The proof of Emperor Wu began with daily rewards for diligence.

midnight.

Inside an abandoned factory building next to Green Lake, an extremely bloody sacrificial ceremony is taking place.

One hundred freshly slaughtered corpses were hung upside down on the I-beams of the factory building, their throats slit by sharp blades, their blood bubbling and dripping into the dark prayer array below.

The four bronze candlesticks shone brightly, their flickering light distorting the figures inside the factory into bizarre and grotesque shapes, like a chaotic dance of demons.

Outside the factory, warriors from the Shi Huo Sect, dressed in fiery red robes, patrolled incessantly, one sentry every three steps and another every five, protecting the entire lakeside area so thoroughly that not even a female mosquito could fly in.

These followers of the Fire Church are at least somewhat intelligent.

Knowing that their unrestrained exploitation of people has led to a surge in missing persons cases in the Cuihu neighborhood, government officials and江湖客 (jianghu people) who come to investigate and collect evidence are coming in droves.

The Fire Sect is not some secretive underground organization.

With more people investigating, the act of sacrifice naturally becomes difficult to conceal.

Moreover, there is a traitor within the sect. Many martial artists already know that tonight, in addition to summoning shadow guards, the shaman will also refine twelve high-grade ascension pills.

This is a precious medicine that can help martial artists in the Spirit Cultivation Realm undergo a complete transformation and break through to the Feather Transformation Realm.

Martial arts practitioners flocked to it, willing to risk their lives for it.

Nowadays, only force can deter the wicked.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: ①⓪①ⓚⓚⓢ.ⓒⓞⓜ]

At approximately 12:15, an SUV rolled over the overgrown riverbank and, under the watchful eyes of the Fire Sect martial artists, drove directly to the factory gate.

Someone was waiting at the door, and frowned as they asked the young man in red, who had jumped out of the car, "Why are you so late?"

Don't look at me like that.

"I only agreed to come and help my family, but I didn't agree to come and be a dog for your Fire Sect."

The young man in Chinese clothing did not answer the person who was supposed to meet him directly. He brushed past him and arrived at the factory gate.

"Your Fire Cult is truly utterly depraved."

The young man in Chinese clothes couldn't help but click his tongue when he saw the corpses hanging upside down like cured meat inside the factory.

"Tang Xi, watch your words!"

"It's your family that begged to cooperate with us. Even without your Tang family, there would be the Zhao family, the Qian family, and the Zhou family vying to cooperate with us."

This newly appointed outer deacon of the Church of the Fire of the Chamber, though of low rank, was not devout enough in his faith in the God of the Fire of the Chamber.

But this did not stop him from raising the banner of the Fire of the Chamber and rebuking those who slandered the Fire of the Chamber to his face.

"Your Fire Sect is truly remarkable, managing to garner the secret support of over 30% of the families in the inner city."

Tang Xi was not affected by the pressure and remained indifferent.

However, as soon as he stepped into the factory, he felt a chilling malice coming towards him. He changed his tone and retreated from the factory.

"Your ceremony is not over yet, so I won't go in and disturb you."

"However, I'm curious, why did you shamans summon shadow guards and send me here?"

Upon hearing this, the outer guard, without suspicion, explained, "The shaman's sacrifice this time will not only summon the Shadow Guards, but also refine three additional high-grade Ascension Pills."

"The Tang family has reserved one of them, saying it's a reward for you, to acknowledge your hard work these past few days."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xi glanced again at the eerie sacrificial ceremony inside the factory and was speechless.

What are these people thinking?

With such a sinister and eerie scene of sacrificing human lives, even if a top-grade Ascension Pill were truly refined, would I really dare to consume it?

Those scum in the family have truly run out of tricks. With such meager methods, they think they can make him, the former eldest son of the Tang family, die?

dream!

……

Less than 300 meters from the factory, in the weeds, many江湖客 (jianghu ke) had already taken cover.

Chen Jue arrived a little late because he needed to collect his daily reward.

He used the Concealing Spirit Technique combined with the maxed-out Soaring Dragon Movement Technique to minimize his aura and movement, and quietly crept to the front of the bushes.

Three hundred meters away, the dilapidated factory was billowing black smoke, with a pungent smell of carbonized medicinal herbs and the stench of burnt protein.

Chen Jue flipped through his Diligence Log and was truly incredulous. The problem of his Qi and Blood Limit that had troubled him for so long had actually been resolved by refining a wisp of Chamber Fire True Qi.

[Consumes three points of Divine Essence to restore health to 200%.]

The "divine sedimentation" mentioned in the log should be the obsessive consciousness carried by the True Qi of the Chamber Fire when the pig-headed monster made its final counterattack.

Later, he was scorched to death by the blazing furnace core within his body, turning into a bit of divine essence. Through the reward of his talent, it expanded from one to three, eventually becoming the nourishment for his breakthrough in blood and qi.

"However, replicating divine sediment consumes too many spirit stones..."

Tonight's reward for hard work has cost Chen Jue a fortune.

The dozen or so spirit stones he had scraped together weren't enough, and he even had to break a dozen or so of his best spirit sprout pills to barely gather enough to replicate a little bit of divine essence.

That wasn't all. The dantian furnace, through refining the true qi of the chamber fire, obtained two hundred strands of true qi of flame.

According to the theorem that one part of the harvest comes from sweat, one part from hard work, and one part from external spiritual power.

Of the four hundred strands of true energy that were doubled, two hundred strands required him to provide them with external spiritual power.

As a result, eight out of his remaining 40 Spirit Sprout Pills were used up. What could have been done for 20 spirit stones ended up costing him a full 240,000 coins.

"When I was in the early stage of the True Qi Realm, I didn't feel anything, but ever since I entered the middle stage of the True Qi Realm, it feels like I'm spending money like water, and I can't stop..."

Chen Jue sighed inwardly, but his eyes never left the factory area.

At this moment, the six hundred strands of fiery true energy stored in his dantian cannot yet become his immediate combat power.

It is also necessary to continuously regulate internal energy and practice the Four Circulations of the River Chariot in order to use this as a medium to continuously combine with the other four types of spiritual energy, thereby forming the Five Elements True Qi that has real combat power.

"No matter how you look at it, practicing martial arts is still the most reliable. You don't need to think about anything else, just focus on grinding."

Chen Jue held the hilt of his sword with his left hand, quietly feeling the improvement in his skills brought about by the perfection of the "Six Harmonies Sword Technique".

It was a mysterious and profound feeling, a culmination of his understanding of the essence of swordsmanship when he had mastered it, as if he could slash through the entire universe with a single stroke.

However, his true qi was too weak to possibly unleash such power.

Thus, the two completely different feelings of reality and illusion tore at his understanding of swordsmanship.

This made him unsure of the strength of his own swordsmanship.

Swish!

As the black smoke from the abandoned factory gradually subsided, a group of martial arts practitioners who had been waiting for a long time all sprang into action from the weeds and rushed forward.

People rushed up to Chen Jue from both sides.

Like Chen Jue, they were dressed in black, their faces covered with black cloths, and they carried a variety of weapons.

"..."

The two martial arts practitioners exchanged a glance with Chen Jue, and after their initial surprise, they tacitly refrained from making a move.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Just as the three were exchanging glances, two kilometers away in the Cuihu neighborhood, a dozen streaks of fire shot into the sky, then traced perfect parabolic curves as they hurtled toward the abandoned factory on the lakeside.

"Holy crap! The Great Ming Divine Arrow! Divine Fire Flying Crow!!!"

Chen Jue and the group of martial arts practitioners were stunned as they watched the giant firebird fly overhead at high speed.

This is a military weapon used by the Divine Dynasty to destroy mountains and temples and to launch targeted attacks on spirit boats and divine ships. Only the Divine Dynasty's army can legally possess it.

Could this be the work of the Jiangnan Wanhu Prefecture?

Just as everyone was in shock, the enormous fire crow crashed down on the lakeside factory like a meteor shower.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The enormous divine fire crow exploded upon landing.

It was unknown what kind of explosive was filling the crow's belly. There was no fireball that exploded. After a brief, blinding flash of white light, a terrifying circular shockwave swept outwards, crushing everything in its path.

That entire steel-structured factory was completely shattered when the first Divine Fire Crow exploded.

The subsequent explosion sent steel beams, concrete fragments, and iron pieces flying into the air like a shower of flowers, propelled by the shockwave.

The group of martial artists, who were 300 meters away from the explosion's epicenter, had no time to run. Without exception, they were all blown away by the layered, spreading circular shockwaves.