On the Ice Layer
The unease in Star Guardian's heart grew stronger.
"No, I have to retreat first!"
Making his decision, he immediately prepared to leave.
At that moment, beneath the water, Jiang Ning's expression lit up with joy.
[Detected five points of divinity and two authorities. Absorb?]
[Absorb!]
Jiang Ning confirmed in his heart.
The next moment, he felt the black, wriggling finger in his hand rapidly being stripped of its mystical properties.
As the divine essence was extracted, the blackened finger lost all its supernatural qualities, turning into nothing more than a dried-up piece of flesh.
[Divinity]: 5
[Authority]: Flesh and Blood Regeneration (Incomplete, 96.13% missing), Divine's Scion (Fragment, Severely Damaged)
[Divine's Scion]: Grants the blessing of flesh, enhancing the physical development of Scions. With this, one can control Divine Scions. (Note: This authority is severely damaged, rendering its effects weak. Additional fragments must be collected from other deities.)
Jiang Ning glanced at his status panel, briefly stunned, then closed it.
Because he had sensed that Star Guardian above the ice was fleeing at full speed.
Having slain the Wind God Envoy, how could he let this Bishop of the Worshipers Sect escape?
After all
In the Inspectorate, eliminating a Grade Six cultist of the Worshipers Sect was worth 50,000 contribution points, equivalent to 50,000 taels of silver.
As for Grade Five cultists, there wasn't even a listed bounty clearly, the authorities didn't think it was necessary.
After all, the strongest warrior in Luoshui County was Hong Minghu, a Grade Five Inner Strength expert.
There was no point in mentioning anyone beneath him.
Grade Five warriors weren't as common as roadside vegetables they weren't so easy to kill.
But just because they weren't listed didn't mean there wasn't a reward.
Killing a Grade Six Bone Forging cultist was already a great merit.
A Grade Five warrior from the Cult of Divine Worship, especially a Bishop or a Divine Envoy, would surely be worth even more.
With that thought, Jiang Ning quickly stowed away the Wind God Envoy's cloak one that could blend seamlessly with its surroundings.
In his eyes, this was the most valuable item of these two cultists.
It would undoubtedly fetch a high price!
Above the Ice
Star Guardian moved swiftly.
Like a gust of wind, he skimmed across the snowy ground.
The swirling snowflakes couldn't even keep up with his speed.
Suddenly
Crack
Crack
A sharp sound rang out beneath his feet.
The sound came from below and rapidly spread in all directions.
"This is...?"
He halted abruptly, his eyes widening as he looked down.
The thick snow beneath his feet was rising, cracks spreading through the compacted ice, breaking into jagged fragments.
The next moment
Boom!
A torrent of lake water surged upward.
In an instant, it engulfed him.
Through the water, he suddenly saw Jiang Ning standing there, blade in hand.
And beside him
A mangled corpse, soaked in black blood, floating in the water.
"That's...!"
In that instant, Star Guardian's heart trembled violently.
He immediately understood the source of his unease.
Thoughts flashed through his mind.
"I can't fight him!"
"Run!!"
He made his decision in an instant.
The next moment
He turned and bolted, trying to escape through the water.
But as soon as he moved, he realized something was wrong.
The once-rising lake water had already swallowed him whole.
Now, as he attempted to move, he felt an overwhelming force resisting him.
The water had transformed into a murky swamp, restricting his every motion.
Each movement felt like pushing against an immense weight, reducing his speed by seventy to eighty percent.
At this point, even a commoner swimming would be just as fast.
"What kind of technique is this?!" He was utterly shocked.
On the Other Side
Jiang Ning observed Star Guardian's movements.
A smile formed on his lips.
The water was his domain.
This was also his first time testing his mastery over water manipulation in actual combat.
Under his control
The lake water surged upward, swallowing Star Guardian.
Now, the lake had become his territory.
Covered by the water, his opponent's movements would be severely restricted, and their speed drastically reduced.
Even at best, they could only exert half their strength.
Watching Star Guardian's sluggish motions, Jiang Ning nodded in satisfaction.
Just then
Boom
Star Guardian suddenly unleashed his inner energy, dispersing the water that had trapped him. His speed surged instantly.
Like a fish darting through water, he covered nearly ten meters in a single breath, moving as fast as someone sprinting on land.
"Inner energy truly is powerful!" Jiang Ning marveled inwardly at the sight.
Then, with a mere thought
The once-still lake waters erupted into chaos.
Within a radius of several hundred meters, the water surged toward the center, its tremendous force making even the inner-energy-fueled Star Guardian struggle to advance.
Every time he pushed away the water in front of him, the water behind would crash forward and shove him back.
The raging currents transformed into a vortex a bottomless abyss that swallowed everything in its wake.
"What kind of technique is this!?" Despair flooded Star Guardian's heart.
He now understood: if Jiang Ning could kill the wind god emissary in his six-armed divine form underwater, then he stood no chance.
Among the Divine Emissaries, the six-armed transformation offered the greatest boost in power.
Yet even in that form, the wind god emissary had fallen.
His divine transformation was far weaker in comparison.
If they were evenly matched under normal circumstances, and Jiang Ning had defeated a stronger opponent, how could he possibly stand against him?
Especially after witnessing such an extraordinary ability.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ning observed his handiwork with satisfaction.
By drawing the lake water toward a central point, he had created a Water Prison a technique to trap his enemy.
Even if he didn't strike, Star Guardian wouldn't easily escape.
"Let's try this next."
With another thought
Star Guardian felt the surrounding water come alive as if it possessed a will of its own.
It surged toward him, slipping into his ears, nose, and other orifices.
In an instant, his inner energy flared from his dantian, sealing off all his bodily openings.
"Cough, cough"
"Cough, cough"
After several choking coughs, he managed to expel the water that had invaded his body.
"Demon!" His eyes filled with fear as he glared at Jiang Ning, whose silhouette lurked beneath the water.
At that moment, Jiang Ning closed in.
"Is it over?" Star Guardian muttered to himself.
A sudden calmness settled over him.
From the moment he saw the six-armed divine emissary's corpse, he knew death was the only path left for him.
All his previous struggles had been nothing more than futile resistance before the inevitable.
A few breaths later
Jiang Ning stood just one meter away.
To his surprise, Star Guardian remained still, his face eerily serene.
Jiang Ning had given him ample time to transform, yet he had chosen not to.
Instead, he simply stood there, waiting.
"I underestimated you," Star Guardian finally spoke, his voice carrying through the water.
Jiang Ning waved a hand, parting the lake to create a two-meter-wide vacuum.
Both men now stood atop the water's surface as if it were solid ground.
"Impressive technique," Star Guardian praised once more.
"You're not going to fight back?" Jiang Ning asked.
"There's no point." Star Guardian shook his head. "I don't want to die as a monster nor without a complete corpse."
Jiang Ning fell silent.
Star Guardian suddenly let out a chuckle.
"Do it."
Closing his eyes, he spoke softly. "Make it quick."
Jiang Ning hesitated no longer.
With a swift stroke
A blade flashed.
A head soared high.
In mid-air, Star Guardian's eyes flew open in shock
Before slowly dimming.
By the time his head splashed into the lake, all traces of life had vanished.
A severed head for a warrior of his caliber, this was the most fatal wound.
"It's over."
Jiang Ning sighed as he watched the head bob in the water.
Moments later
Inside an underwater cave on a desolate island
He placed the two corpses within.
As lake water poured in, the bodies gradually became encased in ice.
Jiang Ning turned away.
Both of them had been fifth-grade martial artists of the Worshipers Sect.
Killing them earned him two major merits.
But with the Inspection Bureau on holiday and the old master of the internal affairs department nowhere to be found
For now, he could only store their bodies here, letting the water preserve them in ice to prevent decay.
When work resumed, he would deliver the corpses to claim his reward.
"And get a promotion."
Jiang Ning mused.
With that settled
He pulled out the finger filled with divine energy once again.
Now that he had absorbed its divine essence and authority fragments, the finger bone in his hand looked like a dried-up twig.
"This must have belonged to the god that the Worshipers Sect venerates, right?"
Looking at the withered finger in his hand, Jiang Ning fell into deep thought.
Then, he opened his status panel for a glance.
[Divinity]: 5
[Authority]: Flesh and Blood Regeneration (Deficient by 96.13%), Divine's Scion (Fragment, Severely Incomplete)
[Divine's Scion]: Flesh Blessing enhances the physical progress of subjugated beings, allowing control over them. (Note: This authority is severely incomplete, with only a weak effect. More fragments must be collected from other deities.)
Previously, he had no time to carefully inspect the changes in his panel after absorbing the divinity and authority fragment from the finger of the Flesh and Blood God.
Now, upon careful examination, understanding dawned upon him.
He had underestimated the Flesh and Blood God.
That deity had truly mastered divine authority and was in the process of gathering divinity.
Through his status panel, Jiang Ning had managed to seize two forms of authority from the Flesh and Blood God.
One was Flesh and Blood Regeneration, the same ability that allowed the cultists of the God-Worshiping Sect to attain an undying state when transformed into Divine Scions.
The other was a fragment of the Divine's Scion authority.
Judging by its description, this authority was the very reason why the cultists of the God-Worshiping Sect could transform into Divine Scions.
It was now clear to Jiang Ning that the Flesh and Blood God possessed two key abilities.
One allowed it to enhance the physical strength and martial prowess of others using its flesh.
The other allowed it to turn people into its subjugated followers.
And now, he had acquired both of these abilities.
Realizing this, Jiang Ning muttered to himself:
"This means I've become a mortal enemy of that deity!"
"To seize its authority is to wage a war of divine power!"
After some thought, he shook his head.
Previously, he had thoroughly studied the topic of deities when his conflict with the God-Worshiping Sect escalated especially after he eradicated their most crucial stronghold in Luoshui County.
Unlike the so-called "evil gods" that sporadically emerged over the past few centuries, the Flesh and Blood God was recorded as a true deity.
The sect's intelligence reports described it as a real divine entity, one that had displayed miracles and granted blessings to its followers highly credible evidence of its existence.
However, the deity itself had never been seen in the world.
And the Flesh and Blood God was not the only one.
There were others, such as the God of Ice and Snow in the northern Zhangzhou region, and the Black Lotus Matriarch, the deity of the Black Lotus Cult.
These deities, known by name and widely worshiped among the people, had all demonstrated divine miracles, confirming their real existence.
Based on Jiang Ning's experiences, he was now certain that the Flesh and Blood God truly existed.
His status panel, listing two forms of divine authority, further reinforced this belief.
Moreover, when his Water Mastery technique broke through its sixth limit, he sensed himself drawing in an unseen substance from the world, drastically enhancing his water manipulation abilities.
He now suspected that this mysterious substance could also be a form of divine authority.
Some of the special traits he had gained through technique breakthroughs seemed to align with the nature of divine authority.
As he stared at his status panel, Jiang Ning fell into deep contemplation.
After a long while, he finally snapped back to reality.
Then, he made his decision.
Enhance!
The moment he activated it, his Divinity decreased by one point.
Instantly
The Authority section of his panel changed.
His gaze locked onto the updated details.
[Divinity]: 4
[Authority]: Flesh and Blood Regeneration (Partially Deficient by 1.2%), Divine's Scion (Fragment, Severely Incomplete)
"Already?"
His expression hardened.
[Flesh and Blood Regeneration (Partially Deficient)]: Now half-restored, this authority, though incomplete, grants significant effects. Within this realm, all bodily injuries can now heal at an extremely rapid rate.
Reading this description, he recalled the previous wording.
The key difference was the speed of "fast" regeneration had now become "extremely fast."
"Let's test it."
A thought crossed his mind.
He picked up his spirit weapon and sliced a deep gash, over ten centimeters long, across his forearm.
Instantly, he widened his eyes in shock.
Before his very eyes, the wound was closing at an astonishing speed.
Just as blood began to ooze out, his muscles and skin rapidly knitted themselves back together.
Within merely two breaths' time, the wound was completely healed.
He wiped away the trace of blood, revealing smooth, unblemished skin beneath.
It was as if the deep gash had been nothing but an illusion.
But his body's sensations confirmed that it had been real.
"This effect is unbelievably strong!"
Jiang Ning couldn't help but be amazed.
This level of regeneration was virtually identical to the so-called "undying" state of the God-Worshiping Sect's Divine Scions.
"This is almost like immortality," he murmured.
Then, he shook his head.
In his view, this still did not count as true immortality
Just moments ago, he had slain a Six-Armed Divine Scion.
What good was enhanced regeneration when a single well-placed strike could still end a life?
Severing the head was still an absolute kill.
"If the Flesh and Blood God itself were to manifest, then that would be true immortality," he muttered.
After all, if the followers of the Flesh and Blood God already possessed such regenerative abilities
Then the deity itself must have an even more terrifying level of resilience.
Decapitation might not even be a fatal injury.
Moreover, according to Jiang Ning's gathered intelligence, the Flesh and Blood God had three heads, six arms, and four legs.
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