Mount Tianshan

Flaying and Deboning appeared. Helen was startled; she had seen Flaying, but never Deboning, another expert no less formidable than her father. “Your Eminences, Helen dares not rush you, but haven’t you made your way to Mount Tianshan yet?”

Du Chen scoffed, “These little skirmishes don’t require the intervention of these two friends!” He then glared displeasedly at Helen.

Helen immediately bowed her head. “Helen understands. Helen spoke out of turn! It won’t happen again!”

The group fell silent, their gazes fixed on the distant battle raging on Mount Tianshan. Aberrant Beasts at the foot of the mountain and along the shoreline entangled the majority of Philip’s subordinates, while Holy Church powerhouses descended directly from the sky, landing on the summit. Philip’s experimental assistants and his personal bodyguards soared skyward to intercept them. For a moment, the scene of combat was a dazzling spectacle, eliciting a peculiar smile from Du Chen. Besides everything unfolding precisely according to his script, his backside was itching again. Was this considered doing good deeds?

Was he, perhaps, thwarting some world-shattering conspiracy?

No wonder the ancestors of his past life always said, the pinnacle of grand larceny was when ‘the greatest thief moves without striking a blow!’

This feeling of having formidable experts fight to the death just by moving his lips – it was absolutely sublime!

When Sulan transformed into a colossal golden python and descended her massive form onto the mountaintop, the tide of battle gradually turned against Philip. Yet, he remained utterly unfazed, displaying the composure of a seasoned general in times of crisis. Amidst the smoke and chaos at the heart of the battlefield, he calmly ordered a metal cage to be slowly raised from beneath the altar.

Du Chen, peering through his spyglass at the person in the cage, asked in a low voice, “Is that man your father?”

“Yes, that’s my father, Tyrone!”

Inside the cage, the unconscious Tyrone wore only white shorts, his body otherwise bare. Like Helen, he possessed auburn hair. His tall, athletic physique was covered in scars, and a three-finger-wide wound on his chest was particularly ghastly, no doubt the very sight Helen had first witnessed upon regaining her eyesight.

A chain inside the cage bound Tyrone tightly. Seeing this chain, Helen frowned slightly, hesitating as if to speak.

Du Chen, however, scoffed dismissively. This chain wasn’t even a sacred artifact; it was merely an ordinary shackle imbued with Roland’s battle qi. It was vastly inferior to Zigurd’s Cloud Mist Chains!

Seeing Du Chen’s disdainful smile, Helen felt a flicker of relief.

Just then, the serpentine Sulan, seeing Philip placing her master on the altar, grew frantic. She roared, “Philip, how dare you!?”

With that, she ignored the clashing blades and flashing swords around her and violently swung her enormous body, lunging towards Philip. As she charged, Philip’s protecting experts unleashed their swords and blades, but Sulan neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the weapons to strike her gleaming golden body. Then, with a sweep of her massive tail, she unleashed a life-or-death, desperate assault, sweeping aside the academy’s experts who blocked her path.

Philip reached the edge of the cage, glanced at the rampaging Sulan behind him, and sneered, “Lewis, gather your men and stop her!”

Led by Lewis, those few assistants suddenly shrieked skyward, their bodies rapidly transforming. At a glance, not a single one of them appeared human!

“Things are getting more interesting!” Bairu, who was leading his men in a desperate charge towards Philip, saw Sulan’s peril. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Mas, that snake is key to controlling the Aberrant Beasts. If anything happens to her, the beasts risk losing control. She cannot be harmed right now. You and I will go help her; the others, continue eliminating Philip’s assistants!”

Having spoken, one of them brandished a sacred artifact warhammer, the other raised a sacred artifact longsword, and they charged side-by-side. Abandoning their own opponents, they rushed to Sulan’s side. “We’ll deal with them together!”

“Thank you!” Sulan had just engaged with the numerous non-human assistants before her, already accumulating several wounds. With powerful reinforcements joining her, she rallied her spirit, her body expanding yet another size, and she hissed as she tangled with her opponents.

Philip glanced at his assistants, besieged by three Nine-Star powerhouses, and his brow subtly furrowed. He whispered to a rock by the altar, “You two, under these circumstances, my experiment’s success rate will drop significantly. It’s time for you to act. Afterwards, when all your academy’s experts are found slain, the blame will be placed squarely on Tyrone’s daughter!”

“Killing even your own people, you’re truly ruthless!” a cold voice emanated from the rock.

“Do you wish to leave them alive to uncover both your secrets?”

As Philip’s sinister voice echoed, the rock burst apart. A figure leaped high into the air, its slender claws effortlessly tearing apart a Holy Church expert soaring above. Immediately after, it swooped down like a hawk, pouncing on Sulan below.

Simultaneously, the hard volcanic ash ground on the mountaintop swelled into a mound, as if someone were burrowing beneath. In an instant, another figure emerged beneath Sulan, and two ethereal blue beams of light burst from the earth, assailing Mas and Bairu.

Bairu was greatly alarmed and hastily shouted, “They’re out! You two, hurry up!” With that, he disregarded others, holding his longsword horizontally across his chest. With a soft pop, the ethereal blue light clashed with Bairu’s longsword, striking him off his feet and sending him flying involuntarily. Vaguely, Bairu glimpsed Mas beside him encountering the same trouble.

As for Sulan, she even had a patch of flesh torn from her serpentine neck by the ambush from the sky.

The two attackers, having succeeded in their initial strike, were about to pursue when, suddenly, a figure appeared before each of them. “Hmph, what’s the point of bullying the little ones! Come on! Your opponent is me!”

A Flaying Knife and a Deboning Hook, under the shroud of night, appeared sinister and formidable.

Old acquaintances reunited, the four had no need for words; only a fight to the death would suffice. And Flaying and Deboning wouldn’t give them a chance to speak!

Bairu miraculously escaped with his life, though his internal organs were rattled. He forcibly circulated his battle qi to suppress his internal injuries, nervously watching the situation. He rushed to Mas’s side and urgently said, “Remember, no matter which of us survives, tell His Holiness the Pontiff that Francis’s utility must be re-evaluated. The position of Deacon-Bishop can never permanently secure the loyalty of someone who can command such powerful experts!”

Mas was more severely wounded, blood stains from his mouth already seeping into the black scarf on his face. Wielding his warhammer with one hand, he violently pounded his chest with the other, roaring, “What time is this!? You still have the fucking nerve to think about that!? Fight first, talk later!”

On a distant island, Du Chen stood on a reef at the water’s edge, silently observing everything. Helen, who had been anxious since Sulan’s peril, finally relaxed as Flaying and Deboning made their move.

Still, a question lingered in her mind: When had Flaying and Deboning arrived at Mount Tianshan?

The treasure beneath Mount Tianshan was truly formidable. In the past, Roland and Tyrone’s battle had already caused ceaseless floods and earthquakes across the Aethelgard Continent. Today’s battle far surpassed that one, yet Mount Tianshan remained unmoving under the treasure’s protection, not even generating a significant natural disaster!

As he watched the battle unfold, Du Chen analyzed the situation. Flaying had been right: the four ‘saints’ were roughly evenly matched. While Flaying was indeed a cut above the others, in a true fight to the death, Flaying was undoubtedly the strongest, followed by Tendon-Severing and Corpse Dissolution, with Deboning being the weakest. The current battle reflected this: Flaying steadily suppressed the aura of Tendon-Severing, whose nails were abnormally long, making victory only a matter of time. If not for Flaying’s slight consideration for an old acquaintance, unleashing his strongest killing move, Tendon-Severing would surely have ceased to exist. Meanwhile, Deboning struggled considerably against Corpse Dissolution, whose hands glowed with an eerie light, but by fully focusing on defense, he was in no danger of defeat.

“The Morning Star has appeared!” Du Chen murmured, gazing up at the starry sky.

Helen watched the sky turn pale in the east, her heart growing anxious. Yet, Du Chen’s previous “assertive” displays kept a profound hope alive within her.

As long as this eminent expert intervened, her father would surely be saved, absolutely!

As she was thinking this, she suddenly saw Du Chen slowly remove his white robe, revealing the black, form-fitting soft armor beneath. He then donned a mask provided by Flaying.

Helen was overjoyed. “Your esteemed Eminence, are you going to act personally?”

Du Chen grunted in affirmation. At this point, Philip’s hidden cards should all have been revealed. He believed there would be no major variables left; it was time for him to step in and end everything. Shameless, indeed! Other experts had dealt with all the formidable foes, yet he still had the audacity to claim he would “end everything”!

Good deeds are often found in peril. He had discussed this with Flaying multiple times and was utterly confident in his actions, otherwise, he wouldn’t dare to intervene personally!

Of course, all of this hinged on Philip truly being just a mere Battle-Warrior!

Helen watched as an ethereal water lotus, exuding an extraordinary aura and myriad rays of light, materialized beneath Du Chen’s feet. Immediately after, both he and the lotus vanished. Not a single trace of battle qi had been detected throughout!

The lotus, tiny as a mosquito, flew rapidly across the sea surface, reaching the summit of Mount Tianshan moments later. Had Du Chen’s inner strength not been greatly purified after the blooming of his fourth lotus, he truly wouldn’t have been able to sustain such a long-distance flight. Moreover, there was a peculiar phenomenon: whenever his strength waned and he prepared to catch his breath, a flicker of the profound sensation generated by the blooming of those four lotuses in his mind would pulse, stimulating his Lotus Internal Force to provide an endless supply of power.

Du Chen bypassed the battle-qi-laden battlefield, flying into Tyrone’s cage. Seated upon his lotus, he observed Philip, who was conducting preliminary experiments nearby, with a cold smile. Another lotus swiftly shot into Philip’s slightly agape mouth.

“Ouch!” Philip cried out in agony, clutching his stomach, and collapsed onto the experimental platform.

Alright, his personal strength truly wasn’t very high! It was all too smooth! Just as his script had foretold! Du Chen thought, reassured. With a flick of his lotus, he absorbed Tyrone, along with his chains, into the lotus, then retrieved the lotus from Philip’s stomach and vanished at high speed, riding his sacred artifact.

The situation drastically changed. Everyone was engrossed in their own desperate fights. They only heard Philip’s scream from the cage, and then Tyrone vanished. A few who had been keeping an eye on the cage only saw a flash of golden light inside before Philip stumbled, collapsed to the ground, and died, spitting blood.

“By the Battle Gods! Does Francis have an even more powerful friend hidden nearby!? What kind of strength is required to evade the detection of so many Nine-Star Battle Gods? At least I detected nothing at all!” Bairu’s heart was filled with inexplicable horror, but then a thought brought him immense joy: “Philip is dead!”

The overall situation was settled; victory was now only a matter of time!

Returning to the reef island, Du Chen still felt a touch of regret. The Lotus Sacred Artifact’s offensive power was too weak; he could only kill the Battle-Warrior Philip through a sneak attack. If Philip had reached the Sixth-Rank Battle God level, possessing the defensive power of a Battle Soul within his body, this move might have been useless.

Du Chen flashed before Helen, lifted Tyrone from the lotus, and placed him at Helen’s feet.

With a soft thud, Helen knelt, tears welling in her eyes, and gratefully said, “Thank you, Your Eminence!”

“Don’t thank me!” Du Chen leaned down, examining the chains on Tyrone, and said coldly, “You know what to do!”

“Understood!” Helen hastily closed her eyes and lowered her head. She heard a few “clack clack” sounds near her ears, and when Du Chen told her to open her eyes, the shackles, imbued with Roland’s battle qi, had already been effortlessly ‘violated’ by Du Chen.

What a pity it wasn’t a sacred artifact—Roland couldn’t possibly entrust a sacred artifact to Philip. Otherwise, Du Chen could have pocketed it again. Still, this was fine; since it wasn’t a sacred artifact, Roland wouldn’t be able to sense it!

“Your father still has alchemical anesthetic administered by Philip in his system. Here’s the antidote! Revive him!”

Helen respectfully raised her hands above her head, accepted the potion from Du Chen, and revived her father.

Tyrone slowly opened his eyes, revealing sky-blue irises. Then, he saw a woman with a veiled face sobbing softly beside him. He knew that voice all too well. “Helen…”

“Don’t busy yourself with reunions just yet!” Du Chen interjected. “I’ve already killed Philip, and Roland is approaching fast. You two must leave immediately. Sulan will stay to help me clean up the mess; she’ll find you later!”

“Alright, thank you, Your Eminence! My father and I…” As Helen spoke, Tyrone suddenly stood up, grabbed Helen’s hand, and urgently said, “You killed Philip? Damn it, he couldn’t be killed! He was using himself as a test subject!”