Chapter 72: The Altar

Seeing the mountain stronghold gate opened, and with their lead senior cultist killed by Li Fei, the remaining dozen or so Anshen cultists lost all will to fight and turned to flee one after another.

Lu Sheng first glanced at Lu Zhangwu, and seeing that he was uninjured, he then walked quickly toward Li Fei.

He looked at the corpse of the senior cultist at Li Fei's feet, then at the corpses of the other two burly men, and remarked with emotion:

"Li Lei has a good son."

"Uncle Lu is too kind."

Li Fei said.

"Hahaha, Uncle Lu will personally request a commendation for you when we return!"

Lu Sheng patted Li Fei's shoulder firmly.

Li Fei smiled, and only then did he have time to check the Myriad Blood Bead within his body:

【Level: 5, 17%

Blood Soul: 24 + 48%】

He had just activated "Blood Rage," which consumed 2 Blood Souls; the rest were from the damage the enemies had dealt to him.

"Those two paper talismans must have also dealt damage to me; it seems the Myriad Blood Bead can also defend against damage from the spiritual level!"

This was the first time Li Fei had encountered an enemy using sorcery. Hao Yi had told him that sorcery below the Possession Realm dealt with the spiritual level. The two senior cultists just now were certainly not high-level mages of the Possession Realm, so the damage they caused also counted as spiritual damage.

And now, Li Fei was certain that the Myriad Blood Bead could also share the burden of spiritual damage for him.

"Martial artists already counter sorcery, and with the Myriad Blood Bead, perhaps I can become a mage-killer in the future?"

Li Fei couldn't help but imagine.

Having achieved the merit of being the first to scale the walls and having killed two senior cultists, he would definitely receive an A-plus rating for this operation, so there was no need to be as fierce as before in the coming battles.

Thus, Li Fei followed behind Lu Sheng and the others, "slacking off" with a clear conscience.

After the stronghold gate was opened, the subsequent battle had no suspense; the inspectors and the students of the Martial Arts Hall were like tigers and wolves, clearing out the Anshen cultists within the stronghold with overwhelming force.

Wang Ping and the other few official martial masters had not made a move the entire time.

They had come this time to prevent any accidents and were prepared to deal with any experts the Anshen Cult might have; they had no interest in attacking these ordinary cultists before them.

In any case, even if they didn't lift a finger from start to finish, the credit they were due would not be reduced in the slightest.

That was the benefit of being in a leadership position.

After more than half an hour, the entire stronghold had been cleared, and over twenty Anshen cultists were captured alive.

Wang Ping walked to the altar in the very center, examined it carefully for a while, and a look of obvious joy appeared on his face.

He turned to ask Lu Sheng:

"Did you capture their cult leader or any other important figures?"

Lu Sheng had just finished listening to his subordinate's report and said: "We killed four of their senior cultists and captured two alive."

"Bring those two over; I want to question them."

Wang Ping ordered.

Soon, two senior cultists wearing dark gray robes were brought over, bound hand and foot.

"Who is your cult leader?"

Wang Ping asked.

Both senior cultists looked at Wang Ping with hateful eyes, and one of them hissed at Wang Ping:

"You sinners will all die! The Cult Leader will avenge us!"

"Oh?"

Wang Ping looked at him, "So, your cult leader ran away in advance?"

He turned his head and pointed at the altar beside him: "Building this altar must have consumed many precious materials. Your cult leader probably used decades of savings on this. Even if he ran away, it will be very difficult for there to be an Anshen Cult anymore."

"Lord Wang, is that true?"

Lu Sheng, standing to the side, asked hurriedly.

The fact that the Anshen Cult leader had escaped made him somewhat disappointed, as it reduced the merit of his operation, but hearing Wang Ping say this, it seemed there was still a turning point.

Wang Ping smiled and said: "There are many precious materials on this altar. The key sorcery inheritances of the Anshen Cult, the implant inheritances, and so on, should all require the use of this altar. Now that the altar is gone, the Anshen Cult won't be able to stir up any more trouble. Later, we can have people from the Justice Court come to recover the materials here; that will definitely be a great merit."

He was in a good mood, and the smile on his face grew wider.

The Justice Court was the most mysterious of the local six courts, responsible only for matters related to sorcery, and it had close ties with the Military Affairs Bureau.

The twelve universities of the Great Lan Dynasty had a Stop-War Department specifically to train martial artists, and likewise, a Justice Department specifically to train sorcerers; after graduating, these sorcerers basically went directly into the Justice Courts of various regions.

Hearing Wang Ping say this, Lu Sheng's face also broke into a smile.

In this way, his promotion to Deputy Inspector General should also be able to happen ahead of schedule.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The two captured senior cultists suddenly began to laugh maniacally.

Lu Sheng frowned as he looked at the two, ordering his men to gag them.

He couldn't be bothered to ask why they were laughing; in any case, these cultists were all people with broken brains.

"Prepare to withdraw."

Lu Sheng ordered.

Li Fei, standing to the side, suddenly felt the steel armor implant in his body stir once again, and alarm bells rang in his heart!

His muscles tensed instantly, and his right hand gripped the hilt of his blade.

The next second, the altar that everyone was surrounding lit up with light.

Wang Ping was the first to notice that something was wrong. He turned to look at the altar immediately, and when he saw the light flare up, his pupils constricted, and he struck out with a palm without the slightest hesitation.

A mass of crimson steam surged from his palm, transforming into a red snake over three meters long that tore toward the altar.

But he was still a step too slow; a purple-black ring of light centered on the altar expanded outward, instantly sweeping over everyone in the stronghold!

Li Fei's brain felt heavy, and he felt a slight sense of drowsiness.

He looked at the Myriad Blood Bead within his body:

【Level: 5, 59%

Blood Soul: 21 + 16%】

The energy had increased by over 40%, and the Blood Souls had decreased by more than 3!

"Is this some kind of sorcery?"

Li Fei thought to himself.

Then he saw the people around him fall one after another. Those high-level instructors struggled for a while after falling, but in the end, they could not overcome the intense drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.

Li Fei thought for a moment and then fell down along with them.

In the end, the only ones left standing in the stronghold were Wang Ping and the other three official martial masters of the Stop-War Court.

After the red snake Wang Ping had unleashed made contact with the altar, a large amount of yellow smoke immediately erupted from it, emitting a harsh sound as if something were wailing.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, followed by continuous cracking, the stones that made up the altar split apart, and finally, the entire altar collapsed completely.

Having destroyed the altar in one move, Wang Ping's expression was nonetheless extremely ugly.

He had not destroyed this altar; the person behind the scenes had destroyed it voluntarily. Otherwise, it could not have emitted such powerful sorcery, capable of affecting even official martial artists of the Body-Breaking Realm!

"Team Leader Wang, look."

An official martial master to the side suddenly pointed upward and said.

Wang Ping looked up and saw that outside the stronghold, the hillside above was already filled with people.

One of them wore a purple robe and was surrounded by the others like stars around the moon.

The other party looked down at the people in the stronghold from a high vantage point, like a cat watching mice.

(End of chapter)