great-warnovel Chapter 171 The Nine Heavens Tribulation and File No. 0
Chapter 171 The Nine Heavens Tribulation and File No. 0
The air was directly stomped out, creating a sonic boom.
The half-lifeboat wreckage beneath Lu Yuan's feet couldn't withstand this level of recoil and instantly exploded into a cloud of fine wood chips. He transformed into a black afterimage, hurtling across the churning surface of the East China Sea.
The waves were forcibly plowed apart by the violent kinetic energy, leaving a white vacuum band several kilometers long on the sea surface.
Sonic boom clouds exploded in concentric circles behind him.
11:50 a.m. In the outskirts of Beijing.
The martial arts arena that once stood atop a solitary peak had been trampled into a deep abyss by Lu Yuan a few days ago. Now, part of this ruin has been forcibly filled in, clearing out an altar roughly the size of a football field.
The sky was so overcast it looked like it could be squeezed dry. Thick, leaden-gray thunderclouds piled up wildly directly above the altar, with streaks of purple lightning flashing like long snakes within them. The air was thick with the pungent smell of ozone and the stench of blood.
In the very center of the altar stands a white marble pillar, as thick as three people could hug.
Ye Qingcheng was tightly bound to a pillar by nine wrist-thick steel chains. Her signature aloof white dress was completely soaked in blood, and half-foot-long spirit-dispersing nails had been driven into her collarbone and limb joints.
Bright red blood dripped down her toes.
The blood didn't seep into the soil; instead, as if it were alive, it flowed wildly along the extremely complex dark red markings on the ground, outlining an incomplete star array pattern.
A high-definition holographic camera bearing the logo of the S.H.I.E.L.D. was pointed directly at Ye Qingcheng's pale yet fearless face, transmitting the footage in real time to every corner of the dark web.
Three people stood at the edge of the altar.
Chen He, the gray-robed steward of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, held a tortoise-shell compass in his hand, his withered lips moving rapidly.
Martin, a senior agent of the S.H.I.E.L.D. stationed in China, held an extravagantly designed electromagnetic pulse rifle, aiming the muzzle at Ye Qingcheng's head, seemingly unintentionally.
Another one was a remnant of the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance who had luckily avoided going to Panlong Mountain to die. He was dressed in short clothes, carrying a machete, and his eyes were full of madness.
"Ten minutes left."
Martin glanced at the tactical terminal on his wrist.
"Commander Hughes's signals in the East China Sea have been completely lost. William is also silent in the dungeon. As long as that monster surnamed Lu isn't dead, he's definitely heading this way now."
The short-armored martial artist swallowed hard, and his hand holding the sword trembled uncontrollably.
"Master Chen... are you sure this formation will work? Even Elder Lei, a peak-stage Transcendent Realm cultivator, was turned into charred remains by that kid's lightning strike. All of us tied together wouldn't even be enough to fill his teeth!"
Chen He stopped working on the compass, turned his head, and let out a cold laugh.
"Idiot. Who wants to fight him head-on?"
Chen He tapped the array patterns on the ground with his toe, which were absorbing Ye Qingcheng's blood.
"Although the array core that Senior Brother Xu Changqing set up under the Heavenly Prison was destroyed, the blueprints of those star array patterns have long been sent back to the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion. The one I'm standing on is the 'Spirit-Severing Guiding Array' personally taught by that great master from the Sirius Star Region."
Chen He stroked the goatee on his chin.
"Lu Yuan's physical body is indeed strange, but as long as he dares to step into these ruins to rescue people, he will have to use his domineering true energy. This formation is like a pump; the stronger his true energy, the more fiercely the formation's patterns draw in!"
Martin picked up the conversation.
"As long as his energy is absorbed underground, the spatial node that was closed yesterday can be reopened. At that time, the Heavenly Thunder Array will act as a detonator, completely shattering the spatial barrier within a ten-mile radius. Once the passage is open, the sect master of the Sirius Star Region will descend, and even if he is truly a reincarnated god, he will be crushed into mincemeat."
After hearing this analysis, the short-sleeved martial artist's facial muscles twitched twice, and he forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.
"This is a dead end. If he doesn't come, this girl will be struck dead by lightning at midnight. If he comes, he'll be forced to become a human battery for the interdimensional portal."
Ye Qingcheng raised her lowered head slightly.
A few strands of blood-stained hair clung to her exquisite face. She looked at the three smug, self-satisfied clowns before her, her chapped lips parting slightly.
"idiot."
Chen He's face instantly darkened. He walked a few steps to the stone pillar, raised the compass in his hand, and was about to smash it into Ye Qingcheng's face.
"You bastard! You betrayed the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance and became a dog for some brat. Did you really think he could protect you?"
Ye Qingcheng didn't even blink.
"He doesn't need to protect me. He just needs to crush you all, bones and all."
Chen He hadn't even smashed the compass in his hand yet.
it's dark.
The already gloomy thunderclouds were forcibly compressed by some incomprehensible and terrifying force in a fraction of a second. The light within a radius of dozens of miles seemed to have been swallowed up by something.
The entire altar fell into a deathly silence, so deep that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
Only the purple thunderbolts in the clouds overhead continued to crackle and pop.
despair.
A very steady footstep came from the edge of the ruins.
The sound wasn't loud, but it felt like it was stepping directly on Chen He and the others' hearts.
Martin felt the hairs on his back stand on end, instinctively raising his electromagnetic pulse rifle and turning his night vision goggles to maximum power.
On the green screen of the night vision goggles, a young man wearing a black windbreaker, with his hands in his pockets, was walking up the rubble slope of the ruins step by step.
Fine mist was still emanating from the surface of his clothes. It was the seawater from the East China Sea evaporating due to the high temperature generated by high-speed friction.
"He's here! Open fire!"
Martin frantically pulled the trigger.
The high-energy electromagnetic pulse, mixed with depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds, drew eerie blue streaks of fire through the air, heading straight for Lu Yuan's face. This level of firepower was enough to tear a heavy armored vehicle to shreds.
Lu Yuan didn't even stop walking.
Those armor-piercing projectiles, traveling at speeds exceeding Mach 3, struck an invisible wall of air half a meter away from his body.
There was no explosion. There was no fire.
The warhead was like a bullet hitting a solid steel mountain, crushed into a disc, and then twisted by an invisible force, turning into clumps of gray iron powder that fell into the soil.
Martin's jaw trembled uncontrollably, and the rifle in his hand emitted a short-circuit-like wail, the barrel turning red-hot and exploding.
Chen He shoved the short-armored martial artist aside and frantically fiddled with the compass.
"Activate the Heavenly Thunder Formation! Force him into the core area of the Starry Sky Array!"
Boom!
The thunderclouds overhead went completely berserk.
Nine bolts of purple lightning, each as thick as a water bucket, carrying an overwhelming pressure capable of destroying everything, struck down directly at Lu Yuan's head.
This is not natural lightning at all, but rather a ley line lightning forcibly drawn down by the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion using secret techniques. Even a Grandmaster at the peak of the Transcendent Realm would be instantly annihilated here.
Lu Yuan finally took his hand out of his pocket.
He looked up at the nine bolts of purple lightning hurtling straight at his face, and the violent emotions in his eyes could no longer be concealed.
"Your understanding of power is still at the level of an electrical leak in a power strip."
Lu Yuan raised his right hand.
He spread his five fingers, aiming them at the oppressive thunderclouds overhead.
The laws of heaven and earth during the Mahayana stage. Forced takeover.
The nine bolts of lightning that were supposed to shatter his skull stopped abruptly in mid-air without warning.
Like a venomous snake being tightly gripped by an invisible, sky-covering giant hand, the purple lightning struggled violently in the air, emitting a tearing sound that made one's teeth ache.
"Get down."
Lu Yuan suddenly pulled his wrist downwards.
He forcefully tore the sky full of lightning into a purple lightning whip that was over ten meters long. The violent lightning flowed down from between his fingers, dripping onto the ground and burning several deep pits into the hard rock.
The physical body at the Mahayana stage treated this thunder, powerful enough to destroy an armored battalion, as a toy in its hands.
The compass in Chen He's hand fell to the ground with a clatter.
He watched helplessly as Lu Yuan, wielding the thunder whip, stepped into the starry sky array pattern drawn with Ye Qingcheng's blood on the ground.
"Absorb his energy! Quickly absorb his true energy!"
Chen He roared hysterically, retreating backwards on all fours.
Lu Yuan looked down at the dark red lines that had begun to glow at his feet.
The array pattern was indeed activated. An extremely greedy suction force traveled along the soles of his feet, attempting to tear open his meridians and extract energy from his body.
"You want true qi, right?"
Lu Yuan sneered.
"I'll give it to you."
The true essence of the peak Mahayana stage, mixed with the violent energy of the thunder whip in his hand, poured into the array patterns on the ground without reservation, flowing down the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of his foot.
But it wasn't sucked in. It was forced in.
If the broken star array pattern was a plastic hose used for pumping water, then the energy Lu Yuan poured in was like Niagara Falls.
Click.
A muffled, cracking sound came from deep underground.
The dark red array patterns turned into a blinding incandescent white in a fraction of a second, and then exploded.
The entire ruins of the martial arts arena trembled violently. The array foundation stones carved on the stone were forcibly shattered by the Mahayana stage true essence, turning into countless sharp fragments that swept indiscriminately in all directions.
"No! The passageway is collapsing!"
Chen He let out a desperate scream.
Before he could turn around, Lu Yuan's thunder whip swept across him.
Purple light sliced through the air.
There was no bloodshed or gore. The short-armored martial artist and Martin didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were instantly carbonized into a pile of black ash the moment they came into contact with the lightning whip.
Chen He's protective magic weapon shattered into powder in just half a second.
The lightning whip lashed at his chest. The violent power of the lightning drilled directly into his meridians, instantly roasting his internal organs.
A charred corpse, emitting wisps of smoke, crashed straight down onto the edge of the altar.
Lu Yuan casually dispersed the lightning in his hand and walked to the white marble pillar.
The divine consciousness of the Mahayana stage transformed into an invisible sharp blade, easily severing the nine fine steel chains.
Ye Qingcheng lost her support and fell forward.
Lu Yuan reached out and pinched her shoulder, a gentle and pure true energy flowing into her meridians. The spirit-dispersing nails embedded in her joints were forcibly forced out by the true energy, falling to the ground with a crisp clinking sound.
Ye Qingcheng gasped for breath, a trace of color returning to her pale face as her true essence was injected.
She didn't thank him, but stared intently into Lu Yuan's eyes, her voice hoarse.
"Master... Jiangnan Astronomical Bureau."
"I already know."
Lu Yuan took out the bronze box covered in rust from his storage ring and glanced at the eyeball inside with the silver needle stuck in it.
"Tao Xuan is at the bottom of an underground air-raid shelter. Engineer Zhou is not dead."
Ye Qingcheng was stunned for a moment, then forced herself to stand up straight.
"No...it's not just Engineer Zhou."
She took a deep breath, suppressing the surging blood in her chest.
"Before I was captured, I used a secret method to intercept Xu Changqing's communications with the S.H.I.E.L.D. consortium. They weren't there to imprison Engineer Zhou at all, in the air-raid shelter at the Jiangnan Astronomical Bureau."
A flicker of extreme fear flashed in Ye Qingcheng's eyes.
"They kept a live thing there... Zhou and that abandoned water pumping station were just the pipes they used to supply nutrients to that thing."
Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
No wonder the people of the Sirius Star Region went to great lengths to infiltrate the headquarters of the Celestial Surveillance Bureau.
No wonder that section chief named Zhou Ming used his highest authority to cut off the signal from Panlong Mountain.
They weren't covering up the operations at the capital's prison at all. The capital and the East China Sea were merely bait to distract him!
The real killer move has always been hidden in the old city of Jiangnan, hidden at the bottom of that abandoned air-raid shelter that was supposedly sealed off thirty years ago.
Lu Yuan's gaze swept over the mess of array pattern remnants on the ground.
He squatted down and picked up a handful of soil.
A Mahayana-stage divine sense swept over it. Within these broken array patterns, besides a faint trace of Sirius Star Region aura, there was also an extremely concealed high-frequency energy wave belonging to modern electronic components.
This is the internal signal encryption frequency band of the Astronomical Observatory.
Lu Yuan stood up, took out the specially made military satellite phone from his pocket, and dialed Lin Zhen's dedicated line.
The phone was answered after only one ring.
"Mr. Lu! Are you alright? The satellite surveillance from the martial arts arena has been completely blocked by thunderclouds, we can't see anything!" Lin Zhen's voice was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
"The thunderclouds have dispersed. Send your men over to clean up the mess."
Lu Yuan glanced at the still-operating high-definition camera on the dark web, then casually pointed and destroyed the lens.
"in addition."
Lu Yuan's voice was completely flat, but Lin Zhen on the other end of the phone felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason.
"Immediately sever all physical connections between the Jiangnan Astronomical Bureau headquarters and the outside world. Evacuate all living people within a three-kilometer radius of your underground air-raid shelter."
Lin Zhen gasped.
"Mr. Lu... the special envoy from headquarters is still inside checking the accounts, and the physical gates of the air-raid shelter can only be opened by the highest-ranking officials in Beijing..."
"If you can't open it, use explosives to blow it up."
Lu Yuan turned around and looked in the direction of Jiangnan.
"I'll be there in half an hour. If there's still a fly coming out of that air-raid shelter when I get there."
Lu Yuan hung up the phone.
"I'll even dig up your ancestral graves along with yours."