Chapter 151: Unlucky Life Devouring Hall – Second Half

War mobilization is the process by which a nation assembles, organizes, and prepares its military forces, along with its reserves, manpower, equipment, and often broader national resources such as industry, economy, and civilians, for active participation in war or a major national emergency. It is the shift from a peacetime footing to a wartime state in order to enable a sustained combat effort.

Such is the meaning of war mobilization in one sentence. And now, it closely reflected the current situation of the underworld.

Thousands upon thousands of underworld enforcers who had clearance to enter the mortal realm were mobilized. Hundreds of transport hubs that contained portals to the mortal realm were packed to the brim with queuing enforcers, startling the field agents who were on duty guiding lost souls.

The logistics department worked frantically to supply underworld qi and rations in material form for the enforcers who did not have cultivation high enough to materialize their own bodies.

This mobilization of the military and logistics departments was the closest thing to war mobilization the underworld had seen. If someone, especially one of the lords in the immortal realm, were to witness this, they might think the underworld harbored ambition and sought to rule the mortal realm.

The enforcers arrived in droves, setting up a temporary camp in the middle of the desert. This operation would be a swift extermination of the death cheater forces that dared to kidnap their princess.

The gathered underworld enforcers in dark armor assembled in the clearing at the center of their large camp, waiting for someone.

At that moment, a light shone upon the elevated wooden stage. As the light dimmed, Yan Rongjun arrived. She wore leather armor and held her trusty halberd in her hand. Her face was solemn, but every enforcer present could clearly feel it.

She was angry. Furious, even. The halberd’s pole, forged from a powerful and rare ore, groaned under the pressure of her grip. If it were someone’s head instead, it might have already exploded like a watermelon.

One of the enforcer commanders stepped forward and presented his report.

“My Lady, according to the report sent by Lady Youqi, the intelligence provided by Agent Wei has specified all the outposts and branches of the death cheaters in this region. These are the locations of those scum.” The commander handed her the tablet, and Yan Rongjun opened it to check.

She then pointed at the center, the largest and strongest stronghold of the death cheaters, marked as the place where her little Ningning had been held. Now that Ningning was under Agent Wei’s protection, she could go all out without worrying about the death cheaters using her daughter as leverage against her.

“I will go to their main stronghold. All of you take care of the surrounding outposts. Leave none alive,” Yan Rongjun said.

“Yes, My Lady.” The commander bowed with cupped fists and retreated a few steps back to his men.

With that, the short extermination operation of the Life Devouring Hall began.

— Life Devouring Hall – Main Sanctum —

At the main sanctum of the Life Devouring Hall, the Life Devouring Patriarch sat atop a throne made of skulls. These skulls were taken from all of their victims and targets they had successfully killed, especially those who had been arrogant and powerful.

The throne was as large as a small house, carrying a grisly grandeur. If Wei Chen were here, he would have already screamed, “Walmart Skull Throne!”

But since he was not here, the throne stood as a place of grim solemnity and a symbol of the Patriarch’s cruel authority.

He had once been the leader of a group of death cheaters who brought all of his sect members into a scam realm he had created. As for the body he currently occupied, he had long since made it his own. The soul of the body’s original owner had already been consumed by him.

Now the body was completely his, along with all the talent and fortune of its former host. This was the fate of many geniuses, and sometimes even the fate of Heaven’s Chosen whose fortune was not strong enough to survive their ordeals.

As the saying goes, high risk brings high reward, and opportunity is usually hidden within crisis. But sometimes, when the crisis or misfortune is far stronger than Heaven’s Chosen’s own fortune, this is what happens.

Although rare, this phenomenon was not a unique case of Heaven’s Chosen losing their fortune.

The Life Devouring Patriarch was now looking at one of his subordinates who had just reported bad news.

“What did you say? One of our outposts has been attacked? Who are the attackers? Who are they?” the Life Devouring Patriarch asked.

“My Lord… we do not know. We only know that they are strong. Right now, the other outposts have sent reinforcements to the attacked outpost,” the subordinate replied.

This was the security protocol of the Life Devouring Hall. They positioned their outposts like a network, like a spiderweb, so that each outpost could easily send reinforcements to one that was attacked in a timely manner.

This ensured that once one of their outposts was discovered, the others would send reinforcements to eliminate the intruders. After clearing out the intruders, the outpost’s position would shift.

This protocol had protected the secret location of the Life Devouring Hall’s headquarters for centuries.

“Hmmm.” The Life Devouring Patriarch fell into thought. “Maybe it was those bastards from the Sky Severing Demon Valley. The western desert is within their sphere of influence, and they are the strongest faction near us,” the Patriarch guessed.

“Lord Patriarch is wise,” the subordinate said, offering lip service.

“No matter.” He pretended to dismiss the flattery, but his heart swelled with pride as he continued. “I think I should pay a proper visit to the Sky Severing Demon Valley soon and teach them a bloody lesson for daring to provoke this Venerable One.”

The flatterer quickly caught on. “Lord Patriarch, I do not think it is appropriate for you to personally visit them. We should not use a large sword to butcher a chicken. Let this humble servant go in your place.”

“Hahahaha! Stop sucking up to me! Do you think I do not know what you are aiming for? You covet that demon daughter and her bodyguard, do you not? Hahaha!” the Life Devouring Patriarch said with a hearty laugh.

He liked this feeling. He had once been just a small sect leader during the golden era. He was merely lucky enough to learn a method to cheat death and transfer himself by stealing the body of a genius who had passed a trial.

The feeling of being powerful was intoxicating to him. This era was full of weaklings for him to trample on. If not for the underworld agents who roamed the mortal world guiding lost souls, he might have already ruled this lower realm himself and established his own dynasty.

“By the way,” he changed the subject, “is the first batch of Death Hidden Pills finished? I cannot wait to go out there and stretch a bit.”

“Reporting to Lord Patriarch, according to the latest update from our collaborator, he has encountered some difficulty securing a place to refine the pills,” the flatterer reported.

“Then why did he not contact us? For something as simple as a location, I could…” Before the Life Devouring Patriarch could finish his sentence, a powerful force broke through the main sanctum.

Boom!

A black halberd slashed through the obsidian-like metal gate in a single strike. A graceful yet powerful figure walked past the broken gate she had destroyed with her halberd.

It was Yan Rongjun, the former Supreme General of the Underworld and the second wife of the Lord of Death.

“Oh… so you bastards are hiding here, huh? As expected of dirty rats like you,” Yan Rongjun said in derision. Her eyes held nothing but cold killing intent that promised only destruction.

“Who are you? Are you from the Sky Severing Demon Sect?” the flatterer spoke.

“Yan Rongjun,” she declared her name. “The former Supreme General of the Underworld, currently the Second Madam of the Death Lord’s Palace.”

“Death Lord’s Palace?” The flatterer snorted. “Ha! If you were the wife of the Lord of Death, then I am the Lord… Urgg!”

Boom!

Before the flatterer could finish his sentence, his body was utterly crushed into meat paste by the sheer pressure of Yan Rongjun’s cultivation alone. She knew what this scum was about to say. To spare her ears from being desecrated by his filthy words, she crushed him to death with her aura.

The Life Devouring Patriarch, as the leader of a faction of death cheaters, knew a great deal about the power structure and hierarchy of the underworld. Yan Rongjun, even back when he had still been human during the golden era, was a name he had heard before.

She had once been a legend, almost a myth of the world, a powerful cultivator who had been a contender to seize the Heavenly Dao itself. He recognized the halberd. There was no mistake. It was the Dragon Suppressing Halberd. Many Dragon Lords and Sovereigns had died beneath its blade.

Their blood had baptized the halberd, turning it into a genuine divine weapon, even by Immortal Realm standards.

“La… Lady Yan, I think there is some misunderstanding. Yes, I am one of the death cheaters, and even though I can exert power beyond this lower realm’s standard, but…”

“I still do not think I have done anything to warrant a visit from such an honorable figure as yourself.” He had to figure out why this god of destruction had come for him. He had already given up on surviving, but if he were dragged to the underworld, he still needed to find a way to reduce his sentence there.

And he was certain this was a misunderstanding.

“Misunderstanding?” Yan Rongjun repeated. Her laughter was cold and devoid of warmth as she slowly walked toward the Life Devouring Patriarch.

Then a brutal beating began.

“Do you f*cking think kidnapping my little girl is a misunderstanding? Hah!? You piece of filth!”

“AAaarghhh! La… Lady! It is a misunderstanding! A big… ugh… MISUNDERSTANDING!!!”

Unfortunately, the screams of the Life Devouring Patriarch were heard by no one, as all of his subordinates and assassins in this headquarters had already been exterminated.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep