Lam Minh stared at the smiley face :) on the screen. The blood in his veins seemed to boil.
He wasn't angry. He didn't roar. On the contrary, he became frighteningly calm. The calm of an approaching hurricane.
He knew this was a trap.
A trap laid out in the open, without any concealment. The enemy no longer needed to hide or use conspiracies. They were using the very lives of hundreds, thousands of innocent people to provoke him.
They were telling him: "We are here. Do you dare to come?"
The answer required no thought.
He stood up immediately, without a moment's hesitation.
He didn't report to General Khang. He knew that if he did, the military would have to go through a series of complex procedures: verifying information, holding meetings, mobilizing forces... It would be too late. Besides, this was a trap aimed at him personally. He didn't want to cause other soldiers to be sacrificed in vain for his sake.
He also didn't call Lac Long Quan. He knew his uncle had bigger worries, had to face enemies of a higher level. He couldn't always rely on his "protection." There were some battles he had to face on his own.
This was his battle.
He only sent a short message to To Quyen: "I have to go away for a few days on urgent business. Take care of everything at the academy."
Then he turned off all his communication devices.
He stepped outside and looked up at the night sky. He didn't need to ask Minh Thu for the city's location. That smiley face symbol wasn't just a provocation. It was also a very faint energy seal, a "positioning beacon" that only someone with a strong spiritual sense like him could perceive.
The enemy was showing him the way.
He took a deep breath. This time, he had no plan, no preparation. He only had rage and an unshakeable determination.
Dragon God Battle Armor!
In an instant, the familiar black and red battle armor enveloped his body. Giant dragon wings unfolded behind his back.
He didn't need a plane. He didn't need a vehicle.
He was the fastest means of transport.
VROOOM!
He stomped his foot on the ground, and his entire body shot into the sky like a black arrow, tearing through the night, flying straight east, towards the direction the energy seal was calling.
Meanwhile, in the coastal city engulfed in flames.
The slaughter was still ongoing. But the goal of the Madakaros and the "Holy Children" was not to kill, but to "gather." They herded the panicking civilians like a flock of sheep, driving them towards the central square.
In the middle of the square, a temporary sacrificial altar was being erected. It wasn't as large as the one in the previous base, but it was also carved with dark runes.
A high-ranking "Holy Child," perhaps a Deacon, was standing there, directing everything. He looked at the frightened crowd of civilians, his eyes devoid of emotion, like looking at animals about to be butchered.
"Hurry up!" he ordered. "Finish the formation before dawn. The Holy Master does not like delays."
He raised his head and looked into the distance, as if waiting for something.
"Let's see," he murmured to himself. "The 'hero' of the human race. Do you have the courage to come here?"
He didn't know that the "hero" he was waiting for was on his way.
Not with an army. Not with a warship.
But alone, like a shooting star carrying rage and death.
Lam Minh flew at maximum speed. The wind howled past his ears. The scenery below blurred past.
He was burning his spiritual energy without reservation. The Dragon God Battle Armor could only be maintained for a certain period of time. He had to get there before it ran out.
After nearly an hour of non-stop flying, he could see the red glow of fire on the horizon.
He could feel the thousands of chaotic auras below. The auras of Madakaros, the auras of "Holy Children," and the auras of fear and despair of thousands of innocent civilians.
His heart clenched. He was late. Too many people had already died.
He didn't land on the outskirts. He didn't choose to infiltrate.
He flew straight to the city center, straight to the place with the strongest enemy aura, where the despair of the people was thickest.
He appeared in the sky above the square, hovering in mid-air like a descending demon god. His giant dragon wings blotted out the moonlight. The aura of a Golden Core cultivator, mixed with a sky-high killing intent, crashed down like a tsunami.
The entire square, which had been noisy, suddenly fell silent.
Everyone, Madakaros, "Holy Children," and the desperate civilians, all raised their heads in unison, staring in horror at the dark figure in the sky.
The Deacon was also stunned. He had anticipated Lam Minh's arrival. But he could never have imagined that he would come alone, and appear so openly, so domineeringly.
Lam Minh looked down at the sea of people below, saw the frightened faces, the tear-filled eyes. Then he looked at the Deacon and the sacrificial altar.
He didn't say a single word.
He just raised his hand.
The Thuan Thien sword appeared in his hand.
And he slashed down.
...
Lam Minh's slash wasn't aimed at any single individual. It was aimed at the entire sky above the square.
Powerful, pure Golden Core spiritual power was poured into the Thuan Thien sword. The sword let out a roar, not a dragon's cry, but a sharp sound, as if space itself was being torn apart.
From the tip of the sword, not one, but hundreds, thousands of jade-green sword qi streams, as small as willow leaves, shot into the sky, and from there, rained down.
A rain of swords.
Every single raindrop was a sharp stream of sword qi, carrying the spiritual power of the Golden Core Realm.
The Deacon, an Early Golden Core cultivator, saw this scene and his face changed drastically. He roared: "DEFEND! ACTIVATE THE ENERGY SHIELD!"
The "Holy Children" and Madakaros present in the square hurriedly channeled all their strength, creating energy shields of various colors, trying to resist the deadly rain that was crashing down.
But it was useless.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The streams of sword qi, though small, carried a terrifying piercing power. They easily pierced through the flimsy energy shields of the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment creatures.
Wretched screams echoed everywhere.
The Madakaros, the "Holy Children," those who had been so ferocious and cruel just moments ago, were now like fish on a chopping block. They were pierced by the rain of swords, black blood spraying out, falling one after another.
They had no chance to resist or escape. This was an absolute massacre, a punishment descending from the heavens.
The strange thing was, this rain of swords seemed to have eyes. It only targeted those who carried the aura of Madakaros or the mixed aura of the "Holy Children." It completely passed over the innocent civilians huddled in a corner, not harming a single hair on their heads.
The civilians, after a moment of terror, saw their enemies being slaughtered so easily, and slowly raised their heads, looking at the figure in black and red armor in the sky, their eyes filled with adoration and hope.
In less than a minute, the rain of swords ended.
The entire square returned to silence. But it was a deathly silence. Hundreds of corpses lay on the ground.
Only one creature remained standing.
The Deacon.
He had to use all his Golden Core strength, creating a dense defensive orb, to barely resist the rain of swords. But he had also paid a heavy price. His entire body was covered in wounds, his aura was chaotic, and his spiritual power was more than half depleted.
He looked at the surrounding scene, at all his subordinates who had been wiped out, his eyes filled with fear and disbelief.
He looked up at Lam Minh. "You... you... this power... cannot possibly be just an Early Golden Core!"
Lam Minh slowly descended, landing in front of him. The Dragon God Battle Armor on his body slowly retracted, revealing his cold, young face.
"Against trash like you," Lam Minh said. "This is enough."
"You... you will pay for this!" the Deacon roared, his fear turning into madness. "The Holy Master will not spare you! The Sacred Cult will hunt you to the ends of the earth!"
He knew he couldn't win. He intended to activate the self-destruct device in his body.
But would Lam Minh give him that chance?
Lam Minh's speed was faster than his thoughts. He appeared right in front of the Deacon, one hand clamping down on his throat, lifting him up.
"I'm waiting," Lam Minh said, his voice as cold as ice. "But before you die, let me see a little something about your 'Holy Master'."
Dragon Soul Devour!
He used the skill once again, trying to read the Deacon's memories.
But just like last time, the moment he touched the core memories, the soul restriction activated.
A stream of dark energy exploded from within the Deacon's soul, intending to destroy everything.
"This trick again?" Lam Minh laughed coldly. "This time, let's see if you can escape."
His Golden Core spiritual power, combined with his Dragon qi, formed an invisible cage, enveloping that stream of dark energy. The two forces struggled violently.
But then, something unexpected happened.
The dark energy, after failing to destroy the soul, suddenly condensed, forming a faint image in Lam Minh's mind.
It was the image of an eye.
A vertical eye, with no pupil, only a cold, emotionless gold color, like the eye of an ancient reptile.
And a voice, neither male nor female, echoed directly in his soul.
"Stranger, you have ruined my plans many times. You are very interesting. I am very curious to know who you are."
The moment that voice sounded, Lam Minh felt an invisible hand trying to invade deep into his mind, into his memories.
This was a soul probe from an unknown distance!
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Lam Minh roared.
The system within him seemed to sense the dangerous intrusion. It automatically erupted with a protective stream of energy.
BOOM!
The image of the eye in his head shattered. The dark energy also vanished.
At the same time, the Deacon's corpse in his hand turned to ash.
Lam Minh stood there, panting. His forehead was dotted with sweat. The soul confrontation just now, though it had happened in a flash, had consumed a great deal of his spiritual power.
He looked into the empty space, his expression extremely grave.
"The Holy Master... He knows of my existence. And he... just probed me."
The enemy was not just strong, not just cruel.
But he was also somewhere out there, watching his every move.
The game had officially been elevated to a new level.