Chapter 49: It’s Good, but Now It’s Mine
“Mr. Spade, may I be so bold as to ask, are you from the Empire, or…”
“Rest assured, I’m from Burning Heaven. I’m not concerned with what you’re doing here,” Xia Feng said sincerely, his voice deep, “Long Live Burning Heaven!”
“Oh, so he’s one of Burning Heaven’s madmen. That makes sense,” the Jester mused, nodding. The world called their God’s Calamity Society a cult, but in their eyes, the Burning Heaven Sacred Hall was the true cult, its members beyond reason.
The Jester smiled by way of explanation. “This pocket watch is called the Pingshan Pocket Watch, its origin naturally being Pingshan Hospital outside the Calamity Realm. You’ve likely guessed that the reason for the breach in the Boundless Realm was caused by Pingshan Hospital under the direction of a certain big figure. And to store and transport such a large quantity of Boundless Stones, Pingshan Laboratory researched this device with a storage capacity far exceeding modern capabilities.”
“Who is this big figure?” Xia Feng asked, confused.
“Mr. Spade, that’s not something I can disclose,” the Jester spread his hands helplessly. “After all, our God’s Calamity Society is still cooperating with this big figure.” Besides, he didn’t completely trust this Spade Person to be from the Burning Heaven Sacred Hall, so he only shared what could be easily verified.
Xia Feng nodded. Although he had clarified many things, he still didn’t understand what this had to do with the Pingshan Hospital from his dream, let alone his unborn wife. Damn it, he came to Pingshan Hospital to find his wife, not some noble big figure.
“By the way, I have one more question,” he said, smiling slightly as he looked at the bartender. “Mino, can I challenge again?”
“…” Mino’s smile was stiff. “According to the rules, it’s possible, but respected Mr. Spade, I don’t have many prizes left. Once I run out, I’ll have no rewards to give, and I’ll die. So, could you, in your mercy, spare this humble one’s life?” He suddenly put on a pitiable, begging expression, stiffly.
“…” Xia Feng’s eye twitched slightly. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Never mind. It’s not impossible to spare you, but there’s a condition.”
“Please, state it.”
“The condition is simple,” Xia Feng pointed at Yan Xujia, who had remained silent the whole time, pretending to be invisible. He said indifferently, “I want his life.”
“?!?!” Yan Xujia was stunned. What the hell was going on? I didn’t provoke you, dammit!
The bartender said helplessly, “I’m very sorry, Mr. Spade, I cannot actively kill anyone—” Before he could finish, Yan Xujia had already vanished from his spot, leaving the Calamity Realm.
“I’m outta here!” Xia Feng was startled and also vanished with a thought.
In the next second, he appeared in a gray world enveloped by Calamity Force mist. “What the hell, what happened to the outside?” he frowned, not having time to observe his surroundings. He quickly sensed Yan Xujia’s direction and plunged into the mist. After leaving the Calamity Realm, the landing seemed random, but Yan Xujia had become a Calamity Eater, and Xia Feng had thoroughly memorized his Calamity Eater aura. There was no escape. While pursuing, he didn’t forget to toss the Water-Resolving Stone he had just acquired into his mouth and bit down hard. The stone’s power quickly dissolved and flowed into the depths of his soul.
[Spirit Artifact: Divine Mirror Without Stand]
[With bronze as a mirror, one can straighten one’s robes; with people as a mirror, one can understand gains and losses; with history as a mirror, one can know dynasties rise and fall.]
[Spirit Unsealing·With bronze as a mirror: Copy | Optimize | Remove the false and preserve the true]
[Copy (Awakened)]
[Optimize (Awakening consolidation→Awakened)]
[Remove the false and preserve the true (Awakening consolidation→Awakened)]
[First stage of Spirit Unsealing complete and liberated, permanently solidified | Second stage of Holy Solution to be liberated—]
[Holy Solution·With people as a mirror: * | * | *]
[Holy Solution Ceremony: *]
[Holy Solution Materials: *]
A huge chunk of information flooded his mind. Xia Feng shook his head, exclaiming “Awesome!” Holy Solution actually had three skills? Normally, even a Holy Solution for a spirit artifact would only grant one additional skill. However, according to the knowledge learned at the academy, to know one’s Holy Solution Ceremony and required materials, one had to reach the Second-stage. Tsk, damn it, it seemed that promoting to the Second-stage was urgent. Moreover, reaching the Second-stage would grant him an additional copy slot.
“Senior! H-how about you stop chasing? We have no enmity, right?!” Yan Xujia shouted in terror as he fled frantically. He still hadn’t killed that bastard Xia Feng! He still hadn’t captured that bitch Cha Nai Xue! He couldn’t die yet! I can’t die…
But the surrounding Calamity Force aura continuously eroded his reason. His vision flickered, and the masked man chasing behind him seemed to sprout countless tentacles, attacking madly with eerie laughter. “Go to hell!” Yan Xujia collapsed, grit his teeth, and roared back, “Summon soldiers!”
His domain unleashed, and ten wooden soldiers crawled out. Unlike last time, these wooden soldiers had also mutated along with his own Calamity Eater transformation. Their dark green bodies turned reddish-brown, and a bloody aura spread out. “Kill him!”
However, as Yan Xujia spoke coldly, the ten wooden soldiers all turned their heads and stared at him expressionlessly. “Optimize,” a faint voice sounded. The ten wooden soldiers opened their blood-red eyes.
“What—” Yan Xujia’s face paled in shock. Xia Feng! This Spade Person was that bastard Xia Feng?! So that’s how it is! This guy wasn’t some Venerable at all! After his shock, Yan Xujia suddenly grinned. He realized things weren’t so bad. If he couldn’t seize control of the spirit artifact, then they could just perish together. He quickly raised the scepter in his hand and said with a cold smile, “Self-destruct!” As long as he made the wooden soldiers self-destruct, there would be a glimmer of hope!
“Remove the false and preserve the true.” The Spade Person raised the scepter in his hand and murmured, “Yours is fake, this one is real.” Yan Xujia’s eyes widened. Whoosh—the scepter in his hand turned into fine spiritual light and scattered into the air. He opened his mouth, his expression blank. What the hell was this? A spirit artifact? Broken? The connection between him and the spirit artifact had completely vanished! Unlike the previous time when he copied it, he could at least sense it then and even tried to seize control from Xia Feng. But this time, there was truly nothing left!
[Selected Spirit Artifact: Forest Scepter (Copied, ‘Remove the false’ condition not triggered)]
[Remove the false and preserve the true successful—]
[Description: As the king of this game, the Life Star God is always watching you.]
[Level: C]
[Spirit Unsealing·Calamity Eater Soldier Summoning: After mutation, combat effectiveness doubles again in a Calamity Force environment, and you can choose to make the wooden soldiers self-destruct to produce a massive Calamity explosion attack on the enemy.]
It had evolved after not being used for a few days? Nice.
“It’s good, but now it’s mine!” Xia Feng smiled slightly, waving the scepter forward. The ten wooden soldiers left afterimages where they stood and instantly appeared all around Yan Xujia, blocking his escape route. Swish, swish—two wooden palms pierced Yan Xujia’s chest.
“Ugh—” Yan Xujia’s throat gurgled blood. He stared down blankly at the bloody hole in his chest, his consciousness gradually fading. “How… how could this happen?”
The wooden palms withdrew, and he fell backward. In his terrified eyes, he never understood, even to his death, how Xia Feng possessed that ability to directly seize his spirit artifact. What kind of perverted ability was this in the world? Yan Xujia, grinding his teeth in hatred, tilted his head and died.
Xia Feng conjured a mass of Calamity Force from the air, decomposed it into Calamity Spirit Fluid and Bloodworm impurities, and then tossed the impurities onto Yan Xujia’s corpse. The corpse was devoured and assimilated into Bloodworm impurities within seconds, disappearing completely. Destroying the evidence.
“Hmm?” Xia Feng suddenly froze, looking at the Calamity Spirit Fluid in his palm. In the center of a small, quietly flowing gray mist, a tiny black-gold stone was floating. “Is this… a Boundless Stone?” Xia Feng widened his eyes, looking around in confusion. He suddenly remembered something: God’s Calamity Society intended to invade District 51, which would inevitably cause damage to the Boundless Realm. How many Boundless Stones would fall through the cracks? Xia Feng dared not even think about it!
