Chapter 266

Pffft!

Although they had shaken off the effects of sanity draining, many still vomited blood; regaining clarity did not mean they were completely unaffected.

A genuine soul attack also inflicted heavy damage on their bodies at the same time.

Amitabha!

The old monk pressed his palms together, chanting the Buddha's name, his body radiating waves of Buddha light that enveloped everyone, temporarily shielding them from the monster's influence.

The wounded also each employed their own methods, swarming the massive beast in a group attack.

However, from Mu Yi's observation, the effect of the ganging up was not as hoped.

This thing is a bit tricky to fight; should we call for reinforcements?

The burly warrior turned his head to ask Mu Yi, who belatedly realized he had unconsciously become the leader of those present.

"Reinforcements?" Mu Yi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"You're not good at naval warfare?" the burly warrior seemed surprised, but then instantly understood and explained to Mu Yi.

"You may not know, sir, but on the sea, the fleet reigns supreme; the purpose of our scouting ahead is largely to draw out the great demons so the fleet can launch long-range attacks!"

Long-range fleet attack? Relying on cannons? Or something else? Mu Yi was a bit confused; he hadn't expected such a simple mission to reveal his lacking knowledge—indeed, the sea is not like land, and though he had found it novel before, he hadn't realized there was more beneath the surface.

"Let me have a go; I've never faced this kind of monster before—I'll test its depth!" Mu Yi thought it over and decided to try it himself.

He still knew too little about the monster before him.

"Please, sir, go ahead!" Seeing Mu Yi about to act personally, the burly warrior, the old monk, and the others looked on with anticipation.

Mu Yi didn't know what they were expecting; perhaps they thought his power was transcendent and wanted to glimpse the future path from him.

Even if it disappointed them, he had not yet reached Legend.

"First arrow!" Mu Yi drew the bowstring; this time he didn't rush to release, but silently began to charge power.

When the charge reached a certain level, the arrow shot forth, piercing the black monster's body and then blasting off several of its tentacles.

The damage Mu Yi inflicted was obvious, but the monster's body began to recover the next second, and at an extremely rapid pace.

Such regenerative ability...

Mu Yi pondered a moment, then took out the Book of Life and Death, which turned into a dim light that merged into his divine seat; he could feel strong yin energy flowing into the Reincarnation Barrier.

"Second arrow!"

Mu Yi fired another arrow that pierced the monster's body, tearing a huge hole; unlike before, he sensed death energy spreading from the monster's body, and a mark appeared on it.

However, it seemed only he could see this mark; others showed no reaction.

On the Book of Life and Death, faint traces began to appear, but they were chaotic and sparse, making it impossible to discern the so‑called true name.

Mu Yi, however, grew interested; he felt the Book of Life and Death exerting its power.

"Third arrow!"

When this arrow again blasted a hole in the monster's body, the creature finally noticed Mu Yi's presence and let out a frenzied howl toward him.

Yet Mu Yi remained unmoved, firing arrow after arrow that pierced the monster's body.

When the monster ignored the nearby Supernormal Beings and roared as it charged at Mu Yi, he let loose his ninth arrow.

Unlike the first eight arrows, this one targeted the monster's death line—a dark, stark trace hanging on its body that no one else perceived; only Mu Yi could see it.

At the instant this arrow struck, the massive monster crashed to the ground, its body turning to ash and drifting away, utterly dead.

"Is this instant death?" Mu Yi had long been immune to instant‑death attacks at their source, so this was his first encounter with the concept.

A monster leader of at least Level 19 died so easily under his casual attack.

"Is this a divine artifact?"

Mu Yi felt his mouth dry; even a fragment possessed such divine might—if all the parts were gathered, how terrifying would it be?

Immediately after, a string of characters appeared on the Book of Life and Death, unlike the earlier scrawl; this time it was complete.

"Black Goat... offspring?"

Mu Yi frowned at the information displayed on the Book of Life and Death; this information seemed like a residue, gradually fading.

Yet his furrowed brow did not relax; if he remembered correctly, this should be a creature from the Cthulhu Mythos.

Mu Yi didn't know much specific Cthulhu lore; he only recalled that there was a saying that...

"Anyone who glimpses the full nature of the ancient gods/old‑day dominators/outer gods will go mad and die! When they awaken from their slumber, they will seize humanity's dominion over Earth and the cosmos, plunging the world back into chaos, shrouded in ignorance and madness."

In short, they are a bunch of monsters no better than extradimensional demons.

Has the Ming actually been invaded by such monsters?

Does that mean the black sun I saw earlier is precisely those ancient gods/old‑day dominators/outer gods?

Isn't the cap thirty? How did we get dragged into divinity...

Mu Yi's face darkened; the Legend‑tier battle was already troublesome enough, and now divinity was involved—this was no minor inconvenience.

But thinking his mission was to gather intel and then summon the Underworld army for support, Mu Yi shoved the thought aside—if the sky fell, a tall person would prop it up, and he needn't worry about such foes.

Although Zongwang can be vague about low numbers like 1, it marks the ceiling at 30, so theoretically no creature above Level 30 should appear.

But... isn't it likely that some divine incarnation or the like will show up?

Mu Yi felt a headache; at least for now, if such a big boss appeared, they'd all be wiped out.

Just as Mu Yi was thinking that, the direction of the airflow between heaven and earth shifted; a violent wind howled between heaven and earth, yet mixed into that howling wind were other things.

The gale swept away everything on the battlefield related to the monster; in an instant the material in the wind was more dazzling than a rainbow, yet utterly lacking harmony, like a child's random scribble.

Chaos! Disorder! Madness!

Just a glance induced vertigo, organs churning, brain wailing; before Mu Yi and the others loomed what seemed like an eye of the storm, with all the wind's contents spiraling toward it.

"Zongwang Prompt: You have suffered a will attack and are undergoing a will check... the will check failed, but your SAN value begins to plummet, your sanity starts to be affected; based on your will, this damage cannot inflict any other status effect on you!"

"Reincarnation Barrier!"

Mu Yi's face grew grave; he directly activated the barrier to take in those Supernormal Beings already affected—such a monster was nothing less than a dimensionality‑crushing blow for them.

Legend! At least it's a legend! And it's probably a high-level legend!

At this point, we can only choose to believe in the distant fleet—at least Mu Yi has no way to deal with the enemy.

Legends all possess instant-death resistance; even holding a life-and-death scroll, they're not easy to kill, let alone such a bizarre monster—whether instant death will work again is unknown.

"Call for support! We need support!"

Mu Yi let out a low roar, and the few half-step Legends beside him who could still move freely immediately began contacting the fleet.

Mu Yi's scalp tingled; because he was often in contact with Jiuzhou's consciousness, his perception of consciousness was clearer than others'.

He could feel that, outside the world, countless gazes were cast down, observing Mu Yi through the wind's eye.

Malice! Chaos! Disorder! Curiosity!

The bizarre gaze revealed a frenzied and chaotic emotion, and Mu Yi even sensed generosity and friendliness from it.

Mu Yi dared not investigate what emotion this was; he could only hold his breath, focus his spirit, guard his mind, and not let this chaos erode him.

In the next instant, Mu Yi felt countless chaotic knowledge pour into them like a multitude of enlightening showers.

Mu Yi could sense that they harbored no malice, yet the knowledge they transmitted was chaotic and indescribable, containing the madness unique to their kind of monsters—this is an inherent trait of their divine system.

The burly warrior was the first affected; his eyes became clouded and chaotic, his body suddenly began to mutate, as if countless tiny snakes were swimming inside him, eventually breaking through his skin to poke their heads out.

Tentacles like those of the earlier black mountain goat kids sprouted all over his body.

"Wake up!"

Mu Yi shouted without hesitation, the War Command activated, the burly warrior's eyes cleared from clouded to lucid, his inner qi burst forth, and the tentacles on his body were instantly crushed by the inner qi.

Immediately followed by frantic vomiting, puddles of dark-red blood mixed with unknown fragments were spat out, chilling to the bone.

Seeing the burly warrior's gruesome state, several people felt a chill; this was no good omen—the enemy was far stronger than they imagined, and even turning to flee was now a luxury.

Countless gazes locked onto them relentlessly; they couldn't tell whether the gazes came from a single entity or countless ones, but they knew any slight movement would provoke a terrifying attack.

The opponent seemed to expect Mu Yi and his companions to accept this mad, twisted knowledge, yet how could they accept such a fairy tale?

Absorbing this knowledge, the mental changes are unknown, but one's own limbs would transform into that indescribable form, which is unacceptable.

Mu Yi and company's refusal caused the already chaotic gazes to shift entirely toward madness.

An indescribable frenzied aura rose from the wind's eye before them.

Blood, filth, earth, seawater… everything swept up by the gale was gathering, forming a colossal monster.

It was even more frenzied and even more indescribable than the previous black mountain goat kids.

Soaring in the sky was a huge creature like a poisonous snake, with a bizarre, distorted head and limbs bearing massive hooks, relying on terrifying, gigantic wings like black rubber to float effortlessly in the air.

"Gee-re-wah-la, ah-wah-so-ya……"

The loud, piercing voice echoed between heaven and earth, causing people's reason to further evaporate.

"Zongwang Prompt: You are suffering a will attack, undergoing a will check…… Will check failed, but your SAN begins to plummet, your reason is starting to be affected; based on your will, this damage cannot inflict any other status on you!"

"Zongwang Prompt: You are suffering a will attack, undergoing a will check……"

……

Dense prompts on the retina refreshed almost at the speed of a scrolling screen; the advanced Legend creature was more terrifying than Mu Yi had imagined, especially when the opponent bore something akin to divinity.

"Heaven-Man Dao!"

A divine aura rose from Mu Yi, isolating the original chaos and disorder at this moment.

He glanced at the three half-step Legends of Dao, Buddhism, and Confucianism struggling to hold on; though they could still stay clear-headed and resist this chaos and distortion, expecting them to launch a counterattack was basically impossible.

Mu Yi nocked an arrow, shot it at the monster before him, then drew his blade, ready to fight to the death.

He wouldn't just stand and wait to die; even if the opponent was a god, he had to take a bite of flesh from them!

The arrow struck the monster, but before the opponent could react—

A brilliant golden light streaked across the horizon, crossing over Mu Yi and company, and struck the colossal beast before them head-on.

"Boom!"

As if heaven and earth were collapsing, a shockwave like a heavenly star explosion spread outward, instantly hurling Mu Yi and his companions several li away.

He controlled the seawater to steady his form, glanced at the three companions beside him— their condition was still okay— and Mu Yi's expression eased slightly.

"Is this long-range support? Are you sure it's not long-range bombardment?"

Mu Yi gazed at the place as if bombarded by an orbital beam; the monster that had just been showing off had turned to a puff of ash and dissipated, the malice from beyond the world losing its vessel and beginning to fade into nothing.

The dark clouds that had somehow blanketed the sky also began to disperse, heaven and earth returned to normal, and only the enormous 'scar' on the coast bore witness to what had just occurred.

"No wonder they have the confidence to sail the four seas……"

Mu Yi muttered to himself, at this moment he could be certain that Zheng He was absolutely a Legend, and moreover a Legend of the Military Strategists.

That strike just now was a blow of Cloud Energy mixed with the world's essence, and it also incorporated Golden Yang power, which seemed to have a restraining effect on the monster, achieving a one-hit kill.

The way of mixing in Golden Yang power was also simple: it was Mu Yi's most familiar reality-warping will.

A Legendary creature fell so easily before Mu Yi; having personally experienced its strength, he knew it was no pushover—it might even be more terrifying than the He Luo God at his peak.

Yet such a Legendary creature, with no power to resist, fell under the Cloud Energy attack—this is the power of the Military Strategists.

Mu Yi's confidence in the Military Strategists' war gods slaying gods increased a few notches; Zheng He being like this, those famed war gods must be even more terrifying.

This strike also made Mu Yi realize that on the path of the Military Strategists, he still had much to learn.

The true might of the Military Strategists is beginning to blossom.