Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1414 Hunting Mission
"Reversal property".

Zhao Yuqiao wanted to curse. He was absolutely certain that his diagnosis was correct. The three afflictions were caused by the reversal of the ultimate formation power in their bodies.

This isn't the kind of easily dealt with "global reversal"—the kind that can be alleviated or even cured simply by using reverse elemental healing. What we're seeing now is clearly selective reversal. That is, it only deals with reversals that benefit itself, ignoring everything else. Because of this, ordinary people who pose no threat are simply outside the attack's range.

As for the other elite soldiers? With their leader gone, they have completely lost the ability to control the formation and are now considered ordinary people.

To be honest, Zhao Yuqiao had never encountered a level 5 hunting scene since reaching the fifth level, and because of this, he really lacked sufficient knowledge about it. This time, the gathering place taught him a harsh lesson.

"Luckily, hunting isn't a condition for returning..." Zhao Yuqiao quickly rummaged through his box, pulling out two thin bamboo tubes and a jar, and began preparing a potion. He knew that this wouldn't cure the root cause; to cure it completely, he had to kill the evil creature that had suddenly appeared. The problem was that everyone in this area who could fight had been crippled by the evil creature in one move. How could he deal with it? The demons outside the city were probably all badly beaten as well.

"Mr. Zhao, what's going on?"

A voice came, and Zhao Yuqiao's face suddenly lit up with joy, but he did not slow down the speed at which he prepared the medicine.

Yuchi Long had already noticed the changes in the outside world and immediately assembled his troops to rush here. The soldiers, who had lost their ability to break through the enemy's defenses, were no match for him and allowed him to break through all the way to this place.

"Yuchi Long, were you unaffected?" Zhao Yuqiao asked hurriedly.

"Of course, why did the city's protective maze disappear? Mr. Zhao, what's the situation? Please enlighten me. I'll do my best to help if needed."

"A monster has appeared outside the city. I don't know what form it takes, and unless I kill it, I can't solve this problem. Right now, your army is probably the only one in the city with any fighting power. I need you to go out of the city immediately and kill that monster!"

"If we can't kill him, is there a risk of the city falling?" Yuchi Long asked.

"Haha, how would I know? All I knew was that if we couldn't kill it, no ritual would be effective!"

“In that case, I’ll go right away,” Yu Chilong immediately agreed.

At the same time, another voice came from outside: "I'm going too."

Lu Ning had returned to the city in time. Fortunately, the ordinary people in the city were not affected by the disaster. However, she had seen the condition of the soldiers. On the way, she also encountered Qin Shu, Tang Ye and others who were very anxious. The power of the Commander on their bodies had disappeared, and their connection with the Absolute Formation had been severed.

Lu Ning was the only one who could still use the ultimate formation, and this was because the mastermind of the Frost Array was not present, so the central control was not paralyzed.

"You two are going together? That's good, at least you can look out for each other. But you have to be careful this time. That guy's power of reversal is not something ordinary people can handle. If he judges that you have posed a threat, the power within you will not be able to escape either."

“We will keep an eye on it,” Yuchi Long said.

Lu Ning didn't speak. She hadn't seen the evil creature's true form yet, so she couldn't come up with a way to defeat it. But since the gathering place had issued this kind of mission, there must be a way to hunt it.

Unless that thing wasn't an evil object from the past.

“Mr. Zhao, we are going to defeat that evil creature. While you are treating the three leaders, we hope you can also help us investigate why it appeared here,” Lu Ning said.

Zhao Yuqiao sighed: "I'm just a doctor, don't expect me to come up with any useful conclusions."

"it is good."

Lu Ning knew this meant he had agreed, so she left with Yu Chilong to assemble the team.

The morale of the Frost Formation was high; they were all quite excited about going to defeat a demonic entity that had affected Gouchen's defensive capabilities. As for Yuchi Long, needless to say, his chosen subordinates were all trained by him personally, and there would be absolutely no objections.

After a brief reorganization, the two led their troops out of the city gate and headed straight for the center point under the night sky above the mountains.

The demon was formless, and neither Lu Ning nor Yu Chilong could directly see its true form, but that didn't matter. Lu Ning remembered where the demon's metal position was; since it was heading towards Gouchen City, it must be on this route.

"I'll go first." Yu Chilong took on the vanguard role. "Lu Ning, stay about a hundred paces behind me and keep an eye on things. If anything seems amiss, launch ice shards into the sky, and I'll attack immediately!"

"Do you have a way to find it?"

"If you can't see it, then use wide-area destruction!" Yu Chilong yanked the reins. "Anything that can exist in this world cannot escape being attacked!"

Seeing his confidence, Lu Ning agreed, and the two teams, one in front and one behind, slowly advanced forward against the backdrop of the mountains.

Along the way, Lu Ning even saw some demons left behind. Their human bodies had mostly been reduced to the form of their basic power; some were still burning, while others had taken root and turned into plants, their appearance quite pitiful.

These demons themselves were not strong enough to be considered a threat. What was a threat was the Demon Law constructed by Huang Kui. This law applied to all demons and was therefore dealt with as well.

However, this can only be described as an aftermath. When Lu Ning returned from the central command tent, she also saw some such demons. The scope of their influence was very large, and Gou Chen was just one of the targets that were included.

The spot chosen by the demons was a former mine, but it had long since ceased production. The ore veins there weren't particularly abundant, and after the surface layers were mined, the yield decreased further as it changed hands several times, eventually becoming deserted. Now, it's filled with the corpses of demons, turning into a mass grave.

Descending from the mine, there was still a short distance to Gouchen. Lu Ning was currently focusing intently on the path, but she still didn't dare to open her demonic eyes carelessly. She could hear the low murmurs of the evil entity herself. The sound wasn't language, but rather a strange rhythm, and as Lu Ning approached, the sound grew louder, making it increasingly difficult for her to control the restlessness in her mind.

“Tianxing—” Lu Ning suddenly spoke, and those subordinates who had once belonged to the “Heavenly Court” immediately responded. A large amount of ice condensed in the air, forming a new binding force that suppressed the restless Tianxing in Lu Ning’s mind.

This was the place, a place even Lu Ning herself couldn't control, the limit of the distance at which she could sense the evil entity. A shard of ice shot into the sky, exploding beneath the mountain's reflection, dispersing the icy mist, and instantly releasing a few scattered raindrops. As the cold rain fell, Yu Chi Long's team detected Lu Ning's signal, and immediately, Yu Chi Long activated his ability.

The army's formation is imminent; they are about to storm the camp!
Everyone reined in their horses at the same time, and then, with their superb riding skills, they leaped up and slammed their feet onto the ground!

Lu Ning even heard a deafening roar, like a thunderclap. In fact, it was like a thunderclap from the earth; the entire ground trembled from the stomp, the shockwave spreading forward in the direction of the horse's hooves, impacting everything on the impact surface as if it had been hit by a car.

"charge!"

With a roar, Yuchi Long charged out first, followed closely by the cavalry behind him, who began their charge in a sharp angle. With the support of special power, the charge quickly reached high speed, and a spiral of wind pressure began to appear around Yuchi Long. As they crossed a ridge, the cavalry immediately unleashed a second shockwave!
The mountains collapsed and the earth cracked, trees were broken, and sand and stones flew everywhere. This shock even began to spread into the sky. Lu Ning could see some distorted and blurry traces appearing in the reflection of the mountains in the sky.

It may be invisible, but if it wants to have any impact on the world, it must also extend its body to the world.

This evil entity, later named "The Infernal Walker," the first to appear in the world, finally had some traces observed.

"It's become visible..." Lu Ning reached out and pressed her hand against the ice lines binding her. "Prepare to attack!"

The weapon covered in incantations took shape in the hands of his subordinates. The curse effect attached to these incantations was not aimed at evil beings, but Lu Ning deliberately designed it to be self-destructing using the Law of Abandonment, which could deal with most souls that could be absorbed into it.

Throwing spears.

The first round only had twelve spears. The cursed javelins shot straight into the sky, and then—missed.

As expected, there was no physical form. Lu Ning was not discouraged. If evil creatures were so easy to deal with back then, it wouldn't be a hunting mission.

She looked at Yuchi Long's army formation a hundred paces away, their charge unabated, and the truly powerful wide-area attack he had mentioned probably hadn't even appeared yet.

"First charge sweeps through the camp, second charge shatters the sky, third charge—"

The cavalrymen shouted in unison, and although their numbers were small, their shouts reached the heavens and the earth.

"Zhensun!"

His sprint came to an abrupt halt. Yu Chilong knew he could no longer accelerate, for the reversing force had already descended upon him. But since that was the case, Yu Chilong knew he had done the right thing; he could threaten this former evil entity and also force it out of its intangible form.

Everything in front of them fell silent for a moment, then collapsed. The powerful tremor had penetrated everything. Only a top-tier demon king among the demons could withstand this third impact.

It's not that he can't unleash a stronger attack, but the impact that speed can bring in this scenario is the limit.

The mountains in the sky disappeared, and then the oscillation in mid-air transformed into a dense layer of air visible to the naked eye. The "property" was being reversed; it was not the impact force of the oscillation that was changing, but the medium that transmitted the oscillation that was changing into another form.

"From medium to non-medium? In that case, the location is determined!" Yu Chilong stared at the sky and saw a patch of starry sky that was becoming more blurred and distorted in the direction of the specially transformed air layer. The invisible object did not show its form on earth, but its influence on the surroundings finally became more and more obvious as its own output increased.

"Boss, how do we fight?" Faced with such an opponent, the cavalry had no corresponding methods, and the same method would probably not work again.

"We didn't come here alone!"

Yu Chilong trusted Lu Ning, and Lu Ning did not betray his trust. As the "dishonorable murder" pierced through the air, by the time Lu Ning recognized the target, whether tangible or intangible, this conceptual attack could undoubtedly penetrate the opponent.

A storm instantly arose from the distortion, the dense air layer shattered, and stones rained down from the sky. Following closely behind were the effects of the distortion: the earth began to dissolve, and its capacity to support all things was being reversed.

"Don't even think about running away!"

Lu Ning's team was rapidly approaching Yu Chilong's direction. The activation of the Ice Array was accompanied by a pervasive icy mist, freezing the melting earth back into a frozen state. The properties of the ice also began to reverse, transforming from a solid, cold state to a hot, soft one. Lu Ning's freezing speed was almost synchronized with the speed of the property transformation, but the opponent's power had already quickly spread to her body. Both the power of the Ice Array and the power of her Nine Revolutions of Senluo Technique were being reversed.

"It's revealed, General!" Xuan Yangzi followed closely beside Lu Ning. He had taken over most of the control over the Frost Array, including the spread of the cold mist and the continuous condensation of frost, because Lu Ning had said before that there might be a moment when she was no longer compatible with the Frost Array.

How did the three leaders fall? How did the three ultimate formations within Gouchen disappear? It was because the people who were suited to the ultimate formations were no longer suited to them, causing the central system to cease operation. And since the leaders were still alive, the commanders could not take over the operation.

On the contrary, the commanders were not subject to as many restrictions, and the flag officers were able to maintain the formation for a short period of time. Lu Ning leaped up, drew her sword, and with the circulation of her inner energy, a scorching aura that made her feel as if her whole body was burning covered the blade.

"Thank you so much..."

Her heat pierced through the cold mist she had set up, and her full-speed sprint was just enough to catch the evil creature shot down from the sky. This was her only chance, but also her best chance.

"near!"

Bugle calls rang out from the front, and the aura of Yuchi Long's military formation enveloped Lu Ning. The mutual trust between the two sides allowed Lu Ning to accept this enhancement. Blazing flames erupted from the edge of her sword, and the fire finally burned away the surrounding cold, causing the melting ground to appear where the evil creature was about to fall.

It will burrow underground? It's well aware of the current situation.

The flames on Lu Ning's sword instantly turned purple, and the connection to the ice array was severed at that moment. The innate purple qi was completely incompatible with the Nine Revolutions of the Senluo Technique, and Lu Ning had expended considerable effort to calm its violent nature and integrate it into her own power. But now, the reversed technique was a perfect match!

The purple flames traced a beautiful fan-shaped arc before them, directly destroying anything that was being reversed under the influence of the innate purple energy. This ancient evil might be able to reverse the nature of anything, but only innate true energy, something far more ancient, remained completely unaffected.

A series of explosions shattered the fan-shaped surface, flames igniting space, causing invisible distortions, chaotic space, reversed land, formations—everything was engulfed in flames. The innate purple qi within Lu Ning, which had been unable to unleash its full potential, finally unleashed its true power. When everything was burned away, only a deep crater remained on the ground.