50: Chapter 5 Baptism of Fire

"Your grievances have nothing to do with my Liang Family," Liang Chengye's voice was calm. "Please leave this place, lest you involve the innocent."

The man and woman from the Five Poisons Sect glanced at each other, a flash of despair and ruthlessness crossing their eyes.

They clearly didn't believe Liang Chengye would truly let them go, and they feared being caught in a pincer attack between the Manor and the Yin Sha Sect.

Rather than waiting for death, it was better to...

"Charge through!" the man growled low. The remaining magical power in his body erupted as he suddenly charged toward the Manor gate where Liang Chengye stood!

The woman was half a beat slower, but she gritted her teeth and followed closely behind.

Liang Chengye's brow furrowed slightly, but his feet didn't move. Instead, a barely perceptible coldness flickered at the corners of his mouth.

The man was extremely fast, his gaze fixed on the gate, completely unguarded against the seemingly soft and level soil beneath his feet.

At the very instant his left foot was about to land—

His left heel stepped precisely onto the edge of a slightly bulging, disc-shaped object hidden by thin soil and fallen leaves.

The sensation was hard, with a slight elasticity.

The man's heart sank abruptly as an unprecedented sense of crisis exploded! He didn't even have time to look down, nor did he have time to make any reaction.

BOOM—!!!

A deafening explosion blasted at the valley entrance! The sound was short, violent, and carried the sharp screech of tearing metal!

The anti-personnel landmine the man stepped on was triggered! The pre-set explosives inside the sealed casing detonated instantly, generating immense downward and upward impact forces!

The downward force blasted a shallow pit into the soil and rock beneath the mine, while the upward force acted entirely upon that heavy, curved steel fragment!

Under the force of the explosion, the steel fragment shot upward at a nearly vertical angle with terrifying speed and kinetic energy!

The man only felt an indescribable, searing pain in his left foot, followed by his entire lower body feeling as if it were being violently smashed and torn apart by an invisible giant hammer!

His vision spun, and his ears were left with nothing but a sharp ringing and the dull thud of shattering bones.

At the epicenter of the blast, dust mixed with fire surged up, only to be quickly dispersed by the airwave.

As the dust cleared slightly, a tragic scene was revealed.

From the waist down, the man had completely disappeared!

The remaining upper half of his body was thrown several yards by the shockwave, crashing heavily to the ground. The stump was a bloody, charred mess, with bone fragments and internal organs scattered across the ground.

His eyes were wide open, his face still frozen in a mix of ferocity and bewilderment from the previous moment, his life force extinguished.

The woman following closely behind was also affected by the sudden explosion.

Though she wasn't at the epicenter, the violent shockwave slammed hard against her body.

She let out a muffled groan as blood seeped from her nose and mouth. She was sent flying backward, crashing by the roadside, dizzy and with ears ringing, temporarily losing her hearing.

In the rear, the six Black-robed People of the Yin Sha Sect, who had originally intended to pursue or watch the show, all stopped in their tracks. The playful or cold expressions on their faces froze instantly, turning into shock and vigilance.

Their divine sense had indeed swept over that area earlier, and they had seen some strange, flat, iron-disc-like objects buried underground.

But those things had no spiritual power fluctuations at all. They didn't look like Magical Artifacts, nor did they look like talismans; they looked more like trash discarded by mortals or some sort of unfinished iron blanks. They hadn't paid them any mind.

They hadn't expected that these things, devoid of spiritual energy, could erupt with such vicious and violent lethality!

No incantations chanted, no fluctuations of magical power, just a simple touch... and it had easily claimed the life of a Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivator and heavily injured another!

What kind of wicked method was this?!

The loud roar of the landmine explosion and the tragic scene instantly froze the atmosphere on the field.

The six Black-robed People of the Yin Sha Sect reacted extremely fast. Their shock vanished in a flash, replaced by icy vigilance and killing intent.

They moved almost simultaneously, the Yin Sha Qi churning around them.

One person summoned a bone shield, its surface flickering with pale runes, and blocked his front.

Another pinched a hand seal and chanted an incantation. Black mist permeated his surroundings, condensing into a semi-transparent shield.

Another directly crushed a jade talisman. A flash of dark light transformed into an eggshell-like membrane of light that enveloped his entire body.

Three others didn't hesitate to slap the Storage Pouchs hanging at their waists.

Clack, clack, clack!

Three coffins hit the ground, their lids springing open. Chilly corpse energy poured out along with a foul stench.

From the first coffin stepped a zombie that was entirely greenish-bronze. Its muscles were shriveled yet glinted with a metallic luster, and its fingernails were black and long.

In the second coffin was a zombie with a slightly bloated build and grayish-white skin. Black saliva dripped from its mouth, leaving faint corrosive marks on the ground as it moved.

From the third coffin emerged a zombie with a relatively 'normal' build, but its eyes were crimson, and it was significantly faster, letting out low, guttural growls.

The moment the three zombies appeared, they acted like the most loyal guards, standing in front of their respective masters, their hollow or crimson eyes facing the Manor.

They reacted swiftly and responded appropriately.

However, they were defending the ground and the front.

Almost at the instant they completed their defensive stances and the zombies had just taken their positions—

Swoosh— Swoosh—!

A whistling sound so sharp it seemed to tear the air suddenly pressed down from high above!

The six Black-robed People looked up abruptly, their pupils shrinking. They saw two tiny black dots rapidly enlarging in their vision!

They didn't even have time to distinguish what those were, let alone make an effective dodge or strengthen their overhead protection.

BOOM! BOOM!!!

Two explosions, even more muffled and violent, as if the earth itself were roaring, detonated almost simultaneously above their head-shields and in the nearby open space!

This time, it wasn't a sinister trap from underfoot, but a baptism of destruction from the sky!

Two balls of fire, so bright they were blinding, expanded and bloomed in mid-air! The shockwaves, like physical ring-shaped walls, surged outward from the blast points, frantically crushing everything in all directions!

The high temperatures and fragments at the core of the explosion were mostly blocked by their shields, bone shields, and zombie bodies.

These defenses were indeed resilient, vibrating violently under the fierce explosion with spiritual light flashing wildly. Fine cracks even appeared on the surface of the bone shield, but in the end, they didn't break immediately.

However, the shockwaves could not be completely blocked.

The invisible, violent waves of air slammed solidly against their shields, bodies, and the zombies!

The three Black-robed People who had reacted fastest and exerted their full strength to expand their spiritual shields felt their shields take a heavy blow. Their blood and Qi churned, but they could barely hold on, though they were pushed back stumbling by the shockwave, their chests feeling tight.

The other three Black-robed People either opened their shields too slowly or relied too heavily on the physical defense of the zombies and Magical Artifacts; their resistance to the shockwave was clearly insufficient.

Pfft! Pfft!

Two of them turned pale, blood spilling from their mouths. They felt as if their internal organs had been violently struck by a giant hammer. Their vision went dark, and their protective spiritual light dimmed by more than half instantly.

The third person was slightly better off but was also shaken to the point of bleeding from the ears and nose, his breathing erratic.

Of the three zombies blocking the front, the bronze zombie's body surface was scorched with large patches of charred black, the grayish-white zombie's corrosive skin cracked in multiple places, and the Red-eyed Zombie's speed advantage was useless against the shockwave, as it was slammed hard to the ground.

The dust and flames from the explosion had not yet dissipated, and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke permeated the air.

The six Yin Sha Sect cultivators, though not killed instantly by the shelling, were all injured and their formation was scattered. Their composure had been completely shattered by these successive, multi-dimensional attacks that had no spiritual energy omens yet terrifying power, and a strong sense of dread welled up in their hearts.

What kind of hellish place is this?!