The earth-bound spirit chasing the skeleton looked up, its gaze crowned with three rings of light sweeping toward the flying severed wrist in the air!
Yang Zicang immediately sensed something was wrong.
[Dispatch!]
The –palm- controlled by the dispatch ability, dripping with blood, arced strangely and shot toward the other side.
But in that instant, the earth-bound spirit seemed to seize the invisible trajectory; with a mighty yank, the severed palm effortlessly fell into its giant grasp!
Pssh pssh pssh.
Blood dripped into its palm, and the mottled energy rays within its body flared brilliantly.
Hong Haocheng swung his sword, cleaving through the psychic constructs of several onrushing foes; before they could even scream, they collapsed to the ground as if unconscious.
[I have obtained a total of 3721.5N]
–How dare you kill!-
–Kill him!-
–Psychic attack, watch out!-
Some retreated in terror, while others charged in fury.
Hong Haocheng turned his head indifferently; the blade mercilessly rent space as it clashed with the crowd—frost and droplets scattered through the air, and the foes bore golden and crimson phantom flames.
Smack!
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly tightened.
On the earth-bound spirit, the dark hidden ropes coiling around its body snapped in an instant.
Smack! Smack! Boom!
Boom! Amid the explosive shouts, rocks flew, and the massive figure sent a dozen bodies hurtling through the air with a single palm strike.
A blue figure appeared at high speed behind the youth whose body was pierced by two swords.
Two crisp sounds rang out as the weapons snapped; the attacker instantly aged, and with a flick of a finger, one figure turned to ash.
Blood gushed around Hong Haocheng, his body broken; he strained to look up.
The monster’s head hung low, its massive palm landing beside him like a shield. Its towering frame blocked the youth from behind—every attack that came near was twisted and scattered, like leaves caught in a whirlpool.
Yang Zicang twirled his long sword, then retracted his arm and pointed it horizontally at the Earthbound Spirit. He was astonished that this youth could command such a powerful bloodline monster, one that even the Lost Illusion Company could only seal away!
Cheng Yunze and the others quickly retreated near the light door; he stared in disbelief at the battered figure a head shorter than himself.
That monster was actually protecting him!
On the Earthbound Spirit’s chest, a broken Moxel ring lit up—some parts dim, others still bright.
It lowered its head and buzzed:
{It was you who awakened me… so I’ve become like this.}
–It’s awake.-
The crowd around gasped in shock—the Earthbound Spirit had regained consciousness!
–What do we do?-
–Let’s all jump in together. We should be able to handle it.-
The moment those words fell, the massive Earthbound Spirit kicked a floor tile into the air.
[Deploy!]
With a bang, the object redirected by the dispatching ability reversed its trajectory and struck the head of the one who had urged the attack. The figure swayed and collapsed to the ground.
Gasps erupted, and the crowd retreated another dozen paces.
Robin Lo and Yang Zicang established a mental connection.
{This is an awakened monster; I don’t know how much humanity it still has. That guy over there is too terrifying.}
Yang Zicang slowed his pace.
A three-ring bloodline monster with nothing but combat instinct is fundamentally different in nature from one that has regained its will.
He was effectively facing an executive serving under the editor-in-chief.
–An awakened earth-bound spirit is extremely valuable. Killing it for a Virtual Zero Chronos weapon is a tremendous loss.–
Yang Zicang looked at the young boy tightly shielded by the monster—he seemed only a bit younger than himself.
His face still bore the innocence of inexperience, yet it also revealed deep exhaustion and frailty.
He understood his own worth; he knew the unique power of the bloodline within him, and he had used that power perfectly—through his own decisiveness, his will, and the sacrifice of his body.
Yang Zicang sighed.
He wondered if he could have done the same in that position; he wasn’t sure.
A deep, resonant voice of thought emanated from within the earth-bound spirit, cold and solemn.
{You used your body to awaken my confused will, but what will become of you?}
The monster’s head turned, scanning the many people who had retreated, like a butcher eyeing penned poultry for slaughter.
{Who has a healing ability ball? Hand it over and I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, everyone here will be buried with my companion.}
–No need!- Hong Haocheng said firmly. –Take me away, I have my own plan.-
Yang Zicang stepped forward, and Cheng Yunze also stepped forward.
Cheng Yunze said: –Friend, we are all from the same city, and today we truly came to rescue you. You can mutually invest with the Red Moxel in my team; if anything comes up, feel free to contact us anytime.-
Yang Zicang glanced at the man, thought for a moment, severed his link with Robin Lo, and the folded line on his chest shot into the void.
{You actually contacted me.}
Cheng Yunze’s expression flickered slightly, then he calmly accepted the Syn-Link from Yang Zicang.
Yang Zicang thought silently:
[My train can plant a station marker on a target, allowing me to reach them at any time.]
{What do you intend to do?}
[I’ll distract the earthbound spirit; you use your skeleton to help me insert the marker into that person’s body.]
{Planting a marker is practically handing him over to you. Why would I agree to such a request?}
[I can return your female teammate to you, or else you’ll never see her again. Besides, I can have my thought dragon plant the marker on this kid.]
That special skeleton is extraordinarily resilient—no matter how much it’s hit, it recovers—making Yang Zicang deeply wary.
Cheng Yunze quickly weighs the choice between Hong Haocheng and Ning Jiajia; clearly, Ning Jiajia, who is completely loyal to his own team, holds far greater value.
While the two are still deliberating, the Earthbound Spirit’s now-slightly-smaller hand has already seized Hong Haocheng and pulled him into its grasp.
Cheng Yunze’s expression shifts abruptly.
–Go!-
As the words fall, the Paleshade Wyrm emerges from behind Yang Zicang, holding a small phantom platform in its mouth. The phantom skeleton rushes over, takes it from the wyrm’s mouth, and then hurtles at high speed toward the distant Hong Haocheng.
Although half-bent, the Earthbound Spirit stands like a king. Seeing that someone still dares to attack after it has awakened, its dense blue glow flares up.
{How dare you!}
The monster is enraged.
Boom!
It stomps the ground, causing the earth to quake; in an instant, it kicks up the rubble, shattering it into countless flying fragments.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
[Dispatch!]
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Yang Zicang’s sprinting speed suddenly surges; he turns into a blur, raises his Blazing Sword, and charges toward the Earthbound Spirit through the parting rubble.
[Dispatch grid expanded: thousand positions.]
[I have marked 1,879 trajectories!]
A rain of fragments had their trajectories twisted by the scheduling ability, accelerating and hurtling toward both sides in the rear! Yet a mysterious force yanked them back, and the fragments’ forward momentum collectively took a step backward.
Boom!
Amid the crowd’s screams, Yang Zicang’s sword kicked up rubble from the ground.
The earthbound spirit kicked away the charging skeleton, punched upward to shatter the basement ceiling, and shot out through the broken hole with a whoosh.
Splintering stones smashed everywhere, throwing the people below into a chaotic scramble to dodge.
[Too many—I can’t fully mark them.]
The corner of Yang Zicang’s mouth lifted. Among the swirling stones, a coin, flickering in and out of sight amidst the smoke and dust, charged through the dim light toward someone in the group near the gate of light.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Multiple force fields in front of Cheng Yunze shuddered under the barrage of chaotic stones. The stones blasted out by the earthbound spirit carried the void-zero effect, and only these force fields could hold them back.
Now they shattered rapidly only to be erected again.
Suddenly, before one of the force fields, a golden phantom light flared abruptly on that speeding stone!
An intense sense of crisis surged in Cheng Yunze’s heart.
–Watch out!–
The Anjuke beside him, his face twisted in terror, reached out a huge hand to catch the stone that had suddenly accelerated… and the coin tightly clinging and hiding behind it!
Cheng Yunze’s eyelids slowly opened as he blinked, and he saw this –copper coin- approaching him, emerging from the shattered force-field stones.
A celestial treasure!
Boom!
With a loud bang, a beam of light emerged from within the man’s body.
Psionic Body!
Slap! The coin stuck to Cheng Yunze’s body. The moment Yang Zicang crushed the 【Lifespan Bank】 ability ball, Cheng Yunze in his Psionic Body had already raised his hand, and his body vanished with a whoosh.
[No inheritance target.]
[Lifespan Bank application failed.]
Yang Zicang, who had retreated a fair distance, turned his head to glance, frowned slightly, then dashed to a nearby pillar, kicked upward, and ricocheted onto the ground outside the hollow.
Cheng Yunze, in his Psionic Body, sneered and kicked off, his body directly passing through the ceiling and appearing on the first floor of the main hall.
At this moment, the now-conscious bound spirit had already issued a call, and hundreds of monsters from the surroundings were converging. Everyone who heard the sound turned pale.
Cheng Yunze in his Psionic Body state was like a leisurely martial arts master. He clasped his hands behind his back, turned his head, and snorted:
{Brother Yang, didn’t we agree to deal with the monsters together?}
Yang Zicang, whose feet had just landed, saw this semi-transparent figure that had emerged through the ground and let out an awkward dry chuckle.
–Sorry, he pulled my accelerated approach path back to the starting point, which just happened to land right within Chronos’s control range, so I just tried it on a whim.-
{Heh, fine. One of you speaks offhandedly, the other acts on a whim.}
The train brought Robin Lo and dozens of others up to the ground level. In front of the gloom train’s ghostly window, Ning Jiajia covered her mouth in shock. She had never known her captain could possess such a state! Everyone inside the car was equally stunned, never expecting that Yang Zicang could seize the momentum to force out Cheng Yunze’s ultimate trump card.
–You people are like damned ghosts that just won’t leave!–
The one-armed youth, seated in the palm of the earthbound spirit, roared in fury:
–Get lost now, I’ve no time for you. Follow me again and I’ll tear your nest apart!–
Cheng Yunze, drifting to the side, flicked his hand, and his vanished body reappeared. He stepped into it, and his slumbering form snapped its eyes open instantly.
Cheng Yunze pointed at Yang Zicang and said, –Everything just now was his scheme. You saw it too—he intended to set me up. Such a man is not worth trusting. Join our Four Phases Sky Group, and I’ll grant you the right to recruit red Moxel teammates. What’s more, I can erase the psychic mark just planted on you.–
Outside the grand hall, blue giants of all sizes began to flood the stone steps.
The earthbound spirit set the youth from its hand down on the ground. The dark radiance behind it gradually faded, replaced by streaks of azure.
{Why would I need you to erase it?}
The monster’s fingers squeezed towards Hong Haocheng’s head, then pulled out the platform that had entered it as if extracting an object from sticky glue.
{Zicang, hurry! The light here is too strong; the train can’t hold much longer.}
Yang Zicang looked at the youth who had awakened the sleeping giant and said, –This gentleman also said that my target is not you, brother. So if you are willing to stay here, my camp can open its doors for you, providing supplies and food. Become a member of our Big Party Construction Team. I am Yang Zicang.-
Hong Haocheng turned to look behind him. At the gate, hordes of monsters appeared like courtiers greeting their leader.
He turned back and declared solemnly, –None of you have the right to ask me to join. Because I, the president of the Hongtu Association, am Hong Haocheng!-
Yang Zicang, who had been calm all along, suddenly widened his eyes.
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