122: Parliamentary Fanatic

"Pfft—"

Thousands of miles away, in an extremely hidden Immortal Cave, Qiankun Zi, who was sitting cross-legged and regulating his breathing, suddenly opened his mouth, and a spurt of blood shot out. His Aura instantly withered.

Not far from him, the gaunt Elder and the black-robed old man both let out muffled groans, their faces turning as pale as paper, with striking blood seeping from the corners of their mouths.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Qiankun Zi's eyes turned crimson. He stood up abruptly, and the Aura of his Late Stage Golden Core surged uncontrollably, causing the entire Immortal Cave to tremble.

The jade talisman in his hand, used to sense the altar, shattered into powder with a "crack."

"Li Dong! It's that Li Dong again! This seat will tear you into ten thousand pieces and destroy your Divine Soul!" Qiankun Zi's roar echoed in the Immortal Cave, filled with endless resentment and madness.

With the altar destroyed and the core channel severed, he, as the leader, suffered the most severe backlash, and even his Golden Core developed tiny cracks.

"Council Leader... that kid's 'Perfect Dao Body'... could he actually reverse our sacrifice?" The gaunt Elder clutched his chest, his voice hoarse, with deep terror lingering in his eyes.

The black-robed old man also felt lingering fear: "This kid's methods are bizarre, and that Domain is unheard of. To think he could resonate with the Dragon Vein; he is simply our nemesis! We... we still underestimated him."

Qiankun Zi's chest heaved violently, and fierce light flickered in his eyes. After a moment, he suppressed his churning blood and Qi, hissing: "Pass on my order! All Council members are to immediately abandon all peripheral strongholds, fully retreat, and move into the deepest 'Hidden Stronghold' network underground! Jing City... abandon it for now!"

"Yes, Council Leader!" Although the two Elders were unwilling, they understood that since even the shocking killing Formation set up by the three of them at the Late Stage Golden Core had been broken by that kid, staying in Jing City would be tantamount to suicide.

The threat posed by Li Dong had far exceeded their estimates.

...

Vortex Trap Zone, altar ruins.

Li Dong let out a long breath of stale air. The aftereffects of forcibly unleashing his power began to manifest, and a wave of soreness spread through his limbs and bones.

He silently circulated the [Purple Firmament Divine Lightning Body Tempering Art], attempting to alleviate the discomfort in his body.

The [Spiritual Domain] quietly spread out. He could clearly perceive that with the complete collapse of the altar, the painful groans of the Jing City Dragon Vein had lessened significantly, as if it had unloaded a heavy mountain.

But... that contamination deeply rooted in the core of the Dragon Vein, like a maggot on a bone, still stubbornly persisted.

What made his heart sink even more was that, deep underground, the fluctuations of that "Ancient Forbidden Power," although much weaker than before, had not completely disappeared.

It was like a dormant giant beast, having only temporarily retracted its claws and fangs, still exuding a heart-palpitating threat.

"Young Friend Mu Feng, you... you have saved Jing City again, saved the entire Great Xia!" Wei Zheng walked over with large strides. Looking at the chaotic ruins of the altar and then at the somewhat weak-breathed Li Dong, his eyes were filled with unspeakable admiration and gratitude.

The Royal Ancestor also stroked his beard and nodded, his gaze towards Li Dong complex and difficult to decipher, containing both appreciation and a trace of inquiry: "Young Friend Mu Feng is truly... a heaven-gifted genius. If not for you, the consequences would be unimaginable."

They both knew clearly that if not for Li Dong's earth-shattering final strike and that magical method of invoking the power of the Dragon Vein, it would have been absolutely impossible for them to stop this catastrophe on their own.

Li Dong waved his hand and said, "Lord Wei, Old Ancestor, this is not the time to relax. Although this altar is destroyed, the true source still remains."

As he spoke, he paced through the ruins, seemingly searching for something.

Suddenly, his footsteps paused, and his gaze fell on a broken stone slab half-buried in the rubble beneath the altar's base.

The stone slab was carved with some blurry patterns, somewhat similar to the ancient runes seen at the entrance, but they seemed more complex.

"This is..." Li Dong squatted down and reached out to brush the dust off the stone slab, a faint energy fluctuation transmitting from his fingertips.

"This seems to be... a part of a defensive mechanism left behind from a more ancient period of the 'Vortex Trap Zone'? The remains of some Formation hub?"

His heart stirred. Could this thing be related to that "Ancient Forbidden Power"?

Seeing this, Wei Zheng also leaned over, concentrating on it for a moment, his expression grave: "I have never seen these runes before. It seems the secrets of this 'Vortex Trap Zone' are even more numerous than we imagined."

He immediately straightened up and ordered Vice Commander Wang and the others behind him: "Pass down the order immediately: all departments of the Demon Suppression Division, in coordination with the City Defense Army and the Imperial Guard, are to fully purge the remaining berserk demons and contaminated Cultivators on the surface of Jing City! Additionally, dispatch elite squads to strictly hunt down the remnants of the Shadow Council; you must not let them escape!"

"Yes!" The soldiers and officers responded thunderously and quickly took action.

However, Wei Zheng knew in his heart that those people from the Shadow Council were as slippery as loaches. Having operated for many years, they must have countless secret passages and hidden strongholds in Jing City and the surrounding areas.

Trying to round them all up was easier said than done.

Sure enough, the preliminary report that came in half an hour later showed minimal results, with most Council members already missing without a trace.

Li Dong remained standing by the ruins, his brows slightly furrowed.

Just a moment ago, when he activated [Spiritual Resonance] to carefully sense this area, he suddenly captured a trace of abnormal change.

The core energy of the destroyed flesh altar, at the moment of its collapse, seemed to produce a powerful backlash fluctuation, like a giant stone thrown into a calm lake, transmitting towards the deeper parts of the "Vortex Trap Zone."

And as this backlash fluctuation spread, Li Dong faintly sensed that deep within the labyrinthine underground structure of the "Vortex Trap Zone," certain existences that were originally silent and exuding ancient and bizarre Auras seemed to... be disturbed.

They seemed to have been forcibly awakened from a long slumber, beginning to emit faint but undeniable signs of activity.

It felt as if... the mechanisms of some long-dormant "living labyrinth" had been triggered, or perhaps, some "ancient creatures" born from the special environment of this area were beginning to awaken.

"Trouble..." Li Dong thought to himself.

Cutting off the altar seemed to have poked another hornet's nest.

He knew very well that the peace before him was only temporary.

Although those madmen from the Shadow Council had suffered heavy losses and fled in a sorry state, they would never give up.

And the threat of that "Ancient Forbidden Power" deep underground, along with these newly appeared signs of awakening, all indicated that the crisis in Jing City was far from over.

The real challenge, I'm afraid, has only just begun.

The urgent priority is to find a method to thoroughly purify the contamination of the Jing City Dragon Vein; otherwise, this land will never know peace.

"Lord Wei, Old Ancestor," Li Dong turned around, his expression carrying a hint of gravity, "We must find a way as soon as possible to completely clear the contamination of the Dragon Vein. Otherwise, what happened today will likely repeat itself."

Upon hearing this, the relaxed expressions on the faces of Wei Zheng and the Royal Ancestor gradually faded, replaced by deep anxiety.

How could they not understand this principle? It's just that purifying the Dragon Vein is easier said than done.