The Eldritch Files

He raised his hand in a knife-edge strike, concentrating immense Crimson power, and aimed straight for Zhang Chiguo’s head.

’It’s time to end this!’

’In the end, I’ll be the one to finish this madman!’

…

But just as this silent roar echoed in Li Moxi’s heart, Zhang Chiguo, incredibly, didn’t even turn around. He again relied solely on his instincts, intercepting the attacks from Zhao Fantian and King Buddha. His body was nearly shattered, yet held together by the power of the Crimson.

He then snapped his eyes open and flipped his hands outward. Spiritual Power, guided by his will, enveloped his hands. It looked as though he had seized the formless Sea of Spiritual and was now brutally tearing it asunder, creating the magnificent spectacle of a man ripping the very sea apart with his bare hands.

Yet in the next moment, busy holding back the crimson ocean, he had no way to defend himself. As the knife-hand strike bore down on him, he looked like a lamb to the slaughter.

Li Moxi’s knife-hand strike was utterly ruthless. Had it been Zhao Fantian or King Buddha, they might have shown some restraint. He, however, would not.

Yet, for all his absolute resolve, he never imagined that Zhang Chiguo, with both hands occupied, would suddenly flash a sinister grin and open his mouth wide.

SHINK!

The razor-sharp knife-hand was caught between Zhang Chiguo’s teeth. Then, with a whip of his neck that seemed to have no bones, he leveraged his fragmented body and tore Li Moxi’s entire arm clean off.

The next moment, Zhang Chiguo’s body plummeted, slamming Li Moxi from mid-air down to the ground and shattering his bones.

Immediately after, he plunged both hands deep into Li Moxi’s body.

The Crimson within Li Moxi’s body refused to let him die. Countless frenzied buds of flesh sprouted, scrambling to stitch his body back together.

But Zhang Chiguo relentlessly tore them away, ripping out the flesh buds as he rummaged around for Li Moxi’s heart.

”I…”

Staring into Zhang Chiguo’s face, now just inches from his own, Li Moxi felt an indescribable, deathly stillness. ’I’m... actually going to die?’

’This is bad…’

On the sidelines, King Buddha and Zhao Fantian witnessed this, and a chill shot down their spines.

The outcome before them was shocking, yet they felt a vague sense of inevitability.

The Four Heavenly Kings turn on each other: one dead, one out of control, two critically injured…

’It was a result you could have predicted with simple arithmetic…’

’But what good did predicting it do?’

Zhang Chiguo was already mad. If they attacked, he would just redirect their power, turning it into an even more frenzied assault on Li Moxi and hastening his death.

But not attacking was even worse. If they didn’t seize this chance to injure Zhang Chiguo, their own lives would likely be forfeit once he turned his attention back to them!

It was a complete dead-end—a trap they were fully aware of, but powerless to escape.

…

…

”Will it be enough?”

Meanwhile, outside the battlefield, Han Su had clasped hands with Song Chushi, transferring the knowledge of the Crimson to him.

Han Su was both anxious and calm. Even with the difference in their power levels, he could see that Zhang Chiguo probably wouldn’t die in this confrontation. His fate, however, would be grim. It was likely that after this fight, he would be completely corrupted by the Crimson.

At that point, he would become a member of the legendary Crimson Legion from the Age of Radiation.

Nothing more than a beast driven solely by the instinct to kill.

”You really are…”

As Song Chushi received the knowledge from Han Su, his face held an indescribable, emotional expression.

After a long, deep look at Han Su, he sighed softly. ”Sometimes, I feel you’re as mysterious as the Ancient Castle…”

”…”

The next moment, he strode purposefully toward the battlefield, where mutual destruction seemed imminent.

All at once, his Spiritual Activity flared to life, and its sheer power shattered the surrounding Mirror World.

’He can shatter the Mirror World with Spiritual Activity alone?’

Even Han Su hadn’t anticipated this, and a sense of shock filled him. ’Just what level is Song Chushi’s Spiritual Activity?’

Once Spiritual Activity reached the level of the Divine Forbidden Area, even the slightest improvement was incredibly difficult.

’Even I had to use the Emperor’s Text like a cheat code to get stronger.’

’So how did Song Chushi reach such a ridiculously high level?’

Han Su suspected he might have already reached 90%!

Furthermore, thanks to the knowledge of the Crimson and witnessing the conflict between the Four Heavenly Kings, the seed of an idea had just begun to sprout in his mind regarding the interplay between Divine Material, Mysterious Power, and Spiritual Activity.

But this Understanding was still too shallow and lacked depth.

But then he witnessed the immense Spiritual Activity bursting forth from Song Chushi, and he faintly felt as if a thick fog was beginning to clear.

WHOOSH!

As Song Chushi took a few steps, his figure was suddenly Flashing. He appeared in mid-air, kicked off a nearby building, and used the momentum to position himself behind Zhao Fantian and King Buddha.

He was still carrying his briefcase, his movements almost elegant. With just one hand, he unleashed waves of Spiritual Power that descended upon Zhao Fantian and King Buddha from behind.

The two were desperate to attack Zhang Chiguo, hoping to critically injure the madman before he could finish off Li Moxi and make the situation easier to handle. But they were caught off guard by Song Chushi’s attack from behind, and the Crimson power within them immediately surged in a counterattack.

Although Song Chushi’s Spiritual Power was terrifyingly strong, far beyond their own, they possessed the power of the Crimson.

Spiritual Activity was certainly important, and Spiritual Power could be used to directly harm others. However, pure Spiritual Power was no match for a Mysterious Power. The difference was like fighting bare-handed versus wielding a sharp weapon; the one with the Mysterious Power would win easily.

Especially since their Mysterious Power was the Crimson—it wasn’t just a sharp weapon, it was a firearm.

This was precisely why, when Song Chushi had fought them earlier, he had to rely on a variety of different Mysterious Powers just to barely hold his own.

But now, Song Chushi didn’t dodge or evade. He faced the Crimson power head-on, fingers spread wide, and actually tried to use his own Spiritual Power to forcibly counter the surging force of the Crimson.

It looked like he was committing suicide in style.

Even Zhao Fantian and King Buddha couldn’t quite understand what Song Chushi was doing.

And at that exact moment, as Song Chushi dispelled the Crimson power, two words softly escaped his lips:

[All Gone!]

[…]

Zero Sequence Encrypted Spell, Number 13!

A Spell that, according to Miss Ai, had been compiled into the Zero Sequence, but which no one had ever successfully used!

And with the utterance of this Spell, Song Chushi’s Spiritual Power crashed down like a tidal wave, directly erasing the Crimson power from their bodies.

Watching from the sidelines, Han Su’s eyes flew wide open.

He had never before imagined that Spiritual Activity could be used this way—to dissolve a Mysterious Power piece by piece, like water melting ice.

At that same instant, a feeling of sudden enlightenment washed over him, broadening his horizons. The true purpose of the Zero Sequence finally materialized in his mind, and he realized he had just crossed a new threshold.

”You…”

Zhao Fantian and King Buddha plummeted downwards, endless panic surging through their hearts.

Even on the ground below, Zhang Chiguo—who was in the middle of madly ripping Li Moxi’s heart from his chest cavity to stuff it into his own mouth—snapped his head up.

…

…

”Holy shit, there are monsters…”

Meanwhile, in Qinggang Central City, Song Chushi’s Spiritual Power had punched cracks into the Mirror World. Countless people who had hailed cabs to see the strange red glow over the Central City now peered through those rifts and saw the figures of Song Chushi, Zhang Chiguo, and the others.

The nightmarish vision made their eyes glaze over in terror, and they screamed as they were jostled forward by the crowd.

It was a spectacle rarely seen in the Qinggang City Center—and a potent form of contamination.

At the same time, on the outskirts of Qinggang, elderly figures in Sacrificial Robes began to slowly materialize at intersections in every direction.

”The location of the twelfth Heir has been locked.”

”This world has waited ten years for the twelfth Heir to take his place. It is time to bring an end to all of this…”