Not only Liu Nanfeng, but the others also heard the croaking sounds coming from nearby.
Everyone looked towards the sound and saw that in the farthest corner, there was a small cage. Inside it, a tiny body was curled up, though it was a bit difficult to see clearly as a pair of wings covered most of her body.
However, many of the feathers on her wings had fallen off, making her look rather disgusting.
She had been hidden behind the human-faced, lion-bodied experimental subject before, which was why the others hadn't noticed her.
"Coo..."
The little person croaked again in a low voice.
Liu Nanfeng's anger surged, and flames erupted all over his body, dancing joyfully at the tips of his hair. Yet, he himself was unharmed and unaffected, which startled the people beside him.
"Dragon Robe" instantly covered his entire body. He drew his sword and, without any wasted words, charged forward.
There were no fancy techniques, nor any profound swordplay. It was a simple swing of the sword.
However, as his anger flowed from his palm to the sword, the blade blazed with flames, making it look incredibly cool.
Yet, even so, the experimental subjects confined in the cages around them merely watched silently, without any joy at being rescued.
They had been imprisoned for too long, their suffering too deep, almost to the point of losing all emotion.
Although Liu Nanfeng's sword swing was simple, the middle-aged man dressed in priest's robes opposite him felt as if he had been locked onto, unable to evade.
But he did not panic. From within his sleeve, a cross-hammer, resembling a crucifix, appeared in his hand.
The hammer was not large, only an arm's length, and it looked like it was made of wood.
He raised the hammer, and the hammerhead immediately began to emit dazzling holy light.
"There really is a priest. Should my Pandaren step up?" Zhan Dundun, who was watching from behind, muttered softly.
"That's a priest, not a pastor. And this person isn't a proper priest, not even a human," Su Jinxiu, standing beside him, overheard and chimed in.
"What do you mean?" Zhan Dundun asked curiously.
Though his strength was not weak, he was considered a novice among the demon race, roughly on par with Little Carp. Besides being able to fight, he knew nothing else.
However, Su Jinxiu didn't answer him. Instead, she focused intently on the scene ahead, ready to support Liu Nanfeng. If Liu Nanfeng faltered, she would draw her sword.
It didn't matter if it was honorable combat or not; the only thing that mattered was that her husband bullied others, but her husband could not be bullied.
However, Su Huamei, standing beside them, provided an answer to Zhan Dundun.
"Because this isn't a priest at all, but a devil."
"A devil?"
Zhan Dundun naturally knew about devils. Real devils in reality could be different from those described in books. They were born from human desires, then devoured human souls, gaining sentience. Finally, they walked the earth in human form, a combination of demons and ghosts.
"It seems this priest was not a good person when he was alive, otherwise such a powerful devil wouldn't have been born from him," Su Huamei said.
The priest brandished the hammer, radiating divine light. Wherever it passed, a sacred chant could be felt, unsettling the mind and stirring an impulse to abandon everything and prostrate in worship.
Liu Nanfeng was no exception. Fortunately, he was currently in the "Wrathful Aspect" of the "Twelve Aspects of All Beings," which prevented him from being too severely impacted.
However, it interrupted his actions, preventing him from completing his sword strike.
"The holy light will cleanse your sins."
"Those words from a devil's mouth are truly laughable."
"Why do you find it laughable? The devil is behind God."
As the priest spoke, he suddenly turned around, his back facing Liu Nanfeng. There was another face on his back, identical to him, but this back face was full of malevolence, and red energy surged around it, the complete opposite of the divine priest from before.
"Heh heh, God is the devil, and the devil is God."
"God and the devil are one and the same. The front is God, representing all righteousness and light. The back represents evil and the most primal darkness."
Good heavens, this devil could even twist religious doctrines and derive power from them.
Perhaps gods truly could transform from devils, just as he said, like the two sides of a mirror.
However, Liu Nanfeng noticed the text above his head at this moment.
Name: Zhao Zheng
Race: Devil
Cultivation: One hundred and thirty-seven years
Identity: A devil walking the human world, luring people, devouring souls, and disrupting worldly order.
Past Cause: Formed from the human-devil Zhao Zheng devouring the soul of his host.
Abilities: Lust, Pride, Temptation, Hypocrisy, Greed.
At this moment, the priest's, or rather Zhao Zheng's, limbs suddenly rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, turning his back to the front. He still held the cross-hammer, but the hammerhead was facing a different direction.
The hammer tip no longer flashed with holy light, but instead, red desire surged from it. A mere glance evoked a flood of lust.
The experimental subjects, who had been silently watching from their cages, collectively began to riot, emitting excited roars and repeatedly slamming against their enclosures.
At this moment, Zhao Zheng swung his hammer, creating ripples in the air. Unlike divine light, it was accompanied by countless wails and roars that reached the ears, igniting desires and leading to corruption.
"Let us revel."
The experimental subjects in the cages were immediately immersed in their own worlds, emitting strange laughter, but the laughter was filled with madness.
"So much nonsense."
"Slash~"
Liu Nan surged forward with his sword, the Unrivaled Sword Saint, never the second sword.
"Slash~"
With his voice, like a divine decree, a sword light shot up into the sky. The entire laboratory was almost split in half. Zhao Zheng, who was blocking Liu Nanfeng's path, was no exception, split into two halves from his forehead.
But he did not die immediately. There was no blood from the wound, only countless red tendrils of energy trying to merge the two halves of his body.
These red energies were actually the materialization of desire.
If it were an ordinary slash, it might have allowed him to recover easily, but the flames Liu Nanfeng had loaded onto his sword with the "Wrathful Aspect" were precisely the nemesis of desire.
These energies of desire became the best fuel, and Zhao Zheng's body instantly erupted into flames.
Zhao Zheng could no longer contain himself, letting out a piercing scream.
He then quickly said, "I declare that everyone must submit to me, and all power will be under my control."
It was strange that he could still speak despite being split in half, but as he spoke, the flames slowly diminished, being absorbed into his body.
This was the power of pride. Pride made one arrogant. Although it was a false strength, it could grant immense power in a short period.
But Liu Nanfeng would not give him a chance to recover, nor did he want him to burn to death so quickly; this was excellent medicine.
With this thought, he immediately summoned his scroll. The huge scroll unfurled in the air, winding and then directly enveloping Zhao Zheng.
The moment the scroll touched him, Zhao Zheng, though unable to see, sensed danger. His body forcefully merged back into one, but he could no longer maintain his human form as the "wrathful flames" burned madly within him.
Screaming in agony, he could no longer sustain his human form and transformed into a monster with goat-like horns, covered in evil runes. A single glance made one's blood boil, as if wanting to escape one's own body.
The experimental subjects in the surrounding cages let out piercing screams, filled with panic.
"Squeak squeak~"
Zhao Zheng's screams turned into a peculiar cry. Liu Nanfeng, though directly exposed, maintained his "Wrathful Aspect" and felt no abnormality.
However, the experimental subjects nearby, who had just been screaming, were in a terrible state. They suddenly became enraged, stood up, and madly battered their cages, their flesh and blood becoming bloody.
Liu Nanfeng dared not delay any longer. He directly rolled up the scroll, capturing Zhao Zheng within it.
Only then did Liu Nanfeng feel a wave of weakness wash over him, as if he had been hollowed out, and the flames on his body slowly extinguished.
That sword strike had truly drained his vital energy and spirit, and he had been forcing himself to hold on.
As he suddenly relaxed, he could no longer support himself, feeling utterly weak.
The invincible three-second man, only able to unleash one move at a time.
Su Jinxiu, as if prepared, quickly stepped forward, pulling out a ginseng root and handing it to Liu Nanfeng.
Liu Nanfeng quickly took it and swallowed it in one gulp, feeling slightly better.
Just as he was about to use his scroll to collect all these experimental subjects, he suddenly heard a loud bang from behind him.