owlsbooks Chapter 33 Clearing the Field
Chapter 33 Clearing the Field
Zhao Chen burrowed underground and headed towards the mine.
Enveloped in an earthy yellow light, he swiftly advanced through the rock formations. With his comprehension increased fifteenfold, the Earth Movement Technique flowed with a fluidity that seemed innate, the surrounding rocks gliding past him like water.
Half an hour later, he emerged from the ground under a cliff at the edge of the mine.
With his keen eyesight, he could see everything in the mine.
The warehouse was piled high with newly mined ore, dark red and silvery-white, neatly stacked. Human miners, driven by angels, busily moved the ore, their faces numb. There were six Golden Core stage angels overseeing the work, scattered throughout the mine. More than thirty lower-ranking angels were responsible for patrolling and guarding the area.
The four high angels are not here. They are still searching for him in the mountains.
"Perfect."
Zhao Chen did not rush to make a move, but instead burrowed back underground to observe.
-
A day later, he found out all the details.
There are six Golden Core cultivators: two in the late Golden Core stage, three in the middle Golden Core stage, and one in the early Golden Core stage. They rotate shifts every four hours, with only two on night duty while the others return to their lodgings to rest.
Those lower-level angels posed even less of a threat; most were at the Foundation Establishment stage, with a few at the Qi Refining stage. With his current cultivation level, he could tear them apart with his bare hands.
But this wasn't what Zhao Chen cared about most.
What he really cared about was the transport ship.
Based on previous observations, a spaceship arrives every two weeks to transport the ore. The last spaceship left five days ago, meaning the next one will arrive in ten days.
Ten days.
That's enough for him to do a lot of things.
But he didn't act rashly. He was waiting for the right moment—when the four high angels had searched the farthest point, when the mine's defenses were at their weakest, when all the conditions were met.
On the eighth night, the time came.
Four powerful angelic auras are currently searching from four hundred miles away on the other side of the mountain range. Only two Golden Core stage angels are on duty at the mine; the rest are asleep. The lower-ranking angels are drinking outside the barracks, while the human miners have been herded back to their makeshift shacks.
Zhao Chen emerged from under the cliff, simultaneously activating invisibility and disguise, transforming into a night bird and gliding silently toward the mine.
-
The first target is that angel in the early stage of the Golden Core realm.
He was dozing against a pillar, completely unaware of the impending danger. Zhao Chen emerged from the darkness, ripped his skull apart, and instantly swallowed the corpse whole. The flesh and blood of a Golden Core cultivator entered his stomach, energy surged, and a wisp of golden aura appeared deep within his soul.
He didn't stop, and moved on to the next one.
The second mid-stage Golden Core cultivator died in his sleep. The Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife pierced through his heart from a spatial fold. His corpse was devoured, and his aura accumulated.
The third, the fourth, the fifth...
He moved silently through the mine like a ghost. His Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife reaped low-level angels, and his claws tore apart Golden Core stage overseers. Each kill was devoured on the spot, leaving no trace.
The lower-ranking angels didn't even have time to react before their heads were pierced by flying knives. The Golden Core stage overseers awoke and tried to resist, but Zhao Chen didn't give them a chance at all.
An hour later, the angels in the mine were all dead.
Six Golden Core cultivators and thirty-seven low-ranking angels were all killed.
Zhao Chen stood in front of the warehouse without stopping.
He began to devour the corpses that had not yet been refined on a large scale.
One, two, ten, twenty...
As the angel's flesh and blood entered his stomach, divine essence seeped into the depths of his soul. The golden sea of stars grew denser and brighter. The pure yang fire resonated with them, its temperature rising steadily until its color turned a brilliant white.
When the last angel's corpse was refined, the divine aura within his soul had accumulated to over seven hundred strands.
Zhao Chen turned and walked toward the shacks of the human miners.
-
Inside the shack, more than three hundred people huddled together, shivering.
They saw everything that was happening outside, but dared not utter a sound, dared not flee. Though the angels were all dead, this god of death was more terrifying than any angel.
Zhao Chen didn't waste any words with them.
The Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife pierced through the spatial folds, silently weaving through the crowd. Corpses fell one by one, and he devoured them, his comprehension increasing slightly with each one he consumed.
He closed his eyes as the three hundredth human corpse was refined.
His comprehension surged once again, increasing at least twentyfold compared to when he entered the mountains. Spells that previously required repeated practice could now be executed with ease in an instant. He could even feel that his perception of his surroundings had become incredibly sharp—he had complete control over every rustle of wind, energy fluctuations, and spatial disturbances.
Deep within the soul, over seven hundred strands of golden, sacred energy floated quietly, resonating with the pure yang fire, whose temperature had reached an astonishing level.
That's enough.
Opening his eyes, Zhao Chen turned and walked towards the warehouse. When he reached the door, he looked at the door for a moment, then activated his earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape underground) and burrowed inside.
-
The warehouse was filled with ore.
The dark red and silver-white items were neatly stacked, waiting for the next spaceship to come and transport them away.
Zhao Chen didn't look at it for long. He walked directly to a pile of dark red ore, reached out and took a fist-sized piece, and put it into his storage ring.
Then he activated the Disguise Technique, and his body slowly changed—shrinking, deforming, and dark red patterns appeared on his surface. His aura also changed to resemble that of minerals.
A moment later, a new "ore" appeared in the warehouse, piled up with the other ores, looking exactly the same.
Zhao Chen held his breath and remained motionless.
-
Less than a quarter of an hour after he finished transforming the ore, four golden beams of light descended from the sky and crashed into the center of the mine.
The four high-ranking angels arrived.
The lead angel surveyed the bloodstains and empty shacks, his face turning ashen. The other three had already rushed towards the warehouse.
The warehouse doors were tightly closed, but the doors themselves were intact, showing no signs of damage.
A high-ranking angel opened the door and stepped inside. His spiritual power swept across every inch of space, every piece of ore, and every crevice like a tidal wave.
Zhao Chen remained motionless, his heartbeat reduced to its lowest point.
The divine sense swept over him and then moved away. The ore he was disguised as was the real ore around him, and his aura was also completely concealed. Even with a thorough examination using spiritual power, no abnormalities could be detected.
"No ore is missing." The high-ranking angel stepped forward, his brow furrowed. "The warehouse door hasn't been touched either."
"Nothing's been touched?" The leading angel frowned.
"Yes, the door was intact, and the ore inside was neatly arranged, not a single piece was missing."
The four high-ranking angels looked at each other in bewilderment.
If the killer's target was the ore, why was the warehouse left untouched? If it wasn't for the ore, then what was the purpose of killing so many of their people and slaughtering so many humans?
"What exactly does he want to do?" an angel asked through gritted teeth.
The lead angel paused for a moment, then said coldly, "Whatever he's planning, he's definitely still nearby. Maybe he knows we're coming soon and didn't have time to act. Seal off the warehouse; don't touch a single crate of ore. The transport ship won't arrive for another two days. We'll personally guard it secretly. I want to see if he can resist coming out."
Zhao Chen sneered inwardly.
Two days? He can wait that long.
The warehouse was quiet, save for the occasional sound of patrolling footsteps—the sound of newly returned guards. Zhao Chen lay there quietly, surrounded by hundreds of pieces of ore, listening to the late-stage Nascent Soul angel pacing back and forth outside the warehouse, listening to their angry whispers, as time ticked by.
Two days later, the transport ship arrived as scheduled.
Several angels entered the warehouse and began moving the ore. They packed the ore into boxes and carried them out one by one, completely unaware that one of the "ores" was slightly different from the others.
Zhao Chen was put into a box and carried onto the spaceship.
As the spaceship passed through the golden light shield, he saw the dazzling starry sky outside through the box.
He left the auras of those four high-ranking angels far behind.
He didn't move, maintaining his ore-like form. He didn't cultivate, avoiding detection of energy fluctuations by the angels, nor did he consider leaving. Although there were no experts on this transport ship, once exposed, the angels of Teda would discover he had left the planet. Then he would have to run again, and facing another unknown ambush, he wasn't sure if he could escape again. It was better to let the ship carry him to an unknown destination, and then find an opportunity to leave quietly.