Chapter 179: Chapter 176: Battle Over
A little over ten minutes later, the battle was over.
The Qi Family Ancestor’s mangled, severed corpse lay on the rubble, the ground around it stained red with blood.
Unsurprisingly, after Cao Hongshang was killed, the Qi Family Ancestor was ultimately defeated by the combined assault of Shen Changchuan and Nangong City.
He couldn’t even escape.
After the fierce battle, only half of his mutilated body remained.
At this moment, the entire underground cavern was a shocking, shattered mess.
Cracks, dense as a spider’s web, spread across the cavern walls.
Shattered pebbles occasionally fell from the fissures in the ceiling.
The pool in the central depression, where the Earth Vein Spiritual Milk had been, was now buried under heaps of rubble.
This great battle had completely disrupted the surrounding earth-vein qi.
It was likely that even after several hundred or a thousand years, a Heaven and Earth Treasure like the Earth Vein Spiritual Milk would never appear here again.
But obviously, neither Shen Changchuan nor Nangong City had the mind to care about any of this.
"Brother Nangong, how are you?"
Shen Changchuan’s figure walked over the rubble-strewn ground, asking with concern.
At that moment, Nangong City was slumped on the ground, gasping for air.
His clothes were tattered and torn, and blood flowed freely from his many wounds, almost dyeing him the color of a man made of blood. He was in a sorry state.
"Let me catch my breath... HISS... I never thought that old bastard would have a trick like that up his sleeve. Thank goodness you blocked some of it for me, Brother Shen. Otherwise, I, Nangong City, would have met my end here today!"
Just a slight movement seemed to pull at his wounds, and Nangong City felt a bone-deep, searing pain.
He couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath of cold air, hissing through gritted teeth.
Recalling the near-death experience from that critical moment, a wave of relief at having survived washed over Nangong City.
’So dangerous!’
’I originally thought that after tying down that old ghost from the Qi Family, wearing him down, and combining that with Shen Changchuan’s unbelievably powerful, consecutive killing blows, that old ghost was a dead man for sure.’
’But who would have thought that in his last moments, while he could still move, he would actually use a self-detonation technique to take us down with him!’
’If the quick-thinking Shen Changchuan hadn’t been fast enough to pull me away, I would have been killed in that final explosion, nine times out of ten!’
’It was that close!’
’To be honest, that really scared the hell out of me!’
"Indeed, you really can’t underestimate any of these old-timers!"
After recovering a bit of his strength, Nangong City couldn’t help but sigh with heartfelt emotion as he replayed the scenes of the battle in his mind.
"The older they get, the craftier they become. Living for so long, they’ve seen and fought more than their share. It’s impossible for them not to have a few tricks up their sleeve..."
Shen Changchuan, standing to the side, shook his head slightly.
He reached out and placed his hand on Nangong City’s back.
Endless Life!
As a green glow of Magical Power bloomed in his palm, a stream of Wood Element Vitality began to pour into Nangong City’s body.
The Perfection Level Endless Life gave Shen Changchuan greater control over its power, and when he cast this Magic, it came with a spontaneously-arising sense of Vitality...
As this current of Vitality and Magical Power flowed in, Nangong City could clearly feel his Dantian Meridians, which had been a tangled mess, being sorted out, and his injuries rapidly healing.
Whether it was the internal muscles torn from overexertion or the gruesome, bleeding wounds on his skin, they all basically healed on the surface.
Of course,
it was only a surface recovery.
The foreign, damaging energy left by his enemy would have to be dealt with slowly over time.
A quarter of an hour later, Shen Changchuan stopped.
The aura within Nangong City’s body had stabilized.
Some color had also returned to his originally pale face.
"Brother Shen, I never expected you to have such a skill. My deepest thanks for this!"
After his breathing steadied and his condition had recovered somewhat, Nangong City stood up and bowed deeply toward Shen Changchuan with his hands clasped.
"Brother Nangong, there’s no need for that... Although this is a hidden place deep underground, the fluctuations from our battle might have attracted a third party. We should leave as soon as possible..."
"You’re right..."
And so, after collecting the spoils of battle, Shen Changchuan casually burned the two enemies’ bodies, destroying all traces of them.
Only then did he and Nangong City quickly depart.
They left behind only a field of shattered ruins, with not a single trace of human presence.
....
Shen Changchuan and Nangong City first found a relatively secluded and quiet spot within the underground cavern.
They meditated for two or three days to recover their strength before finally leaving the cavern system.
Upon exiting the entrance of the mountain stream cavern, they found members of the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance standing guard nearby.
When they saw Shen Changchuan and Nangong City, the Cultivators from the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance who had tried to block them earlier revealed shocked expressions.
They seemed stunned that the two had managed to walk out alive.
Their change in expression did not escape Shen Changchuan’s notice.
So he struck directly, taking all of them down, and interrogated them about the situation.
The leader of the group of Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance Cultivators was quite stubborn and refused to speak.
So, Shen Changchuan granted his wish and smashed his head open.
After killing two more, the last Cultivator, at the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer, finally couldn’t withstand the fear of death and told them everything he knew.
The gist was that after Shen Changchuan and Nangong City had forced their way through the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance’s checkpoint, their Alliance Leader, Cao Hongshang, had contacted the Qi Family Ancestor. Then, using some kind of tracking method, they had pursued them inside.
That’s why their faces showed such shock when they saw Shen Changchuan and Nangong City emerge.
This answer was clearly not enough to satisfy Shen Changchuan.
’I already killed Cao Hongshang and the Qi Family Ancestor in the cavern. How could I not know they teamed up to deal with me?’
"Spare me, my lord! I’m just an ordinary outer guard, that’s all I’ve seen and heard... I’m not privy to the secrets of the higher-ups!"
The guard wailed and begged for mercy.
’It seems that’s true.’
’He’s only at the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer, just a low-level grunt. How could the higher-ups possibly let someone at the bottom know what they’re up to?’
"Then tell me something you *do* know. At least, something that’s worth your life..."
Shen Changchuan said, feeling a little speechless.
And so, the man began to spill everything he knew in a torrent.
For example, a long time ago, Cao Hongshang of the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance was already in contact with the Qi Family. Six months ago, the Qi Family Ancestor had secretly visited their garrison and met privately with their Alliance Leader.
Another example: three months ago, a masked person arrived in secret, suspected to be someone from the Wu Family who hailed from the Wu Family Collection...
There were also some vicious, black-robed figures whose exact identities were unknown, but who often had the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance gather people for them. After these people were collected and taken away, they were never heard from again... He revealed many such secrets about the Family Protection Mutual Aid Alliance.
And the reason he knew all this was because he was one of the most trusted members of the guard.
He usually stood watch before the Alliance Leader’s door, which was how he got to see all sorts of characters...
