Chapter 672: Martial Duel Begins (4/10, Autumn Subscription)

That's right! Three 【Disaster Marks】 had appeared on the forehead of the "pirated Fang Yue"!

As his pupils contracted, Fang Yue's heart surged with a storm of shock.

High-rank Disaster-level anomaly!

This was no longer a being he could handle!

Through his battle with the bandit leader, Fang Yue gained a clearer understanding of his own strength.

With his Innate Force fully unleashed, he could hold his own against several Mid-rank Human-level powerhouses.

But that was his absolute limit.

Facing High-rank Human-level foes—or worse, High-rank Disaster-level anomalies—he was utterly outmatched.

When the 【Nuomian Gui】 opened its 【Weird Eye】 and black blood oozed out, Fang Yue's face turned pale as he mounted the 【Liehong Horse】 and fled.

"Giddy-up!!"

As he shouted, Fang Yue glanced back at the 【Nuomian Gui】—but it remained where it stood, silently watching him leave, showing no sign of pursuit.

This greatly eased Fang Yue's breath.

Yet remembering how the 【Nuomian Gui】's weird little hand had emerged from the 【Liehong Horse】 before, he now doubted the reliability of the horse beneath him.

Surprisingly, the entire ride galloping through the night passed without incident.

Night passed quickly; as dawn brightened, the silhouette of 【Chunuan City】 loomed ahead—and still, no anomaly appeared.

"It seems the 【Nuomian Gui】 didn't follow."

Fang Yue's heart still trembled with unease.

As he neared Chunuan City, he hesitated, then tied the 【Liehong Horse】 outside the city.

He figured that if he moved quickly, he could go straight to the 【Phoenix Organization】 to rescue them.

If he moved slowly, he could ask Yang Hongxia to send someone to feed the horse outside the city.

After securing the 【Liehong Horse】, Fang Yue walked toward 【Chunuan City】.

Soon after he left…

Ssshh—

A massive hand suddenly burst out from the 【Liehong Horse】's mouth.

With a reverse-jointed motion, it gripped the horse's face and pressed down hard with its fingers!

The 【Liehong Horse】, its mouth blocked, let out a muffled, intense, low groan before collapsing.

The 【Liehong Horse】 still had some spirit—it bit through the hand growing inside its mouth—but the half-arm still lodged in its throat choked its airway, and it quickly grew weak.

Then more hands erupted from the ground, completely burying the 【Liehong Horse】.

Soon, the 【Nuomian Gui】—formed of tiny hands in Fang Yue's likeness—slowly rose from where the corpse had vanished.

It glanced toward 【Chunuan City】, grinned, and saliva immediately gushed out, transforming into countless tiny hands that burrowed into the earth.

…

On the other side…

Fang Yue noticed several new portraits posted at 【Chunuan City】's gate.

One of them was his own portrait.

But once Fang Yue removed his 【Human Skin Mask】, no one would know who he was.

He changed into ordinary clothes, removed his 【Human Skin Mask】, and joined the queue.

Fang Yue observed that today's 【Chunuan City】 was far livelier than usual, with crowds vastly exceeding normal levels.

He patiently waited in the long line for hours before finally reaching the front.

Compared to before, the guards' inspection was now simpler and more efficient: as long as one wasn't under 【Possession】, they were let through—hardly even glancing at Fang Yue.

Though a black ring hung above Fang Yue's head, looking odd, even stranger-looking aliens passed without notice, so no one paid him any mind.

Inside the city, strange processions began appearing on the streets, as if promoting something.

Fang Yue leaned closer to look—and realized… the 【Martial Duel】 was approaching.

All the commotion and events in 【Chunuan City】 were part of the 【Tianshang Alliance】's prelude to the 【Martial Duel】.

People on every street corner were already speculating about the mysterious prize of the 【Martial Duel】.

Fang Yue had little interest in this—he found an inn and checked in.

He recorded a new face with his 【Human Skin Mask】, then practiced his 【Heart Method】 and 【Martial Technique】, patiently waiting for the right moment.

During this time, besides training, the thing he thought about most was the terrifying 【Nuomian Gui】.

…

【Phoenix Organization】.

"Lord Niu, this is the latest urgent report from 【Dongliu Mountain】."

Lord Niu, seated, lifted his head calmly and said: "Read it to me."

His eyes were covered in blood-soaked cloth—he had undergone surgery and was now in recovery.

"【Dongliu Mountain】 was attacked by Ye Niu Niu, suffering heavy casualties; later, it was wiped out by a Disaster-level anomaly—its outpost nearly destroyed…"

"Cut to the point. What of the 【Nuomian Gui】?"

"... Its whereabouts remain unknown, but according to the report, its growth is proceeding smoothly."

"Good. Our experiment has achieved a staged outcome."

"Lord Niu, this outcome frightens me—we perhaps shouldn't have chosen a growth-type anomaly as our test subject. Things are becoming troublesome."

"Don't concern yourself. As I said before, we are preparing to evacuate. What happens to 【Chunuan City】 is someone else's problem—we only deliver results."

"That's true… but we've already broken ties with the 【Phoenix Organization】, and we killed Shu Zuo…"

Lord Niu tore off the blood-soaked cloth, revealing his bloodied, white, sightless eyeballs, staring fixedly at his trusted subordinate.

"The Rat Seat died at the hands of an outside enemy, Ye Niu Niu — it has nothing to do with us. Remember that. Also, we haven't betrayed the Phoenix Organization yet, so watch your mouth. Walls have ears."

"Yes."

The Ox Seat rose from his seat. In his vision, everything before him was pitch black; only the faint, flickering outline of a human figure remained, radiating a dim glow — the sole light within his field of sight.

Yet in the researchers' view beside him, the Ox Seat rose like a blind man groping at an elephant, fumbling through the dark, and walked to the massive mirror facing the pure-white observation room. His pale eyes stared fixedly at the white room, as though he could see something within.

But in the researchers' eyes, these ordinary people could only hear the thump-thump-thump echoing from inside the white room, and see the damage marks on its walls — nothing else.

Lord Ox Seat spoke at this moment.

"We have long been researching the 【Ghost Spirit Root】 — the coexistence of human and ghostly power; that is the origin of the 【Ghost Spirit Root】. But from ancient times until now, the development has always been one-sided: the human host serves as the vessel, storing ghostly power within.

Our research, however, expanded outward. Drawing inspiration from certain ghosts, we began studying how to give 【ghosts】 the power of both humans and ghosts at once.

Then what kind of power would this new generation of ghosts possess? Would it also be called the 【Ghost Spirit Root】?

That growth-type ghost causing trouble at 【Dongliu Mountain】 was only the beginning.

The reason we held back this part of the experiments before was that 【Chunuan City】 is our turf, and the higher-ups are watching it constantly.

Now that the people above have a new toy in 【An Dong'er】, and have pushed things to this point, there's no need for me to keep hiding my trump cards.

When it's time to wreck things, we wreck them. Even if 【Chunuan City】 gets ruined, it doesn't matter — every suppressed experiment can now be carried out with full freedom.

Once I can take 【Yin Void】 — that is, the power of the thing right before us — and make it my own, we'll take our experimental results to the capital!

When that day comes, the Phoenix Organization — I want it!

Qing Guo — I want it too!"

In Lord Ox Seat's blazing-white eyes, a fervent light flickered.

Humans can have the 【Ghost Spirit Root】; ghosts can have the 【Ghost Spirit Root】 as well.

(End of chapter)