The Sinful Earth Sect

The Hu Mang bypassed all the fancy decorations on the other's body and stared intently at the burning Dantian, the Middle Dantian, the Crimson Palace.

This thing is pretty advanced.

Then, the next moment, a storm roared, as if the air in the entire factory had been blown apart, and the few remaining intact windows shattered, scattering fragments everywhere.

In an instant, the opponent appeared in front of Hu Mang, and a huge metal hand reached for Hu Mang's crown.

In that instant, the opponent's Law Power surged from the Foundation Establishment Late Stage to the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

"Why do all you big guys like to use this trick?"

Hu Mang's brow lit up, and the next moment, the feeling of dark clouds looming overhead was instantly torn apart. Then, he swung his Xuan Tie spear like a battering ram, directly striking the opponent's steel Dantian.

He was really curious to see if this thing was truly as hard as steel.

If you have it, breaking through to the Nascent Soul will be much easier in the future.

The "New Demonic Path cultivator" on the other side really didn't care about vital points. His palm was still aimed at Hu Mang's forehead, his five fingers closed, with a fierce force that seemed to want to crush his head.

However, with a flick of his wrist, Hu Mang's gun seemed to grow three feet longer, striking the opponent's abdomen before his fingertips could reach his forehead.

With an overwhelming burst of strength, it actually managed to push that ten-foot-tall steel body away!

Sparks flew as the gun barrel met the enemy's abdomen, and the sharp sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the factory.

"Can't be pierced?"

Hu Mang sneered, his waist tightened, and the spear retracted. The next moment, he unleashed the Fire Phoenix Scorches the Plains from the Three Devil-Subduing Forms. In an instant, the spear tip seemed to transform into countless bird beaks, pecking at the opponent's Spiritual Qi channels and vital joints.

The New Demonic Path cultivator opposite him hadn't expected his opponent's spear technique to be so dangerous. He thought he could withstand it with his steel body, but the spear seemed to have eyes, targeting his weakest points.

With two crisp "snap" sounds, two thin Spiritual Qi channels were pierced and severed, with a wisp of white Spiritual Qi steam escaping from the broken ends and quickly dissipating into the air.

The next moment, the opponent's steel Dantian flickered, the flames decreased by 20%, and he took three steps back. With each step, a large amount of Spiritual Qi was released, like a normally operating boiler. White steam carrying Spiritual Qi surged out from all parts of his body, forming swirling clouds of mist in the dim factory.

After the three steps were completed, Hu Mang discovered that soil from the grave was continuously overflowing from the broken opening in the pipe that he had cut open, covering the wound.

The soil from those graves carried a strong, damp smell, as if it were old earth just dug out of the ground, quickly solidifying and hardening to reconnect the broken pipes.

The metal Dantian, whose flames had been reduced by 20%, lit up again. This time, in addition to the aura of Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, waves of chilling Demonic Qi seeped out from that aura, like ice water mixed with hot oil, with two completely different forces surging within his body at the same time.

"Grave Soil, you remind me of the classifications of demonic cultivators in the anti-magic documentary I watched back then. There was one about your sect, the Sinful Earth Sect, right? You cultivate the way of the Underworld grave soil, specializing in burying and digging people."

The other party seemed to have little desire to communicate, only thinking about dealing with the Hu Mang, this unexpected intruder, as soon as possible.

Then, the other party patted the two large boxes he had brought, and the next moment, the boxes exploded, revealing something unexpected: a bunch of Law Artifact- grade metal Spiritual Qi pipes; the pipe walls were thick, and the surface was covered with fine runes, gleaming with a dark luster in the dim light.

Then, the pipes began to move like mad snakes.

One end was precisely inserted into the various Law Artifact interfaces on the opponent's body, making a clicking sound as it locked in place; the other end was inserted into the steam boilers that had been out of service for many years, with the pipe opening tightly connected to the boiler's air intake valve.

The next moment, the boilers that had been dormant for many years visibly heated up—first, the furnace walls emitted a low hum, then dark red flames lit up in the furnace, and a terrifying roar and billowing black smoke emerged from the flue, causing the entire factory floor to tremble slightly.

As the steam-like Spiritual Qi was compressed, the opponent's aura surged once again.

In terms of Law Power, he has already begun to leap from the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection to the Golden Core.

Hu Mang sighed.

"You people, can't you just cultivate honestly? Why do you have to rely on external things? This is Outer Dao."

"Oh, I almost forgot, you are the Demonic Path."

Hu Mang didn't give his opponent another chance to increase his aura. He closed his eyes and directly entered a state of "Unity of Heaven and Man".

With a flick of his wrist, the Xuan Tie spear spun half a circle in his palm, then he held it horizontally at his waist, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground.

The next moment, his body suddenly sank, the ground beneath his feet cracked, and his whole body was like a fully drawn bow. He exerted force from his Dantian and burst out the moment the bowstring snapped—man and spear became one!

There were no fancy moves, no unnecessary variations, just a pure and direct dash.

The figure of the Hu Mang and the giant spear seemed to merge into one at this moment. The boundary between man and gun disappeared. He was the gun, and the gun was him. The two transformed into a straight black lightning bolt, tearing through the air with an indomitable momentum, and crashing head-on into the steel monster whose aura was rising.

Before the opponent could even make a complete defensive move, his huge metal hand had only just been raised halfway when the tip of Hu Mang's spear had already reached his chest.

The moment the spear tip made contact with the metal armor, a piercing metallic tearing sound erupted, and sparks flew everywhere.

The rune-enhanced alloy armor was torn apart like paper by the combined attack of the Hu Mang and its spear. The spear tip pierced through the armor, penetrated the internal psionic structure, and ripped the entire chest armor plate off.

Broken metal fragments scattered and clattered to the ground, revealing exposed spiritual energy pipes and rune substrates underneath.

The first shot had barely fallen when the second shot followed.

Hu Mang did not sheathe his spear. Instead, taking advantage of the momentum from the first shot, he twisted his waist, spun the spear in his hand, and used the butt of the spear as an axis to make the spear tip draw an arc, lifting it from bottom to top.

This spear strike incorporated the sword principles of the "Life-Taking Continuous Three Immortals Sword"—three lines of force erupted simultaneously at the spear tip. The Black Water froze the opponent's nerve conduction, the Red Lotus burned the opponent's spiritual energy circuits, and the Sha Palace directly eroded the opponent's core consciousness. The spear tip cut into the opponent's neck and pierced through the entire skull diagonally upwards.

The other party's mechanical prosthetic eye lit up instantly, as if it were about to transmit something.

But Hu Mang didn't give the other party that chance at all.

He flipped his left hand, and a ball of Profound Yin Devil Fire quietly appeared in his palm. The black flames danced in his palm, with a faint purple halo around the edge.

He pressed down with his hand, slapping the demonic fire onto the headless steel body of the other party. As soon as the demonic fire touched the other party's body, it spread rapidly like a living thing, drilling into the other party's body along the torn psionic channels and rune substrates, blocking every meridian pathway and psionic signal node that could transmit information.

The black flames burned silently on the metal surface, cutting off all possible channels for sending distress signals outward, ensuring that no information would leak out of the factory.

After doing all this, Hu Mang withdrew his hand, pulled out his spear, shook off the remaining metal fragments on the tip, glanced down at the rolling metal head on the ground, and let out a soft breath. "Done."

Then, with a flick and retraction of his right palm, the opponent's metallic Dantian landed in his palm.

The Hu Mang toyed with the lump of metal, muttering to itself.

"If a demonic cultivator from the Azure Mysterious Realm were to travel to the Heavenly Gate, they probably wouldn't be able to adapt to the new era. With this level of transformation, how could they possibly torture their physical body or refine their soul? It's questionable whether they even have a soul at all."

After placing the metal Dantian into his Storage Bag, Hu Mang walked straight out the door.

But there are advantages to staying in the same old place; surprisingly, there's an old-fashioned public telephone booth here.

Moreover, calling the police from these public phone booths is free.

"Um, could you please transfer me to the Devil-Suppressing Guard? I need to call the police. I found the corpse of a demonic cultivator in this old factory. Yes, yes, I'm definitely a demonic cultivator, not a member of the C-Cult. He might have accomplices... He wasn't the cameraman!!"

After calling the police, Hu Mang fled on the spot.

The small town of Pine Peak takes this kind of police incident very seriously.

After all, there are only a handful of cases related to the demonic path throughout the year.

Soon, after confirming the details of the case, the local heads of the Demon Suppression Bureau and the Demon Subjugation Bureau Division arrived together, along with Qian Xiao Long, who had received the news.

"Those people from the New Demonic Cult Sect, the branch from the Sinful Earth Sect back then, the Golden Core Devil Cultivator, their demonic Law Artifact were most likely smuggled in first, transported to the Heavenly Gate, and then assembled."

"However, the consequence of this combination and assembly is a drop in cultivation level, requiring the core to be formed again."

Qian Xiao Long glanced at the partially activated steam boiler.

"So, he was assassinated during the process of forming his core?" the local head of the Devil Subjugation Bureau pondered.

"No, judging from the duration of Spiritual Qi Law Artifact's use and the residual Spiritual Qi, he most likely lost to his opponent during the fight, then forced his way through, only to be killed by a single shot from a gun-shaped Law Artifact. However, a second autopsy by a ghost path forensic doctor is needed to draw a conclusion; I'm just offering a conjecture."

Qian Xiao Long looked at the head of the Demon Subjugation Bureau.

Have you retrieved the local surveillance footage?

"They've already been transferred, but," the head of the Demon Subjugation Bureau paused, then stammered, "We have some images of this New Demonic Cult cultivator, but we have absolutely no images of his killer."

Qian Xiao Long frowned, his expression serious.

"How could that be? Are the security cameras working properly?"

"The surveillance system is fine; it's just that there's a minor issue with the local finances, so the surveillance Law Artifact only covers the main roads and thoroughfares."