Chapter 2569: Punishment of the Irreverent (2)

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The clouds parted, revealing a blue sky!

In an instant, the eerie chill that had blanketed Changde Town for so long began to dissipate.

Aunt Xiang’s once vacant eyes focused, and she regained consciousness.

Though her body remained immobilized, her face betrayed a look of utter terror as she stared unblinkingly at the Divine Puppet, unable to speak.

“Bravo!”

From the rear, Dao Qiongcang shouted in approval.

The sudden exclamation in the deathly silence of the ghost town was more frightening than a clap of thunder.

Dao Qiongcang raised his hands high above his head.

As if remembering something, he hastily placed the Divine Sinan on the ground before lifting his hands again and approaching with heavy applause.

“Bravo! Wonderful!”

“Well said!”

“The mighty Kui Leihan can’t even compare to a pile of dog shit… Xu Xiaoshou, you have guts, daring to claim you’re better than me!”

Jin Ren saw Aunt Xiang’s expression, Dao Qiongcang’s bizarre reaction, and the silent blacksmith shop. He knew his end was near.

He turned around viciously and spat:

“Where’s this dog shit from, splattering everywhere, stinking up the place, needing to be stepped on to move closer?”

The clapping abruptly ceased.

Dao Qiongcang’s hands awkwardly froze above his head.

Without a word, he bent down, picked up his Divine Sinan, and chose to retreat.

“Brat…”

From the blacksmith shop, a voice seething with suppressed anger emerged after a brief silence.

With a resounding explosion, the entire blacksmith shop shattered into fragments.

Purple lightning burst forth, swirling winds sweeping across several streets.

Roofs and walls crumbled, revealing people who had been pretending to sleep, now trembling in fear.

In the wake of the explosion, the various iron tools within the blacksmith shop shattered.

The heavy forge turned to dust, and the bellows and other items were obliterated.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to flicker with purple light…

The door vanished.

The obstructing shop was gone.

When Jin Ren regained his senses, he saw the split signboard of “Cao’s Blacksmith Shop” crash down on the Divine Puppet’s head, jolting it awake.

However, he couldn’t care less about the surroundings; his gaze was completely captivated by the giant before him.

“Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!”

The voice in Dao Qiongcang’s mind screamed.

He urgently lifted his robe, transitioning from a dignified retreat to a frantic run.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The Divine Puppet emitted warning sounds, accompanied by a series of alerts:

“Telepathic communication array damaged!”

“Speech function damaged!”

“Linkage of head, shoulders, waist, knees, and ankles abnormal. Central signal transmission is abnormal. Lower limbs damaged…”

“Alarm function abnormal… Beep!”

“Buzz…”

The sound abruptly ceased.

Only the hum of electricity remained.

This wasn’t a halt in the Divine Puppet’s damage but a complete failure of its warning system.

Jin Ren’s spiritual senses were as impaired as a half-blind man.

He could no longer clearly perceive the scene before him through the Divine Puppet’s sensors.

However, the spiritual senses were, after all, still spiritual senses.

Though diminished, his spiritual senses still allowed him to vaguely sense his surroundings and relay this to the ruins of Ran Ming.

After the blacksmith shop was destroyed, what lay in the dim daylight was a shocking giant.

He sat bare-chested; his arms thicker than tree trunks. He resembled an ancient warrior even more than The Divine did.

Seated on the ground, one hand rested on his knee, while the other on a wine barrel, a black-gold cloak billowed behind him in the storm of purple lightning and wind.

His face was broader than a millstone, with eyebrows like twin halberds, and eyes glaring like those of an enraged Vajra.

Blue and purple lightning flickered madly around him, forming a chaotic storm that filled the space where the blacksmith shop once stood.

Each bolt of purple lightning tore through the air, leaving black streaks in its wake.

The interwoven purple lightning and black streaks framed the fierce, glaring figure within, creating a striking image…

Jin Ren had never understood the concept of the first generation “Penetrating Divine Senses” or “God Punishment Tribulation.”

Even Kui Leihan’s attacks were beyond his comprehension of speed, power, and appearance.

Now, in this hazy vision…

It was Kui Leihan!

This was the God Punishment Tribulation!

“Brat…”

“You court death!”

Within the blue-purple lightning storm, Kui Leihan glanced back, his eyes filled with coldness under his upturned eyebrows.

He didn’t even move.

Just that side glance, that low murmur, caused the iron ring on his neck to snap, and the nine weapon prohibition orders hanging from it to rise, emitting a faint glow.

“Boom!”

In the Nine Heavens, thunder roared.

This time, Jin Ren saw it clearly.

From Kui Leihan’s pupils emerged a wisp of lightning, delicate and gentle compared to the surrounding God Punishment Tribulation. It wasn’t violent; rather, it was as graceful and soft as the wind.

This purple lightning did not pass through air, space, path principles, or any medium Jin Ren’s subjective consciousness recognized…

It simply emerged from Kui Leihan’s pupils and simultaneously acted on the Divine Puppet’s body.

“Thought…”

In the dark depths of the Ran Ming ruins, the word flashed in Jin Ren’s mind.

He recalled when he first practiced the Ten Sections of the Finger Sword, realizing the concept of “ordinary power of thought.”

It was his first realization of the concepts of “intent,” “energy,” and “thought.”