Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

A flash of light appeared on Kusuo's side as the incense was lit.

Even so, everyone still felt a tightness in their chest, as if someone had stuffed a wet cotton ball into their chest cavity, making it difficult to even breathe.

Xilun stood before the chasm, the echo chamber in his throat almost aching from the surge of water.

He "heard" it.

Below the cracked well throat, there was indeed more than just roots.

There is even deeper space.

Like an old passage that has been sealed off for many years, at the end lies a huge, slow, yet still not dead "active" mass.

And those intertwined black and white roots are nothing more than its outermost, rotten skin.

Samuel staggered two steps, bracing himself on his short cane, his face no longer showing the stubbornness he had shown before, only a grim look of miscalculation.

"How could this happen..."

"That's not how it's written on the old map..."

Xilun gave him a cold look.

"You dare to come and rummage through this place with just a tattered page of a book and an old map. Now you're asking me why?"

Samuel's throat bobbed, but he couldn't answer a single word.

Before he could speak, Edwin on the other side suddenly let out a muffled roar.

The gray line that had been nailed to the back of his neck by the Soul-Suppressing Nail was still there, but the deeper pollution gushing out of the crack seemed to have found a way to survive, and frantically drilled into the dark lines that were originally buried on his body.

In the blink of an eye, twisted black lines bulged under the skin of his chest, and half of his neck arched outward, as if something was about to burst out of his flesh.

Samuel's expression changed drastically: "Edwin!"

Edwin's knees buckled, he braced himself with one hand on the ground, and clutched his throat tightly with the other, his eyes bloodshot.

He wanted to speak.

But when he opened his mouth, what came out was not a sound, but a thin, damp, and cold murmur.

When that song began, even Samuel took a half step back.

"Don't touch him!"

Xilun suddenly stopped the old man.

He stepped forward, thrusting his golden spear into the ground, the butt of the spear sinking heavily into the rubble.

Then he closed his eyes.

Deep in my mind, that little white sprout, just over an inch long, slowly emerged.

Pray for the sacred bud.

Previously, in Scamander and at the mansion, he practiced little by little, honed his skills, and tested them by pressing, cleaning, and experimenting.

But tonight is different.

This stuff isn't meant to be used slowly tonight.

It's meant to be used as a makeshift barrier.

The moment the deep pollution from the crack touched the edge of his mind, Baiya seemed to sense something, trembled slightly, and then released a wisp of extremely thin yet pure white light, spreading layer by layer along his consciousness.

Irritability, stuffiness, nausea, bloating...

The random feelings that had just arisen were mostly suppressed by the whiteness.

Xilun felt a sense of relief, and his previously heavy gaze returned to focus.

Samuel, who was closest to him, saw this scene clearly.

The old man's eyes widened suddenly.

"you……"

"You actually mastered it?!"

Xilun ignored him.

He crouched down in front of Edwin, pressed his left hand on the other's shoulder, and with his right hand, his five fingers joined together, a thin line of white light slowly appearing at the fingertips.

The white light was not strong; it even appeared somewhat faint after being hit by rain.

But as soon as it landed on Edwin's chest, the raised black stripes seemed to be branded with a hot iron, and immediately began to writhe wildly.

Edwin arched his back, veins bulging on his forehead, and a beast-like roar came from his throat.

Just as Samuel was about to step forward, Siron spoke in a cold voice.

"Hold him down."

The old man was suddenly startled.

The next moment, it actually pounced on him and pressed down hard on Edwin's other shoulder.

Xilun slowly pressed down with his five fingers.

The whiteness seeped into the skin and flesh little by little.

That's not a gentle purification.

It's more like a sharp, almost cruel knife, relentlessly carving into the deepest veins of pollution.

Edwin's face contorted in pain, his teeth chattering, and his legs kicking wildly in the mud, leaving two craters in the ground.

Suddenly, a fist-sized dark shadow bulged up in the center of his chest!

Samuel caught his breath.

The thing looked like a rotten root, or a lump of living black flesh, and was embedded tightly in the outer edge of Edwin's chest cavity, desperately trying to push downwards.

Xilun's eyes sharpened, and he clenched his fists—

pull!

scoff!

The shadowy figure was actually ripped from the flesh, leaving behind a trail of foul-smelling black blood.

The white light enveloped the object, emitting a soft hissing sound, and within two breaths, it was ground into a wisp of gray smoke.

The wind blew it away.

The surroundings fell silent instantly.

Not to mention Samuel, even Rena, Kusso, and the others who were pressed to the edge were all stunned for a moment.

pollute……

You can pull it out like that?!

Edwin gasped for breath, the dark red in his eyes finally receding a bit, and he was trembling all over, as if he had just been pulled out of ice water.

He looked at Xilun, his eyes no longer filled with ferocity and hatred, but with a kind of almost blank astonishment.

Samuel's hand froze in mid-air.

The old man's lips moved, his voice terribly hoarse.

"If...if I had met you a few years earlier..."

"You will save yourself from harming many people."

Xilun stood up, his tone showing no sign of softening.

Samuel gave a wry smile.

That was a very accurate critique.

Because he couldn't find a way to refute it.

Just then, an even deeper grinding sound suddenly came from deep within the crack.

It was as if some enormous thing had slowly shifted its body behind the sealed stone door, deeper inside.

Just for a moment.

But the roots outside the entire well went crazy!

The thin black and white roots that had previously been just reaching out suddenly twisted into several thick, long root whips, lashing out in all directions.

The half-collapsed wall of the annex was suddenly punched through, and the patients screamed as they scrambled out. Several men in gray robes were even grabbed by the ankles and dragged around on the ground.

"Don't come any closer!"

Xilun suddenly drew his spear and stepped to the front of the rift.

The gun was fired.

The wind and rain suddenly turned chaotic.

At this moment, he no longer held back.

Inside his chest, the Great Thunder Breathing Technique began to operate with a roar, and a deep thunderous sound exploded from the depths of his bones, faintly harmonizing with the real thunder in the stormy night sky.

The Xuan Yin Breathing Technique was simultaneously pushed to its limit, and before the rainwater even touched the spear, it was covered with a thin layer of white frost.

Beneath the frost, a thin wisp of bluish-white lightning slowly traveled along the gun barrel.

Charge enrichment!

This unique talent he acquired at the first level was usually too much for him to keep up with his current level, but on this stormy night, on a weapon as naturally conductive as the Golden Spear, he managed to unleash a long-lost sharpness.

Crackling sound.

A flash of blue-white lightning disappeared in an instant.

Xilun crossed his hands, the gun barrel swirling around his arms, once again assuming a defensive stance resembling a coiled dragon.

But this time, it's not about protecting myself.

It is to guard the wellhead.

The first whip, drawn out, struck the spear ring, but was deflected by the coiling force and slammed into the broken wall beside it. The second whip had just slipped through the gap when the spear tip flicked upwards from below, the cold force shooting out along the shaft, instantly freezing the whip until it became brittle and snapped into several pieces with a crack.

The third, the fourth...

Gravel, weeds, and mud around the well were scattered everywhere by the pumping.

Xilun, however, seemed rooted to the spot, refusing to retreat an inch.

At this moment, the Iron Armor of Bone Forging was pushed to its limit, with its shoulders, back, waist, and legs forming a single unit. No matter how many rocks and roots pounded on it, it only produced dull thuds.

But the force of the thing below the crack was too great.

A thicker black and white whip suddenly emerged from the blind spot and lashed out at his side.

boom!

Xilun staggered half a step from the impact, and the wound on his ribs, which had not yet healed, burst open again, and blood gushed out.

Reina's expression changed drastically: "Silen!"

Xilun acted as if he hadn't heard at all.

He smeared the blood on his side with his backhand, then wiped it onto the gun barrel, his eyes growing even colder.

The wound edges contracted again under the high pressure of blood and gas. Although it could not recover instantly, it managed to stop the most ferocious bleeding.

He knew he couldn't delay any longer.

That thing down in the well hasn't actually come out yet.

But even just these exposed corners were enough to make the whole stadium almost collapse.

"Samuel".

Xilun suddenly spoke.

The old man paused for a moment, then instinctively looked up.

"Since you've dug up maps from thirteen years ago, do you even know how these kinds of places were sealed off back then?"

Samuel's eyes widened in shock as he looked sharply at the old stone pillars on either side of the crack, which were already half-buried in mud.

He glanced at it and was struck dumb, exclaiming, "The four corners suppress... the well throat is under immense pressure..."

"This place wasn't suppressed by fan groups alone; it was sealed off by the old church using nails and a bell tower!"

"But half of the bell tower collapsed, and I had to dismantle the bell stand in the west corner myself to retrieve the cables—"

He suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence.

Because he saw it.

Two weights have been quietly driven into the east corner and at the base of the clock tower.

And in Xilun's hand, there is one last one.

The old man's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, and his voice trembled.

"Were you setting this up the whole time?"

"Enough with the nonsense, which corner should we fix first?"

"Southwest Tomb Wall!"

Samuel practically roared, "That's the weakest spot!"

Xilun flicked his wrist.

The nail shot through the air, pierced the torrential rain, and sank heavily into the collapsed old stone foundation beneath the southwest tomb wall!

hum!

The three towns were all shaken.

The whip, which had been flailing about wildly, suddenly stopped.

But it was only a brief pause.

Because at the fourth point, there's still a real, heavy blow missing.

Xilun looked up at the half-collapsed clock tower.

Samuel also looked at the clock tower, his face ashen, but in that instant it seemed he had finally figured something out. He suddenly lunged at the broken iron chain of the bell-ringer beside him and gripped it tightly with both hands.

"Edwin! Drag everyone out of the annex!"

"This place can't be left here!"

Edwin coughed up blood, but still gritted his teeth and got up, pulling two gray-robed men who could still move towards the annex.

Rena finally led her team to the edge and dragged the patients out one by one.

Xilun took a deep breath, tensing the muscles in both arms simultaneously.

The golden spear was slowly raised.

The spear tip pointed at the thinnest crack in the clock tower's load-bearing structure.

In the rainy night, thunder rumbled in his chest, and a chilling aura filled the gun barrel. Even the wisp of electrical charge, which was not strong to begin with, was forced out and crackled around the dark gold gun shaft.

The next moment—

Draw your gun!

boom!

The entire gunshot looked like a dark golden, furious dragon, tearing through the torrential rain and crashing into the base of the clock tower!

Stone chips scattered like an explosion.

The cracks grew wildly upwards.

Immediately following, another thunderclap struck from the sky, and lightning flashed down along the wet bricks and gun barrels, blasting the entire clock tower white!

"fall--"

Xilun roared, pressed down on the gun with both hands, and pushed forward again!

Crack!

The clock tower finally lost its balance completely.

The upper half, connected to the heavy bronze bell, along with countless broken bricks and beams, crashed down onto the cracked old well!

Samuel, still clutching the iron chain, staggered as he was pulled along, but he stubbornly refused to let go, roaring hoarsely, "Now! Retreat!"

Boom!!!

Bronze bells, bricks, broken beams, and mud were all dumped into the well throat.

The black and white roots that were still pushing outward were abruptly severed by this heavy pressure, emitting a shrill scream that made one's scalp tingle.

The three anchors vibrated simultaneously, as if forcefully pinning back the upward-climbing energy.

Xilun did not retreat immediately.

Instead, he took half a step forward and slammed the butt of his gun heavily on the ground.

The entire Xuan Yin breathing technique was unleashed!

With the crack as its core, pale frost creeps outward inch by inch along the bricks and mortar, freezing the still wriggling roots, cracks, and leaks.

The churning water in the well gradually calmed down.

In the end, all that remained was the pattering of the heavy rain on the ruins.

Everyone was panting.

No one speaks.

Rena supported an unconscious child, staring blankly at the well opening completely covered by bricks, bronze bells, and frost, before finally finding her voice after a long while.

"It's...sealed off?"

Xilun did not answer immediately.

He was still standing at the very front, the echo chamber deep in his throat slowly opening, as if listening to it one last time.

Listen to whether it's truly quiet beneath these ruins.

A moment later, his gaze sharpened slightly.

It's quiet now.

But in the deepest, most profound place, beneath the old well that had been buried, on the edge of the ruins that had never truly been revealed, he still heard something extremely faint.

Like the aftershocks of some enormous being turning over in its slumber and then sinking back down.

Hidden, ancient.

It's deeper than all of this tonight.

Xilun slowly withdrew his gaze and drew his golden spear.

The gun shuddered, and the remaining frost fell in rustling sounds.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping from Rena, Kusso, and Fail, then to the pale-faced Samuel and the disheveled Edwin.

"From this moment forward, this area is a no-go zone."

"No one is allowed to step into the area within three miles of the outer ring."

"The Brotherhood won't allow it, the Tusolites won't allow it, the parishioners won't allow it, nobody will allow it."

Kusso asked instinctively, "Then... what's down there?"

Xilun glanced at the sealed ruins beneath his feet, his voice as cold as the last layer of ice on a rainy night.

"There's a secret down there."

"There is also pollution that is even deeper than tonight."

"It's not dead, and it's not time for us to go down yet."

Rena was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "What about Samuel and the others—"

Xilun looked at the old man and the young man.

Samuel looked as if he had aged ten years in an instant. The short, thread-bound cane in his hand had long since fallen into the mud, and he stood there soaking wet, completely devoid of the sharp edge he had shown earlier when he was willing to risk his life against Siron.

Edwin, whose chest was still bleeding, shifted his body slightly to block the old man.

Like a stray dog, even with broken bones, it still instinctively wants to protect the people it believes in.

Xilun glanced at them for a few moments, then spoke calmly.

"Tie him up and take him away."

"They need to explain what happened tonight."

"But until you've finished explaining, no one is allowed to approach this well again."

After saying that, he turned and left.

The heavy rain is still falling.

But the nagging that made my head throb in the church finally stopped.

Only behind the ruins, in the darkest part of the night, something seemed to be hiding, refusing to close its eyes, quietly watching everyone leave.

Xilun did not turn back.

Because he knew very well that this was not the end.

This was just a matter of nailing the door back down once more.