Lord of Prayer

“For real.”

Noon.

The doorbell rang. In the living room, Zhou Chen, who was playing video games, looked over at Li Xiye. “The stuff’s here. Go move it down to the basement. I’m making myself scarce.”

He pulled the watching dog over to take his spot, then bolted upstairs to hide, not wanting any outsiders to see him.

Li Xiye put down her controller and opened the door. A large truck was parked outside. A uniformed delivery driver glanced at the order form in his hand. “Ms. Li, the Alchemy Melting Furnace and seven other Alchemy Tools you ordered have all been delivered. If you could please sign for them… here’s the invoice.”

‘Nine million in total?’ Li Xiye stared at the amount on the invoice, gaining a profound understanding of what Zhou Chen meant by “burning money.” An ordinary Alchemy Apprentice couldn’t afford these things even if they sold an arm and a leg.

After she signed, the driver called out behind him, and another driver wearing Exoskeleton Power Armor began unloading the items from the truck.

“Ms. Li, do you need help carrying these things inside?”

“I can handle it. Which one is the heaviest?”

The driver pointed to a large crate. “That one has the small Alchemy Melting Furnace. It’s very heavy. Maybe we should…”

His voice died in his throat, his expression turning to shock. He watched as Li Xiye walked to the crate and let out a low cry. Fine arcs of cyan electricity flickered across her body as an unimaginable Strange Power erupted from her seemingly slender frame. With what looked like little effort, she lifted the heavy crate off the ground and hoisted it onto her shoulder.

“It’s manageable. Just leave the rest; I’ll take care of them,” Li Xiye said, feeling the weight was well within her limits.

She had entered her Extraordinary Development Stage over the past half-month. Not only had she grown three centimeters taller, but her physical functions had also become much more powerful. Combined with her Extraordinary Abilities, she already met the standards of a Strength Type Ascender. Once her Extraordinary Development Stage was complete, she would undoubtedly become even stronger.

“O-Okay,” the driver stammered, swallowing hard. ‘This girl is seriously strong.’

After moving everything into the basement, Li Xiye called Zhou Chen down to unbox it all.

“This is a small Alchemy Melting Furnace,” Zhou Chen explained. “It’s used to heat materials—an indispensable tool for any Alchemist.”

“Wouldn’t a regular furnace work?”

“Some poor or exceptionally skilled Alchemists might use a regular furnace, but an Alchemy Melting Furnace is definitely better, as it has safety features. Some materials have various reactions when heated—they might explode, crystallize, or release toxic gas. A regular furnace offers no protection. It’d be a disaster if you accidentally blew it up or caused some other incident.”

Zhou Chen busied himself for a while, arranging all the alchemy equipment.

“Okay, I’m about to get to work. Go play games with the dog.”

Li Xiye looked at him resentfully. “Kicking me out the second you’re done using me as your pack mule. How heartless…”

“Playing the victim won’t work.” Zhou Chen held up his hands. “I’ll call you when I’m finished.”

“Fine. Just be careful and don’t blow up my house,” Li Xiye cautioned before leaving the basement.

After she left, Zhou Chen began setting up a Barrier Array to prevent fluctuations from excessive Essence leakage from being detected.

This time, he was going to reforge the Cursed Object known as “Deadly Love.”

He ignited the Alchemy Melting Furnace and waited for it to reach the proper temperature, sitting to one side and toying with “Deadly Love.”

This thing allowed two Ascenders to share their Life Force, Spiritual Power, Essence, and Extraordinary Abilities. Even with its terrifying and fatal side effects, it could almost be considered a Divine Artifact.

‘Just imagine,’ he thought, ‘if a Power Element Ascender and a Spiritual Type Ascender wore this Cursed Object together. By sharing their Abilities, they would compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Their combined combat strength would be far greater than the sum of its parts.’

‘When one powerful Extraordinary Ability meets another, the resulting spark would be beyond anyone’s imagination.’

‘If Li Xiye and I wore it, for instance, we would share our Extraordinary Abilities, both of us possessing Cyan Flame and Aspiration of the Blue Clouds. An Idealist Ability like Aspiration of the Blue Clouds is a favorite for a cheater like me.’

‘I could just wish for an Iron Will, maximizing the Ability’s potential.’

‘Or I could have my Emotion Avatars wear it, like the incarnations of strong will such as Anger and Justice. The effects might be even better than if I wore it myself.’

‘Or if Jiang Che and I wore it, we’d both have Cyan Flame and Telekinesis. We could probably become a flying bomber, raining down explosions everywhere.’

‘Or with Old Yang, combining Cyan Flame and Wind Manipulation… The wind fanning the flames would probably be incredibly powerful, too.’

Of course, all of this was predicated on him successfully reforging “Deadly Love” and erasing the Curse it carried. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare to wear it recklessly.

Once the fire in the Alchemy Melting Furnace was roaring and had reached the required temperature, Zhou Chen tossed the two rings inside.

The flames burning inside were not red, but a pale white.

Cyan Flame was a type of Spiritual Flame, highly lethal to things like Curses and Spirit Bodies. It had also been influenced by the Hammer of Forging, granting it the properties of Molten Fire. That was why using his own flame was better than any other.

Zhou Chen closed his eyes and extended his perception through the flames to gauge the detailed state of “Deadly Love.” He could clearly sense the vast malice and evil Curse hidden within it, which was gradually awakening and growing agitated under the scorching flames.

Wisps of black gas began to seep from the rings, but they were instantly incinerated by the pale, Fiery Fire.

Immediately after, something seemed to awaken, opening eyes that had long been dormant. More of the black, cursed gas billowed up, and through the flames, Zhou Chen felt an unexpected chill.

The Cyan Flame raged, attempting to incinerate all the black gas, but it spread far too quickly. In the blink of an eye, the interior of the Alchemy Melting Furnace was dyed pitch-black.

‘What immense, cursed malice… Just how many people has this Cursed Object killed?’

Zhou Chen frowned but remained calm. He continued to manipulate the Cyan Flame, carrying on the Purification by fire and confronting the cursed black gas inside.

Suddenly, the lights in the basement began to flicker rapidly, the illumination growing unstable.

As light and shadow danced, the flickering intensified. Within the flames, “Deadly Love” began to tremble violently. A torrent of cursed black smoke erupted, forming human shapes in mid-air.

The figures were formed from the cursed black smoke. Their eyes were blood-red, and their bodies bore ghastly wounds—one’s neck dripped blood, another’s chest was viciously torn open, and yet another was missing all its limbs.

They were the past wearers of “Deadly Love,” all in pairs: men and women, men and men, women and women, and even humans and animals. A great many of them had died at the hands of their “pathologically” transformed partners.

The souls of these past wearers, who had all died due to the Cursed Object, had been enslaved by it to increase its power. The more people who died because of “Deadly Love,” the more terrifying the Curse it carried became.

This was the moment Zhou Chen had been waiting for. The Essence within him surged, and the pale white Fiery Fire exploded violently, transforming into a raging ocean of flames that engulfed the entire basement.

The lingering Undead let out bloodcurdling shrieks as they were steadily purified by the Soul-Burning Flame.

Finally, only a pair of male and female Undead, their bodies of black gas far more solid than the rest, remained. They struggled to withstand the flames, their Power greater than the other Undead. They appeared to be the first owners of the two rings, the very creators of this evil Cursed Object.

Zhou Chen opened the Alchemy Melting Furnace, reached inside, and pulled out the two red-hot rings with his bare hands. Tossing them onto the Anvil, he summoned the Hammer of Forging and brought it crashing down.

The reforging began.

“AHHH!!!”

As the hammer struck, the man and woman struggling within the flames let out a piercing shriek. The force of the blow manifested on their spectral forms, leaving a massive dent in their shoulders.

The faces of the male and female Undead twisted with venom, resembling Hellish Fiends as they struggled desperately to escape the flames and kill Zhou Chen. But leaving the Cursed Object—their vessel—was their greatest mistake. Before the Spiritual Fire, these Cursed, Resentful Souls stood no chance of defiance.