Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 613 The Source of the Stained Blood
When Zhang Jingmin saw the broken scarecrow inside the coffin, she finally realized why the coffin was so light, and her face immediately contorted in a grimace.

She whirled around to look at the statue of the evil god Xingxie behind her, her eyes turning bloodshot: "It's you! You knew this would be the outcome, didn't you? You're satisfied now, aren't you!"

Zhang Jingmin's roar echoed in the corridor, and the sculpture wrapped in red cloth in the shrine in front of her trembled slightly.

A faint, contented laugh could be heard.

Seemingly quite pleased with Zhang Jingmin's suffering, in return, wisps of crimson smoke billowed from the shrine and entered Zhang Jingmin's body.

This made Zhang Jingmin's anger even more violent: "I've waited so many years for this day, and you've ruined it all."

As she spoke, she walked to the girl's bedside and said, "My dear daughter, Mom didn't want this either. Mom just wanted to take back what belongs to me. They forced me to do this."

As she said this, Zhang Jingmin reached out and plunged her hand into her own chest, then tore open her chest cavity. Thick blood, as if it had a life of its own, gushed out from her chest, condensing into thousands of red threads that wrapped around the girl on the hospital bed layer by layer.

Seeing this, Zhang Jingmin became even more frantic, forcefully pulling open her chest with both hands, allowing more red threads to gush out until they completely enveloped the girl in an egg shape. Then, the red threads closed up, slowly pulling the girl into her body.

This process caused Zhang Jingmin immense pain, but the more pain she endured, the more intense the red light in the shrine behind her became, and the louder the eerie laughter grew.

Crimson, blood-red smoke billowed from the shrine and slowly flowed into Zhang Jingmin's body. Soon, her body began to swell, and her flesh began to decay, like a lump of mud falling off her skin and quickly spreading across the ground.

At the same time, Xiao Ran and the others looked at the coffin in front of them, at the large blood bubbles boiling inside, and at the dark red liquid gushing out from the cracks in the coffin.

The entire coffin suddenly began to tremble violently, and the blood inside turned thick and black.

"You forced me to do this, you all forced me to do this."

A dense array of human faces emerged from the filthy blood, each one a distorted representation of Zhang Jingmin.

"Retreat quickly!" Pumpkin sensed something was wrong and immediately summoned a spirit to block his way. This spirit was three zhang tall, holding a long staff, with a body like a giant ape, and wearing golden armor. With a sweep of the staff, golden light flashed and transformed into chains that bound the coffin.

As Xiao Ran retreated, she looked at the ape spirit summoned by Pumpkin, and couldn't help but reveal a look of envy in her eyes.

Spirit masters can cultivate spirits within corpses, allowing the souls within to be sublimated and ultimately become powerful spirits. These spirits not only possess extremely high combat power but also demonstrate considerable intelligence.

This is something that his own corpse slaves could never compare to.

At least among summoner-type characters, they maintain both combat power and cool visuals, while ours...

Xiao Ran glanced at Sanli beside her, and four words involuntarily came to mind: "It's a long story!"

"Boom!!"

At that moment, the pipe suddenly made a loud noise.

The blood-stained faces inside the coffin emitted shrill, ear-piercing laughter, and somehow managed to climb upstream along the chains, instantly reaching the spirit's body.

In just a moment, the giant ape let out a piercing wail, its golden fur turning jet black in an instant, and eerie black runes rapidly spread along its arm.

"Quickly, sever the arm!"

Pumpkin's expression changed drastically upon sensing something was wrong. He immediately signaled to the giant ape to cut off its arm to survive, but the giant ape's reaction was clearly a beat too slow. The black runes had already quickly climbed up to its shoulder.

"Not good! Di Jun, do it quickly!" Pumpkin realized the situation was bad and immediately told Di Jun to cut off the corrupted parts of the giant ape.

But Di Jun was going in the wrong direction, and after hearing what Pumpkin said, it was too late for him to go and rescue her.

"Asura - Divine Pardon!"

In the blink of an eye, a dark figure rushed up behind the giant ape, wielding a long sword that flashed with a blinding cold light, and in the next second, severed the giant ape's shoulder.

The angle of the slash was extremely clever, perfectly avoiding the giant ape's vital points while severing its already corrupted arm. Then, as the blade flew backward, it slowly sheathed itself.

"Good sword skills!"

Xiao Ran looked at the three cents and couldn't help but give it a silent thumbs up.

This is not him boasting, but as a master swordsman whose skills have reached a high level, his understanding of swordsmanship far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Sanli's swordsmanship has already stepped from the extraordinary to the realm of enlightenment.

However, his swordsmanship had flaws, so it could only be said that he was just one step away from victory.

The reason for this is naturally related to Xiao Ran, who stole all of the insights into swordsmanship from Sanli's predecessor, Senbei.

This has resulted in the absence of 3 li (a unit of currency) in many places.

However, this may also be the reason for his rapid progress. Without destruction, there can be no construction; great destruction leads to great construction. Without the influence of his previous swordsmanship, Sanri, relying on Senbei's instinct for swordsmanship, has instead developed a swordsmanship that is uniquely his own.

Before the severed arm even hit the ground, it turned into a pool of foul-smelling blood. Seven or eight tiny, fingernail-sized blood-soaked infants struggled to crawl out of it, emitting piercing cries.

This bizarre scene sent a chill down Pumpkin's spine and made the others more wary of the tainted blood.

The coffin exploded, and a torrent of foul blood gushed out from beneath it, mixed with Zhang Jingmin's screams: "You forced me to do this! You all forced me to do this! If we're going to die, we'll all die together!"

With Zhang Jingmin's scream, countless streams of foul blood sprayed outwards like arrows of blood.

"Help me protect the law!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Pumpkin dared not hold back any longer. He summoned a spirit to shield his face, and then took out three small flags from his space and held them in his hands. As the incantation flowed into the flags, the three flags burst out with brilliant golden light.

Seemingly sensing danger, the gushing blood coalesced into a giant hand and slammed towards the pumpkin.

"kill!"

Di Jun took out two swords from his spatial storage and swung them simultaneously, employing two completely different sword techniques. The black sword in his left hand and the white sword in his right hand combined, creating a Tai Chi diagram that blocked the large hand.

Although Taiyi died, Dijun's strength increased instead of decreased because the two were twins. Although Taiyi died, his remnant soul immediately transferred to his younger brother Dijun.

One body, two consciousnesses, yet they are more harmonious with each other, and their swordsmanship is more refined than before.

"boom!!"

The two collided with a loud crash, and Di Jun's face turned pale. He was sent flying backward until he crashed heavily to the ground, spitting out blood. To Di Jun's surprise, the two knives in his hands were being rapidly corroded.

Di Jun was startled and quickly threw the two long swords in his hands aside.

He couldn't care less about the loss of his two swords; countless drops of blood, like sharp arrows, shot down Di Jun.

Fortunately, in the blink of an eye, coffins rose up from the ground in front of them, like dams, blocking all the arrows.

Di Jun turned around unexpectedly to look at Xiao Ran, only to see that Xiao Ran's hands were forming various strange hand seals, and the corpse energy was surging under her feet, with the corpse pool spreading out from Xiao Ran as the center.

"open!"

Xiao Ran clasped his hands together abruptly, and the churning pool of corpses beneath his feet suddenly surged with enormous waves.

Countless pale arms emerged from the black mist, billowing with corpse energy, mixed with inaudible yet heart-wrenching wails. Instantly, the corpse energy surged like a tide, colliding with the filthy blood. The two tore at each other, producing a dull friction sound, and were locked in a stalemate, neither able to gain the upper hand.

"Coffin Town!"

With a loud shout from Xiao Ran, a series of buzzing sounds came from the depths of the corpse pool, and one coffin after another rose from the pool.

The coffins were pressed together one after another, forming a tight circle like a cage, trapping all the filth and blood within. "Die! Die, all of you!!"

Amidst the filthy blood, Zhang Jingmin's resentment grew stronger and stronger, and her painful howls sounded like the clanging of metal, making one's eardrums ache.

At this moment, Pumpkin also made his move.

Three small flags in her hands unfurled without wind, and the rising smoke from the flags condensed into the character "赦" (pardon) in mid-air.

Immediately, the forces of wind, thunder, and fire, suspended above Xiao Ran's coffin dam, continuously struck the filthy blood.

"This girl has such a treasure; she must be rich."

Jin Chanzi stood behind, looking on with an air of detached observation. When he saw the three small flags in Pumpkin's hand, his eyes lit up and he muttered to himself.

"Don't just stand there like a mascot, something seems off!"

Xiao Ran turned to look at Jin Chanzi and said.

He sensed that Zhang Jingmin's power was growing stronger. At present, it seemed that Xiao Ran and Pumpkin had the upper hand by joining forces, but Xiao Ran could feel the terrifying nature of this tainted blood most directly. It seemed that as long as something was touched, it would be contaminated.

The coffins she had summoned were already showing signs of weakening, and many of them were beginning to show signs of decay under the impact of the filthy blood. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before Zhang Jingmin broke through.

Even if Zhang Jingmin regains her abilities, she is at most just a powerful evil spirit. There is no reason for her power to grow stronger. If things continue like this, they probably won't last long.

"What else can we do? They're fighting you to the death. Where would we get so many options?"

Jin Chanzi rolled his eyes at Xiao Ran, but continued, "The more agitated she becomes, the more flaws she will reveal. It just depends on whether you have the courage to do it."

"What do you mean?"

Jin Chanzi raised his hand and pointed to the source of the foul blood: "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran turned her gaze in that direction with suspicion.

A fluorescent light flickered in his eyes. With the help of the power of rewind, the foul blood flowed backward before his eyes, and Xiao Ran could see clearly that at the source of the foul blood was actually a hole.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Ran immediately understood Jin Chanzi's meaning, and her brows furrowed: "So that's how it is."

Immediately, Xiao Ran leaped up and landed on the coffin, his eyes fixed on the source of the filthy blood like those of an eagle.

"What is this guy going to do?"

Everyone was shocked by Xiao Ran's actions. Suddenly, Xiao Ran leaped into the air, and then his whole body exuded a dense aura of death. He casually summoned a coffin and held it in his hand.

"go with!"

Xiao Ran threw it with all her might, and the coffin, like a shooting star, crashed into the source of the filthy blood. Immediately, a muffled impact sound came from inside.

At the very center of the filthy blood, a gap was forcibly opened by the coffin.

At that moment, Xiao Ran leaped down, stomping heavily on the coffin and crushing it into the filthy blood.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone, Xiao Ran himself was covered in a suit of scales, the black scales shimmering with the luster of runes, but he also exuded a special aura.

【Jiaolong Armor - The Transporter】

Privilege 1: Dragon Armor

Once activated, the soft armor will cover your entire body, making you immune to D-level negative curses and D-level mental curses.

Duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown time: 2 hours
Privilege 2: Corpse Dragon Demon Remains

After you activate Privilege 1, all your attributes will increase by 20 points, and you will gain the power of the Corpse Dragon.

Duration: 10 minutes
Cooling time: 2 hours.

The corpse energy seeped into the dragon armor, causing a layer of dark blue-green luster to appear on it.

Although the attributes of this set of [Dragon Armor] are simple, the great way is simple. When making this set of armor, Master Song, the master craftsman, also put a lot of effort into it.

Without adding any fancy abilities, this set of soft armor maximizes its advantages while also allowing it to slowly evolve along with the wearer's aura, making it more compatible with the original owner.

As Xiao Ran donned her soft armor, she and the others rushed into the source of the filthy blood.

"Damn, is this guy crazy??"

This scene stunned everyone. Before they could even dodge, Xiao Ran plunged right in.

"Holy crap, the boss is awesome!!"

Unlike Pumpkin's shock, the other beginners exclaimed in amazement upon seeing this scene, their eyes filled with intense longing.

They were lured here to be test subjects for drugs and had already given up hope. Some of them had even planned to stay home forever if they survived this trip, because this place was too dangerous.

But the strength that Xiao Ran is showing now is something that everyone admires.

Many people secretly thought to themselves, "If only I had that kind of power, I could roam freely across the vast world."

Of course, they knew they might not be able to reach that level, but with Xiao Ran as a precedent, it would be a lie to say they didn't yearn for it at all, even if they were a little less capable.

Xiao Ran was unaware that she had just given a shot in the arm to these newcomers who had lost faith in the Lost City.

After he rushed into the source of the filthy blood, all he saw was darkness.

Countless fragmented memories surged into Xiao Ran's mind, mixed with Zhang Jingmin's boundless resentment and filth, frantically assaulting her body and mind.

"Thus have I heard, seeing one's true nature as emptiness, neither clinging nor delusion, neither evil nor good, neither demon nor Buddha, clearly discerning one's true nature, one will not fall into hell, nor be tainted by the emptiness of eons. Namo Amitabha Buddha, Paramita..."

In response, Xiao Ran recited the Great Freedom Mara Sutra from the [Blissful Robe]. As the recitation continued, Xiao Ran immediately rejected these distorted thoughts.

He braved the spray of filthy blood, his eyes flashing with a fluorescent light, and pushed the coffin in front of him to clear a path, forcibly rushing into the deepest part of the filthy blood.

However, the filth and blood here were too thick, and the strong corrosive power quickly turned the coffin into dust.

Fortunately, Xiao Ran's dragon armor was not afraid of the tainted blood. Soon, Xiao Ran saw something in the darkness, which looked like a huge red tumor.

Endless foul blood gushed from the tumor.

"found it!"

Seeing this, Xiao Ran's eyes flashed, and he took out the guillotine from his spatial storage. The blade gleamed with a cold light, and its appearance prevented the surrounding blood and filth from getting close.

Just as Xiao Ran was about to make his move and split the thing in two, a strong sense of unease suddenly struck him. Without thinking, he turned around and slashed at the person behind him.

"Boom!!"

Unexpectedly, when Xiao Ran slashed down, it felt as if he had struck a rock, the impact tearing his tiger's mouth and causing blood to seep into the pillar.

When Xiao Ran looked closely, she saw a shrine in front of her, and inside the shrine was a sculpture of the evil god Xingxie. At this moment, the sculpture's eyes were shining, and strange red smoke was flashing around it, as if a giant hand was reaching out to grab her.

(End of this chapter)