However, thanks to Lin Mo’s efforts, the most lethal Dragon Fang Baleful Aura had already been gradually absorbed. Even if the seal were completely broken, its impact on the surrounding area would not be too severe.
Xie Yuling looked at Lin Mo. “So next, we just need to clear out the contamination?”
Lin Mo nodded.
“Simple.”
He made it sound easy, but Jiang Yunlu’s eyelid twitched.
Whenever Lin Mo said something was simple, it usually meant it would be deadly for anyone else—but relatively effortless for him.
Lin Mo added, “Once we pull out all this messy stuff, there won’t be any more unnatural deaths at Lili Plaza.”
Liu Zheng felt a weight lift from his heart.
Wang Xincheng, meanwhile, felt as though he had come along merely to make up the numbers. He had no idea whether this would solve the problem of the Five Afflictions and Three Deficiencies affecting his son and daughter.
Lin Mo extended his divine sense and led the group to the second iron coffin.
This coffin had already been pushed open. Inside, it too was pinned with bronze nails, with a black stone slab pressed beneath them.
It presumably contained the shattered warrior from earlier.
Lin Mo reached out and pulled out the nails.
The moment the bronze nails left the slab, baleful aura burst from the gaps.
It was far weaker than at the first site, but it was still vicious enough to prickle the skin.
Jiang Yunlu instinctively took half a step back.
Xie Yuling raised a hand to shield Chu Miaomiao.
Lin Mo thrust the Human Emperor Banner into it.
The banner rippled, swallowing the baleful aura whole.
Black qi streamed into the banner at remarkable speed.
Liu Zheng looked at Wang Xincheng. “Mr. Wang, how many of these array nodes are there?”
Wang Xincheng raised a hand and calculated with his fingers, then sensed the direction of the baleful vein running underground.
“No fewer than three, no more than nine. I can feel the baleful aura weakening. If it can all be absorbed, the Dragon Fang Baleful Aura can naturally be resolved.”
Lin Mo did not look up.
“Don’t assume the Nine Chrysanthemum School is that stupid. They planted these array nodes precisely to stop anyone from neutralizing the baleful aura.”
The words had barely left his mouth when a strange howl sounded from deep within the base.
It came through several iron doors, broken and intermittent, as if grit had lodged in a throat.
Jiang Yunlu’s ears twitched, and she immediately turned toward the end of the passage.
“Something’s calling out ahead.”
Lin Mo held the Human Emperor Banner, his tone casual.
“It should be.”
He pressed the banner farther down.
“I’m taking away their food. Of course they’re going to start squawking.”
At the same time, a tug came from the other end of the Human Emperor Banner.
Something else was competing for the baleful aura.
It was hiding deeper within, and its appetite was considerable. It was forcibly trying to snatch food from the Human Emperor Banner.
Lin Mo gave a cold laugh.
“Competing with me?”
Black light flared from the Human Emperor Banner, and the baleful aura poured into it even faster.
The howls from the depths grew more frantic.
A few breaths later, dense footsteps echoed from the far end of the passage.
Another group of remnant-soul warriors.
There were even more of them than before.
Having learned her lesson this time, Jiang Yunlu turned to Chu Miaomiao.
Chu Miaomiao froze under her gaze. “Me?”
Jiang Yunlu nodded. “Draw a Fire God Cannon.”
Chu Miaomiao hesitated. “But she just…”
Jiang Yunlu cut her off. “Don’t use her. Draw it yourself. It doesn’t matter who uses it, does it?”
Chu Miaomiao immediately understood and hurriedly gripped her divine brush.
With a few strokes, the Fire God Cannon took shape.
Jiang Yunlu was satisfied.
“That’s more like it. We’ve finished practicing hand-to-hand combat—now let’s practice some shooting!”
Xie Yuling glanced at her. “You’re pretty good at summing things up.”
Jiang Yunlu had already grabbed the Fire God Cannon’s trigger.
“Bullshit. If a cannon can solve it, who’s going to waste time talking about martial honor?”
The next moment, tongues of fire swept through the passage.
The warriors had barely emerged from the shadows before they were blasted apart in droves.
Lin Mo absorbed the baleful aura in the rear, Jiang Yunlu handled suppression, Xie Yuling protected Chu Miaomiao and Liu Zheng, while Hajimi guarded the flank.
The group advanced much more smoothly than before.
Of course, whenever array nodes suddenly appeared, Ning Qingcheng dealt with them using Void-Rending Arrows.
They cleared array nodes as they pressed deeper into the base.
The third site.
The fourth.
The fifth.
With every array node whose baleful aura was absorbed, the howls from deep underground grew heavier.
When they reached the fifth array node, the iron coffin ahead did not open on its own.
Wang Xincheng walked at the front. He had just taken half a step forward when his entire body suddenly froze.
The people behind him nearly ran into him.
Liu Zheng frowned. “Why did you stop? Did you find something, Mr. Wang?”
Fine, dense patterns covered the surface of the iron coffin. They were not ordinary corpse-suppressing runes. The lines circled the edge of the lid before converging at its center, as though they had long been waiting for something to fall upon them.
Wang Xincheng swallowed.
“Wait.”
The moment he spoke those two words, everyone stopped.
Lin Mo stood nearby without urging him on.
His divine sense had already swept over the place, but he wanted to see just how much Wang Xincheng could recognize.
Liu Zheng looked at Wang Xincheng. “Explain.”
Wang Xincheng raised his head and pointed upward.
“This isn’t an ordinary array node.”
Liu Zheng followed the direction of his finger, and his brows immediately furrowed.
The ceiling was covered in incantations—crooked and twisted, yet arranged according to a fixed pattern.
At the center was embedded a dark-red bone fragment. Several tiny blood channels had been carved beneath it, and beads of blood trickled down along the grooves.
Drip.
Blood fell onto the coffin lid.
The patterns gradually soaked it up. Lines that had previously been dark began to glow red, looking like nothing remotely proper.
Almost all the color drained from Wang Xincheng’s face.
“This is a blood-sacrifice ritual.”
Liu Zheng cursed. “Just how much filthy crap did they bury in this place?”
“It wasn’t buried.”
Wang Xincheng stared at the bone fragment. “Someone deliberately raised it here, feeding the array node with blood, and the array node in turn nourishes the entire formation…”
He did not finish.
Some things were bad luck to say aloud.
He looked at Lin Mo, wanting to warn him not to act rashly.
But before the words could leave his mouth, Lin Mo had already passed everyone and walked to the iron coffin.
Liu Zheng’s eyelid twitched. “Lin Mo, maybe we should first—”
Bang!
Lin Mo kicked the coffin lid open.
The iron lid slammed into the wall, then fell to the ground with a clang.
Wang Xincheng opened his mouth.
He had lived for over half a century, and this was the first time he had seen someone deal with a blood-sacrifice array node in such a… straightforward manner.
Another drop of blood fell from the bone fragment overhead.
It landed directly inside the coffin.
Scratching sounds came from within.
In the next instant, a bluish hand gripped the coffin’s edge.
Its fingers were long and thin, its nails packed with blackened blood. It had barely risen halfway out when a banner shaft plunged into its chest.
“Don’t move.”
Lin Mo’s tone was flat.
The thing tried to struggle, but its chest seemed nailed in place. Its remnant soul was seized by the Human Emperor Banner, and it could not even let out a complete howl.
The blood qi was drawn out of its body. The evil creature in the coffin gradually withered, then finally dispersed into a cloud of bloody mist.
Before the mist could spread, the banner swallowed it clean.
So cleanly that no one had even gotten a clear look at what it had originally been.
Liu Zheng stared at the emptied coffin. After a long moment, he finally managed to say, “No, seriously—what the hell was that thing?”
Lin Mo withdrew the Human Emperor Banner.
“A demonic corpse refined through blood sacrifice. It was Japanese in life.”
“Another Japanese person?”
Liu Zheng laughed, though not politely. “Is the Nine Chrysanthemum School brain-dead or something? Do they insist on capturing their own people for sacrifices?”
Wang Xincheng did not laugh.
He stared at the traces left inside the coffin and spoke softly. “This person wasn’t forced.”
Wang Xincheng pointed to the several grooves carved inside the coffin. “They willingly entered the formation while alive, then stayed behind as spirits to guard its nodes after death. Some of the sinister sects over in Neon preach offering one’s body to the gods. In truth, they’re just using people’s lives as kindling to fuel the formation.”
“Until there’s nothing left of them,” Liu Zheng added.
Wang Xincheng was momentarily speechless.
The words were crude, but they were true.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
