The divinity radiating from that blurred figure was incredibly intense, like a projection of a god.
“Let me leave a mark on you!”
The small gourd circled Black Death Lolita, repairing her injuries as best as it could, but the rate of rot still outpaced the rate of healing.
Jade Dog felt a sudden warmth in his nose. He reached up to touch it and found a smear of bright red.
Red Fox, standing nearby, experienced the same. Both had been poisoned without even realizing it.
If they had been at their peak, they could have used their divinity to shield themselves, and it wouldn't have been easy for Black Death Lolita to poison them so stealthily.
However, the humanity bomb from earlier had affected them too severely, allowing her to succeed.
“Hahaha~”
Lyu Xiaofeng’s laughter grew increasingly frenzied. The giant phantom behind him swept its greatsword, and the black tentacles upon it coiled toward Jade Dog.
“Seeking life through death! Seeking life through death!”
“To kill one is a crime, to kill ten thousand is to be a Hero, to kill a million is to be a Hero among Heroes!”
“I’ve finally touched the secret of promotion!”
“Sequence 4, here I come!”
“Hahahaha!!!”
Lyu Xiaofeng’s eyes exploded, turning into fine powder that merged into the phantom behind him.
A crimson light glowed from the dark, hollow sockets, and a murderous intent began to spread.
Hum~
The phantom behind him began to shrink, deform, and compress, eventually transforming into a longsword.
The phantom itself had already absorbed a great deal of bodily tissue; now, the sword looked as if it were forged from flesh and blood, and one could even see nerves pulsing upon its surface.
At the crossguard, strands of black hair twisted and fluttered as if they were capturing food from the air.
“He’s losing control!”
Jade Dog’s expression turned solemn.
Once a transcendent loses their sanity, the spirituality and divinity within their body spiral out of control.
If they are lucky, they will simply explode.
If they are unlucky, they will lose control and warp, turning into a monster.
Once they become monsters, their strength is often far greater than when they were rational—sometimes even doubling!
Because of this, many in the academic world have studied this subject. After all, if they could succeed, those in power would have an army of monsters at their disposal!
Unfortunately, after so many years, there has been very little progress, and only a few patterns have been identified.
For instance, mutation is irreversible.
During mutation, the individual always feels as if they have touched the truth of the world, believing they can promote to a higher Sequence and rule everything.
Furthermore, the more flawed or fast-advancing a pathway is, the higher the probability of mutation.
This applies to the Killer pathway, the Criminal pathway, and so on.
In contrast, the mutation probability for the Scholar pathway or the Ward Guard pathway is significantly lower.
“Then we have no choice but to eliminate him too.”
The destruction caused by a Demigod who has lost control might not be any less than that of Black Death Lolita.
Fortunately, both were currently trapped within the water curtain of the sealed object. As long as they could eliminate both within this space, they wouldn't have to worry about causing casualties among the common people.
“Hahaha! Kill me? With just you few useless Sequence 5s?”
“Who do you think I am? I am Lyu Xiaofeng! In the Battle of Huihong, slaying generals, capturing banners, being the first to scale the walls, and breaking the enemy lines—I did it all alone!”
“A Sequence 5 promoted amidst ten thousand soldiers, who killed an enemy Demigod the moment I stepped into that rank! How can greenhouse flowers like you possibly compare?”
He gripped the flesh sword and swung it toward Jade Dog from a distance.
At that moment, the hair on Jade Dog's body stood on end. Without a second thought, he dodged to the right, not even entertaining the idea of resisting.
Silently, a black line appeared in the air, severing Jade Dog's left arm.
If he hadn't dodged just now, that strike would have split him in two down the middle.
Strong!
Incomparably strong!
This single strike even made Jade Dog wonder if the man truly was about to break through to Sequence 4.
Red Fox flew forward and grabbed Jade Dog’s severed arm.
As long as the arm was still there, there was a chance to reattach it.
“Don’t!”
Jade Dog shouted to stop him, but he was a step too late.
The moment Red Fox grabbed the arm, strands of black hair sprouted from the wound and coiled around his own arm.
The black hair easily pierced Red Fox’s arm, sucking his blood like leeches.
“Wither!”
As Red Fox spoke, a button on his chest fell off. Simultaneously, the skin on his arm began to dry up and peel away.
The black hairs fell away along with the skin, allowing him to escape.
Red Fox retreated and tore off a cufflink, throwing it toward the severed arm.
A blue bubble formed, enveloping the severed arm and suspending it in mid-air.
The black hair inside the bubble seemed to be stimulated, coiling around everything until the severed arm was wrapped up like a mummy.
“I am a hero! I have performed great service for Great Wei! I have shed blood for Great Wei!”
“But what about you! Is this how you treat your heroes?”
“Cultists break into my home, and you do nothing!”
“Cultists kill my guards, and you turn a deaf ear!”
“Now that the cult has come knocking on my door, where are you! You're still watching from the sidelines, waiting for me and the cult to destroy each other!”
“Is this your attitude toward a hero!”
The red light in Lyu Xiaofeng's eye sockets grew brighter and brighter, eventually turning into patterns that spread from his sockets toward his temples.
Just as these two lines lit up, another pattern appeared on his forehead.
Normally, Lyu Xiaofeng would have certainly noticed it.
But now, he had almost entirely lost his sanity. He wasn't even concerned with defense, so how could he care about this?
Jade Dog, however, was stunned when he saw the pattern. He had seen it before—it was a sacrifice incantation!
“That red light from before—was it branding him with a sacrifice incantation?”
Hearing Jade Dog's words, Red Fox also noticed the pattern and said with a grim expression.
“Is there someone else here? Right, that headless corpse... it submerged into the sludge earlier and hasn't shown its head since.”
Jade Dog used his spirituality to stop his bleeding and said, “That should be a clone; it only has spiritual fluctuations and no signs of life.”
“In other words, its true body is likely still here. There's a fourth party on the scene!”
Red Fox's expression was heavy.
The reason he made this judgment was that the entire area was restricted by the sealed object. What kind of strength would it take to control a clone from across such a barrier?
The two looked at each other, their expressions growing even more somber.
Hum~
Lyu Xiaofeng swung his sword repeatedly. The surrounding space hummed as black lines, like a spider web, filled the area.
“Is this what it feels like to be unconstrained? Is this true freedom?”
“Hahahaha!”
“Sequence 4, here I come!”
“I am the Hero!!!”
Sizzle~
The flesh sword writhed even more violently, as if it had truly come to life.
Crack, crack.
A series of bone-snapping sounds rang out as rib-like spikes grew from the flesh of the sword, stabbing into Lyu Xiaofeng's back like a new spine.
His aura became even stronger at that moment.
“Sequence 4... so this is the mystery of Sequence 4~”
“Hahahaha, I've done it! I've done it!”
Hearing this, Jade Dog and Red Fox knew that Lyu Xiaofeng was beyond saving. He had entered the final stage of mutation.
Rate on N.U.
