Chapter 394: Successive Arrivals, Self-Detonating Human-Bees

"Ah!!!!"

The Candle-Holders let out miserable screams and were annihilated, body and soul.

The diseased secret passage twisted incessantly, oozing purple fluid that flowed into the sea of disease.

It was a pathogen being forced out! And the Holy Spirit, who had just displayed such great power, quickly became listless, retracted its radiance, and closed its eyes!

The hanging lamp fell weakly onto Du En's shoulder.

"The accumulated power has been exhausted, sorry..."

She seemed to have suffered unimaginable, heavy damage in the previous battle of the two gods, to the point that now, even a slight outburst required her to secretly store power, emit a flash of light, and then immediately become listless and weak in presence.

That she couldn't help Du En before was not for any other reason, just that she hadn't stored enough power and had already expended quite a bit of her remaining strength.

Upon careful investigation, the fact that she spent an unknown amount of time calling out to Du En in the Holy Mausoleum was likely one of the reasons she was now so listless.

In short, if the Holy Spirit could handle this situation alone, she wouldn't have had to rack her brains to create a final apostle.

The magical artifacts whistled and circled, not being put away.

Du En nodded slightly and moved forward again.

Although the Holy Spirit's display of power had temporarily stabilized this diseased area, it was clearly treating the symptoms but not the root cause. As time passed, the remaining roots of the disease would continue to emerge and spread, so they needed to race against time to get through here.

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Footsteps echoed in the dark tunnel, and the flickering candlelight was dim and lusterless.

The speed at which the mutations were regenerating far exceeded imagination; the strange, hollow sound of those footsteps was the best proof of this.

They could not continue to stay here! Du En thought this, looking at the Holy Spirit hanging lamp, which seemed to have recovered a little and was slightly brighter.

"This should be outside the Holy Capital."

She judged the situation, somewhat vaguely.

But the general location was not wrong.

Thus, with a spatial maneuver, Du En left the spatial secret passage.

They arrived once again under the dim sun.

In a bamboo forest, looking back, one could faintly see the city walls of the Holy Capital and the various collisions of great power within, which were like a tornado storm.

They had indeed left the Holy Capital.

However.

"Wait, where is this?!"

The hanging lamp hurriedly flew up, cruising around, and discovered something wrong. "Hurry, let's go, this place is..."

Before the words could finish, more chaotic noises had already drowned them out.

Buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz! The sound of bees flapping their wings suddenly appeared deep in the bamboo forest, a kind of surging emotion, viscous and like fire, burning hotter and hotter under the push of pain.

Du En commanded his artifacts to rise, whistling and clanging, spreading directly outward.

The bamboo forest was cleared, revealing the true forms.

Red sacs flapping wings, like human-bees! People who had grown wings, their bodies covered in blisters and cysts, clearly also infected, but presenting an abnormal deformity, with deep purple replaced by bright red!

"Holy Spirit! Great Holy Spirit!"

"Pain is the lash, misery is the reward!"

"Praise the pain, extol the pain, Pain Holy Spirit!!!"

The human-bees confronting the group of magical artifacts, although they only had the combat power of the Genius Nascent Soul stage, had no fear at all, and it wasn't because they were venting or going mad from the pain of the disease.

They displayed a sense of extreme fanaticism, as if they felt the Fluorspar Disease was the Holy Spirit they revered most, its lashing, its rewarding, its affirmation! In short, they were a bunch of fanatics who were becoming increasingly intense after being infected! Therefore, Du En held back slightly, choosing to block rather than kill for the time being; after all, since they still had thoughts and emotions, perhaps they could be on the same side. Furthermore, he had to consider the feelings of the Holy Spirit to some extent—these were clearly her people...

"Wrong! Wrong!"

"I never told you to praise or extol pain!"

The Holy Spirit hanging lamp emitted her voice at this moment, intending to deny and awaken those overly fanatical believers, appearing exceptionally anxious, as if afraid of certain scenes occurring.

However.

Those human-bees didn't listen at all.

The Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit.

Pain is the truth!

The words of the genuine one could not shake the false, fanatical piety!

Du En realized immediately that these were not allies, and without hesitation, he prepared to strike hard.

"Don't..."

The Holy Spirit wanted to say something, but the words were interrupted before they could finish.

It wasn't because of Du En!

Boom, boom, boom! Dense self-detonations rang out directly, the sounds of *splat* and *squelch* following one after another. Various viscous, bright red liquids splashed everywhere, igniting fluorescent flames that spread rapidly to the surroundings, and under the fuel of the diseased Qi, they could not be extinguished normally.

The human-bees had self-detonated!

This was what the Holy Spirit wanted to prevent! Because the prevention failed, the hanging lamp fell weakly back onto Du En's shoulder.

"I told you, don't be fanatical, don't be superstitious, why do you never listen!?"

She was dejected and pained by this.

Du En did not lower his guard.

Because the group of magical artifacts had separated the human-bees, their self-detonation had not actually reached them, appearing quite futile.

But in fact, that was absolutely not a meaningless act!

On the contrary, under the fuel of the diseased Qi, that bright red fire was burning wildly, causing even the group of magical artifacts to begin to faintly melt, forcing them to retreat somewhat.

Even attempting to contain it with the Method of Unmelting Ice Soul was just a drop in the bucket.

Because that fire had a constant supply of diseased Qi filling it; it was simply a fire-element array ignited and started by flesh and blood, and he had already been trapped inside.

Pfft, crackle, pop—

Hum, hum, hum, hum!

Behind the flames, from every direction, more and more human-bees came rushing over.

"Painful burning fire, holy divine radiance!"

"Worship the Holy God, the great mother!"

"Feel the pain, understand the selflessness!"

One after another they shouted fanatically, one after another they sacrificed themselves in self-detonation.

The Holy God looked on, numb: "I knew it, once they are infected with the disease, they will definitely go from bad to worse. I've said it before, aside from the Apostles of Creation, while I am their mother, I am also, in fact, not their mother..."

In short, it seemed her words had not been taken in by these people from start to finish; they could still be controlled before contracting the Fluorite Disease, but once infected, they were completely out of control!

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh! Handfuls of Fifth-Tier Dharma Artifacts erupted with power, temporarily suppressing the flames, piercing straight through to snipe the human-bees one by one! Du En did not stop his counterattack, though his intent was difficult to realize.

Although those human-bees were easy to kill, relying on a streak of tenacity, a kind of instinct, and the same fanaticism, even if their heads were gone and their origins shattered, they would still try to throw their fragments into the fire, breaking apart in the boiling bubbles to make the flames even more brilliant and scarlet!

Even more human-bees saw the scene ahead and detonated themselves directly from the rear! Boom, boom, boom... The flames swayed like demons, as if mocking Du En's meaninglessness, as if reaching out toward him, wanting him to experience the greatness of the Holy God as they perceived it, so that he would piously submit and praise with his whole heart! As for the Holy God Hanging Lamp following by his side, a part of their own Holy God?

Unrecognized! Absolutely not acknowledged! It must be a fake! Du En could not help but glance slightly to the side at this "false god."

She was now motionless, revealing a kind of numbness, yet appearing sorrowful and lost.

He turned his gaze back to the increasingly near, raging, fleshy, brilliant fire...

Self-detonation?

Who doesn't know how to do that!

He had originally wanted to be stingy with them, but in this state, he could only see whose self-detonation was stronger!

As Du En's thought stirred, the portion of Dharma Artifacts that had partially melted due to the diseased fire immediately dispersed, and then the internal artifact seals cracked and collapsed.

Explode! Boom! Boom, boom, boom! The diseased Qi was immediately stirred into shreds, the brilliant flames were rapidly dismembered, space shattered like ugly scars, and the withering of the treasure light drowned out the fanatical shouts.

A path had already appeared before his eyes, and Du En stepped out.

The next moment, surging diseased Qi poured back in, forcibly extinguishing the aftermath of the self-detonations, making the Qi environment here chaotic as well, as if a storm were sweeping through this place.

Hum, hum, hum...

One human-bee after another flapped their wings; there was still a significant number of them.

Just how many fanatics do you have?

Du En glanced at the Hanging Lamp on his shoulder.

"I gathered the fanatics in the Holy Kingdom here mainly to let them be a bit quieter, to recognize reality, and to stop being superstitious. As for the number, there are 235,863 people."

Echoing this description, like a scarlet cloud, the dense mass of human-bees had already overturned and arrived, following the storm of diseased Qi, creating a suffocating, apocalyptic scene of scarlet clouds and black winds.

And the Holy God was still spitting out even more unsettling words: "To ensure they don't run around and to properly correct them, I also sent Apostle An to stay here and teach them..."

"Hee hee hee hee!"

Amidst the response, the wild laughter was sharp.

A terrifying human-bee appeared from under the protection of the swarm, red as if it were a sun. Looking closely, it was a giant, bloated object covered in flesh sacs, full of fluorite, and covered in fleshy thorns.

Infected with the Fluorite Disease, body and Nascent Soul, mixed with fanaticism and magic power, it had completely lost its original form and outline, turning into this posture that made the Holy God weep.

Apostle An, Cyst-Bee Queen!

So it was those Apostles; then that was quite normal.

Du En now suspected that the Holy God might not have the ability to create Apostles at all; these so-called Apostles were all the works of True Monarch Buyi.

Speculating further, they might actually be people from the Falling Feather Immortal Sect, sent here just to play house with the Holy God in her Holy Kingdom.

That was why the fanatics here only grew more fanatical and were never corrected at all.

And then, when the Fluorite Disease reached its point of spread, these Apostles, one and all, would be struck, their humanity extinguished, becoming the stones blocking Du En's path!

In other words, the disease mutation in the secret passage was also True Monarch Buyi's doing?

Was this the second trial he had arranged, or perhaps, the third?

Regardless of whether it was or not, it needed to be fought!

Handfuls of Dharma Artifacts flew out from the Kongsang Mountain, neat and uniform, bunching together to form a dragon, circling around Du En, their sharpness clanging like steel scales, the green and yellow colors reflecting off each other, all of them the results of practicing the Earth-Wood Holy Refining.

"Hee hee hee hee!"

The Cyst-Bee Queen, Apostle An, continued to laugh strangely. One human-bee after another seemed to receive an order, began to echo the storm of diseased Qi, left their voices behind, and suddenly swarmed up.

The Dharma Artifact dragon roared in anger, various artifact powers erupted, similarly surging and expanding, immediately pouring out in all directions.

Pfft, pfft, pfft! Bang, bang, bang! With the pulp exploding and shattering, ten thousand human-bees died in the blink of an eye, not even having time to detonate! But they were numerous, after all; those charging from behind detonated halfway through.

Boom, boom, boom...

The dense self-detonations ignited the storm of diseased Qi.

Rumble! It was like pouring oxygen and flames into an oil depot; it exploded directly and violently, instantly blasting through the surface space and echoing with the sea of disease accumulated beneath.

Like a mantle plume eruption, the sky-piercing scarlet red became the only light in this place, and the various fierce battles and killings in the distant Holy Capital were also cast into the shade, appearing as mere child's play.

"Hee hee hee hee!"

The Cyst-Bee Queen retreated to the side, watching that grand scene, emitting strange laughter, with a chaotic and slurred voice mixed within.

"Holy God! Holy God! My great god, great mother!"

"My most beloved, most wanted-to-destroy porcelain doll sitting on the holy throne!"

"Ah ah ah! Just let me eat you, let me defile you!!!"

"Huh?"

The Holy God's somewhat bewildered voice rang out behind Apostle An.

She immediately realized something was wrong and flapped her wings to escape, but was suddenly stepped on by a giant force on her back. With a pfft sound, her wings were torn off, and then, with the force penetrating through, she immediately fell uncontrollably, like a meteorite, creating a concave valley amidst a thunderous sound.

Above a pool of rotten flesh and blood, Du En reached out and smoothed the hair that was blocking his eyes.

At this moment, he was also in an extremely wretched state, covered in dust and dirt, blood seeping from his seven orifices, his complexion deathly pale.

Facing the kind of formation just now, even though he had countered self-detonation with self-detonation to withstand the most powerful offensive, firstly, he was already in a poor state to begin with; even though he was applying the new technique he had learned, which no longer had any backlash effect, the lack of sufficient magic power to cushion the impact meant he was still affected by the close-range explosion.

Secondly, the influx of the interlayer Sea of Sickness aggravated the overall destructiveness, and being in the midst of it, he naturally could not escape unscathed.

Therefore, his Five Undying Radiance Body was nearly broken again, and he himself was in a miserable state, weakened by several more degrees, his strength falling into a rare trough.

Then, he ambushed Apostle An.

However, she did not die! The corpse underfoot was merely a shell; the real her, seeing the situation was unfavorable, had already burrowed into the ground and fled far away.

At this moment, Du En kicked off the ground and flew into the air, and while hovering, he saw Apostle An burst out from the soil.

She shed her Queen Bee outer shell, revealing the inner Queen Bee.

Three pairs of compound eyes: one pair of human eyes, one pair of sickness eyes, and one pair of pus-sac eyes.

Three pairs of wing membranes: one pair of human hands, one pair of tentacles, and one pair of mucous wings.

A naked, monstrous body, extremely grotesque; her mouth had six petals when opened, and as she spread her hands, her body writhed from the middle down, looking like yet another mouth, oozing thick saliva.

"Holy God, Holy Mother, my most beloved person and god!"

"..."

The Holy God was currently filled with a mix of sorrow and bewilderment, finding it hard to believe, subconsciously thinking toward the path of pathological distortion; in any case, she simply dared not believe that her Apostle An, a creation like a daughter, still held such morbid and extreme improper intentions toward her.

But Du En did not care about their thoughts; right now, he only wanted to finish off the enemy before him.

His magical artifacts were exhausted, and his magic power was stretched thin.

But it did not matter; he still had other means at this moment! Boom! He reached out his hand and pressed down through the air, and an invisible impact immediately struck her body—it was that Primordial Spirit coercion!

(End of chapter)