Chapter 291: Purification

Li En himself hadn't expected this day to come so soon.

He felt as if he could now walk across these familiar streets any way he pleased.

"Exorcism Slash!"

The familiar roar, the equally familiar radiant effect, and the explosive slash sound so ingrained it felt like instinct.

"Hum!"

That resonant crack, like a glowing blade swinging, was the sound of a high-temperature, high-heat sword strike—but the higher the rank of the Holy Knight, the less obvious the purity became.

Mature Holy Knights either produced thunderous explosions or silent, sinister cuts.

This kind of numerous, rigidly repetitive burning-slash sound usually only appeared among rookie Holy Knights—it was quite rare.

"Strange… how am I able to tell the strength of a Holy Knight just from the sound of their Exorcism Slash?"

Li En was baffled; it seemed he, too, had been infected by the "Sul" meme.

"Even old knights can tell, right? After swinging so many times, it's normal," Lari said, slightly proud—she could hear it too, though it was hard to say whether it was due to her "Spider Sense."

Despite having many eyes, spider-people had poor eyesight, but their perception and hearing were strong.

And now, she was nominally leading the team.

The Weaver Knight Order had expanded to nearly thirty usable young knights; though many rookies still needed veterans to guide them, and in Li En's eyes, even those so-called veterans were weak—but their momentum had grown, and only veteran Holy Knights could discern the differences in these Exorcism Slashes.

Anyway, slashing these gang scum was a one-hit kill; no one needed follow-ups, and anyone who did got laughed at.

"Tch, these spies are annoying."

Li En sighed; even now, he could still feel at least three pairs of eyes watching him—it made him uneasy, and worse, they were using some kind of telescopic artifact to observe him from afar; chasing them would be pointless.

Even if he caught them, they didn't deserve death; seizing the artifact or punishing them would just lead to someone else taking their place.

"Are they planning to attack us? Is some faction gathering intelligence on us?" Lari instinctively drew her sword—was another evil force approaching?

"No, they're making money to support their families. My basic info is fetching good prices everywhere—I'm even tempted to sell it myself."

The major powers observing Li En had no need to send their own spies; posting bounties was enough—countless low-rank professionals and adventurers would gladly take the money.

When Li En caught a few, they wept and begged, whining about how hard life was and how hard it was to raise children, leaving Li En too confused to even know who to be angry at.

"Then maybe you should hold back a little?" Lari suggested Li En conceal some of his abilities and reveal less information.

"No need. We're already in the spotlight—the more we show, the fewer troubles come knocking."

Li En slowly drew his sword and walked straight ahead.

He took a deep breath, then roared aloud!

"World Shatter!"

His battle sword slammed into the wall—the wall exploded outward, and the thief hiding behind it had no time to react before he and his poisoned blade turned to dust.

"Boom!" Then the entire building collapsed.

Li En didn't even glance at the ambushers behind the rubble—the man's bones were shattered into fragments. Eagle Eye didn't let him play an "adventure game"; it turned it into a fully mapped, god-view "strategy war game."

That was why Li En's raids were efficient and always struck straight at the core.

Back doors? Secret rooms? Ambushes? Nonexistent. Li En even thought it would be wonderful if Eagle Eye's ability could be permanently stabilized.

Unfortunately, the current hardware still didn't match up well—it was inconvenient to use.

"Any more?" Lari casually cast a Punishment Domain—the area held no villains, but she trusted Li En's judgment more.

"That's enough. Recall the team. Next target." A few minor thieves remained, but they were all rookies—not worth killing. A scare should suffice as a warning.

Unlike the old days of "Holy Knights acting alone as righteous heroes," this was an official royal operation—arrests with search warrants for public order.

When the entire city was in crisis, with criminals and cultists everywhere, what did these gang members do? Judging by the results, many had grown rich during the disaster, slipping on a disguise to pose as cultists and easily shifting blame afterward.

In that chaos, routine law enforcement in most districts had collapsed entirely.

Burglary and robbery became routine; several even used the chaos to settle old scores, slaughtering entire families, kidnapping merchants, and looting homes—some hadn't even sent out their ransom letters yet.

They dared do this because they knew the old kingdom wouldn't care—and no one ever investigated afterward.