Chapter 24 She Chose the Most Fierce One
After throwing Zhang Dexian out, Luxianbei turned around and ran far away, hiding on the roof of a secluded factory away from Jiang Li and Zhang Dexian.
When she stopped and looked back, she saw Zhang Dexian in mid-air, stabbing his chest with a sharp weapon three times. A surge of admiration arose in her heart, and she couldn’t help but clasp her hands in respect.
“Nice move, nice move! I didn’t expect you to be a life-risking player too?”
For someone like her, who would scream for a long time if she cut her hand while chopping vegetables, the person she admired the most was someone who could stab themselves when being ruthless.
Of course, utilizing high-level spirit energy items and using brutal, even fatal methods to enhance strength in a short time is undeniably effective and powerful.
bl**d poured from the wound in Zhang Dexian’s chest, instantly transforming into golden lightning, resembling a swarm of golden snakes flocking out, twisting and dancing along his body, coalescing into an incomprehensible piece of golden Sanskrit. His spirit energy fluctuations soared, reaching a terrifying level in a matter of breaths.
Impressive! Luxianbei thought. This spirit energy fluctuation was probably as strong as seventeen or eighteen Mr. Rabbits or half the Great Serpent God, right?
She suddenly felt envious of Zhang Dexian’s ancient vajra, but upon second thoughts, that thing had too long a casting time and required self-harm to function, causing her to lose interest immediately.
How thick-headed do you have to be to actually harm yourself?!
Not worth dealing with, not worth dealing with!
However, why does that lightning aura around him remind me so much of the Ming King statue?
Luxianbei furrowed her brows slightly; she began to miss those days spent with the Ming King statue.
In the sky, the bright golden lightning rained down, invigorating the atmosphere, while the three urban legends on the ground briefly stiffened in action, and the billowing black fog around them seemed to be suppressed by some power, retracting back into their bodies.
“Divine transmission supremely victorious mantra, Buddha grants the vajra to embody! Demons, surrender your heads!”
Zhang Dexian roared, as a golden long rainbow descended from the sky, pouring down like the Milky Way.
“Ow——!” The cries of the urban legends instantly echoed across the slaughterhouse.
“Wow! Good! Awesome!”
Luxianbei summoned Big Muscular One, who executed a skyfall fist technique with outstanding results, prompting Luxianbei to clap in praise.
Zhang Dexian swung his fist wrapped in golden lightning, battling the three urban legends. In an instant, turbulent waves of energy swept in all directions, mixing with the chanting of scriptures.
Luxianbei listened to the unintelligible scripture chants, feeling a wave of discomfort rise in her heart. Furrowing her brow, she shifted her attention away from Zhang Dexian and looked toward Jiang Li, who was engaged in a fierce battle with the Pig Head Human Body.
Yes, she was now quite certain that Miaomiao Sauce was indeed Jiang Li, at least ninety percent sure.
When she awoke at the Flower Language Sunshine Resort Hotel, she had seen Jiang Li’s spirit patterns fully unfurled.
That image of a centaur clad in blue carved scripture silver armor, with fur as white as the moon, left a strong impression on her.
Especially since when she was abducted by the cicada, she had dreamt of riding a great white horse…
Uh, that’s not the point.
The point is, besides the tanned face revealed beneath the armor and the golden twin tails fluttering like war banners, almost everything else about Miaomiao Sauce was exactly the same as Jiang Li.
If this isn’t Jiang Li, then I just… I just… uh, that’s why I say I’m only ninety percent sure!
In life, one must always leave a way out for oneself.
Jiang Li and the creature known as Big King were trading blows, like a mythological beast fighting a grotesque creature crawling out of the abyss.
In the blink of an eye, the monsters had already clashed multiple times, leaving countless afterimages, as iron hooks and long knives tore through the air, leaving long-lasting translucent trails.
On Big King’s massive body, like a small hill, clusters of human-faced flesh lumps writhed, their lips moving, accompanied by a sharp, high-pitched wail, exhaling breaths filled with the resentment of numerous South Suburb Slaughterhouse victims.
Yet Jiang Li’s eyes, visible from the armor, showed no sign of fear. Calm and composed, she wielded her knives, their glimmers like silver threads, cutting down the approaching breaths with the smoke rising from the dagger evaporating in brilliant blue flames.
Invisible in the n*ked eye, clashes of spirit energy occurred, erupting with explosive sounds like bombs.
Luxianbei rested her chin on one hand, glancing at Zhang Dexian, who was pummeling the three urban legends nearby, then returned her gaze to Jiang Li, muttering to herself, “It seems I won’t be needed here for a while…”
“But this won’t do! I have to find something to do, right? Just sitting here makes me look useless!”
“No, no, let me see if there are any more manageable urban legends hiding in this ghostly place. Now that I’m here, I need to feel involved.”
As she spoke, she suddenly accelerated to top speed, vanishing from her spot. When she reappeared, she was already on the rooftop of the office building, the highest point of the entire South Suburb Slaughterhouse.
She crouched at a corner jutting out from the rooftop, mimicking those superheroes from American comics who squat at the edges of buildings, watching over the city, her eyes scanning the vast factory area of the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, searching for a target she could bully.
Then.
She spotted Li Weiyi sneaking towards a secluded little room in the slaughterhouse, a deep blue corpse bag slung over his shoulder.
The corpse bag seemed stuffed with something large, bulging so much that the zipper couldn’t be fully closed. It was vaguely visible that a rotting pig’s head hung outside, with reddish-brown liquid dripping from it, splattering the ground.
“Hmm? Isn’t that the guy I met during the day? So he really is here for the scrutiny? But…”
“What is he doing? While others are fighting for their lives, is he secretly stealing pigs?”
Luxianbei muttered to herself. Just then, the door of that secluded little room opened, and someone walked out, half their body hidden by the door, making it impossible to see their face.
Li Weiyi exchanged a few words with the person, glancing around nervously before he threw the corpse bag he was carrying into the little room and followed in, shutting the door behind him.
What’s going on? Something feels off! Luxianbei thought, contemplating for a moment before getting up and quickly leaving the rooftop of the office building.
She decided to follow him and see what the man, who had entered the South Suburb Slaughterhouse early but had yet to show himself, was up to.
If he’s doing something that shouldn’t be done, don’t blame me, Huacheng’s tormentor, the little justice buddy Luxianbei will act ruthlessly!
Who told you to look like a fellow pathetic player? Luxianbei thought.
————
Outside the South Suburb Slaughterhouse.
Among the mountains and woods, a group of White Bone Beasts was fiercely fighting a group of wild cats mutated by black fog.
The bizarre beasts made entirely of bones gathered together, creating a scene resembling a zoo, with wild dogs, monkeys, giant pythons, grizzly bears, and even a saber-toothed tiger with fangs like curved daggers.
Looking around, there was not a single duplicate.
Their only common feature was their enormous size, as their vast bodies were entirely made of bones, pale skeletal structures piled together like heretical armor.
In stark contrast were their opponents—a group of wild cats.
These were a pack of thin, bony wild cats whose fur was dull, their bodies bearing various disabilities, appearing as if they had been abused. They were enveloped in a deep, dark aura, with their crimson eyes flashing with revenge.
Yet these small, pitiful creatures were fiercely clashing with those menacing-looking White Bone Beasts, not yielding in battle.
In the woods, fleeting pale figures left remnants in the air, which were suddenly disrupted by an intercepting shadow, shattering into white bone shards.
The bone fragments pierced into a nearby tree trunk like buckshot, causing the trunk to snap in two, collapsing violently alongside the torn White Bone Beast.
While many wild cats wreathed in black fog were also torn apart by the White Bone Beasts, the flesh scattered on the ground soon would differentiate into more wild cats, pouncing back up.
In this ebb and flow of battle, the White Bone Beasts began to feel increasingly suppressed.
At the same time, the leaders of these contrasting “urban legend” factions were clashing among the treetops.
After exchanging a blow with the cat-eared girl, the bone armor and blades wrapped around Shuo E’s arms shattered. He retreated swiftly, maneuvering freely through the dense canopy, landing steadily on a branch.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the White Bone Puppets on the ground getting pushed back, causing a deep sense of alarm.
Taking advantage of the momentum from acquiring the “Purifying Elixir,” his strength had risen by half a grade during this period, and he was more than capable of upgrading spirit patterns with sufficient materials.
Yet, despite this, he still couldn’t best the cat-eared girl. She appeared relaxed and composed, seemingly having plenty of energy to spare.
Fortunately, the time was almost up, and the ritual was about to begin, Shuo E thought.
“Swish——!”
The cat-eared girl was right on his tail, ready to attack, but heard Shuo E sneer, “I admit you are a strong opponent, but aren’t you even a little worried about those people inside the slaughterhouse?”
The cat-eared girl hesitated briefly, tilting her head, “What is there to fear? Our exam candidates have completely suppressed the urban legends in the slaughterhouse, right?”
“Perhaps, the urban legends in the South Suburb Slaughterhouse will…”
Halfway through her sentence, the cacophony of battle in the distance suddenly ceased, followed by a woman’s piercing scream.
That slightly out-of-tune voice quivered with breathing that sounded as if they were involved in some indescribable, ancient, and sacred chromosomal exchange ceremony.
“Ah~! You… you better not come over here~!”
“Hehehe! Keep screaming! The louder you scream, the more excited I get!”
“d*mn! When did I say I was going to scream?”
“…” The cat-eared girl facepalmed, an unmistakable derisive look in her eyes. She turned to Shuo E and said, “You’ve seen it, it’s better to worry about your companion than about our exam candidates. I think she’s about to become… uh, become unclean.”
Unclean means? Shuo E was momentarily taken aback but quickly returned to his senses, sneering, “I’m not worried about her at all…”
To be honest, he didn’t care much about Miss Rabbit’s fate. She was merely a cooperative relationship with the Solar Eclipse Society, and when necessary, could be disposed of like a pawn.
“Heh, before I came here today, I told someone that only one of us would leave alive tonight. Do you know who that person is? It’s me!”
“What do you mean?”
The cat-eared girl questioned, a sense of unease creeping into her heart as soon as she spoke.
Something was awakening, slowly opening its eyes, lurking in some corner within the South Suburb Slaughterhouse.
The fragmented and chaotic terrifying spirit energy was sleeping and curling up, like returning to the womb, continually growing, spreading ominous shadows in all directions, as if aiming to transform this land into hell.
Amidst that lingering aura evolving towards a higher form, the cat-eared girl sensed the long-lost spirit energy fluctuations of Li Weiyi and another unfamiliar spirit energy.
Both fluctuations were weak, easily hidden and difficult to detect, which was one of the reasons she and the tall, skinny man hadn’t been able to find Li Weiyi before.
She froze for a moment, and then her heart tightened.
“You… you have manipulated Li Weiyi!?”
“Correction!” Shuo E raised a finger, shaking it left and right toward the cat-eared girl, “It’s not manipulation, but he voluntarily cooperated with us for revenge and became part of the ritual.”
Ritual? The cat-eared girl’s face turned pale as if she suddenly recalled something.
Upon hearing Shuo E’s words, she remembered the few evil rituals controlling the creation of urban legends that their leader had mentioned.
One of them involved disassembling the essence of urban legends and recombining them to create higher-level urban legends or spiritual ability users in a short time.
The urban legends within the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, one master and three subordinates, all possessed origins similar to that of the high-ranking urban legend Beelzebub, and pigs were one of Beelzebub’s symbols. This ritual could indeed simulate Beelzebub’s powers to create the Son of Gluttony.
I can’t remain entangled with this guy anymore; I have to hurry and stop the ritual!
The cat-eared girl thought, intending to make a move when suddenly her feet shook, followed by a loud crash, and countless walls of bone surged up around them.
“Bone Arena! Activate!”
Shuo E roared suddenly, and the walls of bone instantly converged on the two, locking them in tightly with the sound of grinding bones as they enclosed around them.
“Little cat, it’s too late! Everything is too late! You and your companions won’t have the chance to rescue anyone; enjoy the last moments of your life in battle!”
As Shuo E spoke, the flesh on his back suddenly split open, revealing a pale bony arm stretching out, merging into the surrounding walls of bone. In the next moment, the surface of the walls began to crawl in sync with his breathing, as if becoming one with him.
At that moment, the cat-eared girl felt as if she had fallen into a bloody gladiatorial arena created by Shuo E. Only by killing the opponent could she escape.
However.
Her face showed no signs of panic or anxiety as Shuo E expected. Instead, she smirked and said, “Not necessarily; don’t forget there’s still one person in the slaughterhouse.”
Previously, she couldn’t understand why Wang Buliu had been watching Zhang Dexian and the Genius Mahjong Girl fight from the sidelines, as if completely disconnected from the situation.
But now, she sensed Wang Buliu’s spirit energy fluctuations moving towards the source of the ritual, and it all suddenly clicked.
She likely had already noticed something, so…
When choosing opponents, she chose the fiercest one!
Thinking carefully, as the strongest exam candidate, making such a decision is very reasonable.
————
In a narrow, dim room, a strong smell of formaldehyde mixed with a heavy stench filled the air.
Three large specimens of domestic pigs and a human skull were placed in the center of the room, items that Li Weiyi had found amid the chaos of the urban legends battling Jiang Li and Zhang Dexian in the slaughterhouse.
On the floor, complex runes drawn with mercury mixed with various alchemical materials covered the entire room.
Around the corners of the room, many pale candles flickered with eerie green flames, creating an invisible force field to prevent spirit energy fluctuations from dissipating.
Two figures knelt in the corners of the room in a strange posture, producing strange throat sounds with their mouths, as if praying to some distant existence.
Accompanying their prayers, the black sun totem on their bare backs emitted an ominous glow. Under this light, the mercury on the floor began to boil, releasing a toxic steam into the room.
Wrapped in toxic steam, the bodies and bones in the center of the room began to show signs of melting. They melted quickly, transforming into a foul-smelling mass, as if possessing some strange, active quality.
The bl**d plasma floated in midair, rhythmically pulsing as if a fetus were breathing, and with each pulse, it scattered crimson light around. Those beams projected down, revealing pairs of eyes that seemed to exist in a distant time and space, gradually growing clearer as if the distance was shrinking.
Those eerie eyeballs nervously rotated, blinking with dreamlike, tempting glimmers, as though fragments of a hallucination filled the air with a buzzing sound of flies.
In the next moment, Li Weiyi and the willing sacrificial member of the Solar Eclipse Society simultaneously raised their arms, taking the already prepared silver ritual daggers in hand, slicing deeply into their own wrists.
“Poof—— Poof——!”
Hot bl**d sprayed from their wrists, splattering onto the bl**d plasma coalescing in a sphere, causing the candle flames to suddenly extinguish. The surroundings plunged into darkness, and the air filled with countless dark red slippery threads.
They surged toward the two in the room, rapidly enveloping them, much like a spider wrapping its prey in silk.
At that moment, a sharp sound pierced the air as someone threw a large stone through the window, causing glass shards to explode everywhere.
“Dogs, I knew you were up to no good! The hour has come; accept the judgment of justice! RUA!”
With a shrill shout, several smoke bombs and glass bottles filled with disaster water flew into the room. The next moment, thick smoke engulfed the space, as shattered glass bottles spilled purple-black liquid, contaminating the ritual as the spirit energy fluctuation that was morphing and amplifying suddenly came to a halt.
