Meanwhile, taking advantage of the Shadow of Blood keeping the opponent occupied, Jiang Lin quickly pulled out a mana recovery potion and gulped it down.
Even though he had been trading blows with his opponent just now, his exhaustion was still significant.
Thus, he aimed to replenish as much as possible.
At the same time, Jiang Lin felt the inconvenience of this kind of potion.
Having to consume it orally left far too much room for the opponent to exploit his timing.
He would have to look for items that could recover mana through other means when he had the chance.
Violent explosions and mana fluctuations echoed from the room next door; it was clear that the battle between the buff guy and the purple-robed mage had reached its peak.
The initial plan for the two of them was to restrain these guys as much as possible.
If they couldn't be controlled, they would decide whether to kill them based on the situation.
Noticing that Jiang Lin actually had the upper hand on his side, the buff guy stopped rushing and focused on trying to capture his opponent alive.
Jiang Lin quickly widened the distance between himself and his foe, ceasing his harrassment.
After all, the primary ability of the cursed blood bone doll was damage reflection.
If his own attacks accidentally landed on the cursed blood bone doll, he wouldn't be able to withstand the backlash himself.
Jiang Lin felt that his current attribute distribution was somewhat skewed toward offense.
The new skill formed by merging eight high-tier skills already possessed power exceeding most super-tier skills.
As a result, his own defense couldn't keep up with his offensive power.
He would need to find methods to increase his physical defense later.
Of course, that was a matter for another time.
On the other side, the bald warrior threw a full-force punch, slamming it into the cursed blood bone doll that had attached itself to him and completed its transformation.
"Bang—!!!"
A dull impact sounded, accompanied by the tooth-grinding crunch of shattering bone.
The bald warrior's hands were shrouded in a thick black mist, eroding the body of the cursed blood bone doll he had pierced.
More than half of the cursed blood bone doll's body fell apart, with only the mangled remains of its upper torso surviving.
However, almost at the same instant, a strange and powerful curse appeared on the bald warrior's body!
"Argh—!!!"
The bald warrior let out a pained groan as a large hole abruptly opened in his abdomen. Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere in a scene that was certainly not for children.
More terrifyingly, at the points where the cursed blood bone doll had made contact, curses such as 【Armor-corroding Rune】 and 【Blood-staining Rune】 flooded his body, beginning to frantically corrode his flesh and mana!
"What the hell is this thing?!"
He was filled with both shock and rage, wanting to pull away and drive it off, only to find that although the cursed blood bone doll's body was mostly collapsed, it still hadn't died and was still clinging tightly to him!
This was the disgusting part of the cursed blood bone doll.
As long as the opponent failed to predict the doll's ability from the start, they would be stuck with it until death.
Even as the master of the cursed blood bone doll, Jiang Lin hadn't thought of any good solution for dealing with it himself.
One either had to use sealing or control abilities from the beginning to restrain it, or use specific purification magic to eliminate all the curses.
As for using power that exceeded the cursed blood bone doll's endurance limit to kill it, Jiang Lin hadn't tried that method.
After all, if one went all out and still failed to exceed that limit, they would be left in a terrible state by the reflected damage.
He didn't exactly have any strange attributes to help with that.
Seeing that he truly had no way to deal with the bizarre thing on his body, the bald warrior turned his target toward its master, Jiang Lin.
By now, Jiang Lin had finished replenishing himself with the mana recovery potion.
His gaze turned sharp, and the eight-colored longsword in his hand erupted with brilliant light once more!
Eight elements gathered at the sword's tip, compressing and merging until they transformed into a sword qi condensed to the absolute limit—nearly a pure, destructive streak of light!
"Ha!!"
Jiang Lin gave a low shout, gripping the sword with both hands, and slashed down fiercely toward the approaching bald warrior!
The bald warrior's pupils shrank!
He felt the threat of death!
This caused him to explode with unprecedented potential!
He let out a roar, and the dark red keratinous layer on his skin instantly thickened several times. At the same time, his left fist, carrying all his power, slammed into that eight-colored sword qi!
"Boom—!!!"
Fist and sword collided!
A terrifying explosion echoed within the narrow room!
A wild shockwave of energy centered on the point of impact, spreading frantically in all directions!
The stone bricks on the walls shattered inch by inch, dust showered down from the ceiling, and the entire room vibrated violently!
Amidst the swirling dust, a figure flew backward and crashed heavily against the wall!
The figure flying backward was none other than the bald warrior!
He slid down the wall, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side. From his fist to his forearm was a mess of mangled flesh; the dark red keratinous layer was completely shattered, exposing the white bone beneath.
More severely, the curse power of the cursed blood bone doll continued to corrode him, preventing his wounds from healing as blood poured out in streams.
When Jiang Lin had unleashed the sword technique, he had summoned the Shadow of Blood back into the mount space to avoid any possibility of attacking himself.
"Cough... cough cough..."
He coughed up several mouthfuls of black blood containing fragments of internal organs, his eyes filled with unbelievable horror.
A rank-1 kid... how could he unleash such a terrifying attack?!
Jiang Lin on the other side wasn't faring well either; that single strike had nearly drained the mental energy he had just recovered.
However, his 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 remained firmly locked onto the opponent to prevent any deathbed struggles.
His chest heaved violently, and his right hand holding the sword trembled slightly from exhaustion.
When fighting lord-tier demonic beasts before, he had used a war of attrition because he could retreat at any time.
He had used his trait as a despicable adventurer who could use recovery potions at will to defeat his foes.
Unlike now, where the opponent really had the potential for a desperate explosion to turn the tables.
Thus, that sword strike just now had taken almost all of his strength.
At the same time, he noticed that the battle fluctuations on the buff guy's side had begun to subside.
A figure rushed out of the door next door; it was the buff guy, who had finished binding the purple-robed mage.
He saw the bald warrior slumped on the ground, at death's door.
Then, he turned a shocked gaze toward Jiang Lin.
He had sensed a massive eruption of mana fluctuations here, so he had quickly finished a simple binding of the purple-robed mage and rushed over.
He hadn't expected to see this scene.
This brother Matthew... seems to be a bit too strong...?
Recalling his own combat power back when he was rank-1, it was definitely far inferior to Jiang Lin's current state.
This guy... effectively defeated someone nearly 20 levels higher...
Is he really still human?
But now was not the time to dwell on such things.
He pulled out an "immortal binding rope" and went forward to tie the bald warrior up thoroughly.
Although the buff guy had given Jiang Lin a few of these magic items that could bind an opponent's mana, it was still safer for the buff guy to do the binding himself.
After all, only with his strength and power could he achieve complete suppression over the target.
After finishing this, Jiang Lin drank another mana recovery potion.
At that moment, he remembered there was a woman here at the beginning who wasn't an adventurer.
After that energy shockwave just now, she, who was already unconscious, seemed to have even more severe injuries.
Jiang Lin walked quickly to the corner. The woman was curled up amidst the rubble and dust, her breath weak.
Well, she was still alive; he could heal her back!
He crouched down, a soft light from his 【Low-level Healing】 technique glowing in his palm. Emerald specks of light seeped into her body, stabilizing her precarious vital signs.
The internal injuries within her body slowly healed under the magic's effect, though because her level wasn't high, she remained unconscious after suffering such trauma.
Jiang Lin continued the treatment while pulling a blanket out of his spatial ring to wrap her naked body.
"How do we handle this person?"
Jiang Lin looked at the buff guy.
He felt the other man probably had more experience in dealing with such matters.
At this time, the buff guy was dragging the bound purple-robed mage from the next room. Seeing Jiang Lin treating the victim, he slapped his forehead, remembering there was a victim in the other room as well.
Then, he carried over a small boy.
Seeing this, only one simple thought remained in Jiang Lin's mind:
May the Pleasure Cult and all its ilk be destroyed quickly...
The buff guy settled the boy next to Jiang Lin.
"Help him with some healing too. As for the mental trauma, that will depend on their own ability to adjust."
Jiang Lin nodded.
The boy's injuries weren't particularly heavy.
The buff guy's strength was above his own.
The commotion he made while dealing with the purple-robed mage wasn't as big as his own.
The boy had largely been spared from the fallout.
"Then how should we settle them?" Jiang Lin asked again.
The buff guy stroked his chin.
"Based on what this purple-robed guy said earlier, it seems the Holy Son of their secret cult is coming here. With the intel we have now, we can definitely call for backup.
"As long as we wipe out these cultists before their Holy Son arrives, our mission is mostly complete.
"These victims can be handed over to the support units that arrive; let them handle the relocation."
Jiang Lin was curious. "What's the deal with this 'Holy Son'? And what is that 'ascent ceremony' he mentioned?"
The buff guy thought for a moment, then used a few soundproofing arrays to block the sound from the two victims and the two bound cultists before speaking:
"This so-called 'Holy Son' holds a status in the secret cult similar to ours, though their authority is much higher. That's because they don't give someone the title of 'Holy Son' just because they have great talent.
"Instead, one must be strong enough and have sufficient combat power within the same rank to be selected as a Holy Son candidate.
"This so-called 'ascent ceremony' requires the person to sacrifice an entire city."
Hearing this, Jiang Lin's pupils suddenly contracted.
"An entire city... Emerald City?"
"Yes."
The buff guy nodded with a heavy expression.
"That's why when I heard that news, I only wanted to grab you and go call for help immediately.
"The 'ascent ceremony' of the secret cults is an extremely bloody ritual.
"They need to prepare in a city for a long time, drawing a vast number of sacrificial arrays.
"If it's a city managed by the Temple, they need to set up even more rituals to shield the perception of the gods.
"Once everything is ready, they will drain the life force and souls of the entire city's residents in exchange for greater power and status.
"Once successful, this 'Holy Son' will break through directly to the 7th rank or even higher, and receive a special blessing from an evil god, becoming a true high-level combatant for the secret cult."
Jiang Lin took a sharp breath.
He had originally thought Emerald City just had a relatively large number of cultists, but he hadn't expected them to be plotting to such an extent.
"However, there's one thing I don't understand. If this Holy Son wants to perform an ascent ceremony, he could clearly do it in secret. Why would he let a small fry like this hear wind of it and let the news spread to a large number of low-level cultists?"
He paused, then continued, "After all, these low-level cultists are nothing but losses that the secret cult can afford to let die."
At this, Jiang Lin's expression also became solemn.
"You mean... this might be news the secret cult leaked on purpose?"
Jiang Lin looked at the tightly bound purple-robed mage and the dying bald warrior on the ground.
"Aren't they afraid the Temple will notice in advance and mobilize forces for a counterattack?"
"That's exactly what makes me most uneasy."
The buff guy paced back and forth.
"Unless... they've already made complete preparations, and are even deliberately luring us—or rather, luring the Temple's support forces—into a trap."
Jiang Lin fell silent, feeling a headache coming on.
If the two of them didn't handle this well, never mind themselves—the entire Emerald City might end up being buried with them.
"If they really plan to conduct an 'ascent ceremony' in Emerald City and use the entire city as a sacrifice, they must have placed a large number of sacrificial arrays underground or at key nodes in the city."
The buff guy continued.
"Earlier in the purple-robed mage's room, I saw some arrays that were different from normal sacrificial rituals. That might be one of the array cores.
"At the very least, before support arrives, we need to figure out the locations of a few more array cores."
Jiang Lin nodded seriously upon hearing this.
"By the way, if the Temple's side has been infiltrated, is it possible that eyes have already been placed at the Court of Space?
"If any powerhouses teleport over, would they react immediately?"
Hearing Jiang Lin's words, the buff guy's eyes lit up.
"It's highly likely!
"However, it's definitely not as simple as having spies in the Court of Space."
The buff guy looked at Jiang Lin and explained:
"The Court of Space is just for civilian transport. If an emergency occurs in a city, they definitely won't teleport through the Court of Space.
"The Royal Capital and several other major cities have one-way teleportation arrays leading to almost every other city.
"And these one-way teleportation arrays also exist in every city, but their specific locations are quite mysterious. They are high-level secrets specifically to prevent someone from tampering with them and stopping the Temple's reinforcements from arriving.
"Furthermore, these target cities don't just have one one-way teleportation array; they usually have two or three as backups to prevent a situation where one is tampered with and reinforcements can't arrive.
"So, I speculate that the reason they dare to reveal something like the 'ascent ceremony' so brazenly to low-level cultists is that they have already found the locations of every single one-way teleportation array in this city.
"And they've tampered with these arrays—they might even be able to slaughter any powerhouse who teleports over!"
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