for him to be unable to detect it beforehand even now, there was actually another possibility: that the person didn't truly exist beforehand and only appeared subsequently!

Thinking this way, as long as one finds the pattern of the Dragon Palace's shattering and stations one person—or rather, one avatar—at each point, then no matter where Du En and the others appeared or where they delved in, they could accurately block them.

They might have originally intended to just observe in secret, but who could have expected Du En to suddenly perform this going-in-and-out, back-and-forth operation? It was truly caught off guard and made people inevitably full of doubts.

"Of course, you never do anything unnecessary. Since you are still doing it now, it's not to draw her out."

Jiang Ying looked at Du En, who was still going in and out, with some helplessness, and couldn't help but laugh crisply, "It seems our luck is good this time; a blind cat can even run into a dead mouse!"

"I wouldn't say it's that good. If I saw correctly just now, her method of splitting into many people to purify herself might not just be a unique cultivation technique; it also involves other things."

"Uh, could it be?"

"Yes, a Divine Ability."

"Hiss..."

Jiang Ying couldn't help but gasp, feeling it was extremely thorny.

However, this explained why she had fallen for it before and developed a misunderstanding.

After all, to be able to perfectly deceive her senses while in the Nascent Soul stage, only that mysterious and profound Divine Ability could do it!

"How about this, I'll tell you about my Daoist arts now, and you help me comprehend them?"

Jiang Ying immediately wanted to embrace the Buddha's feet in a moment of crisis.

Principles can only be countered by principles; if cultivation is insufficient, make up for it with Daoist arts!

She hadn't been without time to comprehend in the previous three years, but it was still slow, and there was no progress.

And Du En's going in and out—she had figured it out; he was mostly comprehending something. Added to the three years of bitter cultivation before, his progress in techniques was visibly rising like the tide, and his comprehension was truly astonishing; she had never seen such stable and continuous progress.

Hence why she said this now.

"It's useless; time waits for no one. Looking at her performance, she has mostly reached some kind of critical point, so it's too late."

If they had done it three years ago, perhaps Du En could have found time to try practicing it; after all, regarding that Diamond Tyrant Body, he had a spiritual body here, so he could be considered to have some foundation.

But now, it was obviously too late; it was impossible to learn it in a short time and then turn around to instruct Jiang Ying.

She immediately appeared dejected, feeling a bit of regret.

But who could have foreseen this before? If one had really done that, it would truly have been a pure waste, like throwing a meat bun at a dog—gone forever without return.

Therefore, there was only a sigh now.

"Alright."

Du En stopped his going in and out at this moment.

Three thousand times had been achieved.

Spirit Seeking, breakthrough to the Great Accomplishment stage!

In an instant, numerous profound principles emerged; the veins of spiritual energy, the networks of spiritual energy, the traces of spiritual energy, the rhythms of spiritual energy... spiritual energy, every aspect of the spiritual energy environment, various theories and schools of thought, all were mastered in Du En's mind without a teacher.

To understand one aperture is to know everything!

Opening his eyes to look again, in an instant, the world belonging to spiritual energy was presented completely before him.

Countless streams of spiritual energy, spiritual energy of various types and attributes, wove together into areas large and small, which were nested within one another, ultimately forming a stable environment.

This was the complete spiritual energy environment where a Tier 5 spiritual object resides; only by following such an environment and performing meticulous harvesting could one constitute the practice of the current harvesting and appraisal technique.

Du En raised his hand and made a grabbing motion from a distance, using his Nascent Soul to control and manipulate the spiritual energy, cutting and harvesting it easily like a scalpel, bringing it before him.

A ginseng.

A ten-thousand-year-old Pale Ginseng of Tier 5 superior grade.

It already possessed spirituality and appeared somewhat bewildered at this moment, until it was grabbed by Du En's hand, only then realizing what had happened, erupting with a burst of spiritual energy resonance sufficient to stun an ordinary Nascent Soul stage cultivator, before attempting to escape calmly.

Spirit harvesting is not a simple job; the higher one goes, the more it relies on solid strength.

After all, these high-tier spiritual objects truly possess spirit; they are not dead things. The higher the grade, the more unique they are; some even undergo demonization, or simply want to form their own race and evolve their own lineage!

However, it was facing Du En now.

Du En did not use extra methods, but instead used the Spirit Seeking technique he had just mastered.

Spirit Seeking and tracking often lead one into dangerous or ominous places by mistake; for this reason, Spirit Seekers began to study it, eventually deducing through convergence a method of guidance and self-preservation based on various aspects of spiritual energy that appeared similar in performance.

Trace Questioning and Spirit Disturbance!

Simply put, by observing the traces of influence left by various spirits, one finds the key points and applies disturbance by plucking them based on different aspects like Qi, rhythm, veins, and networks.

"Ga?!"

Consequently, in Jiang Ying's wide-open eyes, she only saw the Pale Ginseng that had been calling out happily suddenly let out a 'ga' and passed out, no longer struggling, completely falling into a coma and paralysis.

It even shed the several layers of dead skin shells on its body that it had originally used to conceal itself.

It was like having its clothes stripped off!

What a terrifying method!

She immediately looked like a startled little rabbit, jumping backward violently, subconsciously acting as if facing a great enemy, almost crossing her arms over her chest to clutch her clothes tight.

Then, meeting Du En's gaze as he looked over—which seemed to carry confusion, then instantly understood, and then held a calm, seemingly sighing look—she couldn't help but blush in great embarrassment.

The other person hadn't even thought that way, but with your jumping around, you made it so that even if he hadn't thought it, he would be led to think it.

"You don't..."

"Don't say it! Don't say it! It's my impure thoughts! Let's go, let's go, let's go bomb people instead!"

Jiang Ying, embarrassed enough to want to dig a hole, interrupted immediately, turned her head, and walked away with hurried steps, forcing herself to act calm while inevitably stealing glances at Du En.

Seeing him appear compliant, without refuting or saying more, this instead made her thoughts become subtle.

But very quickly, she had no more time to let her mind wander like that.

Because after crossing this partitioned space and moving closer to the center of the Dragon Palace, they were met head-on by a great battle that was still ongoing.

A loud boom rang out.

Having just arrived in this partitioned space and not yet having done anything, the two of them sensed the situation one after another and retreated to the left and right, and then a person suddenly crashed down where they had been standing.

He flew over like a shooting star, his speed extremely fast, tearing through the space along the way and splashing out drops of blood, appearing exceptionally tragic.

However, his fighting spirit remained unextinguished and hard to erode; even though he was severely wounded, he stood up abruptly with a carp-like spring.

Strikingly, it was Nangong Sheng!

He wanted to fight again, to press on, with no sign of his fighting spirit waning, and then, his divine sense and perception finally realized, belatedly, that there were people standing on his left and right.

"It's you two?!"

In an instant, countless thoughts surged in Nangong Sheng's heart, ultimately converging into only this sentence, along with a pair of wide-open eyes, in which a complex and resentful gaze flickered.

The reason was simple: our side had a total of four great generals, and in the end, three of them just ran away!

The plan had been perfect, and they had encountered the great opportunity of an enemy general dying suddenly and the enemy's manpower suffering losses; as long as they worked together, one charge would not necessarily kill all the enemies, but at least they would have a clear advantage.

As a result, in the end, only he was left leading the charge!

At the beginning, Nangong Sheng thought these guys would all rush over to rendezvous, but as the fight went on, the two enemy factions, Fu Dong and Mu Cang, chose to group up, while the generals on his side had one sneak away, and two others simply disappeared without a trace.

By the time he came to his senses, they had all lost contact!

At that time, Nangong Sheng almost wanted to look up to the sky and howl to vent his pent-up frustration.

Unfortunately, the enemies did not give him that leeway, because they were the ones who quickly realized the crux of the matter and chose to unite; after confirming it completely, they began to increase the pressure, chasing and slaughtering the Falling Feather Immortal Sect side.

Even if Nangong Sheng's fighting spirit remained indestructible, he could not withstand the combined siege of two great immortal sects!

If it weren't for the fact that both sides had suffered losses beforehand and needed to guard against the Rotten Forest Immortal Sect, which kept running over to snipe and act as a troublemaker to maintain the stalemate, he would have been finished long ago; how could he have held on until now?

Therefore, seeing these two god-forsaken people again, one could imagine Nangong Sheng's mood!

Swept by this gaze, Du En remained calm, while Jiang Ying couldn't help but feel guilty, shrinking back.

"Matters have their priorities; let's fight first."

Du En said this, turned around, and flew up.

"Right, right, right! Kill!"

Jiang Ying's delicate body trembled, and she immediately followed closely behind.

"... Fine! I'd like to see how you all explain this to me later!"

Nangong Sheng gritted his teeth; he did not force himself to rush back, but instead seized a rare moment of respite to quickly consume medicinal pills to heal his injuries, all while remaining on guard against the sneaky Rotten Forest cultivators who might ambush him from the shadows.

(End of chapter)