“I know he’s going to be fine, but shouldn’t we be more careful?” said Tie Gang as he watched Li Jun rush toward the enemy in the distance.
“We are,” stated Yan Liling, and Tie Gang finally noticed Wang Ju had disappeared, and his eyes lit up.
Li Jun looked at the four people who surrounded him. As his red hair played with the wind, he rested his spear on his shoulder. “So, who are you guys?”
Sloth General 1 was a devil with goat horns and claws. Sloth General 2 had black wings made of bones and a snake head. General 3 had two bull heads and was 5 meters tall, and General 4 was a headless human.
“No answer, huh?” uttered Li Jun. “I guess we are doing this the hard way.”
General 4 was the first to attack as he turned into an enormous creature more than 30 meters tall before punching Li Jun. The attack was comical if someone compared their size. However, Li Jun easily blocked it with the tip of his spear. He never stopped tempering his body and suffering through the pain. Li Jun’s goal is to reach 1 Primordial Dragon Force in body refining before the Heaven Will Battle.
General 4 acted immediately and changed into a tiny creature as tall as 30 cm and rushed toward Li Jun with unmatched speed.
‘Transformation Dao? Or a lesser version of it?’ He flicked his spear to send him flying away.
Suddenly, General 1 appeared out of nowhere in front of Li Jun with a dagger stabbed in his stomach. Li Jun looked at the blood falling from his body, and after a few seconds, it disappeared as if it was never there.
“Interesting illusion. If I didn’t see through it, my body would have responded as if I did and created a stab wound,” he commented. “It’s a shame I outclass you in Spiritual Strength.”
The General 1 before him disappeared since it was an illusion. But the others took this opportunity to attack.
“War,” roared yelled General 3 as numerous soldiers suddenly appeared behind him, boosting his stats and giving him a number advantage.
“Using War Dao against me? I admire your confidence,” commented Li Jun. He gazed at the summoned troops coming toward him, and they suddenly dropped on the floor one by one. General 3 checked, and his face became severe: his summoned died of hunger–a common mortal problem.
[Sinful Water]
General 2 spewed out a putrid and visually unappealing black water. Anyone who lays eyes on this water will have an instinctive reaction of disgust, and the consequences of touching it are even worse.
[Cleasing-Purifying Flame]
Li Jun created a pure white flame that instantly disintegrated the black water.
“If you do not use your trump cards, you will die miserably in this battle,” said Li Jun with a smirk. The four generals gave each a look before placing themselves in a specific position. The same strange runes appeared before them before becoming a tattoo on their bodies.
Li Jun immediately felt the changes. ‘It the previous array that acted similar to Time Dao?’
Li Jun raised his hand, and it appeared he was moving in slow motion. He felt he needed an extraordinary amount of energy just to move his fingers or breathe. His mind became so slow it felt like a single sentence would take an eternity to ponder.
His Origin Essence, Spiritual Strength, and Blood Energy operated slower than an old, dying turtle. Furthermore, his thoughts became negative. He did not feel like moving a finger–literally. He felt his spear and armor were too heavy. He even felt standing up was too much work and required too much work. All Li Jun wanted was to lie down and sleep, and he was thankful that he was powerful and did not require food to sustain himself.
Then, things worsened. He felt breathing or living was too much; he felt his very existence was a burden to the world and the people around him. So, all he wanted was to enter eternal sleep; he wanted to give up to stop the pain.
‘Depression? Mental Disorder?’ Li Jun remembered a concept he learned from Wang Wei from his past life about mental disorders. Wang Wei explained to him how a cultivator’s change in their mental state and their Dao Heart’s destruction could be the result of mental disorders. Li Jun thought the subject was interesting, so he remembered. And this sloth ability reminded him of that discussion.
‘If mental disorders have such a severe effect on cultivators, the situation would be a hundred times worse–if not more–for mortals. How many of them have died as a result of it?’
His mind worked on overdrive while remaining clearer than ever.
‘My Slaughter Dao involves every aspect that causes mass death: famine, disease, natural disaster, or war. So, isn’t mental disorders a part as well?’
A purple light flashed around Li Jun’s body, granting him a more ethereal and mysterious aura.
“Enlightenment,” commented General 1. “Don’t let him.” The others followed him and rushed to terminate Li Jun. Unfortunately for them, four shadow tentacles manifested from the ground and blocked their paths.
“Who’s there?” roared General 1, but no one answered him nor showed up. So, they tried again but could not get close to Li Jun, and a few minutes later, he opened his eyes with a more profound aura.
“Sudden Enlightenment? And it was so deep? Is this what it feels like to be a super genius?” Although it was not his first time having sudden enlightenment, it was never as deep as this one, and it became rare for him after comprehending the law.
However, with this one, he knew he had a slight chance at reaching 5-Leaf Venerable strength before the Heaven Will Battle. Li Jun squinted his eyes as a crazy idea popped into his mind.
‘It’s worth trying even if I might die.’
Li Jun looked at his opponent and no longer decided to test out their powers and abilities. He deployed his Dharma Body, which was holding a spear like him.
“All things can be killed–even sloth.”
The enormous spear descended from the heavens, immediately rendering the four generals immobile. Their arrays could not resist the spear for even a moment before bursting apart and continuing toward them.
“Huh!” muttered Li Jun as he sensed spatial fluctuations. And before he could act, a void portal appeared and swallowed Sloth General 1. Luckily, one of the shadow tentacles entered the portal and returned with blood on the tip.
“They can use teleportation, as we expected,” said Li Jun before gazing at the three dead generals. “Rise.” The four generals turned deathly gray before their lifeless bodies began to move. Li Jun asked them a few questions, but they suddenly exploded mid-way.
“Did you learn something?” asked Wang Wei, who landed next to him.
“Yes. Seven Supreme Kings controlled seven territories, each named after one of the deadly sins: these people are the troops of the Sloth King.”
“So, they are the people behind the scenes. I’m guessing there are lesser or weaker kings?”
“Yes.”
“Did you learn how they he teleported away?”
“[Kings] can choose a location as their [Home Base], granting them the ability to summon their generals from long distance. But there is a price.”
“Of course.”
“The price is to abandon our ‘Citizen Status.’ and turn into a citizen of the Nine Devil God World.”
“They really do not want to give us any advantage. Anything else?”
“Kings with a base are not restricted by a certain distance from their troops, granting more free range of movement. That’s all I could learn since someone protected their souls from searching.”
“Hmm,” muttered Wang Wei as he pondered for a moment. “This is probably not the only method of teleportation.”
“They might even have ways to teleport troops,” added Li Jun.
“That would shift the balance of the situation toward our side after we learn of it,” analyzed Wang Wei. “So, it’s not very likely. However, there is definitely a way for [Kings] to teleport from one territory to the next.”
“For people as strong as you and Di Tian, the best tactic is to run away and hide. So, mobility is key,” agreed Li Jun, who suddenly changed the topic. “Can you tell me about the mental disorders you previously mentioned?”
“Mental Disorder? Is that related to your enlightenment?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, Mental Disorder and Slaughter? Oddly fits. There is no problem, but I only know very little information.” He only knows about a few things he reads online and reads some basic knowledge once to impress a client.
“It’s fine.”
“If you want to use it to improve your Slaughter Dao, you might have to study Emotion, Soul, and Medicine Law.”
“You’re probably right,” he muttered after pondering for a moment. Then, he suddenly felt he fused too soon with his eight other clones. Unfortunately, he needed the power for this event. Li Jun then remembered he was now a supreme genius and did not have to worry so much. He proceeded to annihilate the remaining troops–focusing on the east and west side that the Shield Squad had to fight off. Once the Undying Legion finished off their opponents on the north-south front, they aided the Slaughter Legion on the eastern and western front.
Sloth Castle:
General 1 suddenly appeared in one of the rooms with someone waiting for him.
“L-Lord…Mission…failure.” He dropped dead on the floor.
—-
Happy New Year, and I hope you have a wonderful year.