Chapter 481: Offensive Anomalies: Carpet Bombing

"My Flame Mosquitoes can consume the lifespan of all things; even these Dharma treasures of yours have lifespans—eat them for me!"

Accompanied by this fierce voice, the massive, crimson swarm of Flame Mosquitoes buzzed noisily and suddenly surged forward in a rush.

The master, however, was merely putting on a brave front; he took the opportunity to accelerate suddenly, intending to slip back into the cavern, but before he had even charged ten feet, he heard that calm voice from behind, a voice that made one's soul tremble.

"Explode."

Lifespan-devouring is indeed a formidable ability.

Unfortunately, one must be able to stomach it; before you could consume the lifespan of my Dharma treasures, I detonated them myself—how do you intend to deal with that, Your Excellency?

The answer was that he could not deal with it; before the Flame Mosquito swarm could even spread out, they were all blown to death.

"Pfft!"

"No!"

As this demonic cultivator suffered a backlash and vomited blood, more Dharma treasures surged forth, seemingly combining into a dragon of swords; it reached out with bared fangs and brandished claws, swiping at the people, instantly mincing them into flesh paste, which was then turned to ashes under the scorching spiritual light.

The sword dragon even opened its massive maw, incomparably ferocious, with genuine precious treasures acting as its teeth, cold and chilling; it was a sight that made Master Jiuyun and the others jump in terror, making their Mother-Child Flying Daggers and Poison Flood Dragon look like mere insects, which were swallowed in one gulp while trembling in fear.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

It was as if they were being chewed; only fragments remained.

Still feeling unsatisfied, the sword dragon's other claw suddenly reached into the earth cavern, grabbing at those Ten Thousand Soul Banners, and began a formal, all-out assault on the demonic cultivators shivering inside.

"Don't panic! We have the advantage of the terrain; he can't do anything to us!"

"Right! Blast these Dharma treasures out!"

"I have a million vengeful souls; in terms of numbers, I have never feared anyone!"

The demonic crowd, heart-struck and terrified, felt like trapped beasts, but for a moment, they regained much of their courage; the fellow driving the Ten Thousand Soul Banners immediately shattered half of them, releasing the 540,000 vengeful souls within, along with fifty-four master souls.

They carried tombstones on their backs, their resentment surging to the heavens; they were the Stele-Carrying Vengeful Spirits, though their forms were condensed and refined, and now, after a roar, they performed a motion of inhaling deeply.

Instantly, the human pillars behind them that had been used to set up the formation shattered; the demon hidden within the Heavenly Evil Ancient Demon Body God-Devouring Array immediately wrapped itself in blood-colored fragments, cackling as it turned formless and voluntarily allowed itself to be sucked in.

Heavenly Evil Vengeful Demon!!!

Boom, boom, boom! Bursts of violent aura erupted, finally breaking through the boundary of the Great Perfection of Spirit Severing to possess the formidable might of the Void Refinement stage; even the head of the sword dragon was invisibly blown apart, a sight that made the demonic cultivators prepare to cackle wildly once more.

Then, they immediately froze and were dumbfounded, because from within the exploded head of the sword dragon, battle puppets with profound auras, whose movements seemed to make even the boundary layer here unable to support them, lit up with red light in their eyes.

Sixth-rank mid-grade, mid-stage Void Refinement! Creak~

Hearing the sound of these moving mechanisms, in the next instant, before the demonic cultivators could react, the fifty-four Heavenly Evil Vengeful Demons had already exploded in place, and the five hundred thousand-plus vengeful souls were plowed into two hundred trenches; because they were packed too densely within the cavern, it was impossible to count exactly how many had been wiped out.

Fortunately, there was no need to count for long, because more Dharma treasures swarmed in, and the battle puppets only needed to move side-by-side to act like an eraser, neatly wiping away the unsightly stains.

This is the suppression of rank, this is the crushing of combat power! "Ah!!!"

With the destruction and miserable death of both the Ten Thousand Soul Banners and the Heavenly Demon Array as the conclusion, Master Jiuyun and the few remaining survivors huddled back-to-back in the center of the cavern, facing the wall of puppets and the surrounding Dharma treasures, their faces nothing but a sheet of pale white.

They did not understand why a perfectly fine situation had suddenly turned into this! Master Jiuyun looked back at the fifth-rank ordinary puppet that they had just worked together to destroy, even more unable to fathom why none of them had been able to see through its reality, yet had instead exposed their own secrets.

Could it be that a genuine Great Perfection of Spirit Severing prodigy is truly that transcendent?

But that fellow opposite was clearly only a weak prodigy...

"Tell me, how much longer do you intend to act?"

Du En walked out from behind the Dharma treasures and spoke calmly to Master Jiuyun's side.

"What did you say?"

That Turbid Cloud face, whose transformation had not yet been dispelled, revealed a visible look of confusion.

"Master Jiuyun, Old Daoist Chili, and this rabble—you should all actually be called by the same name, shouldn't you, Xu Tianci?"

Du En silently raised his eyes; within the brilliant flowing gold, his pupils revealed the truth.

He had already seen through the bottom line of this bunch; although their demonic arts and evil methods were all different, at the root of it all, there was only one source—they were, in fact, the same person!

Seeing that these divine eyes were so sharp and clear, and realizing that they could no longer fool or deceive him, Master Jiuyun's side suddenly gave a strange smile; the other living demonic cultivators did the same, and even those who should have been dead seemed to be cackling invisibly.

Hehehe...

Click! Bang! Amidst the laughter, in the same instant, it was as if a mirror had cracked and shattered; looking around, it was still the same cavern, still the same underground, but the hollow abyss that had been blasted open no longer existed, and all the various Dharma treasures and puppets had vanished, leaving only Du En and Xu Tianci, who had returned to his appearance from when he was kidnapping people, standing face-to-face.

"Should I say now that I've fallen for your ruse?"

This was the boundary between the inner and outer layers; Du En had indeed been caught in a trap, temporarily losing the assistance of his puppets and Dharma treasures, which was why he made such a remark.

"No, no, no—how could a great cultivator from the Upper Realm be so helpless?"

As Xu Tianci spoke, his eye sockets seemed to contain water; his head felt like a fish tank, and with every slight shake and sway, ripples surged within.

That was flowing malice! At the same time, he himself became difficult to track; he was clearly right before one's eyes, yet spiritual sense could not capture him at all. Only the naked eye could still see him, yet there was a strong sense of déjà vu that if one were to blink, the other party would vanish.

Extremely mysterious, requiring caution, not to be underestimated...

Thus, right in front of the other party, Du En also played a game of vanishing.

Underworld Winter Hides the Sun!

In a trance, in Xu Tianci's eyes, it was like seeing the Heavenly Dog eating the sun, or seeing the winter sun set; the brilliant radiance suddenly vanished, leaving behind only a thin shell of ice.

Hm?!

Xu Tianci, who had been radiating malice and appearing unfathomable, with only a lingering, eerie, fallen quality, felt a moment of abrupt bewilderment when faced with this development.

Ran away?

Impossible.

Hiding to launch a sneak attack? A dignified great cultivator of the Upper Realm... when he fought that Master Jiuyun manifestation, it was indeed a sneak attack, wasn't it? In any case, it didn't seem impossible.

How truly despicable and shameless!

Xu Tianci couldn't help but frown and mutter to himself, and that eerie, lingering feeling faded quite a bit. However, he did not seem surprised or anxious; instead, he began chanting, a garbled, rapid, and fragmented muttering that was not normal language at all.

There were hidden ripples spreading out, searching for a target.

In the next instant, he intended to take the opportunity to slip into the shadows.

You hide, and I hide; when it comes to this, I have played tricks on you all before! In his mind, such a thought existed.

But Du En's next move had long been triggered. At this moment, amidst the rippling and surging, the mud beneath Xu Tianci's feet churned, transforming into a ferocious and mighty dragon jaw, opening wide as if to swallow and bite him.

Guda!

With his eyeballs rolling and glancing down, Xu Tianci raised his hand, which still bore the Dao wounds previously cut and sawed by the two people and one god. At this moment, as he struck down violently, the wounds shattered directly, subsequently oozing pus and poison, staining the mud dragon jaw.

Amidst a surge of mud that sounded like vomiting, he was submerged and vanished, while the earth dragon shook and twitched as it burst out, as if spat out by the earth—it was a bloated, deformed, and extremely ugly fat dragon.

"Aooo!!!"

Amidst the roar, the might of the Profound Grade Dao technique rippled out, extremely formidable.

It was only by encroaching upon Du En's Profound Grade Dao technique, reaching the Profound Grade Dao technique that could be utilized at this boundary line, that it was able to take shape, and furthermore, it had permeated with foul and evil principles, thereby twisting and mutating, gaining a significant enhancement.

In short, a Profound Grade Dao technique should correspond to the Void Refinement stage, so this fat earth evil dragon at this moment also possessed the strength of an average early-stage Void Refinement cultivator. If not for the unique nature of the cave node here, the previous roar would have long since shattered it, or even directly blasted a basin into the earth.

The Void Refinement stage is one that possesses such power, easily capable of altering terrain and landscapes; a slight exertion can turn a place into a dead zone for living beings, unlike the Deity Transformation stage, which requires years of accumulated influence to achieve.

However, that is for an ordinary Deity Transformation stage.

The realm of genius had long been surpassed by Du En.

Having just detected the dragon jaw being infected, he had already, like explosive reactive armor being struck, ejected this external component. And at this very moment, facing that fat, ugly earth dragon, the true main body of the Dao technique began to emerge amidst the excited tremors of the earth.

Crack, crack, crack! Cracks spread everywhere, and the subterranean cave shook. The ugly earth dragon, before it could even show its ferocity, faced such a scene and for a moment appeared suspicious and uncertain, looking left and right, then saw a crack suddenly widen, and a giant hand reached out from within.

Pitch-black and cold, with sharp, distinct edges, it was covered in layers of heavy armor and carved with streaks of dragon patterns. At the joints, there were even more decorations like dragon claws, dragon jaws, and dragon horns, just as if, after slaughtering and killing dragons, one had turned the opponent's most formidable parts into feathers and plumes to boast of one's martial achievements, decorating them all over one's body.

Limited by the terrain, its full height was not revealed, but it was still a hundred zhang tall. Standing up and stepping out from beneath the earth, a terrifying feeling like that of a fierce god or evil spirit truly spread. The head, wearing a dragon-headed crown, lit up with two pairs of crimson pupils, staring straight at the opponent in front.

There is a dragon!

Subduing the dragon!

True Image of the Dragon Subduer!

Du En activated this Dao technique. Amidst the silent pressure, without a hint of hesitation, he took a step and charged toward the dragon that needed to be subdued in front.

That fat, ugly earth dragon was clearly just a derivation of principles, a being without blood or flesh, yet at this moment, it actually seemed to have a sense of heart-pounding fear, and for a moment, it was actually stunned and frozen in place.

Not good, I've fallen for that fellow's scheme!

Only then did Xu Tianci realize Du En's sinister intentions. That dragon jaw ambush was simply a deliberate gift for him to infect; it was clear that he had seen through part of the bottom line here, all for the sake of being able to add the factor of a dragon now, increasing the power of the True Image capable of restraining and subduing dragons.

Even if he realized it now, it was already too late. The True Image threw a punch, and the arm flew out directly. If it were elsewhere, it would certainly have arrived by breaking through the air, even carrying spatial debris, but here in Qingxuan, there was only the most simple and direct violence.

Violent, fast, and hard, in just an instant, this punch struck, blasting away half of the fat, ugly earth dragon's body.

"Aooo, aooo..."

The ugly dragon, formed by vicious principles, screamed repeatedly; it was the rippling sound of principles.

After all, it was not a living being with blood and flesh. Although half its body was blasted away by a punch, the remaining part could still move freely. Under Xu Tianci's control, it barely suppressed the dragon-related aspects, changed to vicious and evil qualities, and transformed into several sewage tentacles, suddenly wrapping toward the retracting fist.

Still want to go back?

Dream on...

Then this flying fist, it self-destructed!

Hmm? What is going on?

Can a separated part of a Dao technique also self-destruct like a magical artifact?

What kind of Dao technique is this? Xu Tianci was also somewhat bewildered by the explosion. Just as he stabilized himself in his sorry state, he saw the Dragon Subduer True Image, which had strode over to his front, and its hand had actually grown back!

Hmm?!

Isn't this a bit too much of a cheat? It's one thing for a part of a Dao technique to self-destruct, but it can actually recover so quickly? Shouldn't this be a wasteful usage that sacrifices part of the Dao technique? Xu Tianci was momentarily dazed, feeling his view of cultivation being impacted. Subconsciously, he urged the vicious flow to transform into a shield to block in front of him, wanting to withstand the attack of the True Image that was raising its fist high.

Everything happened in a split second, but even within that instant, there could still be new changes.

Click!

In Xu Tianci's eyes, the chest armor plates of the Dragon Subduer True Image suddenly emitted a very ominous cracking sound, then violently unfolded outward, revealing a huge, black, and thick cannon muzzle within.

Ah? Dragon Subduer Dharma Light!

The filled-up Dharma power could be called massive. At this moment, it accumulated and shot out, directly blasting apart the vicious shield in front, submerging the flustered and reappearing Xu Tianci, and landing on the cave floor. It first stalemated, then turned red, then melted, breaking through, breaking through, breaking through! The crimson beam directly pierced through the strata, finally breaking out from the other end of the star realm, plunging into the reflected universe within this boundary line, giving rise to quite obvious tremors and instability.

It was precisely because Du En had no need for restraint here that he could indulge in squandering his endless, inexhaustible Dharma power.

You thought you had the home-field advantage and were laying a trap waiting for me? Wrong!

Your home field is my stage!

Xu Tianci, covered in burns and in a sorry, damaged state, rushed out of the range of the Dharma light. His expression became exceptionally ferocious, but then it froze, because the Dragon Subduer True Image, which was weakening its Dharma light cannon, had all sorts of material and immaterial weapon ports revealed all over its body amidst a series of clicking sounds.

Armor unfolds, dragon opens its mouth! The ocean-like offensive begins to surge!

"What kind of Dao technique is this, Upper Realm!!!"

Xu Tianci, amidst his own wailing roar, was mercilessly submerged by the firepower coverage.

Boom, boom, boom...

The originally indestructible underground cave also became tattered and riddled with holes under this wave of terrifying bombardment.

However, it was actually still able to hold on without being damaged too excessively, which was also somewhat beyond Du En's expectations.

After all, he had just outputted with all his might, and his Dharma power had been drained in a single go.

(End of this chapter)