Chapter 39: Evil Spirit

Beneath Di Zhao mountain range, the north.

A bottomless ravine, like a heavenly moat, split the earth in two; nearby land crawled with sticky filaments, and a pitch-black Gao Ta rose from the ravine, piercing straight into the clouds.

Suspended above the tower's peak was a huge, dark-red eye, flickering with eerie light from time to time, monitoring every rustle and breeze nearby.

On the platform at the tower's summit stood a humanoid figure with arms crossed; it was over two meters tall, its skin dark red as if repeatedly scorched by flames, its eyes sunken deep into their sockets like two burning coals, brimming with a violent and destructive aura.

"It is the aura of a Reverse Tide Legion warrior."

Just then, a crack split the Insight Eye hovering above its head, and a hoarse voice emerged from within.

"What is the origin of the Reverse Tide Legion?" the humanoid evil lifeform asked in a cold tone.

"According to intelligence shared with me by other nodes, it is a powerful legion composed of warriors who have abandoned their faith; their leader is called Reverse Tide, and he is one of the greatest obstacles to our race's domination of this world."

"Abandoned their faith?"

In response to the question, the dark-red eye immediately explained:

"You have just arrived from the Dungeon World and are unfamiliar with this world's background. According to intelligence shared with me by other nodes, this world once had a powerful deity named Beneath Di Zhao, the true god worshipped by all life in this world... He fell for some unknown reason. The Reverse Tide Legion was born and established thousands of years after Beneath Di Zhao's fall; its founding purpose was to oppose us. The warriors of the Reverse Tide Legion believe Beneath Di Zhao abandoned them, so they chose to abandon their faith and revere Reverse Tide instead."

"Boring faith." A hint of disdain appeared in the eyes of the evil warrior.

"Do not underestimate the warriors of the Reverse Tide Legion. Members of our race stationed at other nodes have clashed with them many times and gained little advantage. Furthermore, the life strength in this world cannot compare to the Dungeon World you previously assisted in conquering. Put away your contempt." The dark-red eye warned solemnly.

The evil warrior ignored the evil eye's advice, his gaze sweeping toward the direction of the Blood Plains in the Beneath Di Zhao mountain range. Black slime surging from his body coiled around him, solidifying into a grotesque suit of armor, with a sharp black spike standing at every joint.

"I will go and test them."

As the words fell, the evil warrior transformed into a streak of pitch-black light that slashed across the sky, racing directly toward the Blood Plains.

The northern part of the Blood Plains.

Duan Xing looked at the players nearby, acting furtively, peeking and waiting for him to kill the evil creatures; his expression was blank, and he couldn't even muster the thought of rushing up to kill them.

Up to now, he was unclear how many he had killed; he simply could not finish killing them all.

Sitting dazed on the ground, he began to ponder a question.

Should he give up the trial and leave this place?

Pride and frustration clashed in his mind, and Duan Xing couldn't help but let out a despondent sigh.

He wanted to persist, yet he did not know how to continue.

These mysterious creatures dug up every place he had been, making it impossible to accumulate enough Evil Crystals to complete the trial.

Although the rune armor on his body had an information recording function that could prove he had slain a large number of evil lifeforms, a quantity sufficient to complete the trial mission.

However, the Overseers never used combat records as reference; they judged the completion of the assessment solely by the number of Evil Crystals collected. If setbacks involving the loss of Evil Crystals occurred during the process, that too was considered part of the assessment content.

Just as Duan Xing was deep in thought, he suddenly felt a powerful ability fluctuation, then sharply looked up toward the northwest sky.

He saw a mass of black light carrying thick death energy racing toward him.

"Evil Spirit?!"

Realizing the approaching threat was an intelligent evil lifeform, Duan Xing's expression became extremely Solemn.

He sprang up abruptly and placed his hand over his left chest.

Click~ Click~ Click.

The sound of gears meshing rang out; the rune armor on his body suddenly lit up, and surging energy rippled outward from him as the center.

His messy blue hair danced in the wind stirred by the energy surge, and two blades quickly condensed and extended from the backs of his hands.

Boom!

The Evil Spirit warrior landed in front of Duan Xing, kicking up gravel and dust that spread outward in all directions.

Once the dust cleared, the Evil Spirit warrior revealed his grotesque form, his eyes filled with a touch of madness staring directly at Duan Xing.

Shing!

Duan Xing's two energy blades also finished condensing at that moment.

The two figures exchanged no useless words after meeting; they moved simultaneously, vanishing from their spots and colliding at the center.

Their forms crossed and separated.

The Evil Spirit warrior looked down at the blade scratch on his chest, a hint of surprise appearing in his eyes; his figure suddenly shifted sideways at that moment, dodging the blade's second slash at a perilous angle. After twisting his body, he delivered a side kick that sent the approaching Duan Xing flying, then immediately followed up.

Boom!

The blade in Duan Xing's hand collided with the Evil Spirit warrior's forearm guard, sending sparks flying in all directions.

Thick death energy swept over, and Duan Xing immediately felt his breathing become difficult.

"Kill!"

Facing the Evil Spirit warrior's frenzied assault, the battle will in Duan Xing's eyes burned Xiong Xiong.

This was not his first time fighting an Evil Spirit, but the Evil Spirit before him was different from the ones he had fought previously; whether in combat skills or physical self-healing ability, it was several times stronger.

The wounds his blades left on the Evil Spirit healed quickly, whereas the wounds on his own body kept increasing.

The light emitted by his armor grew dim under the continuous collisions; after more than ten minutes of high-frequency clashes, Duan Xing gradually grew weak.

Boom!

Just then, the Evil Spirit warrior's heavy punch pierced through the defensive gap created by the dancing dual blades and slammed heavily into his chest. Duan Xing's body was thrown backward; he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, continued rolling upon landing due to inertia, and only stopped his retreat after kicking up a wave of dust.

Just as Duan Xing gritted his teeth, preparing to fight again, the pitch-black figure pierced through the flying dust, attacking in a kneeling knee-strike posture and smashing heavily into his chest.

Two black spikes pierced through the armor's defense and stabbed into his chest.

Boom!

Duan Xing's body sank into the soil, his eyes, which had been emitting scattered red light, briefly returned to pure white.

Just as Duan Xing's consciousness faltered, the rune armor seemed activated by some force; the energy mainspring at his left chest began to turn automatically.

Immediately, surging energy erupted from the armor, blasting the sneering Evil Spirit warrior away; the excess energy continuing to overflow surrounded Duan Xing, rapidly healing the wounds on his body.

Duan Xing, standing up again, saw his momentum constantly rise.

Feeling the brand-new power, a look of shock surfaced in Duan Xing's eyes:

"Father."

The Evil Spirit Warrior attacked again; Duan Xing decisively rushed to meet him, summoning his sharp blade once more to clash with the Evil Spirit Warrior's fist.

Bang!

Amidst the continuous collisions, energy ripples spread outward in layers from the center where they fought.

Duan Xing's strength had clearly increased significantly after his injuries healed, yet he still held the disadvantage against the Evil Spirit Warrior, with a considerable gap in both combat skills and power.

After an intense hour of battle, Duan Xing had become a man of blood; multiple wounds on his body burst open, his stance swayed, and he seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

Yet the look in his eyes as he gazed at the Evil Spirit Warrior remained filled with boundless fighting will.

In contrast, the situation for the Evil Spirit Warrior was equally grim.

The pitch-black armor, capable of rapid repair, was now covered in cracks; his left arm hung broken from his left shoulder and could no longer heal.

Boom!

Duan Xing, now too weak to sustain further combat, fell to the ground at that moment.

Seeing this, a ferocious smile appeared on the Evil Spirit Warrior's lips; he waved his hand to condense a black spike, then walked slowly to stand before Duan Xing.

Just as the black spike in his hand was about to pierce Duan Xing's face, a voice suddenly rang out:

"Taunt!"

Accompanying the shout, the Evil Spirit's memories automatically combined and wove together.

Intense hatred surged up from the depths of his heart; the black spike aimed at Duan Xing turned uncontrollably and stabbed toward the direction from which the voice came.

But the inexplicably surging hatred lasted less than a second before the Evil Spirit Warrior's will broke free; under his surprised expression, a portly figure was sliced by the black spike in his hand into a wisp of black mist and vanished.

"Power of the Rules?"

Just as the Evil Spirit prepared to turn and finish off Duan Xing first, another voice came from behind:

"Hey, look at me!"

Hatred struck again; the Evil Spirit turned uncontrollably and, filled with boundless hatred, flung the black spike in his hand backward.

The target was slain with a single strike, yet new hatred surged from the depths of his heart, causing him to subconsciously turn his head toward a figure not far away.

At the same time, the regional voice channel and the player forum had exploded:

"Brothers, request support! God of Wealth is about to kick the bucket! Hurry over to save the day; we can't hold on much longer!"

"Calling all brothers from every region to rush over for emergency support (Coordinates attached)! If God of Wealth is gone, who will send you red envelopes in the future?"

"Holy crap, is God of Wealth really about to die? I absolutely disagree! I still want to rely on God of Wealth to open my third Star Vein! He absolutely cannot die! I'm bringing the brothers over right now; brothers nearby, hold on for us! Come on!"

"Don't! I haven't even received a red envelope from God of Wealth yet! He absolutely cannot die! Guard the throne, guard the throne!"

The news that God of Wealth was about to die instantly exploded among the player community.

Over the past week, the wealth God of Wealth had brought them allowed many players to open a second Star Vein slot.

In their eyes, God of Wealth was a walking red-envelope machine; encountering him meant earning a small fortune.

Although many players had not yet received God of Wealth's welfare red envelopes, this did not mean there would be no future opportunities; if God of Wealth died, the chance to receive red envelopes in the future would be completely cut off.

Players who learned the news rushed frantically toward the coordinates.

(End of this chapter)