Chapter 978: Sealing Signs the Whole Way to Golden Ao Island, Throwing It on Sight, Turning It Into a Basin! |
...
Even Ying Gou, twisted as he was, found these words twisted.
"We're 749 investigators, isn't this a bit..."
Lu Ding was speechless: "He already threatened you. Are you still going to play by the rules of the Jianghu? Or what, you're not avenging the others?"
"If the other side played fair, they wouldn't use others' lives to threaten you. If they don't play fair, why should you?"
"Rules and regulations only stifle yourself. Playing fair has its own tactics, and playing dirty has its own. It's all knowledge, so learn it."
Ying Gou frowned.
He was digesting the concepts Lu Ding was feeding him.
Though it sounded unpleasant, it was the most realistic and rational approach.
"So, should we head back now?"
"Back?"
Lu Ding shook his head: "There's still the Star-Plucking Tower and the Wuliang Temple."
Ying Gou looked at him: "Didn't you use that slash already? The Star-Plucking Tower and the Wuliang Temple aren't any weaker than the Giant Wave Group."
Lu Ding met his gaze: "I never said I only had that one slash."
He still had his full-power [Dharma Form], full-power [Human King's Loose Hands], full-power [Golden Ao Island],
full-power left hand [Tian Gou Eats the Moon] and right hand [Black Devours Sun], and so on...
He couldn't use them all up, absolutely couldn't.
Oh right, and the full-power Dinghai Pearls too. That thing really packed a punch when thrown!
He would go in unleashing his ultimate moves!
Hearing this,
Ying Gou wore an expression like he'd seen a ghost.
What the hell was up with this Lu Ding...?
Wasn't he just from the Third Circle?
It hadn't been that long, had it?
That slash was already stunning enough. How did he have more?
Did the Third Circle really have that many opportunities and foundations?
He didn't understand. He couldn't comprehend.
But he still wanted to see.
At least to have a clear picture.
Without saying anything else, he simply said: "I'll go with you."
Although the upcoming Wuliang Temple and Star-Plucking Tower weren't on his turf anymore-they were in other areas of the southern region-that didn't matter. Whatever they had to say, they could say it to Lu Ding.
And see if he didn't cut them down with a single slash.
The battlefield was cleared quickly, mostly because they didn't bother sorting anything. Everything was tossed together, packed up, and taken away to be picked through later.
It didn't take long before Lu Ding set off again.
All that remained was a wasteland of ruins, telling the tale that there once was a powerful local tyrant force here called the Giant Wave Group.
The scar-like slash mark lingering in the sky also spoke to the terror of the previous battle.
Thank goodness that slash hadn't landed on the ground, or else... hard to say.
Thanks to Lu Ding's efficiency,
the Wuliang Temple had just received news that the Giant Wave Group had been wiped out.
Outside the mountain gate,
Lu Ding had already arrived with his people.
No explanations needed. They refused to engage in confrontations, refused to exchange pleasantries, skipped straight to the point. They knew what they'd done, and Lu Ding knew what they'd done-that was enough.
Besides, unlike the Giant Wave Group in the city center, the Wuliang Temple was more convenient, being right in the mountains.
So what else was there to say?
He stood horizontally in the sky.
Ying Gou kept throwing glances, watching the terrifying energy rolling through the hand seals in Lu Ding's hands. This thing had been forming the entire way here.
Now they were within casting range.
Lu Ding raised his hand.
"GOLDEN!"
"AO!"
"ISLAND!!!"
BOOM!!!!
A great bell tolled, heaven and earth cleared, celestial music tinkled, immortal mists swirled, ten thousand immortals paid homage, and extraordinary phenomena descended from the sky.
Metal, wood, water, fire, earth-the five elements fell into chaos. Earth, fire, water, wind-the four elements were rendered void.
An indescribable force of suppression fell upon all beings equally.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...
Inch by inch, dense forests shattered. Ridge by ridge, mountains collapsed.
A doomsday disaster had arrived, as if a great millstone was grinding everything down. Mountain ranges rose and fell, instantly flattened into plains.
Within the Wuliang Temple, the monks who had been standing, sitting, walking, cultivating, going out, chatting happily, or burning incense and worshipping Buddha,
all at once were crushed to the ground, unable to move. The weak among them exploded into clouds of blood mist on the spot.
The strong had blood gushing from their seven orifices, suffering severe internal injuries, forced to watch helplessly as mountains crumbled, temples collapsed, Buddha statues shattered. The Divinity within them scattered, manifesting Arhats and Bodhisattvas, which were then crushed to pieces by the force of suppression.
Darkness eclipsed the light.
Above their heads, a corner of the immortal island came crashing down like a planet colliding.
Until...
BOOM!!!!!!!!
The entire area where the Wuliang Temple stood directly sank, subsided, and collapsed, triggering earthquakes that spread in a chain reaction. The earth shook, the sky rocked, rivers were severed, souls were lost, and all things faced catastrophe.
Before, this place was the Southern Qingyuan Prefecture, Wuliang Mountain.
From now on, this would be the Southern Qingyuan Prefecture, Wuliang Basin.
Under the devastating strike, the tectonic plates shifted. The canyon connecting the eastern and southern regions instantly sealed shut, mud and rock pushed through.
The Wuliang Temple was utterly destroyed, never to be what it was before.
Having witnessed this scene, Ying Gou's breathing grew rapid.
He subconsciously swallowed his saliva to suppress his shock, but it still leaked out through his eyes.
A method combining both mechanism and raw power had truly opened his eyes.
So Lu Ding's previous displays had always been restrained.
What he worried about was never the enemy's strength, but the collateral damage.
If he had used this move in the city...
No, it wasn't just this move-including the earlier slash too. Though Lu Ding hadn't said it outright,
Ying Gou had figured it out.
Whether it was the earlier slash or the current [Golden Ao Island],
they were things difficult to control.
Either you didn't use them, or once you did, they became area attacks that treated all beings equally. There was a degree of indiscriminate friend-or-foe damage.
If anyone ever pushed Lu Ding to the brink,
everyone else would go down with him-except for Lu Ding himself.
And his decisiveness was terrifying too. Even though Lu Ding had warned him beforehand,
Ying Gou still felt there were too few steps in the process. He couldn't get used to it.
Silence.
Everyone was silent.
Among the hundreds of investigators, not a single person made a sound or moved a muscle.
They truly had no idea what to say or do.
Only Lu Ding, after dispersing [Golden Ao Island], descended from the sky.
Just as Ying Gou was wondering what he was about to do,
a strange wave suddenly radiated from Lu Ding's body, spreading outward, covering thousands of mountains and rivers.
The next second,
a sound like an engine roaring rang out.
BOOM!!!
It shook heaven and earth.
A terrifying suction force emanated from Lu Ding's body.
His feet rooted to the ground, he activated [Refine Essence into Energy].
In an instant, the lush green of thousands of mountains and rivers was replaced by grayish white and withered brown.
The essence and vitality of all things flowed entirely into Lu Ding.
His somewhat pale face gradually regained its rosy hue. The consumption of [Golden Ao Island] had still been immense, but the power was impressive. Not a single enemy made a sound, all killed outright!
It wasn't until the life force of the entire Wuliang Mountain was completely drained
that Lu Ding stopped.
Since he'd already smashed everything to pieces, leaving it to waste would be pointless. Better to absorb it, letting him quickly recover his Spiritual Energy so he could head to the next location.
It sounded reasonable enough.
But the investigators and Ying Gou who had witnessed all of this found it completely unreasonable!!!
One by one, the investigators seemed to see Lu Ding in a whole new light.
This technique, more demonic than demonic cultivation itself, sent chills down their spines.
Especially Ying Gou.
What he cultivated was genuine demonic techniques. Granted, they had been refined by the Great Han, removing many flaws without weakening the power.
Eating monsters and demons, there was always a degree of using them for his own purposes.
But now, Lu Ding's performance showed he was completely indiscriminate.
As long as there was life force, as long as something was alive, if he wanted to, he could turn a land into a man-made desert in the blink of an eye.
Once again, the same commonality-all beings were equal.