Lu Ding landed, stomping his foot down. The mountain trembled, the ground churned, as if an earth dragon was turning over. The Qi Refiners who were trying to escape from the Slaughter Goddess Temple, hidden a hundred meters underground or even deeper, were directly caught in the surging earth veins and churning mud and rubble unleashed by this force, crushed into bloody pulp.

At present, Lu Ding's physical constitution, even without any targeted spell enhancements, granted him the perception of a thousand-mile eye and a wind-listening ear, with all senses fully activated.

Anyone trying to flee from under his perception was no different from daydreaming!

From deep within the Slaughter Goddess Temple, a sigh was heard.

"Ah... Grand Duke Lu, as a public official of the 749 Bureau, to commit such slaughter without a shred of compassion... it is truly the sorrow of the 749 Bureau, the sorrow of Great Han..."

Lu Ding flipped his hand and swung, stirring up a raging gale. Petals drifted within the wind, mixed with black smoke, shredding rows of ancient halls that had stood for years, like a typhoon passing through, destroying everything.

The divine statues enshrined within each hall were revealed, emitting divine light, struggling to hold on amidst the gale.

Casting his gaze over, Lu Ding saw, through the gaps between these statues, the figure of a woman wearing thin gauze, revealing glimpses of spring scenery.

There's a difference between the freedom to dress and deliberate exposure.

Temple Keeper Yan of the Slaughter Goddess Temple sat upright on a prayer mat, her hands forming seals, her posture elegant. "Grand Duke Lu, these hundreds of Slaughter Deity statues were nurtured by the incense, heart's blood, and heartfelt wishes of countless commoners of the Lady's Temple. If you wish to kill me, you must first deal with them. If you deal with them, it would be tantamount to killing the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of innocent commoners of the Lady's Temple."

"How about we let today's matter end here? My Slaughter Goddess Temple will withdraw from the new city from now on, turn pale at the mention of 'Lu', and take a detour when encountering you. What do you say?"

Lu Ding raised his hand and brought it down.

He uttered only one word.

"Suppress!"

The clouds parted, revealing a corner of an island. Above the heavens, ten thousand immortals came to pay homage. Pure suppression force poured down like a celestial river cascading, evenly sprinkling upon the world.

The figure that had been sitting on the prayer mat was instantly pressed flat against the ground.

As for the so-called Slaughter Deity statues, each one trembled in fear, tears of blood flowing from their eyes. The stone statues that originally had their eyes open now all tightly shut them, not daring to move, not daring to look.

Lu Ding flew forward.

Until he stood before the woman.

He raised his hand and unleashed a Slash Attack imbued with the [Way of the Jinche], directly severing one of her arms.

He let the crimson blood soak through the white gauze. Her already vaguely discernible, graceful figure, at this moment...

Lu Ding bent down. "Threatening me?"

"Who gave you the courage?"

"Is it them?"

He pointed at the hundreds of statues with tightly shut eyes but streaming bloody tears.

"Or is it it?"

Lu Ding changed direction, pointing at the Slaughter Goddess statue behind the woman, which wanted to move but was suppressed by [Golden Ao Island], unable to budge even a fraction, only able to tremble incessantly.

Yan Yuyi said with difficulty, "Grand Duke Lu, the Slaughter Goddess Temple has no intention... of being your enemy. Why must you... pursue us to the bitter end?"

Lu Ding straightened up. Suddenly, he raised his hand and snapped off an arm of the Slaughter Goddess statue.

Blood gushed from the break.

A sharp, inhuman scream instantly rang out.

"Ah!!!!!!!!"

"Grand Duke Lu, please stop!!!!! You are blaspheming the Lady!!!!!"

Lu Ding understood. This woman, who appeared calm on the surface, actually only cared about this statue.

He acted again, snapping off the statue's other arm.

The statue's screams continued.

Yan Yuyi, disregarding the suppression, struggled violently until she vomited blood, shouting in grief and indignation, "Lu Ding!!!!! You dare blaspheme the Slaughter Goddess, I will kill you!!!!!!!"

Lu Ding jumped onto the offering altar, kicked over the incense burner, and shattered the memorial tablet.

Petals gathered in his hand, forming a large hammer for him to hold inverted.

He aimed it at the statue's knee.

"Tsk tsk tsk, pitiful. Seeing you get your arm chopped off by me, your Slaughter Goddess can do nothing."

"Seeing your Slaughter Goddess get its arms broken by me, you can also do nothing."

"What use is this kind of wild deity to you?"

"What use is a temple keeper like you to it?"

"I hear its screams; it probably has a sense of pain too. Now I'm going to smash its knee to pieces while it's still alive."

As Lu Ding spoke to this point, he slowed his speech, his gaze looking over with mockery, a hint of madness in his tone. "Come quickly,...... stop me!!!!"

The hammer was swung!

It whistled through the air.

Whoosh!!!

A full, rounded swing brought the hammer down.

"No!!!!!!!!"

Bang!!!

The Slaughter Goddess's knee instantly shattered, plasma surging out from the broken area.

The statue trembled, as if a living creature had suffered a heavy blow, unable to bear the torment of pain, trembling uncontrollably from bodily instinct.

An inhuman scream followed.

"Ah!!!!!!"

Zhan Tingzhou's eyes flickered for a moment; he seemed to have discovered a key point.

He immediately said, "I heard that within this Slaughter Goddess, a 'Slaughter Heart' is gestating, a supreme treasure..."

As he spoke, he pulled out a gleaming, coldly radiant treasured blade. "How about we dig it out?"

Upon hearing this.

Yan Yuyi, who had been struggling incessantly, deluded into trying to break through the suppression and deluded into trying to rise up and resist, instantly froze and looked up.

"No... don't... Grand Duke Lu... I truly had no intention of being your enemy."

"The Slaughter Goddess Temple has never offended you either!!"

"Give us a chance, I beg you, give us a chance!!!"

"Don't harm the Slaughter Goddess, I beg you, don't harm the Slaughter Goddess."

Seeing this woman, who had appeared calmly sitting cross-legged with quite an imposing air, now start to beg for mercy.

Lu Ding smiled faintly.

This was precisely the effect he wanted.

Otherwise, why would he waste words on her? He'd just kill her outright!

"What you say seems reasonable too."

Lu Ding pretended to hesitate.

Zhan Tingzhou, having lived two lives, reborn once, was thoroughly cunning. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

In an instant, he understood Lu Ding's meaning.

Follow when the team fight starts, an excellent support.

He immediately said, "Although the Slaughter Goddess Temple has committed many evils, that was within the Lady's Temple area, and also before you, Lu Ding, arrived."

"After you came, they've been relatively well-behaved."

"If that's the case, it seems right too."

Lu Ding looked at him. "Right?"

Zhan Tingzhou nodded.

Yan Yuyi was overjoyed, kowtowing repeatedly. "He's right, Grand Duke Lu, I beg you to spare the Lady. The Lady is all I have, the Lady is my everything."

"As long as you are willing to spare the Lady, I am willing to do anything you ask."

The implication was obvious.

Lu Ding: .......

"That's completely unnecessary. I'm a public official; I don't engage in such things."

"Here's the deal. You return the incense, heart's blood, and heartfelt wish power that those hundred-plus statues have confined back to the commoners of the Lady's Temple, and I promise not to harm the Slaughter Goddess."

"After all, the territory of this Lady's Temple will belong to me from now on."