152: People's hearts are broken

"Help me!"

A shrill scream pierced the long street, only to be cut short by a dull thud.

The capital was in complete chaos.

This chaos did not originate from the Yao Beasts outside the city, but from within, from the darkest corners of the human heart.

With the appearance of that abyssal rift above the palace ruins, an invisible spiritual plague, more rapid than the fiercest flood, instantly engulfed the entire capital.

"The Divine Lord is supreme... The Divine Authority is eternal..."

A rice shop owner, originally kind-hearted, now had hollow eyes and a twisted expression as he raised his abacus and smashed it fiercely toward the cloth shopkeeper next door who was trying to wake him.

Blood splattered onto his face, yet he felt nothing, only persistently repeating that cold whisper.

Former neighbors now turned blades against each other; comrades of the past stabbed each other in the back with lethal intent.

Cries, curses, and the hair-raising whispers of fanatics wove together into a symphony of Hell at the end of the world.

These converted people, whether unarmed civilians or Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Stage, had their strength eerily enhanced.

They felt no pain and feared no death; their movements carried a rigid, inhuman coordination, as if controlled by invisible threads.

The long swords of ordinary soldiers often left only shallow white marks when striking them, yet a casual blow from them could easily tear through armor.

On the city wall, Wei Zheng's expression was ugly to the extreme.

"Report to the Commander! On the third section of the West Wall, Garrison Captain Zhang Jing... has rebelled! He is leading his three hundred personal guards to attack our rune cannon position!"

"Report! South City... internal chaos has broken out in the South City Imperial Guard formation; over five hundred people have been converted, and the formation is in disarray!"

One bloody battle report after another, like sharp knives, kept stabbing into the command center.

"Wei Zheng!" Li Qingxuan's voice trembled slightly; she gripped the long sword at her waist tightly, her knuckles turning white. "We cannot let this continue! The city must be suppressed!"

Just as Wei Zheng was about to speak, his pupils shrank violently.

"Watch out!"

Without any warning, a captain of the personal guards beside him stiffened, and the tip of a pitch-black dagger pierced through his heart.

Shadows flickered.

A dozen dark figures dressed in the uniforms of ordinary soldiers appeared around the command platform like ghosts; their cultivation was, shockingly, entirely at the Golden Core Stage!

A decapitation squad composed of Golden Core fanatics!

Their target could not be clearer—Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan!

"Protect Her Highness the Princess!"

The surrounding Golden Core retainers roared and rushed forward, spiritual light flashing as they instantly engaged in battle.

But the more lethal attack came from an invisible source.

The figure of Elder Ying Mei appeared, who knows when, above the enemy formation not far away; she did not act, but those eerie eyes locked onto Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan from afar.

"Give up. Becoming a part of God is your glory."

That voice exploded directly in their minds, carrying an irresistible corrupting power.

Wei Zheng let out a muffled groan, feeling countless negative emotions slithering into his Sea of Consciousness like venomous snakes; greed, jealousy, despair... all sorts of thoughts sprouted wildly, attempting to tear his will to shreds.

"Get out!" he roared, and the iron-blooded Evil Qi of the Demon Suppression Division soared into the sky, barely constructing a line of defense within his Sea of Consciousness.

Li Qingxuan's situation was worse; she was already distracted by commanding the Imperial Guards, and now, hit by this mental impact, her vision blackened, her Sea of Consciousness churned, and she could barely stand.

Just at this critical moment, an elderly, angry shout resounded through the sky.

"Do you think the Great Tang has no one left!"

The Royal Ancestor stepped forward and slapped his withered palm forward. There was no earth-shattering commotion, only a streak of brilliant, ultimate golden light that swept across.

Those dozen Golden Core assassins, along with a large swath of the Divine Servant Legion soldiers around them, dissolved and evaporated silently in the golden light like ice under a scorching sun.

The power of a single strike was terrifying to this extent.

But the Royal Ancestor's body swayed violently, a wisp of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and his complexion instantly turned ashen. He looked at Li Qingxuan, his voice filled with exhaustion: "Girl, from here on... it's up to you..."

However, in this despairing chaos, some unexpected sparks quietly bloomed in the dark corners of the city.

West City, the slums.

This was the most lawless place in the capital, usually filled with thugs, scoundrels, and gamblers.

"Damn it!" A man nicknamed "Limp Liu," his eyes red, gripped a broken chair leg, staring fixedly at his wife who had hollow eyes and was muttering "The Divine Lord is supreme."

"Screw the Divine Lord! I am your man! Wake up!" He roared, but dared not actually strike.

Beside him, a skinny monkey who usually specialized in petty theft held two kitchen knives, his voice fierce: "Brother Liu, why waste words on these possessed things? Look over there, Butcher Wang chopped off his father's head!"

Limp Liu turned his head to look and shuddered all over.

"Damn!" He spat, a flicker of determination flashing in his eyes. "Brothers, these bastards are going to tear our home apart! We might be scoundrels, but we can't just watch our home be destroyed! Let's fight them!"

"Fight!"

A group of street ruffians, looked down upon by everyone, now gripped whatever they could use as weapons—kitchen knives, shoulder poles, bricks... They spontaneously gathered and roared as they charged toward the converted fanatics.

Their strength was insignificant, but that fierce determination to protect something was like a small, resilient wildfire.

All of this was seen clearly by Li Dong deep underground.

His [Spiritual Domain] covered the entire city; every wail, every betrayal, every trace of despair in the capital was clearly fed back into his perception.

He saw that Golden Core decapitation squad, saw the eruption and weakening of the Royal Ancestor, and saw the resistance of Limp Liu's group.

But his attention was focused on those fanatics.

"Something's not right..."

Li Dong "looked" at an Imperial Guard soldier who had just finished converting.

In his perception, this soldier's Sea of Consciousness was not completely covered or erased by an external will. Quite the contrary, the soldier's own will was still there, just infinitely shrunk, curled up in a corner, shivering.

And in the center of his Sea of Consciousness, the various negative emotions he possessed—resentment toward his superiors, jealousy of his colleagues, fear of the future, greed for power—were catalyzed and magnified a thousand times by that "Divine Lord's" evil thoughts, forming a mental storm that completely took control.

"So that's it... It's not forced control; it's an amplifier for desire!"

Li Dong understood instantly.

The Divine Lord's power was more like a catalyst, a virus. It didn't create anything; it just detonated the dark side that already existed in human nature, letting the host consume itself.

"If that's the case..."

Li Dong's heart stirred, and he cautiously probed a trace of [Source of Purification] power into the soldier's Sea of Consciousness.

This time, he did not, like when dealing with Yao Beasts before, directly purify that massive "divine" power; instead, he precisely targeted the magnified "desires" themselves.

The Source of Purification touched that mental storm composed of resentment and greed.

The next second, something strange happened.

The storm was like a lit powder keg; not only was it not purified, but it instantly burst open!

But this explosion was an inward collapse.

The fanaticism on the soldier's face instantly froze, turning into extreme confusion and pain; the eerie white divine luster on his skin dissipated with a hiss, like a popped soap bubble.

The power within his body lost its support and began to clash and annihilate each other crazily.

"What... have I... done..."

A glimmer of clarity returned to the soldier's eyes. He looked down at his hands stained with the blood of his comrades, let out a desperate wail, and then his body went limp, losing all signs of life.

And in Li Dong's perception, with the soldier's death, an energy feedback several times purer than when purifying Yao Beasts returned, instantly merging into his Spiritual Domain.

"What the f*ck?"

Li Dong was stunned.

Purifying fanatics driven by desire had a better effect than purifying Yao Beasts?

He raised his head abruptly, and his [Spiritual Domain] swept across the entire city.

The tens of thousands of fanatics ravaging and destroying the city were, in his eyes, no longer enemies, no longer a crisis.

They were... walking, fragrant, high-grade tonic pills!

"Haha... Hahahaha!"

Li Dong couldn't help but laugh, his laughter filled with irrepressible ecstasy.

"So the greatest Opportunity wasn't those Yao Beasts, but you all!"

"Qiankun Zi, Ying Mei, Nether Scorpion... thank you for this generous gift!"