The Aberrants finally began to retreat.
But the Blood Demons gave them no chance.
Crimson claw-wings flanked from all directions, forcing the fleeing Aberrants back into the center of the battlefield.
Bloodblade Butchers advanced through the clearing liquid, bone blades swinging as severed limbs splashed down like rain.
The curses of the cursed blood bone dolls fell upon the rear of the Aberrant swarm, detonating them into a mist of blood.
When the last Aberrant was cleaved in two by a Bloodblade Butcher's bone blade, and the last roar faded from the Blood Swamp, this land of death—polluted for three hundred years—fell into a true silence for the first time.
Jiang Lin descended slowly, his feet landing on the now-clear liquid.
The water splashed; there was no longer a pungent stench of rot, only a faint, briny scent.
He looked around.
Seven thousand three hundred Blood Demons stood silently throughout the swamp.
Jiang Lin took a deep breath and retrieved the locator from his spatial ring.
"Rusty Town, the Blood Swamp has been cleared. You can send people over."
There was a long silence on the other end of the communicator before Ed's dry voice came through: "Understood. I... I'll arrange it immediately."
Jiang Lin cut the communication, his gaze sweeping over the swamp that had just been washed in blood.
"Pass down the order: rest and reorganize on-site."
He issued instructions to the Bloodspeakers: "Crimson claw-wings will handle perimeter security, cursed blood bone dolls will monitor pollution levels, and Bloodblade Butchers will construct a temporary defensive line. In three days, we move against the next target."
Seven thousand three hundred Blood Demons let out a low hiss simultaneously, the sound echoing over the Blood Swamp like the breath of an ancient behemoth.
...
Three days after the Battle of the Blood Swamp, the second Aberrant gathering zone was reached as scheduled.
It was a derelict industrial area known as the "Rust Iron Wasteland," located approximately two hundred kilometers from the Rust Mine.
Unlike the mud of the Blood Swamp, the ground here was cracked, hard soil covered in thick layers of rust, with countless collapsed chimneys standing under the dark red sky like tombstones.
Twenty-five thousand Aberrants.
Five thousand more than in the Blood Swamp, and with a greater variety of types.
Jiang Lin stood on the back of a crimson claw-wing, looking down at the dense, dark red ocean below.
He could see at least twenty 4th-rank Aggregates looming within the swarm, along with three Mental Polluters scattered in three directions, their bodies shrouded in visible dark red mist.
"Divide the forces."
Jiang Lin issued commands to the six Bloodspeakers: "First and Second Squads will pin them from the front, Third and Fourth Squads will flank the sides, and the Fifth and Sixth Squads will serve as reserves, awaiting my command."
The crystals in the center of the Bloodspeakers' masks flashed simultaneously as invisible mental waves spread out like ripples.
In just a few breaths, the seven thousand three hundred Blood Demons completed their formation change, starting up like a precision war machine.
The battle commenced at noon.
Crimson claw-wings dove from high altitudes like a dark red meteor shower tearing through the sky.
Bloodblade Butchers advanced in formation on the ground, their four arms swinging like wheels; wherever the bone blades passed, Aberrants fell in swaths like wheat.
Cursed blood bone dolls hovered in the rear, blood-colored runes exploding over the enemy swarm, turning Aberrant after Aberrant into a mist of blood.
But this time, the Aberrants displayed unprecedented resilience.
Those three Mental Polluters no longer defended passively but took the initiative to release mental shocks.
Invisible waves spread like a tide; any Blood Demon caught in them would momentarily falter, only to be torn apart by the surrounding Aberrants.
More troublingly, new types appeared within the Aberrant swarm.
These individuals were slender, with backs covered in mirror-like crystallized carapaces.
They did not participate in the attack, merely standing silently at the edge of the battlefield, their mirror carapaces reflecting the Blood Demons' curses and blood crystal blasts, sending most long-range attacks back where they came from.
"Starting to target me specifically?"
Jiang Lin's golden eyes narrowed slightly.
The Aberrants were evolving, adjusting their types to counter the Blood Demons' combat style.
But his Blood Demon Legion was also growing stronger.
"Fifth and Sixth Squads, target those mirrored individuals. No long-range; tear them apart in close combat."
Five hundred Bloodblade Butchers turned simultaneously, charging toward the edge of the battlefield with heavy steps.
Those mirrored Aberrants tried to flee, but the Bloodblade Butchers were faster.
Bone blades fell, mirror carapaces shattered, and those Aberrants let out piercing shrieks as they turned into piles of crystal dust.
The battle lasted for four full hours.
When the last Mental Polluter's core was pierced by the Shadow of Blood's sword, and the last Aggregate collapsed under the Bloodblade Butchers' assault, the Rust Iron Wasteland fell into a deathly silence.
Jiang Lin descended slowly, his feet landing on the cracked, rusted ground.
The number of the Blood Demon Legion had broken the ten-thousand mark.
Ten thousand two hundred.
He looked around; the sea of blood stretching for miles looked like a burning sea of stars under the dark red sky.
Crimson claw-wings perched atop collapsed chimneys, their bone wings folded. Bloodblade Butchers stood in the center of the battlefield, their four arms hanging low, black ichor still dripping from their bone blades. Cursed blood bone dolls hovered in mid-air, their tiny bones vibrating slightly in the wind.
"What about the third gathering zone?"
Jiang Lin took out the locator.
The silver-haired woman's voice came through the communicator, carrying a hint of disbelief: "They've retreated. As the battle at the Rust Iron Wasteland was nearing its end, the third gathering zone suddenly turned around and withdrew deep into the Corrupted Plains."
"Smart."
Jiang Lin put away the locator, his gaze looking toward the deeper dark red horizon to the southwest.
The evil god was testing, assessing, and calculating the true strength of the Blood Demon Legion.
And the result of that test was clearly not to his satisfaction.
Over the next half month, Jiang Lin did not encounter any more large-scale counterattacks.
The Aberrant gathering zones on the edge of the Corrupted Plains were swept away one by one by the Blood Demon Legion, ranging in size from five thousand to twenty thousand.
With every location taken, Ember's engineering teams followed immediately to establish outposts, clear ruins, and build fortifications.
By the twentieth day, the number of the Blood Demon Legion had exceeded thirty thousand.
Thirty thousand Blood Demons were distributed across the reclaimed land, forming an arc-shaped defensive line from Rusty Town to the Rust Mine, and from the Blood Swamp to the Rust Iron Wasteland.
Crimson claw-wings patrolled the sky, cursed blood bone dolls monitored pollution levels, and Bloodblade Butchers stood guard at every key node.
And Jiang Lin began to have the leeway to do more.
...
On the edge of the Corrupted Plains, in a derelict town recently captured by the Blood Demon Legion.
Jiang Lin sat cross-legged atop the ruins of what was once the city hall, his long golden hair drifting slightly in the polluted wind.
His eyes were slightly closed, and the breathing techniques within him were running at their limit.
Holy light magic essence, ice soul power, and blood-colored energy—three distinct origins surged, intertwined, and collided within his meridians, attempting to break through that invisible barrier.
He was about to do something he had never attempted before.
Without the help of a god's power or relying on system quest rewards, he would use his own understanding of power to forcibly break through these shackles!
It had been exactly one month since he arrived on Planet Teluofuto.
In that month, the Blood Demon Legion had expanded from its initial one hundred and twenty to over thirty thousand.
Rusty Town, the Rust Mine, the Blood Swamp, the Rust Iron Wasteland...
One by one, the death zones once occupied by Aberrants had been washed in blood, and the banners of Ember were once again planted on this land that had been abandoned for three hundred years.
But Jiang Lin's level remained at the peak of the 2nd rank.
He could feel the existence of that "ceiling."
It was like a transparent wall—invisible and intangible, yet truly pressing down on him.
Every time his power tried to climb higher, that wall would ruthlessly bounce it back.
"Life shackles..."
Jiang Lin opened his eyes, a trace of resentment flashing in his golden gaze.
He thought of his master, Loren.
He had dispersed his cultivation to start anew from rank 0, reaching the limit at every rank, and finally broke through the life shackles with his own strength to ascend to the 9th rank.
And he himself had likewise reached the limit at rank 0 and pursued perfection at every rank.
Why couldn't he be like his master? Why couldn't he break through on his own?
"I'll try again."
Jiang Lin took a deep breath and sank his entire mind into his body.
Holy light magic essence, ice soul power, and blood-colored energy began to run frantically, accelerating through the routes of the Paladin Breathing Technique.
The three powers accelerated to their limit within him, and a faint, swelling pain came from his meridians.
Jiang Lin gritted his teeth, compressing even more power into those invisible shackles.
"Boom!"
It was as if he had slammed into a mountain.
The massive recoil shook Jiang Lin's entire body, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
That wall remained motionless, while his meridians began to show fine cracks.
"Again."
Refusing to give up, he slammed into the shackles once more.
This time, the wall moved.
No, it wasn't the wall moving; rather, something on the other side of the wall was responding to him.
A cold, viscous, and malicious power seeped in through the cracks in the shackles like invisible tentacles, attempting to burrow into his sea of consciousness.
Pollution.
From deep within the world core, from the evil god Mozos, from the most fundamental curse of this planet.
Jiang Lin's pupils constricted, and he instantly cut off all magic essence flow.
But a sliver of that pollution had already seeped in, leaving a faint dark red mark in his sea of consciousness.
Cough.
He snapped his eyes open and spat out a mouthful of blood onto the steel beam beneath him, which let out a sizzling sound as it was corroded.
He had failed.
Not only had he failed, but he had also invited the erosion of pollution.
Jiang Lin turned pale as the holy light magic essence within him began to run automatically, purifying the invading dark red mark.
But that pollution was incredibly stubborn, moving through his sea of consciousness as if alive, attempting to take root and spread.
"I actually let you find an opening."
Jiang Lin gritted his teeth, mobilizing all his holy light magic essence to surround and suppress that sliver of pollution.
Golden light flared in his sea of consciousness like a blazing sun dispersing gloom, melting and purifying that dark red mark inch by inch.
It took a full fifteen minutes for the last trace of pollution to completely dissipate.
Jiang Lin sat slumped on the beam, gasping for air, his back soaked in cold sweat.
"As I thought... it's no good."
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
Just because his master could do it didn't mean he could.
When Loren dispersed his cultivation to start over, he had a complete Eternal Ice Soul core and the accumulation of decades of insight into the way of the sword.
But he, in the end, was merely a "genius" who relied on the system to grow quickly.
Though his foundation was stable and his accumulation deep, he lacked that profound understanding of the essence of power forged in desperate straits.
"It seems I can only wait for the quest to be completed."
Jiang Lin closed his eyes and sank his mind into the system interface.
【Trial of Blood (3)】
【Quest Objective: Slay the evil god "Life-Devouring Black Goat · Mozos"】
【Quest Reward: Break through current stage life shackles, unlock Blood Realm teleportation authorization】
As long as he slew the evil god, the shackles would be released automatically.
And the prerequisite for slaying the evil god was possessing sufficiently powerful strength.
Thirty-four thousand Blood Demons were not enough.
Far from enough.
He needed more Blood Demons—stronger ones—enough to submerge the evil god's physical form, tear apart every one of its tentacles, and devour every inch of its flesh.
"Then we keep fighting."
Jiang Lin leaped down from the beam, a look of ruthlessness flashing in his golden eyes.
...
To the east of Rusty Town, on an open plain that had been cleared, hundreds of workers were busy with construction.
This was the first large-scale breeding farm planned by Ember.
Looking down from above, the entire area was clearly divided into three functional zones: fodder cultivation, fodder processing, and livestock breeding.
"Mr. Matthew, this way, please."
Dr. Villa had rarely left the research institute, coming to the construction site in person.
He wore thick goggles and held a stack of blueprints, his gray hair blowing messily in the wind, but his bloodshot eyes shone with excitement.
"The fodder cultivation zone covers about two square kilometers, and we plan to grow three types of crops."
He pointed toward the plowed land ahead, his voice carrying the characteristic rigor and passion of a scholar.
"The first is a high-yield forage grass called 'Fast-growing Rye.' It's an improved variety from before the Great Cataclysm, with a growth cycle of only fifteen days and a yield of up to eight thousand kilograms per mu. The downside is that it severely depletes soil fertility, requiring crop rotation and large amounts of fertilizer."
Jiang Lin followed him past rows of neat ridges.
The soil had just been unearthed from beneath the ruins; it still carried dark red pollution residues, but after purification treatment, it was barely suitable for planting.
"The second is 'Protein Alfalfa,' which has an extremely high protein content and is the best feed for fattening livestock. Its growth cycle is slightly longer at twenty-five days, but it can be harvested for three consecutive crops."
Dr. Villa squatted down and poked the soil with his finger to check the moisture.
"The third is 'Energy Beet.' It's not for feeding livestock directly but is used to extract biofuel and feed additives. Its taproots have an extremely high sugar content, and after fermentation, they can produce large amounts of biogas to provide energy for the breeding farm."
Jiang Lin nodded slightly. "What about the yield?"
"If everything goes well, the fodder cultivation zone can begin providing a stable supply in one month. According to the current design capacity, it will be enough to support the feed requirements for five thousand head of beef cattle slaughtered monthly."
"Five thousand head?" Jiang Lin frowned. "About how much edible flesh and blood can one cow provide?"
Dr. Villa pushed his glasses up and calculated quickly: "After an adult beef cow is slaughtered—excluding bones, organs, and hide—the net meat yield is about forty to fifty percent. Based on an average live weight of five hundred kilograms per cow, it can provide about two hundred to two hundred and fifty kilograms of flesh and blood. Five thousand head would be..."
He paused. "One hundred to one hundred and twenty-five tons."
"That's a bit low..."
Jiang Lin calculated in his mind.
To maintain the existence of thirty-four thousand Blood Demons, at least three hundred tons of flesh and blood were needed daily.
One hundred and twenty-five tons wouldn't even last half a day.
...
Rate on N.U.
