Chapter 1814: A Diversion To Strike The Heart

“How... How are you here?!”

The Endless Lord of Plagues stared at the young man who had appeared before its heart since heavens-know-when with unbridled shock. Its already ugly, rotten face grew even uglier as a result.

The corners of Ye Qing’s lips curled up as he countered with a hint of scorn, “What do you think?”

Caught off guard, the Endless Lord of Plagues seemingly sensed something and locked its gaze firmly onto Ye Qing. When it perceived the aura Ye Qing gave off, it realized that it was anything but enfeebled. In fact, it was vast as an abyss and as steady as a mountain.

“Your earlier weakness... was an act?” It asked in an uncertain and somewhat high-pitched voice.

“Took you long enough,” said Ye Qing with a small smile on his face.

That’s right. He was pretending earlier.

From the beginning, Ye Qing had not received any real damage.

Not only was he a third-level Sage, he was protected by the ultimate treasure, the Earthly Sovereign Bell as well. There was no chance the Endless Lord of Plagues’ power of filth and plagues could threaten him.

The only reason he pretended that he was hurt was because he wanted to go undercover and search for the Endless Lord of Plagues’ origin power, its heart.

The sea of rotten flesh and pus ravaging the surface was just the offshoots of its power. They were like the streams of a river; the branches of a tree. It was not the Endless Lord of Plagues’ true core.

No matter how many rotten flesh and pus water they annihilated, the Endless Lord of Plagues could simply regenerate more. That was why the battle happening on the surface was meaningless. All of it was meaningless unless they found the Endless Lord of Plague’s origin power and destroyed it once and for all.

This was why Ye Qing resorted to such a base tactic. He intentionally feigned weakness to lower the Endless Lord of Plagues’ guard and trick it into thinking that he wasn’t a worthy threat.

Of course, he mentally spoke to the Chief Libationist and the others about his plan. He had them put on a good show and draw away the Endless Lord of Plagues’ attention while he secretly snuck into the underground and searched for the source.

It wasn’t easy or fast though.

As it turned out, the Endless Lord of Plagues had spread its rotten flesh and pus water at least five hundred kilometers in radius, and dozens of kilometers deep into the underground. Hunting for the Endless Lord of Plagues’ origin power amidst this literal ocean of flesh and blood was as hard as fishing a needle from the sea.

Even worse, the ocean of flesh and blood was all a manifestation and expression of the Endless Lord of Plagues’ power. The tiniest vibration that did not belong could potentially alert the Endless Lord of Plagues to his trickery. If he failed to find the source before the Endless Lord of Plagues found him, then all of his effort and planning would be for naught.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Their situation would also become worse and more passive than it already was.

Luckily, the Earthly Sovereign Bell could sense the origin power the Earthly Sovereign had severed from it to seal the Endless Lord of Plagues. That was the only reason he managed to locate the source.

Anyone else would have been stumped by the sheer magnitude of the task.

The stone pillars surrounding the heart was the method the Earthly Sovereign left behind to seal the Endless Lord of Plagues. It was also a manifestation of the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s origin power.

However, so much time had passed that the seal was mostly ineffective. The stone pillars were covered in cracks and almost completely dim. It probably wouldn’t take long before the seal completely collapsed, and the Endless Lord of Plagues fully broke free from its restraints.

The task of killing the Endless Lord of Plagues would be so much harder then.

Therefore, one might say that he was right on time.

“So what if you are here? So what if you found my origin power?”

The Endless Lord of Plagues replied scornfully, its voice resounding in the underground and kicking up a terrifying storm of rot and decay. “Back then, the Earthly Sovereign was unable to kill me even after expending all of his strength. How could a puny ant like you hope to do anything against me?”

Ye Qing replied indifferently, “My master may have failed, but I, his disciple, may not.”

“Hahaha... you overestimate yourself!”

The Endless Lord of Plagues let out a mad laugh before saying in a cold, terrifying voice, “Die!”

As soon as the Endless Lord of Plagues finished, the gigantic heart abruptly contracted and unleashed a deafening thump!

Thump—!

It was a thump that sounded like the creation of the world. Space warped, Ye Qing’s eardrums buzzed, and his vigor churned unnaturally.

The savage blood vessels and eerie patterns on the surface of the heart began wriggling madly like living objects and emanating a terrifying, evil aura.

Right after that, an endless flood of plague, filth, rotten flesh and pus washed toward Ye Qing from every direction. The power of death and decay was everywhere.

Ye Qing’s eyes narrowed. He showed no fear despite the terrifying flood crashing down on him.

The next moment, Ye Qing clenched his fist, gathered all of his power at the tip of his fist, and punched the Earthly Sovereign Bell with the fist intent of Annihilation Hammer.

Thang!

The bell rang loudly, and dark yellow light burst out like a tangible object. Empowered by the domineering intent of Annihilation Hammer, it crashed toward the flood of plagues like an avalanche.

When the two powers clashed, a muffled but deadly explosion ripped and tore the dirty flood of plagues to pieces. Then, the pieces evaporated into black wisps.

After defeating the flood of plagues, the Earthly Sovereign Bell shone like the sun and rammed toward the gigantic heart with irresistible power and unstoppable force.

At the same time, the ancient stone pillars surrounding the heart suddenly brightened as if resonating with some sort of mysterious power. Thick columns of light burst into the air as they combined their powers and manifested the images of mountains, rivers and the land; sun, moon and stars. They pinned down the heart and kept it from going anywhere.

BOOM!

The Earthly Sovereign Bell struck the heart head on and elicited a deafening explosion. The entire underground space seemed like it could collapse at any moment.

The Endless Lord of Plagues let out a shrill, bloodcurdling scream. Its voice was filled with pain and disbelief.

The Earthly Sovereign Bell hadn’t just punched through the indestructible heart, it had penetrated all the way to the interior like its defenses were no stronger than rotten wood.

“Ah—! I’ll kill you! I’ll rip you to a million pieces!”

The Endless Lord of Plagues let out an earthshaking roar, its voice full of endless rage and madness. The entire underground space was shaking violently from its roar.

At the same time, the endless sea of flesh and blood in the underground began churning wildly. The sticky goo turned into many waves and washed toward Ye Qing from every direction like multiple tsunamis. It looked like they would devour Ye Qing whole and ground him into powder.

At the same time, many pairs of rotten, pus covered hands reached out from inside the heart.

The arms were withered and twisted, and the fingernails were black as ink. While dripping with smelly pus and tainted, plague-filled liquid, they grabbed the Earthly Sovereign Bell with all their might and attempted to prevent it from penetrating deeper into the heart.

Thang thang thang...

Covered in profound light, the Earthly Sovereign Bell rang again and again as it burned the arms to ash. However, more arms grew out and clutched the Earthly Sovereign Bell with all their might.

As powerful and inexhaustible as the Earthly Sovereign Bell was, the sacred artifact was unable to break free from its restraints immediately, It was firmly pinned in place.