Left, right, up, down.

Wu Wang stared unblinkingly at the incoming daggers.

The moment they reached him, he swapped the targeted flesh with a harmless point in his shadow. The daggers passed through empty space, stabbing uselessly into the ground behind him.

To the others, it looked as if Wu Wang had simply ignored the attack.

In reality, the daggers had never touched him at all.

【Shadow Swap Technique】!

The Yin Fate Great God stared, its eyes still spewing daggers.

The fear in its heart sharpened.

It couldn’t stop this man!

That last attack had consumed over half of its sullied souls, yet its target just kept advancing as if nothing had happened.

Damn it! Damn it!

What could possibly stop him?

A strange voice echoed within the Yin Fate Great God’s Spirit Body.

“Leave this place… go where the crowds are dense…”

“Destroy everything you see…”

“Praise Calamity…”

The rationality in its eyes was rapidly fading. The inverted triangle on its pig-bone forehead shifted from a faint etching to a vivid red, deepening with every second.

Seeing this, Xiezhi’s expression changed.

He looked up and shouted a warning.

“That’s a technique from the Calamity Cult! It’s going to indiscriminately destroy everything in its path! Be careful!”

He had seen this kind of technique before. The Calamity Cult was a vile organization that usually caused trouble within various Instances. Their core belief was that all players should die in calamities and that humanity could only achieve rebirth through destruction.

No calamity? Then they would create one.

Many Instances that could have been cleared ended in total party wipes because of the Calamity Cult’s meddling.

Now, with the Open Beta imminent, the stakes were higher than ever. The official notice was clear. If an Instance was failed three times, it would descend upon the human world.

Under these circumstances, the Calamity Cult had instantly become a public enemy. Their actions would lead to the descent of countless Instances, bringing immense disaster to the real world.

The Abnormal Affairs Bureau had been investigating Instance Contamination for days, and one of their main priorities was tracking the Calamity Cult. This was exactly their style.

He just never thought they had already extended their reach into the real world.

The markings on the Yin Fate Great God didn’t look recent.

Just how long had the Calamity Cult been plotting in reality?

Whoosh—

The moment Xiezhi’s warning left his lips, the Pig-headed Monster shot into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, it was flying toward the outskirts of Yin Fate Mountain.

It wanted to escape to the city!

Xiezhi’s face filled with astonishment. Don’t they usually just go berserk on whatever is in front of them?

He reacted instantly, turning sharply to An City’s Director.

“Old Fist! The gear! Now!”

He knew the other man had made preparations. There was no way they could let this thing escape into a densely populated area.

An City’s Director understood immediately. He took a Crystal Ball from his backpack, raising it solemnly.

“Breath of the great serpent, curse of life and death, sign of creation!”

【Osevax’s Magic Orb Replica (Epic)】

【After using the activation incantation, a sealed Barrier will be created that cannot be entered or exited. The range expands with the user’s willpower. Duration is 24 hours.】

【Once successfully used, the Barrier will persist for its full duration even if the wielder dies. During this period, no object or energy can pass through.】

【Note: It’s either you die or I do! Let’s have a satisfying Octagon Cage fight!】

This was the contingency An City’s Director had prepared from the start. If he and Xiezhi were both unable to handle the Yin Fate Great God, he would use this item to seal off Yin Fate Mountain. This was also the maximum range his willpower could achieve.

The Abnormal Affairs Bureau members outside would then report to the capital headquarters and request support. Headquarters knew what Xiezhi was capable of. If even his life was in danger, the incident would be taken with the utmost seriousness.

In 24 hours, regardless of whether he and Xiezhi were dead or alive, the players sent from headquarters would surely be able to handle the Yin Fate Great God.

But now, the situation had changed.

The Yin Fate Great God was bent on escaping. Since it was immune to physical attacks, he had no choice but to use this item to stop it.

Omm—

As the incantation finished, a strange blue curtain descended, covering the entirety of Yin Fate Mountain.

Even the Yin Fate Great God, already high in the air, could not advance another inch. It slammed against an invisible presence, its forward momentum completely halted.

But the Yin Fate Great God, having lost its sanity, didn’t care. It continued to fly about wildly, searching for a way to break free.

Seeing this, Xiezhi breathed a sigh of relief.

He cupped his fist in Wu Wang’s direction.

“I’m Xiezhi, Director of the Mingyang City Abnormal Affairs Bureau. Thank you for your help, sir. You need not worry. In 24 hours, headquarters will send people to deal with this thing. We have no intention of trapping you. You may leave as you please after the incident is resolved.”

He was worried this master, unable to leave the Barrier, would mistakenly think they intended to trap him and explained in advance to avoid any misunderstanding.

Little did he know, upon hearing this, Wu Wang’s expression turned unnatural.

The Abnormal Affairs Bureau is sending experts? Then what about my Sword Spirit?

He glanced at the two directors. Right now, one of you is crippled and the other looks like he’s not all there. I can probably still fool you.

But what if the experts they send want to test me? If I get exposed as a Level 6 piece of trash, it’s all over.

No! The Yin Fate Great God must die now!

Thinking this, Wu Wang snorted coldly.

“Hmph! No need to trouble the Abnormal Affairs Bureau. I can handle a trivial matter like this myself.”

With that, he took something out of his backpack.

Clang—

He tossed a black cane onto the ground.

Xiezhi frowned, puzzled. It looked completely ordinary.

But in mid-air, the Yin Fate Great God suddenly wavered. Its flight path began to twist, and it looked like it was about to spiral out of the sky.

A black cane.

Just seeing it stirred something in its very DNA. The fear in the depths of its soul surged up once more, and its eyes even cleared up considerably.

“It was affected?”

Xiezhi and An City’s Director were dumbfounded. Wasn’t that just a normal cane?

And so what if it was affected? The Yin Fate Great God was at an altitude of at least a hundred meters. How was the master planning to get up there?

Whoosh—

A light breeze swept past them.

Xiezhi saw a black shadow soar straight up into the air.

An City’s Director’s hand, still holding the magic orb, nearly dropped it. He had always thought “walking on air” was just a metaphor. He never expected to see a literal manifestation of it.

That young master had just walked up into the sky so casually.

“What kind of skill is that?” An City’s Director asked, perplexed.

Xiezhi shook his head.

“I still can’t see through his methods.”

They had, of course, seen skills that granted flight. Most came with special effects like wings or halos. But a skill that let one simply walk up into the sky, step by step, was far more visually shocking.

“His taste in shoes is terrible, though,” An City’s Director noted, picking up on a strange detail. “That pair of pink shoes is hideous.”

Before Xiezhi could reply, a voice drifted down from the sky.

“They’re magenta!”

If you call them pink again, a certain masked hero might take offense, Wu Wang thought.

The key was, of course, the 【Fashionable Skate Shoes】. They made his jumping movements less obvious, creating the illusion that he was simply taking a light stroll upwards.

A moment later, Wu Wang reached the Yin Fate Great God’s altitude. But he didn’t stop, continuing to ascend until he hit the top of the barrier.

He halted his steps.

And began to free-fall.

【Heaven-descended Palm Technique】!

Pa—

The instant his palm made contact with the Yin Fate Great God, Wu Wang knew just how terrifying this skill was.

In a single moment, his stamina was completely drained. Not only that, his palm and his entire arm suffered a comminuted fracture, going as limp as a noodle. His whole body ached as if it had been beaten all night.

But, he thought, if I suffered such severe recoil, then how much power did my enemy just endure?

BOOM—

The Yin Fate Great God’s pig-skull head plummeted toward the ground like a meteorite.

Over half of its bones were shattered upon impact. The light in its eyes had dimmed to almost nothing. In the village below, the Ghost Villagers began to die in large numbers.

In an instant, the sullied souls it controlled dwindled to a precious few. The rest had been sacrificed to block the damage from that single palm strike.

The power of the 【Heaven-descended Palm Technique】 was not purely physical.

It had struck its Spirit Body directly.

The remaining souls were now barely enough to keep its Spirit Body from dissipating. It was on the verge of death.

“Didn’t die in one hit?”

Wu Wang’s voice emerged as he walked out of the dust kicked up by his own fall. The impact had killed him, triggering his revival. A lucky break. Trying to kill himself with a body that shattered would have been a real pain.

He spoke the very same taunts the Yin Fate Great God had uttered through Wu Xiaoyou’s body.

Now, he returned them in full.

“Lowly being… how dare you!”

The Calamity Cult Mark on the Yin Fate Great God’s pig bones had been absorbed by the Abyss God’s Mark on Wu Wang’s wrist the moment they made contact. That thing was never a picky eater. Because of this, the monster had also regained its sanity.

When the palm struck, it had finally recognized the familiar aura.

It wasn’t the Penguin at all.

It was that face-changing madman!

Unfortunately, it was too late.

“Low~ly~ be~ing… how~ dare~ you~” Wu Wang repeated in a mocking, singsong voice. The rising and falling tones enraged the Yin Fate Great God so much that its Spirit Body almost dissipated on the spot.

“Get our positions straight! Who am I? I’m Reverse Butterfly!”

Wu Wang spat at it contemptuously, displaying a complete lack of civility.

He had come to a clear realization. In this game of spirits and calamities, strength wasn’t determined by levels. It was determined by counters and methods.

Was he stronger than An City’s Director and Xiezhi? Don’t be ridiculous. Under normal circumstances, those two could probably take on ten of him. Especially that muscle-bound tyrant who could shatter a house with one punch. His 【Undying】 passive would just make him a better punching bag.

But what good was that? They were still helpless against the Yin Fate Great God.

Director Xiezhi might have been able to handle it, but even he could fall into a trap, left dumbfounded once his Mental Strength was sealed. The same went for the Yin Fate Great God. If it found a suitable body and was allowed to recover, it could cause chaos in several cities.

Could Wu Wang do that? Obviously not.

But so what?

I have cheats, so I won. Oh, wait, no. This is all due to my own hard work and sweat!

“Now,” Wu Wang said, drawing 【Xiaochuan】 from his waist. “Are you ready to become my Sword Spirit?”

A line of text appeared on the blade.

【Spirit Body with no ability to resist: Yin Fate Great God】

【Devour as Sword Spirit?】

【Xiaochuan is unbearably hungry】