And what was even more eye-catching was the clusters of bloodfire-colored brilliance, like shooting stars, charging straight ahead, sweeping across the battlefield, rampaging and colliding.

"The Federation Military Department's dogs look impressive, all mass-produced goods, capable of putting on a show. But when it really comes down to it, they're not worth a laugh."

Jian Yuan didn't even bother to glance at them; his gaze instead fell upon the distance.

On the main road of Spring City, a winding blood trail and amidst the siege of numerous Mutated, a figure strode forward indistinctively male or female, as if shrouded in countless illusions, unrecognizable.

Wherever this person passed, corpses were strewn about. With a casual bend of the waist, they would pick up weapons from the dead, effortlessly wielding them to wreak havoc. Regardless of the type of weapon, cold and indifferent, they used their own abilities to forcefully suppress resistance from any alchemy creation, brutally commandeering control.

But it was the efficiency of the damage to the alchemy creations...

Ji Jue, the craftsman, watched with twitching eyelids.

"Another secretive one," shook Jian Yuan his head.

"Who is that?" asked Ji Jue curiously.

"The director of Cliff City Security Bureau, Lv Yingyue."

Jian Yuan's gaze shifted to the end of the street, where several monks built as if from golden iron, like giants, "Over there, are the monks from Wulou Temple. They probably won't last much longer."

Unclear who he was referring to.

But Ji Jue always felt that that group of monks bore an ominous look, their faces seemingly etched with the shadow of death.

And on the other side, layers of phantom light surged, the air filled with countless images that ascended and transformed into tides, permeating reality, blurring the edges of illusion and truth. One after another, incomplete figures crawled out from behind the shadows of that slender girl, as if endlessly.

"The crazies from the Heavenly Heart Society are really going all out this time." Jian Yuan spoke indifferently, "Circle Realm - Others' Self-Possession."

"And the Dragon Sacrifice Ceremony?" Ji Jue asked curiously.

"Who knows?"

Jian Yuan didn't seem to care, "Those who waver between two sides, at this moment, are probably calculating some opportunist scheme, unreliable."

"And what about you?"

Ji Jue asked.

While the allies charged ahead, his own department remained immobile like a mountain?

"It's not quite the time yet, but soon."

Jian Yuan stood by, simply watching the earthshaking scene outside the window.

After an excessively protracted period of testing each other, the Security Bureau finally launched a staunch offense. Under the suppression led by Tao Cheng, the Evil Cult's years of covert infiltration and contamination were erupting but struggled to break free.

The presence of superior Mutated loomed like pillars, propping up the city, but now each pillar was trembling and showing cracks.

To grapple with so many superior Mutated single-handedly, and to even have the energy to launch a fierce attack on Lu Changsheng, to appear as if handling it with ease, seemingly with strength to spare.

That grand, vast presence pervaded everything, like the scorching sun, burning away the darkness of Spring City, bearing the brunt of all the pressure from the Evil Cult.

The shifting fierce light and pure white above the sky made Ji Jue's soul sway.

"Is this the power of the Heavenly People?" he murmured softly.

"More than that."

Jian Yuan shook his head, "To have been assimilated by Superior to such a degree and yet still retain humanity is indeed not easy.

What you see is him using Superior's assimilation in reverse, borrowing the Divine Essence of Tian Yuan to wield such power. Positioned as a pivot within, he lifts up a weight several times his own; the work required is actually not much."

"And the cost?" Ji Jue pressed further.

"Isn't the cost everything you see before you?"

Jian Yuan raised a finger, reaching into the sky as if touching it. When he withdrew it, an undying Flame Light was hissing on his finger.

Snuffed out, yet quickly reborn, insistently spreading.

Until Jian Yuan flicked his hand, severing a finger, which turned to Dust before it even hit the ground.

"How long can humanity, like a lamp's flame, even for those as strong as the Heavenly People, continue to shine like this?" Jian Yuan lowered his eyes, "He has already stepped onto a path of no return, heedless of consequences, and will not stop."

He stared at the brilliant light in the sky, shaking his head in regret:

"What a pity."

"Why the pretense, Craftsman Grandmaster?" Ji Jue could not hold back a sneer, "Is this not thanks to you and the others?"

"Is it not more honorable and lamentable precisely because of that?"

Jian Yuan's face showed no expression, "To face such a respected enemy, one should stop at nothing, spare no cost, disregard the consequences, and fight with all one's strength."

That instant, in the heaven above, the strange rainbow light that had been inch by inch strangled by the intense white light and gradually contracting suddenly started to stir violently, no longer delaying.

From the boundless dark abyss, a wild spirit soared to the sky.

Devouring all the Mutated Aura within Spring City, it bolstered itself and brazenly collided with Tian Yuan's laws.

Actually, at Master Tao's most magnificent and powerful moment, when he was infinitely close to Tian Yuan... He recklessly issued a challenge!

Too rash, too unwise.

But how can all things in the world simply be discussed in terms of profit and loss?

Lu Changsheng laughed heartily.

His hoarse and piercing voice echoed through heaven and earth without end.

"I've waited so long, and today, I finally have the honor to have a fight with Master Tao!"

With a heroic opponent like Tao Cheng before him, if he avoided battle and delayed, what would differentiate him from a rat?

Master Tao remained silent, his radiance burning fiercely.

Thus, the stars flickered, the firmament shook violently, the neon shattered, and again, recklessly, it surged back, with numerous afterglows scattering, raining upon the earth and splashing into a series of enchanting halos.

And amid the tumultuous struggle above the heaven, the fight on the earth below gradually escalated to white-hot intensity.

Too fast, and too many.

In fact, impossible to keep up with...

The only noticeable thing was the moment of decapitation and shattered corpses, the spurting crimson, like an indelible dye, smeared across the broken roads and ruins.

Impossible to overlook.

Such that as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but blood-red.

If I hadn't been captured, would I be caught up in it right now?

How are Tong Zhiwu and the others doing now?

Ji Jue tried hard to think, but felt his mind in turmoil, his thoughts empty and hollow.

The smoke billowed, the Fierce Flame spread, and after a long time, Spring City seemed to be ignited once again, like something out of a nightmare.

Death spread like a tide, with the sounds of crumbling never leaving one's ears.

The droplets of crimson spread, overlapping each other, like four cracks stretching out straight towards the center, intending to once again slice, divide, and ultimately...

Completely dismember the city engulfed in the Mutated Transformation!

All along, Jian Yuan watched indifferently, motionless.

He coldly watched the Security Bureau crash through, effortlessly destroying all arrangements until at last, he seemed to finally hear a distant voice.

"That's good, the heat is still lacking some finesse, but it doesn't matter."

He said, "We can begin now."

That instant, the enormous workshop manifested a rift, suddenly expanding!

Ji Jue saw the chaotic changes before his eyes, the hall contracted, the corridors extended, the buildings swelled, and within the whole workshop that lay between existence and void, a row of Spiritual Furnaces that had already been preheated began to tremble violently, the vast flow of spiritual material filling everything.

The sound of alarms went off, the Invisible Power spread, suppressing everyone in their place, allowing no one to escape.

It was as if a massive machine had been activated in an instant, its parts moving methodically, the dome split open, and countless Spiritual Circuits spread out.

Blooming like lotuses.

And the entire workshop turned into a towering pillar, rising section by section, casting a dark shadow over the land.

And at the highest level of the workshop, next to Jian Yuan, Ji Jue once again saw the Boundary Membrane, riddled with holes, the ruins that were sealed within the Crack Realm.

Even the center of the ruins, bound by countless dark chains, was a pile of steel wreckage.

From within the erosion of the Mutated Transformation, it turned into a blackened engine, throbbing like a heart, operating, whipping up a frenzy.

It was calling, it was wailing, it was waiting.

For me...

That instant, Ji Jue almost forgot to breathe.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com