The air in the corridor solidified. The invisible pressure radiating from Lam Minh, who had just successfully broken through, forced the ten Peak Foundation Establishment "Holy Children" to kneel on the ground, unable to even lift their heads. They were like small animals facing a true dragon; a primal fear had completely stripped them of their will to fight.
Only the Deacon, with his Early Golden Core cultivation, could barely remain standing, but cold sweat had already soaked his white lab coat. He looked at Lam Minh, his eyes filled with disbelief and despair.
He had been wrong. His biggest mistake was not underestimating Lam Minh's strength, but underestimating his madness. He could never have imagined that someone would dare to gamble their own life in such a life-and-death bet. And more terrifyingly, that person had won.
"Who... who are you?" the Deacon managed to say, his voice no longer calm, but filled with tremors.
Lam Minh didn't answer. He just walked forward silently. Each of his steps was light, yet it felt like it was trampling on the hearts of all his enemies.
He walked up to the nearest kneeling "Holy Child." This was the one with rock-hard skin who had confronted him earlier.
He didn't use his sword. He just raised a finger and gently tapped him on the forehead.
A stream of pure Golden Core spiritual power, as sharp as a needle, pierced through his defensive layer, through his skull, and destroyed his brain from within.
The "Holy Child's" eyes went wide, and then his body went limp and collapsed, dying without a sound.
Lam Minh continued to walk.
He went to the next one, and again, raised a finger.
Thump!
The second one fell.
He just walked leisurely, like a king strolling through his royal garden. With every step, a finger pointed out. With every finger pointed out, a life was taken.
He didn't kill them noisily. He killed them silently, almost artistically. This was a punishment, a humiliation greater than a painful death. He wanted to show them just how vast the gap between them and him now was.
The Deacon stood there, helplessly watching his subordinates, the "products" he was so proud of, the powerful Peak Foundation Establishment warriors, fall one by one like puppets with their strings cut. He didn't dare to make a move, nor did he dare to flee. Lam Minh's aura had locked onto him. He knew that if he made the slightest movement, his fate would be no different from his subordinates.
Fear and despair enveloped him.
Finally, all the "Holy Children" in the corridor had been "cleaned up." Only the Deacon remained, standing alone amidst a sea of corpses.
Lam Minh stopped in front of him.
"Now, it's your turn," he said, his voice still calm.
"Wait... wait!" the Deacon cried out in panic. "You can't kill me! I... I can be useful to you! I know many secrets of the Sacred Cult! I know the locations of the other bases! I can lead the way for you!"
To survive, he had thrown away all the pride of a scientist, a commander.
"Oh? Really?" Lam Minh smirked. "I am quite curious."
Seeing that Lam Minh seemed interested, the Deacon hurriedly continued, like a drowning man clutching a straw. "Yes! That's right! I know the Holy Master is planning something big! A plan that could change the entire course of the war! As long as you spare me, I will tell you everything!"
"Alright then," Lam Minh nodded. "Then speak. What is the plan?"
The Deacon breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had escaped. He was just about to open his mouth.
When...
Stab!
Lam Minh's finger had already tapped his forehead.
The Deacon was stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief. He didn't understand. Why? Why kill him when he was about to reveal the secret?
Lam Minh looked into his dying eyes and smiled coldly.
"You think I need your lies?"
He placed a hand on the head of the Deacon's rapidly cooling corpse.
Dragon Soul Devour!
He didn't need him to speak. He would "read" it all himself.
A huge flood of information, the memories of the Deacon's entire life, poured into Lam Minh's mind. He saw the plans, the conspiracies, the secret locations...
But then, he suddenly frowned.
In the chaotic stream of memories, he discovered an anomaly. A part of the Deacon's memory, the most important part related to the leader and the core plan, seemed to have been locked or erased by some power.
Even the Dragon race's skill couldn't read it.
"A soul restriction?" Lam Minh was stunned. "This organization... is this cautious? They not only implant self-destruct devices in the body, but also place restrictions on the souls of their leaders."
He realized he had underestimated the cunning and ruthlessness of the "Sacred Cult of World Salvation." The leader of this organization was surely an incredibly terrifying figure.
And as he was engrossed in his analysis, he didn't notice that on the Deacon's corpse, a faint symbol, looking like a closed eye, flashed with a weak light and then disappeared.
Somewhere far, far away, in a dark room, a figure sitting on a throne made of white bones suddenly opened its eyes.
"Oh? Another Deacon has been eliminated?" the figure murmured, its voice indistinguishable as male or female. "And the soul restriction was also activated. It seems we've run into a rather interesting guest."
...
After absorbing the Deacon's memories and discovering the existence of the soul restriction, Lam Minh stood silently in the corridor for a long time. The complexity and cruelty of the "Sacred Cult" had far exceeded his imagination.
He knew this war would not end quickly. But now was not the time to think about those things. There were still people waiting for him to rescue them.
He turned and walked towards the prison block.
The cell doors, made of a special alloy, were no different from thin wooden planks in his eyes now. With just a wave of his hand, sharp streams of sword qi easily cut through the locking systems, throwing all the doors open.
Inside, the imprisoned ASEAN soldiers, who had been sunk in despair, looked out in a daze. They saw a young man, naked but radiating an aura like a god or a demon, standing in a corridor filled with the corpses of their guards.
"Bro... brother," an older soldier, who looked like an officer, asked, trembling. "Who... who are you? Are you from the army, here to save us?"
"Yes," Lam Minh nodded, his voice warmer now. "I am Lam Minh. You are all safe now. Follow me."
He led them to the base's armory. He used the Deacon's memory to open the weapon storage, allowing them to arm themselves. Even if they couldn't fight, having a weapon in hand helped them feel more secure.
"What are our next orders, Second Lieutenant?" the officer asked, having recognized Lam Minh from the news.
"All of you, stay here. I still have a few things to do," Lam Minh said. He pointed to the tunnel he had dug. "This is the way out. But don't go out yet. It's still dangerous outside. Wait for my command."
After temporarily settling the group of soldiers, he returned to the laboratory.
The children were still huddled in a corner, looking at him with fear. To them, he was also a stranger, someone who had just created a bloody massacre.
Lam Minh sighed. He knew he couldn't scare them.
He slowly squatted down, trying to put on his kindest smile.
"Don't be afraid," he said, his voice gentle. "I'm a good guy. I'm here to take you home. Back to your mommies and daddies."
The words "mommy and daddy" seemed to touch the softest spot in the children's hearts. A few of them began to sob.
The bravest one, a little girl of about six or seven, timidly asked, "R-really? You'll really take us back to our parents?"
"I promise," Lam Minh nodded, his eyes full of sincerity.
He looked at the children. Most of them were thin and pale, their bodies still bearing needle marks and small scars. But a few of them already had very faint signs of mutation appearing on their bodies. A few faint scales, a slightly unusual eye color.
His heart ached again. They had even laid their hands on these innocent children.
He knew he had to get them out of here as quickly as possible.
He led the group of children and the soldiers to the tunnel exit. He used his Golden Core spiritual power to reinforce the tunnel one more time, ensuring it wouldn't collapse.
"Now, all of you, follow this tunnel," he said to the officer. "Just go straight and you'll get outside. Once you're out, find a safe place to hide. I will contact the army to come and pick you up."
"What about you, Second Lieutenant?" the officer asked worriedly. "Aren't you coming with us?"
"I still have some 'cleaning up' to do," Lam Minh said, looking back into the base. "I have to make sure this hellish place disappears from the world completely."
He couldn't leave a base like this intact. The equipment, the research data inside, if it fell into the wrong hands, would be another disaster.
The officer understood and nodded solemnly. "Be careful, Second Lieutenant. We... we owe you our lives."
"It's nothing," Lam Minh smiled. "Protecting everyone is my duty. Go."
The group of rescued people, including the children, began to enter the tunnel. The faint light at the end of the tunnel was the light of freedom, of life.
After everyone was inside, Lam Minh returned to the center of the base.
He stood there, amidst the silence and the stench of blood. He closed his eyes. The Golden Core spiritual power inside him began to circulate frantically.
The brilliant golden core in his dantian began to spin, radiating a terrifying heat.
He was preparing for one final attack. An attack not to kill, but to destroy.
But, as he was concentrating, his spiritual sense suddenly detected something unusual.
In the deepest part of the base, an area that even in the Deacon's memory was marked as a "Forbidden Zone," a living aura existed.
It wasn't the aura of a Madakaros, nor of a "Holy Child."
It was the aura of a human. A very familiar aura.
An aura he had once felt in Hanoi.
An aura that belonged to the Thuan Thien sword, but it was a thousand times stronger and more alive.
"Impossible..." he was stunned, his eyes flying open. "Is it... him?"