114: Chapter 114 The Temple of the Crying Face and the Altar of Flesh and Blood

When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with hatred! This was especially true when new grievances were piled on top of old grudges!

Lin Chen didn't take any time to rest. After confirming the coordinates of the Thousand Faces Cult's stronghold located on the edge of the Underworld's Barren Bone Plain, he immediately mustered his troops!

The fifty thousand Yin soldiers, who had just finished their "onboarding" procedures and were still familiarizing themselves with the "Employee Handbook," immediately regrouped, radiating murderous intent! The newly recruited "stubborn tenant," Little Red Clothes, and her stitched-together monster doll were also temporarily requisitioned by Lin Chen to serve as "local guides" and "special combat forces." Su Qingyu temporarily settled her mother, Lin Chen's Mother, in the newly framed outpost. After entrusting a few Yin soldiers to watch over her, she also picked up her weapon without hesitation and stood coldly by Lin Chen's side. Zhang Hao was even rubbing his palms together (though his ghost claws didn't have much of a sense of friction now); his wall-phasing ability was perfect for scouting.

"Target: the Thousand Faces Cult's Underworld branch altar!" Lin Chen stood before the reopened portal, his voice cold. "There is only one mission—demolish it! Not a single intact brick is to be left behind!"

"Demolish!"

"Demolish!"

"Demolish!"

The Yin soldiers roared, their baleful energy soaring to the skies! Even the newly surrendered local fierce ghosts, in an effort to prove themselves and earn a spot for reincarnation, bared their fangs and brandished their claws, letting out various strange cries to cheer them on.

The army set out, passing through the portal and following the coordinates, moving rapidly across the grey, bone-strewn wasteland. The closer they got to the target, the more eerie the surroundings became. The white bones on the ground were no longer scattered naturally but were intentionally piled into various twisted symbols representing pain and weeping. The air was no longer filled with simple Yin energy, but was mixed with a nauseating, filthy energy—a blend of decayed blood and despair.

Finally, after crossing a mountain range made of giant skulls, the silhouette of a building appeared at the end of their vision.

It was a temple built entirely from a mixture of obsidian and white bones! The temple's design was twisted and grotesque, resembling a giant prone on the ground, wailing. The entrance to the temple was the mouth of a massive, weeping human face statue, bottomless and radiating a thick, ominous aura. Around the temple drifted thin, grey mist carrying crying faces, and the wails of countless souls chanting eerie scriptures could be faintly heard.

Above the temple gates was carved that familiar, twisted Thousand Faces symbol!

"This is the place!" Su Qingyu clenched her fists, her nails nearly digging into her flesh. It was these scumbags who had tortured her mother!

"Damn, this place looks wicked!" Zhang Hao shrunk his neck and subconsciously phased behind an engineering golems.

Lin Chen's eyes were icy. Without any nonsense, he simply waved his hand: "Attack! Crush them!"

"Kill—!"

The fifty thousand Yin soldiers were like a black tide of steel, launching a silent and efficient charge! The engineering golemss followed closely behind with heavy steps, prepared for a demolition-style physical salvation.

The grey mist around the temple instantly surged. Thousand-Faced Cultists dressed in black robes and wearing crying face masks, along with a large number of fanatical ghostified souls under their control, poured out like a tide from inside the temple and the cracks in the surrounding ground, attempting to block them.

However, the strength of the two sides was not on the same level at all!

These Thousand-Faced Cultists might have caused some trouble in the living world, but before this Yin Soldier Legion—armed to the teeth with a massive amount of nether talismans and baptized by the Battle of the End—they were simply vulnerable!

The Yin soldier battle formation was like a hot knife through butter, easily tearing through the enemy's defensive lines. Sabers and spears condensed from energy easily sliced through the black robes, shredding the cultists inside along with their souls. The massive mechanical arms of the engineering golemss swept across, smashing swaths of enemies into meat paste and soul fragments.

Little Red Clothes let out a shriek, leading her bone puppets and cloth doll monster into the enemy crowd. Wherever she went, bones were dismantled and souls were corroded by resentment; she was incredibly fierce. Zhang Hao utilized his wall-phasing ability to be elusive, specifically ambushing those who looked like minor leaders. From time to time, he would mischievously shout in their ears, "Your wife ran off with someone else!" to disturb their minds, which was remarkably effective.

The battle was a completely one-sided massacre!

Lin Chen didn't even lift a finger, simply standing at the rear alongside Su Qingyu, watching it all coldly.

"It seems these guys aren't doing so well in the Underworld either; they're all just small fry," Lin Chen commented, his tone slightly disappointed.

Soon, the peripheral resistance was swept away, and the Yin Soldier Legion charged directly into the temple gates that resembled a "crying giant mouth."

The interior of the temple was even darker and more oppressive. The walls were carved with countless distorted humanoid reliefs that looked as if their eyes were bleeding. The filthy, bloody scent in the air was almost tangible.

The Yin soldiers crushed everything in their path, passing through the front hall and corridors; any enemy they met was like a clay chicken or a pottery dog. Finally, they reached the deepest part of the temple—a massive, circular main hall with a high vaulted ceiling.

The scene in the center of the main hall caused the pupils of Lin Chen, Su Qingyu, and the others who followed to shrink slightly.

There stood a massive altar built entirely of fresh, slightly squirming flesh and white bones! Above the altar hovered a grotesque ball of flesh about three meters high, composed of countless crying human faces. The flesh ball pulsed slowly, emitting powerful waves of mental pollution.

Kneeling around the altar were over a hundred cultists dressed in gold-trimmed black robes, looking much more high-ranking than those outside. They were frantically chanting obscure scriptures at the crying face flesh ball. Streams of pure soul energy were being extracted from them and from the countless cages embedded around the altar (which held a large number of empty-eyed wandering souls like Lin Chen's Mother) and injected into the crying face flesh ball.

Right in front of the altar stood a tall figure wearing a dark gold robe. A mask that constantly shifted between different expressions of pain covered his face. He held a twisted bone staff, and his aura far exceeded that of the other cultists, surprisingly reaching the Ghost General level! He was likely the Branch Altar Master of this place.

Seeing Lin Chen's army burst in, the chanting came to an abrupt halt.

The dark-gold-robed altar master turned around. The expression on his mask froze in "extreme rage." His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, carrying an echo: "Blasphemers! How dare you disturb the 'God of a Thousand Faces' from receiving offerings! Your souls shall become part of the God!"

"Stop playing God!" Su Qingyu shouted angrily. Remembering the suffering her mother had endured, she raised her hand and fired an energy arrow of nether talisman power, condensed with all her strength and fury, toward the altar master.

The altar master snorted coldly and tapped his bone staff. A grey mental barrier appeared, blocking the energy arrow.

"Hmph, you have some skill, but..." The altar master was about to say some harsh words.

"Too much nonsense," Lin Chen interrupted him impatiently, directly ordering the Yin soldiers, "Tear down that flesh ball and clear out all these noisy flies."

"Roar!" Receiving the order, the Yin soldiers immediately formed a formation and charged toward the altar.

"Protect the divine fetus!" the altar master shrieked. Those high-ranking cultists also rose one after another, grey-black energy exploding from their bodies as they prepared to resist to the death.

However, just as the two sides were about to collide again—

A sudden change occurred!

The massive crying face flesh ball on the altar suddenly accelerated its pulsing. The tens of thousands of faces on it simultaneously let out a sharp, soul-piercing wail!

"Wooo—Aaaaah—!"

This crying was no longer the mind-affecting kind like Little Red Clothes'; it carried a tangible, destructive soul shockwave that fanned out violently!

The dozens of Yin soldiers charging at the very front were hit by this soundwave. Their soul bodies became covered in cracks instantly, like glass struck by a heavy hammer, and then with a "bang," they shattered directly into the most primitive Yin energy! They didn't even have time to let out a scream!

Even the Yin soldiers further back, as well as Su Qingyu, Zhang Hao, and the others, felt a sharp pain in their heads. Their soul bodies became unstable, and their movements instantly lagged!

"Hahaha!" The altar master laughed wildly at the sight. "Feel the great power of the God's Apostle! Under the wailing of the divine fetus, turn into—"

His wild laughter stopped abruptly.

Because Lin Chen, at some point, had already appeared before him, less than a meter away.

Lin Chen picked at his ear, a hint of annoyance at being disturbed on his face. He looked at the laughing altar master, then glanced at the flesh ball that was still continuously emitting the soul wails, his brow furrowing:

"So noisy."

(Hook: Lin Chen raised his hand, and a pressure from the Lord of the Underworld—far more terrifying and profound than that of the "divine fetus"—slowly awakened like a sleeping dragon.)