Chapter 309: Battlefield of Purgatory
"Zhongshan, why are you so suspicious? Daye City has no defenses left, at most just some civilians. With your million-strong army, can't you easily overpower them?" Flying in the air, Niàn Yōuyōu kept chattering.
"Regarding Xiāo Wàng's strategies, from the information we gathered earlier, it's clear he's no ordinary man. Everything he does has a profound purpose. Why would he give up Daye City, such a fortress, to me? It's impossible. There must be some conspiracy," Zhongshan shook his head.
"Conspiracy? Who cares about a conspiracy! Let's just seize the city first!" Niàn Yōuyōu retorted.
"I dare not," Zhongshan shook his head.
As they flew towards Daye City, the Red Phoenix and Pink Lotus remained blue, a sign of great calamity! What kind of calamity was brewing?
Upon reaching outside the city, Zhongshan halted at a distant mountain peak.
With his group, they watched Daye City from afar!
Daye City, where citizens came and went without anything unusual happening.
Zhongshan called over a nearby scout.
"General, everything in Daye City remains unchanged. There's truly no defense, and I've even walked through the palace, which was completely emptied out. There's no one there!" the scout reported immediately.
"Let's go, let's go inside!" Niàn Yōuyōu suggested.
"No, we wait here!" Zhongshan took a deep breath. He couldn't understand where the problem lay—
Meanwhile, in Xiāo Wàng's command tent!
"Yuan Deng has withdrawn, right?" Xiāo Wàng asked.
"He should have left. It's been a long time since he came down, and after delivering the letter to the Young Prince that day, a scout saw Zhongshan's army. They were only two or three days away from Daye City at that time. Now, Zhongshan's army should have already entered the city," a commander said.
"Such a coincidence, Zhongshan's timing is just too perfect!" Xiāo Wàng chuckled.
"Father," at this moment, another general stepped forward.
Xiāo Yuánfēng, the former head of the Azure Cloud Sect, was now surprisingly part of Xiāo Wàng's army.
"Father, are you referring to the 'Monster of Sin' that we've kept isolated from information?" Xiāo Yuánfēng asked.
Surprised by Xiāo Yuánfēng's insight, Xiāo Wàng smiled approvingly, "Exactly. This creature emerged on the battlefield, acting independently without communicating with anyone. But it's a sharp blade—if wielded well, it can be used by our army to capture cities and territories. What we sealed in the past is for today. If Zhongshan meets his end by its hands, it would be... quite anticlimactic."
"Will Zhongshan really die?" Xiāo Yuánfēng worried.
"That's why I've kept a trump card," Xiāo Wàng smiled knowingly—
Sure enough, on the second day of Zhongshan's wait, when Niàn Yōuyōu was getting impatient, something bizarre occurred.
From the southeastern sky, a sudden flash of red clouds appeared. Initially appearing small in the distant sky, the red clouds slowly drew nearer.
Blood-red clouds churned incessantly, covering the sky in all directions, as if the entire horizon had been engulfed in a moment by these crimson clouds.
"Monster of Sin!" Niàn Yōuyōu exclaimed in shock.
"The Monster of Sin released by the Great Vajra Dragon Bodhisattva? How did it become so large? So powerful?" Ā Dà was also astonished.
As the sky was filled with the blood-red clouds, Ā Dà and his companions kept retreating further and further. The direction these blood-red clouds were heading towards—was Daye City.
The blood clouds arrived swiftly, appearing over the skies of Daye City in an instant.
A sea of blood-red color blanketed a large portion of Daye City, gradually descending to engulf its vast expanse.
"Ah~~~~~~!"
Infinite, piercing screams echoed from within Daye City.
"Ah~~~~~~!"
"Ah~~~~~~!"
... The continuous wails of agony made it seem as if Daye City had suddenly transformed into a purgatory of sorts, with countless screams emanating from within.
The terrifying Monster of Sin had entered the city.
Zhongshan and his group flew towards the east, peering through the wide-open gates into the city's interior.
At first glance, their scalps went numb with horror.
Blood rain, torrents of blood rain, not falling from the sky but rising upwards from the ground.
As the Monster of Sin rotated, a red light enveloped everything.
As if imprisoning the people within the city, numerous individuals suddenly convulsed. From their bodies, copious amounts of blood sprayed forth, shooting skyward. Everywhere was misted over with blood fog. When this blood fog gathered, it surged upward like rainwater reversing its flow.
It was too horrifying!
Some with higher cultivation desperately struggled, but those with lower cultivation instantly turned into dried corpses.
Nearly half of the city's population, utterly powerless to resist, watched helplessly as others, not covered by the red light, desperately fled towards the city gates. Some cornered residents even recklessly charged towards the sky.
"Boom~~~~~ Boom~~~~~ Boom~~~~~"
Countless people were struck down by the city's formations.
The Monster of Sin became increasingly reckless.
Expanding, after absorbing countless amounts of blood, it actually grew larger and larger, quickly engulfing the entire Daye City.
It was too massive, too horrifying. Daye City, with at least tens of millions of residents!
Dead! Only a few managed to escape, while the rest were drained of their blood, reduced to dry husks.
As the Monster of Sin continued to grow step by step, expanding its power, there was no escape for the city's residents. After the creature expanded its body, almost everyone was covered. No one could escape.
A city turned into purgatory, countless people crying out in torment, as their blood was drained not in an instant, but over a process—a process of terrifying screams and pleas for mercy.
"Ah~~~~~~!"
"Ah~~~~~~!"
"Save me~~~~~~!"
... "Retreat!" Zhongshan ordered bluntly.
The terrifying Monster of Sin. Not just Zhongshan, but even Ā Dà, Zhì Huǒ, and Niàn Yōuyōu—three peak Sovereign Realm powerhouses—lacked the courage to face it head-on. The current Monster of Sin was undoubtedly far stronger than before!
With the scout in tow, the five of them swiftly retreated, withdrawing further and further.
Perhaps it was psychological, even after retreating tens of thousands of miles, they could still hear the agonizing cries of Daye City.
"What a monstrous creature!" Ā Dà exclaimed in horror.
"Hehe, the Great Vajra Dragon Bodhisattva's Bodhi position is definitely not secure anymore," Niàn Yōuyōu mused.
"Monsters of Sin are growing increasingly powerful. When will their havoc end?" Zhì Huǒ frowned deeply.
"If left unchecked, they'll wreak havoc until they face the might of the heavens," Niàn Yōuyōu explained. "If they survive, they transcend into immortality; if they fail, they'll be obliterated by divine judgment. Monsters of Sin devour endless blood to grow stronger, without the limitations typical to other beings. As long as they have enough blood, especially high-quality blood, they can continue to evolve. They defy the natural order, and that's why they are coveted by many powerful individuals. Destroying one of them brings immense virtue and countless blessings, a shortcut to accumulating profound karmic merit."
"But now that it's become so formidable, even the Great Vajra Dragon might struggle to deal with it," Zhì Huǒ said, his brows knitted tightly together.
Throughout this conversation, Zhongshan remained silent, his gaze cold and contemplative.
With a flick of his wrist, Zhongshan produced a jade slip. He infused it with some information, sealing it with a unique method.
Turning to the scout, he ordered, "Deliver this to Shui Wuhen with all haste!"
"Yes, my lord!" The scout saluted and swiftly departed.
"What did you give him?" Niàn Yōuyōu asked, puzzled.
"I ordered Shui Wuhen to bring the troops here," Zhongshan replied, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon.
"Are you summoning your entire army?" Niàn Yōuyōu asked, astonished.
"If they don't come, should we just hand over everything in this city to others?" Zhongshan responded firmly.
"But…!" Niàn Yōuyōu furrowed her brow in concern.
"Earlier, my scouts found no information about the Monster of Sin. For it to grow to such a size, it must have caused havoc in many places, yet there was no news about it. Such widespread destruction should have been known throughout the world. The fact that it wasn't means the information was suppressed. Who could have done that? In the territory of Da Guang, only Xiao Wang has the capability to suppress information so thoroughly. And remember, he had his subordinates withdraw from the city beforehand," Zhongshan said with conviction.
"The Monster of Sin cannot negotiate with anyone. Although it possesses intelligence now, its wisdom is still limited. It acts purely on instinct!" Niàn Yōuyōu frowned in thought.
"It's precisely because of this instinct that it can be used. Xiao Wang, while managing a vast battlefield, can't micromanage every detail. If he didn't need to oversee the entire war, he could have waited until we were all in the city and then lured the Monster of Sin in. By then, my entire army would have been annihilated," Zhongshan said, shaking his head in contemplation.
"Lure it? With what?" Zhì Huǒ asked, perplexed.
"As long as there are people, it can be lured," Zhongshan stated matter-of-factly.
In the brief moment of their conversation, the Monster of Sin had already drained the blood from everyone in Daye City. The city was now filled with corpses, millions of dry husks. Despite its overwhelming strength, the Monster of Sin didn't challenge the city's defensive formation but instead began to morph and emerge slowly through the city gates.
A blood-red cloud, brimming with malevolent energy, rose into the sky, drifting ominously towards the southwest. It needed more blood, more cities to ravage.
The upcoming battles in Da Guang would turn into a hellish landscape with this creature involved.