The immortal is beside me

Chapter 35: Cannons Hit Peach Blossom

The sixth day since the appearance of "Red Cloud".

Twenty kilometers northeast of Liangzhou City, an undeveloped low mountain stands beside the intercity highway.

With this low mountain as the center, the entire area within a radius of five kilometers was placed under control. It was even pretentiously surrounded by a green construction-specific cover net with a prominent sign saying "Blasting operation, no entry allowed" on it.

If you reduce the radius by another three kilometers, you can see a white barrier covering the surroundings.

This is a large isolation formation. In ancient times, it was often composed of multiple flags connected to each other. Nowadays, the flags have been replaced by dozens of spiritual power devices shaped like signal transmitters. Each one is controlled by two official monks. It can not only isolate spiritual power, but also has the auxiliary function of eliminating sound and movement.

A buzzing sound was heard, and several drones flew across the sky. The cameras embedded in the bodies of the drones rotated, and the flow of spiritual energy in the entire mountain range was converted into a bright green image, which was clearly displayed on the screen of the scout in the rear.

The picture slowly advanced until it suddenly stopped at a certain point, and a bright red warning sign lit up on the entire screen.

"The spiritual power source has been located!"

The investigator at the desk suddenly pressed the enter key, and the huge amount of data was frozen in an instant. Data streams in the billions of units poured into the cloud and were distributed to various units.

Two seconds after the data was uploaded, a beam of white light rose from the ground and covered the drone in the air. Sparks instantly burst out from the body of the drone and it fell with a squeak.

At the same time, the sound of grenades being fired was heard.

White smoke emanated from the muzzle pump of the armored vehicle, and two soul-breaking cluster bombs roared out of the barrel, dragging long trails into the mountains, causing a deafening roar and a torrential downpour of sand and gravel.

The beam of cluster bombs swept across the mountain, and countless shattered limbs were mixed in the flying sand and rocks. Dozens of figures rushed out from the cracks and fled in panic in all directions, but were immediately torn to pieces by the hail of bullets in front of them.

Amidst the splattering of blood and flesh, countless peach petals floated up, forming a misty human shape in the air, and rushed straight towards the outer formation.

One kilometer away, this scene was reflected in the telescope in Lu Zhenhai's hand, and the eyes in the mirror were as cold as iron.

"The core members of the Jindan realm are indeed here."

With a loud bang, the figure surrounded by peach blossoms crashed into the formation. The white barrier shook violently, and the huge aftermath even made the surrounding hills tremble.

Before the second collision, Lu Zhenhai's order had been issued.

The sound of gunfire continued, and dozens of heavy machine guns that had been aiming opened fire at the same time. The dense hail of bullets enveloped the figure in the air.

The bullets approached his body, like hitting an invisible pile of cotton. The kinetic energy that was enough to penetrate the alloy was instantly dissipated, turning into powerless metal raindrops that fell to the ground.

But it didn't matter. This round of shooting had inevitably slowed down the figure's movements for a moment.

The official monks on all sides exerted their strength at the same time, and the emerald green formation suddenly shrank, constantly encroaching on the figure's range of movement, pressing it firmly against the side of the mountain.

At the same time, a specially made small bottle was thrown into the barrier. The moment it touched the spiritual power, it exploded in the air, emitting a light blue smoke that filled the entire barrier. Those below the Foundation Establishment stage would die if they inhaled it, and those at the Golden Core stage would lose their combat capability within ten minutes. Even the Nascent Soul stage would have a certain weakening effect.

"No killing for surrender! No killing for surrender!"

A mechanical shout echoed through the air, the sound carried by the loudspeaker to the entire audience. The peach blossom figure paused at this, and the next second, the spiritual light around him shone again. Surging spiritual power converged at a single point, and with the force of thunder, it struck the command post, intending to break the deadlock.

Just before the spiritual power exploded, the shadow of the high-explosive bomb covered his head.

"Boom boom boom boom——"

Flames rose up and the continuous explosions lasted for more than ten seconds before they subsided.

A few minutes later, the pale green barrier extinguished. Armored vehicles on all sides lowered their gun barrels, and the special teams responsible for cleaning up the battlefield rushed in to collect the scattered corpses. From the commanding heights, Lu Zhenhai watched the gradually dissipating smoke, lowered his binoculars, and his frown relaxed slightly.

This is the 23rd Peach Blossom Spring stronghold destroyed by the Liangzhou Environmental Sanitation Bureau within a week.

Ever since the day when the sky was filled with red clouds, the rats hiding underground could no longer hide. The rosy glow made it impossible for them to sneak around in the city, so they had to flee outside the city collectively. The Environmental Sanitation Bureau took advantage of the situation to control all the main traffic arteries and caught them one by one.

During this week, they killed dozens of people above the Jindan level, captured 5 alive, and cultivated countless people through Qi training and foundation building. The number of people in a single round was equivalent to the total KPI of the branch under normal circumstances for several years.

"Is this the end? It's not even my turn to take action."

Jiang Ruifeng walked to his side and looked at the rising smoke with emotion.

He had come here to hold the line in case of any unexpected situation, but he didn't expect the firepower from his own side to be so strong that he couldn't even get through.

"It's all thanks to that senior from your clan that we're able to get the best possible combat environment." Lu Zhenhai shook his head. "If we were in the city, we wouldn't be able to use this kind of fighting style."

When dealing with this kind of evil that violates the "Monk Management Law", the Environmental Sanitation Bureau never talks about martial ethics, especially when fighting in open terrain, they often just launch a wave of indiscriminate bombardment, and will never send more monks to fight as long as they can be killed by firepower.

Of course, there is a limitation that is not considered a limitation, and that is burning money.

Even if we put aside the consumption of anti-aircraft shells and other ammunition, just the small bottle of spirit-destroying smoke used to weaken the enemy costs about 30 per gram, which is times more expensive than gold.

If the enemy this time was not indeed very powerful and even the soul-breaking cluster bombs could not kill him directly; if Peach Blossom Spring was not a major target approved by the headquarters and the combat funding was almost unlimited, Lu Zhenhai would not have been willing to take out this precious special weapon.

"Judging from what he did just now, his cultivation level is probably at the peak of the Golden Core stage, only half a step away from the Nascent Soul stage."

Jiang Ruifeng was still chatting with him, and said casually, "Compared to those rats we encountered before, this guy's cultivation has reached another level. Being able to kill him so quickly shows that the combat power of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau is truly becoming more and more sophisticated."

"Deacon Jiang, you're too kind. This is also a case of taking advantage of the right time, right place, and right people."

Lu Zhenhai chatted with him, appearing relaxed on the surface, but the strings in his heart were tense.

Just as Jiang Ruifeng said, this was the strongest remnant of Peach Blossom Spring they had encountered so far.

In other words, judging by the current situation, each new remnant they encountered was more powerful than the previous one. In the previous encirclement and suppression operations he commanded, a single anti-aircraft shell was often enough to resolve the problem, but today, this one had to be barely killed with the use of spirit-extinguishing smoke.

This isn't a game; there's no such thing as releasing small bosses for players to level up before releasing the big bosses. The enemy's strength now forms an almost arithmetic progression, which is probably not pure coincidence.

Lu Zhenhai recalled the information about Peach Blossom Spring he had read before, and a guess gradually formed in his mind. He was about to discuss it with Jiang Ruifeng when a specialist interrupted him.

"Captain Lu, the cleaning work has been completed."

The specialist reported, pulling out a walkie-talkie. "Also, we just received a call from the D12 team. They said they spotted someone who appears to be in the Nascent Soul stage. They're short on firepower and are calling for backup."

Nascent Soul stage?
These three words caused the two people in front of him to change their expressions. Lu Zhenhai pondered for a few seconds, then reached out and took the walkie-talkie.

"Group four will stay and continue cleaning up the scene, and the rest of you will follow me to provide support."

The subordinates ran away in response, and soon a car stopped in front of them. Lu Zhenhai leaned in and got in, and a hint of nervousness flashed in his eyes as he looked at the side of the road.

He sensed something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)