Chapter 158: The Fall of the Wind and Thunder Pavilion

Lu Sheng felt the laws constantly growing stronger; half an hour had passed by this time. Under the enhancement of the Advanced Enlightenment Platform and having consumed a vast number of Law Stones, the power of the laws within his body was surging rapidly.

The laws of time and space both broke through to one hundred meters within half an hour. This was merely the height of the first law pillar, yet there was not the slightest sense of saturation, meaning they could be elevated even higher. Even the law of strength had reached one hundred meters due to automatic balancing; all three law pillars advanced side by side and were strengthened simultaneously.

Riding the White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird, Lu Sheng closely followed the white-furred monster below, not lagging behind by even half a step. At the same time, he remained highly vigilant, ready to recall the White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird at the very first sign of hostility from the monster.

Initially, Lu Sheng expected the white-furred monster to attack him almost immediately. To his surprise, however, this white-furred monster paid him no mind whatsoever. Aside from giving an initial warning and attempting to make Lu Sheng leave, the white-furred monster simply went its own way for the remainder of the time. Following closely behind, Lu Sheng was treated as if he were invisible.

Finding this rather convenient, Lu Sheng decided to wait until the duration of the Advanced Enlightenment Platform expired and his cultivation concluded before dealing with these monsters. The only thing that puzzled him was what these white-furred monsters were trying to accomplish; judging by their demeanor, they were undoubtedly advancing with a specific purpose.

Soon, half an hour elapsed, and Lu Sheng completed his cultivation. The three law pillars on the first tier inside his body had all grown to a height of two hundred meters, and still they had not reached their limits. Was this the true nature of golden-quality law pillars? The potential they contained was simply terrifying!

Since his cultivation was complete, it was time to go down and resolve all the white-furred monsters. As for where these creatures intended to go, he could simply ask after killing them. Who knew how much longer following them would take?

With this thought, Lu Sheng accelerated, utilizing a spatial teleportation to appear directly in front of the procession of white-furred monsters.

The Tier 9 white-furred monster halted in its tracks, its eyes fixed intently on Lu Sheng. At this moment, Lu Sheng felt far more dangerous to it than he had just a moment ago—even more dangerous than before.

"Hello there. The preliminary preparations for the deliverance are complete, and I am now going to grant you deliverance on the spot so you can become my subordinates," Lu Sheng said, stepping closer to the white-furred monster as the law of strength emanated from his body.

The formidable aura pressed down so heavily that the surrounding white-furred monsters found it difficult to breathe, leaving only the Tier 9 white-furred monster standing with unruffled composure. It released its own momentum to ease the pressure on its kinsmen.

The entire space fell silent. None of the other white-furred monsters spoke, waiting for the Tier 9 white-furred monster to make a move. They knew the man before them was formidable, operating on a completely different level from themselves; hence, they lacked even the qualification to speak.

The Tier 9 white-furred monster, Bai Cheng, stared fixedly at Lu Sheng, his muscles taut and primed for action at a moment's notice. "Human, what do you mean by this? From the moment I descended until now, I have not killed a single person."

Bai Cheng’s voice was deep and possessed a distinct resonance.

Lu Sheng replied as a matter of course, "Didn't I just say? I am here to grant you deliverance. It must be because you don't understand what deliverance means that you have no idea what I'm talking about. Then I shall show you the mercy of an explanation: deliverance means... killing all of you."

Lu Sheng uttered these murderous words with absolute calm. The instant the words fell, his entire figure vanished abruptly from where he stood.

The next second, wielding the White-Flame Spear, he appeared directly in front of Bai Cheng.

As the spear thrust forward, a sonic boom tore through the air, as though the very space was being split open. The sheer force generated a fierce hurricane, causing everything around them to flutter noisily and even the thick tree trunks to sway.

Bai Cheng had maintained his guard against Lu Sheng all along, and thus he reacted the instant Lu Sheng made his move, rapidly dodging the attack.

Lu Sheng felt no disappointment upon missing his first strike; this did not even count as a warm-up yet, so he had nothing to care about. "Your speed is not bad, but if you keep dodging like this, you will ultimately lose."

Without pausing, Lu Sheng lunged at Bai Cheng again, thrusting and sweeping with his spear. Under Lu Sheng’s control, the White-Flame Spear assaulted Bai Cheng’s position with the fury of a tempestuous storm.

Throughout this process, Bai Cheng dodged whatever he could, and met head-on whatever he simply could not avoid. Bai Cheng employed the law of strength, yet after clashing with Lu Sheng a few times, he failed to gain any advantage and was repeatedly sent flying.

Although he possessed the capacity to resist, Bai Cheng burned with frustration inside. He knew Lu Sheng was merely at Tier 8, yet Lu Sheng's Tier 8 strength allowed him to trade blows toe-to-toe and even gain the upper hand. This realization filled him with profound humiliation.

Lu Sheng remained oblivious to Bai Cheng's inner turmoil. Up to this point, every attack he launched was merely a test while he accustomed himself to his newfound power. Not a single strike had been delivered at full force. Yet, even so, it was enough to drive the Tier 9 monster Bai Cheng into a state of continuous retreat, robbing him of any capacity to fight back.

One had to bear in mind that this was merely the isolated application of his law of strength, without invoking the laws of space or time. If he were to unleash both of those laws, subduing the Tier 9 white-furred monster before him would be easier than easy. However, since this happened to be a convenient sparing partner, Lu Sheng had no desire to dispatch the white-furred monster just yet. At the very least, he needed to test out all three powers.

Proceeding further, Lu Sheng channeled spatial energy, attempting to tear apart the space where Bai Cheng stood to see if he could shred the creature along with it.

Suddenly, Bai Cheng felt an anomaly in the space occupied by his position. With sharp agility, he leaped aside, and the next moment, a pitch-black rift split open precisely where he had been standing. It was not particularly large—only two or three meters across—yet even so, it sent a jolt of terror through his heart. Had he remained in that exact spot, would he have been torn apart as well?

His vigilance toward Lu Sheng’s bizarre abilities heightened even further.

At the same time, Lu Sheng felt a sense of disappointment upon seeing his attack easily evaded. Space had indeed been severed, but since the target had already departed, tearing the void served no purpose. Still, he gathered useful data: he was indeed capable of tearing the space where a Tier 9 entity resided, though the process was somewhat sluggish, tied to the fact that his mastery of the spatial law was still insufficient. With a bit more strength, he might be able to directly shatter the space occupied by a Tier 9 being. That slight delay, however, inevitably allowed a Tier 9 entity to perceive the anomaly in its surrounding space and escape.

Seeing Lu Sheng shake his head in disappointment, Bai Cheng grew furious. A moment ago, this human had come within a hair's breadth of ending his life. Debts must be paid in blood, and grievances settled. In an instant, Bai Cheng transitioned from a passive defensive stance to a berserk combat state, launching a ferocious counter-offensive against Lu Sheng.

Disregarding the consumption of his own energy, he unleashed a flurry of wild attacks upon Lu Sheng. Every strike delivered by the black iron club in his hand carried crushing momentum, ripping the air with a tearing sound. If that strength were just a fraction higher, Lu Sheng had no doubt the opponent could shatter space itself.

Faced with such might, Lu Sheng had no intention of merely blocking. If he exerted his full strength, dealing with this white-furred monster would be child's play. However, he had yet to exhaust all his moves and could not afford to kill the white-furred monster just yet.

Engaged in combat up to this point, Bai Cheng naturally sensed that Lu Sheng was simply using him as a sparring partner. The realization only stoked his fury further. Any lingering rationality in his crimson pupils vanished entirely; every blow he struck grew increasingly savage, making the entire space tremble.

Faced with the maddened white-furred monster, Lu Sheng remained completely unconcerned. Such a state in Bai Cheng actually aided him even better in gathering data.

Mobilizing the law of spatial manipulation, he cast a spatial confinement spell directly onto the white-furred monster's location. The white-furred monster paused for a single second before entirely breaking free of Lu Sheng's control.

Much like the previous spatial tear, this limitation stemmed from insufficient power. Yet, being able to restrain a Tier 9 entity in a berserk state for a full second was notable. If the spatial confinement were deployed unawares while the opponent was unprepared, the duration would inevitably be extended, as gathering strength to resist required time.

With the experiments drawing to a close, Lu Sheng lost interest in wasting any more time on this white-furred monster. His own strength was still slightly lacking; it would be ideal if he could enhance it further. Slaughtering the monsters gathered here would provide another boost to his power. To say nothing else, merely slaying a Tier 9 monster would yield five thousand source points, sufficient to redeem another usage right for the Advanced Enlightenment Platform. By absorbing the remaining Law Stones in his hand thereafter, his strength would naturally scale up once more.

Tightening his grip on the White-Flame Spear—which he had previously upgraded to Tier 7, though he still found it somewhat lacking—he realized he had no better weapon for the time being and could only continue using it.

Utilizing spatial teleportation, he vanished from his spot and reappeared directly before the white-furred monster. Bai Cheng had anticipated Lu Sheng's trajectory the moment he disappeared and swung his club directly toward the emerging point.

The instant Lu Sheng materialized, he felt the whistling force of the shattered void rushing toward him. Prepared for this scenario, he countered without hesitation, thrusting his spear forward with maximum force combined with a tenfold acceleration.

Employing a tenfold acceleration no longer posed any significant burden to him, though that did not mean the technique had lost its potency. It remained formidable; it was simply that Lu Sheng had grown strong enough to invoke it effortlessly.

A sudden, piercing contraction seized Bai Cheng's heart as he watched Lu Sheng deliver that spear thrust. An extreme sense of crisis flooded his entire being. As monsters accustomed to year-round combat, their sensitivity to mortal peril in battle was exceptionally keen.

Yet it was already too late. Even though he recognized that Lu Sheng's spear stroke would spell his doom, he could no longer mount any defense. His own attack had already been unleashed, and forcibly retracting it proved far too difficult—so difficult as to be impossible, unless he possessed spatial mastery like Lu Sheng and could instantly teleport away. Perhaps that would allow him to evade the blow, but he lacked the power wielded by his adversary.

The two attacks crossed paths, and a scene unfolded that left Bai Cheng utterly astounded: the blow delivered by the man before him did not meet his own attack head-on. Instead, the spear tip bypassed everything and drove straight toward his forehead.

"Splash!"

The spear pierced right through the white-furred monster's forehead, entering from the front and exiting the back. Bai Cheng distinctly felt his brain being pierced through.

Yet, amidst his fading consciousness, his lingering willpower caught sight of his own counterattack shattering one of his opponent's arms. A smile touched his lips; taking an opponent's arm with him in death meant that the enemy's battle prowess would inevitably be severely impaired in the future.

What puzzled him, however, was that the severed arm did not bleed; instead, fragments of withered grass tumbled out.

Even more despairing was what followed: he watched as the man's arm instantly regenerated back to its original state. The severed limb, the newly formed wound—all of it vanished as if it were a mere illusion.

At that sight, his consciousness faded into oblivion entirely, leaving Bai Cheng with one final, tormenting thought: *Why didn't I die sooner, sparing myself from witnessing such a monstrous scene?* In the span of a few short seconds, his psyche had suffered multiple rounds of devastating trauma.

Staring at his fully restored arm, Lu Sheng sighed in admiration, "This ability of time reversal is quite handy. Previously, when I never got injured, I never had the opportunity to use it. The experiential feedback this time is quite good. Trading injuries for injuries might just be a fighting style suited for me. As long as it's not a fatal blow, I can keep going indefinitely."

After the battle concluded, Lu Sheng carefully reflected on the experience summarized from the combat.

Yet his musings were interrupted by the commotion raised by the surrounding group of white-furred monsters, causing his brow to knit in annoyance. With a wave of his hand, he summoned Tianya, instructing him to eliminate these remaining monsters.

Tianya's attacks were area-of-effect spells, rendering him exceptionally well-suited for dealing with large numbers of low-tier foes. The moment Tianya appeared and received Lu Sheng's command, frost began to spread across the ground centered around him, racing toward the cluster of white-furred monsters at blinding speed. In the blink of an eye, the frost reached the horde.

Amidst the shrieks of terror from the white-furred monsters, every single one of them was frozen solid. Then, a symphony of cracking sounds echoed. Transformed into ice sculptures, the white-furred monsters shattered simultaneously! The frozen statues exploded violently, reducing the creatures to pulverized remains—dead beyond any possibility of resurrection.

Seeing this, Lu Sheng dismissed Tianya; his presence was no longer required here. He then summoned the Tier 9 white-furred monster back out.

According to Tianya, these monsters actually possessed names of their own. Cutting straight to the point, Lu Sheng asked the monster for its name and learned it was called Bai Cheng. Since it was now one of his premier subordinates, knowing its name was necessary.

He then moved on to the main topic. "Bai Cheng, tell me, is there a reason why you were all marching in this specific direction?"

Now bound as Lu Sheng's subordinate, Bai Cheng held nothing back and replied directly, "The tribesmen who attacked previously transmitted the combat strength data of this world back to the Blood Moon World headquarters. Realizing that this planet possesses quite a few Tier 9 entities, the invading monster forces this time received a unified order: gather together first before launching concerted actions, so as to prevent humans from picking us off one by one."

Lu Sheng understood instantly. "So, you were on your way to a gathering point?"

Bai Cheng nodded, his voice muffled. "Within each designated sector, there is a gathering coordinate emitted by a special artifact. All monsters entering this world can sense this coordinate and make their own way there to assemble."

Lu Sheng frowned. "Why go through all this trouble? Wouldn't it be easier if you all entered from the same location?"

Bai Cheng fell silent for a moment before answering, "That is impossible. Each breach point has specific limits and requirements regarding the number and strength of monsters that can pass through; it's impossible for everyone to enter through a single point."

Following Bai Cheng's brief explanation, Lu Sheng grasped the logic behind it. "Do you know where the gathering coordinate is located right now? Can you tell me?"

"Yes. The coordinate is in this direction; keep walking straight and you will find it."

Through this communication, Lu Sheng understood that their so-called coordinate was essentially a directional perception—walking straight ahead in that direction was their method of travel. According to the route indicated by Bai Cheng, the next zone they would reach was Sector 8.

With this clarity, Lu Sheng was in no rush; he recalled Bai Cheng back into storage.

He had no intention of directly seeking out the trouble of other Tier 9 monsters just yet. One must eat their meals one bite at a time; his plan was to first resolve the monster crisis within Sector 13, leave a portion of the foes as sparring partners for his subordinates, and only then press into Sector 8. Launching an offensive against Sector 8 had already been part of his agenda anyway, so this development did not disrupt his plans.

While Lu Sheng faced the descending crisis with unhurried composure—treating this catastrophe as an opportunity rather than a threat—the aftermath of slaying the white-furred contingent prompted him to re-enter a state of cultivation while dispatching numerous subordinates to purge the remaining monsters within Sector 13. Any threats beyond their capacity were to be reported to him, whereupon he would dispatch Tianya and Bai Cheng to handle them. The assault forces were naturally led by Tier 8 commanders with Tier 9 figures providing rear support.

Yet for ordinary individuals and factions possessing lesser strength, this monster descent constituted an elite-tier calamity—far more hazardous than the beam of light that had fallen previously.

Leaving aside the countless humans struggling for survival across the lands of Luzhou, even the paramount hegemony of Luzhou, the Wind-Thunder Pavilion, now confronted its gravest crisis to date.

When a massive toad covered in pustules manifested upon their territory, the Wind-Thunder Pavilion was completely turned upside down. Initially, the members of the Wind-Thunder Pavilion did not pay the creature much heed. In their view, how formidable could a mere toad be within the headquarters of their esteemed pavilion? Furthermore, the toad appeared injured, with bloody gashes leaking gore across its hide.

They dispatched a contingent of underlings to deal with it.

The outcome proved self-evident: with a single spray of toxic venom, the toad instantly wiped out the majority of the subordinates, leaving only a fortunate few who managed to duck away.

Yet this single exchange inflicted catastrophic losses upon the Wind-Thunder Pavilion. The venom's radius of effect extended far beyond the attackers, spilling over onto the onlookers who had gathered to watch the spectacle. Those contaminated by the venom rapidly liquefied into oozing pustules and perished on the spot, stripped of any recognizable human form. Had they not been living people standing right beside them moments prior, anyone witnessing those festering corpses would have mistaken them for monsters.

The terrifying lethality of the toad's assault sent the spectators scattering in a panic, wishing their parents had given them an extra pair of legs to run faster.

Faced with such devastation, the Pavilion Master of the Wind-Thunder Pavilion flew into a towering rage. With a violent slam against the table before him, he shattered it into countless pieces, a testament to his boiling fury. The next instant, Qiao Lei, the Pavilion Master, lunged outward with the intent to slay the toad on the spot, giving those around him no opportunity to intervene.

Nor did his subordinates feel overly concerned; the monsters descending upon their world were capped at Tier 8 at most, and Qiao Lei himself possessed Tier 8 strength. Even if he failed to best the toad, nothing disastrous should happen. Thus, the crowd simply watched from the sidelines, awaiting the inevitable victory.

Yet they were destined to have their hearts chilled to the core.

Seeing Qiao Lei charging toward him, the toad’s unquenched anger flared anew. The burning, agonizing wounds coating his hide had been inflicted a little over an hour prior by a human; he harbored a visceral urge to slaughter every human he encountered, unless he met an adversary whose strength matched his own—in which case he would flee immediately rather than trade blows.

Yet the fellow rushing toward him appeared pathetically weak in his perception. Qiao Lei was merely at Tier 8; what source of courage drove him to charge at a monster of this caliber?

A look of sheer contempt flashed through the toad's eyes, as though gazing at a mental defective. Then, the long tongue coiled within its maw whipped out with lightning speed, slamming squarely into the oncoming Qiao Lei.

The next second, the aggressive Qiao Lei was batted backward faster than he had arrived, flying back along the exact trajectory of his charge.

"Bang!"

Following a series of deafening crashes as he plowed through a cluster of buildings, Qiao Lei finally came to a halt, collapsing unconscious amidst a sea of rubble, his survival uncertain.

The high-ranking executives of the Wind-Thunder Pavilion turned pale with anxiety, their dread of the toad skyrocketing. If even their supreme Pavilion Master had been incapacitated with a single blow, what could they hope to accomplish? Seek revenge? That was tantamount to suicide.

Displaying prudent collective cowardice, they retreated en masse, rushing toward Qiao Lei's location. On the surface, they claimed to be rescuing their Pavilion Master, shouting continuously, "Pavilion Master! Pavilion Master, are you alright?"

The toad paid no heed to the fleeing mortals; it merely desired a thorough release of steam—venting its fury over having been driven off earlier. A humanoid smirk of satisfaction appeared in its eyes as it watched the frantic panic of the crowd, as if the spectacle brought genuine gratification to its soul.

Stinking, yellow-green venom erupted from its body in continuous streams, splashing everywhere. The structures and buildings touched by the corrosive fluid dissolved steadily before collapsing into ruin. Before long, the ground was caked in a yellow, viscous slime that induced profound nausea. It remained a mystery how such a compact body could harbor such endless reservoirs of venom.

The rampage continued unabated for half an hour. Only then did the toad let out a long breath of relief, inner satisfaction washing over it. Surveying its handiwork, the toad lingered for a moment, adjusted its bearings, and departed the area.

Judging by its trajectory, its next destination would be Sector 1.

Meanwhile, the encampment of the Wind-Thunder Pavilion had long since been reduced to an unrecognizable wasteland. Its members had either fled or perished, and even Pavilion Master Qiao Lei's fate hung in the balance; though he had ultimately been hauled away by rescuers, enduring such a ferocious blow from the toad left his survival questionable—he might well have been nothing more than a corpse by the time they dragged him out.

Such scenes repeated themselves ceaselessly across the Blue Star; factions everywhere plunged into dire straits. The emergence of Tier 9 monsters far exceeded what they could withstand. Compounding the disaster, major paramount factions possessing Tier 9 powerhouses had just stripped away the majority of their top-tier experts, dispatching them into the monster world in search of survival opportunities. Faced with this sudden upheaval, even formidable superpowers felt profoundly helpless.

Perhaps only Lu Sheng remained in high spirits, actively organizing his subordinates to hunt down monsters. While everyone else scrambled merely to preserve their lives, he was engaged in an outright massacre.

Many factions within Sector 13 met swift annihilation as the monsters underwent their sudden surge in power. Their dying thoughts invariably carried a bitter regret—regret that they had not chosen to affiliate themselves with the World-Extermination Alliance.

As they were surrounded and slaughtered by the monsters, the thought echoed in their minds: *Perhaps if we had joined the World-Extermination Alliance, we wouldn't be dying here right now...*

This wave of monster reinforcement thoroughly shattered the lingering pride of those independent factions. When confronted with the stark reality of survival or extinction, their self-important arrogance appeared utterly laughable.