123: Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together.

On the rooftop, there was a deathly silence, like a grave.

The thick smell of blood mixed with the saltiness of the sea breeze, permeating the air in a viscous, nauseating way.

On the ground, several pools of dark red blood that had not yet dried and scattered bits of minced meat silently recounted the terrifying, lightning-fast slaughter that had just occurred.

The surviving members of the Eternal Life Cult stood frozen in place like ice-sculpted statues, their breathing nearly stopped.

Their pupils contracted violently from extreme fear, their bodies trembled uncontrollably and intensely, and cold sweat soaked their black robes, clinging tightly to their skin and bringing a bone-chilling coldness.

Chen Nian floated in the air, his clothes moving slightly with the wind, his expression indifferent.

He looked down at the group of trembling evil cultivators below, like a god looking down at ants.

"My patience is limited."

His voice was not high, yet it clearly pierced into everyone's eardrums, carrying an unquestionable coldness.

"How long do you intend to stay silent?"

The moment his voice fell, he casually waved his hand again.

The action was nonchalant, as if he were merely shooing away a few annoying flies.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two more muffled explosions sounded!

The two cult members standing beside Protector Wang didn't even have time for expressions of shock to appear before their bodies exploded like tomatoes gripped by an invisible giant force.

Hot blood and shattered internal organs splashed out, covering Protector Wang and several people around him.

The warm, viscous sensation, mixed with the horror of their companions' instant deaths, finally completely crushed the last psychological defenses of some.

"Ahhh! A devil! He's a devil!"

"Run! Run away quickly!"

Several cult members who were slightly further away let out hysterical screams, their instinct for survival overwhelming organizational discipline and their fear of Chen Nian.

The residual evil power within them surged frantically as they desperately activated Escape Techniques, their figures turning into several blurred black shadows that shot out in different directions.

However, in Chen Nian's eyes, their movements were as slow as a snail's crawl.

He didn't even give those three a second look, merely twitching his fingertips slightly.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!"

Several blood-colored silk threads, thinner than hair yet emitting an aura of extreme sharpness and deathly silence, erupted from his fingertips.

At a speed exceeding visual capture, they instantly caught up with the cult members who were fleeing for their lives.

"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!"

There were no screams, no struggles.

The bodies that were running wildly suddenly stiffened, and then, as if cut by the sharpest blades, they neatly broke into over a dozen regular chunks of meat, scattering to the ground with a "clatter."

The cuts were as smooth as mirrors, and blood gushed out like fountains, instantly staining a large area of the rooftop red.

Instant kill!

Another undisputed instant kill!

Witnessing this horrifying scene, many of the remaining Eternal Life Cult members felt their legs go weak and collapsed directly to the ground.

Their faces were as pale as paper, their eyes were vacant, and their teeth chattered; even their last shred of courage to flee was completely crushed.

Now, let alone running away, they didn't even dare to move a finger, fearing that any slight movement would draw that gaze of the Grim Reaper.

Chen Nian's gaze fell back onto Protector Wang once more.

At this moment, Protector Wang was also trembling all over, his face a mix of blood and fear, no longer possessing any of his previous gloomy air of composure.

He suddenly snapped back to his senses, almost crawling and scrambling forward two steps, and then fell heavily to his knees with a "thud."

He pressed his forehead firmly against the cold, rough concrete ground, his posture humble to the point of being in the dust.

"Mercy! Spare me, My Lord!"

His voice was sharply distorted by extreme fear, filled with fawning and pleading.

"We... we have no ill intent. We... we were ordered by the Cult Leader to specifically... specifically come to welcome you, My Lord!"

Chen Nian's brow twitched slightly, his tone still flat: "Welcome me?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Protector Wang acted as if he had caught a life-saving straw, hurriedly looking up with a fawning smile that looked more painful than crying.

"My Lord, your Divine Might is peerless and your strength is heavenly. You have consecutively killed the Heart-Devouring Old Demon, the Youdu Corpse Emperor, and even today's Abyssal Sea Dark Dragon. Your fame has already spread across the four seas!"

"Everyone in our Eternal Life Cult admires you immensely. The Cult Leader holds you in the highest regard, believing that you are the truly peerless expert who can lead the trend of this era!"

As he spoke, he cautiously observed Chen Nian's expression, his speaking speed extremely fast.

"The Cult Leader believes that with your world-destroying strength, My Lord, staying under the pedantic and rigid rules of the Spiritual Energy Bureau is truly like a pearl cast into the darkness, or a dragon trapped in a shallow pond!"

"What the Spiritual Energy Bureau can give you is nothing more than insignificant fame and limited resources. They don't understand your true value at all, and they certainly cannot satisfy your endless pursuit of power!"

"But our Eternal Life Cult is different!"

Protector Wang's voice suddenly rose, carrying a kind of fanatical temptation.

"Our cult believes in the supreme God of Eternal Life, pursuing the ultimate power beyond the mundane and eternal life!"

"As long as you are willing to join our cult, My Lord, you will immediately become our Vice Cult Leader. Your status will be second only to the Cult Leader, enjoying the supreme authority of being below one person but above ten thousand!"

"All resources, secret methods, and intelligence within the cult will be unconditionally open to you! You can absorb power to your heart's content and march toward higher Realms!"

"At that time, the entire world will tremble at your feet, and you will become the Dominator of the new era!"

As he spoke, his hands trembled as he took out a palm-sized black box that was neither metal nor wood from his robe.

The surface of the box was inscribed with countless distorted and eerie runes, emitting a heart-palpitating wave of evil energy.

He carefully opened the lid.

In an instant, a pure, majestic, yet cold and deathly aura of energy permeated the area.

Inside the box lay a pigeon-egg-sized crystal that was pitch black all over, as if it could swallow all light.

Inside the crystal, there seemed to be countless tiny resentful Souls struggling and wailing, yet they were bound within by an even stronger force.

"Please look, My Lord!"

Protector Wang held the box high, his face full of sycophancy.

"This is the 'Ten Thousand Soul Condensed Crystal.' It is a secret treasure of my cult, refined by collecting ten thousand living Souls and supplementing them with Netherworld Earth Vein Evil Qi over a hundred years!"

"The Soul Origin power contained within this object is vast and boundless, enough to cause any cultivator's Divine Soul to undergo a qualitative leap! It has miraculous effects on breaking through Realm barriers!"

"As long as you nod your head, My Lord, this 'Ten Thousand Soul Condensed Crystal' will be yours."

"And this is just the tip of the iceberg of our cult's sincerity. In the future, there will be even more unimaginable benefits waiting for you!"

He looked at Chen Nian with burning eyes, full of expectation.

He believed that with such generous conditions and such a temptation that points directly to the core of power, no cultivator in the world could refuse.

However, after listening to this impassioned presentation and temptation, Chen Nian's face did not show the slightest hint of being moved. Instead, a more pronounced look of contempt and mockery appeared.

To be fair, the conditions offered by the Eternal Life Cult were indeed not bad.

If it were someone with an impure heart who pursued power by any means necessary, they would probably be moved instantly.

But Chen Nian was not.

Although his usual actions were unrestrained, decisive in slaughter, and even appeared somewhat brutal and cold, he had his own bottom lines and principles deep in his heart.

He was a transmigrator who had been an orphan in this world since childhood. He had grown up smoothly by eating the relief food of the Dragon Country, relying on national scholarships and social assistance.

If not for the Dragon Country's perfect welfare system and compulsory education policy, his childhood would have been a hundred times more miserable, and it would have been unknown if he could have even survived to adulthood.

He felt a sense of gratitude toward this country.

He had never forgotten this debt of upbringing and the sentiment of giving him the foundation to establish himself.

He was not a good person, but he was certainly not someone who was ungrateful or who would forget his roots.

To ask him to betray the country that raised him and join an obviously evil cult that viewed human life as grass?

He couldn't do it.

His power could be used to slay Demonic Evils and maintain peace, but it would never be used to help a villain do evil and bring chaos to the people.

This was his bottom line.

Thus, under Protector Wang's expectant gaze, Chen Nian gave a contemptuous smile and slowly spoke: "Finished?"

Protector Wang nodded, his face full of fawning.

Chen Nian, however, shook his head, the disdain in his tone undisguised:

"Our paths are different; we cannot plan together."

"I have no interest in your set of wicked and heterodox tricks."

"What?!"

Hearing this, Protector Wang's pupils shrank suddenly, the color on his face draining away instantly, his eyes filled with disbelief and immense shock.

He almost doubted that something was wrong with his ears!

Refused?

He had actually refused so cleanly and decisively?!

With such generous conditions and such a bright future, how could he possibly refuse?!

"My Lord! Please... please reconsider!"

Protector Wang had not given up and hurriedly persuaded with a raspy voice, which was sharp due to anxiety.

"The Spiritual Energy Bureau is pedantic and has many rules; they can't possibly give you true freedom! They are just using you!"

"Only our Eternal Life Cult can truly understand and support you. We can give you everything you want!"

"When our Lord descends and reshapes the world, you will be one of the creators of the new world. At that time..."

"Enough chatter!"

Chen Nian directly interrupted him, the last trace of patience in his eyes completely vanishing.

"I said, I'm not interested."

The moment his voice fell, killing intent suddenly rose.

Chen Nian didn't even give him another chance to speak, merely waving his hand.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

A massive amount of blood-colored silk threads erupted.

"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!"

Accompanied by the sound of a large amount of flesh being cut.

The remaining Eternal Life Cult members surrounding Protector Wang, who had already collapsed in fear,

Their bodies were cut by invisible blades, instantly falling apart into a floor of minced meat.

Blood gushed out like fountains, completely drenching the kneeling Protector Wang until he was a man made of blood.

The smell of blood, intense to the extreme, was almost suffocating.

On the entire rooftop, except for Chen Nian and Protector Wang, there was not a single survivor left.

Protector Wang froze in place, kneeling in a pool of blood, his body shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind, his face written with despair and fear.

Chen Nian slowly descended from the air and stood before him, looking down at him from above.

The soles of his boots stepped on the viscous blood, making a slight squelching sound.

In this currently deathly silent environment, this sound was exceptionally clear, each step like a heavy hammer striking Protector Wang's heart.

"Alright, this part of the proceedings ends here."

Chen Nian's voice was calm and waveless, yet it carried a chill that seemed to freeze the Soul.

"Now, let's talk about the matters concerning the Eternal Life Cult."

"Where is the lair of your Eternal Life Cult?"