Riding the light, Chen Chuan cleaved through the sea and first sped to the other end—the very domain where Prince Yi had initially entrenched himself. Only after sealing the fissure there as well did he return to the sky above.
The rest of the group, Mingchengzi included, were waiting right where he had left them. To their perception, Chen Chuan had merely descended for a handful of breaths before returning.
Within the manifestation of misty vapor in Mingchengzi's hands, the silhouette representing Prince Yi had still not completely dissipated. That meant Prince Yi was not yet dead, which was why Mingchengzi still maintained the secret art.
Just then, Mingchengzi caught sight of Prince Yi's head slung at Chen Chuan's waist, and his heart gave an involuntary jolt.
Prince Yi truly was not dead at this moment. However, with the fire of spirituality sealing his wound and seven facial apertures, he could not regenerate using his aberrant tissues—and he likely would never have that opportunity again.
The others noticed it too, and one of them could not help asking, "Commander? Is that Prince Yi?"
Chen Chuan nodded. He planned to send Prince Yi back as a war trophy, handing him over to headquarters to handle.
In addition, he could take Prince Yi's severed head on a lap around Huya Island shortly, which would facilitate taking over this territory.
After all, Huya Island was no ordinary city; one could call it a massive gathering place and logistical base for mercenary bands and hunting outfits. Most people there possessed martial strength, and many held Prince Yi in great personal reverence.
The sight of Prince Yi's head would be enough to shatter the psychological resolve of the vast majority. Anyone unwilling to concede would be a diehard fanatic—and if they dared jump out, it would be the perfect chance to purge them.
After waiting for a brief while, a flash of light gleamed in the sky as the squad members who had gone to hunt down the two fleeing subordinates arrived from afar. Upon rejoining the group, they reported to Chen Chuan that the pair had been eliminated, and that their respective avatars had already been dispatched to deal with the hidden caches of body tissues.
Chen Chuan gave a slight nod.
Whether it was the Aberrant Visage or the Visage of the Divine, once someone attained the Dongxuan View level, their capacity for self-preservation was bound to be top-tier, regardless of their other abilities.
Defeating one in single combat was feasible, but truly wiping them out was genuinely difficult. After all, a Dongxuan View expert who hid a scrap of body tissue anywhere could slowly regenerate back to life after some time.
Although the team members did not possess Mystic Void Fire, they were all equipped with relics specifically tailored for tracking and searching. As long as they obtained a sample of the opponent's body tissue or residual divine energy, they could track down each piece of aberrant tissue stashed elsewhere and thoroughly destroy it.
Even if an opponent chose self-destruction, it was difficult to avoid such tracking. What was more, most Dongxuan View combatants had fought their way up through countless life-and-death struggles; they would never choose self-annihilation from the very outset without first putting up a fight.
He asked about the specifics and learned that neither person had surrendered even in death, proving quite unyielding.
In reality, however, it was due to oaths they had sworn long ago: unless Prince Yi commanded them to surrender, they physically could not do so, leaving them with no choice but to fight to the bitter end in sullen defiance.
As for the ancient deities they pinned their hopes on, reaching them required arriving at a specific location; otherwise, relying on a mere token would not summon an entity out of thin air to save them.
Seeing that matters here were wrapped up, Chen Chuan led everyone toward Huya Island.
Against Dongxuan View martial artists like them, the island naturally possessed no resistance. In fact, the people here were far more sensible than expected: without showing the slightest sign of resistance, they immediately sent representatives forward to offer their surrender.
Most of them, after all, were merely mercenary outfits and armed security forces operating abroad year-round, completely devoid of any concept of loyalty to the imperial court.
Their past allegiance to Prince Yi had been founded solely on his martial might. Now that Prince Yi was gone, following an even stronger power was only natural.
Chen Chuan looked around and found that the high-end active conscious entity imported from outside had kept fairly comprehensive information records throughout the city.
Sorting through this was actually far easier than organizing the archives of Youdu, with every item of information clear at a glance.
Naturally, the island would still undergo a round of purging afterward, especially targeting the armed militants who had previously been hired to infiltrate the central cities to assassinate government dignitaries and important figures, as well as carry out various terrorist acts.
That matter would be left to the follow-up takeover personnel.
After sending a message to the rear via the island's radio station, he left two members' avatars behind to temporarily oversee the place and led the group on their return journey.
Throughout the entire operation of eliminating Prince Yi, not a single person from the Chan Sect had appeared, which aligned with their prior assessment that the sect did not intend to meddle in this affair.
However, a deity had manifested in the midst of it. From this, one could deduce that these deities indeed harbored certain ambitions. Owing to the lack of pertinent intelligence, the specifics remained unknown for now, but after returning, he could try to extract clues from Prince Yi's head.
Still, it was evident that these deities valued Prince Yi himself. With him gone, a marginal city on the edge of the convergence zone was unlikely to draw much of their attention.
All in all, this mission had gone rather smoothly...
Hm?
Just then, he suddenly sensed something: a strand of aura was coiling around his body. The thing seemed to have bypassed his fire of spirituality, appearing directly upon his flesh.
A single glance told him what it was: anyone who harmed or slew deities of the old era would suffer the affliction of an accompanying curse-like technique.
This was likely a secret art jointly established by numerous deities, or perhaps a shared characteristic among certain extradimensional entities. Regardless of which it was, avoiding it at present was extraordinarily difficult.
For ordinary people, dealing with the aftermath was exceedingly troublesome as well.
Back then, the reason Prince Lin had been disposed of so easily by Emperor Wenguang was precisely that Emperor Wenguang had exploited this very vulnerability.
Chen Chuan was actually no stranger to this situation. In the past, whenever he defeated an avatar of an entity from the other side in battle, he would suffer some sustained encroachment both during and after the fight.
The only difference was that the opposing entities he had encountered back then were not of a sufficiently high tier, so the encroachment had not been overly intense.
Judging by the current situation, once an entity reached the level of the Golden Bell Demon, the lingering consequences it left behind were extraordinarily fierce and appeared likely to persist for a long time.
Yet he remained unmoved, not even using his second self to block it. Instead, a faint silhouette materialized outside his body as the Visage of Man surfaced across his skin, sharing the burden of the encroaching aura.
In his eyes, this was not entirely a bad thing.
The external visage of the Visage of Man was oneself; it could resist all forms of attacks on one's behalf—aberrant power, secret arts, relics, and even curses of this sort.
Once he achieved this enlightenment, it meant he already possessed such capability himself.
However, this technique was difficult to hone. Aside from elevating his own realm, it typically required external stimulation.
Previously, he had honed himself using the remnants of large abnormalities, but those remnants dissipated quickly. Now, this affliction served as a timely replacement.
Half an hour later, Chen Chuan and the others returned to the encampment outside Youdu City.
He immediately had the telegraph operator transmit a report to headquarters, informing them that Prince Yi had been eliminated and that Huya Island had been secured and brought under control.
Furthermore, Prince Yi's head was here, and if needed, someone could deliver it to headquarters.
Ten minutes later, headquarters responded. They first affirmed and commended the contributions of the combat personnel, including him, and then stated that designated personnel would soon arrive to take custody of the relevant items.
Having handled these matters, he signed a transfer order that had arrived earlier. Now that the martial artists reassigned from the southern border had completed their mission, they could return.
Upon receiving the notification, those martial artists came as a group to bid him a solemn farewell, and then departed under everyone's send-off, returning to the southern front.
Mingchengzi glanced at the departing figures, then looked at the martial artists standing beside Chen Chuan.
Even as a bystander, it was not hard for him to sense that if all the Dongxuan View martial artists who had joined this squad were to form a cohesive faction in the future, the undisputed core would undoubtedly be Chen Chuan.
Mingchengzi could almost see it: when the External Calamity arrived in the future and these people gathered once more, they would readily accept Chen Chuan's command and dispatch.
After seeing the guests off, Chen Chuan announced the dismissal of the squad and returned to his command room.
First, he had a message sent to Gao Ming, asking him to come to the front line. He intended to have Gao Ming carry a verbal message to Cao Guixi, primarily regarding the takeover of the secret treasury.
However, possessing a jade jewel makes an innocent man guilty; holding such a vast secret treasury in hand made one an easy target for covetous eyes. Thus, Empress Cao's conditions also required his protection.
Even if Empress Cao had not mentioned it, he would have done so regardless.
Once he received Gao Ming's reply, he took his leave with peace of mind and returned to his private quarters. Stepping out of his external implant, he retrieved food ingredients, summoned Chaoming, and released the civet cat urban legend, leaving them to feed.
He then moved to the side. As his field rippled, the Sea-Churning Lance obtained from Prince Yi materialized. He grasped it, admired it for a moment, and put it away again.
Only then did he sit cross-legged to inspect the divine energy collected from the Golden Bell Demon.
Strictly speaking, in terms of the amount of precious materials he needed, what this entity provided was not copious. But having obtained it merely as a byproduct of exterminating Prince Yi, what was there to be dissatisfied about?
He cast another glance at the encroaching aura swirling around him, marveling inwardly. It seemed ancient deities were treasures from head to toe: not only could they provide him with precious materials for breakthroughs, but they could also aid his cultivation. Yes, he could interact with them more often in the future.
He also realized that as his opportunities to come into contact with entities from the other side grew, precious materials were actually not as hard to acquire as he had previously thought.
As for the shortfall of relics, he would attempt to gather them within Great Shun. If various channels yielded nothing after all attempts, he could still seek them beyond the Ring of the World.
As for the sites required to break through to higher levels...
Old She had told him back then that many of these sites were in the hands of deities and the former imperial household. He believed the former imperial household definitely possessed some, but their locations remained unknown.
Undoubtedly, only Emperor Wenguang had known, but under the circumstances back then, there had been no opportunity to uncover that information.
Still, such sites certainly existed and could not possibly have vanished without leaving a trace. Next, he would have to find a way to track them down and see whether they were suitable for his use.
Chapter 1458