ASER - Chapter 91
Chapter 91: Western Paradise
The entrance to the underground palace was not hard to find. When A'Diao flew to the large, three-hundred-mu area of farmland, she used her equipment to survey the soil depth, then found the weakest layer... and struck it with a single blow.
Boom!
The invisibility formation was blasted apart, revealing the entrance to the cavern below.
Down!
Two airships, carrying a total of two thousand elite deathsworn and soldiers, all piloted their aircraft and flew in.
"Seal the entrance! Don't let a single one escape."
A'Diao gave the cold command. Shen Shan and the others then brought out the military-grade, ten-thousand-jin metal valve equipment specifically designed for sealing entrances, directly locking the exit. Then, the combat mask on A'Diao's face slid down, covering her eyes, leaving only the cold glint of her goggles visible. With swift slashes of her blade, she killed anyone she saw, slaughtering them like dogs!
It had to be said, due to his years in a high position, Cui Yong rarely fought with the martial prowess of his youth. What Shen Shan and the others mostly saw was his sinister demeanor, skilled in manipulation. Now, seeing "him" so ferocious, these men, who inherently possessed a degree of ruthlessness, felt their blood boil.
For their future, for profit, kill!
During the slaughter, as the leader of one side, A'Diao received a massive amount of pre-death Mental Power.
Mental Power rained down like a torrential storm.
"It's Cui Yong!!!"
"Boss, they have a lot of people, twice our number, and they're well-equipped!"
After Li Yuanshu and the others realized the identity of the attackers, they were furious. But the underground palace was sealed, with only one exit; they could only fight to the death.
"Cui Yong, what a Cui Yong, to actually find this place... This is too much bullying."
Li Yuanshu was as cunning as a fox; otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden such a large Fierce Bandit Organization so well. But he truly hadn't expected that not long after scheming against Cui Yong, causing him to lose his impending return to officialdom, he would, in the blink of an eye, be cornered and besieged in his own lair by that very same person.
Impossible. Cui Yong wasn't some monstrous genius capable of world-shaking feats. How did he suddenly become so astute?
It must be an expert from Kyoto helping him.
At this thought, a glint flashed in Li Yuanshu's eyes. He seemed to know that his chances today were slim. But when life and death were on the line, his wild nature surged. With a command, he ordered all the fierce bandits to fight to the death.
"Only by fighting to the death can we seize a sliver of hope for survival."
"Brothers, slaughtering these nobles and their lackeys is much more profitable than killing those poor-ass pioneers! In this battle, hunt for spoils by taking heads! No commission, whatever you kill is yours!"
Li Yuanshu was cunning, using profit to ignite the greed and bloodlust of the fierce bandits. For a moment, the crowd seethed with excitement. Over a thousand men charged towards the Cui family forces led by A'Diao.
Boom! Boom! The tunnels were constantly bombarded.
Shattered, ruined, pierced, slaughtered.
A perfectly good underground palace instantly became a horrific slaughterhouse. The dead lay prostrate, corridors piled high with corpses. Blood pooled like shallow shoals... Flesh and blood flew, Spirit Power crisscrossed!
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away in the Jinxiang Area, a slaughter also erupted simultaneously.
Was it a slaughter of humans by Ghouls?
After all, as Song Ling had predicted, military intelligence had most likely been leaked and known by high-IQ Ghoul Mages and the like. They had dug tunnels and launched ambushes right on schedule. Did humans even have a chance to resist?
No, they did.
This was the answer to the two questions above.
Just when many thought their side was about to be wiped out by the Ghouls, formations suddenly appeared on the ground where everyone had originally been ambushing.
There were circular patterns at the locations of the circle markings. After these Ghouls stepped on these light patterns, freeze, freeze, freeze!
Immediately after, a small fighter jet suddenly appeared above the crowd. It hovered, and the moment these Ghouls were immobilized, it released dozens of smart bombing rays...
Bang, bang, bang!
Explosions!
"What are you spacing out for? Attack! These formations are expensive and only last for a minute." A teacher from the academy, seeing these wilderness cultivators dazed, couldn't help but remind them.
Ying Da and the others finally reacted—no wonder each area had to be equipped with one or several teachers from the academy and personnel from the research institute.
These formations were produced by the academy, and the fighter jet came from the Patrol Army. They clearly had a real battle plan, and the military intelligence leaked to the Ghouls was real, just a basic version.
Perhaps even the leak was part of the plan.
Officialdom and the academies were indeed full of cunning people.
After one wave took out a third of the ambushing Ghouls, the pressure on everyone was greatly relieved. The situation on the ground reversed, and the Ghouls were likely a bit panicked. But soon, when the Ghoul Mages, especially the Grade 4 mages, appeared, the pressure returned.
Grade 3 Ghoul = F-rank cultivator.
But one Grade 4 mage = 10 D-rank cultivators.
Why? Because their mages were awesome!
Group buff spells, group invisibility spells, group blinding spells...
The situation immediately became tense again. But fortunately, the human side had more people and more advanced military equipment. The Patrol Army's support was timely, and they soon suppressed the Ghouls.
But as the Patrol Army, originally stationed at the entrance of the cavern, dispersed, a terrifying black shadow suddenly shot out from the cavern entrance, swirling with dense black energy...
It flew up, its two bone wings flapping. Its body was four meters tall, and its massive bone wings spanned seven to eight meters when spread. It was ferocious, its sharp teeth dripping with thick corpse fluid. After roaring at the sky, the light patterns on its bone wings released a dozen or so rays of light...
The rays shot through space, instantly destroying the fighter jet.
"My god!"
"Is that a Fifth-Grade Ghoul? It can fly?!"
"Damn! So strong, at least B-rank, maybe even A-rank."
"Definitely A-rank!"
"Oh no, it's heading for the town!"
And it flew high in the sky, rapidly approaching the town where the commander and Chen Ran were located.
The town housed the system cores for much of the military equipment and was also the rear base camp. This boss clearly intended to capture the king to catch the thieves!
This battle was in peril.
Below, in the underground palace, Shen Shan and the others were drenched in blood, as if in an ink wash painting. They didn't even know whose blood was on their faces. And after the two sides fought, it was like a game; the numbers of people on both sides kept dwindling, beep, beep, beep...
What is slaughter?
—Give it a confined space, give it two groups of people, and let them meet in a narrow pass.
The survivors would get everything.
In the center of the largest space in the underground palace, perhaps used by Li Yuanshu as a plaza for mobilizing his men, it was very spacious, with no other obstacles. After chases and counter-chases, the remaining thousand-plus survivors from both sides eventually gathered here.
However, the Cui family side still had over 1,200 people, while the fierce bandits were down to only two hundred.
A crushing victory!
Behind Li Yuanshu were his strongest cadres like Shuang Jin and Vulture. Behind A'Diao were Shen Shan, Zhang Que, and others.
Like gu insects in a jar, only the survivor would be king.
After such continuous large-scale slaughter, neither side had much Spirit Power left. It all depended on their respective energy consumption. But in a true king-versus-king confrontation, there was little chance for them to rest and recover.
Li Yuanshu narrowed his eyes, looked at A'Diao, and sneered, "Lord Cui, you truly live up to your noble status. A fine 3.5 billion Wolf Spine armor set. Your subordinates are loyal indeed, risking their lives to protect their lord's extravagance."
Oh, still trying to play mind games at this point.
A'Diao didn't care what Shen Shan and the others thought. She merely adopted Cui Yong's tone and voice, saying, "You flatter me. Your Excellency Li Yuanshu is no less impressive. You've earned so many spirit cores, yet you haven't used them on yourself. But it seems you haven't used them on your subordinates either. It appears you serve another master. I just wonder whose table you eat at."
Li Yuanshu's expression was shocked; he hadn't expected his real name to be exposed.
This shock caused his thoughts to fluctuate.
From Li Yuanshu +66666!
When A'Diao saw this Mental Power cap, her heart skipped a beat. Damn, this bastard had hidden his true strength. But why hadn't he revealed it before? At this point, was there still a need to pretend to be weak to catch a tiger?
Could it be...
A'Diao had an epiphany, panicked briefly, her thoughts racing, but she quickly calmed down.
The situation had changed. She had to handle it decisively in this crisis, or today she would be delivering herself to her doom, seeking her own death!
She feigned ignorance and suddenly roared, "Attack!"
She struck first, aiming for the ice-type mage, Shuang Jin.
The blade flew.
Shuang Jin was terrified and tried to dodge, but it was too late. Fortunately, Li Yuanshu unleashed his C1-rank Spirit Power cultivation and instantly blocked the blade. Shuang Jin retreated... but the particle ray arrived.
Boom!
His head was blown off.
Damn it, such a powerful and rare offensive Forbidden Item wasn't something ordinary people could buy. Either one had to be a VIP within a major bank or a high-ranking court official who bought it through internal channels.
How could bandits like them ever acquire one?
Vulture and the others were terrified and immediately dodged the particle ray's next attack range. They also seized the opportunity to rush towards A'Diao... but Shen Shan and his men were already prepared.
A new round of fierce fighting erupted between the two sides.
The surviving experts still needed to be filtered down to find the even stronger ones.
Li Yuanshu's displayed Spirit Power intensity was similar to Cui Yong's (A'Diao's), but he was significantly lacking in equipment, appearing to resist with great difficulty.
The Cui family's forces crushed the other side, primarily because they had more people.
They slaughtered their way through like a bulldozer...
Some elite fierce bandits were killed one after another, until only Li Yuanshu, Vulture, and a few survivors were left, fighting desperately to break out of the encirclement.
"I'll make a move, you guys rush out!"
Li Yuanshu suddenly roared, followed by a surge of Spirit Power and an explosion of incandescent light.
The surrounding crowd felt the scorching heat and the brilliance of a sun. The next second, Vulture and the others, though moved, quickly darted towards the torn opening to escape.
Moved or not, escape was still paramount. What loyalty could a mob-like Fierce Bandit Organization like theirs possess?
As a result, a particle ray swept across...
All of them were cut in half at the waist.
Vulture felt a chill in his waist as his upper and lower body separated. His head lay on the ground, and he saw his boss's expression.
Angry, very angry. But why was he smiling?
Li Yuanshu, with a sudden, strange smile on his face, seemed to make a tactical retreat. He spread his hands, buzz! A spell activated! An isolation light shield enveloped him. Then, he pressed a button on his wrist.
Swish, swish, swish!
Both doors of the hall sealed shut; they were special heavy alloy doors.
Then, holes in the ceiling above crazily released a large amount of poisonous gas with a sizzling sound.
What poison was this? A'Diao accessed her knowledge base and immediately recognized it as Corrosive Titanium Poison.
Terrifying Corrosive Titanium Poison gas... inhaling even a wisp could be fatal.
Thump, thump, thump!
Of the thousand subordinates still alive, hundreds were instantly killed in the blink of an eye.
This was true slaughter.
Those still alive were merely clinging to life thanks to the isolation function of their high-end mecha armor; for example, A'Diao, Shen Shan, and other high-ranking commanders were still alive.
But Li Yuanshu laughed, "Your combat armor is good, but die!"
He suddenly erupted.
His Spirit Power shot up from C1 to B1 in minutes.
A blood-red staff appeared in his hand. "Beehive Technique, go!"
The enormous, bloody beehive directly shot out hundreds of spiritual light blood bees, buzzing as they formed hundreds of rays of light... piercing through!
Attacking Shen Shan and the others?
No, these people would sooner or later succumb to the poison gas and die. Why waste an attack? His target was Cui Yong!
A'Diao had never seen such a powerful and terrifying technique before; she was truly shocked. This Li Yuanshu's level of Daoist magic was much higher than hers. Most importantly, the Daoist techniques he mastered were far stronger than hers. After all, although she had mastered many Daoist techniques, they were all basic, not high-level methods.
This person's previous disguise had been too deep.
B1-rank Spirit Power, and he mastered such a terrifying group-attack blood-killing technique. He clearly could have turned the tables much earlier. Why did he only erupt after Vulture and the others were all killed?
A'Diao already knew the answer, but at this moment... Bang, bang, bang! Hundreds of blood bees struck the protective shield she had summoned.
The protective shield shattered continuously, and the combat armor held on, also emitting popping sounds of energy overload... Finally, A'Diao's Spirit Power couldn't hold, she retreated, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The entire space was filled with dense black Corrosive Titanium Poison. Amidst this distorting poison, Li Yuanshu calmly watched the battered A'Diao.
"Lord Cui, thank you for doing me a great favor today."
"As a reward, I will thoroughly enjoy all the resources you've brought. Goodbye."
As Li Yuanshu spoke, he controlled his staff and silently chanted a spell at A'Diao... The remaining blood bees rioted and crazily pierced towards her again.
In that instant, the battered "Lord Cui" was like a cornered beast fighting for its life, letting out a roar and leaping up from the ground.
But beneath her facade of helpless rage, her inner self calmly performed an operation using the "toilet."
The ability to convert Mental Power and Spirit Power into each other.
Because of the frenzied killing and harvesting of Mental Power along the way, she now had over 2.9 million Mental Power remaining.
She directly converted 1.8 million Mental Power into Spirit Power.
She had tried it before and knew the conversion ratio. After a 5% loss, 1.71 million Mental Power became a surge of Spirit Power, which combined with the Spirit Power in her body to form a large mass of energy.
Li Yuanshu paid it no mind, on one hand controlling the blood bees to fly towards her, and on the other, moving his protective shield in front of himself.
This Cui Yong was only at the C1-C2 level; he probably couldn't even break his own protective shield, how could he...
"Li Yuanshu, turn into a pig!"
Li Yuanshu, who was controlling the blood bees with one hand and his protective shield with the other, was caught off guard: "?"
Bang!
Li Yuanshu found his body changing; his visual height dropped from over 1.8 meters to less than a meter... Then he saw "Lord Cui," whose Spirit Power had at most been C2, abnormally erupt with B1-level Spirit Power intensity, and the light saber had transformed into a long, slender, sharp black staff.
From Li Yuanshu +66666!
What kind of demonic Daoist technique was this? Was this Cui Yong?!
And this staff, what the hell! It was truly awesome.
A powerful amplification.
B1 Spirit Power directly erupted with B7-level destructive power.
Thunder Flame.
Boom! The protective shield exploded. Li Yuanshu, who was still in the process of invoking two types of Spirit Power, had no time to react, and his body was in the state of a pig.
Bang, a dull thud, the second Thunder Flame slammed into Li Yuanshu's body.
Instant kill?
A'Diao thought it would be an instant kill, and it should have been.
However, it wasn't.
No! A layer of Light Armor suddenly deployed from within Li Yuanshu's body, directly resisting the attack.
This time it was A'Diao's turn to scream "What the hell!" inwardly. Amidst her shock, A'Diao reacted quickly and hastily dodged...
This bastard, he really did have armor!
Luckily, she had been cautious.
After withstanding this blow, a layer of runic patterns spread over Li Yuanshu's body. His pig form instantly reverted to his original body, and he was clad in a layer of Light Armor. Wielding his staff, he launched an attack, and a blood-colored thunderbolt swiftly struck the spot where A'Diao had just been standing.
A B2+ level attack; the stone slabs on the ground instantly turned to dust, and the surrounding poisonous gas billowed and howled...
In a race against death, A'Diao had already dodged. Having dodged, she seized every second, and just as she evaded, she struck at Li Yuanshu, who was still holding his staff and seemed to have fully recovered.
Staff raised, a spellcasting PK?
In any case, at that time, she had already spent 1 million Mental Power to upgrade the "Turn into a Pig" skill to level five.
The cooldown time kept decreasing, and soon, the cooldown disappeared. Its power also increased, for example, making the resistance to being turned into a pig much stronger, and then...
"Li Yuanshu, turn into a pig!"
Plop, he turned into a pig again.
From Li Yuanshu +66666!
Good heavens, this damn thief's Mental Power cap was a whopping 66666.
However, the reason A'Diao chose to upgrade the "Turn into a Pig" skill instead of exchanging for the Unable to Control Emotions - Gift Package was because she didn't want to gamble on luck with a blind box. And the greatest utility of the "Turn into a Pig" skill was—to make him remove his armor.
That Light Armor was too awesome; she knew that even with her current maximum attack power from converted Spirit Power + Mental Power, she couldn't break it. So, she had to turn him into a pig!
And if she didn't upgrade it, the Light Armor would increase Li Yuanshu's body's armor resistance, making it difficult to be effective.
Fortunately, level five was enough.
And the moment Li Yuanshu turned into a pig again, the already exposed Light Armor directly disintegrated.
Good chance!
A'Diao seized the opportunity. Her staff swept through the void, her fingers joined.
Thunder Flame!
This time... Bang!
From Li Yuanshu +66667!
Li Yuanshu's body finally exploded, and Spiritual Vessels, Light Armor, and other treasures scattered on the ground.
His corpse was torn to pieces, his head still rolling, his eyes filled with disbelief.
What happened? He actually died?
And he died at the hands of the mediocre Cui Yong, who only knew how to throw money around.
But this person was definitely not Cui Yong.
She was the fisherman reaping the rewards.
A'Diao's face was pale, she seemed greatly exhausted, on the verge of death, and even spat out blood with a "wah." And at this moment... Shen Shan, Zhang Que, and others who had endured the poison gas and hadn't died, suddenly joined forces and erupted, launching a combined sneak attack from behind their own master!
Was it because they suspected she wasn't Cui Yong, or did they want to kill for profit?
Who knew.
But they didn't see that she already held a stack of talismans between her fingers.
She just tossed them behind her.
That gesture, that posture, was like that of the young Daoist priestess who, at thirteen or fourteen, had followed the Old Daoist Priest to villages for funerals.
She was in front, and behind her was the carried coffin.
Raising her hand, she flung them... paper money and talismans filled the air.
A rustic yet solemn ritual.
To be buried for rebirth, to depart without calamity.
At this moment, in the vast hall, dozens of talismans burned, and lightning descended from the heavens!
It didn't require too much Spirit Power; C1 was enough.
Slaughter!
And in this devastating lightning, as Shen Shan and the others were bombarded by the lightning and on the verge of death, the flashing light illuminated her silhouette. Though it was the body of an old man, she stood with her back to them, hand raised. Darkness before her, lightning behind her. A faint smile touched the corner of her lips, but her hand raised a middle finger!
Such a childish and malicious gesture completely deviated from Cui Yong's image, giving off an aura of cunning madness and demonic severity.
From Shen Shan +7777!
From...
Before Shen Shan died, he finally confirmed a secret: this person was indeed not Cui Yong.
Then who was she?
No one would give them an answer. All they could give A'Diao was the massive amount of Mental Power released before their deaths, and the resources on their bodies.
With the small merit of three thousand prostrate corpses, the foundation for a young upstart's arrogant great enterprise was laid.
But I shall send you all to the Western Paradise!
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