Thick black liquid, looking like the saliva of "Black Impermanence" or like blood, as it dripped onto Black City God's body, Black City God's body trembled.
The first thing he felt was a bone-piercing cold. It was as if an ice awl had ruthlessly pierced into his skin, stabbing through flesh and blood, making him involuntarily wince in pain. Subconsciously, he looked at the place where the liquid had dripped onto him.
Black City God's expression drastically changed. No matter how strange "Black Impermanence" had looked before, or the eerie abilities it displayed, at most, he had been surprised—never had his heart wavered.
But at this moment, for the first time, Black City God experienced unprecedented horror.
In his vision, the black liquid was thick, yet after dripping onto his body, it permeated into his skin like a sponge absorbing water, seeping into his flesh and blood.
Even though Black City God's reaction was swift, his divine power surged forth, attempting to envelop the thick black liquid, trying to expel it from his body.
Yet he failed.
The thick black liquid clung like maggots to rotting bones—unable to be expelled. It penetrated his entire body, and neither divine power nor the power of incense offerings could stop it.
Black City God's flesh seemed to have become a breeding ground.
It was being madly infected. Like a virus.
In just the span of a single breath, the thick black blood that had dripped onto his neck spread rapidly across it, infecting most of his chest, oozing out more of that eerie thick black liquid.
"Ah!!!" Black City God let out a painful howl.
———
[At the same time in the mortal realm, in Daxia.]
A remote, uninhabited mountain. A cave entrance overgrown with grass and vines—so well hidden that even if someone passed by, they wouldn't be able to tell there was a cave there.
Inside the cave, the incense-body statue of Black City God stood tall. As Black City God was infected, the incense-body statue trembled, and at its neck and chest, strange black spots appeared. The markings were thick and dark—identical to the thick black liquid.
Furthermore, as time passed, the black spots spread rapidly. Though there was a brief moment of delay, it wasn't long before they accelerated again.
Half a minute passed.
The black spots on the statue had already spread over most of its body, even covering the left side of its face.
———
[At the same time… In the underworld, at the broken Helplessness Bridge.]
Black City God sat cross-legged, coughing up blood-like thick black liquid. Looking closely at his condition, he wasn't really coughing it up. It was more like there was too much thick black liquid inside his body, and the excess was simply overflowing from his mouth. Even the infected left side of his face had black liquid seeping out from his left eye socket.
Black City God could feel it. His body—or rather, his three souls and seven spirits—were being infected.
Just like "Black Impermanence," the scent that originally belonged to him was now tainted by the presence of the thick black liquid, mixed with over a dozen foreign odors, making it eerily bizarre.
His condition was critically close to death. If this were before, when his life was under threat, Black City God would have decisively abandoned his incense-body to avoid endangering his true form.
But now, things were different. The underworld was a place for souls to go after death—only the three souls and seven spirits could enter.
Black City God could no longer simply abandon a body to escape.
"I can't die..." Black City God frantically resisted the infection, his eyes flashing with madness.
"I haven't killed that damn bastard yet—how can I die here..."
His obsession with vengeance.
His desire to live.
Like a madman, Black City God grabbed a Three-Life Stone from the ground beside him.
It was an unengraved Three-Life Stone.
Without hesitation, he carved his own name onto it. To survive, he wouldn't let any chance slip away. He thought that if he died, perhaps leaving his name on the Three-Life Stone would allow him to recall this life in case he reincarnated.
Plop!
Black City God finished carving and casually tossed the stone aside.
At this moment, most of his face—except for his right ear—had already been infected. Thick black liquid oozed from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
The sight was utterly terrifying.
Yet Black City God still hadn't given up. As he frantically thought of solutions, his peripheral vision caught sight of the Yellow Springs River.
"Yes, the Yellow Springs River..."
Black City God murmured in pain, not hesitating for a moment. He mustered all his remaining strength and crawled toward the river.
Although "Black Impermanence" seemed unaffected by the river's power, the infected Black City God knew—the infection was attacking his three souls and seven spirits. And the Yellow Springs River had a devastating effect on souls.
Even Black City God would have his very soul ground away if he entered the river.
But now, things were different. If he didn't jump in, he would die. If he did jump in, he would still die.
To survive, Black City God bet everything on this. As long as there was a sliver of hope, even a dead horse had to be treated like a live one.
He wanted to use the destructive power of the Yellow Springs River on souls to see if he could resist or even erase the infection.
Splash!
At the riverbank, water splashed up.
Whoosh, whoosh~
The terrifying power of the Yellow Springs River surged violently.
With his last breath, Black City God finally crawled into the river.
"Black Impermanence" silently watched. It made no move.
It only watched.
Since Black City God was infected, "Black Impermanence" had not continued attacking him. As if they had fought and acknowledged each other, or as if it had recognized him as the same kind—it did not strike again.
Eventually, time passed, second by second.
With Black City God no longer as a target, and with no other living beings nearby, "Black Impermanence" began moving again, staggering forward erratically, heading in a random direction, disappearing into the distance.
Only the agonized groaning from the bull-head behind its skull lingered in the air, "It hurts... It hurts so much..."
———
[Meanwhile, in Daxia, Nanchang City.]
Here was the Shenxiao Sect's Taoist temple. At this moment, it had been about forty to fifty minutes since Lin De Headquarters sent people to ask the Shenxiao Sect about "King of the Night."
On the forbidden rear mountain path of the Taoist temple, two Taoists were walking toward the mountain.
One old, one young.
The old man was the Shenxiao Sect's current grandmaster, and the young one was the sect's chosen successor.
"Master, why did you suddenly bring me to the rear mountain after the 749 Bureau asked you about King of the Night?"
The successor walked along the path, tilting his head curiously.
"You usually forbid me from coming here—why the sudden exception? Does it have something to do with King of the Night? But didn't you tell Lin De Headquarters you don't know anything about him? You weren't lying to them, were you?" He asked like a curious child.
At fifteen years old, he was full of youthful energy and endless questions.
The old grandmaster gave him a sidelong glance, seeming used to his chatter, and said slowly, "In the past, indeed you could not come. The back mountain is the place where our sect's ancestors rest in peace and live in seclusion. Anyone below the rank of elder cannot come. However, today is an exception."
As he spoke, his aged eyes reflected the scenery of the back mountain ahead. In his mind, he recalled the matter that Bureau 749 had informed him about—the severed connection with the underworld and the anomalies in the celestial court.
As the current grandmaster of the Shenxiao Sect, one of the great figures in Daoist cultivation within Daxia, and someone closely connected with Bureau 749, the old Daoist master of the Shenxiao Sect naturally had the qualifications to know these matters.
He couldn't help but say, "Master is getting old. It's time to find an opportunity to pass on the position to you young people. Unfortunately, the younger generation of the sect is not promising enough to take on the responsibility of sect leader."
"You are the one that Master has high hopes for. Your birth characters align with the Tai Chi Noble Fate physique. You can bear the future burden of the Shenxiao Sect. That is why Master is bringing you here early—to let you see the world, to meet the ancestors, and also to let you know some things."
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