Chapter 1137: Explosive Crisis

Bang—!!

Amidst the wildly dancing red pythons filling the sky, a battered figure struggled frantically. His black, hairy feet constantly leveraged the edges of the red paper to leap into the air.

As he did so, countless tiny paper fragments had pierced his body, leaving it riddled with holes. Yet, with the flow of Red Star Power, his vitality remained locked within him, like an unwearying, immortal beast.

His bone club whistled through the air, forcefully tearing a small opening in the red cloud.

He could live!Smash that eye, and he would live!!The Archpriest's eyes were filled with a desperate longing for life. Like a cornered beast, he burned his last reserves of strength, fighting to the death…

For some unknown reason, the red cloud in the sky grew smaller and smaller, and the aura of the Disaster of Scorn weakened. The monster, which had been so oppressive moments ago, seemed to have been drained, its attacks becoming soft and powerless. This undoubtedly gave the Archpriest confidence!

With a forceful stomp of his foot on a sheet of red paper flying towards him, the Archpriest surged directly into the cloud. The hollow, massive single eye rapidly expanded before him!

The Archpriest's roar was like thunder. He poured all his strength into a whistling strike aimed at the single eye!

Riiip—Under the Archpriest's desperate blow, the massive single eye tore open like red cloth cut by scissors. The red paper fluttering everywhere began to dissipate and vanish, and the red cloud shrouding the village slowly faded into nothingness…

The Archpriest smiled.His cracked lips stretched to his ears, exposing his uneven, dark yellow teeth. Just as he was immersed in the joy of his counter-kill, a slender hand reached out from behind the shattered single eye…

It was a figure cloaked in a red and black opera robe.Like an actor parting a curtain, reborn from the ruins, the person plummeted from the eye's remnants alongside the Archpriest, a boning knife gently flipping in their hand!

The Archpriest felt his body completely inverted, his vision blurred. Before he could recover, a sharp pain pierced his chest!

A furious wind roared past their ears. The Archpriest's eyes widened in shock; a hand had already plunged deep into his body. Before him, a ferocious Nuo mask gleamed with a chilling light…

With one hand piercing the Archpriest's body, the person's other hand gently removed the ferocious Nuo mask from their face, revealing a familiar countenance to the Archpriest.

"…We meet again," Chen Ling said with a faint smile.

The Archpriest's expression froze instantly.

Then, his expression gradually transformed into one of shock and terror, his gaze at Chen Ling as if he had seen a ghost!

Not long ago, he had just killed Chen Ling, after which a monster emitting the aura of the Disaster of Scorn emerged from Chen Ling's body… He had finally managed to kill that monster, only for a perfectly intact Chen Ling to emerge from its corpse…

The Archpriest felt he had likely fallen into some kind of nightmare loop, and even now, he hadn't fully recovered.

Both figures plummeted rapidly from high in the sky. However, the Archpriest was severely wounded and utterly lacked the strength to fight Chen Ling. Most critically, once Chen Ling's hand plunged into his body, the Archpriest could clearly feel his own power being frantically drained away!

Chen Ling's chest heaved violently as an unprecedented surge of Red Star Power continuously flowed into his body. Yet, he still seemed unsatisfied; seven or eight red pythons emerged from within him, simultaneously embedding themselves into various parts of the Archpriest's body, writhing continuously like breathing organisms…

"Is this Archpriest-level Red Star Power?"Chen Ling felt the seemingly inexhaustible Red Star Power, and his entire body swelled like a balloon. His skin began to turn into red paper and unfurl, and hot air currents surged all over him.

The two figures streaked across the sky like meteors, crashing explosively into the faint bonfire at the center of the village!

Bang—!!The stone barrier around the bonfire was shattered, and the already weak flames dispersed. Embers flew everywhere, scattering like a rain of fire across the village ruins…

The swirling gale made Jian Changsheng and the others simultaneously raise their hands to shield their faces. As sheets of red paper danced in the center of the bonfire, an aura that had enveloped the village was swallowed and dissipated.

"The power suppressing the Divine Path is gone?!"Sun Bumian felt his body regaining strength, no longer in its previous weak and listless state. Surprise flickered in his eyes.

Just as he was about to speak further, a sudden fit of coughing erupted beside him!

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…"Jian Changsheng suddenly hunched over, coughing up ancient killing intent mixed with blood foam. A pure blackness spread in his eyes, yet it was forcibly restrained by his own gaze. His rank also fluctuated wildly.

At times, he was rank five; at others, rank six; sometimes even soaring to rank seven… It was as if another soul was active within Jian Changsheng's body, and the surging killing intent around him grew increasingly dense.

"Spade, what's wrong with you??"

"Cough, cough, cough… I don't know… I didn't feel anything when the Divine Path was suppressed just now, but now that I've encountered Heart's disaster aura… I feel a killing intent trying to seize control of my body…" Jian Changsheng's brows furrowed as he took deep breaths, seemingly battling the killing intent with his own will.

Seeing this, Jack of Diamonds frowned deeper and suddenly asked:

"Are you a fusionist too?"

"Me?" Jian Changsheng immediately shook his head. "No, I'm not…"

"Right, you don't have the disaster aura… but your condition…" Jack of Diamonds looked at the ancient killing intent continuously emanating from him, hesitating to speak further.

Just as they were speaking, the remaining embers of the distant bonfire exploded again!

The Archpriest's withered corpse was casually tossed aside, and a figure, adorned with fluttering red paper, slowly rose from the remnants of the fire. Chen Ling's expression was distorted and pained.

At that moment, Chen Ling was like someone who had eaten ten bowls of rice in one sitting, the Red Star Power brimming within him, threatening to burst him open. If not for his mastery of the disaster transformation ability, he would likely have exploded and died, just as in the Red Dust Realm previously.

Now, his audience's anticipation wouldn't allow for another death… If he were to explode here, it would truly be a melodramatic death.

"Damn it… I need to find a way to disperse this excess power."Chen Ling's mind raced as he endured the pain of impending explosion. He abruptly raised his head and roared towards the dark cliff in the distance:"Everyone, get over here!"

The next moment, the dead silent cliff seemed to come alive. Large numbers of shadow centipedes crawled out, surging like a tide towards Chen Ling.Without the bonfire's restriction, these disasters could move freely within the village. Seeing the surging wave of disaster approaching, Sun Bumian and the others immediately hid behind the houses, thus avoiding being swept away by the shadow centipedes.