Chapter 692: The Chant of Death

Lu Mi endured the piercing pain in his soul and the roaring in his eardrums as he activated the black mark on his right shoulder.

His figure vanished instantly from where he stood, reappearing swiftly beside Garm and "Siso."

Watching the remaining silver currents surge into the ground, Lu Mi saw the wraith-form of "Siso" beginning to shake off paralysis; he made the black mark on his right chest glow.

This corresponded to the "Hum and Ha Technique."

He was about to "hum" aloud when a sense of danger struck—he twisted his body sharply and stepped back one pace.

A spear forged from dawnlight flew from afar, crossing thirty to forty meters, slicing past Lu Mi's front and embedding itself deep into the soil on the other side, leaving a deep hole as thick as an arm.

Lu Mi saw who had attacked him: one of the gravekeepers, nearly at the edge of the zone.

He was tall and broad, his powerful frame evident even beneath the black robe, and in his hand he had already formed a blazing sword of light.

"Dawn Knight"? Had one of the gravekeepers received a blessing from the Warrior Path through the Black Tomb? Lu Mi wasn't surprised at all—he felt his suspicion confirmed.

What sent a chill down his scalp was that the other gravekeepers had turned their bodies toward him as well.

Those dozen or so blessed ones had now locked onto Lu Mi.

"Siso" had broken free from the paralysis caused by the electric shock; fearing the control of the "Hum and Ha Technique," he endured his wounds, leaped into the eye of one of the gravekeepers, then emerged again, reverting to human form.

He gazed at Lu Mi, dozens of meters away, his smile growing more pronounced:

I'm a gravekeeper now—harming me is harming the entire group of gravekeepers!

Though they won't actively help me, and will try to flee once the tomb chamber opens in this manner, if you threaten me, they will certainly react.

This is one of the reasons I dared to "invite" outsiders to the Dream Festival, guiding them here.

Too bad my original body died—I couldn't obtain the divine artifact promised by the Celestial Sovereign from Loki to counter the higher-tier outsiders. For now, I must wait patiently.

According to the original plan, if things went wrong, I could have abandoned the corpse in the tomb, helped the devil of the Nos family assist the Rose Sect in acquiring it, and exchanged it for another reward—but now, I must obtain that corpse and become its "soul."

Only then can I survive after the Dream Festival, remaining as a semi-divine undead being with full awareness and reason.

But all this has nothing to do with you, Lu Mi—you must face a "Guardian," multiple "Spirit Shamans," "Gatekeepers," "Soul Reapers," "Necromancer Masters," "Dawn Knights"…

No one below Sequence 4 can withstand an attack from such a "military force" of the extraordinary!

Lu Mi saw the gravekeepers' gazes fix on him, some already forming blazing swords of light as they charged forward; his mind snapped taut, he grabbed Garm's shoulder, and activated another "Teleport," vanishing from his position.

Barely had they disappeared when the ground beneath them collapsed soundlessly, revealing one pale hand after another rising up.

Lu Mi appeared beside Raya, who was badly injured, and seized her shoulder with his other hand.

Then the three vanished from their spot, reappearing beside Amadina, who had just awakened from the electric shock.

They had now pulled a hundred meters away from the group of gravekeepers.

Lu Mi trapped Amadina's arms with his legs and unleashed the accumulated spirituality and power within him.

His condition instantly restored; he activated the black mark on his right shoulder once more.

This time, the four "Teleported" to Lu Jianuo's side, who was healing himself.

Because Lu Mi kept teleporting, some gravekeepers' extraordinary abilities never landed; the rest were forced to constantly change direction, failing to close the distance meaningfully.

Lu Jianuo was about to tell his employer, "Let's flee—we should Teleport back to Tizamo Town," when he saw Lu Mi hurl Garm and Raya onto him.

Thud!

The three tumbled onto the ground, followed by Amadina.

"Ha!"

Lu Mi spat out a cluster of pale yellow light, engulfing the four piled-up figures.

Lu Jianuo, Amadina, and the others collapsed into unconsciousness; given their soul strength, without external stimulation, they wouldn't awaken for at least a minute.

Having done this, Lu Mi "Teleported" again, avoiding being locked onto by any gravekeepers capable of using their abilities at this distance.

His body vanished—every gravekeeper, including "Siso," lost sight of him.

Lu Mi appeared soundlessly behind the group of gravekeepers, beside a palm tree.

Leaning against the rough trunk, he pulled an object from the "Traveler's Satchel."

It was a blackened bone flute with blood-red holes.

"Chant of Hatred!"

Lu Mi's lips curled into a smile as he brought the sinister bone flute to his mouth.

Almost simultaneously, "Siso" Tewanako felt a powerful premonition of danger—he spun around, locked onto Lu Mi, activated his demonic form, transforming into a black monster nearly three meters tall, with curved goat horns and bat-like wings.

"Siso" instinctively abandoned his wraith-form and the plan to possess Lu Mi—his mind told him he couldn't remain calm under that overwhelming aura; he'd reflexively flee.

At "Siso"'s movement, the other gravekeepers turned as well.

Lu Mi's lips touched the blood-scented black bone flute and blew the first note.

His smile grew even wider.

If this were the real world, facing such a crowd of Sequence 7, 6, and 5 extraordinary beings, he'd have only one choice: Teleport back to Tizamo Town with Lu Jianuo and the others—but this was the Dream Festival, where, aside from a few newly arrived who remained conscious, all others had merged with their dream projections or let those projections act independently.

Dream projections were formed from excessive desires and emotions, and lost self-control during the Dream Festival.

After discovering that "Siso"'s dream projection could function as a gravekeeper while retaining partial awareness and reason, Lu Mi concluded that the gravekeepers hadn't been without dream projections—they had fused with them, using their unique traits and conscious self-control to suppress them reluctantly.

Such targets were precisely what the "Chant of Hatred" loved.

It delivered a weakness strike to the spirit or body of those who heard its melody: unstable mental states triggered madness-like symptoms; psychological issues erupted; excessive desires had a chance of detonating on the spot; existing illnesses or old injuries worsened drastically; the unlucky became catastrophically unfortunate.

Facing dream projections, and gravekeepers likely fused with them, Lu Mi believed the "Chant of Hatred" would work wonders—triggering one hundred percent of their excessive desires and emotions!

So he chose to try it—if it failed, he'd Teleport back to the unconscious Amadina and the others, embrace them, and return directly to Tizamo Town.

A mournful, melodious tune began to play; "Siso" Tewanako, too late to stop Lu Mi, instinctively burned the two curved, mysterious goat horns atop his head.

"Psychic Shock!"

Lu Mi's emotions surged violently; the melody he blew now carried clear pain and hatred.

He also saw many spirits—gravekeepers wielding blazing swords of light rushing toward him from all directions.

He kept playing the "Chant of Hatred."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Except for Raya's dream projection, who remained unconscious, every gravekeeper—including "Siso"—froze, their faces twisted.

They heard phantom explosions echoing inside their minds and bodies; their eyes instantly turned blood-red, their bodies lost control, and their ears filled with a deafening roar.

They saw nothing, heard nothing, thought nothing—their flesh and souls were severely wounded.

"Siso" Tewanako was the same—he was, at his core, still a dream projection formed from excessive emotion and desire.

Yet, as he suffered the "Chant of Hatred"'s weakness strike, he also ignited Lu Mi's own surging emotions and desires.

Lu Mi's mind rang hollow; his green eyes filled with blood vessels, thick, bloody fluid dripped from his nose, and his internal organs suffered varying degrees of damage.

The "Chant of Hatred" clattered to the ground.

Over a hundred meters away, near the jungle, the unconscious Amadina, Lu Jianuo, and others twitched slightly, as if all experiencing different nightmares.

Devahuo, weakened from expelling vast amounts of blood to the skin, was quietly edging toward the jungle's edge, ready to flee, when he heard the melody of the "Chant of Hatred."

He froze, then vomited a torrent of bright red, sulfur-scented blood, growing even weaker, nearly slipping into loss of control.

Ivelista saw the sinister doll emit a silent scream, turning the golden-masked crystal skull and its invisible "Ferry" into a pale goat; he was about to joyfully approach the dead river before the Black Tomb when his pale face flushed crimson, dark red blood oozing from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

He too suffered an explosion of emotion and desire—but he was not a dream projection, nor fused with one, so he was merely gravely wounded, not on the brink of death like the gravekeepers and Devahuo.

Reayas, who remained conscious and rational with no dream projection, gasped heavily, seemingly locked in internal struggle, his cold gaze now clouded with confusion.

In this area around the Black Tomb, only the sinister doll, the skin-man, and the golden-masked pale goat remained unaffected by the "Chant of Hatred."

Using the endurance of the "Ascetic," Lu Mi recovered from the devastation of exploding desires and emotions in little time.

He gazed at the still-reeling "Siso" and others, smiled, and pushed his right palm forward.

A massive, blazing white fireball rapidly coalesced, wrapped in silver-white lightning, and shot forth.

Upon reaching the gravekeepers' location, it split into nearly twenty smaller fireballs laced with lightning, striking "Siso" Tewanako and the gravekeepers.

"Precision!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blazing white fire and silver-white lightning erupted; Lu Mi watched the gravekeepers, already on the brink of death, fall like straw, one after another, losing their lives.

This was true "Harvest"… Lu Mi half-closed his eyes, savoring the state.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Except for Raya's dream projection, far away and unconscious, and the "Guardian" barely holding on, all the gravekeepers were dead—only "Siso" Tewanako remained, his body still crackling with residual silver-white lightning.

His eyes were blood-red, on the verge of losing control.

At that moment, he saw a flaming spear wrapped in silver-white lightning fly toward him, striking the side of his nose.

With a hiss, the blazing spear pierced his skull, ignited his brain, and shot out behind him, leaving only wild silver-white lightning snakes raging through his body.

The fire faded; Lu Mi's figure appeared, back turned to "Siso" Tewanako.

The demonic "Siso" stared blankly, swayed, then crashed to the ground.

"Weakness Detection!"

"Harvest!"

(End of Chapter)