122. Borrowing a Knife to Kill

Previously, his cultivation of immortality was merely a result of obtaining the Immortality System, which granted him formidable power. However, with the Earth in the Age of Dharma Decline, even with the assistance of such a system, there was ultimately no way forward.

Yet, now that he had learned that the ancient cultivators of China had constructed interdimensional teleportation arrays capable of transporting one to other cultivation worlds beyond Earth, a future and a direction had finally been revealed to him.

Consequently, Chen Fengyun decided that from this point on, he would continue his training while simultaneously searching for those interdimensional arrays. Even if he could not leave Earth in the short term, he at least had a path to follow in the future.

"You are not an ordinary martial artist, but a cultivator?" At this moment, noticing the shift in his expression, Ma Dingdang managed to guess his true identity.

"That is correct. Though I suspect you are also walking the path of a cultivator, it is likely that because the world's spiritual energy has all but vanished, you find yourself caught between being a martial artist and a practitioner," Chen Fengyun said, instantly perceiving the lineage of Ma Dingdang’s tradition.

"Indeed. Our Ma family ancestors were once cultivators, but as the world changed and spiritual energy steadily waned, they were forced to seek alternatives. By combining cultivation methods with martial arts and utilizing the power of demons and spirits, they formed the training system of the Exorcist Dragon Clan we use today," Ma Dingdang admitted without reservation.

"Had it not been for a stroke of fate, I would not have become a cultivator myself. I can tell you that my training method is one that no one else in this world could replicate. Therefore, in this Age of Dharma Decline, there is no way forward for a cultivator unless we can find those teleportation arrays and leave Earth for other worlds," Chen Fengyun said, shaking his head as he sensed what she was thinking.

"Is that true? You want to go to other cultivation worlds? Do you even know what those places are like?" Ma Dingdang asked, her eyes lighting up.

"I do not know, but one can assume that the spiritual energy in other cultivation worlds far exceeds that of Earth. Moreover, I suspect those worlds would be incredibly ruthless—infinitely more so than the martial arts circle on Earth," Chen Fengyun sighed.

"If—and I mean if—one day you find a way to leave Earth for another cultivation world, and I have not yet grown old, could you let me know? I would like to see those worlds as well," Ma Dingdang said suddenly, her tone solemn.

"You wish to go, too? That is no problem, provided I can find such an array. However, I fear I will not be departing in the short term; I must still look after my parents," Chen Fengyun nodded.

"Destroy this place. We cannot let others know that such interdimensional arrays still exist. If ambitious people find them and draw the attention of beings from other worlds, it will lead to disaster," Ma Dingdang said, unleashing an attack that erased all the inscriptions on the cavern walls.

Chen Fengyun also summoned his flying sword, unleashing a sky full of sword energy that shattered the foundation of the array on the ground and collapsed the surrounding cavern walls. Even if someone were to find this place in the future, they would never know that an interdimensional teleportation array had once existed here.

Afterward, Chen Fengyun cremated the corpse of the angel mercenary Grieger and rode his flying sword up to the surface of the crevice. Ma Dingdang followed, trailing by about ten meters, as she summoned a ghostly image of a divine dragon to carry her upward.

By then, the building complex was in total chaos. The zombies had not yet been fully eliminated, and a new swarm of blood bats had emerged, causing casualties among the crowd.

Xie Zhihua of the Southern Sect and Zhao Tingfeng of the Northern Sect had already met their ends, and many others were wounded, struggling to hold off the zombies and blood bats among the various buildings.

"Come inside, all of you." Chen Fengyun appeared instantly within the building behind the Southern Sect members and ushered them all inside. The zombies and blood bats that had been besieging them followed, only to vanish into silence shortly after.

"Stand back, leave this to me." On the other side, the divine dragon circling Ma Dingdang let out a roar and charged at the zombies and blood bats, shielding the members of the Northern Sect behind it.

"It seems quiet over there. Let's lure these monsters toward them." At that moment, the Japanese master Takeda Kurazo and several other foreign masters were huddled together fighting the creatures. Seeing the Southern Sect members enter a building where no sound emerged, he assumed they had found a hiding spot and spoke to the others.

They had not seen Chen Fengyun arrive, but they had seen Ma Dingdang return. They figured the Southern Sect group was easier to deal with than the Northern Sect, and if they could use them to lure away the monsters, they could escape safely.

"Exactly. When we chased them to the rear earlier, these Chinese people didn't go. They must have harvested many treasures here. We can demand they hand them over," the Korean Lee Lin-hee said with a sinister grin.

"There is only one martial arts grandmaster among them; they are no match for us. Let's make them our first target," the Dark Blood assassin Wilson chuckled.

"I wonder where that angel mercenary Grieger went? Didn't he jump down with that Chinese woman? Why didn't he come back with her? Could he have been killed by her?" the Russian Ivan Davydovsky muttered, following the others.

They lured over a dozen zombies and a swarm of hundreds of blood bats, rushing into the building where the Southern Sect members were hiding before leaping into the air to watch coldly from above.

However, they discovered that in the hall, the Chinese group had gathered in the innermost corner, with only the martial arts grandmaster and a young man standing in front. The ground was scattered with ashes; they had somehow slaughtered the previous wave of zombies and blood bats.

"Isn't that the young man who fell into the crevice? He didn't die? He certainly has good luck," the Thai practitioner Kura Yemo whispered, recognizing Chen Fengyun.

"Howl..."

Just then, the dozen or so zombies behind them surged into the hall, followed by a small swarm of blood bats that had discovered the large group of people inside.

For the zombies, the experts flying in the air were out of reach, so they focused their hunger on the Southern Sect group and Chen Fengyun. Only the blood bats flew toward the experts above.

"Squeak, squeak..."

"Boom..."

The martial arts grandmasters easily fended off the blood bats while sneering, envisioning the Chinese group being overwhelmed by the zombies and eager to seize whatever treasures they might find on them afterward.

"Leave them all to me," Chen Fengyun said, taking the initiative to speak to Feng Tianbao. In his eyes, these zombies were nothing more than attribute points, while the blood bats were entirely useless.

Chen Fengyun’s body lunged toward the surging zombie horde like a bolt of lightning. He weaved through the center of the crowd, dodging their attacks by a hair's breadth while simultaneously touching each zombie.

"Howl..."

In the span of just two or three breaths, as the roar of the final zombie faded, all ten-plus zombies came to a sudden halt. Their bodies collapsed to the ground, gradually dissolving into piles of ash.