Phase Two Begins

The attack that took out the bishop and the idol had naturally come from Qin Chuan.

The moment the phantom vanished, he knew the time was right.

A safer tactic would have been to wait for the bishop and the idol to fight, weakening both sides further before making his move.

But Qin Chuan felt there was no need for that much trouble. He would take them both on at once.

That was what had led to the attack that had shocked the bishop moments ago.

With the bishop's death, his body crumbled away, leaving behind only a pulsating mass of flesh that radiated an evil, decaying aura.

Qin Chuan was extremely displeased.

Seriously? Such a huge BOSS, and this is all it drops?

That lump of flesh clearly could not be absorbed directly. He had no desire to get infected with the Black Death.

"What a loss."

Regret showed on Qin Chuan's face.

He had originally hoped to obtain some power fragments from the bishop and determine exactly what that colossal phantom was.

But the other side had been more cautious than expected. The bestowed power had greatly boosted the bishop's strength, yet not a single useful piece of information could be found.

Compared to that, the Divinity Shard left behind by the idol was more valuable.

Qin Chuan emerged from the shadows and grasped the Divinity Shard, absorbing it.

Divinity Damage Conversion +3%, Divinity Damage Reduction +3%

Both his offense and defense had improved. Not bad.

Still, the fact that he could truly absorb a Divinity Shard surprised even Qin Chuan.

He had only acted with a try-it-and-see attitude, never expecting to actually be able to interact with items from this era.

Qin Chuan then looked toward the lump of flesh left behind by the bishop.

Leaving it here was clearly inappropriate. The surviving Black Monsters around it made no effort to hide the greed in their eyes. The thing was obviously very useful to them.

Qin Chuan did not do things that strengthened the enemy. Even if he could not absorb the power within the flesh, he could not possibly leave it for them.

He immediately unleashed several skills and cleared the area.

To encircle and kill the idol earlier, the monsters that had invaded Beili City had mostly gathered here. Qin Chuan wiped them all out in one sweep, which could be considered a rescue for Beili City.

However, judging from the stench of blood lingering in the air, the city's residents had clearly suffered terrible casualties.

Qin Chuan gathered his thoughts and looked at the flesh. In the end, he decided to use his Shadow Power to destroy it completely.

His Shadow Power could suppress the Black Death, so it would most likely be able to purify this lump of flesh as well.

As he approached, the flesh seemed to sense something. It began writhing and struggling, trying to escape.

It was afraid.

That discovery calmed Qin Chuan somewhat.

Good. It should be afraid.

It meant that even that deity as large as a planet was not invincible.

Even if Shadow Power was not its natural nemesis, it could at least contend against it.

That was enough.

Qin Chuan stomped on the lump of flesh, pouring Shadow Power into it. The flesh let out a shrill scream and struggled even more fiercely, but it could not break free. It could only allow itself to be eroded and annihilated until, in the end, only a black bead remained.

"That awful smell is gone."

Qin Chuan's eyes flickered.

It seemed the curse power of the Black Death had been purified, leaving behind only the purest form of power. He immediately picked up the bead and examined it.

Void Essence

Only those two words were visible, but they still gave Qin Chuan a great deal of useful information.

The most important point was that the enemy came from the void.

But the void was unimaginably vast. There was no way to determine which region that deity inhabited.

Nor was there any way to know how many life forms existed within the void.

However, Qin Chuan did not need to figure out those matters for now.

You had to eat one bite at a time. There was no use rushing.

After placing the Void Essence into his ring, Qin Chuan was just about to plan his next move when he discovered that an invisible force had bound him. Both Shadow Stealth and Shadow Leap had been sealed.

The sudden turn of events startled Qin Chuan.

There's another expert here?

But what happened next made him relax somewhat.

He discovered that the scene before him had accelerated.

Qin Chuan fell into thought.

It seemed the story had entered its second phase.

Night passed, and the sun once more shone over Beili City. The surviving civilians emerged from their hiding places with the relief of having survived the disaster, supporting one another as they left the city filled with death and sorrow.

Perhaps the tragedy of Beili City had spread. Over dozens of sunrises and sunsets, only a handful of groups came here, hastily inspected the place, and quickly departed.

Qin Chuan considered this.

It seemed Beili City had been abandoned.

But before long, Beili City welcomed new residents.

Several hundred ragged vagrants arrived, cleared out habitable houses, and began settling down.

That was not the important part.

The important part was that Qin Chuan saw Aleisa!

But the Aleisa of this time was already vastly different from the one he had first met.

She was more mature and composed.

Moreover, she appeared to be the leader of this group, making every decision, large and small.

Beside Aleisa, Qin Chuan saw Lyon and several other children, but a few were nowhere to be seen.

Whether they had gotten separated or were living elsewhere, he did not know.

But based on Qin Chuan's guess, they were most likely gone.

The scene before him continued playing out.

After Aleisa and the others arrived in Beili City, the place gradually drew more vagrants who came to settle down, and Beili City regained its vitality.

However, one thing was especially noteworthy.

Aleisa had already become proficient in using Shadow Power to treat Black Death Infected.

This earned her enormous prestige.

Vaguely, a religious sect centered around Aleisa was beginning to take shape.

After several dozen more sunrises and sunsets, Aleisa donned a crown amid everyone's expectations and established a brand-new sect in the name of the night.

Because Aleisa could treat the Black Death, vagrants constantly arrived from the wilderness. After experiencing changes in themselves, they devoutly joined Aleisa's sect.

The sect grew larger by the day, and its reputation began to spread.

This was undoubtedly a challenge to the existing sects.

War broke out.

The enemy surrounded Beili City so tightly that not even water could pass through. They fought from day to night, then from night to day.

Aleisa led her followers in a desperate battle, but the enemy greatly outnumbered them. Defeat was already inevitable.

Yet before the outcome could be decided, the church forces besieging the city suddenly withdrew in a hurry. Though they could have taken Beili City with just a little more effort, they did not care in the slightest. They even abandoned their wounded, caring only about leaving.

Qin Chuan was somewhat surprised.

But he was still a bound observer and could not follow them to investigate even if he wanted to.

Aleisa and her followers were equally confused and astonished.

They stood atop the city walls, prepared to fight to the death, and then the enemy simply withdrew?

Once they came to their senses, Aleisa and her followers began treating the wounded and regrouping.

They did not know why the church had retreated, but it was good news nonetheless.

After the war ended, Beili City became peaceful again. The only difference was that even more Black Death Infected arrived, so many that one could not help wondering whether the entire world had been infected with the Black Death.

There were simply too many.