The Third Ring Town stands before the towering city gate.
The two looked at the street, which had just returned to normal, their eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty.
What just happened?
Aeria glanced at the Pirated Copy Heaven-Peering Mirror with lingering fear.
"The entire town suddenly turned into a mass grave..."
Could it be because of us?
Ingrika swallowed hard, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
"I... I don't know either."
"When it started up just now, I felt like it was drawing a huge amount of energy from deep underground..."
"Never mind that!"
Aeria waved her hand irritably, "I can't stay in this godforsaken place for even a second longer!"
"Whether we were behind it or not, we have to leave immediately!"
"Quick, use the Heaven-Peering Mirror to find Jamie and the others, and teleport those three guys over here!"
"Good!"
Ingrika a deep breath and quickly channeled her mental energy into the Heaven-Peering Mirror. The image on the mirror instantly switched to the location of Central Forest Garden.
However, in that instant when the image became clear!
Ingrika shuddered, her face turning deathly pale!
"What's wrong?"
Aeria's heart skipped a beat.
"Alan... is dead..."
Ingrika's voice trembled, "Roman... Roman is dying too! Only Jamie is left!"
"What?!"
Aeria snatched the Heaven-Peering Mirror!
Jamie was kneeling on the ground, breaking down in tears.
Before him lay Roman, whose body consisted only of his upper half, and beside Jamie's...
It was Allen Dick's head, its eyes wide open in death!
"How could this be... How is this possible?!"
Aeria stumbled back two steps in disbelief, her mind blank.
The three of them were quite capable, and they were on a theft mission.
How could one person die and the other be maimed in just a few minutes?!
And at that very moment, Aeria was in shock.
Ingrika was standing nearby, suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
She saw a reflection on the smooth metal edge of the Heaven-Peering Mirror!
That wasn't the glow of the setting sun, but a light that threatened to Burn to Ash everything...
Crimson red!
Ingrika instinctively looked up at the sky behind her.
On the horizon, a crimson meteor was hurtling towards their location!
"Sister!! Get out of the way!!! Something's coming!!!"
Ingrika screamed!
But it was too fast!
When Aeria awoke with a start and realized the danger, the crimson meteor had already crashed to the ground!
"BOOM!!!"
The wall collapsed, and the shockwave, mixed with billowing dust, engulfed the alleyway where the two were!
The center of the deep pit, filled with smoke and dust.
Phoenix Emperor, dressed in a red dress, walked out with a slightly hurried air.
"Damn vile rat..."
"How dare you ruin my plans, how dare you threaten my very foundation..."
"Today, I will annihilate you all, so that you may never be reborn!"
However, when the strong winds dispersed the smoke and dust...
At the edge of the deep pit, two figures, though disheveled, were unharmed!
Before them, a semi-transparent shield of light was slowly dissipating.
It was Ingrika, at the critical moment, recklessly activated the replica of the Heaven-Peering Mirror!
"Huff... huff..."
Ingrika clutched the scorching hot bronze mirror, panting heavily.
"Blocked! Sister, I used the Heaven-Peering Mirror to forcibly fold the surrounding spatial fluctuations, Damage Transfer into the void!"
"Well done!"
Aeria broke out in a cold sweat.
However, the relief on their faces didn't last even half a second.
"Buzz! Sizzle!!!"
In order to block that fatal blow, Ingrika had instantly overloaded the replica Heaven-Peering Mirror to its limit.
The Soul Furnace, ten thousand meters underground, was once again being drained of energy!
The entire Soul Return Town was once again filled with the sound of an electrical short circuit!
The sky glitters, the hustle and bustle fades away!
The snow screen anomaly has struck once again!
And the Phoenix Emperor at the center of the deep pit.
She was about to raise her hand to deliver the final blow when she noticed that her gaze had changed.
My own hands, in the instant the energy supply was cut off, turned into bones once again!
Her stunning beauty, which she was so proud of, was the last thing she wanted anyone to see!
At this moment, the ugly true nature of the world was clearly seen by these two outsiders!
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
A surge of furious killing intent erupted from the Phoenix Emperor's skeletal body!
"Bring me that mirror!!!"
The Phoenix Emperor let out a ghostly howl and charged towards the two of them without regard for anything else!
"Run! Teleport!"
Aeria screamed.
"No! It's too late!"
Ingrika stared in despair at the scorching bronze mirror in her hand, tears streaming down her face.
"That block just now overloaded the system! The spatial teleportation function has entered forced cooling mode and will need a full minute to restart!"
"One minute?!"
Aeria gritted her teeth, looking at the charging Phoenix Emperor, knowing there was no way to retreat now.
"I'll hold her off! You keep a close eye on the cooldown timer!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Aeria took a sudden step forward.
Her originally deep blue eyes had turned a vibrant peach blossom color!
A pink ripple spread from her to the entire Third Ring Town!
In an instant!
The skeletons and Evil Ghost around them were wandering aimlessly because of the world's flickering light.
Suddenly, as if injected with some kind of obsession, pink light appeared in her empty eye sockets.
"Hiss... Protect Lady Aeria..."
"Roar... No one is allowed to hurt her..."
Whether they are mummies who retain a trace of consciousness or rotting ghosts who have completely degenerated into walking corpses.
At this moment, they were all under the control of seduction.
Ten...
Fifty pieces...
Hundreds!
A wall of corpses, made of bones and rotting flesh, tightly protected the two behind them!
"Call..."
Looking at the group of disgusting meat Meat Shield in front of her, Aeria's forehead was covered in cold sweat.
"Hundreds of Evil Ghost... that should be enough to hold her off for a minute, right?"
"No matter what, these people are her subjects, they wouldn't..."
However, Phoenix Emperor's next move made Aeria realize what a true Abyss was like.
The skeletal corpse draped in a magnificent red dress stopped in its tracks, its jaw opening and closing in a cold laugh.
"Sequence 077, [Lust]?"
"Able to bewitch all beings effortlessly, causing countless people to die for them..."
"Supernatural Ability that doesn't diminish even after turning into a ghost... How enviable!"
Phoenix Emperor slightly raised its terrifying skull, its killing intent flashing.
"However, what I hate most is precisely..."
"It's all fake stuff!"
The words had barely left his mouth!
Phoenix Emperor didn't even use any Supernatural Ability; she simply raised her bone claw casually and swung it sharply from a distance!
"Bang!!!"
A tremendous force, like a tidal wave, roared out!
The first twenty or thirty Evil Ghost were crushed into flying bone fragments and Black Blood!
"What?!"
Aeria was shocked!
Other side...
They completely disregarded this human wall!
But all of this is not over yet.
Because the Soul Furnace's energy supply failed to be replenished, the Phoenix Emperor completely dropped all pretense.
She walked towards the two of them step by step.
With each step she took, she casually swung out a claw.
"Snap! Bang! Splat!"
Limbs and severed bodies flew about, and the stench of blood stained the long street black!
Those bewitched Evil Ghost were brutally slaughtered in droves!
"She's insane! This guy is absolutely insane!!!"
Aeria trembled violently; fear had robbed her of the strength to even run away.
Those were her own townspeople!
They are her own people on her own territory!
She killed them all without even blinking, as if she were stepping on ants?!
Ten seconds! Thirty seconds! Fifty seconds!
When the Phoenix Emperor broke through the last wall of corpses and descended before the two of them.
"Bite!"
The Heaven-Peering Mirror in Ingrika's hand emitted a notification sound.
"It's cooled down! Sis! Let's go!!!"
Ingrika roared with ecstasy and frantically pressed her hands against the teleportation array eye of the bronze mirror!
"Want to leave?"
The Phoenix Emperor's hoarse, piercing ghostly voice exploded in their ears.
She simply bent her finger and flicked it lightly.
A faint, pure white flame landed on the replica of the Heaven-Peering Mirror.
"Laugh!"
There wasn't even a second of struggle.
The bronze mirror, which held all their hopes for escape, came into contact with the white flames the moment it touched them.
It turned directly into a wisp of pale ash, which drifted away in the wind through Ingrika's fingers.
"No... how could this be..."
Ingrika collapsed to her knees in despair.
The next second.
Phoenix Emperor's two bony claws had already gripped Aeria and Ingrika's slender necks.
The joints pierced their delicate skin, and blood flowed down the bones.
"Since you all enjoy making a fuss so much, wasting so many of my precious [sources]..."
The Phoenix Emperor's dark, hollow eye sockets loomed close to the two of them.
"Then you can all go into the Soul Furnace yourselves and make up for this loss for me."
Having said that, Phoenix Emperor didn't give the two a chance to struggle or beg for mercy, dragging Aeria and Ingrika, who had been choked unconscious.
He turned and walked into the dimly lit end of the long street, disappearing into the ruins.
A cold wind howled, blowing across the Third Ring Town road.
One minute later.
"Buzz~Sizzle!"
With a spatial tremor, the Soul Furnace beneath the Ox-Horse Factory finally caught its breath.
The supplies to Soul Return Town were finally replenished after a long delay.
The snowy screen disappeared.
The dilapidated ruins were renovated into houses with carved beams and painted rafters.
And on that terrifying street littered with the remains of Evil Ghost, a transformation took place.
They transformed into the bloodied and mangled corpses of townspeople dressed in fine silks and satins.
Crimson blood replaced the black filth, flowing slowly down the bluestone slab.
The truth that World as Prison is buried once again...
Only a mirage remains, silently recounting the bloody, one-sided massacre that just occurred.
As night fell, the hustle and bustle of the Ox-Horse Factory had completely subsided.
But a chilling atmosphere permeated the dark tunnels leading deep underground.
Jiangnan walked down the sloping mine tunnel.
With his keen senses, he had long ago noticed the two tails trailing far behind him.
Qin Jiudao, the Heavenblade Dragon King, and Zhao Yan.
These two were clearly also suspicious of the strange events that had just occurred in Soul Return Town and the secret beneath the Ox-Horse Factory.
They wanted to follow along and find out what was going on.
Jiangnan didn't look back, nor did it care.
As long as they don't get in the way, let them look all they want.
The mine tunnels were extremely deep, and the deeper you went, the thicker the air became.
Soon, Jiangnan arrived at the heavily guarded entrance to the underground core.
"Whoosh!"
Two crimson giant blades suddenly crossed and blocked Jiangnan's path.
Bloodblade Guards stepped out of the shadows.
"By order of the Phoenix Emperor! This is a restricted area; unauthorized personnel are strictly prohibited from entering!"
"Anyone who disobeys will be executed without mercy!"
Faced with this threat, Jiangnan simply stopped and casually placed his right hand behind his back.
The next second, an overwhelming pressure, surpassing all living beings, spread outwards from him!
"By imperial decree, you are all ordered to kneel!"
Buzz!!!
The reach of the sound signifies the reach of imperial power.
Thump! Thump!
Two loud bangs!
The two Bloodblade Guards, who had been radiating murderous intent just a moment ago, instantly knelt on the ground upon hearing those words.
"Well...!"
The two Bloodblade Guards desperately tried to raise their heads and swing their giant blades, but were horrified to find that their bodies simply wouldn't obey their commands!
They could only maintain the most humble, prostrate posture!
Jiangnan didn't even glance at them again, walking straight through the middle and into the depths of the passage.
Until Jiangnan's figure completely disappeared around the corner.
Qin Jiudao and Zhao Yan emerged from behind the stalactites in the shadows.
Upon seeing the two Bloodblade Guards on the ground, the two exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.
"Cough..."
Zhao Yan coughed lightly, breaking the somewhat awkward silence.
He looked at the Dragon King beside him and extended his right hand.
"Let me introduce myself again. I'm Zhao Yan from the Huaxia Second Base."
"Actually... we saw each other from afar during the Destruction Five Days, when we joined forces to wipe out the Tailor."
Qin Jiudao was in high spirits at the moment because he had confirmed that Jiangnan was indeed the reincarnation of the Dragon God.
Where is that aloof, unapproachable dragon king demeanor he usually displays?
He extended his rough, calloused hand in a friendly manner, shook hands with Zhao Yan, and grinned.
"So, in that case, we can barely be considered comrades-in-arms."
Qin Jiudao patted Zhao Yan on the shoulder and said boldly.
"My name is Qin Jiudao. Following your human custom, you may call me Old Qin from now on!"
Zhao Yan was taken aback, not expecting the infamous Dragon King to be so approachable, and immediately smiled.
"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer."
"Old Qin, there's no time to lose, let's hurry and follow them, there's probably a big secret ahead!"
"Walk!"
The two quickly reached a consensus and quietly continued their pursuit along the route through Jiangnan.
At this moment, the core karst cave is located 10,000 meters underground.
Jiangnan has reached the end of the underground world.
Standing atop a towering rocky cliff, his pupils suddenly contracted, taking in the view below.
Countless deranged miners are wielding their pickaxes.
In the very center of the cave, the [Soul Furnace] was emitting a deafening roar.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
The [Human Emperor Lamp] hidden within Jiangnan's body erupted with unprecedented vibrations, accusing him of being "too loving" here!
The employees' joyful work environment perfectly aligns with our great love for our work!
Jiangnan, on the other hand, also Great Love Factory.
This is it.
He was preparing to jump down to get a closer look at the furnace's structure.
However, in that very instant!
An extremely deadly aura descended from the stalactites above his head!
"Die!!!"
The newcomer was none other than the Bloodblade Guards!
At this moment, he was in an extremely miserable state.
His entire body was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.
Those were the severe injuries he sustained when Phoenix Emperor used him as a punching bag during the power outage.
The Bloodblade Guards, originally a full-strength elite force, were reduced to only three by that human named Yue Tian!
Two guards were stationed outside the entrance, leaving him as the only combatant left in the entire underground cavern, aside from the ordinary ghost guards!
"Phoenix Emperor has gone to hunt down that thief! We absolutely cannot allow this opportunistic invader to destroy the furnace!"
The captain's eyes were bloodshot, and he gripped the crimson giant blade tightly with both hands, slashing down at Jiangnan's head from above!
However, Jiangnan showed no panic in the face of this attack, and did not even try to dodge.
He simply raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
"A moment... is eternity."