This move of stealing weapons directly dumbfounded the majority of the Law Enforcers.
Most of them were rookies who hadn't come into contact with Divine Pathways. They understood even less about the Path of the Thief, a Divine Path originating from outside the Aurora Domain. The moment their weapons were stolen, they all simultaneously froze in place.
Bang bang bang bang——
Successive gunshots rang out. The batch of Law Enforcers standing at the very front fell to the ground like straw blown by the wind.
In the first volley of fire, the Law Enforcer side lost over a dozen people. Yan Xicai paled in fright. He grabbed a Law Enforcer to act as a shield in front of him. At the same time, silver needles popped out from the side of the Ring on his right hand, which he pierced into the body of the Law Enforcer who had been shot into a hornet's nest.
As that Law Enforcer's flesh and blood was frantically devoured, the red jewel on the surface of the Ring lit up, and a mysterious power rippled out from between Yan Xicai's palms.
"Knead!"
Yan Xicai casually tossed aside the drained Law Enforcer, and his right hand grabbed at the void towards the hail of bullets.
The next moment, the guns stolen by the seven Fire-Stealers seemed to be frantically ravaged by an invisible giant hand. The straight gun barrels curled into a ball, and the bullets exploded inside the chambers, sending a shockwave that injured their palms!
Right at the moment he was about to steal Yan Xicai's Ritual Artifact, Pu Wen took a step forward, drew out a piece of Xuan Paper from his sleeve, and tapped at the void toward the seven people.
On the surface of the Xuan Paper, a pitch-black character was vigorous and forceful——
【Fix】.
As this character "Fix" faded on the paper, the figures of the seven Fire-Stealers stalled simultaneously, as if their bodies had turned into stone sculptures, briefly stiffening in place.
Path of the Scholar God, First-Tier——【Seal Character】.
Seeing this scene, Number 8's heart sank. He hadn't expected this Pu Wen to actually have already grasped the Path of the Scholar God... Then how did he get this quota to enter the Ancient Vault of the Military Path? Yan Xicai bringing him along, wasn't this blatant cheating?
In a flash of lightning, a blade ray slashed out from the gloom, slicing across the neck of an immobilized Fire-Stealer like a crescent moon!
The black-clothed Lu Xuanming stopped his figure. The straight blade had already been dyed with fresh blood. At the same time, a massive head rolled off the Fire-Stealer behind him...
The seven Fire-Stealers were reduced by one more.
"Run!" After beheading one person, Lu Xuanming didn't continue attacking, but decisively dashed towards the depths of the Ancient Vault. "We are no match for them! Run separately!!"
This sentence also jolted the other Law Enforcers awake. They changed directions without hesitation and scattered in all directions.
Although there were over seventy of them, in just one face-to-face encounter, over a dozen people were slaughtered by the few Fire-Stealers. Although relying on Yan Xicai's Ritual Artifact, Pu Wen's Path of the Scholar God, and Lu Xuanming's sudden attack, they barely managed to trade for one Fire-Stealer, once the other Fire-Stealers broke free from the 【Fix】 character, they could still easily counter-kill all of them!
A second later, Number 8 was the first to break free from the 【Fix】 character. He looked chillingly at the crowd fleeing into the Ancient Vault in different directions. After hesitating for a long time, he chose not to pursue.
"Damn it! Number 14 was beheaded!" The remaining Fire-Stealers regained their mobility. Seeing their companion's decapitated corpse to the side, their expressions were incredibly ugly.
"We underestimated the enemy." Number 8 slowly spoke. "Yan Xicai, Lu Xuanming, Pu Wen. These three are all extremely powerful young generation members within Aurora City... How could they possibly enter the Ancient Vault of the Military Path without any means of self-defense?"
"The main issue is still that Pu Wen." Zhong Yaoguang spoke through gritted teeth. "If it weren't for his Path of the Scholar God, we could have instantly stolen Yan Xicai's Ritual Artifact and Lu Xuanming's blade... Next time we meet, we must kill them!"
"Number 8, are we not pursuing?"
"Don't forget our objective. Everything must prioritize stealing the Dao Foundation of the Martial God Path." Number 8 looked at the direction the crowd fled and sneered,
"As for them... even if they manage to drag it out for 24 hours and the Ancient Vault reopens, so what? Waiting for them outside the door won't be those three Enforcers from Aurora City... but a Thief Saint."
The other Fire-Stealers imagined that scene, and the corners of their mouths curled up one after another. Their hearts instantly settled... With a Thief Saint holding the fort for them outside, what were they afraid of?
"True. Then let them hop around a bit longer."
"It's just this Number 13, he's really unfathomable... Who the hell is he?"
"Why care about him? What kind of waves can a dead man make?"
"I just feel like all of this is very weird..."
"Alright, don't overthink it. Right now, everything must prioritize stealing the Dao Foundation of the Martial God Path."
The six Fire-Stealers turned and left the cliff, heading straight towards the depths of the Ancient Vault of the Military Path. Very soon, they vanished at the end of the horizon.
After an unknown amount of time,
A blood-colored palm slowly grabbed onto the edge of the cliff.
The whimpering cold wind at the bottom of the cliff sounded like the wailing of ghosts. A figure draped in a Great Crimson Theatrical Robe climbed up from the abyss...
Chen Ling spat a bullet casing out of his mouth. The pierced head was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His gaze swept across the blood-colored corpses littering the ground, seemingly tallying something.
"One, two, three... twelve, thirteen."
"Thirteen dead, sixty-four remaining... the slaughter isn't intense enough yet."
【Complete a performance with at least fifty participants, and ensure that after the performance ends, No One Survived】.
This was the objective of the performance left for Chen Ling by his Twisted Divine Path.
In other words, he had to ensure that within 24 hours, everyone died here... If relying on himself alone to kill the remaining seventy-seven people, it was undoubtedly incomparably difficult. Because this included the six Fire-Stealers grouped together, Yan Xicai holding a Ritual Artifact and surrounded by numerous Law Enforcers, Pu Wen possessing the Path of the Scholar God, and Lu Xuanming, whose Combat Power was unknown.
The good news was that the Divine Path only required "No One Survived", and didn't require Chen Ling to personally kill everyone... Therefore, Chen Ling personally acted as Director-Screenwriter for this "Script".
Using his own death as bait to draw the fire onto the other Fire-Stealers. While both sides were slaughtering each other, not only could he cause casualties without shedding a drop of blood himself, but he could also use this to vanish from everyone's field of vision and manipulate all of this from the dark...
【Audience Expectation Value +8】
【Current Expectation Value: 35%】
By the dim cliff, fresh blood dyed the earth crimson.
Chen Ling, draped in the Great Crimson Theatrical Robe, slowly squatted down. His fingertip touched his lips, and then he pressed it against the blood-colored earth... like an actor about to begin a performance, kissing the Stage.
The corners of his mouth turned up uncontrollably, as if completing some ritual, and he muttered to himself:
"The performance... begins."