Chapter 150: The Trials of Xyl (Part-15)

“I will escape you, don’t worry,” Alpha replied grimly. “Just focus on staying obedient. No matter what he says, just stay silent. Give a nod or agree with him if he forces you to answer.”

Meanwhile, the old man stopped a few steps away, his cane clicked once on the stone, then stopped. His scarlet eyes flicked over Lin Fang like a scanner reading his soul.

“Don’t worry, child,” he said softly. His voice rasped like old paper. “I won’t hurt you. I just didn’t expect to encounter Nemesis again… and I couldn’t stop myself.”

Lin Fang’s spine stiffened. “Nemesis?” he whispered.

The old man’s lips curved in a faint, faraway smile. “That rebellious cat… fierce and proud. I can still remember our battles—ah, those were the days.” He chuckled, the sound too human for someone so terrifying. “Life and death, every sunrise. That beast could tear apart mountains just to prove a point.”

Lin Fang stayed silent as instructed. In the meantime, his Combat Merge skill wore off, his stats returned to normal, and Nemesis’ aura disappeared.

Right then, the old man blinked slowly, like his sight had refocused. His expression shifted, sharp as a blade drawn. “Wait.”

The next moment, his tone changed — curiosity laced with astonishment. “What’s this?” He leaned closer. “You have a Divine Spirit King alongside Nemesis?”

Lin Fang’s stomach dropped. With the disappearance of Nemesis’ Aura on him, his other secrets came to light, for the old man to see.

The old man’s gaze grew more intent, and a soft hum escaped him. “No, not just that… something else too. Something even I cannot read.” He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he studied Lin Fang’s aura. “I have lived more than two centuries.” Then a smile escaped him, almost delighted. “But you’re hiding a power that even I can’t comprehend. It’s… unfamiliar. Beyond the divine system. Not celestial, not demonic.”

He tapped his chin. “Could it be tied to that divine beast’s essence you carry?”

Lin Fang took a step back. His throat was dry, and panic filled his face. “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t—”

He never finished.

The old man raised his palm, and in an instant, dark energy burst out from his hand like ink spilled in water. It twisted, coiled, and hardened into chains of void, snapping through the air and wrapping around Lin Fang’s body before he could even blink.

“Wh—what the hell!” Lin Fang struggled, but the chains pulsed, locking him in place. They weren’t just binding his body; they sealed his mana.

*Ding!

[Warning: You are suppressed by Chains of Void — a Divine-tier binding. Strength and mana reduced by 99%.]

[Would you like to purchase a Peak Strength Card for 1,000,000 coins?]

[Effect: Temporarily raises strength to Class-0 for 30 seconds.]

“What!?” Lin Fang gritted his teeth, his mind racing. “A million coins? I can’t…”

Another notification popped up, then vanished.

[Alpha’s Will overrides System’s Will. Transaction canceled.]

Lin Fang froze. “What the hell, Alpha!” he shouted in his head.

Alpha’s voice came calm and low, but the urgency beneath it was unmistakable. “Don’t panic. I found a plan.”

Lin Fang gritted his teeth as the old man’s cane tapped again, tightening the chains. “Plan? You’d better tell me it involves not dying!”

“Unfortunately, it does,” Alpha replied. “You trust me, right? So, wait for my signal — then do exactly what I say.”

The old man’s scarlet gaze glimmered faintly. “You’re still awake under Chains of the Void? Impressive. Your soul must be quite strong to withstand it. But then again, I guess that was the case. Or else, you couldn’t have bound to two Spirit Kings.”

Lin Fang’s breath hitched. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer pounding through his ribs, under the old man’s words.

The old man tilted his head. “Tell me, boy. What are you really?”

Lin Fang managed a shaky grin, forcing the words through clenched teeth.

“I’m… just a shopkeeper.”

The old man laughed softly. “A shopkeeper? How amusing. Well, I can sense that you are telling the truth.” He leaned closer, the chains pulsing darker around Lin Fang. “But you aren’t a mere shopkeeper either. So, what kind of other identities do you have?”

Alpha’s voice hissed suddenly in his head, “Now, Kiddo… let me take over your body…”

The old man stood inches away now, his wrinkled hand raised toward Lin Fang’s chest. His touch wasn’t meant to harm — not yet — but to read Lin Fang’s secrets and memories.

“Let’s see what you truly are…” the old man murmured, his palm glowing faintly with scarlet sigils.

But before his hand made contact…

A deep growl echoed inside Lin Fang’s skull. “My turn.”

Lin Fang’s eyes flickered golden, and in the next heartbeat, the air rippled. A pulse of energy erupted from his body like a shockwave. The ground split open, and five massive shadows clawed their way out of it — half-decayed, half-ethereal forms of the elephants he had slain earlier.

Their hollow trumpets shook the mountain.

The old man’s eyes widened, surprise flashing for the first time in centuries. “Necromancy?” he muttered. “No… that’s impossible. Neither the Divine Spirit King nor Nemesis can have this power. Is it that secret, mysterious power he held?”

Alpha didn’t answer. Lin Fang’s lips parted, but it wasn’t his voice that came out — it was Alpha’s, calm and resonant through his body. “You talk too much, old man.”

Before the demigod could move again, Lin Fang’s body stiffened. The air distorted around him.

“Omni Smite,” Alpha whispered through Lin Fang’s mouth.

The world exploded in light, the next instant.

A concentrated beam of golden energy tore through the space between them, cutting a clean path through the air. For a split second, it looked like the mountain itself bent under the pressure — and then the beam struck.

The old man’s pupils shrank. He twisted aside in a blur of motion. The impact missed by an inch, scorching the cliffside and vaporizing everything behind him.

When the light faded, Lin Fang was still standing, although barely. Blood spilled from his mouth in a thick stream. His body trembled, and he fell to one knee. Every bone screamed. Every muscle tore. This was a familiar feeling he had earlier faced, except that his body pushed its limits far beyond what it could even recover with healing.

“Alpha…”

“Hold on!” Alpha shouted in his head. “We’re not done yet!”

Before Lin Fang could even think, Alpha took over again. The air shimmered, and Phase Drift* activated — forcibly.

[Warning: Skill on cooldown. Forced override initiated by Alpha.]

[Risk: Severe mana backlash.]

Reality twisted again.

Lin Fang vanished from the old man’s sight, reappearing five hundred meters away — in open air.

The old man straightened, his robe fluttering in the fading light of the smite’s aftermath. He turned his scarlet gaze toward the distance and murmured, “So, that’s how you escape… clever but too reckless.”

He lifted a hand, about to summon Lin Fang back. Then paused.

The life thread he sensed… was gone. Completely.

He lowered his hand. The undead elephants crumbled behind him, turning to ash.

“Pity,” he whispered. “Another spark gone too soon. I guess it seemed like the secrets he bore were far more important than his life.”

Far away, high above the jagged rocks, Lin Fang’s limp body fell through the night sky.

Wind howled past him, the sound growing into a roar — until it stopped.

The world went silent.

Then…

Crash!

The body hit the ground with a dull, wet thud.

A faint holographic screen flickered before his lifeless eyes.

*Ding!

[You have died.]

But Lin Fang didn’t see it. All he saw was black — endless, silent black. And he couldn’t sense anything… “This feels different from the death I felt last time.”

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