Chapter 413: The Peril of Void Refinement, Same Blood and Same Fate

"Can you no longer bestow charity upon us now?"

"I never bestowed any charity upon you in the first place."

"That is true as well; it was our own presumption to begin with."

The Blood Lotus Dark Maiden, who had answered without addressing the question, sighed at the end; the lotus brain exposed atop her head, its petals a mix of fresh red and pale pink, followed suit by making a new expression—writhing, twisting, and squeezing out a somewhat sorrowful look.

It was extremely creepy!

"You really have fallen quite thoroughly!"

The Saint God only had this lament, "Although your sect's doctrines and philosophies were extreme in the past, forcing you to linger in the cracks between the two nations, the current situation is still somewhat unexpected to a certain degree."

Du En could not help but glance slightly at Xuandeng.

Sure enough, the words had become more frequent.

Perhaps it was because the Blood Lotus Sect had now submitted to the Dark Nation, becoming its vanguard, and the second war between the Saint Nation and the Dark Nation had broken out once again, so this Saint God had some inexplicable emotions, and her words had become more numerous at this moment.

He thought this to himself, making no move, only manipulating the puppets from afar, executing two lines of action.

It had to be said that the Blood Lotus Sect Leader at the valley entrance battlefield had quite extraordinary methods; without even revealing her trump cards, she had already forced the puppet general onto the defensive.

The proficiency in puppet manipulation was still too low to fully unleash its power, not to mention the need to divide focus to control the other one hundred thousand puppets participating in the siege.

Various roars and explosions, various lingering shockwaves, were all surging toward this side in waves; the lake surface churned, the mountain body cracked, becoming increasingly obvious and difficult to suppress, yet the atmosphere here appeared subtly peaceful.

The Blood Lotus Dark Maiden did not care about the overall situation at all; facing the Saint God Xuandeng, she only seemed somewhat aggrieved.

"You are a god, so naturally you do not understand."

"What about the Dark God then? You submitted, and the Dark God accepted; this proves that there is already a common point between you."

"Indeed, His Majesty is willing to accept us, willing to accept us who are finally able to reach Spirit Transformation, and are in the midst of Spirit Transformation."

She emphasized the words "Spirit Transformation," seemingly implying something.

Among the heavy petals of the blood lotus brain atop her head, one petal revealed a hint of inexplicable mockery.

Spirit Transformation, Spirit Transformation; strictly speaking, you yourselves are merely at Spirit Transformation as well...

Generally speaking, this was the sentiment.

Clearly, after being strangely infected by the Fluorite Disease and rapidly ripened to this realm, they had no actual sense of awe toward the gods, feeling only that they were in the same domain.

Even with obvious differences in strength and talent, at the level of the realm, they were consistent.

The Saint God did not care about this matter; she only cared about other aspects.

"Are you saying that I would not accept those who attempt Spirit Transformation?"

"... No, you would accept them."

The Apostles were the best evidence; before the Fluorite Disease, before the Saint-Dark War, very early on, the Saint God already had her own Apostles, those who had begun Spirit Transformation.

The Dark Maiden thought this, and could not help but pause, then the tranquility on the surface of her flesh began to twist, her brain trembled incessantly, and her primordial spirit revealed madness, "It is just that you only accept those who stop, and will not accept or deny us!"

"Evil ways and heterodox paths must naturally be denied."

"Ridiculous! Only the most vivid blood and flesh are the sole elements that propel mortals to ascend to godhood; to stimulate with slaughter and life, to bestow pain, then to enjoy the pain, and finally to cast off the pain, to shed all that is mundane, and ascend to the divine realm!"

The Blood Lotus Dark Maiden was extremely manic at this moment, unswerving in her belief, rebutting the Saint God firmly, not even fearing being beaten to death by Du En with a single punch.

For such heartfelt madmen, killing them would not make them feel fear.

The Physician was truly not wrong; these fellows were even crazier than those fanatics.

Fanatics with extreme pathological changes actually had no reason left.

Yet the similarly diseased Blood Lotus Sect still retained its own thoughts.

With both extreme manifestations reaching a similar scale, naturally, the Blood Lotus Sect side was a bit crazier.

"Is that so?"

At this moment, the Saint God's voice suddenly became high and distant.

"... Are you going to erase me?"

The Dark Maiden restrained her emotions, and her physical expression became tranquil once again.

Only the blood lotus brain, rooted in the primordial spirit, still appeared crazy, with various negative expressions sprouting and spreading, exposing her fear of death.

"No, since you believe that suffering will be your own long staircase to godhood, then, would you like to go and see?"

"W-what?"

The Dark Maiden was astonished and dazed.

Du En was also somewhat puzzled on his side.

The Saint God's action was completely unnecessary; if a mistake occurred, it would just be planting a landmine for herself... no, perhaps it could be utilized? But in any case, there was still not enough necessity.

He had already guessed what she wanted to do here.

But although he thought it in his heart, he had no intention of stopping her.

The Dark Maiden also gradually came to her senses, and for a moment, she was actually somewhat hesitant.

Her body hesitated, her brain hesitated, her primordial spirit hesitated.

Entangled inexplicably, she was finally relieved.

"I was originally destined for a certain death; although I do not know your specific intentions, I will shamelessly accept your gift!"

She actually had no choice.

Once decided, she was immediately calm, looking as if she did not care about dying on a pilgrimage.

Sincerely praying, sincerely accepting, sincerely...

"Ah!!!"

The fall of the radiance appeared incomparably painful.

Suffering was precisely the best thing to whip flesh and blood; the Purifying Kill could make instincts surge and sprint, and at this moment, receiving the divine might without any defense, it immediately caused the Dark Maiden's cultivation to advance rapidly toward the next step.

She was already at the perfection of the Spirit Transformation realm; regardless of which talent tier she was in, the barrier of the Void Refinement stage was not absolutely impenetrable, let alone now that the Saint God had even helped her push open that door.

She walked out of the long stairs of Spirit Severing, about to truly transform into a god! The physical body is a burden, the mortal shell is useless, discard it! Abandon it!

Under the radiance, her painfully twisted expression became even more distorted, and in the end, she actually squeezed out a smile of life's fulfillment!

That brain withered and then blossomed, and that primordial spirit pulled out its roots.

Void Refinement began.

A faint prototype of Dao might radiated out; the primordial spirit finally broke free from all shackles, leaped up into the sky, and opened its arms to welcome heaven and earth.

Her expression was incomparably manic, incomparably blissful, and incomparably... terrified! "This, what is this?"

"No, that's not right, it's wrong!"

"Don't, don't, I want to go back, I, ah!!!"

The leaping primordial spirit welcomed heaven and earth, and she finally saw the inner principles; she had already discarded the mortal shell that had been subjected to such whipping, but, after Void Refinement, she finally understood in reality the vastness of heaven and earth, and, their ruthlessness! No matter how she screamed, it could not be reversed!

The greatness of heaven and earth does not care about human emotions! It is as if in the Spirit Severing barrier, cultivators have the risk of being assimilated.

During the Void Refinement stage, one cannot discard the physical shell, otherwise there is no stop valve, and during Void Refinement, one will be ruthlessly wiped of one's own color by the principles of heaven and earth.

In other words, one cannot completely identify with them!

Principles are principles, laws are laws; they belong to heaven and earth, they are cold and ruthless, and they are the framework and phenomena of objective operation.

What a cultivator must actually do is not to completely approve or completely accept, but to refine—to refine and transform those principles into their own, or rather, to obtain the principles they need from them.

This is what Void Refinement is: refining the void to belong to me!

In other words, extreme approval, extreme pursuit, and complete identification will all only lead to one result.

Right before the eyes of Du En, the Dark Maiden of the Blood Lotus Sect, who had cast off her physical shell and received the pain-driven push, sincerely welcomed heaven and earth; thus, she became a god, a part of the principle of pain.

Unlike the Spirit Severing fall into the barrier where one completely returns to nothingness, she was actually still alive and still existing; she had only actively glued herself onto the principles, and within the principles, becoming a part of them. From then on, until her lifespan was exhausted, she would always exist and always be in pain.

Embracing devout faith in pain will ultimately only result in endless, constant pain!

She looked like she was still alive, but in reality, she was already dead.

"..."

The Holy God withdrew the radiance and remained silent, listening as the screams grew fainter and finally disappeared.

From then on, only cultivators who studied the same techniques would, upon reaching the perfection of Spirit Severing or the Void Refinement stage, potentially hear that pain echoing at the side of the principles, which would not cease until their lifespan was exhausted.

And even if they heard it, not everyone would be able to awaken.

For example, the Blood Lotus Sect Leader.

She realized her home had been raided and did not continue to fight to the death with Du En's puppet; instead, she chose to abandon her troops and return alone. Arriving on the scene, she could still hear the lingering echoes of the screams, and instantly, thick jealousy and madness welled up.

"Bitch! Slut! Ah ah ah! It should have been me first, it was clearly me first!"

Facing such words, Du En couldn't help but feel speechless.

It could only be said that some people deserve to bear pain.

The Holy God also seemed too lazy to say anything more; the complex gaze became ordinary, and only one meaning remained for Du En.

Beat her to death, eliminate the demons and defend the Dao!

Boom! Clang! With his feet as the center, flames flowed out, evaporating the rain and accumulated water, turning the land into lava, and then, Dharma swords rapidly took shape and emerged, emitting clanging sword cries.

Earth-Wood Holy Refining!

Just as they took shape, these Dharma swords, with their residual heat still lingering, immediately surged out with a roar, pierced through the air, and launched a surprise attack in front of the Blood Lotus Sect Leader.

This manic woman didn't seem to have any fear at all; she opened her seven arms, four of which were already torn and bleeding, the skin completely peeled away, looking extremely bloody and painful to behold.

The remaining three didn't look normal either; deep purple veins were spreading, with red occasionally flickering from the middle, though not very obviously.

The abnormally orderly infection of Fluorite Disease should have been spiraling out of control on her body, turning her into that kind of normal, ordinary infected person twisted by the pain of the disease.

The reason was simple: just as she was doing now, she didn't resist at all, directly embracing the pain! Pfft, pfft, pfft! The Dharma swords pierced through her body as she embraced them, bringing up scarlet blood; just like that, straightforwardly, she received the pain, and then the scarlet, bright red spread, erasing the residual heat, and began to render... Boom! An expected self-detonation; Du En had long since seen some of this guy's tricks through the eyes of his puppet.

Endure pain, understand pain, assimilate pain, and in turn, inflict pain.

The Dark God's side did indeed have methods to utilize Fluorite Disease in a relatively positive way, but it couldn't withstand her using it like this, so in a short time, the deep purple of normal disease appeared on her body.

"Oh oh oh!"

"How vivid, how unadorned!"

"Great Holy One, ultimate apostle, come, bring me the pain sufficient to ascend to godhood!"

The explosion had not yet dissipated when a roar came out.

Du En stepped and turned, space shifting, flickering uncertainly.

A blood-red, fishy shadow followed, sticking to him like a shadow.

He stopped abruptly, and she opened her seven arms like prey in a spider's web.

He turned his head, his clenched fist like a Vajra, indestructible and capable of breaking anything.

Thud! A fist struck the seven arms; they instantly fused together, turning into a skinless monster hand with more red than purple, the palm as large as a millstone, attempting to grasp Du En's fist.

She had already experienced this kind of attack on the puppet and hadn't been arrogant, but her expression couldn't help but change at this moment, because she simply couldn't grasp it!

The erupting impact was the collision of the great might brought by both sides before contact.

Du En's fist was actually still moving forward, with five kinds of light appearing within it, like flowers, like a wheel, blooming and overlapping layer by layer, continuing to push forward amidst the roar, shattering the opponent's great might barrier and landing on the monster hand that couldn't grasp it.

Pfft~

Blood bloomed, flesh and bone shattered.

He threw his full punch, bringing up a wild current that tore through space.

A deep ravine spread out, its edges sharp as knives, cutting through the mountain and the falling rain, then swallowing them in, as if there were a gurgling sound of water falling.

The sea of disease in the interlayer! The figure of the Blood Lotus Sect Leader appeared in another place, with no obvious wounds on her body, the bloodiness still alluring; if there was any change, it was that one skinless hand was beginning to be covered with crystal clusters from the root—Fluorite crystal clusters! As a beneficiary of Fluorite Disease, she couldn't escape the curse of this disease in the end, and even though she sang and praised pain wildly, she didn't dare to approach the location of that sea of disease at all.

In the end, the madness was only on the surface; in reality, it was for greed.

Attempting to become a god, attempting to transform into a god, attempting to obtain everything of the gods, so when facing the known abyss of painful death, she would stop and would dodge away.

The purity is too low.

It was as if these words appeared in Du En's eyes, and the Blood Lotus Cult Leader seemed to have been poked in the lungs, the bone mask covering their head beginning to bulge as blood-colored patterns emerged upon it.

It looked like a face, and it looked like a lotus.

Their legs were excessively slender, like spears, landing in the air, suddenly turning scarlet and emitting layers of red mist, as if they were about to rush forward.

Du En opened his eyes slightly, and with a *crack*, the space in all directions around him froze.

Countless scarlet bone-and-flesh thorns, which had originally intended to ambush and swallow him whole, were now all frozen within it.

However, there was still blood-colored matter wriggling and pulsing, causing even the unmelting ice to begin to crack.

The Blood Lotus Cult Leader was not discouraged; instead, a smile condensed upon that bone mask.

*Boom! * With a sudden sound, a sharp ray of light tore through the ice, moving with incomparable speed, leaping over layers of obstacles, and grazing Du En's face, emitting a harsh, strange sound like metal clashing.

In the end, it drew a faint trace of fresh blood.

Didn't dodge, huh?

Du En remained calm, merely striking out to shatter the slender leg-spear that was attacking before him, now at the end of its strength.

"Same blood, same life!"

The Blood Lotus Cult Leader shouted, feeling extremely excited.

The blood lotus painting on the bone mask flickered and transformed into the likeness of Du En.

In an instant, he sensed that an invisible, ethereal connection had formed between them.

(End of this chapter)