478: Chapter 478 To be a good person, you have to be ruthless!

The blood pool was still bubbling and surging, condensing a layer of blood-colored mist that hovered over the pool's surface and lingered for a long time.

The two "eyeballs" formed by plasma suddenly turned, and the scarlet gaze pierced through the mist, locking onto the figure that suddenly appeared on the altar.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

The bloody water fluctuated slightly, and the voice that came out was hoarse and astringent, like something was stuck in the throat.

At the same time, Xuanzhen's consciousness quickly swept across the surrounding karst cave.

He saw the corpses of villagers lying helter-skelter all over the ground, without a single trace of battle on their bodies, yet all of them had lost their breath.

Obviously, during the blood sacrifice ceremony just now, they suffered a huge backlash and ended up in this state.

By the altar, the man wearing black-rimmed glasses was lowering his head, overlooking this eerie human face in the blood pool.

"If you don't recognize my appearance, you should at least recognize the aura on my body, right?"

Hearing this, Xuanzhen first stared in puzzlement for a long while, and then blurted out:

"You are... Professor Ye Zhiren?! You're actually still alive!"

The human face formed by the convergence of blood had an exceptionally wonderful expression at this moment, mixed with shock, disbelief, and inexplicable panic.

The professor whose real name was called out—Professor Ye Zhiren—had a trace of a sarcastic smile on his refined face.

"Thanks to you, for seventeen years, I, this 'traitor', have been living just fine."

"How could you possibly find this place?!"

Xuanzhen's voice instantly rose, and the human face on the surface of the blood pool trembled violently, stirring up waves.

His heart shook violently, and he could hardly accept the reality before him.

You must know that the storage location of this "Ten-Thousand Soul Mother Gu Pool" had never been leaked to outsiders.

Even the core members of Utopia only knew its general location, let alone finding the exact spatial coordinates.

This was his ultimate trump card for saving his life!

In the organization, Xuanzhen had never been good at head-on combat.

He was better at using all kinds of ghost-like tricks, remotely controlling consciousness, toying with human hearts, coming and going without a trace, making enemies terrified and panic-stricken at the sight of every bush and tree.

And the reason why he could be so unscrupulous, disregarding even the noble families and the Special Investigation Team, and committing so many felonies while still remaining at large,

was precisely relying on this "Ten-Thousand Soul Mother Gu Pool".

For more than a hundred years, the powerful enemies Xuanzhen had encountered were countless, and he had been crushed and defeated many times.

Yet he was able to turn danger into safety time and time again; even if his Physical Body was destroyed, he could make a comeback not long after.

Therefore, he gained the terrifying title of the "Undead Blood Fiend" in the circle of outlanders, and his fierce reputation even surpassed several leaders of the organization.

Now, this most secretive trump card had actually been seen through by someone.

Xuanzhen felt as if he had been stripped naked and exposed under a hunter's muzzle.

That suffocating fear made him almost unable to think.

Professor Ye Zhiren did not answer his question, but only coldly gazed at the distorted human face in the blood pool.

Xuanzhen also stared at Professor Ye Zhiren for a long while. In the blood-colored eyeballs, the look of shock and suspicion gradually subsided, restoring a bit of composure.

He snorted coldly, pretending to be calm:

"It seems that after more than ten years of not seeing you, your strength has indeed improved."

Professor Ye Zhiren said indifferently:

"Yeah, so many years have passed; whether in terms of strength or intellect, even a pig should have improved."

"Hehe..."

Xuanzhen let out a dry laugh:

"You deliberately got plastic surgery, presumably unwilling to be hunted down for your identity by the organization and the government."

"That being the case, why bother traveling thousands of miles to run to such a barren place, stepping into this muddy water, and provoking trouble that shouldn't be provoked..."

"Xuanzhen."

Professor Ye Zhiren suddenly interrupted his words and asked back:

"Do you still remember a sentence you said to me seventeen years ago?"

Hearing this, Xuanzhen was taken aback, not knowing what it meant.

Professor Ye Zhiren then slowly spoke:

"You said, to be human, one must be ruthless. If you are not ruthless, others will not fear you. If you are ruthless, even the biggest trouble will detour around you by itself."

His voice was terrifyingly calm, as if he were stating a past event that had nothing to do with him.

After pausing for a few seconds, he raised his head, the gaze behind his lenses radiating a sharp edge, and the corners of his mouth slightly curled up:

"Right now, I am here to prove to you that I have learned how to be human."

Xuanzhen's blood-colored pupils suddenly shrank:

"You still want to take revenge on us for that matter seventeen years ago?"

"You guessed right."

Professor Ye Zhiren's answer was concise and firm.

"Just by you?"

Hearing this, Xuanzhen sneered, full of disdain:

"Back then, you were just a fledgling running errands behind this old man's buttocks. Even if your strength has grown over the years and you've stepped into S-rank, so what?"

"Utopia gathers the world's top outlander experts. A mere S-rank seems unreachable to the outside world, but here it doesn't even rank!"

"You want to challenge the entire organization with your own strength; it's simply daydreaming and no different from a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot!"

He mocked wantonly, his voice gradually taking on a hint of sinister ruthlessness:

"Also, it's not like you haven't witnessed that lord's strength."

"Do you think that kind of near-divine power is something a small character like you can defeat?"

"I am indeed not that lord's opponent."

Professor Ye Zhiren calmly admitted, then changed the subject:

"But to deal with a lonely ghost like you who has lost its Physical Body and is lingering on in a moribund state, I still have some confidence."

"Haha, do you think that my strength will drop significantly just because I lost my Physical Body?"

Xuanzhen seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world, and the blood pool churned incessantly along with it.

"I am a Mental Energy wielder! My methods and secret techniques do not need to rely on a Physical Body at all!"

"Believe it or not, right now I can make your Divine Soul be destroyed and your Reincarnation obliterated, leaving you without even the chance to be reincarnated..."

He roared with a fierce expression but a cowardly heart, his voice growing sharper and sharper.

"Of course I know."

Professor Ye Zhiren interrupted him again, his lenses reflecting the eerie red light of the blood pool, his tone without a ripple of emotion:

"I know many of your secrets. I know that relying on this "Ten-Thousand Soul Mother Gu Pool", you have killed countless people, continuously absorbing their vitality to repair your remaining soul, nourish your Secret Realm, and even retain the Soul-Devouring Domain."

"I also know that after resurrection, you plan to participate in Utopia's operation, preparing to do a world-shaking big thing."

Xuanzhen's blood-condensed face instantly froze, and his blood-colored eyeballs slightly shrank:

"So, you still want to go against us? Are you crazy?!"

In his words, he revealed deeper confusion and unease.

"You must know that ever since we people swore allegiance to that lord, our consciousness has long been marked by him, establishing a mental connection with him."

"Once this old man dies, the killer will also be branded with a mark. Hehe, by then, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, you will be hunted down to death by the organization!"

Although he was talking tough, seeing the opponent's calm and composed expression, Xuanzhen's soul body could not help but produce an indescribable chill.

The opponent was too steady, steady as if he had already got him in the palm of his hand.

Professor Ye Zhiren slowly took off his black-rimmed glasses, wiped the lenses, and his tone revealed no emotion:

"I am not crazy, just a bit too excited."

When he raised his head again, the peace in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by an incomparably fierce killing intent.

"Do you know why I only came to find you now?"

Professor Ye Zhiren slowly squatted down, staring directly at the distorted human face in the blood pool, his voice low and cold:

"Because I have already made thorough preparations and formulated various response plans."

"Over the years, I have been hiding in the dark, observing you, tracking you, waiting for you to show your weakest moment, and then crushing you to death with my own hands..."

"How dare you—"

The more Xuanzhen listened, the more alarmed and frightened he became. He suddenly let out a scream, and the blood pool instantly erupted with terrifying fluctuations.

Countless blood condensed into sharp blood spears, shooting towards Professor Ye Zhiren like an overwhelming flood.

At the same time, the huge blood face suddenly rose from the pool, turning into a hideous giant mouth that fiercely bit towards Professor Ye Zhiren's head.

However, the expected successful sneak attack did not happen.

Boom!

An invisible mental shockwave, like a violent tsunami, instantly erupted from Professor Ye Zhiren's body.

Those blood spears shooting rapidly solidified directly in mid-air, and then shattered into countless bloody mists.

That bloody maw lunging at him was hit head-on by this shockwave, directly bursting into a sky full of bloody rain.

"This... This is impossible!"

Xuanzhen's voice of extreme shock and horror rang out.

He could clearly feel that the intensity of this Mental Energy far exceeded his expectations.

This was simply not the intensity an ordinary S-rank outlander should have.

"Ugh ah—"

Before he could think further, a more terrifying thing happened.

Professor Ye Zhiren stretched out his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread, aiming at the painfully distorted human face in the blood pool.

An even more massive and pure Mental Energy instantly, like an invisible giant hand, fiercely gripped the remaining soul condensed by Xuanzhen.

"Suppressed!"

Professor Ye Zhiren gave a light shout, his tongue bursting with spring thunder.

Rumble—

The entire blood pool boiled instantly.

Countless blood frantically rolled and surged, trying to break through Professor Ye Zhiren's suppression.

But that power was like a mountain, pressing heavily on Xuanzhen's remaining soul, making him unable to move.

Xuanzhen's human face struggled violently in the blood pool, his facial features distorted to the extreme, letting out shrill screams.

"No... Impossible! How can your Mental Energy be strong to this extent?!"

"You are clearly just an A-rank trash! Over these years, what on earth... what on earth have you done?"

Professor Ye Zhiren did not answer.

He just quietly squatted by the blood pool, his eyes flickering with a cold-to-the-extreme light.

His Mental Energy was like a giant net, tightly binding Xuanzhen's remaining soul. No matter how the opponent struggled, they couldn't break free by even a fraction.

Seventeen years of endurance.

Seventeen years of plotting.

Seventeen years of waiting.

Was all for this moment.

"Xuanzhen."

Professor Ye Zhiren slowly spoke, his calm voice seemingly hiding a long-suppressed volcano:

"You are wrong. I am not here to go against you all."

He paused, a trace of bone-deep hatred flashing in those deep eyes.

"I am here to kill you all one by one... completely wiping you out, to seek justice for the brothers who died back then."

At this moment, his expression revealed a bit of ferocity, like an avenger returning from Hell.

There was completely no trace of the gentle and refined professor from before.

Looking at the human face in the blood pool that was struggling desperately and completely devoid of the power to resist, Professor Ye Zhiren shook his head slightly and withdrew his Mental Energy:

"I originally thought a fierce battle was needed, but your current appearance is truly too disappointing."

Xuanzhen breathed heavily, his voice full of unwillingness:

"If it weren't for encountering a powerful enemy just now and my Divine Soul being heavily injured, you would have had no chance at all to win against me!"

Professor Ye Zhiren ignored his defense, and expressionlessly unzipped the canvas bag he had brought.

There were no weapons or Magical Artifacts in the bag, but rather bags of grayish-white powder.

That was industrial quicklime.

"You... What are you going to do?!"

Seeing this, a hint of panic appeared in Xuanzhen's voice.

Professor Ye Zhiren still didn't speak. He picked up a bag of quicklime, tore open the bag's mouth, and quickly poured it down.

"Zhi—la—"

A harsh sound instantly rang out in the karst cave.

That was not an explosion, but rather like the sound of tens of thousands of branding irons scalding into flesh and blood simultaneously.

The moment quicklime met bloody water, a violent exothermic reaction occurred.

In just one second, the entire "Ten-Thousand Soul Mother Gu Pool" was like being splashed into boiling oil, suddenly boiling up.

The strongly alkaline substance frantically eroded the organic matter in the blood.

The temperature quickly soared to hundreds of degrees Celsius.

Pungent white steam, mixed with the smell of blood and lime, soared into the sky with a "whoosh".

"Ahahaha—"

Xuanzhen's human face distorted frantically in the boiling and rolling plasma, letting out screams so shrill they didn't sound human—clearly the appearance of someone subjected to torture.

Those originally sticky and flowing blood, under the dual action of high temperature and strong alkali, rapidly deteriorated and coagulated.

The protein in the plasma was coagulated into blocks by the high temperature, and the bright red color gradually turned to charred black and grayish white.

The entire pool of blood water was being boiled alive into a pool of "blood tofu".

"No! Professor Ye Zhiren! You can't kill me!"

Xuanzhen finally completely collapsed, roaring with all his might:

"I know the whereabouts of all the traitors, I can tell you where they are hiding!"

"I also know Utopia's secret base, and I know that lord's true identity!"

"I beg you, let me go. The matter back then was all ordered by that lord, and I was forced and had no choice..."

"Also, I can render meritorious service to atone for my crimes, and I can help you deal with the organization, as long as you let me go..."

Professor Ye Zhiren turned a complete deaf ear.

He just calmly gazed at the blood pool, suppressing the target with Mental Energy to prevent the enemy from escaping.

Then, he poured down quicklime bag after bag.

His expression and demeanor were just like adding seasonings, meticulously cooking a delicacy.

Every time a bag was poured down, the blood pool boiled more violently, and Xuanzhen's screams grew even more shrill.

"Professor Ye Zhiren, I curse you—curse you to go to Hell after you die—"

Xuanzhen's final voice changed from begging for mercy to vicious cursing.

But soon, even the cursing disappeared.

The mother Gu that his soul body relied on was boiled alive under the dual attack of physics and spirit, and finally completely destroyed.

Professor Ye Zhiren expressionlessly poured the last bag of lime.

The entire blood pool had completely solidified into a pool of grayish-brown "tofu", and not a single trace of sound came out anymore.

He stood up, dusted off the powder clinging to his hands, and said indifferently:

"The first account from seventeen years ago can be considered repaid."

Then he turned around and walked down the altar.

Li Dingjian had already installed all the explosives around the altar. Seeing him walk over, he made an OK gesture.

Professor Ye Zhiren nodded, and the two quickly walked to a safe location at the entrance of the karst cave.

Li Dingjian then took out a remote detonator from his arms, glanced at the bone altar, and pressed the button without hesitation.

Rumble—

Firelight suddenly erupted, and a deafening loud noise exploded in the karst cave.

The power of the high-energy explosives completely overturned the entire bone altar along with the solidified blood pool, blowing it into countless fragments.

Even the top of the karst cave was affected, and stones fell like raindrops, almost burying the corpses of the villagers who died in the blood sacrifice.

Waiting for the diffuse smoke and dust to drift away, the two looked closely.

The original position of the altar had been razed to the ground, leaving only a charred ruin.

"It's finally over, my brother-in-law's revenge has finally been partially avenged..."

Li Dingjian wiped the ash on his face and muttered with relief.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he turned his head and saw Professor Ye Zhiren squatting on the ground, staring blankly at the corpses of the villagers.

As his gaze flickered, it was as if he were looking for some trace.

"Professor, what's wrong?"

Li Dingjian quickly asked: "Are you afraid that Xuanzhen will find those controlled villagers' bodies to resurrect?"

Professor Ye Zhiren adjusted his glasses and shook his head slightly:

"With him now, even if he can use the child Gu planted earlier to achieve Possession, he is still just a wisp of a remaining soul. At most, he can affect the host's consciousness, and he cannot be much stronger than an ordinary person; he can't stir up any storms."

He stood up, his gaze sweeping across the corpses all over the ground, his brow slightly furrowed:

"What I am worried about is whether that man will appear in advance because of Xuanzhen's death."

"You mean... the leader of Utopia?"

Li Dingjian's expression changed abruptly, his hand unconsciously reaching for the gun at his waist:

"If that guy really comes, our little skills..."

Professor Ye Zhiren didn't answer, looking deep into the karst cave, his voice sinking a bit:

"There are other possibilities. Xuanzhen's mental Secret Realm was not destroyed by a powerful enemy, so his remaining soul did not dissipate and went to the Chen family in Cui City..."

"Or perhaps, that man's mark fell on Old Master Chen Hongye's Physical Body, so he appeared over there..."

Hearing this, Li Dingjian was instantly dumbfounded.