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Chapter 269 Symphony of Flesh and Blood (Part 3) (Please vote with monthly tickets!)

boom--! ! !
The third heartbeat exploded.

The entire kilometer-long blood-red arena was like stubborn iron thrown into a furnace, its dark red flesh dome twisting and tearing wildly under the impact of an invisible force.

The thick, bloody air was instantly expelled and replaced by an even hotter and more violent atmosphere.

Fang Qingyu's body was suspended in mid-air by the golden lightning, curled up like a wounded cub.

But every inch of exposed skin was emitting a terrifying "sizzling" sound.

It was as if it were not flesh and blood, but ordinary iron thrown into a steel furnace.

Dark golden dragon scale patterns shimmered wildly beneath his skin, attempting to resist the destructive power erupting from the depths of his marrow and the very essence of his soul.

The jade bones are mourning.

Even the surface of the bones, which were as tough as jade, showed fine, charred cracks.

Every heartbeat.

It felt as if an invisible, thunderous hammer was relentlessly striking their entire bodies.

Fang Qingyu gritted his teeth, and blood mixed with the smell of burning spilled from the corner of his mouth.

This has always been the case.
The "Original Authority of the Thunder God" has not been activated!
Because every time I want to choose yes.
It was as if someone in the dark was telling him that he wasn't strong enough yet.
But at this moment, Fang Qingyu had no other choice.

"Uhhh-!!!"

Fang Qingyu suddenly raised his head and let out a roar that sounded inhuman.

The golden lightning surrounding his entire body suddenly collapsed inward, then exploded with even greater ferocity.
Like countless wildly dancing golden bolts of lightning coiling around his limbs and bones, they ultimately surged madly toward the only thing he could still barely control.
The Dragon Sparrow Slayer was tightly gripped in my hand!

Om-!
The ancient blade emitted a series of mournful cries, like the roar of a dragon and the howl of a sparrow, as if it could no longer bear the weight.
On the spine of the knife.

The ancient dragon-phoenix totem seemed to be infused with life, struggling to take flight in the dazzling golden light.

The blade was aimed directly at the hunched figure below.
Jiang Taixuan!
The astonishment and mockery on Jiang Taixuan's face, along with his composure in control of everything, shattered the moment the thunder appeared.

The instant he saw the knife pointed at him.
Fear instantly overwhelmed Jiang Taixuan like ice water.

Because of that long sword wreathed in golden lightning, the direction its blade pointed...
He felt as if he could see it!

At the end of the endless void, a blurry divine figure stood tall and imposing, surrounded by billions of golden lightning snakes!
Those thunderous eyes that looked down upon all living beings.
It coldly locked onto him, this ant who dared to blaspheme against divine power.
will die!

They will definitely die!!!

All the dignity of a martial saint and the composure of controlling the overall situation were crushed to pieces at this moment!

All that remained was the most primal and purest will to survive.

run!
Must run!
Stay as far away from that knife, from that person, and from this damned golden lightning domain as possible!

The power that Jiang Taixuan had just recovered was being frantically squeezed out by his survival instinct, and his hunched body burst forth with unprecedented speed.

He didn't even dare to turn his head, and his withered legs kicked the ground hard.

Like a startled rabbit, he fled desperately in the direction away from Fang Qingyu.

however.

He had just darted out less than ten feet.
Boom! ! !

The entire kilometer-long crimson space suddenly trembled.

The "sky" overhead, illuminated by golden lightning, resembled the arrival of a divine kingdom.
The constantly writhing, dark red membrane dome was instantly replaced by a thick, surging golden thundercloud.

Thunderclouds hung low, as if pressing down on our heads.

Countless thick, golden electric snakes writhed and roared wildly in the clouds!

The awe-inspiring might of Heaven descended with a thunderous roar!
As Jiang Taixuan ran, his figure, which had just taken off, seemed to be slammed down by an invisible giant hand.

"puff--!"

A mouthful of dark red, almost black, foul blood gushed out!

He was like a kite with a broken string, crashing down at a speed even faster than when he was fleeing.

The viscous flesh and blood had created a deep crater, splattering blood everywhere.

Jiang Taixuan braced himself firmly on the ground with his limbs, his withered back trembling violently as if carrying a towering mountain, emitting a creaking groan from his bones!

No matter how he activated the power of the Martial Saint or how he mobilized the spatial authority of the Gluttonous Stomach, the descending heavenly might was like an iron cage, pinning him firmly to the spot, unable to move an inch.
Jiang Taixuan struggled to lift his distorted old face.

His cloudy eyes stared intently at the figure in mid-air who was also struggling in pain amidst the golden lightning, yet held his blade high and locked onto him!
Fang Qingyu hovered in the center of the golden lightning. His shattered Eternal Night Blaze Armor had long since turned to ashes, revealing his charred and cracked body beneath, from which golden-red blood was constantly seeping out.

Each burst of golden lightning.

They took away large swaths of charred flesh, revealing the jade bones underneath, which were also scorched black.

But the hand holding the knife remained as steady as a rock!
The vertical pupils of molten gold burned with flames of equal pain but even greater madness, piercing through the raging golden lightning and colliding fiercely with Jiang Taixuan's resentful gaze below!
With extreme difficulty, the corners of his charred lips were pulled upwards, a hoarse voice, mixed with blood and fragments of lightning, pierced through the thunderous roar and struck Jiang Taixuan's heart clearly:
"Old dog, do you dare to gamble again?"

"What should we bet on?!"

Jiang Taixuan roared, his voice distorted by the extreme pressure.

Fang Qingyu's molten gold vertical pupils were fixed on him, and the golden lightning wrapped around the blade emitted an even more violent hiss, pointing straight to the sky!
"I'm betting on a deluge of lightning." Fang Qingyu's smile, illuminated by the lightning, was like that of a demon.

"Who will die first?!"

boom! boom! boom!
Within the viscous, twisted passage of flesh and blood, echoed the dull, drum-like sounds of frantic running, along with the heavy, chaotic breathing of dozens of grandmasters fleeing for their lives.

"Faster! Faster! That thing is catching up again!"

"Damn it! What kind of monster is this?! Tier 3! It's definitely Tier 3!!"

"Join forces! Who the hell suggested joining forces just now?! Old Zhao and Old Sun were swallowed up before they even heard a sound! Join forces my ass!!"

Panic spread like a plague.

The last few people in the group were pale-faced. With each heavy step they took on the slippery, bloody ground, they felt that suffocatingly greedy and ferocious power almost touching their backs.

Some people couldn't help but turn around, and after just one glance, they were terrified and let out a shrill scream.

Dozens of meters behind.

The towering, blood-red gluttonous shadow, over ten meters tall, was relentlessly pursuing them with an arrogant and unreasonable attitude.

The massive body should have been confined by the narrow passage, but the writhing, dark red fleshy walls on both sides acted as if they were alive, automatically concave and stretching as it approached, forcibly widening the passage.

And after its giant claws, covered in illusory scales, trod over it.

The flesh walls, like rubber with a memory, quickly rebound and compress, restoring the original passage, or even making it narrower.

This bizarre scene sent chills down everyone's spine.

Everything in this godforsaken place is helping that monster!

"Grandma! My little darling! Don't stop! Please! Run! It's charging at us!!"

In the middle of the group, a burly man with a thick beard looked at the crimson flame figure ahead that had suddenly slowed down and almost cried out.

Jiang Wei's small figure floated in the center of the passage.

The illusory crimson lotus flames around him swayed slightly.

Ignoring the wails behind her, her eyes, burning with the crimson sun, coldly swept over the dark red fleshy wall on her left, which seemed no different from the rest of the area.

right here!

She suddenly stretched out her hands.

Those small hands, covered in flowing crimson flames, were like red-hot branding irons, piercing into the tough flesh walls without any resistance or sound!

laugh--!
The pungent smell of burning filled the air instantly.

"Get out here!"

A low, cold shout.

Jiang Wei suddenly spread her arms outwards!
Zila——! ! !
The tough flesh walls were torn open with a charred gash, just like fragile cloth!

A pair of slender hands, gripping the Xuan Chi twin blades with wariness, suddenly emerged from the gap, followed by Wei Banmeng's cold, blood-stained face, filled with astonishment.

She seemed to be struggling with something inside the gap.

In the instant he was forcibly pulled out, the blade instinctively slashed towards Jiang Wei!

hum!
The crimson lotus flame flickered slightly.

The blade stopped half an inch from Jiang Wei's brow, blocked by an invisible, scorching force field.

When Wei Banmeng saw the scene before her clearly, especially Jiang Wei's crimson eyes burning with inhuman light, her pupils contracted sharply, and she blurted out, "Jiang Wei?! How could you..."

"Follow!"

Jiang Wei didn't give her a chance to ask any questions. She flung her hand away and released her. Then, the crimson flames erupted again, and she sped away into the depths of the passage, leaving only a scorching afterimage.

Wei Banmeng suppressed the shock churning within her.

He glanced behind him and instantly understood the situation.

Before he could even wipe the blood off his face, his sharp gaze swept over the massive, blood-red shadow that was relentlessly pursuing him, and the trail left by Jiang Wei ahead.

Without hesitation, they joined the fleeing torrent.

"Is he that little girl's companion?"

"How did she do that? She tore this ghost wall apart with her bare hands?"

"Stop talking nonsense! Run! The monster is catching up again!"

When the crowd saw Wei Banmeng appear, there was only a brief commotion; the instinct for survival overwhelmed all curiosity.

Jiang Wei followed the same method.

Soon, at the corner of another passage, she stopped again, her fiery hands plunging into the flesh, burning holes in it.

The two rescued this time were Chu Kuanglan and Lu Jiuyuan, who were standing back to back, alert and covered in sticky blood and bits of flesh.

"Where is Fang Shen?!"

Chu Kuanglan was startled when he saw Jiang Wei's inhuman form as soon as he crawled out of the cave, but he immediately shouted anxiously.

Jiang Wei did not answer, but pointed to the terrifying blood shadow that was getting closer and closer behind her.

Chu Kuanglan and Lu Jiuyuan's expressions changed drastically as they instantly understood their situation and immediately rejoined the group.

They ran forward for a while longer.

The passage ahead suddenly widened, no longer a one-way street, but with several branching paths.

At what seemed like a small intersection, they bumped into another group of people.

It was Shi Kong's team and Liu Hanyan's team!

Shi Kong wore a crooked wig, his robe was covered in dark red slime, and the golden light of his staff had dimmed, clearly indicating that he had been through a fierce battle.

Both Liu Hanyan and Liu Qingyan were breathing heavily. Liu Hanyan's hand holding the sword trembled slightly, while Liu Qingyan's face was pale as she tightly gripped her sister's clothes.

"Captain Shikong! Hanyan!"

Upon seeing them, Chu Kuanglan immediately shouted, "Have you seen Fang Shen? Are there any others?!"

Shi Kong and Liu Hanyan were also shocked to see Jiang Wei in this state, but they couldn't care less at the moment. They quickly shook their heads, their faces showing the same anxiety and solemnity: "No! We were also separated! We just reunited not long ago!"

The convergence of these three parties brought not a sense of security, but a deeper sense of anxiety.

Fang Qingyu is still missing!

at this time.

At the very back of the group, a grandmaster who had been intently watching the gluttonous blood shadow behind him suddenly let out an incredulous exclamation:
"Holy crap! The monster's gone!!!"

The core area of ​​the City Lord's Mansion in Liuliguang City.

A sealed room with walls made of high-strength alloy.

The heavy metal door was tightly shut, isolating it from all outside noise.

The indoor lighting was stark white, and the air was as cold as a morgue.

A dozen or so figures sat around a huge alloy round table, each with a deep, serious expression and even a hint of barely perceptible anxiety.

Wearing different uniforms, there were commanders of the city defense army, high-ranking officials of the Ministry of the Interior, and core supervisors in charge of logistics and technology.

Sitting in the main seat was a middle-aged man with a cold, hard face, as if carved by a knife and axe, and eyes as sharp as a hawk.

He wore a dark gray uniform without any markings, but his shoulder insignia bore a dark gold city emblem representing the highest authority.

He is one of the core high-ranking members of the Jiang family. Jiang Hongyuan, Deputy Minister of the Internal Affairs Department.

At this moment, the communicator screen in front of him was completely black, with only the red warning light indicating signal transmission failure flashing silently.

Time ticked by, and the oppressive silence was almost suffocating.

suddenly!

Buzz.
A tiny, palm-sized black crystal slab next to Jiang Zhenyue suddenly lit up with an extremely fine, almost imperceptible dark red bloodline.

The blood-red lines meandered and moved inside the crystal like living things, then quickly faded and disappeared.

Jiang Zhenyue's cold, hard face tensed instantly.

A terrifying glint flashed in his sharp eyes!
"Red light?! The highest emergency plan?! The ancestor has activated the final solution?!"

A gray-haired technical director screamed in terror, his face instantly draining of all color.

Jiang Hongyuan's body trembled violently, and the last glimmer of hope in his eyes was completely extinguished.

Instead, there was a frantic resolve and a hint of indescribable fear.

He suddenly straightened up, like a ferocious beast cornered, and roared hysterically at all the figures in the hall who were frozen like stone statues:

"Are you all deaf?! Highest emergency plan! Something's happened to our ancestor! Now! Immediately! Activate the final emergency plan! Everyone! Follow me! At all costs! Bring our ancestor back!!!"

"Yes!!!"

The hall was deathly silent for a moment, then erupted into a thunderous roar of response.

The long-suppressed anxiety and fear transformed into a frenzied drive at this moment.

All civilian and military personnel, regardless of rank, rushed to their respective posts at top speed, like wound-up machines.

The sound of hydraulic pressure opening the gate filled the air.

Jiang Hongyuan took the lead, his face ashen, exuding an almost tangible aura of menace, and strode towards the outside of the city lord's mansion.

Behind them, dozens of powerful-looking core guards and elites from the Internal Affairs Department of the Jiang family, all at least at the second rank, followed closely like a silent torrent of steel.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the empty square in front of the government building.

however!
Just as Jiang Hongyuan was about to step out of the shadow of the city lord's mansion's huge gate and into the street outside, where the dreamlike aurora flowed, he was about to step out.

His steps seemed to have struck an invisible wall, abruptly halting him in place.

The surging crowd behind them also came to an instant halt!

All eyes were fixed on the center of the square in front of the government building.

There.

I don’t know when.

A silent, dark shadow stood there.

There were more than several dozen people.

They were dressed in various ways, including worn-out old-fashioned combat uniforms of the garrison troops and even blue jackets from the Ministry of Internal Affairs' grassroots patrol teams.

But at this moment, they all exuded the same resolute and heavy aura.

Like a rock, it firmly blocked the main road leading from the city lord's mansion to the outside world.

The leader was tall and straight like a javelin, with a resolute face, bearing the marks of time and the fierce aura honed by the battlefield.

It was Jiang Chengyue.

He stood alone at the very front of the group, like an ancient, blood-stained sword drawn from its sheath, blocking the path of the massive machine that was the Jiang family.

"Jiang Chengyue!"

Upon seeing who it was, Jiang Hongyuan instantly flew into a rage, like a powder keg that had been lit, with veins bulging on his forehead!
He took a sudden step forward, pointed at Jiang Chengyue's nose, and roared like thunder: "You traitor! A disgrace to the family! How dare you show your face here?! Who gave you the guts?!"

The roar echoed across the empty square, filled with unbelievable anger and a violent outburst at challenged authority.

however.

Faced with this roar that would terrify even an ordinary grandmaster and dozens of gazes locked on him with murderous intent.

Jiang Chengyue's face remained expressionless.

There was no anger, no explanation, only a stagnant calm, and a resolute determination burning to its extreme, almost turning to ashes, deep in his eyes.

He slowly raised his hand.

It did not point to Jiang Hongyuan.

Instead, he slowly and firmly placed it across his chest.

This action is like a silent vow.

Behind him, the dozens of silent figures, as if drawn by invisible threads, all took a step forward in unison!
Boom!
The synchronized footsteps, like heavy drumbeats, pounded on the cold, smooth crystal floor, and also on the hearts of everyone trying to rush out of the city lord's mansion.

Everyone took their positions, instantly forming a thin yet incredibly steadfast line of flesh and blood.

"Everyone."

Jiang Chengyue's voice rang out, not loud, but carrying a cold power that pierced through the noise, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"This road today"

He paused, his gaze slowly sweeping over Jiang Hongyuan and the menacing team behind him.

"Nobody's here, you can go through from here."

Dead!

The air in the square seemed to have been sucked out instantly.

Jiang Hongyuan's fury froze, then turned into a twisted, incredulous astonishment.

The core guards behind him looked as if they had seen a ghost!
It's not just Jiang Chengyue, this "traitor," who's blocking our way!
Jiang Hongyuan's gaze swept across the twenty-odd silent and familiar faces behind Jiang Chengyue like a searchlight.

"Zhao Tiezhu?! Wang Kun?! Li Su?! And you! Liu Mingyuan! You're the deputy captain of the Seventh Patrol Team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs!!"

With each name he uttered, his voice rose a notch.

It was filled with the fury of betrayal and a chilling absurdity.

"What...what do you want to do?!" Jiang Hongyuan's voice trembled with extreme anger as he pointed at those familiar faces, his fingers shaking. "Are you following that traitor Jiang Chengyue to betray the Jiang family? Betray Liuli Guang City? Betray the Federation that nurtured you?!"

His vehement questioning echoed across the square, carrying a sense of "righteous" judgment.

however.

His response was still silence.

Dead silence.

The twenty-odd former comrades, subordinates, and fellow soldiers stood there silently, gripping their weapons tightly, their eyes meeting Jiang Hongyuan's furious gaze with complex expressions.

There was struggle, pain, and guilt, but more than anything, there was a resolute determination to be pushed to the edge of a cliff with no way out.

This silence is more painful than any argument.

Jiang Hongyuan's facial muscles twitched violently, and he laughed angrily: "Good! Good! Good! A bunch of ungrateful wretches! Very good!!"

He suddenly waved his hand, his eyes turning like poisoned ice spikes, filled with a cruel threat:
"Wait for the Ancestor to return! Wait for the Patriarch to return victorious from the front lines! You! And your families, none of you will escape! You will all pay the most terrible price for your foolishness and betrayal today!! I will make you..."

"Do you know?"

A voice abruptly interrupted Jiang Hongyuan's hysterical threats.

The voice was very soft, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor, yet it was like a needle that instantly pierced the frenzied atmosphere in the square.

The speaker was a middle-aged man standing to the left and behind Jiang Chengyue.

He was wearing the old-fashioned junior officer uniform of the garrison, and had a hideous scar on his face. He was staring intently at Jiang Hongyuan.

"what do you know?!"

Jiang Hongyuan turned his head sharply, his gaze piercing him like a knife.

The scarred man's Adam's apple bobbed, as if he had used all his strength to shout out the words that had been weighing on his heart:

"Do you know what our ancestor has been doing all these years in the meditation room?!"

"shut up!!"

Jiang Hongyuan's expression changed drastically. He interrupted sharply, a barely perceptible hint of panic flashing in his eyes, which was then overshadowed by a deeper rage.

"A bunch of idiots! What kind of bewitching potion did Jiang Chengyue give you?! Our ancestor is the pillar of strength in the central government, the anchor of Liuli Guangcheng! How dare you traitors slander him!!"

"slander?"

Jiang Chengyue's voice rang out again, icy cold and devoid of any warmth.

He didn't look at Jiang Hongyuan, but slowly took out a thick stack of photos from his pocket, the edges of which were already worn.

Then, under the watchful eyes of Jiang Hongyuan, who was filled with shock and anger, and everyone behind him, who was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

His arm suddenly shot up!
Swish-! ! !
Hundreds of photos, like fluttering snowflakes, drifted and flew towards the gate of the city lord's mansion, towards Jiang Hongyuan and the elite team behind him.

The photos weren't specifically targeted at anyone; they were just scattered.

But those present were at least first-tier peak martial artists who had experienced countless battles, and their eyesight was extremely sharp.

The scenes in those photos instantly and clearly entered everyone's eyes.
One of them was on a metal bed.

A middle-aged man with a withered face and sunken eyes, resembling a skeleton, had a thick tube connected to his wrist, from which dark red blood was being continuously drawn.

His mouth was agape, and he stared blankly at the dome.

despair.

One of them is a mountain of black body bags piled up in the corner.

One of the bags was torn, revealing a bluish-gray, bony arm.

Rotten flesh clung tightly to tiny bones, and several plump maggots were crawling out from between the fingers.

Nausea.

One is a mountain of corpses made up of countless body bags and rotting remains.

Dark green pus flowed down from the "foot of the mountain" like a stream, reflecting a nauseating sheen in the pale light.

Several processing arms, gleaming with a cold metallic light, hovered above the mountain of corpses, like the maws of a giant beast ready to devour its prey.

numbness.

No sound.

There was no roaring.

Only the photographs fell silently, like the coldest snow of winter.

Time seems to be frozen at this moment.

Before the city lord's mansion, the surging murderous aura, the furious roars, and the fanatical fighting spirit...
Everything froze completely in the face of these photos.

Jiang Hongyuan's outstretched arm, ready to give the order to kill without mercy, froze in mid-air.

He was only stunned for a moment.

He was then replaced by rage and murderous intent.

I was just about to continue speaking.

"What...what is this?"

Suddenly, a young guard's voice came from the side, dry and rough like sandpaper.

No one answered.

Only a few photographs were swirling in the cold wind, dancing on the icy crystal floor.

Jiang Chengyue stood amidst a rain of fluttering photographs, standing before dozens of his equally pale-faced but resolute-looking companions.

He slowly raised the ancient longsword in his hand, stained with dried blood, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground.

The voice was hoarse, yet it proclaimed like an ironclad law of fate, each word shattering the deathly silence of the square:
"today."

"This road is blocked!"

(End of this chapter)