171: Chapter 171 The Holy Knight in Labor Camp

On the bluestone slabs of Taiping Old Street, the thick fog retreated like a tide.

The night wind blew by, whipping up a faint trace of the smell of blood.

That divine coercion which once pressed down so heavily that the entire underground forces of Jiangzhou could not catch their breath had now vanished without a trace, like a deflated ball.

Lin Ye carried the soul-suppressing copper coin sword, casually flicking away the shocking string of blood droplets on the blade.

In the dark, those local bullies of Jiangzhou hiding in street corners, on roofs, and in the cracks of sewer manhole covers were peeping, all of them looking as if their fates were collectively pinched by the scruff of their necks, not even daring to let out a single heavy breath.

That was, after all, a Blood High Priest of the dignified Western Inquisition, bringing along twelve fully armed elite paladins!

Placed in any province of Great Xia, this force would be enough to make the local Taoist branch treat it like facing a formidable enemy, and even require bringing out a sect- town-faction treasure to counter it.

And the result?

In front of this young boss, they didn't even last five minutes from start to finish.

"Within the territory of Great Xia, gods are forbidden to travel."

This sentence was still buzzing in everyone's mind.

Archimonde fell in a pool of blood, the terrifying sword scar on his chest almost splitting him in two.

But after all, he was a high-tier divine priest, and his vitality was as tenacious as a cockroach.

Holding his chest, his pitch-black double pupils were covered in bloodshot veins, staring fixedly at Lin Ye, while bloody foam continuously gushed from his mouth.

"You... How dare you... The glory of the Lord will sooner or later burn you... burn all the heretics around you into ashes..."

"All right, all right, stop chanting scriptures here. If your master is really that awesome, why doesn't he strike me dead with a bolt of lightning right now?"

Lin Ye rolled his eyes, walked up to Archimonde, and looked down at him from above.

"You hang the Lord on your lips all day, but when it comes to fighting, you entirely rely on calling for backup. Do you Westerners not know how to output actual combat power without PowerPoint presentations and slogans?"

Lin Ye was complaining verbally, but his movements were not slow in the slightest.

He bent down and unceremoniously ripped off the thorn vine emanating a faint bloody light from Archimonde's wrist, then casually swiped the two spatial storage rings on his hands.

"You— That is a holy artifact! You robber!"

Archimonde was shaking all over with anger, rolling his eyes back, almost passing out directly.

"What robber? This is called looting spoils of war, do you understand the rules of Great Xia?"

Lin Ye tucked the rings into his pocket, then awakened the system in his mind.

[Ding! High-tier surviving hostile targets detected (Western Blood High Priest and twelve paladins).]

[nine nether purgatory tower requests instructions: whether to throw them into the bottom-layer furnace and activate the 'alchemy with living human flesh' mode? It is expected to produce ten high-tier holy light marrow-cleansing pills.]

Hearing this prompt tone, Lin Ye raised his eyebrows slightly and decisively vetoed it in his heart.

"Rejected. Alchemy with living humans? System, have you been reading too many dark-style Xianxia novels lately?"

"I am an upright youth of the 21st century growing up under the red flag. Although my hands are stained with a bit of blood, that's all for sending off demons and ghosts."

"Using living people for alchemy is something done by evil cultivators without any bottom line. If word gets out, how can I mix in Jianghu? It's easy to get 404'd, understand?"

Lin Ye touched his chin. As a former seasoned street-smart fellow, he deeply understood the importance of sustainable development.

"Change the mode. Aren't these Western foreign devils full of holy light in their bodies? Just throw them into the first layer of the nine nether purgatory tower. Forcibly extract the holy light magic power from their bodies and convert it into backup power and spiritual Qi reserves for the Funeral Shop."

"As for their persons... their cultivation is crippled, but their physiques are still there, twelve two-meter-tall strong men after all."

"Hand out brooms and rags to them. From now on, the cleaning work on the bottom layer of the purgatory tower and the physical labor of riding bicycles to generate electricity will be entirely contracted to them. This is called labor reform, squeezing out surplus value, which is very much in line with humanitarian spirit."

[Ding! Instruction modification successful. The 'Nine Nether Labor Camp' mode has been activated. Containing...]

As the system prompt tone fell,

the huge phantom of the nine nether purgatory tower on the ground of the old street trembled slightly.

Twelve passed-out heavy-armored paladins, along with Archimonde who was still impotently furious, suddenly had a pitch-black formation vortex split open beneath them.

"No... What abyss magic is this... Let me go... Lord—"

Accompanied by Archimonde's final despairing scream, this group of arrogant Western law enforcement officers was sucked into the depths of the underground like dumplings, completely losing their trace.

Waiting for them will be endless days of operating sewing machines and mopping the floor.

The crowd watching from the dark saw living people disappear into thin air, and they were so frightened that they all gasped and retreated even further.

In their eyes, Lin Ye's methods were already close to those of immortals, mysterious and indistinguishable.

"Fatty, clean up the battlefield. Lead that carriage and the foreign horses back to the backyard, chop the carriage up for firewood, and keep those two ghost horses for pulling cargo."

Lin Ye clapped his hands and turned back to walk up the steps.

Leng Yue still maintained that cold and dignified demeanor of the first wife, but a trace of appreciation flashed through the depths of her eyes.

Frost Star, on the other hand, had stars in her eyes, wishing she could immediately pounce up and hang on his body.

As for Helena, her gaze looking at Lin Ye at this moment had completely changed from fear to fanatical worship.

Westerners admire strength deep in their bones.

When Lin Ye crushed the divine priest who was once high and out of reach with a crushing posture, this man's status in her heart had completely replaced God.

"Let's go, back inside. Blowing cold wind outside in the middle of the night, whose fault is it if my wives catch a cold?"

Lin Ye wrapped one arm around Leng Yue's slender waist, rubbed Frost Star's head with his other hand, and swaggered back into the Funeral Shop.

...

Funeral Shop first-floor lobby.

The front door closed again, completely isolating the chill of early autumn and the peeping outside.

Lin Ye sat in the main seat of the golden Phoebe nanmu tea table.

On the tabletop were placed the spoils of war just swiped from Archimonde:

that bloody sacred blood thorn ring, and a pile of messy Western items poured out from the storage ring:

magic scrolls emanating a faint glow, a few high-purity light magic crystals, and half of a tattered golden goblet that looked like it had been cut in half by some sharp weapon.

"Helena, come and take a look. What kind of junk are all these things?"

Lin Ye leaned against the back of the chair and beckoned to the tall foreign mare standing in the corner.

Hearing Lin Ye's call, Helena immediately stepped in high heels and walked over gracefully step by step.

She walked respectfully to Lin Ye's side and slightly bowed.

A unique body fragrance mixed with Western perfume and the residue of last night's medicinal bath drilled into Lin Ye's nasal cavity.

"Boss."

Helena's attitude was extremely docile now. She glanced at the things on the table, her ice-blue pupils contracting slightly, and she gasped.

"This... This is a fragment of the Saint's Crown of Thorns."

She stretched out her trembling jade hand, pointing at the bloody vine, her voice revealing instinctive awe.

"Legend has it that this is a branch peeled off from the Crown of Thorns worn by the first Pope, containing a huge divine purifying power."

"For any dark creatures and undead, this is an absolute nemesis. I didn't expect Archimonde to bring it to Great Xia."

"Absolute nemesis?"

Frost Star, sitting opposite, curled her lips in disdain.

The Nether Empress wore Lin Ye's oversized white shirt today, her slender legs crossed and placed on the chair.

She picked up the thorn vine and played with it casually in her hand.

"Sizzle..."

The holy light on the thorns came into contact with Frost Star's extreme cold corpse Qi, emitting a faint burning sound.

But Frost Star didn't even frown, instead opening her small mouth, revealing sharp canine teeth, making a gesture as if she was going to stuff it into her mouth.

"It looks like a spicy gluten stick, I wonder if it's crunchy when bitten. Big Sister, do you want to try some?"

Frost Star handed it to Leng Yue beside her.

Leng Yue turned her head away in disgust.

"Take it further away. A sour, stinky smell of barbarians."

The Millennium Drought Demon simply sneered at this so-called Western 'holy artifact'.

In front of the ultimate karmic fire, these holy lights were no different from small matches.

Looking at these two, Helena felt that her world view had once again suffered a great shock.

She swallowed awkwardly, and her gaze turned to the tattered golden goblet.

"Boss, this half-ruined cup... If I didn't see it wrong, it should be the incomplete Holy Grail."

Helena lowered her voice, and her expression became serious.

"The complete Holy Grail is one of the highest holy artifacts of the Western Freemasons and the Holy See, rumored to be able to hold the water of the fountain of youth."

"Although this half is a defective product, if used to brew holy water, its effect of healing injuries and restoring magic power is enough to drive high-tier knights of the entire Western Continent crazy. This is a priceless treasure."

"Oh? An incomplete Holy Grail?"

Hearing this, Lin Ye's eyes lit up.

He picked up the broken golden cup and weighed it in his hand.

The workmanship was indeed exquisite, and the gems inlaid on it were also top-notch.

He turned his head, looked at Helena's exquisitely beautiful exotic face, and deliberately lowered his voice to tease:

"I'm not particularly interested in whether it's a Holy Grail or not. However, speaking of 'large' and 'deep', I think your foundation as a Western nun is much stronger than this broken cup."

Lin Ye's gaze swept across Helena's towering chest without any concealment.

Helena was stunned for a full two seconds before realizing the deep meaning in Lin Ye's words.

"Whoosh."

This proud nun's cheeks instantly turned as red as a ripe tomato.

Even her slender, snow-white neck was stained with a layer of blush.

She lowered her head shyly, her hands tightly twisting together, showing a coy appearance of seeming to refuse yet welcoming, wanting to retort but not daring to.

"Bah! Shameless scoundrel!"

Ayugu, who was munching on an apple nearby, understood. Her face blushed as she spat lightly, quickly covering her ears with her hands, muttering in her mouth, "I'm still a child, I didn't hear anything at all".

Leng Yue held her teacup and let out a light hum.

She stretched out her long legs under the table, her silk high-heeled toe kicking Lin Ye's calf neither lightly nor heavily.

"If Husband feels that the teacups at home are not deep enough, you might as well take this barbarian woman into your room."

"Lest you stare at other people's cups outside all day and ruin the reputation of Lins Funeral Shop."

Leng Yue's words seemed magnanimous, but actually harbored murderous intent.