Chapter 625: She Thought of a Story

“Zhang Huainan here. During my investigation, I discovered that the Codename F haunting is being called by an unknown source and may awaken. I ask that everyone lend a hand and locate whoever is calling it as quickly as possible…”

Before Zhang Huainan could explain everything he knew, he sensed his connection to the outside world being severed once more.

The fissure the Commander of Armaments’ arrow had briefly hewn into the Calamitous Corruption’s Divine Land was already closing.

Then six brilliantly colored pillars of light burst from the chaotic hues, like the first rays of light piercing the universe.

They stretched into the void like the colossal rainbow bridge linking Asgard and Midgard in Norse mythology, showering “blessings” upon the devotees calling to it while recklessly siphoning away the power of their faith and the souls of countless devotees.

This was undoubtedly no different from draining a pond to catch the fish or burning a forest to hunt the game, but it had no other choice.

From within its slumber, it had heard an unprecedented danger in the calls of its devotees.

If it did not awaken now, it might never awaken again.

And so it needed to grow swiftly. Before it truly woke, it needed enough strength to wield the might of its Divine Land and exterminate every unwelcome intruder who had entered it.

It was like an immune system surging into overdrive as it tried to purge a terrifying virus from the body.

“Bzzzz—!”

The sudden drone rang out. All around the Calamitous Corruption’s entity, the immense machinery housed inside the factory-like companion structures shuddered and released a shrill roar.

Deep within the factory, the furnaces stockpiled with enormous quantities of psychic energy and devotees’ souls began to boil.

Thick smoke in a confusion of colors billowed from the towering chimneys. Lightning wound around it, followed by bursts of thunder.

The power of the authority that recorded humanity’s malice toward objects spread rapidly with the smoke, encroaching upon the chaotic space and sketching enormous phantoms within it.

The next moment, countless whispers echoed through the air.

“My child became like this, and it’s all because…”

“That drug came from hell. It can’t save anyone…”

“You—yes, you! Do you know how many people the weapon you invented has killed? Your invention is a demon forged from steel!”

The whispers swelled until they became hysterical screams. Countless voices converged into one, transforming into a dizzying wall of noise.

Amid the ever-expanding clamor, the most terrifying manifestation of the Calamitous Corruption’s power gradually revealed itself: the malice toward objects born from war.

In any war, the overwhelming majority of the blame had always belonged to those who started it. Yet more often than not, the weapons used in war were branded demons in their stead.

But after gunpowder was invented, some people used it to make fireworks while others used it to slaughter. Likewise, certain medicines were originally created to cure illness and save lives, only for unscrupulous people to exploit their addictive side effects and amass vast fortunes.

The ones at fault were merely the people who used them. Perhaps the objects themselves had never done anything wrong.

…

And so, amid a deafening roar, the pervasive smoke settled and condensed into form. Countless terrifying weapons rose from the void like a forest, all aimed at the three intruders.

The next instant, the guns opened fire, pouring their immense destructive power in every direction.

Zhang Huainan silently watched the approaching blaze. His gaze darkened. Drawing a deep breath, he summoned streaks of deep-blue lightning beneath his skin, where they coursed along his veins.

“Rumble—!”

He opened his mouth and breathed out a bank of thunderclouds, then roared forth a torrential downpour.

Mist spread across more than ten kilometers. Thousand-foot bolts of lightning branched and twisted through the vapor, and a Giant woven from water and lightning emerged from the haze, majestic and savage.

Ahead of him, a dense barrage of shells came hurtling in like a vicious murder of crows ravaging the heavens.

Zhang Huainan raised a hand and punched forward. The water-and-lightning Giant behind him struck almost in perfect unison, driving its fist into the storm of artillery.

In an instant, boundless lightning erupted from the Giant’s body and became a torrent that collided with the barrage…

A fierce radiance like an exploding supernova burst forth.

The sunset was red as blood, staining the horizon crimson. After a full day of quiet, Amsterdam’s streets gradually came alive like nocturnal animals awakening beneath the evening glow.

Along the canal-ringed streets, red lamps cast their alluring light. Women in revealing clothes appeared at corners and down alleys, eagerly displaying their enticing figures and giving meaningful smiles to passersby.

At the end of the street stood the Tulip Club, jokingly called Amsterdam’s flower of evil.

In a secret chamber known to very few, adjoining the office on the club’s top floor, Brusma knelt and prayed before a strange statue. Deep-sea-green light shrouded it, obscuring its form beyond description.

“…Merciful Father, forgive me. I am about to walk through Your kingdom and spill blood…”

His prayer ended a short while later.

Brusma left the chamber and entered the office, where Wordless Book had been waiting for some time.

He looked straight into her eyes and asked in a grave voice, “My friend, can you guarantee that nothing you just told me was a lie?”

Wordless Book had sought Brusma out the moment she received Zhang Huainan’s message.

But Brusma doubted her words.

He had already sacrificed those traitors to his deity. How could disaster still befall them?

If it truly did, the Tulip Club would undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow.

“That message came from the Dark Emperor—”

“My friend!” Brusma lifted a hand and cut Wordless Book off, his expression dark. “I don’t want to know what that colleague of yours said. I only want to know whether you can guarantee that you haven’t deceived me.”

“Naturally,” Wordless Book replied evenly.

“…” Brusma studied her in silence for several seconds. Then he walked to his desk and opened a concealed compartment in one of its drawers, exposing all manner of gold-plated firearms that radiated faint yet terrifying auras.

“My friend, you have convinced me… These are divine gifts capable of killing bishop-level psychics. Choose one.”

“No. I don’t need any of them.” Wordless Book shook her head, her face devoid of expression.

Bishop level corresponded to Class A under the standard psychic energy fluctuation rating system. Weapons at that level were utterly useless to her.

“You won’t fight at my side?” Brusma frowned.

“Not so…” Wordless Book shook her head again and turned toward a bookcase in one corner of the office. “If you don’t mind, could you lend me a book?”

“Lend me a book that records the most terrifying local legend.”

Brusma paused in surprise, then raised a hand and pointed to an ancient tome on the shelf. Its cover was made of deerskin, and one glance was enough to tell that it had weathered long years.

Wordless Book nodded and politely said, “Thank you.” She stepped forward and took the book down from the shelf.

The instant she removed it, the book vanished from her hand as though it had evaporated.

Brusma, who had been watching her without blinking, felt his pupils contract violently. His chest heaved, and he nearly cried out the name of the deity he worshiped.

He was the godfather of the largest gang in all Amsterdam and had long since grown accustomed to every manner of horror. Even so, the sight of the city’s most terrifying legend becoming reality before his eyes almost made him lose his composure.

“Boom—!”

Without the slightest warning, a tremendous blast resounded through the predawn sky above the Great Pure Palace.

It looked as though something had taken a bite out of the circular Chili Hall, leaving half of it missing.

The building, which had stood for more than a thousand years, collapsed amid a thunderous rumble and broke apart!

Blazing flames soared from Chili Hall and danced beneath the night sky. Terrifying tongues of fire licked the heavens, turning half the sky red.

Twisted figures emerged from the flames and streaked away in every direction.

They were like a migrating swarm of locusts.

As those distorted figures appeared in the fire, massive constructs assembled from the Alchemical artifacts within Chili Hall burst through the ruined walls and raced off in every direction.

Then the anomalous psychic energy fluctuations radiating from the twisted figures triggered the Great Pure Palace’s Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation. The ancient bronze bell inside Zhen Ting Hall began to tremble and released a resonant drone.

Within that heart-stopping sound, countless solidified spell formations appeared above the Great Pure Palace, densely packed and brilliant as a sky full of stars.

And then…

The “stars” fell!

The sounds of battle erupted throughout the Great Pure Palace.

Near the furniture mall in Shizhou City.

Drenched in blood, Qingxiazi shielded a group of Great Pure Palace disciples behind her. Lightning streamed from both arms, while the savage phantom of a Giant several dozen feet tall beat a great drum at her back.

“Boom—boom—!”

With every deafening drumbeat, countless arcs of electricity danced through the air, keeping Elder Wang—whose combat strength had inexplicably surged—and the Great Pure Palace disciples who had suddenly become half human and half object at bay.

She retreated without pause, her feet gouging two furrows into the ground.

Ever since she had unleashed the full strength of her Spirit Pattern to protect the remaining Great Pure Palace disciples, she had been driven back dozens of meters.

She was nowhere near her limit. Yet after receiving Zhang Huainan’s message and using her Death Owl Emblem to contact the disciples who had stayed behind at the Great Pure Palace, only to learn that Chili Hall had exploded, her heart had grown heavy.

Judging by those disciples’ account, the situation inside the Great Pure Palace was even worse than it was here at the furniture mall. Several elders left to guard the sect had been drawn into bitter battles and could only watch helplessly as flames swallowed Chili Hall.

To make matters worse, the Headmaster was trapped inside that terrifying haunting’s Divine Land and could not send reinforcements.

The Great Pure Palace was beginning to look as though it faced a calamity that might wipe out the entire sect.

“Bzzz—bzzz—!”

As Qingxiazi struggled to withstand Elder Wang’s attacks and protect the other disciples, all while worrying about the fate of her sect, the Death Owl Emblem she carried suddenly began to vibrate.

Bi Xuzi’s voice sounded in her ear.

“Junior Sister, I’ve broken through to the vicinity of Chili Hall. I’m trying to cut this off at the source… What the fuck?!”

For some unknown reason, Bi Xuzi suddenly cried out and uttered a rare curse. Then he fell silent.

Qingxiazi froze for several seconds. When she recovered, she asked urgently, “Senior Brother? What’s happening over there? Are you all right, Senior Brother?!”

Only after a long while did Bi Xuzi answer weakly, “I-I’m fine… I just saw something a little unexpected.”

“Phew…” Qingxiazi let out a relieved breath. “Senior Brother, we’re both several decades old and teachers to others. Could you please show a little composure? You scared me half to death.”

“Tch. You wouldn’t be able to stay composed if you were here either!” Bi Xuzi shot back.

“What makes you say that?”

“Do you… believe miracles exist in this world?”

After a pause, Bi Xuzi added, “I never did before. But after what I’ve seen today… I believe.”

Qingxiazi: “???”

Had the Miracle Order bewitched her senior brother’s mind?

This Codename F haunting was already difficult enough to deal with. If the Miracle Order had entered the fray as well…

The Great Pure Palace.

Bi Xuzi stood in an open space not far from Chili Hall, gazing blankly at the hall ahead, most of it collapsed and engulfed in raging fire.

Atop the ruins, on the skeletal wreckage left behind by a fallen tower, stood a figure wreathed in golden light. In his hands he held a brain-like mass likewise enveloped in gold.

He stood there like a lamp beneath the night sky, drawing countless twisted figures toward him like moths to a flame.

And yet…

He did nothing at all. Every twisted figure that lunged at him nevertheless met with an “accident.”

Some happened to pass overhead just as flames ignited Alchemical materials in the ruins, and the ensuing explosions tore them to pieces.

Some were struck dead center by spell formations descending from the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation and vaporized in an instant.

Others simply plummeted from the sky for no apparent reason and nearly smashed themselves to death.

Meanwhile, not only did the figure standing amid the ruins remain completely unscathed, but the golden light surrounding him grew ever brighter and more dazzling.

Most outrageous of all, an explosion among the Alchemical materials inside Chili Hall had hurled molten substances into the air—and those substances had actually repaired the fissure that had appeared in the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation when the hall collapsed.

Bi Xuzi: “…”

In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m completely dumbstruck…

Repairing damage to the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation required not only carefully selected materials but also such absurdly exact proportions that even the Headmaster would need to expend some effort if he came in person.

And now, a completely random explosion had repaired it… If that damn thing didn’t count as a miracle, what did?

The Calamitous Corruption was about to awaken. Everyone and everything was showing off—except Lu Yibei, who was getting beaten to a pulp!

On a stretch of Shizhou City’s beltway shrouded in thick fog.

A roar erupted.

Lu Yibei flew backward just above the ground and slammed into the mountainside beside the highway.

Rock and earth shattered and sprayed in every direction.

Before she could get up, the cliff behind her exploded. A thick arm reached out, seized her, and hurled her into the sky.

Another figure instantly appeared above her and poured down black flames of astonishing heat.

Over the past dozen or so minutes of being brutalized, she had gradually worked out how the objects under Hu Chuan’s control functioned: they reproduced the powers once wielded by their original owners.

Most of those dozen-plus objects had belonged to Class A psychics. Several had even belonged to Class A+ psychics like Zhang Shuo.

Lu Yibei felt as though she had been thrown into a hopelessly mismatched soccer game with no chance whatsoever to fight back.

That’s right—she was the ball!

Against so many formidable opponents, she could not spare a hand to counterattack and had no choice but to defend.

She was confident she could kill any one of them, but what would happen afterward?

Once she killed one or two enemies, the enormous consumption of psychic energy and the opening she exposed while attacking would be more than enough for the others to seize their chance and kill her.

Her situation might look like a slow death, but at least she could still stall for time and wait for Big Cousin to bring help.

Her one piece of good fortune was that the figure resembling Qing Ji, sword in hand, had yet to move. It simply stood where it was, watching everything with cold eyes.

Given that her record against Qing Ji was several hundred losses to a single victory, she did not dare imagine what would happen if that figure joined the battle.

“…”

And in a situation like this, that old man Zhang Huainan still wants me to help kill Hu Chuan?

Dream on!

I’m already doing an amazing job just keeping myself alive, okay?! Lu Yibei thought.

Just then, a thunderous pounding of hooves erupted from the far end of the highway.

She looked toward the sound and saw a streak of lightning rip through the thick fog, carving a brilliant trail across the gray-black pavement.

Delight surged through Lu Yibei, and her eyes lit up.

It was Big Cousin—it had brought reinforcements… Wait!

What the heck was Big Cousin doing?

Why had it only brought Huá Sāng back? Lu Yibei thought.

What she did not know was that the Shuishu Shou (Water Savage Beast) truly had done its best. After leaving the highway and following Huá Sāng’s scent until it found her along the way, it had carried Huá Sāng through practically the whole of Shizhou City.

But everyone had their hands full. Coming to Lu Yibei’s aid was out of the question.

Suddenly, a dark shadow approached Lu Yibei from behind without a sound. From within it emerged a bizarre figure with an adult’s face and the body of a seven- or eight-year-old child.

[His hammer will smash your skull from directly behind.]

The premonitory thought flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind. She whipped around and was about to raise her sword to block when a whistling sound came from behind her.

Huá Sāng suddenly leaped from the Shuishu Shou’s back, took two steps through empty air, and flew straight toward Lu Yibei. Their figures briefly crossed—and then Huá Sāng crashed headfirst into the figure attacking from behind.

There was a dull thud. Huá Sāng remained completely unharmed, while the attacker went flying far into the distance.

Lu Yibei blinked, then turned and gave Huá Sāng a thumbs-up.

This was exactly the kind of teammate she liked: someone who acted decisively at the crucial moment, instead of doing nothing but shouting “Watch out!” and distracting her, thereby giving the enemy an opening.

And besides…

What Huá Sāng had just done brought a story to mind.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl from Hua City whose attacks were so sharp that nothing could withstand them. There was also a young girl from Shizhou City whose body was so tough that nothing could penetrate it. If the two joined forces and rode a divine beast into battle, what would happen?