One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 285 After the Explosion

The shockwave from the explosion also mercilessly swept towards Nie Lingfeng, Wang Ye, and Chen Duo!

"Holy crap! We're doomed!" Wang Ye's face turned green. He wasn't the closest to the explosion's epicenter, but he was definitely within the kill zone! The earth-shattering energy fluctuations sent chills down his spine! This power—let alone him, even someone at his master's level would have coughed up blood trying to take it head-on! (ΩДΩ)

At the critical moment of life and death, Wang Ye's potential was also pushed to the limit! He spat out a mouthful of his life essence blood into his hands, and his face instantly lost all color, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, and the speed at which his hands formed hand seals was so fast that afterimages appeared!

"Qimen Dunjia: Four Plates Reversed, Stars Shifting!"

He roared those eight words with all his might! The already dim Qimen formation beneath his feet erupted with its final, most intense light! The four plates of Heaven, Earth, Man, and God spun wildly in reverse! A mysterious and unpredictable force, involving spatial teleportation, forcibly tore open a twisted and unstable spatial rift in front of the three of them! This was neither an attack nor a defense, but the most extreme and most dangerous—spatial transfer! An attempt to redirect a portion of the impact to an unknown location!

But the explosion was too powerful! The spatial rift had just appeared when it began to fluctuate violently and flicker, as if it were about to collapse at any moment!

"Nie Lingfeng!" Wang Ye roared.

"Chen Duo! Come closer to me!" Nie Lingfeng reacted the instant Wang Ye shouted! Without hesitation, he used all his strength to pull the exhausted Chen Duo into his arms! He faced the surging, destructive energy tide with his broad back! At the same time, he poured all the last remaining power in his body into the jade pendant on his chest and frantically activated the Qilin True Fire, condensing it behind him and Chen Duo into an incredibly thick, intensely radiant dark golden flame shield! The phantom of a roaring Qilin was clearly visible on the shield! This was his strongest defensive stance!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The destructive energy tide slammed heavily onto the spatial rift that Wang Ye had barely managed to create and the fiery shield that Nie Lingfeng had condensed!

"Pfft—!" Wang Ye spat out blood, and the light of the Qimen Formation dimmed and shattered instantly! He was like being hit head-on by a high-speed train, flying backward and crashing into the collapsed ruins behind him, his life hanging in the balance! The spatial rift collapsed and disappeared after absorbing part of the impact.

The remaining, still terrifying energy slammed solidly into Nie Lingfeng's flame shield!

"Snap—!!!"

It lasted less than two seconds before the dark golden flame shield, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, shattered with a deafening roar! The remaining impact force, without any fancy moves, struck Nie Lingfeng's back!

"Ugh—!"

Nie Lingfeng let out a suppressed roar of pain, feeling as if he had been smashed by a burning mountain! The combat suit on his back instantly turned to ashes, his skin was torn open, and his bones groaned under the unbearable pressure, as if they would break at any moment! Terrifying burning, corrosive, impact, and shock forces surged wildly into his body, wantonly destroying his meridians and internal organs! He felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a large mouthful of scalding blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, gushed out, staining Chen Duo's hair and shoulders in his arms red.

But his grip on Chen Duo's arm didn't loosen at all; in fact, he tightened it even more! He held Chen Duo tightly in his arms, using his chest and the crook of his arms to form the last barrier for her! The shockwave from the explosion propelled them backward like leaves in a storm, sending them hurtling into the collapsing ruins of metal and rock behind them!

"Boom—!"

"Splash—!"

The collapse of the laboratory, propelled by the explosion, reached its climax! Large chunks of metal ceiling, walls, broken pipes, and shattered equipment debris rained down like raindrops! Smoke, flames, and chaotic energy surges filled the entire space! This place had been transformed into a utterly devastating inferno!

……

I don't know how much time passed.

Maybe it's a minute, maybe it's ten minutes.

The collapse gradually stopped.

The smoke and dust slowly began to settle.

The once vast, cold, and sinister underground laboratory is now completely gone. In its place lies a huge, irregular cavern, filled with twisted metal, broken rock, and charred marks—a cavern gnawed by a giant beast. Only a few severely deformed metal pillars lean precariously against the crumbling rock above, testifying to the existence of a man-made structure. The air is thick with the pungent smells of burnt metal, blood, and a strange, nauseating odor of ozone from annihilated energy.

In the gaps of a relatively solid ruin made up of stacked broken metal plates and concrete blocks.

"Cough...cough cough cough..." A weak coughing sound rang out.

Nie Lingfeng struggled to move his almost numb body. He felt as if every bone in his body had shattered, every muscle screaming, his internal organs seemingly displaced, and his back burning with pain, probably a bloody mess. His mouth was filled with the taste of blood. His vision blurred, and his ears were ringing.

But the warmth in his arms and his soft breathing instantly sobered him up.

"Chen Duo... Chen Duo!" He called out hoarsely, enduring the excruciating pain, his hands trembling as he carefully loosened his embrace and looked down.

Chen Duo's eyes were tightly closed, her long eyelashes covered in dust, her face as pale as paper, and a trace of blood clung to the corner of her mouth. Her breathing was weak. Fortunately, however, she had no obvious external injuries, and although her breathing was weak, it was steady. In the devastating explosion, Nie Lingfeng had completely shielded her with his body; she had only been knocked unconscious by the shockwave, and the excessive exertion from the previous explosion had left her unconscious.

Seeing that Chen Duo was still alive, Nie Lingfeng's nerves, which had been stretched to the limit, finally relaxed slightly. A feeling of weakness and relief, as if he had survived a disaster, welled up in his heart. But he immediately thought of Wang Ye.

"Old Wang! Old Wang, how are you?! If you're still alive, say something!" Nie Lingfeng tried to sit up, but the movement aggravated the wound on his back, causing him to grimace in pain and cough again, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. He anxiously looked around, searching for Wang Ye's figure amidst the chaotic ruins.

"Squeak... Squeak my foot... I almost went to report to the Three Pure Ones..." A weak, but still annoyingly lazy voice came from another pile of ruins not far away.

Nie Lingfeng's spirits lifted, and he quickly looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a pile of rubble and twisted metal plates being pushed aside, and Wang Ye, covered in dust and dirt, his Taoist robe tattered, his face and body smeared with blood and ash, looking even more wretched than a beggar, struggling to crawl out. As he crawled, he grimaced and gasped for breath, clearly quite injured, but he could still move and complain, meaning he was alive.

"Damn... I really lost everything this time... I feel like all my internal organs have shifted, at least three ribs are broken, the Qimen Dunjia backlash has caused both internal and external injuries..." Wang Ye slumped on a slightly flat piece of gravel, complaining weakly, but his eyes still held a trace of lingering fear and apprehension. "That thing's self-destruction... it was too damn powerful... If it weren't for my last-minute flash of inspiration, using 'Star Shift' to deflect some of the force, and then using 'Earth Chariot' to bury myself quickly, I'd probably be a pulp by now... Old Nie, how are you? Is Xiao Chenduo alright? (；′⌒`)"

"I'm not dead yet. Chen Duo has fainted, she should be alright." Nie Lingfeng breathed a sigh of relief, enduring the pain, carefully carrying Chen Duo, and laboriously moved out of the gap in the rubble. He sat down against a twisted metal pillar, breathing heavily. He glanced at the laboratory, now completely reduced to ruins, and a chill ran through him. The final self-destruction of that "Seraph" was terrifyingly powerful. That black-robed messenger…

"Where's that pervert in the black robe? Is he dead?" Nie Lingfeng asked, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily. Although he couldn't sense the guy's presence anymore, it was hard to say that such a strange person wouldn't have some means of survival.

"I don't know, he was blown to bits. His aura was very weak. Even if he's not dead, he's probably close." Wang Ye struggled to sit up, took out a crumpled pill, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it. His complexion improved slightly. "But we can't stay in this godforsaken place for long. The explosion was too loud; the area above has probably collapsed. And those bastards in the council definitely have backup plans. If a few more freaks like that come, the three of us in our current state will just be waiting to die. ╮(╯▽╰)╭"

Nie Lingfeng nodded, and was about to say something when suddenly, the jade pendant on his chest emitted a faint but clear warmth again! This warmth was no longer the burning or throbbing sensation of before, but a gentle, comforting, and guiding current, flowing softly towards a certain direction deep within the ruins.

"Huh?" Nie Lingfeng was taken aback and subconsciously looked in the direction the warm current was pointing—that was the core of the explosion and the area most severely damaged, where some chaotic energy aftershocks and wisps of smoke still remained.

"What's wrong, Lao Nie? Did you find a treasure? Or is that black-robed monster not quite dead yet?" Wang Ye noticed Nie Lingfeng's strange behavior and asked warily. He struggled to stand up, but then grimaced in pain and sat back down.

"I don't know... the jade pendant is reacting." Nie Lingfeng frowned, hesitating for a moment. Reason told him that he should immediately take Chen Duo and Wang Ye away from this dangerous place. But the gentle guidance from the jade pendant on his chest, tinged with sadness and expectation, made him unable to ignore it. He remembered the "Seraph's" last look at him, the silent words "Kill him... free me..." and the resolute figure rushing towards destruction.

"Old Wang, you look after Chen Duo, I... I'll go check on her." Nie Lingfeng gritted his teeth, gently placed the still unconscious Chen Duo in a relatively safe corner, covered her slightly with some rubble, and then, enduring the excruciating pain all over his body, struggled to stand up and slowly made his way towards the most dangerous core area of ​​the explosion.

"Damn it! Lao Nie, are you crazy?! The energy turbulence there hasn't even dissipated yet! What if it explodes again? And that monster will definitely be reduced to ashes, what's there to see?" Wang shouted anxiously from behind, but he was too weak to stop him.

Nie Lingfeng didn't turn around, but waved his hand to indicate that he knew what he was doing. He mobilized the last bit of power in his body, forming a thin layer of dark golden flame on his skin. He carefully dispelled and resisted the corrosive residual energy waves in the air, and stepped into the scorched earth.

The ground here resembled molten glass, radiating intense heat. Strange substances, vaporized and then re-condensed, and deep craters were everywhere. A pungent odor permeated the air. Nie Lingfeng held his breath, carefully sensing the jade pendant's guidance, and slowly moved to the edge of an explosion crater about three meters in diameter and one meter deep, its edges shimmering with a faint glow of interwoven dark red and golden-red light.

The warmth of the jade pendant reached its peak here.