Blood wound its way down Yu Huaiting’s arm, dripping onto the dust-covered ground.
Yu Huaiting licked his cracked lips, staring dead at Lu Xiao and the executioner before him.
But with Yu Huaiting fighting, how could Fu Songcheng just stand by?
A faint, dark red glimmer flickered in the cloth doll’s hollow eyes.
Wisps of black smoke invisible to the naked eye clung to the ground, spreading silently in all directions, rapidly drilling into the minds of several villagers watching from not far off.
These villagers had long harbored resentment against the executioner’s cruel skin-flaying, bone-drawing methods—only held back by fear.
Now, Fu Songcheng used the Evil God’s power to directly amplify their inner hatred and brutality.
“Kill him…”
“Flay his skin…”
“You can execute him too…”
Eerie whispers echoed ceaselessly in the villagers’ minds.
The several villagers’ eyes instantly turned murky and deranged.
Beast-like snarls rose in their throats as they threw all caution aside and lunged at the executioner.
“What the hell?!” The executioner, just about to coordinate with Lu Xiao for a lethal strike on Yu Huaiting, suddenly found his back clutched dead.
A villager bit viciously into the executioner’s shoulder, tearing off a chunk of flesh.
“Get off!” The executioner, in pain, backhanded a knife into the villager’s forehead.
But more villagers swarmed up. Like zombies feeling no pain, they clawed with nails, bit with teeth, tangling the executioner dead.
The situation shattered in an instant.
Lu Xiao’s brows knitted. After a moment’s hesitation, she gave up attacking Yu Huaiting and turned to help the executioner break free.
However, the instant she turned, an indescribable, terrifying weight suddenly crashed down from the sky.
Bang!
Without any warning, everyone present—Yu Huaiting, Lu Xiao, the executioner, and the frenzied villagers—was pressed dead by that invisible, massive force.
The air seemed to solidify instantly; every breath became incomparably difficult.
Yu Huaiting dropped to one knee, both hands braced dead against the ground.
He gritted his teeth and tried to rise, but his bones let out a cracking sound of unbearable strain.
“What’s going on…” Yu Huaiting wondered.
The ground began to tremble, the soil churning.
A massive, dark-red-glowing circular formation slowly surfaced from beneath their feet.
The formation’s intricate patterns pulsed greedily like blood-sucking veins.
Everyone simultaneously felt their life force, strength—even their souls—draining madly along the formation beneath their feet.
Footsteps sounded, neither hurried nor slow.
The Daoist player walked slowly out of the shadows.
In his hand he carried a blood-soaked person, life or death unknown.
It was the spy.
The Daoist tossed the spy into the very center of the formation like a piece of trash.
“Are you insane?!” The executioner, pinned to the ground unable to move, stared at the Daoist in shock and roared, “Weren’t you with us—reversing the sacrifice, killing the Evil God! What are you doing now?!”
Lu Xiao struggled to lift her head, her gaze cold as ice.
Looking at the Daoist’s calm face, she understood everything in an instant.
Lu Xiao sneered. “He could teach us how to reverse the sacrifice—naturally he has a way to sacrifice all of us. Gathering us all here… his final sacrifice is to use us and the Evil God together as nourishment!”
The executioner’s pupils dilated sharply, staring at the Daoist in disbelief.
The Daoist couldn’t be bothered with their nonsense.
He stood at the formation’s edge, hands rapidly forming seals, muttering incantations.
From inside the cloth doll, Fu Songcheng saw it all clearly.
The Daoist player was reinforcing this formation.
The red light beneath their feet grew brighter and brighter.
Of everyone present, only Yu Huaiting could still barely move. Bearing the gravity that seemed intent on crushing him, he lifted his right arm bit by bit.
“Die!”
Yu Huaiting roared low, his wrist surging with force, and hurled the greatsword in his hand viciously at the Daoist.
The greatsword flew out with a howl of torn air.
Yet the greatsword flew less than two meters before the formation’s massive suction violently dragged it toward the ground. With a huge clang, the greatsword stabbed straight into the soil, unable to move a fraction further.
Due to the momentum, Yu Huaiting crashed heavily to the ground, gasping for breath.
Fu Songcheng’s heart sank to the bottom of his chest.
As the Evil God’s remnant soul body, he was currently the only existence unaffected by the crushing weight.
But in soul-body form, he couldn’t intervene at all—he couldn’t even pull out Yu Huaiting’s sword.
He had to return to his true body!
Fu Songcheng decided on the spot. His soul body instantly detached from the cloth doll, transforming into a streak of black light heading straight for the riverbed not far away.
The river water was bone-piercingly cold.
Fu Songcheng’s soul body slammed violently into the sealed Evil God shell at the bottom of the riverbed.
The instant his consciousness returned to his true body, Fu Songcheng immediately sensed something else draining his power—the source was the formation Lu Xiao had set up.
So they’d met a real expert.
Fu Songcheng had originally planned to use his true body’s power to break through the formation on the riverbank, but found he couldn’t do it at all.
His true body’s power was draining too fast; the formation’s suppression was too strong.
They’d been careless.
Everyone had been played by this Daoist.
He’d used Lu Xiao and the executioner to pin down Yu Huaiting, step by step luring everyone into his scheme.
Fu Songcheng even suspected the map found in the village chief player’s house was probably the Daoist’s handiwork too.
Fu Songcheng tried several power surges at the bottom of the river; invisible water waves burst open in the riverbed, but he still couldn’t break through the formation’s barrier.
The power was still draining. Above, Yu Huaiting couldn’t hold out much longer.
Fu Songcheng opened his eyes and made his decision.
He opened the system inventory, his gaze locking onto a special item he’d kept for a long time and never used.
[The Torn Cloth Curtain].
Fu Songcheng chose to use it without any hesitation.
The system’s cold notification sounded in his mind:
[Special Item: Torn Cloth Curtain.]
[Item Description: Tear away the final layer of shame—silence, or a fight to the death? The choice isn’t yours or mine.]
[Usage Rules: Forced-binding conceptual item. After locking onto a target and using it, all rules are ignored, forcibly pulling both parties into an independent space for an absolutely fair life-or-death duel. If and only if one party dies is the space dissolved.]
“Lock target: the Daoist player.”
Fu Songcheng recited inwardly.
On the riverbank.
The Daoist was still changing hand seals, an irrepressible wild joy already surfacing on his face.
In a few more minutes, the power of everyone in the formation—including the Evil God sleeping at the bottom of the river—would become the stepping stone to his clear.
These players all looked strong. Absorbing players’ power in an A+ instance would make him unmatched.
Even the system favored him. He’d already been an expert in this field in the outside world, and the instance had even given him a Daoist identity.
Just then, the Daoist suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
An irresistible force yanked him into another space.
He didn’t even have time to react before his vision went black.
The next second, the Daoist on the riverbank vanished into thin air.
With the formation-setter gone, unable to maintain and reinforce it, the greedily churning red formation on the ground didn’t stop immediately—but the suction and crushing weight instantly weakened by more than half.
Yu Huaiting felt the invisible mountain on his body suddenly lighten considerably.
He immediately gritted his teeth and pushed himself up from the ground, yanking out the greatsword stuck before him.
He looked around—no sign of the Daoist, and the cloth doll at his waist gave no reaction.
Yu Huaiting wasn’t stupid.
He immediately guessed Fu Songcheng had made his move. He’d heard Fu Songcheng mention his item when they chatted—the [Torn Cloth Curtain].
Only one could walk out of the duel alive.
He hadn’t expected that he and Fu Songcheng would be driven to this point by a player.
Yu Huaiting took a deep breath, hefted his greatsword, and walked step by step toward the executioner and Lu Xiao, who had also just climbed up.
Yu Huaiting took off his Breaker of Order wristband, restoring his Bitter Couple binding with Fu Songcheng.
He wasn’t worried Fu Songcheng would lose—worst case, he’d buy one get one free; if Fu Songcheng died, Yu Huaiting would accompany him.
Besides, Fu Songcheng wouldn’t lose.
And in another space.
The Daoist found himself in a completely enclosed, gray-white cubic space.
Besides himself, there was only the young man standing opposite him.
The Daoist’s expression changed drastically.
He immediately tried to activate his skills and items, only to discover in horror that his system panel had gone gray—all supernatural powers were completely sealed.
Here, only the most primal hand-to-hand combat was allowed.
Fu Songcheng didn’t answer his question—he just started fighting.
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