89: Blood Evil's house was stolen

White bones lay exposed in the wilderness, for a thousand li, not a single rooster crowed.

"How could this be..."

Lin Chuping's throat tightened. Although he hadn't eaten anything since arriving in this world, his stomach still churned at the sight.

He had thought Chang Sheng Village, which he saw when he first Transmigrated, was already a human tragedy, but he hadn't expected the area outside Chang Sheng Village to be even more shocking.

The closer he got to the Prefecture City, the denser the bones became along both sides of the road, until finally there was almost nowhere to step.

The tall city walls of the Prefecture City stood majestically, their greenish-gray bricks reflecting a cold light under the setting sun.

Inside the city walls, however, gaunt, emaciated people lay scattered everywhere. They were motionless, and were it not for the occasional faint groans, they would be indistinguishable from corpses.

The doors and windows of the houses lining the streets were tightly shut. Occasionally, a few broken windows rattled in the wind, emitting a grating creak.

Various items were strewn across the ground—a broken pottery jar, a few mud-stained clothes, a tiny child's shoe.

The owners of these objects had perhaps already turned into the white bones by the roadside.

Under his Divine Eye, Lin Chuping finally saw the true face of the Spirit-奪取 Array.

Countless blood-colored threads, as fine as hair, extended from each body, covering the entire Prefecture City like a spiderweb.

These threads were not physical but composed of pure Spiritual Qi, shimmering with an eerie red light in the Divine Eye's vision.

Even more alarming was that these threads did not only connect to humans—every blade of grass, every tree, and even the moss in the cracks of the city wall had become a node in this giant web.

"Using the lives of an entire city as the array's foundation..."

Lin Chuping's fingertips grew cold. He finally understood why there were piles of bones outside the city, yet the people inside still clung to a breath of life.

The Spirit-奪取 Array was slowly and meticulously extracting all life force from the city, much like a spider injecting venom into its prey, waiting for its internal organs to liquefy before slowly sucking them dry.

A gentle breeze swept through, rustling the dying locust trees along the streets.

In Lin Chuping's vision, these seemingly ordinary trees were transmitting blood-colored Spiritual Qi underground through their roots.

Lin Chuping squatted down, his fingers lightly touching the ground, allowing Spiritual Qi to seep into the soil through his fingertips.

Three zhang underground, the originally clear underground Spiritual Vein spring had been stained dark red, flowing slowly like corrupted blood.

So, the so-called "Qingyun Immortal Sect" relied on such an evil array to protect the common people, did they?

This was truly unforgivable.

"Where would the array core be..."

Lin Chuping stood up, his gaze sweeping across the desolate street.

"Tong Ge, help me find the core of this Spirit-奪取 Array."

"Ding! The array core is right before your eyes."

"Are you talking about this?"

Lin Chuping pointed to a stone lion in front of a dilapidated house.

It didn't seem likely. If this thing were the array core, with his eyesight, he shouldn't fail to see anything unusual.

"Tong Ge, are you sure it's this stone lion?"

Lin Chuping frowned, examining the weathered stone carving before him, and condensed a wisp of Spiritual Qi on his fingertip, touching the stone lion's eye.

Nothing happened.

"Ding! This System said 'before your eyes', not 'this one'."

Lin Chuping was startled, then looked around.

Before him was the entire dilapidated street, withered locust trees, cracked bluestone slabs, a half-collapsed teahouse... "The scope is too large."

He murmured, suddenly feeling a faint tremor beneath his feet.

Looking down, his Divine Eye automatically activated, revealing the dark red Spiritual Veins deep underground slowly pulsating like a heart.

He suddenly looked up: "Are you saying... the entire city?"

"Ding! The Host has finally understood. The core of the Spirit-奪取 Array is not a specific object, but the 'concept' of the entire Prefecture City itself."

Cold sweat broke out on Lin Chuping's back.

No wonder the Qingyun Immortal Sect dared to openly set up such an evil array in the Prefecture City—they weren't afraid of it being destroyed at all.

Destroying a stone lion, a tree, or even a block would be useless, unless the entire city was razed to the ground.

"How do I break this..."

"Wait, since the array core is everywhere, does that mean..."

He hurried towards the nearest locust tree.

Dark red sap seeped from the cracked bark on the trunk. In the Divine Eye's vision, this tree was connected to the underground Spiritual Vein through its roots, like a blood vessel connected to a heart.

"Tong Ge, what if I use Thunder Talismans to simultaneously strike all the critical nodes in the city..."

"Ding! Theoretically feasible."

"Let's do it! Blast the hell out of it!"

"Such a scourge on humanity should not exist."

Lin Chuping stood atop the bell tower in the center of the Prefecture City, the fierce wind tearing at his robes.

Below him were dense blood-colored threads; the entire city, in the Divine Eye's vision, resembled a giant, pulsating blood-colored spider.

At this moment, Lin Chuping was incredibly grateful that his Thunder Punishment divine art couldn't strike innocent passersby, leaving him completely without worries.

As if unable to bear witnessing the human tragedy, Lin Chuping closed his eyes.

"Tong Ge, aim for the entire Prefecture City and strike it hard!"

—In an instant, heaven and earth changed color.

The originally dim twilight was torn open, and heavy dark clouds surged and gathered like angry waves. In the depths of the clouds, purple lightning snaked like mad dragons, and thunder roared, as if the heavens were enraged.

The entire Prefecture City was enveloped in an almost suffocating pressure; even the wind seemed to freeze.

The first bolt of Thunder fell.

Boom—!!!

A pillar-thick bolt of purple Thunder struck the thousand-year-old locust tree in the east of the city. The trunk instantly exploded, and dark red sap splattered out, only to be incinerated by the Thunder fire in mid-air.

The blood-colored Spiritual Veins spreading beneath the tree roots twisted and struggled like living things, emitting a piercing shriek.

The second bolt of Thunder struck.

The ancient well in the west of the city exploded. The well water had long since dried up, but from the bottom of the well, a viscous, blood-like liquid surged out. Illuminated by the Thunder light, it immediately boiled and evaporated, turning into foul-smelling black smoke that rose into the air.

Immediately after—

The third, fourth, fifth... hundreds of bolts of Thunder descended simultaneously!

The entire Prefecture City seemed to be submerged in a sea of Thunder, purple lightning like Dragons, raging in all directions.

The bluestone slabs on the streets cracked inch by inch, revealing the dark red, putrid-flesh-like Spiritual Veins underground;

The moss in the cracks of the city wall withered and charred in the Thunder light;

The blood-colored threads connecting the dying people snapped inch by inch like a spiderweb, turning into ashes.

Under Lin Chuping's Divine Eye, the entire city's blood-colored great array was collapsing.

However, the Spirit-奪取 Array was not inanimate; it seemed to possess intelligence. Sensing impending destruction, it began to counterattack frantically!

"Rumble—"

The ground trembled, and countless blood pillars erupted from underground, coalescing in mid-air into a blood-colored hand that blotted out the sky. Its five fingers spread, attempting to directly confront the heavenly Thunder!

"A dying struggle!"

Lin Chuping sneered.