Chapter 412: Feinting in the East to Strike in the West, Obtaining the Rain Bone

"It's actually the Blood Lotus Sect? Hmph! That guy An Shen has actually accepted this group of evil path practitioners; he really is stopping at nothing now!"

The voice of the Holy God appeared, and the puppet Du En also manifested in the distance, coming to a halt.

The two sides stared at each other from afar; the vanguard of the An Kingdom, the front-line soldiers of the Blood Lotus Sect, began to orderly split to the left and right, and the Blood Lotus Sect Leader walked out gracefully from among them.

She appeared particularly bizarre, with a scarlet bone mask covering her head; she was excessively tall, her legs thin like spears and nearly ten feet long, and she also possessed seven arms, three of which had their skin peeled away, exposed and dripping blood in the rain, staining the accumulated water and spreading the color everywhere.

A strange mana was spreading, mixed with clear signs of Fluorspar Disease, but it was clearly developing into a completely different situation; they were not ordinary infected, and they retained considerable rationality.

"Hee hee hee hee! Isn't this His Excellency the Holy God?"

"Oh my, you have a new apostle again? Your cultivation realm, tsk tsk, is nothing special, only mid-stage Transformation of Divinity..."

The mocking words were only half-finished when the rumbling of the earth reached its peak.

One by one, in patches, in groups, densely packed, over one hundred thousand of them; the materials used were indifferent to whether they were infected with Fluorspar Disease, as long as it wasn't deep or severe, and the flow of their mana pressure was not hidden in the slightest, intertwining like a crushing weight that made one feel a heavy sense of suffocation.

The puppet army had already surrounded Rain Valley, the veins of magic light shining in the dimness, and growing brighter—it was the rain clouds above Rain Valley being invisibly dispersed!

Seeing this, the vanguard garrison troops of An Shen could not help but stir; although they were infected with Fluorspar Disease, they had developed in an alternative form, and by retaining their rationality, they naturally also retained their emotions.

But, those were not emotions of fear.

Through the eyes of the puppet, Du En could clearly see this point.

"... Truly, an incredible War Apostle!"

The Blood Lotus Sect Leader could not help but fold her arms across her chest, picking at the intact skin on her hands, picking the skin until it was bloody, with shreds of flesh hanging from the bone.

"Hahahaha! Come, by all means, come! Pain and slaughter are the supreme ideals!!!"

Accompanied by her cheering roar, the Blood Lotus Sect soldiers in the valley responded one after another; all kinds of chaotic and frantic mana surged, and one by one, their deformed, bloody limbs could no longer be suppressed, protruding and bursting out from beneath their armor, as if breaking out of a cocoon.

They were about to break out from beneath those human-shaped armors and transform into something abnormal!

"An Shen..."

Looking at this group of fellows, the Holy God murmured, incomparably grave, and yet seemingly carrying a hint of doubt? Du En had no time to ponder further, because the opposition had already charged over.

The Great General puppet raised its hand expressionlessly, and strands of mana puppet-control threads spread out like an unfolding ball of yarn, like a blooming flower, instantly connecting all the puppets to achieve further precise operation.

Attack!

Crush them!

Leave not a single piece of armor!

In an instant, the puppet army coordinated in an orderly fashion, like living creatures, and charged forward.

The two sides immediately engaged in a melee.

All kinds of tremors and roars were incessant.

At the same time, in the depths of Rain Valley, accompanied by ripples on a patch of intact ground, Du En himself had already quietly appeared here.

The army outside was just a diversion, plus a way to grind the proficiency of the Top-Grade Puppet Control Art in preparation for the upcoming formal war with the An Kingdom; as for this side, he had to sneak in and find that wonder, the Rain Bone.

According to the physician, the Rain Bone was the bone in the rain, the root cause supporting the anomaly of Rain Valley; in other words, the continuous rain here could actually be said to originate from this wonder.

After the Holy Kingdom captured this place in the past, they hadn't had time to search carefully before the Fluorspar Disease broke out, forcing them to withdraw from this place—or rather, it collapsed on the spot; now, there still remained the remains of normal infected who had been exterminated, built into a 'viewing of heads' by the Blood Lotus Sect soldiers.

But because of this, the violent spread of the Fluorspar Disease also caused the traces of that wonder to surface.

In Rain Valley, there was a lake, in the lake was an island, and on the island was a small mountain.

That mountain top was the burial site of the Rain Bone.

Before, when Xiang Kun shattered the rain clouds and soared into the sky, it had looked down at what was below.

The whole thing looked as if a giant had fallen here, crushing the original high mountains and ridges, leaving behind this low-altitude, concave valley, and its heart area was that mountain in the lake; the lake formed by the accumulated rain was simply like a pool of blood that had flowed out.

Right now, with the methods of the Blood Lotus Sect being employed, blood-red bone and flesh grew everywhere, staining the lake completely red, making it look even more like fresh blood, and even more like a giant had fallen here with flesh torn and bones exposed.

If nothing went wrong, it was likely a fragment left behind by the True Monarch of Non-Movement from the previous round of experiments, being used in this one.

When Yun came over to investigate the situation before, she had almost found it directly, but unfortunately, as the An Kingdom's forces moved with the Great General, their military front returned, occupying this place, so she could only retreat in a hurry.

To ensure the Rain Bone was not snatched or destroyed by the An Kingdom, she had set a riddle lock when she left, hiding it inside.

But this riddle lock was very dependent on environmental stability; one end was connected to the Rain Bone, the other to the rain clouds. When the people of the An Kingdom came, prompting the Fluorspar Disease here to worsen and spread, the rain clouds turned into diseased rain clouds, and they then employed various evil methods to set up positions, the hidden riddle lock was exposed as expected.

This was also the origin of the physician's suggestion last night.

Du En was on top of that, confirming the actual action of feigning an attack in the east to strike in the west.

However, although the main force of the Blood Lotus Sect had been lured away, they still left a few people here, attempting to break the riddle lock to see what was hidden inside.

"A quick battle to force a quick decision... that's a bit difficult."

The Holy God glanced at the 'viewing of heads' with unkind eyes, wanting to act swiftly and decisively, but looking at the target area from afar, could only calm down.

Because the Blood Lotus Sect had many methods left behind; not to mention other places, just that lake was already dyed red, and there were huge shadows swimming inside, seemingly hiding some giant monster or great demon.

From the signs, it was clear it was definitely something at the Fifth Rank or Transformation of Divinity, and it was quite strong, perhaps comparable to the Holy God's apostles before they were infected—that is, the mid-to-early stage of Transformation of Divinity among the strong genius tier.

Besides that, on the periphery of the lake island, there were eight octuplet soldiers with identical faces, identical armor, and identical cultivation.

They sat cross-legged in an Eight Trigrams formation, looking silent with their eyes closed, without any movement, but just now when Du En wanted to sneak up directly, he felt a moderate sense of warning.

Clearly, this Eight Trigrams formation was quite extraordinary, especially when combined with those octuplets, giving a sense of being of one heart and one body, incomparably tight, with no gaps.

As for the soldiers themselves, although they were also infected with the Fluorspar Disease and pulled up to the Transformation of Divinity stage, they were actually quite ordinary, just common force-ripened individuals.

Finally, in front of the riddle lock on the mountain, there still lingered one person, a bizarre and terrifying person.

She had the slender figure of a young girl, wearing layers of complex and gorgeous clothes; these were all normal and indicated a high status, but on the top of her head, it was opened directly from the middle, revealing the brain inside.

Like a blood lotus bud about to bloom, exposed to the cold rain and strange winds of the outside world, every petal seemed alive, twitching constantly in the wind, appearing very painful.

Looking closely, in the middle of the lotus brain, there was also the Nascent Soul she had cultivated.

The Nascent Soul was rooted in the brain like an overgrown pistil, as if transmitting something downward, making the brain, which resembled a human face, surge with an expression of painful intoxication.

But she did not care, only doing the work of solving the puzzle, raising her hand to undo the riddle lock.

In terms of cultivation strength, she was a strong genius at the perfection of Transformation of Divinity, though somewhat reluctantly, counting as the weakest of that tier, but one needed to be careful of all kinds of evil arts.

"Outside are the raised great demons and beasts, in the middle is the Eight Trigrams heart-and-body blood formation, and at the very center is that Blood Lotus Saintess, no, An Woman..." She did not have such an evil path daughter; before they were not this crazy, and when they had not completely fallen into the evil path, calling herself a Saintess was fine, she didn't care much, but now, looking like this, it wouldn't do.

Turning back to Du En's side, he weighed the situation and already had a plan in mind.

Thus, the Holy Spirit did not ask or say anything further.

Until the battle outside rapidly intensified to a white-hot state, drawing some commotion from the guards here, Du En then struck decisively.

Mountain-Lifting!

Rumble! The mountain in the lake suddenly trembled in great fear, because beneath it, deep within the blood lake, a high mountain and great peak was rising! "What is happening?!"

"Enemy attack?!"

"Quickly raise the formation!"

That Eight-Trigrams One-Heart One-Body Blood Formation was immediately activated by the eight people on the mountain, and the violently erupting evil magic power, like thick blood, smeared across the empty air, forming the Eight-Trigrams position, manifesting Eight-Trigrams formation patterns, stirring the heavenly secrets, and provoking the Dao...

And then, there was no then.

Du En used Mountain-Lifting to scare them into raising the formation, but in reality, he was searching for spirits and peering at pulses, observing with Golden Eyes; in that instant, he saw the flaw, exerted great magic power from a distance, and with a pluck of the Spirit-Gathering Method, he easily plucked the two people in the Qian position and Kan position out.

Just then, the giant beast in the lake was also startled and lunged out; it was a massive blood-colored giant catfish, possessing a pile of mouths, each mouth containing eight pairs of circular teeth, and amidst the swirling, thick demonic power, it threw the plucked people inside, and they immediately turned into a mass of meat paste, their Nascent Souls and origins both shattered.

Gulp!

Swallowing subconsciously, this giant demonic beast could not help but be stunned.

It seemed to have eaten the wrong thing? Just as it was subconsciously frozen, Du En had already landed on its head.

Space suddenly shattered, forming a rift that swallowed it directly, removing it from the blood-colored lake water.

That space rift healed rapidly, and the enemies here clearly saw that their giant demonic beast had not failed to react, but simply lacked the power to resist.

——Dense, tiny fiber-flowers grew all over its body, crazily sucking away its demonic power, and in the blink of an eye, they sucked it until it was nearly skin and bones; clearly, there was no holding back! Thus, it was easily thrown into the space rift, or rather, the space pocket Du En had created.

After all, the inner layer of the surface contained the Sea of Sickness, and the back of the surface was merely a replica of the front, with no essential difference, and it might also contain the enemy's methods, so making a space pocket and stuffing it inside to wait for death was the most appropriate course of action.

"Change to the Six-Harmonies Formation, quick!"

The Eight-Trigrams Blood Formation was broken and the guardian giant beast was crippled and imprisoned, yet the reaction of the other six soldiers was extremely swift, not shaken by horror at all, clearly of the highly elite variety.

Unfortunately, facing Du En, this level of reaction was still too slow! Even though they possessed the trait of being one heart and one body, born as octuplets, and practiced blood-evil techniques, making them even closer, this closeness also meant that whenever someone met with misfortune, it would affect the others.

"It's useless..."

A faint murmur arose.

Bang! Armor and flesh were blasted apart.

Du En's strikes were simple and direct; one flash and one punch, and he was bound to blast and obliterate one.

"Ah!"

"Brother!"

"But..."

Under the accumulation, some could not help but cry out in pain, and there was even more fear and anger brought about by their close blood connection, but these "impurities" would only slow down their actions.

By the time the remaining people managed to form a formation, only three were left, standing before the Dark Maiden on the mountain, facing the calm and composed Du En, whose clothes fluttered in the wind.

One-Heart One-Body Three-Talents Blood Formation! Heaven, Earth, Man; these are the Three Talents.

Gathering the timing of Heaven, one person raised a sword to the sky, and immediately a bloody storm howled and descended.

Collecting the terrain of Earth, one person planted a spear into the ground, immediately causing the earth to moan and wail in pain.

Following the feelings of Man, one person used a blade to self-mutilate, the blood feud of their brothers being killed burning like fire.

The blood formation boiled, the aura soared, leaping from the mid-stage of Transformation of the Deity, which was at the level of an ordinary genius, to the mid-stage of Transformation of the Deity, which could barely compare to a strong genius, appearing unstoppable.

"Heaven wants you to perish!"

"Earth wants you to die!"

"An eye for an eye, blood for blood!"

The three shouted in unison, three great powers merging into one, surging forward like a roar, like a command; there was only the unquestionable, the forbidden to doubt, the natural order of things.

Then, Du En looked up.

Crack! Instantly frozen.

Unmelting Ice Soul!

If eight had joined forces to raise the formation, perhaps there might have been some threat to him, but now that only three remained, they were completely no match for him.

The two sides brushed past each other, the three ice sculptures shattered into slag, and that Three-Talents Blood Evil withered away.

Du En stopped and turned around, facing the Dark Maiden of the Blood Lotus Sect, who had a serene and beautiful face, but whose head had bloomed open to reveal her brain, appearing weird and fallen.

"The final Apostle, greetings to you."

Her strength was actually quite good, but it was only quite good; in the current Life Source Star Realm, in front of Du En, she simply did not have enough weight to stir up waves.

She also had no intention of resisting, and even though she clearly had the opportunity to strike just now, she could have attempted to violently break the Mystery Lock and take out or shatter the Rain Bone inside, but in the end, she did not do so, instead turning her head and body around in a leisurely manner, carrying her inherently serene expression and temperament.

The Holy Spirit Hanging Lamp quietly appeared above the Mystery Lock, and under the light, the Mystery Lock had actually long been unlocked by her; a piece of ancient yet warm, as if cast from clear, drizzling rain, and appearing very peculiar spine, was transmitted by the radiance to Spirit Spring Village.

Their goal for this trip was thus achieved.

It was so smooth that she could not help but feel a bit bewildered.

Because previously, whether it was the Puppet Sect Tower or her own garden, it was always a fight to the end before the target object was obtained.

Of course, thinking about it carefully, this was actually correct.

Existences capable of facing Du En head-on were already a tiny minority, and now that they were being held back by the puppet army outside, was he not sweeping through everything, invincible?

But she still had questions, or rather, her mood was surging with complexity.

Because it involved that great enemy, the Dark God!

And so, as she floated back onto Du En's shoulder, she asked: "Why did you do nothing? Dark Maiden of the Blood Lotus."

(End of this chapter)