A Part

As the battle raged on, there were no ordinary people left in Huizhou County, but the deafening roar that seemed capable of destroying everything continued to echo.

The collapsed city walls, the shattered ground, and the huge craters created by the aftershocks of the magic were shocking sights. The once bustling city had been reduced to ruins and rubble, with no trace of its former glory.

"Boom!!!"

Another booming sound came from mid-air, and in response to the explosion, a figure crashed to the ground like a kite with a broken string, raising a cloud of dust in the mist.

However, the moment these plumes of smoke rose, a gust of wind surging from the center completely dispersed them.

Taishi Ran's figure was revealed among them.

He's not in a good state right now.

Blood seeped from his skin, his sleeve was torn in half, and the skin on his lower arm was ulcerated from the poison, hanging limply.

After briefly regulating the chaotic Source Qi dissipating from his body, Taishi Ran immediately looked up at the graceful woman with a cold expression in the sky.

As he looked down, Lou Ji's emotionless gaze was also looking down at him, and a small green snake emanating a chilling pressure had already formed on the tip of her slender finger.

Upon seeing this scene, a deep sense of helplessness flashed in Taishi Ran's eyes.

He knew there was a gap in strength between him and the Black Scale Chief, but he didn't expect the gap to be so large.

This was yet another spell he had never seen before.

With the help of Luo Bingli and Fatty Zhou, they had just forced the Black Scale Chief to use many of his deadly moves, but the spells this woman could use seemed endless.

Once one technique was broken, a completely new one was instantly created.

At this moment, he finally understood why the Black Scale Chieftain was so renowned within the Great Yan territory, yet virtually unknown in the Dao Domain of Techniques.

Because the dead cannot speak.

And he will most likely become one of them today.

Less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea after Luo Bingli and the fat man left, Tai Taishi Ran was beaten into his current state by the Black Scale Chief.

Because of the opponent's separable Dao Domain, as long as Lou Ji kept her distance from him, it was almost impossible for his spells to hit her, and he had to exert all his strength to defend against each of her attacks.

Facing the Black Scale Chieftain alone was indeed too much of a stretch.

But this is the only way now, the only way to nip this great calamity in the bud!

He would hold her back, allowing Luo Bingli to escape and quell the nascent calamity.

However, the current situation on the field is not all bad news for him. After a fierce battle, Lou Ji's Source Qi has been depleted.

The opponent will most likely be unable to use those powerful spells that Luo Bingli just intercepted for a short period of time.

after all,

Lou Ji still needs to preserve enough Source Qi to prevent Luo Bingli and returning.

With his will to die hard, Taishi Ran slightly clenched his fist, and the Dao Domain covering a hundred feet around him began to surge and boil, and a wisp of swirling azure wind appeared in his palm.

Looking down at the spell conjured in Taishi Ran's hand, Lou Ji spoke for the first time, her clear, cold voice echoing in the mist-shrouded space:

"I'm very curious, what exactly made you go to such lengths to assassinate Changtian?"

Upon hearing this, Taishi Ran smiled gently and gave a simple and clear answer:

"For the sake of humanity."

"Humans?"

Lou Ji murmured, a mocking smile curving her blood-stained, alluring lips. "I never imagined that Changtian could actually threaten the entire human race. This explanation is not satisfactory to me."

"If you still have any tricks up your sleeve, use them now, or you might not be able to keep your promise to that woman."

Upon hearing this, Taishi Ran let out a soft breath:

"No need for you to trouble yourself, I am already aware of this matter."

"Is that so?"

Lou Ji murmured calmly and then fell silent. Her slender fingertips gently waved towards Taishi Ran, and with this movement, the small green snake that had been coiling around her fingertips instantly transformed into a blur and rushed towards him!

The small green snake slashed through the void, covering a hundred feet in an instant, leaving a sizzling sound of corrosion wherever it passed.

Taishi Ran instantly noticed this detail and reacted immediately. A fierce wind suddenly rose in the Dao Domain, and countless cold wind blades, like sword blades, gathered at the path that the little green snake was bound to take.

At the moment of contact between the two,

The roar that Taishi Ran had anticipated did not come.

The small, emerald-green snake, radiating terrifying pressure, was utterly powerless against the wind and mist condensed from his Dao Domain, tearing it to shreds.

But unfortunately,

Lou Ji's spell, however, did not end there.

The small green snake, torn apart by the sword-like wind and rain, split into countless smaller snakes that continued to rush towards him!

With each wisp of Dao Domain wind that passes through, the serpentine spell splits again, instantly transforming what was originally a single edge into a vast sea of serpents!

Taishi Ran's mind sank slightly.

His approach seemed to be wrong; this spell was clearly Lou Ji's attack on his Wind and Mist Gang Qi Dao Domain. However, it should still be possible to remedy the situation.

The aura of the Dao Domain suddenly changed, and several towering, spiraling tornadoes instantly appeared, blocking the vast sea of snakes.

Just as Taishi Ran predicted, the momentum of the split snake sea had weakened, and it was directly swept into those tornadoes!

But before he could relax, Taishi Ran seemed to instinctively sense a dangerous aura.

He then saw the sea of snakes that had been caught in the tornado explode without warning.

The surging Qi directly dispersed the towering tornado, and the resulting viscous liquid rapidly fell to the ground due to the tornado's momentum.

At the same time, Taishi Ran was about to dodge the falling slime when he suddenly found his body momentarily stiff.

In a swift internal inspection, Taishi Ran's pupils suddenly contracted as he looked up at the voluptuous figure in the sky.

After Luo Bingli, while he and Lou Ji were exchanging magical attacks in the air, the other party secretly injected some unknown poison into his body without his knowledge.

These poisons weren't particularly potent, otherwise he wouldn't have failed to detect them. Normally, with his cultivation level, he could neutralize them in a short time, but this sudden outburst completely eliminated any possibility of him avoiding the slime.

Lou Ji actually wanted to kill him with the least amount of Source Qi.

As the green slime drew ever closer, Taishi Ran sighed inwardly, then slowly closed his eyes.

Seeing the other party's reaction, Lou Ji, who was in the sky, unconsciously frowned slightly.

Mortal Shedding of resignation?

Or is it...?

The thought had just flashed through my mind,

The countless drops of viscous liquid fell, corroding everything in their path, even the soil, rocks, and rubble, instantly creating a dense network of black, charred holes across the ground.

The iron-faced Mortal Shedding was completely enveloped in this highly corrosive viscous liquid, making a sickening hissing sound that could be heard constantly.

Lou Ji was certain that the man hadn't managed to dodge, but he hadn't made a sound—no screams, cries of pain, or curses.

A hint of doubt flashed in Lou Ji's beautiful eyes. She felt that the other party had died too easily, as if he had some trump card up his sleeve.

"Buzz!!!!"

Just as his thoughts were beginning to race, a loud buzzing sound suddenly came from where the man was standing.

The violent gust of wind that arose almost blinded Lou Ji, until she instantly condensed a shield with her Source Qi and was able to see what was happening below.

The green slime enveloping the other party was instantly cleared away, and under Lou Ji's perception, Taishi Ran's aura also changed, becoming somewhat flickering.

Sensing this, Lou Ji showed no panic, but rather a hint of amusement flashed in her eyes.

In Changtian's words, this person's current state is considered to be that of someone who has entered the second stage of Mortal Shedding.

However, the aura the other party was currently displaying seemed somewhat familiar to her.

Some like

"Death Roaming Heaven Art?"

A soft murmur escaped her lips, Lou Ji looked at the other person with a scrutinizing gaze. "I didn't expect you to know such a lost and evil art."

Taishi Ran stood on the ground covered in corrosive slime, looked up at the other person, and chuckled softly:

"Chief Lou actually recognizes this technique?"

"There's a rat in the Burial Village who also knows this Evil Method, but his skill level is inferior to yours."

A flicker of reminiscence crossed Lou Ji's eyes as she casually asked, "You should know the price of using this Evil Method, right?"

Taishi Ran smiled calmly:

"Of course I know. To deal with Chief Lou, I can only use this Death Roaming Heaven Art."

Lou Ji stared into the other person's eyes and asked with slight doubt:

"I truly cannot understand. With your cultivation level, if you were determined to escape, I wouldn't be able to stop you. Now that your assassination attempt has failed, is it really worth staying here to fight me to the death?"

The Death Roaming Heaven Art a technique that uses one's life as a price to gain immense combat power in a short period of time.

The principle behind it is also very simple.

Within a certain realm, the amount of Source Qi stored in the Dantian far exceeds the limit that the meridians can bear, even for a powerful sage.

The greater the power of the technique used, the greater the burden that the meridians must bear.

Meridians have a threshold; once a certain limit is exceeded, they will shatter. Forcibly activating magic through shattered meridians can lead to Qi Deviation and self-destruction even before the enemy takes action.

The Death Roaming Heaven Art, however, can break this limitation.

It can use special techniques to forcibly harden the meridians in a short period of time, allowing the meridians to circulate a large amount of Source Qi without being affected.

The simplest example,

In a normal Mortal Shedding immortality, assuming the meridians are not damaged, it may take two to three quarters of an hour to continuously circulate the technique and exhaust the Source Qi.

However, when the Death Roaming Heaven Art is used, this time can be shortened to half a quarter of an hour or even less.

A spell that would normally take three quarters of an hour to cast can be exhausted in half a quarter of an hour, resulting in a significant increase in the spell's power!

However, there is no perfect spell in this world. The meridians hardened by the Death Roaming Heaven Art are temporary. After the spell's duration ends, they will shatter completely due to the backlash.

And this person before them used this Evil Method without hesitation.

Seeing that the other party did not intend to make a move immediately, Taishi Ran smiled and asked in return:

"Chief Lou, you must have heard Fellow Daoist Fu's telepathic message just now, right?"

Because the black mist blocked the way and prevented him from locking onto the Qi mechanism, Fu Qinggeng did not transmit the information through secret sound transmission, but instead spread the sound directly throughout the city.

Lou Ji, who was in the middle of it all, naturally heard about the changes on Changtian's side and replied calmly:

"If I hadn't heard you, I wouldn't be chatting with you here now. That woman, who can instantly kill two Mortal Shedding, won't pose a threat to Changtian anytime soon."

Taishi Ran laughed it off, not caring what the other person said:

"Now that you've heard it, why does Chief Lou still ask this question?"

A strange glint flashed in Lou Ji's eyes:

"For the sake of humanity?"

"Nature."

Taishi Ran smiled and said, "If I can avert this great calamity with my own life, I, Taishi Ran, will not regret dying."

Speaking of this,

Taishi Ran glanced back at the depths of the black mist and said in a low voice:

"Moreover, I promised her that I would pay with my life after this trip, but now it seems that I can use my life in a more suitable place."

"A great calamity befalls the world."

Lou Ji narrowed her eyes slightly, completely ignoring the latter half of the other party's words, and said with a sinister smile, "A great calamity for the world? Is your Heavenly Oversight Pavilion finally giving up the pretense?"

Taishi Ran shook his head, slightly raised his hand, and instantly a spiraling vortex that nearly shook space itself condensed in his hand. He chuckled and said:

"Chief Lou,"

"Before I die, I will destroy everything: the traces of magic, Old Tian's corpse, Fellow Daoist Fu's corpse, and... my own corpse."

"This assassination attempt will not yield any evidence. The world will only know that Xu Changtian of your Prime Minister's Prime Minister's Mansion has become a monster, a monster capable of threatening the entire human race."

"Laugh"

Lou Ji let out a sneer, stared at the vortex in her opponent's hand for a few moments, then glanced down at the Huizhou County below, which no longer resembled a city, and whispered:

"Leaving aside whether you can even get this information out, your Heavenly Oversight Pavilion keeps claiming to be for the sake of humanity, but aren't these commoners below human too? If it weren't for you, they might still be living in peace and prosperity right now."

"Chief Lou, what we are protecting is not just a few groups, nor just any individual, but the entire human race."

Taishi Ran shook his head, staring into Lou Ji's eyes, and said softly, "To choose between the death of a hundred and the saving of a thousand, this choice shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

Lou Ji smiled gently, "That's indeed not difficult."

"Oh"

Taishi Ran chuckled, then his voice became slightly more serious:

"Chief Lou, given your position, you should know the calamity that the Otherworldly Strange Ghost caused to humanity more than ten thousand years ago. You also heard what Fellow Daoist Fu said just now. Do you really think that monster is still the Xu Changtian you know?"

Lou Ji raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. "You want to persuade me?"

Taishi Ran looked into her eyes and said, word by word:

"Lord Xu Xu's lifelong ambition was to create a peaceful and prosperous world, while Xu Changtian, as the one who brought about the great calamity to the world, was the beginning of all the disasters."

Lou Ji was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"You're right, Xu Yinhe's ideal is indeed like that."

Speaking of this,

Lou Ji abruptly changed the subject, crossing her arms over her chest, raising a slender, jade-like finger to touch her cheek, her beautiful eyes curving into a sinister smile:

"However..."

"If the Changtian is a great calamity, then let me Lou Ji —no, let my Prime Minister's Estate —become a part of this calamity as well."