Chapter 652

In the Land of Night, inside a massive, ancient, dilapidated, desolate, and deathly silent palace.

Lu Mian poured Gardner Martin's blood into a graduated cylinder, then tossed in a small, exceptionally sharp white bone knife that shimmered with an icy, cold light.

During this process, his movements were reckless; he didn't care at all that his fingers were cut by the bone-knife-shaped Beyonder characteristic, causing blood to flow. He simply ignited crimson flames, using the burning to help the wounds contract, ensuring the white bone knife would merge into the potion without being contaminated by his blood.

The physical pain made Lu Mian increasingly clear-headed and excited. He then sequentially placed Gardner Martin's two teeth, the venom of a Colorful-Bearded Horned Lizard, and Hornbeam essential oil into the bright red blood.

Gurgle, gurgle—a large number of bubbles rolled and emerged from the blood, and all the items just mentioned strangely melted and disappeared.

Soon, tiny black iron-slag-like specks floated up in the bright red blood, as if an iron weapon had shattered inside.

Lu Mian glanced at the still-slumbering "Siso" Tavanaco, took the graduated cylinder, and poured the liquid inside into his mouth.

A thick, bloody stench, a raw, metallic rust taste, and a sensation like burning flames instantly filled Lu Mian's mouth, piercing into his brain.

He felt as if he were in the midst of a chaotic war, constantly suffering slashes from swords, shots from firearms, and attacks from enemies. Wounds appeared on every part of his body, sending waves of pain.

Son of a bitch, is this being attacked by the potion? In a trance, Lu Mian fought against a massive swarm of crazed enemies.

Fireballs, fire crows, and searing white spears exploded, tore apart, and nailed one enemy after another to the ground, igniting them into torches.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Lu Mian felt extremely weak, his spirituality nearing exhaustion, while the things accumulated by the "Ascetic" had long since been released.

At this moment, a gigantic figure appeared before him, its aura powerful and terrifying.

Just as Lu Mian felt a trace of weakness, he sensed that the gigantic figure was afraid, resentful, and annoyed.

He is afraid of me... Lu Mian suddenly had this realization. He mustered his remaining courage, condensed a searing white flame spear, and threw it—along with himself—at the gigantic figure.

The searing white firelight erupted rapidly, piercing through the gigantic figure's head.

Boom, boom, boom—the gigantic figure exploded from within, shattering into countless fragments.

Boom, boom, boom—the entire battlefield collapsed with a roar.

Lu Mian suddenly woke up, seeing the ancient palace with its broken stone bricks, seeing the still-slumbering "Siso" Tavanaco, and seeing "Madame Hela" standing quietly to the side.

Sweat dripped continuously from his own body, and every drop of sweat burned halfway, turning into crimson sparks.

By the time the dripping stopped, the sweat gradually returned to normal, becoming less and less.

Hu... Lu Mian exhaled, his spirituality beginning to recover rapidly.

He had advanced to "Reaper."

He had completed the ritual of capturing a higher-sequence enemy alive and flaunting the conspiracy in front of them, consumed the potion, and advanced to Sequence 5 "Reaper" of the "Hunter" pathway!

Compared to the previous sequence, "Reaper" gained three abilities:

First is "Weakness Detection," which allows Lu Mian to discover a target's weaknesses and defensive vulnerabilities from a mystical perspective.

Second is "Reap," which can be added to any attack to harvest the target's life. Being wounded by "Reap" in any part is equivalent to being attacked in a vital point or weakness, causing significant damage.

If "Reap" hits a true weakness or vital point, it can achieve a one-hit kill effect. Even if the target's defense is very strong, it is difficult to withstand such an attack three times in a row.

This can even bring true damage to creatures at the demigod level, provided the opponent does not block, fails to dodge successfully, and does not use any mystical means of defense.

Third is "Precision." Lu Mian can make any attack hit a predetermined position accurately and precisely manipulate spells like fireballs and fire crows that have left his body.

He can even split a massive fireball into a hundred, all striking different targets with relative precision, thereby achieving effective area-of-effect damage.

This is very different from blanket explosions; it is more efficient and has better results.

And whether it's "Reap" or "Precision," both consume a lot of spirituality, no less than Lu Mian using "Teleport" now.

The only exception is "Precision" paired with fire crows, because fire crows themselves have the characteristic of being able to distribute a bit of spirituality and are easy to manipulate, so even with "Precision" added, the consumption of spirituality is not that great.

Additionally, Lu Mian felt his spirituality significantly increased, his mind clearer, his vitality more vigorous, and he could compress flames into searing white in an extremely short time.

He can also combine with the flame spear to fly rapidly across distances of tens to hundreds of meters; if one doesn't consider the consumption of spirituality, he could fully use this for travel.

Lu Mian's strength, speed, physique, and other aspects also improved, but not to the extent of being able to block bullets with his bare flesh.

…………

At the Matani Import and Export Store, at the entrance of the half-collapsed men's restroom.

The silver-white full-body armor clattered as it ran outside, holding a giant hammer condensed from light in both hands.

It turned half a circle to the left and right, failed to find a target, and gradually "calmed" down.

Franca emerged from the nearby shadows, glanced at Colobo inside the half-collapsed restroom, and felt that he was not in any life-threatening danger, but his injuries were not light, and he was quite weak.

This will become the target of the "Arrogant Armor"... Franca, taking advantage of the fact that the "Arrogant Armor" was still searching for the backstabber and hadn't chosen another attack target, quickly approached, lifted the silver-white full-body armor that had started to stop, and stuffed it into her "Traveler's Bag."

"Go and meet up with Jenna!" Franca shouted at Anthony outside the corridor.

Immediately after, she hid in the shadows and disappeared.

…………

Is this "Reaper"... If I fight "Siso" now, I won't have to worry about not being able to break his defense... My desire for battle and slaughter seems to have increased... Lu Mian examined his situation with a hint of joy.

After adapting to the changes in his body, he looked at "Madame Hela" standing to the side and said:

"Thank you."

"Madame Hela" didn't feel there was anything worth thanking for, instead saying with some emotion:

"The coordination of your team is quite good."

"Ms. 'Madame Hela,' the ritual was successful, but I want to enter 'Siso's' dream again to ask about other things." Lu Mian put forward a new request.

"Madame Hela" nodded:

"The ritual requires him to remain conscious, and he might lie, but questioning doesn't."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Mian suddenly closed his eyes and fell limply, leaning against the broken stone pillar behind him.

The corners of his mouth remained curled up, and his expression gradually became calm.

Inside that interrogation room in the dream.

Lu Mian sat down opposite "Siso" again and said to the captive, whose malice and murderous desire were no longer deliberately concealed:

"Thanks for your help; I've become a 'Reaper'."

"Siso" leaned forward abruptly, but forgot that he could attack:

"'Reaper' so what? If it were a duel, I'd still slaughter you!

"If you hadn't teamed up with 'Sleeve Sword' and relied on having more people, you'd already be dead!"

So you've finally revealed your true feelings in the dream after no longer staying conscious... Lu Mian laughed:

"If I can create an opportunity to outnumber you, why would I want to duel you one-on-one?

"My companions are also a part of my strength."

"Siso" said full of malice:

"Do you really trust that 'Hypnotist'?

"Opening your body and mind to a 'Hypnotist' is a very dangerous thing. Aren't you afraid he'll take the opportunity to leave some hidden suggestions, letting you be manipulated by him without knowing it?"

Lu Mian stared at "Siso" for a few seconds and said with a smile:

"This is perhaps the reason why I won against you. No wonder 'Mad Lady' said you aren't pure enough.

"One, I do trust him; we are companions who have experienced life and death together.

"Two, in order to kill you, I am willing to take such risks!"

Speaking of this, Lu Mian straightened his body, looked at "Siso," and spat out word by word:

"Even if I fall into the abyss, even if I sink into hell, I want to see you die wailing!"

"Siso" fell silent for a moment.

Lu Mian sat back down, restrained his emotions, and asked as if chatting:

"I know from 'Demonology' that a 'Demon' advancing to 'Desire Apostle' requires a ritual, preferably a special serial killing ritual. But apart from the one four years ago in Port Pilos, there was only one recently, and I've already killed the murderer. How did you advance?

"Relying on a Gift? You couldn't have been a 'Desire Apostle' four years ago, could you?"

"Siso" smiled:

"Just because you don't know doesn't mean it didn't happen."

Lu Mian's heart stirred:

"Was one of those two pranks meant to cover up your advancement ritual?"

He learned about those two pranks from peripheral members of the "April Fool's Day." They didn't know much either, only doing their part and lacking a grasp of the whole.

Regarding the final result, they only knew that the prank in the gold mining city of Dewis led to the disappearance of a large batch of gold, and the prank in the town of Tizamo caused the townspeople there to clash with people from a certain primitive tribe, resulting in a tragedy.

Lu Mian suspected that it was the prank in Tizamo that hid "Siso's" advancement ritual.

"Siso" said in a tone that appreciated young people:

"Quite sharp."

Lu Mian thought for a moment and changed the subject:

"What's going on with that devil in the North family?"

He carefully avoided the matters of the Celestial Worthy and the "Mother Tree of Desire" for the time being.

"Siso's" expression turned cold:

"I wanted to use him to obtain something, and for this, I repeatedly held rituals to please him, but he only established a connection with me and didn't give me a chance until the year before last."

That thing... the year before last... the pranks in the gold mining city and the town of Tizamo were both after this. One was at the end of the year before last, and one was at the end of last year... Lu Mian began to feel that those two pranks, besides covering up the advancement ritual, might have had other purposes.

Before he could ask further, "Siso" asked with unwillingness and madness:

"Why didn't you seek help from the 'Tarot Club' this time?"

"Why do you care about this? I successfully killed you even without the help of the 'Tarot Club'." Lu Mian raised an eyebrow and asked back in confusion.

(End of Chapter)