Starting with Proficiency Panel-Chapter 474 - 471 Follow-Up

Looking at the massive support team behind Lu Ren, Zhang Tongxuan was first taken aback, then ecstatically said, "Brother Lu, you really won!"

Before Lu Ren could speak, Zhang Tongxuan hurriedly said, "Now is not the time for reminiscing. The first wave of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism has swept across the Cosmos, and we don't know where it has been. The pollution source it carries has nearly contaminated the entire Earth."

Lu Ren nodded slightly, "What about Ji Quanzhen and the others?"

"They've already spread out to put out fires everywhere, and the other Wardens are also twisting with power, suppressing those mutated cultivators."

Zhang Tongxuan was somewhat worried and said, "If the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism continues to be polluted like this, I'm afraid the Path of Cultivation will be completely severed."

Those with advanced cultivation are fine; they can slowly extricate the pollution from the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism and refine the purest mechanism to sustain themselves. But how could low-tier cultivators possibly achieve this level?

Currently, those who can purify the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism definitely do not exceed four people in the world, including Lu Ren.

"Today, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism has already become a deadly poison."

For almost a month, under Lu Ren's strong suppression, things finally calmed down overall, and the few sporadic occurrences of mutations that needed suppressing didn't require him to personally intervene anymore.

As Shakyamuni's death was confirmed, the massive city in the Kunlun Exotic Realm also started actively returning to the present world, constantly beginning the cleanup. Even with Lu Ren's considerable involvement, it took a whole month.

In this month alone, nearly a hundred million deaths and injuries occurred throughout Huaxia, bodies lie all around, blood flows like rivers, and all thirty underground super cities are engulfed in chaos.

Looking at rows upon rows of bodies being placed into body bags on the square, along with a large number of staff slowly gathering from all directions to the square, gently placing bodies, whether they were innocent civilians or cultivators driven mad by the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, they were all placed neatly on this vast square.

Lu Ren's face seemed calm, but deep in his eyes lay suppressed anger.

Just this first wave of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism with its pollution nearly wiped out the mid and high-level cultivators in Huaxia, leaving them crippled.

If it weren't for the established academy system now, the entire current cultivation system would have been completely interrupted.

This calamity nearly reverted Huaxia's painstakingly accumulated power over the past fifty years to its original state. Recovery would take at least thirty years to once again see the previous prosperity.

If it weren't for some cultivators hiding in the Kunlun Exotic Realm, the Underworld, and even the Secret Realm, Huaxia would hardly have any power to use.

"You haven't rested for a month, why not take a break?"

Already presenting a middle-aged image, Zhang Li came to Lu Ren and asked.

Lu Ren glanced back and saw that Zhang Li's image was also very poor, eyes bloodshot, looking extremely tired, speaking weakly. Without the latest developed pills for refreshing and liver protection, Zhang Li wouldn't have been able to sustain such high-intensity work sleeplessly for several days.

"I'm fine, even if I don't sleep for a year, it's okay. You, however, need to rest immediately; it's easy to make critical mistakes in this condition."

Lu Ren replied, and Zhang Li knew herself clearly. Her body and spirit had reached their limits and urgently needed rest; she nodded slightly and softly said in the end, "You are now our spiritual symbol."

Lu Ren did not respond to Zhang Li's words but continued to stand quietly on the high platform, watching the dense and continuous transportation of bodies below.

Zhang Li had a painful look on her face, strongly holding back the grief in her heart. She turned to assign tasks to others and finally found a place to fall into a deep sleep.

During this disaster, Zhang Li's husband and daughter were affected and died at the hands of a crazed martial artist.

It's hard to imagine a usually strong Zhang Li marrying a man who only knows basic martial arts skills, at best capable of strengthening the body, and furthermore playing the role of a virtuous wife and good mother, which was quite surprising to the Southwest Security Bureau.

But such a blissful family was shattered during this calamity.

This is merely a small reflection, across all of Huaxia, and even just in the underground city of the Shu Region where Lu Ren is, the sound of wailing and crying, grief-stricken sobs never ceased.

Standing dazed for a while, Lu Ren turned to the nearby deputy with reddened eyes and asked, "Where are Ji Quanzhen and the others?"

The deputy who hadn't rested for many days immediately replied, "They led a group to the Imperial Capital. There are still some martial artists who have gone mad and need cleaning. Among them… Warden Shi Yong, who accidentally absorbed a large amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, has lost his mind, and his form has completely changed. Taoist Ji is leading people to deal with it."

Lu Ren was silent, thought for a moment, and said, "Send a message, if it's rather troublesome, contact me, then go rest. Recover well before coming back, there isn't much here left to deal with."

"Yes!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The deputy paused, voice barely suppressing a choke, "Warden Lu, we are still too weak."

"You've done very well; it's just that we've never experienced this before, so we prepared in the wrong direction. With this lesson, next time we can do better."

Lu Ren gently responded, reaching out to pat the deputy's shoulder and earnestly said, "Our Huaxia has gone through calamities, endured hardships to this day, what labor haven't we endured, what difficulty haven't we faced, what we've lost, we will eventually reclaim!"

The deputy dared not delay any further and hurried to handle matters. Watching the deputy's figure disappear around the corner, Lu Ren retracted his gaze, considering how to solve the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism's pollution in the present world. If it remains in this state for long, cultivation will be completely interrupted, and after cultivating the Martial Path to refine oneself to the extreme, the road ahead will be entirely blocked.

It can be said this is not only a struggle for Huaxia, but other countries facing this Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism disaster remain in chaos to this day, with some small countries even having completely collapsed.

Not only do cultivators absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, some ordinary people can absorb these polluted mechanisms if their constitution is special. This corrupted mechanism completely activates potential in the human body, even causing body deformation, gradually turning into monsters and ultimately losing reason, becoming beasts that know only slaughter and devouring.

Lu Ren's eyes flickered, his Divine Sense expanded, watching his disciple Li Qingling busily joining the cleanup team, beginning to clean those mutated monsters.

With the safeguarding of the Body Mirror given beforehand, Li Qingling was not contaminated.

Moreover, the Body Mirror naturally has the Clear Light capability, able to filter pollution and obtain pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism to sustain oneself.

However, how many such precious Taoist Artifacts can there be in the world?