# 832
Chapter 833: Battle Against the Nether Willow
Among the two fallen Church of the Ancient Gods members, the young rookie struggled to lift his head, gazing at Baili Pangpang who was walking over with a cold smirk. His eyes flickered uncertainly.
In the end, as if having made some decision, he took a deep breath, and a ball of ink-colored light erupted from his chest!
"You?!" The female rookie beside him, also from the Church of the Ancient Gods, witnessed this scene and her body shuddered.
"Retreat!" An Qingyu's pupils narrowed as he quickly gave the order. The members of Night Watch Squad had no hesitation, rapidly pulling back.
BOOM—!!
A burst of pure ink-colored light engulfed the two Church of the Ancient Gods members.
The terrifying wave of power dissipated. The surrounding earth and vegetation remained undamaged. Only the corpses of the two Church of the Ancient Gods members lay motionless on the ground.
"Did they commit suicide?" Jiang Er asked curiously.
An Qingyu walked over to their bodies, frowning. A gray glow flickered in his eyes as he began analyzing their bodies.
"Physical death, soul vanished... they should be dead?" An Qingyu murmured to himself.
After a moment, he shook his head. "Never mind. After this is over, let's take these two bodies back for autopsy. That should tell us."
DONG DONG DONG—!!
In the night sky, three consecutive thunderous explosions rang out. billowing smoke rose from the inverted steel ceiling, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
No one noticed a faint trace of ink-colored light flashing through the earth, entering a deep depression in the soil, silently drilling into Lu Baoyou's body.
Lu Baoyou frowned, as if sensing something. He lowered his head to look at his palm, a hint of confusion flickering in his eyes...
But in the end, he discovered nothing. He turned his gaze back to the sky, watching the two figures battling fiercely within the steel ceiling.
"He's too strong..." Lu Baoyou murmured. "How can he be so powerful? How much of his strength was he hiding just now?"
Originally, Lu Baoyou had felt somewhat不服气 (unsubmissive) about his defeat.
But now, seeing Lin Qiye unleash his full power, hammering the Nether Willow across the steel ceiling, he finally realized... just how vast the gap between them truly was.
...
The rumbling explosions continued from the steel ceiling above.
The Nether Willow held up that spirit lamp, and wherever the eye in the wick gazed, endless nether energy compressed to its extreme point before erupting violently, tearing apart all matter within a vast area.
Lin Qiye gripped the White Slash, his form darting between void and reality like a ghost. No matter how fierce the Nether Willow's nether explosions became, they couldn't affect him in the slightest.
Of course, with Jialan's [Immortality] protecting him, even if Seven Nights charged blindly toward the Nether Willow with his eyes closed, he wouldn't suffer a scratch. But in that case, his movements would become extremely predictable, allowing the Nether Willow to anticipate and dodge his attacks.
But by hiding his form within the void, he became like an invisible specter. The Nether Willow had no idea from which direction he would strike.
"Hiding and skulking..." The Nether Willow's gaze swept the surroundings vigilantly as he coldly spoke.
The spirit lamp in his palm suddenly burst with dazzling light. A massive ring of nether energy swept outward like a tidal wave, shattering the steel ceiling beneath his feet inch by inch.
Countless steel fragments rained down from the sky like a storm.
Just then, Lin Qiye stepped out from the漫天 steel fragments. A blade of凌厉 (sharp) light pierced the sky, directly cutting toward the Nether Willow's neck.
HUMM—!
The spirit lamp in the Nether Willow's hand blazed brightly once more. Sweeping nether energy shattered this blade of light into消散 (dissipation).
"Hmm?"
Lin Qiye raised an eyebrow. He reached out toward the scattered steel fragments and clenched his fist. The black night spread from his clothes' hem, instantly covering the surface of all the fragments.
All the steel fragments in the sky froze in place, then rapidly converged toward the center, ultimately forming a massive black steel blade. Controlled by the night, it roared toward the Nether Willow in the sky.
Meanwhile, Lin Qiye descended from the sky, White Slash in hand, gazing down at the Nether Willow below. His deep crimson cloak fluttered violently in the gale.
"Try blocking this strike."
Lin Qiye spoke calmly. He raised the snow-white blade high. A deep,幽深 (abyssal) darkness climbed the blade's edge. At the same time, that massive steel blade surging up from the earth also became cloaked in darkness.
Steel blade, Nether Willow, Lin Qiye—the three momentarily aligned on the same vertical axis.
Two black blade rays sliced out from the steel blade and the White Slash respectively, one from above, one from below, forming a cross that夹 (sandwiched) the Nether Willow in the center. The black blade light surged in the night sky, as if it would slash down the stars themselves!
[Stellar Fracturing Art]!
This cross-shaped stellar blade light pierced heaven and earth. The Nether Willow's spirit lamp blazed with unprecedented intensity. Endless nether energy churned, seemingly attempting to withstand this earth-shattering strike.
However, against the cross-shaped blade light, this nether energy lasted only half a second before disintegrating.
The cross blade light that had cut through the nether energy easily sliced through the Nether Willow's body, shattering the lamp in his hand into fragments. The Nether Willow's flesh scattered in the air. He stared blankly at the deep crimson figure hovering above with blade in hand, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Too strong...
That man was too strong.
They were both god's representatives, at the same realm—how could he be so incomparably stronger?
Is this... the strength of a special squad captain?
The Nether Willow couldn't understand, nor would he ever get another chance to ponder. His consciousness rapidly dissolved from his eyes. The last spark of life, along with the surging night, was completely extinguished.
The Church of the Ancient Gods member, proxy of the Greek Nether God Judge—died so easily at Lin Qiye's hands.
His flesh scattered across the earth along with the countless steel fragments. The new recruits in the training camp who had witnessed this entire battle fell into dead silence.
They were deeply shaken.
At this moment, that deep crimson figure holding the snow-white blade and standing in the night sky had been seared into their minds. Even decades later, they wouldn't forget a single detail...
At the same time, a question surfaced in the minds of all surviving new recruits.
Who... was he?
Before they could ponder long, Lin Qiye in the night sky calmly raised his right hand. He flicked his fingers toward the remaining new recruits below on the athletic field.
DONG—!
An invisible pressure wave slammed into the athletic field. In an instant, all the new recruits felt their vision go black as they collapsed unconscious one after another.
The entire training camp, apart from the Night Watch Squad, no longer had a single person standing.