pjbooks Chapter 343 Self-Exposure? Aren't you overthinking it?
Chapter 343 Self-Exposure? Aren't you overthinking it?
"Trying to self-destruct?"
Chen Yifan looked at the black worm in his palm that was rapidly expanding like an inflating balloon, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.
The energy from this self-destruction was indeed very strange. It was not a simple psychic explosion, but rather it acted directly on the soul level, carrying an extremely filthy and domineering annihilation attribute.
Once it fully erupts, not only this main hall, but the entire underground ruins will likely be instantly contaminated, turning into a dead land where even the dead cannot exist.
Any normal professional, faced with such a suicidal and insane fighting style, would probably choose to retreat immediately and temporarily avoid the fray.
But Chen Yifan is not a normal person.
"Trying to self-destruct in front of me? Aren't you overthinking it?"
He remained calm and unhurried, showing no intention of even taking a step back.
In the sea of consciousness, the "Starry Sky Bible" that hovered in the heart palace moved on its own without wind, its pages rustling as it turned to a new page.
Countless profound and mysterious techniques flowed through his mind.
From the vast sea of memories of the Star Soul Venerable, he easily found a method to counteract the self-destruction of such soul connections.
"[Soul Stripping]".
Chen Yifan uttered four words softly.
An invisible and intangible yet extremely sharp spiritual force transformed into the finest surgical scalpel, precisely slicing into the worm's body.
Just before the destructive energy within it reached its critical point and was about to erupt completely.
This psychic scalpel, with its unpredictable trajectory, made a gentle cut.
scoff!
It was as if something invisible had been instantly severed.
The invisible soul thread within the worm, connecting it to a distant, unknown entity, snapped instantly!
The worm's body, which was expanding wildly, suddenly froze.
Then, like a punctured balloon, it quickly deflated.
The destructive energy that was about to destroy the world was forcibly "suppressed" because it lost its source. It ran wildly within its body but could no longer form an effective explosion.
"Uh...ah..."
The worm let out a more painful and desperate wail than before.
The backlash from the failed self-destruction caused irreversible damage to its very essence.
Its last trump card, its last shred of dignity, became a complete joke in front of this man.
It completely collapsed.
What kind of monster is this?!
"Now, can we have a proper talk?"
Chen Yifan looked at the worm-like mass of mud in his palm, his voice still icy.
As soon as he had a thought, the giant purple-gold hand tightened its grip.
Countless even more subtle spiritual tendrils emerged from the palm, transforming into a soul furnace composed of countless profound runes, tightly enveloping the worm's soul.
"Ahhhhh!"
The agonizing screams of the spirit echoed through the furnace.
This is a form of torture that is billions of times more painful than physical torture.
Using the secret techniques from the "Starry Sky Codex," Chen Yifan crushed, purified, and reassembled its soul bit by bit, forcibly rummaging through every corner of its memories.
Soon, a clear blueprint was formed in Chen Yifan's mind.
【Holy Cult】, an extreme organization that worships an ancient being who was banished to the "heretical realm".
Their followers are spread all over the world, infiltrating major forces including government officials, financial magnates, and even lamplighters, and they act with extreme secrecy.
The so-called "Holy Lord" is merely one of the most loyal servants of that ancient being, responsible for paving the way for His coming to the material world.
This "Starry Sky Codex" is not the inheritance they want to obtain, but a coordinate!
A celestial beacon powerful enough to tear apart the barriers between worlds and allow that ancient being to project its power upon it!
"Guiding the ancient gods? Interesting."
Chen Yifan flipped through his memories while sneering.
These lunatics are playing even bigger games than the Eternal Life Society.
In addition to this core intelligence, he also learned about the internal organizational structure of the Holy Church, the code names of several key high-ranking members, and even... in a corner of the worm's memory, he discovered an interesting detail.
The Holy Church itself does not appear to be a monolithic entity.
There exists a so-called "conservative faction" that strongly opposes the "Holy Lord's" plan of guiding people at any cost, which may attract "cleaners."
"If there's internal strife, things will be much easier."
After extracting all the valuable information, Chen Yifan was too lazy to listen to the insect's wailing anymore.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
The Soul Furnace suddenly shrank inward.
"No!"
With a final, piercing scream, the worm's soul was completely refined, ultimately transforming into a pure soul crystal the size of a fingernail, emitting a faint black light.
This thing contains extremely pure spiritual energy. Although it carries a hint of evil, for Chen Yifan now, after a little purification, it would be a great tonic.
He casually put away the soul crystal, and the giant purple-gold hand disappeared as well.
The entire hall fell silent once more.
Chen Yifan turned around and glanced at the entrance to the main hall.
Those who had been stunned by his mental field, Lei Zhen's deputy, and a few surviving pursuers were now lifeless.
Their bodies lay on the ground, their deaths peaceful, but their souls had long since been drained away.
Clearly, he was silently killed by that cautious worm while he was fighting Star Soul Venerable in the Heart Palace World.
"That saved me a lot of trouble."
Chen Yi-fan didn't care about this at all. He walked to the pile of corpses and began to skillfully "touch the corpses".
Soon, he noticed something amiss in the mechanical eyes of that member of the Council of Order.
Inside that prosthetic eye, there was an extremely subtle data stream, seemingly sending some kind of information to the outside world in the last few seconds before he lost consciousness.
Chen Yifan forcibly cracked the encryption of the data stream using his mental power.
A fragmented video and an encrypted file appeared before his eyes.
He opened the file, and its contents instantly made his eyes light up with amusement.
It was a... infuriatingly detailed observation report about himself.
Just as he was about to delve deeper into the report, he suddenly came across the last fragment of the worm's memory.
It was at a high-level meeting of the Holy Church that the worm had the privilege of seeing a projection of the "Holy Lord" from afar.
It was a figure shrouded in endless divine light, its specific appearance obscured.
But just as the projection was about to disappear, a wisp of divine light dissipated.
A face, flashing by.
That was a face... one he could never have imagined!
Chen Yifan's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.
How could it be him!
That face appeared only for a moment in the worm's memory, blurry and indistinct, yet it struck Chen Yifan's mind like a thunderbolt!
Green hair, sickly pale skin, and eyes that seemed to see right through everything.
He had seen that face not long ago!
It was the one who suddenly appeared in front of his house before.
With a full head of green hair, he handed over the key fragments he had obtained from Bai Xiang to the official.
This is fucking ridiculous... what kind of international joke is this?!
"It's the same person?"
Chen Yifan stood there, stunned for more than ten seconds, before he came back to his senses from the huge shock.
He quickly reconnected all the clues in his mind.
wrong!
This face looks similar, but there are subtle differences.
Moreover, both of them have green hair...
There must be some key point he doesn't know about.
twin?
Or something else...
But he knew very little about that person.
However, the projection in front of him felt even more oppressive.
It was far more oppressive than the person he had met.
This person is definitely not simple.
"call……"
Chen Yifan let out a long breath, forcibly suppressing the surging doubts in his heart.
The Holy Church's influence is deeply entrenched.
He pretended not to know.
It's still more important to upgrade and improve our strength as soon as possible.
Having figured this out, Chen Yifan's eyes regained their coldness and composure.
He stuffed the soul crystal he had refined from the worm, along with the spoils he had scavenged from the other corpses, into his storage space.
Then, his gaze fell on the encrypted document that had been cracked by the members of the Council of Order.
He decided to see what those iron-willed members of the Order Council were up to this time.
However, he was just about to leave the main hall.
Rumble!
The entire underground ruins suddenly began to shake violently, as if a magnitude 10 earthquake had occurred.
Large chunks of rock and soil began to crumble from the dome overhead, crashing to the ground and kicking up clouds of dust.
Countless huge cracks appeared on the walls, and the entire space groaned under the weight of the pressure.
"Is the site going to collapse?"
Chen Yifan raised an eyebrow.
It seems that the core element was swallowed up by itself, causing the entire cyclical system of the ruins to collapse completely and triggering the final self-destruct program.
Without further hesitation, he immediately turned around and rushed back the way he came.
The passageway was also in a mess at this moment.
The once smooth crystal murals have long since shattered into shards of glass scattered all over the ground.
The space was filled with violent energy turbulence and spatial rifts, and every step was fraught with deadly danger.
But for Chen Yifan now, this is nothing at all.
He didn't even bother to hide.
A powerful spiritual force emanated from his body, forming an absolute "safe zone" around him. Any energy turbulence or spatial rift that approached would be instantly smoothed out and suppressed.
He strolled leisurely through this path of heritage that was heading towards destruction.
Soon, he returned to the foyer where the mechanical remains were hanging upside down.
The situation here is even worse.
The half-finished mechanical body, with its seven-colored mechanical heart in its chest having long since stopped beating, was now being slowly devoured by countless cracks spreading from the void.
The entire space is collapsing towards a single point.
Without pausing, Chen Yifan flashed and rushed out of the huge bronze door.
As soon as we returned to the bottom of the mine, a strong smell of blood and gunpowder hit us.
Looking around, the entire mine pit had turned into a scene of carnage.
Everywhere were broken mechanical parts and the corpses of lamplighters, and charred armored vehicle wreckage billowed thick smoke.
The clash between the Lamplighters and the Council of Order was clearly a lose-lose situation.
However, judging from the traces at the scene, both sides seemed to have retreated in a hurry, without even having time to clean up the battlefield.
Chen Yifan looked up and saw that the mine pit above him was collapsing on a large scale. In just a few minutes, everything here would be completely buried.
He didn't linger any longer. His figure transformed into a blur, and with a few leaps along the pit wall, he rushed out of the mine.
He had just left less than ten seconds ago.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, the entire abandoned mine, along with the ancient ruins that held countless secrets, collapsed completely, turning into a bottomless, enormous sinkhole.
……
Half an hour later.
In a secluded cave dozens of kilometers away from the mine.
Chen Yifan sat cross-legged, finally having time to take stock of the enormous gains he had made from this near-death experience.
First, there's the hierarchy.
Still at Lv.50, stuck at the limit of the first job advancement, unable to gain any more experience.
This made him very unhappy, and the second job advancement quest had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
After all, this is the biggest flaw in someone like him who doesn't have a mental lock.
Only by fully grasping power in our own hands.
Only then can we deal with all problems.
Secondly, there is his core strength.
Mental strength.
He devoured an entire remnant soul, causing his total spiritual power to surge at least fivefold!
Now, the three-tiered purple-gold pagoda in his sea of consciousness has completely materialized, becoming a tangible manifestation of his soul.
He felt that with a single thought, he could summon it and smash a skyscraper to pieces.
Then there was the "Starry Sky Bible" that inexplicably hovered above his Purple Gold Pagoda.
This is the biggest gain from this trip.
This ancient book records a complete spiritual cultivation system of unorthodox paths, from "foundation building of the heart palace" to "immortal true spirit".
With it, Chen Yifan's future path will be smooth sailing.
More importantly, this is not only a genuine artifact from a heterodox sect, but also contains the secret method for "unlocking" others.
As long as he can fully master it.
In the future, when we build our own core team, we will have more ways to deal with crises.
Wang Fugui, Lin Xiaoyu, and even his younger sister Chen Xue...
Perhaps, once Chen Xue unlocks her genetic potential, the seal might be broken...
However, this point still needs careful consideration.
In the future, when crises arise, they may no longer be bound by the damned [World Engine]'s restrictions on professions, talents, levels, etc.
Moreover, today's experience has given him insight into another side of the world.
My own strength is not yet at the point where I can ignore everything.
We must be careful in everything we do.
Finally, Chen Yifan took out the encrypted chip he had obtained from Yi Yan, a member of the Order Council.
He probed it with his mental energy.
The next second, his face turned incredibly ugly.
The chip contained neither a distress signal nor any classified information.
It turned out to be a combat data analysis report that he himself updated in real time?