Without the slightest warning, beneath a vicious backhanded counterthrust that lacked any semblance of martial decorum, the sound of splintering rang out unceasingly.
In an instant, the ground tore open and the sky collapsed. The aberrant aura of a Great Sin erupted violently from beneath the parched, desolate earth. Right then, from deep within that foul-smelling mass grave piled with countless corpses left in the disaster's wake, a colossal, flesh-mangled hand abruptly thrust upward.
Out of thin air, it braced against the crushing pressure of Tianyuan.
Stinking blood surged endlessly from rotting flesh, splashing across the ground. Every splatter spread with startling speed, immediately giving rise to writhing poisonous flowers and foul weeds.
In a fleeting breath, what had seemed an ordinary graveyard tore away its disguise, transforming into a living hell.
Scattered rotted flesh and bone converged in midair, instantly assembling into a grotesque silhouette that was half-decayed and half-luxuriant. The left half was sculpted like fine jade, shifting endlessly through a demonic countenance that was both handsome and seductive, while from the withered bones of the right half, rotting meat swelled haphazardly, erupting into fissures of venomous boils that blossomed and closed like lotuses.
The two halves of the body continuously swapped places and shifted, life and death cycling endlessly through tireless decay across this massive, grotesque form.
It was impossible to tell whether it was a corpse or a living person.
The only undeniable certainty was the terrifying aura swirling about that body, along with the abhorrently pure quintessence of the White Pavilion.
Such a posture belonged to none other than the calamity of the White Pavilion, a fiend whose head had borne bounties from every faction for uncounted years.
—The Sin Fiend, Corpse Mountain!
Its mere existence continuously transformed the entire area into a bizarre reflection of the depths beneath the Vortex.
With the power of a single individual, it tainted the world.
Seeing this, countless onlookers felt their vision go dark once more.
*Another top-tier powerhouse?!*
*So after all that chaos just now, that was only the appetizer?*
Ji Jue was utterly dumbfounded, so amazed he almost wanted to applaud. *Now this is what you call the grand stage of Tacheng—got a routine, step right up!*
The local gangs truly had too many vicious tricks up their sleeves.
Forget the Federation and the Empire—even Ji Jue broke into a cold sweat.
For such a massive sin fiend to crouch quietly around Tacheng scavenging leftovers was one thing, but to think the Empire had scoured heaven and earth and still nearly missed it. Lurking here for so long, it couldn't possibly have just been looking to scavenge a couple of corpses, could it?
"Time and time again, there’s no end to this, is there?!"
Now, with its disguise violently torn away, Corpse Mountain was beside itself with rage. Its rotting visage twisted, and a sharp, genderless voice erupted like thunder, piercing everyone's eardrums with agonizing pain.
Arms sprouted from behind its back, shifting into a thousand hands—some withered, some fleshy, some whole, some decaying, and some reduced purely to incomplete dry bone.
Those vastly differing palms suddenly clenched tight, as though gripping something invisible. Instantly, the earth shook and cracked open once more.
From beneath the ground, corpses buried for God knows how many years began writhing and churning to the surface, flowing together to form a colossal elephant the size of a multi-story building.
Layers of sharp white bone stabbed out through rotting flesh, and wicked, abnormal eyes snapped open across its viscera and carapace as the aura of the Huangxu's dark side manifested from the skeletal remains.
In just a few snaps of a finger, a terrifying calamity beast born of Huangxu corruption was forged.
The corpse beast raised its long trunk and roared toward the sky. Wherever its cry passed, all things fell into stasis, and even the air froze into walls of iron, holding the streaks of lightning at bay.
Within a few brief heartbeats, it had wedged open a gap within the Empire's Domain of Tianyuan, its malevolent flames surging skyward, unbearably arrogant!
At this, the colossal Imperial eyes high in the firmament finally cast their gaze toward it.
They were filled with sheer bewilderment…
*Where the hell did this dog come from?!*
Immediately after, within the Celestial-Human 'Vision' of Aether, a targeting box manifested out of thin air in the sky, locking onto Corpse Mountain from afar. In the next moment, from within the Imperial garrison base, Passarella, desperate to redeem himself through meritorious service, struck with venomous fury.
He gave it no opportunity to flee or resist.
The terrifying incandescent light that had once eradicated calamity beasts in a single strike turned into a torrential flood, pouring down from the heavens. One beam after another, orbital-railgun-like destruction rained from above, dense as a squall!
The deafening roars never ceased.
Beneath the extreme, stimulated rays of radiant light, the ground for miles around cracked apart and melted under the shockwaves, and scorching gales swept ash in every direction.
The giant elephant corpse beast shrieked and bellowed repeatedly, but its colossal frame could not hold out. Under the destructive celestial light whose power was still climbing, it gradually began to fracture, cracks appearing in the air and spreading rapidly.
Upon the elephant's back, Corpse Mountain tossed about like a tattered sack, twitching violently under the barrage of celestial light.
It could not even attend to its old wounds. Across its chest, a deep fissure suddenly tore open, and foul-smelling blood gushed forth like a tidal wave.
It was precisely that wound that finally jogged Ji Jue's memory, explaining why this presence felt so familiar.
The Gushi Sacrificial Temple!
Back then, among the many sin fiends besieging Tianlu outside the sacrificial temple, this creature had been right there among them!
For a moment, Ji Jue even began to question Tianlu's true caliber—*Old man, are you up to snuff or what?!*
*You baited the trap for half a day, and you still let a survivor like this slip away…*
Still, after narrowly escaping with its life last time, why hadn't it taken advantage of the chaos to slip back down to the bottom of the Vortex?
Soon, however, dawn broke over Ji Jue—he had nearly forgotten the creature's origins. White Pavilion. Ah, well that explained it. If he were in its shoes, he wouldn't dare dive down into the Vortex either.
He had almost forgotten their corporate culture…
What looked like a safe home nest in the Vortex would actually be a dead end for it in its current state, wouldn't it?
Though far from the realm of an 'Abiding Sin' achieved through patient accumulation like Lu Changsheng of Quancheng, it was still a long-established hegemon in its own right.
For bait that had grown so plump and seasoned, the big fish loved nothing more!
Besides, once wounded, it couldn't hide or run. Getting caught meant ending up as a chewy meatball to be swallowed whole, with nowhere to cry for justice.
Who could have guessed that after finally escaping the Gushi Sacrificial Temple, it had simply wanted to find a place to hunker down, lick its wounds, and nurse its injuries, only for the Empire to charge right up to its doorstep out of nowhere? They had dug up the fresh grave it just settled into, didn't say a word, attacked on sight, and slapped it relentlessly across the face.
To be down on one's luck to this extent was truly unprecedented.
No wonder it was so filled with grief, indignation, and malice right now.
Especially when it recalled the real estate agent's face while signing the contract—the solemn guarantees, the boasting about this 'feng shui paradise,' the flowery promises and rosy prospects, all the way to that bastard's current reputation that stank for ten miles downwind—it could no longer hold back, weeping tears of blood as it roared.
The face assembled from countless corpses howled toward the sky:
"—Shehri, fuck your mother!"
In an instant, heaven and earth went dead silent.
Even the giant eyes in the firmament and the descending celestial light paused for a fraction of a second, as if doubting their own ears.
"Huh?"
Ji Jue was stunned for a moment, absolutely marveling at the spectacle: *You're in on this too?!*
Then, he could no longer hold back his laughter.
He rocked back and forth, doubled over.
Because the Empire, triggered to the extreme, had gone completely mad!
*Shehri?*
*You just said Shehri, didn't you?!*
*I knew it! You shadowy dogs really are in cahoots!*
*DIE FOR ME—!*
If Corpse Mountain had previously been able to muster a few counterattacks and hold its ground under the Empire's suppression, then beneath the suddenly surging onslaught, it was now on the verge of being surrounded and kicked half to death.
Figure after figure rose from the Federation and Imperial bases, as well as the outposts of the Secrecy Bureau and the Security Bureau, charging like rabid dogs into a ruthless encirclement.
Streaks of celestial light fell in rapid succession. Thunder and gales raged without end, accompanied by the containment and suppression of Tianyuan, entangling gravitational pulls, freezing, solidifying air, and the Swarm's blood-flame javelins and sharp blades whistling through the sky…
Tragic. It was simply too tragic.
Watching this, Ji Jue's eyelids twitched violently, and he sighed over and over.
Of all people to bring up, why did you have to bring up Shehri… If you had just mentioned Lu Changsheng, it wouldn't have gotten this bad…
Well, bringing up Shehri meant getting ganged up on; mentioning Lu Changsheng would probably have gotten it obliterated on the spot without a burial.
Under the battering of this tempestuous onslaught, the giant elephant corpse beast disintegrated in an instant. The fissure across the once-arrogant sin fiend's chest spread rapidly as it vomited blood and spasmed.
Even for the Vortex lineage, renowned for its vitality, it could not withstand such insane, focused firepower.
No amount of health bars would be enough!
Not being crushed in a single exchange was already a testament to unyielding resilience.
"Damn it, how much longer are you going to wait?" Corpse Mountain suddenly shrieked, its expression savage. "If I die, none of you will have an easy time either!"
Instantly, the immense seal of Tianyuan trembled violently.
A low whisper sounded beside everyone's ears, yet it remained difficult to discern. Like the continuous buzzing of a mosquito, it seeped densely into flesh, bone, and soul, causing one's consciousness to blur uncontrollably.
Listening closely, it was as if thousands of people were shouting, roaring, and devoutly chanting within the mind: *"Those who see my form shall give rise to the Bodhi mind; those who hear my name shall sever evil and cultivate goodness; those who hear my words shall attain great wisdom; those who know my heart shall attain buddhahood in this very body—"*
Amidst a phantom radiance of spiritus, a bizarre statue flowing with boundless golden light rose straight from the earth, manifesting between heaven and earth. Its withered, shriveled face let out a faint sigh:
"Miss Corpse Mountain, having entered hell yourself, why bother dragging others into it?"
Even so, the moment that Golden Body appeared, the boundless storm assailing them vanished in an instant, disappearing into thin air as though it had never existed.
A Celestial-Human! Another Celestial-Human!
Dharma King Shanji of Wulou Temple had boldly revealed himself.
Immediately after, a scarlet tempest tore up from the ground.
Before anyone could react, blood-colored fire soared into the heavens, and a figure draped in viscous blood flames descended from the sky over the wilderness.
Above his head, a Blood Eye emblem repeatedly opened and closed, gazing in all directions. Viscous blood-red hues fell from the void like an illusion, spreading without beginning or end.
Frenzied Slaughter of the Blood Eye!
A sharp laughter rang out—ethereal, lingering, coiling all around, raising goosebumps. There was even a Heart Pivot.
In the sweltering air, wisps of sparks manifested out of nowhere, faintly outlining a voluptuous silhouette. It was illusory, only flickering into sight within the shifting currents of air—an elemental incarnation of Entropy, or rather, the Youshuang lineage.
In an instant, erupting in unison, their violent might forcibly tore a void and a breach into the Law of Tianyuan.
Numb.
Everyone was completely numb now!
They had no choice but to be numb—this had straight-up poked a hornet's nest of Great Sins!
*You motherfuckers really know how to camp, don't you?!*
Caught completely off guard, a hundred thousand bush-campers had suddenly leaped out from right under their noses. Even the Aether Celestial-Human who had personally stripped away the disguises was left slack-jawed.
Who could still tell whether this was the Mid-Continent or the Vortex!
Even more sinister was the fact that so many sin fiends had silently gathered on the ancestral lands of the White Nation. It was utterly sensational, practically a horror story.
At this point, the Federation was in no mood to enjoy the show anymore; they were breaking into cold sweats.
Using one's heels to think, such a gathering of sinister monsters couldn't possibly be holding a Vortex alumni reunion right under the noses of the Empire and the Federation.
Just look at this lineup, folks.
The Evil Transmutation Cult, Wulou Temple, the Tianxin Society, Decaying Wind, the Blood Eye, the Wolf, the Insects of the Shadow Sun, the Profound, the Truth Publishing House, Mirage… The direct earthly lineages of the Vortex—the Four Divisions and Six Sects—were almost all gathered here!
What were so many people gathered together for?
To assemble the Four Divisions and Six Sects and summon the dragon?!
There was no need for further communication or negotiation, nor did anyone need to shout about joining forces. Whether it was the Federation watching from the sidelines or the Empire burning with fury, neither hesitated for a second to strike with everything they had!
This was no longer an ordinary hidden danger; it demanded an iron fist!
*BOOM!*
Unprecedented tremors welled up from the earth. The massive city of Tacheng shuddered violently as waves of air blasted skyward amidst earthquakes and gales.
The colossal eyes in the heavens opened and closed, incandescent light raining down endlessly. The earth turned into steel, and sharp blades sprouted from the metallic sheen. Mountains of blades and seas of fire surged from the ground as celestial thunder rolled and lightning cascaded down like a torrential downpour.
At the same time, fluctuations of spiritus rose and fell within the city in ceaseless waves as figures took advantage of the opportunity to flee frantically outward.
Those ranked near the top of the bounty lists, those whose true faces could not see the light of day, and those who simply had a 'minor dispute' with the Empire or the Federation in the past—to say nothing of the numerous corrupted individuals—saw how precious this moment was and bolted as one, every last man for himself.
Gunfire never ceased; artillery roared.
In an instant, the world fell into utter chaos.
Amidst the earth-shattering din, a large pile of melon seed shells had already accumulated at Ji Jue's feet as he clicked his tongue in wonder.
Lively!
It truly was lively!
Who could have thought Tacheng would become lively to such a degree? In an instant, it had turned into the top trending headline of the mortal world, hogging all the limelight…
It was just like some RTS game.
After turning on a maphack with cheat codes, the whole map was covered in red dots. You thought the advantage was yours, only to find the enemy's Tier 3 units already in your face.
You only wanted to swat a few bugs and shoot down a sun, but the entire house turned out to be crawling with roaches. Who could bear this!
Look at this scale, look at this lineup…
As expected of a star HR recruiter and the trusted lackey of the Sower. Who could have foreseen that in less than six months, Shehri had quietly set up such an enormous scheme?
Pity that while still farming under the radar, he ran headfirst into a joint vice crackdown by the Empire and the Federation…
If he had been allowed to complete his preparations and suddenly launch his strike, the White Nation Restoration Front might have genuinely fought its way into Tacheng.
Could the allure of the White King truly be that vast?
And…
Ji Jue stroked his chin, growing ever more curious.
With things thrown into such disarray, just where was Shehri hiding?
At that exact moment, at the very highest point of Tacheng, a soft sigh resonated.
"Finally found you—"
A blond man with three pupils in his right eye drew a greatbow as tall as a man. Amidst a succession of scalp-numbing creaks, the bow was drawn full as the moon.
Strangely enough, before this, not a single person had noticed him at the highest, most conspicuous vantage point in all of Tacheng.
And the moment the bow was drawn and the arrow nocked, a bone-chilling killing intent soared like a stellar blaze, making everyone's scalps tingle with dread!
That was… the True Heritage of the White Stag, the Hollow Horn lineage, the Dragon Tongue Hunter!
[Sun Reflecting]!
In that instant, it was as if the radiance of a blazing sun had been invested into the arrow. No sound could be heard, and no flight path could be seen.
Only a single thread of brilliant light streaked across the entirety of Tacheng like a phantom, piercing through layer upon layer of walls and sweeping past bewildered figures without harming a hair on their heads.
Amidst the heaven-rending, earth-shattering chaos, on the completely desolate other side of Tacheng, a disheveled figure had just crawled out of a sewer pipe. The moment he turned his head, his stunned pupils were illuminated by the oncoming blinding light.
*You motherfu—*
*BOOM!*
Chapter 604