Chapter 18

Randy’s smiling face froze, and he narrowed his eyes at Wu Chang, his originally pale blue pupils instantly turning a deep, abyssal black.

With a whoosh, all the oil lamps in the hall extinguished, thick clouds gathered rapidly above the sanatorium, and everything plunged into darkness.

"Snap!"

Accompanied by a crackle of sparks, the oil lamps lit up once more, but red blood-flames replaced the yellow light.

Under the red glow, Wu Chang discovered that the zombies slaughtered in the hall, as well as Wolf who had been killed by the demon-breaking crossbow bolt, were now all in a prostrate, kneeling posture.

They were arranged in concentric circles, surrounding Randy and him in the center.

The death of the crowd and the life of Randy formed a starkly contrasting painting.

The believers sacrificed everything, just to welcome the rebirth of their Lord.

Like a child who had discovered a new toy, Randy asked curiously, "How did you find out?"

Wu Chang rubbed his chin, pondered for two seconds as if recalling, and then replied, "From the very beginning."

"Oh?" Randy became interested. "Tell me in detail."

"The initial discord came from the Tranquil Church in town," Wu Chang said slowly.

"They have the ability to control White Stone Town, the ability to control all the townspeople, and the ability to infiltrate Moonlight Sanatorium to plant eyes around Director Randy, yet they do not lay a hand on him personally."

"Although Randy is powerful in combat, he hasn't awakened his family's bloodline talent and suffers from paranoia; there are countless ways to finish him off."

"Therefore, the Tranquil Church is intentionally keeping Randy, monitoring him, controlling him, or perhaps even keeping him in captivity."

Randy said noncommittally, "Continue."

Wu Chang walked up to Wolf, pulled the demon-breaking crossbow bolt stained with resentment from the back of Wolf's head, wiped it clean with his clothes, tucked it into his bosom, and continued:

"The people of the Tranquil Church have been waiting for an opportunity, waiting for someone to arrive to stimulate Randy to fully mature, and I happen to be the person they were waiting for."

"Someone reminded me that selecting a qualified pawn cannot be done without an excellent screening mechanism. The eye-catching and high-profile Jin Dun was the perfect tool for screening. As long as Jin Dun was taken out, one could follow the vine to find Wolf through invisible guidance."

"Immediately after, I heard an abridged version of the story, going to awaken the bloodline descendant of the legendary hero, Director Randy."

"You didn't awaken Randy just because of suspicion?" The black-eyed Randy spoke about Randy in the tone of someone describing a stranger.

Wu Chang: "Human cognition is one of the foundations for the existence of mysticism; this is the first law of mysticism summarized by the Arcane Knights. Old Anderson would rather let his descendants become ordinary people and squander their family fortune than let them learn about mysticism; there must be a special reason."

"The evil god Laiman’s vengefulness and twisted sense of humor are well-known, so I thought, perhaps letting Randy know everything would instead help the evil god resurrect."

Randy raised an eyebrow. "To be able to summarize this, mortals are smarter than I imagined."

"So I played along, wanting Randy to think everything was a hallucination and to solve Wolf using only his talent, but unfortunately, I miscalculated." Speaking of this, Wu Chang clicked his tongue.

"Let me think, which part went wrong. It must have been when Randy used the golden crossbow. Although Old Anderson sealed his descendant's talent, he surely would have left a contingency plan so his descendant wouldn't be captured without a fight when facing danger. The golden crossbow, symbolizing the Anderson family, likely has some kind of power sealed within it."

"Once Randy used the golden crossbow, it would trigger the awakening of his mystical talent. The catalyst for this awakening, I suspect, was Wolf's bewitchment of Randy while breaking out of his cocoon."

Clap, clap, clap.

Randy began to applaud, praising, "Brilliant. As expected of the special envoy chosen by the Emperor, your mind is indeed meticulous."

Wu Chang frowned, puzzled. "You think I'm a special envoy?"

"Aren't you?" Randy was stunned by the question.

Wu Chang glanced at the hall littered with corpses, his heart skipped a beat—oh no!

Zhu Li’s various actions perfectly overlapped with Wolf’s, leading him to believe that Zhu Li was also part of the Tranquil Church, to the point that he deliberately didn't call her before taking action.

But now it seemed that Zhu Li and Laiman were not on the same side; he seemed to have sabotaged his teammate. Hope she is alright.

After a brief moment of guilt, he quickly adjusted his mindset.

It’s all Laiman’s damn fault.

Just you wait, I will avenge Zhu Li! Laiman felt the hostility from Wu Chang that had appeared out of thin air and slowly projected a question mark.

Wu Chang opened his golden pocket watch again, checked the time, and whispered, "It’s about time."

"What is about time?"

"Time for the exorcism."

Wu Chang pinned the Arcane Badge to his chest and rubbed his thumb over it; the dull emblem, buried underground for hundreds of years and eroded by rust, emitted a dazzling radiance.

An invisible force rose from the ground, enveloping the entire Moonlight Sanatorium.

He activated the purification power within the exorcism array.

Unlike the array power Randy activated unconsciously, the fully activated exorcism array was more than ten times stronger in both pressure and capability.

Randy, possessed by Laiman, let out a muffled groan as a pure white flame ignited above his head.

The flame scorched Randy’s soul and also scorched Laiman within Randy’s body. The fire burned brighter and brighter, spreading across half his body in the blink of an eye.

The mental torment caused by the burning flames made Randy’s expression pained and twisted, but Laiman, within the same body, appeared relaxed and content. He let out a long sigh, like someone just entering a hot spring, and said lazily, "A little toy made by a human mage, you think you can kill me with this? Doing this only accelerates the death of the original soul in this body and helps me take over this body faster."

Wu Chang was not flustered by Laiman’s composure; he said unhurriedly, "Don't be impatient, this is just the beginning. When one of you and Randy is burned to nothing by the flames, the purification flame will expand dozens of times, its power exceeding the limits of a spiritual body, and it will burn reality itself."

"So what? As long as you burn the original soul to nothing and allow me to be completely reborn, in just an instant, I can snuff out this little flame; it won't be able to destroy my new body."

"I didn't mean burning your body; I meant that when Randy’s soul is teetering on the edge, the purification flame will become very painful," Wu Chang corrected.

A question mark appeared over Laiman’s head again. Could this human in front of him have a brain problem? Laiman didn't understand what Wu Chang meant, but He soon felt it personally.

The white flame quickly spread over Randy’s entire body, signifying that Randy’s soul had little left, with only a few embers remaining.

The flame surged violently, the outer flames reaching four stories high, drilling out through the hole in the roof of the sanatorium.

As long as the embers of Randy’s soul were extinguished, the white flame would burn the flesh.

Yet, this last bit of embers was like it had activated a cheat code for infinite health; it just wouldn't go out.

Feeling the scorching pain, Laiman lost his previous composure and said in shock and anger, "What did you do?"

Wu Chang looked at the golden pocket watch and said, "Didn't you ask me earlier why I kept checking the time? I can tell you now, I was waiting for the medicine to take effect. You’ve been chatting with me the whole time, what were you waiting for?"

Laiman: "I..."

"Wait, time is limited. Let me add some fuel to the fire; let’s talk while we cremate."

Wu Chang reached out to interrupt Laiman, placed the Emperor’s Badge on the other side of his chest, and activated the special linkage skill between the Emperor’s Badge and the Arcane Badge.

"Special Skill: Final Purification." (Unlocked by Emperor’s Badge)

"Skill Description: By burning the entire array, unleash power that exceeds the array's limits."

With a boom, the white flames turned into a sea of fire, causing the entire Moonlight Sanatorium to burn.

"Lord Laiman, do you feel the heat?"

(End of chapter)