Chapter 241: Falling Stars and Cursed Commands
Chapter 241: Falling Stars and Cursed Commands
A dozen satellites emitted dazzling lights as they descended in the night sky like shooting stars. Their strong pulsing signals penetrated the magnetic field created by the energy mist; along with the signal points dropped by the energy bombers, these signals covered most areas of the Yunwu Mountains. Only the most turbulent spatial regions deep within the mountain and certain spatial distortion zones remained uncovered.
Of course, all of this effort came at a cost. These satellites would continue to descend, eventually crashing in the mountain range, and while these signals could penetrate the mist, they couldn’t transmit images clear enough to make out human figures.
Buzz!
When Maximus unleashed his full demonic qi, a True Demon Skull in one of the descending satellites picked up the action. Moments later, a voice in the distant military base’s monitoring center reported, "A powerful true demon aura has been detected! Coordinates: Yunwu Mountains, latitude: 1793, longitude: 2108."
"Combat power?"
"Level 6, late stage."
"Lock onto that aura and notify nearby combat personnel to converge and eliminate the threat."
"Sir! There's also a smartwatch signal nearby, first-year student Chen Chu. The signals overlap; he’s engaged in combat with the threat."
"A late stage level 6 demon is very strong. Notify nearby personnel to provide backup immediately."
Teachers within a five hundred kilometer radius received the notification, forming into four squads and starting to move toward Chen Chu's location. Although they had night vision, it wasn’t as clear during the day, only out to about a hundred meters. Even they didn’t dare to move at full speed, for fear of accidentally running into a spatial rift, which would be fatal.
Additionally, they had to deal with attacks from mutated creatures. By the time the nearest squad arrived from a hundred kilometers away, more than ten minutes had passed, and the battle was long over.
"Dead!" The three teachers halted, staring at the collapsed hillside and the corpse lying there in stunned silence.
Weren't they supposed to find a late stage Sixth Heavenly Realm Purgatory Demon Clan member fighting the Nantian School prodigy? Could it be that...?
The three looked at Chen Chu, who was inventorying supplies not far away, their gaze briefly resting on the small bag in his hand.
"Chen Chu?"
Crack, crack!
Chen Chu retracted his faceplate, which morphed into a winged-like decoration on both sides of his head, as he politely said, "Yes, it's me. Hello, teachers."
The three teachers fell silent. After a long pause, one of them smiled wryly. "You’re only in the middle stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm and... you're a freak."
At that moment, a strong divine aura still permeated the air, identical to the faint aura emanating from Chen Chu. There was no doubt that he was the one who had killed this demon.
There was a significant difference between defeating and killing. If two cultivators in the middle stage of the Sixth Heavenly Realm fought, the one who was slightly stronger would defeat the other, but the defeated one could also escape if they wanted to.
Even a late stage Sixth Heavenly Realm cultivator can't necessarily stop a middle stage cultivator who wanted to flee, unless the fleeing one was injured. This was why the teachers felt a chill run down their spine when they saw Maximus lying dead.
This first-year student's combat power was somewhat terrifying.
One of them sighed. "The younger generation nowadays is truly frightening."
"Indeed.” The other two also sighed slightly. As teachers, they were pleased to be surpassed by the new generation, but this level of strength made them feel somewhat useless.
After their brief moment of reflection, one of the teachers sent out the news that the Purgatory Demon was dead, causing the other squads of teachers rushing to the scene to halt.
At this point, Chen Chu asked, "Teachers, how many invaders have been discovered and killed so far?"
One of the teachers thought for a moment and replied, "Including this Purgatory Demon, there have been records of seventeen. According to estimates, there shouldn't be more than five left."
Chen Chu frowned slightly. "The Yunwu Mountains are huge. What if the remaining ones find places to hide in for a long time?"
One of the teachers smiled slightly. "Don't worry, when the base satellites land tomorrow, they won't be able to hide. The satellites contain the Blood Bone of a high-level bishop. Once the Blood Bone’s power is activated using a rune, it will draw out the aura of those cultivating similar arts within a certain range.
"The only way they would be able to escape it is if their strength surpasses that of the Blood Bone’s owner, or they’ve changed the attribute of their cultivated art’s power. But the former is impossible for this group of invaders, and the latter wouldn't be allowed by the demon cults, as they don’t use their power for good."
"I see." Chen Chu nodded thoughtfully.
Next, they uploaded pictures, marking that Chen Chu had slain the demon. Following this, one of the teachers used a large Sumeru Bracelet to store Maximus's corpse. The bodies of Purgatory Demons had significant research value; this one would be taken back to be handled professionally.
None of them asked about the items that had potentially been on the demon’s body. Those were considered Chen Chu's personal spoils of war.
When the news reached the monitoring center at the base, the atmosphere became quiet while everyone looked at the demon's corpse on the large screen.
"Ahem! I don't think there's much to discuss about this topic. Let's continue with our work."
"Right, we're already used to the shocks today. Let's not worry about it. It's just a demon that was estimated to have late stage Sixth Heavenly Realm combat power."
"You're right, Zhang Feng. There's no need to discuss it further. Talking too much about it is just disheartening..."
With the invaders being quickly eliminated, the atmosphere in the monitoring center appeared relatively relaxed.
***
The next morning, Chen Chu looked up, his gaze piercing through the mist to see the increasingly clear satellites in the sky. With a flash, he disappeared back into the forest.
He hoped to encounter another demon cultist. Although his luck had been good so far, having killed two cultists and a Purgatory Demon, he thought there might still be more to gain.
Compared to the 200 contribution points, he valued the merit points more.
Meanwhile, at the edge of a cliff where the outer and middle sections of the mountains met, a young man dressed as white as snow slightly raised his head. He watched the descending lights in the sky, and suddenly said, "I have something to do and might need to leave."
A young woman, sitting cross-legged, slowly opened her eyes and turned to look at the young man who gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity. She slowly asked, "Zuo Jing, who exactly are you?"
"Who am I?"
Zuo Jing looked at the drifting clouds between the cliffs, the tone in his voice carried a faint sense of nostalgia, "I am just someone striving to move forward."
Someone striving to move forward? An Fuqing stayed silent for a moment, then bluntly asked, "What is your purpose for coming here this time?"
"Have you already noticed? Well, with those things in the sky, it makes sense." Zuo Jing put on a free and easy smile, and said, "I came to find someone. I'm a bit interested in her existence, but I didn't expect to meet you, someone who once shared similarities with me.
"Don't worry, I didn't come here to kill anyone, nor am I interested in killing. Alright, it's about time for me to go. Otherwise, it would be a hassle if I'm discovered."
Before An Fuqing could respond, a bright moon appeared in Zuo Jing's eyes. In a flash, his figure disappeared and silently reappeared several hundred meters away, then disappeared again with another flash.
This left An Fuqing, who had just broken into the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, sitting quietly in her original spot.
In the past two days of trying to understand the world, she had learned a lot. Her realm had advanced rapidly, leading her cultivation to naturally break through to the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm. This had made her the leading figure of the new generation in the south, excluding the freak that was Chen Chu.
Watching Zuo Jing disappear into the depths of the Yunwu Mountains, An Fuqing didn’t attempt to stop him; trying to do so would be futile.
After discussing the ways of life with Zuo Jing for two days, she felt that he was increasingly unfathomable. His cultivation realm had long surpassed her understanding, with his true cultivation undoubtedly at least at a high level.
The next day, Chen Chu traversed the Yunwu Mountains, but whether it was because the demon cultists had already been killed or because his luck had run out, he didn’t encounter a single shadow all day.
In the evening, a ferocious roar erupted from deep within the mountains.
Near a spatial passage, a mutated beast resembling a Tyrannosaurus Rex stood tall. Its body measured thirty-nine meters in length and exuded the aura of a peak level 6 creature. It had numerous long, black tentacles waving around, giving it a hideous appearance. Despite this, however, the beast's eyes showed signs of wariness.
Not far away, Zuo Jing stood with his hands behind his back, his voice cold. "I didn't expect there to be a demonic species here. In just a few days, you've grown to this extent. You must have eaten quite a bit."
Strands of white began to appear among Zuo Jing’s black hair, and his gaze had lost its serene composure. He was radiating an icy authority, as if he had transformed into a different person, his invisible aura instilling dread even in the bizarre demonic species.
Roar, roar, roar!
The demonic species swung its tentacles, whipping the air and stirring up gusts of wind. It let out cautious roars, while its massive body slowly retreated.
Zuo Jing's gaze remained cold. "You should stay."
As he spoke, a blazing sun appeared in one of his eyes, and in an instant, the transcendent energy within a hundred-meter radius became turbulent. Under the reflection of his will, a real, scorching sun descended.
At the same time, a bright moon rose in his other eye. The transcendent energy grew even more chaotic as a similar moon formed behind the sun.
The combined radiance of the sun and moon created an explosive force. Even before they fully descended, the demonic species was forced down by the pressure. The ground around it collapsed, plants and trees were instantly turned to ash, and clouds of smoke and dust rippled outward.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The peak level 6 demonic species let out terrified roars. Its black demonic qi surged as its tentacles swelled and thrashed violently, reaching toward the sky.
Under the almighty radiance of the sun and moon, however, all of its efforts were in vain. The monstrous tentacles turned to ash upon contact, and the enormous body followed, disintegrating amid violent roars.
Boom!
The scene resembled the massive missile explosion, with a fiery blast shooting skyward. The destructive energy expanded, flinging countless chunks of dirt into the air.
When everything settled, all that remained was a thirty-meter-wide crater, and at its edge stood Zuo Jing, looking pristine and unscathed.
Zuo Jing suddenly turned his head, gazing coldly at the misty forest in the distance. "Come out. You've been hiding long enough."
A shadow shifted within the forest, and a figure cloaked in a black robe emerged from the darkness, his eyes wary and his voice raspy.
"You're not Zuo Jing of the Eternal Cult. Legend says he’s only comprehended the Will of the Golden Sun, not the Cold Moon. Who are you really?"
Zuo Jing... no, the youth in white smirked. "Do you think I'd tell you? A dying man doesn't need to know so much.
"Die."
When he uttered those words, the Shadow Cult Agent’s face twisted in fear, shouting, "A Curse Command! You're from the Holy Light Cult! No—!"
Before he could finish, his body stiffened, then slowly fell backward, turning into a cold and lifeless corpse in the blink of an eye.
This display of power was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
By now, the white strands of hair had taken over nearly half of the young man’s head, and the immense, dignified aura surrounding him grew even stronger, to the point where the surrounding space seemed slightly distorted.
However, that invisible aura was slowly reined in by the Zuo Jing imposter. His gaze grew colder, devoid of any human emotion and resembling that of a temple statue as he suddenly looked up at the sky.
Streaks of fire were falling into the Yunwu Mountains.
Whoosh!
16 satellites, spanning 100 meters and surrounded by flames, plummeted from the sky, piercing through the clouds before crashing violently into peaks, valleys, and forests.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of violent explosions erupted, unleashing fierce winds and shockwaves that startled mutated creatures within a dozen kilometers.
Crack!
In the one to two hundred meter wide craters, the heavily damaged satellites, cracked and broken from the intense impact, exploded with bangs.
More than a dozen black pyramids, each about sixty meters in diameter and fifty meters high, emerged from the explosions, their tips gradually lighting up with a dazzling white light.
Buzz!
In a flash, stronger pulsing radiations erupted, resonating with the signal transmitters.
Under this pulsing transcendent aura, the Divine Blood Emissary hidden in a mountain stream, the Giant Cult Apostle concealed in rift within a cliff, and the Shadow Cult Agent hiding within a hundred-meter-tall tree in the middle of the Yunwu Mountains all reacted, involuntarily releasing their own powerful auras.
The three of them all paled instantly.
This radiation swept across the entire Yunwu Range, and when it reached the Zuo Jing imposter, it also activated the aura within him... Only for him to quickly suppress it again.
"I didn't expect the humans to have developed such advanced detection methods. To be capable of triggering the disguised aura within even me... It's time to go. Otherwise, it could become troublesome if I’m discovered..."
With these words, the youth in white stepped into the spatial passage.
Boom!
As he entered, the previously rotating spatial passage silently shook. On the other side, a purple light shimmered, and powerful energy surged in, stabilizing the passage. Soon, the youth vanished into the spatial rifts.
Just a few minutes later, an intense power fluctuation suddenly erupted from the other side. The intense shockwaves shook the already unstable passage violently.
Boom!
Accompanied by a powerful explosion, the spatial passage began to collapse. Black rifts extended in all directions like a shattering mirror. Wherever they passed, all matter was crushed, then devoured by the strong suction from the black rifts.
When the fluctuations finally subsided, only a hundred-meter-wide pit remained. Everything around it had disappeared into the collapsing space.