115: Chapter 115 Crushing the Divine Embryo and the Shocking Inside Story

"How noisy."

Lin Chen's three light words were like the frigid wind of deep winter, instantly freezing all the clamor within the main hall. The terrifying wails emitted by the "divine fetus," powerful enough to shatter the souls of Yin Soldiers, upon reaching about a foot in front of him, seemed to collide with an invisible, absolutely insurmountable barrier, unable to advance another inch!

He stood there, not erupting with any earth-shattering aura, but a deeper, more fundamental pressure, like a slumbering primordial beast opening its eyes, silently spread out. The air in the main hall of the temple seemed to solidify; even the bleeding eye reliefs on the walls appeared to tremble in fear.

The first to bear the brunt was the Altar Master in Dark Gold Robes. He felt as if he had been thrown into a ten-thousand-fathom ice cavern, his very soul wailing and freezing! The expression of "ultimate fury" on his mask stiffened, replaced by incomprehensible shock and terror! The bone staff in his hand trembled as he pointed at Lin Chen: "You... what the hell are you?!"

Lin Chen didn't even acknowledge him. His gaze passed over him and landed on the still futilely wailing, pulsating meat sphere of crying faces, his eyes filled with disdain.

"Ugly to look at, and sounds terrible too," he commented. Then, as if shooing away a fly, he casually raised his right hand and made a grasping motion towards the "divine fetus."

There was no radiant light, no explosive energy.

But the moment his five fingers closed—

"Squelch—!"

A dull sound, like an overripe rotten watermelon being crushed, abruptly rang out!

The "divine fetus," three meters tall, composed of countless crying faces and emitting powerful psychic pollution waves, was as if seized by an invisible giant hand. Without even time to struggle, under the horrified gazes of everyone (and ghosts), it violently collapsed and compressed inward!

Thousands of crying faces instantly twisted and deformed, letting out one final sharp, distorted shriek, and then—

Completely exploded!

Foul-smelling, dark-red filthy blood, shattered flesh, and bone fragments erupted like fireworks, splattering everywhere! That powerful source of psychic pollution vanished without a trace, like a snuffed-out candle!

silence!

A deathly silence!

The Altar Master in Dark Gold Robes and the senior cultists, who just moments ago relied on the "divine fetus's" power and thought victory was assured, were all petrified. Their eyes (if they had any) beneath their masks were wide open, filled with absurdity and extreme terror!

The "divine fetus" they believed in, worshipped, and regarded as their ultimate weapon... was just... crushed from a distance?! As easily as squashing a bug?!

What the hell kind of monster was this?!

Su Qingyu, Zhang Hao, and even the fierce Little Red Clothes were also stunned. They knew Lin Chen was strong, but not to this extent! That "divine fetus" which made their souls tremble and instantly annihilated dozens of Yin Soldiers was so utterly powerless before Lin Chen?!

"No—!! My divine fetus!!" The Altar Master in Dark Gold Robes let out a heart-rending scream. This "divine fetus" was the foundation of his standing within the cult, painstakingly cultivated through countless efforts and soul offerings!

After the scream came complete madness and despair!

"Kill him! Avenge the divine fetus!" The Altar Master waved his bone staff, charging at Lin Chen like a madman. The senior cultists, their eyes red (if they had eyes), followed, making a final desperate struggle.

"Boring."

Lin Chen didn't even bother to lift an eyelid. He merely waved his hand towards the Yin Soldiers and Su Qingyu behind him.

"Clean them up."

With the command given, the stalled war machine restarted!

Deprived of the "divine fetus's" protection and enhancement, these senior cultists stood no chance against the combined assault of the Yin Soldier Legion, Su Qingyu, Little Red Clothes, and the others. The battle quickly turned into a one-sided slaughter.

Su Qingyu struck with fury, her nether talisman energy like a violent storm, specifically targeting the Altar Master in Dark Gold Robes, forcing him to retreat step by step, his bone staff even cracking. Little Red Clothes's doll monster opened its bloody maw, directly swallowing a cultist whole, robe and all, the chewing sounds sending chills down the spine. Zhang Hao was even more underhanded, constantly phasing through walls to harass the Altar Master, shouting his greatest fears into his ear using mind-reading, throwing him into complete disarray.

In less than three minutes, the battle was over.

All the resisting Thousand-Faced Cultists had been completely annihilated, their souls scattered. Only the Altar Master in Dark Gold Robes remained, tightly bound by an energy chain from Su Qingyu and brought before Lin Chen. His dark-gold mask was half-shattered, revealing a twisted, pale, middle-aged man's face etched with terror beneath.

"Kneel!" Su Qingyu kicked the back of his knee.

The Altar Master thudded to his knees, his previous arrogance gone, replaced only by trembling.

Lin Chen didn't look at him. Instead, he first walked towards the still faintly pulsating Flesh-and-Blood Altar. He frowned, seemingly finding it too filthy to touch with his hands. He mobilized nether talisman energy, forcibly scanning and analyzing the altar's structure and residual information.

[Ding! High-intensity soul energy aggregate (defiled) detected... Illegal soul extraction and conversion ritual core detected... Heterogeneous spiritual belief coordinate anchor point detected... Analyzing...]

A flood of data streamed into Lin Chen's mind. He quickly understood the altar's function—forcibly extracting the soul essence of captured wandering spirits, "purifying" and "converting" it through some evil ritual. Part was used to nourish the "divine fetus," while another part was transmitted, via the coordinate anchor point at the altar's core, to some unknown entity referred to as the "God of a Thousand Faces."

This was essentially a highly efficient and cruel "soul battery" manufacturing and delivery factory!

"Hmph, quite the business model," Lin Chen snorted coldly. With a casual wave, vast nether talisman energy, like purifying light, instantly enveloped the entire Flesh-and-Blood Altar. Amidst sizzling corrosion sounds, the pulsating flesh rapidly shriveled, blackened, and finally turned to ashes. The empty wandering spirits in the cages above, now freed from their restraints, drifted out bewildered, but their souls were extremely weak, almost on the verge of dissipating.

Su Qingyu looked at these wandering spirits, a flicker of pity in her eyes.

Lin Chen, however, felt little sentiment. Survival of the fittest was simply the law of the Netherworld. He turned, his gaze finally falling on the kneeling Altar Master.

"I'll give you one chance," Lin Chen's voice was flat but carried unquestionable authority. "Tell me everything you know: all the Thousand Faces Cult's bases and plans in the Netherworld, and what exactly that 'God of a Thousand Faces' thing is. If I'm satisfied, I'll grant you a quick death."

The Altar Master trembled, looked up, his face showing struggle and fear, but there seemed to be some loyalty (or perhaps fear) restraining him: "I... I can't say... If I do, my soul will suffer divine punishment for eternity..."

"Divine punishment?" Lin Chen smiled, a cold smile. "It seems you still don't understand the situation."

He looked at the eager Zhang Hao beside him: "He's yours. Listen to what's really hidden in his heart."

"You got it, boss! Watch me!" Zhang Hao excitedly floated before the Altar Master, rubbing his ghostly hands together, his deathly eyes fixed intently as he activated his mind-reading at full power!

The Altar Master tried to resist, to close off his mind, but under the omnipresent pressure from Lin Chen, his mental defenses were as fragile as paper.

Zhang Hao's brows furrowed tightly at times, raised at others, his expression growing increasingly dramatic. He heard countless chaotic, insane thoughts filled with bloody sacrifices and twisted beliefs, and also heard coordinates and base information for several other regions of the Netherworld... But when he touched upon a certain heavily encrypted, deeply buried core secret within the soul, his eyes suddenly widened, his face revealing extreme shock and disbelief!

"B-Boss!" Zhang Hao abruptly turned his head, his voice distorted by horror. Pointing at the Altar Master, he stammered: "He... They're capturing those wandering spirits, n-not just to extract energy to offer to that damn god!"

"They... they're screening! Searching!"

"Searching for what?" Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.

Zhang Hao took a deep breath (though he didn't need to breathe now), lowered his voice as if afraid something might hear, and revealed the earth-shattering revelation:

"They're searching for... souls bearing the special mark of the 'Nether Lord Bloodline'!"

"The 'God of a Thousand Faces' they worship... its highest divine decree is to spare no effort, find and capture all souls in the Netherworld marked with the 'Nether Lord Bloodline,' and then... then sacrifice them to Him through the altar!"

"This Altar Master's memories indicate... this seems to be related to some struggle for the 'Authority of the Lord of the Underworld'!"

(Hook: Zhang Hao's mind-reading seemed to have triggered some restriction deep within the Altar Master's soul. His eyes instantly turned pitch-black, and his body began to unnaturally swell!)

"Nether Lord Bloodline?!"

These four words exploded like thunder beside Lin Chen and Su Qingyu's ears!

Lin Chen's eyes instantly sharpened like blades! He thought of the system, of his authority to use nether talismans, of that so-called title of "Lord of the Underworld"...

Could it be...

Just as his thoughts raced—

"Urgh... Aaaaah!!"

The kneeling Altar Master suddenly let out an inhuman scream of agony! His eyes instantly turned ink-black, without a trace of white! His body swelled violently as if being inflated, countless worms seeming to writhe beneath his skin. A violent, chaotic, destructive energy was rapidly gathering inside him!

Zhang Hao yelped in fright, instantly phasing through a wall and retreating dozens of meters: "Holy shit! He's got a self-destruct program in his head!"

"Watch out!" Su Qingyu also cried out, instinctively moving to shield Lin Chen.

Lin Chen's gaze turned icy, his reaction lightning-fast!

He pointed his fingers like a sword. A stream of nether talisman energy, refined to the extreme and seemingly capable of cutting space, shot out, arriving first and instantly striking the Altar Master's forehead!

"Seal!"

The Altar Master's swelling body suddenly stiffened. The violent energy inside him seemed forcibly frozen, coming to a halt. His pitch-black eyes stared fixedly at Lin Chen, his mouth silently opening and closing as if trying to say something. But in the end, his entire soul body, like a sand sculpture left to dry, began crumbling from the forehead, turning into the finest dust and dissipating into the air.

He didn't even get the chance to self-destruct!

Lin Chen withdrew his finger, his expression calm, but his eyes had become unfathomably deep.

He looked at Zhang Hao, his tone carrying a trace of undeniable gravity:

"Tell me everything you heard about the 'Nether Lord Bloodline' and the 'struggle for authority.' Every single word, without omission."

The storm seemed to have only just begun. And Lin Chen himself might very well already be at the very center of it!