Meeting up with Tian Cheng on the way towards the crystal cluster—
"Master, surnamed Wang has been dealt with."
"How?"
"I ripped his head off, and casted the two portions of his body in opposite directions."
Under the effects of the Tranquil Heart Incantation, Long Hua doesn't feel any need to make a remark on how violent Tian Cheng's method had been, and simply replies—
"I see, so the most effective means to deal with these Sinners in Partial-Apotheosis is to seal them, or to keep them from reconnecting their head and body back together."
Saying this, Long Hua repairs Bai Zhe through the Divine Weapon of Tai Xuan once more—prior to sheathing it away.
Using his divine senses, Long Hua can see the figures of Shao Tianming and Ye Chen giving chase.
As for the amount of time that is left on the clock—
(Not much longer until this magic array expires. I need to get into that building before everyone else, and ditch this attire. Being able to regain a bit of my past life's killing intent—while gauging the strength of Partial-Apotheosized Sinners, I suppose it was worth something?)
The Sinners and the practitioners that were summoned into this city—via the magic array, have dwindled by a significant amount; however, their current count is still effective in giving Long Hua an image of what the frontline of this world would be like.
(If practitioners are considered tigers, then these Sinners are basically a pack of wolves. Their ability to not die as easily—under the effects of Partial-Apotheosis, makes them difficult to handle in large groups… Cutting their head off, and separating it from their body is one method, but… Against a whole group, it's less than ideal. I'll need to see if I can find some large-scale divine art that can seal them.)
Leaping from building to building, Long Hua and Tian Cheng gradually closed in on the falling crystal cluster; however—
"…Uh?"
Flying towards the two—like a disk, is Ye Chen's greatsword, and as it approaches them, a mountainous force of weight pushes them towards the ground.
In the same instance—
"…"
Shao Tianming appears over them, while plunging downwards with his halberd.
"Tch."
Unable to move as effectively—due to the mountainous force that is pushing down on their shoulders, Long Hua clenches his right hand the moment he lands.
And rotating the Immortal Suppression Palm to its current limit, Long Hua pushes his right hand upwards, and conjures a dark handprint—to block off Shao Tianming's halberd!
*Chiiiii!!!* just as Shao Tianming's halberd is blocked off, Ye Chen resummons his greatsword into his hands, and plunges down from above as well.
*Boom!!!* with the addition of Ye Chen onto the dark handprint, a crater opens beneath Long Hua's feet.
Turning his gaze towards Tian Cheng, Long Hua orders—
"Get the crystal."
"Understood."
Nodding her head, electricity spews from Tian Cheng's body, as she forcefully tears through the gravitational field.
*Boom!* stomping the ground with a Martial Emperor's Step, Long Hua presses his left hand upwards—conjuring a second dark handprint.
As the two dark handprints overlap with one another, they merge into one, and—
*Boom…!* the force emanating from this combined handprint manages to push both Shao Tianming and Ye Chen upwards by a few meters.
"Nn…!"
"…!"
*Kakaka!* gritting their teeth, and putting more force downwards, the two managed to cause cracks to appear on the dark handprint, to which, Long Hua remarks—
"I'm starting to get sick of you two."
Narrowing his eyes beneath the helmet—
"…Impervious to a thousand blades."
Long Hua shrouds his entire body in Sword Armor, and without any hesitation—
"Detonate!"
*Boom!!!* commanding the dark handprint to detonate, a devastation explosion throws all three of them back!
"…"
Emerging from the dust cloud, Long Hua's figure can only be described as rather miserable with his clothes torn in a few places.
But similarly, neither Shao Tianming nor Ye Chen had been any better, as they had both lost an arm from the explosion, or rather, that should have been the case; however—
"Ai…"
Heaving a sigh, Long Hua glares at his opponents, as particles of light gather towards their wounded shoulders—causing their missing limbs to begin to show signs of being regenerated.
(What the hell? Even after blowing their arms into nothing, they can still regenerate them?)
Just as Long Hua is thinking of this, Shao Tianming asks—
"Surnamed Ye, how much longer can you last?"
"However long it takes to kill this bastard."
"Hahaha, very good!"
"…"
Just as Long Hua wraps his hand around Bai Zhe's handle—
(Crystal's secured!)
The Tai Xuan Emperor's voice rings in his head, and using his divine senses, Long Hua sees her vessel having touched the crystal cluster, and within the blink of an eye, the object vanishes from sight.
Immediately, the gacha system interface appears in front of Long Hua—prompting him to start pulling.
Seeing as how there isn't much of a response from Shao Tianming and Ye Chen, the interface is probably invisible to their eyes.
Towards the ten-roll button that is on the interface, Long Hua hammers it with his left hand—while closing the gap between his enemies and himself.
(Another physical strength boosting talisman! It's in your pouch right now!)
Drawing the talisman out of his storage pouch, Long Hua crushes it, and reapplies the strengthen buff, while also hitting another ten-roll.
(No SRs this time!)
"Fucking piece of shit, can't you be faster with this?!"
Swinging Bai Zhe, and pushing both Shao Tianming and Ye Chen back, Long Hua curses aloud.
(That's a bit…)
"Make it so that I can do a 50-roll instantly!"
(…)
Wordlessly giving into this demand, the number ten that is on the interface pixelates, and turns into a fifty.
"Piss off!"
Launching an Immortal Suppression Palm—to prevent Shao Tianming and Ye Chen from approaching, Long Hua also hits the 50-roll button in the same instance.
As a shiny gold capsule appears on the interface, the Tai Xuan Emperor's vessel returns.
(It's a-!)
"I don't care what it is, just get it out!"
(Ai, quite demanding of you, *-laoban…)
Appearing a few meters behind Long Hua's back is a giant sphere of light.
"What's that?"
"Is it an Immortal art of some kind?"
Immediately, Shao Tianming and Ye Chen's attention are drawn towards it.
*Pah!!!* as the sphere of light explodes, a colossal humanoid figure—that is seven meters in height, emerges from within, and lands behind Long Hua with a knee down.
The landing of this heavy giant causes the earth to tremble, and as a result of it, Shao Tianming and Ye Chen nearly lost their balance.
Blinking their eyes, the two remarks—
"This is…?"
"An…?"
"...…"
Turning around to look at the dark humanoid that had landed, Long Hua is a bit speechless.
A body of metal that can only be described as skeletal-like—with a narrow waistline that is almost no different from the spine of a human body.
What stands out the most on this mechanical giant would have to be the large blue gem—that is embedded into its chest, and takes up much of its upper body area.
As for its head, the face of this giant is covered in what seems to be a visor, along with a half-mask.
"Suuu…"
Sucking in a deep breath of air, Long Hua can feel his blood rushing to his head, as he shouts—
"Qie, you piece of shit, I needed a magic treasure—that can wipe their faces off this earth, and you ended up sending me a worthless MAU?!"
Entirety of volumes 4 and 5 are up for sale on Amazon:
Volume 4: https://tinyurl.com/AZIVOL4
Volume 5: https://tinyurl.com/AZIVOL5