Chapter 414: Self-Destruction: Incinerating the Divine Remains

Cause and effect are connected; same blood, same fate...

To be able to cast such a Daoist art, bypassing all manner of obstacles to forcibly create a connection, the Blood Lotus Sect Leader is truly not to be underestimated. After all, Du En's condition is no longer what it once was; the weight of his causality and existence is increasing with each passing day!

Then, her disease-ridden hands suddenly stabbed back toward herself. Du En was about to stop her, but whether it was spatial stepping, the surging of great might, or the brewing of a Dharma domain, she simply evaded; her speed and reactions were extremely fast, and he could not catch her for the moment, so he could not stop her.

Therefore, those normal pathological infections she had been restraining and suppressing were all injected directly inside, entering the origin of his spiritual body and penetrating deep into his primordial spirit! "Hahaha! You, too, come and experience the taste of this normal pathological infection!"

It seemed to be a counterattack to the piercing gaze Du En had just given her, or perhaps she realized that the indestructible spiritual body before her could not be dealt with by simple self-mutilation and shared fate. In any case, she adopted this behavior that could be called mutual destruction.

In an instant, no longer suppressed, the disease she had actively injected into herself immediately turned the Blood Lotus Sect Leader into a Purple Lotus Sect Leader. Clusters of crystals, like leaves and also like roots—though they were hard matter, they surged, writhed, and twitched as if they were soft, living creatures—suddenly erupted and burst out from within her body.

The abnormal pathology on her side could no longer be maintained, and it suddenly progressed to a very severe and dangerous level of normal pathology. Reason was tortured by pain, and madness was magnified by distortion, occupying the vast majority of her thoughts! At the same time, the same situation appeared on Du En's side. Although the Holy Spirit hurriedly attempted to suppress it, the effect was mediocre, and she had no spare energy for the moment to sever the opponent's demonic art.

However, Du En was not some block of wood; having long since suffered from this kind of "shared connection, shared suffering" technique, he had naturally envisioned countermeasures for when he might encounter it again.

The current situation belongs to a general case, and it is actually quite simple to deal with.

Set a fire!

Self-immolation!

*Li! * A crisp cry rang out. True Flame erupted from the inside out. Behind Du En, a pair of wings seemed to unfurl, surging red and tinged with brilliant gold. It shattered the crystalline distortion of the Fluorite Disease, and then an elegant, slender neck rose up—it was the simulated form of a Fire Phoenix, wrapping around his entire body, instantly destroying and incinerating the infectious distortion received both inside and out.

At the same time, on the distant Blood Lotus Sect Leader, Phoenix Red True Flame also emerged, coming along the shared-fate causality. It erupted from within her body, instantly incinerating the disease and then cremating the evil art.

"Ah!!!"

She turned back into the Blood Lotus Sect Leader, and the blood patterns on that bone mask were about to change, attempting to stop the continuation of this shared-connection method.

Because Du En truly dared to burn himself—from his origin to his primordial spirit, from his Dao heart to his will, he was extremely resistant to burning, long since accustomed to it, and completely unafraid of any pain. The Blood Lotus Sect Leader, however, only felt as if she were falling from one hell into another, receiving all manner of cruel tortures, and thus could not help but scream.

It was not that she could not endure the pain, but simply because this pain had no meaning at all!

To suffer in vain—she was not truly obsessed or insane, so how could she accept it?

That is why your purity is so low; relatively speaking, the Blood Lotus Dark Maiden is much purer.

At the very least, she could still break into the Void Refinement realm under the promotion of the Holy Spirit, but this fellow before me, she just can't.

However, it is precisely because of this that she would be used as a vanguard general by the Dark God's side, right?

After all, if one were truly insane to the extreme, I fear they would be sent to their death at the first encounter, just like the Blood Lotus Dark Maiden, who didn't even struggle or hesitate before learning the true principles.

Of course, the way things are now, it's actually not much better.

The Blood Lotus Sect Leader ran straight back, and the battlefield outside the valley is the domain of Du En's puppets. Those Blood Lotus soldiers now belonging to the Dark Kingdom would have long since been drowned and eradicated if they weren't being used as targets to grind proficiency.

These guys are truly unreliable.

And they still possess reason; although they are more extreme than before they were infected, they are not overly so—they are basically just those kinds of people.

Seeing the leopard through the tube, the quality of the Dark Kingdom's army is in a rather unsightly state. Even if other armies are better than the Blood Lotus Sect, they certainly cannot be much better.

After all, the fact that they now need to absorb them to replenish their troops and use them as vanguard units clearly indicates some kind of systemic problem.

It is no wonder that in the first Great War of Holy and Dark, the Dark Kingdom was beaten into a steady retreat...

Amidst the self-immolation of True Flame, Du En remained calm, still having the spare capacity to think of these things.

And the Blood Lotus Sect Leader opposite him appeared to be in great pain.

Burn, burn, burn! Bringing fire upon oneself, bringing death to one's doorstep! From the body's origin to the mental will, and then to the primordial spirit and Dharma power, everything continued to burn; it was impossible to stop or extinguish, and even more True Flame was surging over continuously through the shared-fate causality! "Pain, such pain, pain that only leads to one's own death—this kind of pain has no meaning at all! Haha, hee-hee-hee, ah-ah-ah, this is what you forced me to do!!!"

The Blood Lotus Sect Leader shrieked and roared, taking a step forward, intending to charge over and cast a new demonic art to perish together with Du En.

However, he did not move; he only watched.

Because she ultimately did not charge over; she was bluffing. Her actual target was not him. The reason is simple: her own Daoist art was now being dragged in reverse and could not be dispelled. Even if she caused him any injury, it would appear on her own body as well.

Under normal circumstances, she was full of madness and fanaticism, appearing to fear no pain, and possessed many demonic arts; from spirit to flesh, she had powerful endurance and resistance. Casting this method would only result in her occupying the absolute upper hand.

But now, she could see at a glance that Du En surpassed her in every aspect. She had hoped the Fluorite Disease would accomplish a great feat—after all, once infected, it penetrates deep into the origin; even maggots on the bone are not as persistent as this—but she had not expected his True Flame to already be a culmination, burning directly inside, incinerating everything. It was unstoppable, and he had never even intended to block it.

The compatibility was too poor!

She was simply no match for him! But she still had one trump card, which was also one of the main reasons she had simply abandoned her troops and rushed back.

It was not just because she sensed the disturbance here, or factors like the jealousy and madness over the Dark Maiden's experience; there was another key reason—an additional trump card for a comeback, and also the reason the Dark God had ordered them to come here and station themselves.

Rain Valley!

Using the Blood Lotus evil art to draw in and store diseased rain, allowing the Fluorite Disease to spread quietly, while coating the surface with bone and flesh for concealment and support, thereby achieving the conditions to resurrect the long-dead and rotting god at the appropriate time! Giant remains, flesh and bone reborn, offered to one place—the combat power would be surging!

Her feint to the east and attack to the west failed, but she did not hesitate and immediately prepared to rush to the key location to carry out this comeback.

Her speed and reaction were no worse than Du En's. As long as she acted first, he could not stop her. The feint just now was merely an insurance policy; even if it had no effect, it didn't really matter...

Her thoughts raced, and her emotions surged.

To become a god—even if it meant mutual destruction and assimilation, she would become a god! Then, a gust of wind suddenly blew in her face.

Killing Wind Turns to Sand! A howling sandstorm burst out from a spatial pocket!

It was the Great Demon that Du En had previously restrained with Fiber Flowers, then secretly cast a Daoist art to turn it into the raw material for a sandstorm, silently accumulating wind power. At this moment, it blew out suddenly, immediately catching the Blood Lotus Sect Leader off guard!

It didn't have that much killing power, but it was enough to stop her footsteps.

By the time she, still burning with inextinguishable fire, could see clearly again, a hand was already pressed against the bone mask on her head. With a slight exertion of force, the bone mask shattered, and the blood patterns collapsed.

The shared-fate demonic art was broken! At the same time, Brilliant Radiance erupted in his hand!

The Blood Lotus Sect Leader, dead! "This time, it really was an easy fight from beginning to end!"

The Holy Spirit Hanging Lamp flickered, sighing with emotion, while taking the opportunity to absorb the scattered True Flame firelight.

Just now, when Du En was burning himself, she was within the coverage of the True Flame and did not suffer any damage or influence; instead, she felt like a fish in water.

Out of a desire to lighten his burden, she had thought to help absorb some of the overflowing firepower, but seeing his resistant appearance, it turned into absorbing the firelight.

As long as it was radiance, it could be utilized by her.

"This time, it was mainly because the opponent's compatibility was exactly countered by me, and she sought her own death; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to kill her."

Du En only thought this, answering with a calm gaze, without any extra ripples. At this moment, he withdrew his hand. The Blood Lotus Sect Leader had died until not even ash remained, but she had left one thing behind, which appeared out of place amidst the lingering firelight.

A faint, cold, dark light flowed with the power of a god. It was not much, but it was very special, so he did not destroy it. Grasping it in his hand to look at it now, it was quite peculiar.

It was circular, resembling some kind of token, as round as the bright moon, emitting a cold, clear radiance. Looking at it, one felt as if they were seeing an Epiphyllum waiting to bloom under the moon, possessing its own beauty within the quietude.

Something of the Dark God.

This is clear at a glance.

The surprising point is that the "Dark" in Dark God does not actually point to black, dim darkness, but rather to a dim, cold-toned glimmer...

The Holy God was also somewhat surprised here, drifting out, dancing up and down, and observing carefully.

"It really is the Dark Moon Comforting Brilliance..."

Her gaze suddenly became complex, containing hostility, emotion, and doubt.

What is the Dark Moon Comforting Brilliance? Du En's gaze asked this.

"A kind of token, or rather a key. Through it, in several specific cities of the Dark Nation, one can activate teleportation to arrive directly at the Dark Capital. No, with that guy's scheming, even if he handed it over to this side, allowing them to teleport and arrive quickly, it would be impossible to enter the Dark Capital directly at this moment; at most, it would be to the outskirts of the capital."

The Holy God Hanging Lamp returned to its original position, seemingly having some thoughts, so it gathered light all around, swallowed the True Flame Remnant Light in one gulp, and then manifested a beam of light faintly tinged with red, which landed on the Dark Moon Comforting Brilliance.

Like an Epiphyllum blooming at the right time, the circular token token changed into a flower-like form, with a circle of golden, faintly red petals growing on the outer periphery, and the overall luminosity increased by several levels.

"Very good, it retains its original function while having its foundation altered. Tsk tsk, looking at it this way, he should be like me right now, not having much spare energy."

By changing the foundation, 【he】 probed for key intelligence.

Then what needs to be done next is very simple!

Follow the cat to draw a tiger, repeat the old trick!

Let the puppet army surround the Dark Capital, attract the military forces including the Great General, and then Du En will sneak in to execute a decapitation operation and finish off the Dark God!

The grand strategy was tacitly understood; it had already been formulated in silence.

Du En released the Dark Moon Comforting Brilliance, and a hand took it.

It is the Puppet Great General.

It has already been controlled and has arrived here.

Or rather, after the Blood Lotus Sect Leader left, it finished off some elite soldiers that were holding it back, then followed and rushed in, staging a scene of pursuit.

As for the other Blood Lotus Sect soldiers, they are naturally still being used to grind proficiency; they cannot be finished off too hastily.

Right now, outside the valley, puppets of the fifth rank high-grade and above have not been deployed at all; they are just surrounding the area in a circle to prevent the enemy from escaping, while puppets of the other three tiers are mixed in, fighting the enemy army in a stalemate, with no signs of a winner being decided in the short term.

Crazy as they are, these pain-loving and bloodthirsty Blood Lotus Sect soldiers are indeed an extraordinary elite force, capable of resisting stubbornly even when facing a puppet army that is several times their number and has no blood or tears.

"Then we shall wait for a while; it just so happens you can recover a bit, and the antidote should be ready to come out—I hope it can come out—and then there is that girl; if she can be saved, let's first see what the situation is, and also, let's burn this place too!"

The Holy God sensed that Du En's puppet manipulation technique was rapidly growing stronger and understood his intention; it just so happened that there was indeed a need to pause and wait for the moment to do some other things.

Everything else still needs to wait, but that last bit does not.

Targeting Rain Valley.

Judging from the Blood Lotus Sect Leader's final actions, there really is some fallen god or giant corpse here.

Regardless of the specific situation, since the Dark God wants to utilize it and has already completed most of the preparations with the Blood Lotus Sect using the Fluorspar Disease, then, to prevent it from being able to fake its death later, it is naturally better to solve it first.

Send it to dust to dust, earth to earth, and thoroughly lay it to rest.

The puppet Du En flipped his hand to put away the Dark Moon Comforting Brilliance, then activated the True Flame Secret Technique.

Fire-red patterns, like a phoenix, spread within the core, extracting the accumulated mana, allowing it to use this secret technique instantly; although the power was only half of Du En's, it was already sufficiently formidable.

Amidst a clear cry, it soared into the ground, rapidly spreading to all four directions of Rain Valley along the path the Blood Lotus Sect Leader was about to rush toward, leaving only one corner at the valley entrance where the fighting was taking place, and then began to burn fiercely, purifying and extinguishing the disease-ridden remains.

The cumulonimbus clouds above Rain Valley erupted instantly, churning, rolling, and boiling as if a god were roaring, with residual ripples of laws fluctuating.

"Is there really an old god fallen here?"

The Holy God continued to absorb the firelight, somewhat surprised, and gave rise to suspicion, "Could that guy, the Dark God, have originally extracted the mother source of the Fluorspar Disease from the old god remains he found, and then processed it to make it mutate? So, is that girl actually a new god? But, looking at her, she is just a human girl..."

She muttered about this, and at the same time sent out a beam of light, shooting into the churning and terrifying clouds in the sky.

Clouds gone, sun out! Although the sun still appeared dim at this moment, it occupied the sky indisputably.

The roaring echoes of the remnants could not stir up any waves in front of the present god.

(End of this chapter)