Life-Annihilating Flash Moon

Zhao Kongcheng was baffled.

It was raining so heavily—what was this kid doing out for a stroll? And Zhao Kongcheng had already deployed the Boundless Void Domain. How had he known Zhao Kongcheng was here?

And of all times, he had to show up when Zhao Kongcheng was being pinned to the ground and beaten. If the kid saw that...

How embarrassing!

Besides, Zhao Kongcheng had just told him that protecting the world was up to him. If he turned around and dragged Lin Qiye into this now, and something happened to the kid, Zhao Kongcheng would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.

"Why do you care why I came out? I know you're in there fighting that Ghost-faced whatever. Let me in—I can fight pretty well now too." Lin Qiye's voice came from outside again.

"You can fight my ass!" Zhao Kongcheng cursed. "This isn't a Ghost-faced Man. It's the Ghost-faced King! The 'River' realm! Two whole major realms above you, you brat who just stepped into the 'Lamp' realm! What the hell are you, a high school student, supposed to use to fight it?

"Besides, aren't you always scared of dying? Why are you rushing forward so recklessly now?

"Get your ass home and eat dinner! I'm laying it out right here: as long as I, Zhao Kongcheng, am here, this thing won't harm a single hair on any of your family's heads!"

"That was then, this is now! I may be afraid of dying, but I hate owing people favors the most!" Lin Qiye shouted from outside.

"Our whole family is inside having dinner happily while you fight the Ghost-faced King alone out here? You want to be some unsung hero, but I won't allow it!

"If we're eating, it'll be after we kill the Ghost-faced King. Then you can come back and eat with me!"

Lin Qiye slammed into the air beside the signboard with all his strength, but it was as if an invisible barrier stood there, completely cutting off the inside from the outside. No matter how hard he tried, it would not budge.

Inside the domain, Zhao Kongcheng was sent flying by the Ghost-faced King once more. He lay sprawled on the ground for a long time before barely managing to prop himself up with his blade.

"Don't waste your strength... cough, cough. I may not have a realm, but the Boundless Void Domain I've deployed can easily block anyone below the 'Pond' realm. There are only two ways for you to enter this place...

"Either I let you in myself, "Or... you wait until I die.

"You can't even break through my Boundless Void Domain. Coming in here to face the Ghost-faced King—how is that any different from throwing your life away?"

Zhao Kongcheng kept his eyes fixed on the Ghost-faced King, his voice growing weaker and weaker.

After he finished his last sentence, the commotion outside the domain vanished. No one continued striking the Boundless Void Domain, and no other sounds came through.

Zhao Kongcheng waited one second, two seconds, three seconds...

A smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"That's more like it... Go home and eat dinner like a good boy. Leave the rest to us Night Watchmen..."

Zhao Kongcheng struggled to straighten up, gasping for breath. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and every breath made his body tremble slightly with agonizing pain.

His body had reached its limit.

Before him, the Ghost-faced King stood in the rain like a small mountain, its body covered in wounds—some old, some fresh.

Yet it was still full of vigor, showing no sign of falling. That was the monstrous physique of a Mythical Creature.

Zhao Kongcheng gripped his blade in one hand while his other trembling hand reached into his pocket. A moment later, he took out an emblem.

Two crossed straight blades were engraved on the emblem, and beneath them was a name.

Zhao Kongcheng.

In a daze, Zhao Kongcheng seemed to return to the days when he had first joined the Night Watchmen, when he was still just a green recruit.

"...An emblem is a Night Watchman's life!

"Not only in terms of faith, but in battle as well!

"Inside this emblem is a tiny needle. Press the switch, and it will spring out. The tip of that needle is coated with a drug called Ghost God's Pull.

"When injected into the body, this drug burns all of a person's potential in a short period of time. For those who already possess a Forbidden Ruin, it can greatly enhance the power of their Forbidden Ruin!

"If you don't possess a Forbidden Ruin, Ghost God's Pull will forcibly stimulate your body and bring forth a Forbidden Ruin hidden within your Life Origin that has never manifested. In other words, for the duration of the drug's effect, it can grant a Forbidden Ruin to someone who doesn't have one!

"This is a method of mutual destruction. It is also a method for turning the tables in a desperate situation—and the only chance in their lives for warriors without Forbidden Ruins to experience one of their own.

"Unless there is absolutely no other choice, it must not be used..."

Zhao Kongcheng clenched the emblem, his body swaying uncontrollably. Looking at the Ghost-faced King steadily approaching, a smile surfaced on his lips.

"Do you know... how long I've waited for this day?"

The rain poured down!

Rainwater mixed with blood ran down Zhao Kongcheng's arm and dripped onto the surface of the emblem.

Whether the Ghost-faced King could hear him or understand him, Zhao Kongcheng muttered to himself in the rain.

"A man always yearns for supernatural power. He dreams that one day, he too can soar through heaven and earth, split mountains with a single punch, blanket the clouds with a single thought...

"After being a Night Watchman for so many years, I've always waited for my Forbidden Ruin to awaken. But now I'm already over forty, and I still haven't even seen it.

"Honestly, it's pretty hard getting by among the Night Watchmen without a Forbidden Ruin. Every time I see the captain and the others fighting with theirs, looking cool as hell, I can't help feeling bitter...

"Later, I thought that if I ever encountered an enemy I absolutely couldn't beat, I'd have to try Ghost God's Pull before I died. I wanted to see my own Forbidden Ruin. Even if I died, I could die smiling.

"No matter what, thank you for giving me this opportunity."

Zhao Kongcheng opened his palm, letting the rain wash over the emblem. He lightly brushed his finger against its side, and a thin silver needle sprang out.

He took a deep breath, He plunged the silver needle into his palm...

"Fuck, that hurt a little..." Zhao Kongcheng grimaced and cursed under his breath.

The instant the needle pierced his skin, Zhao Kongcheng felt the agonizing pain throughout his body recede like the tide, replaced by an unprecedented sense of power.

Every cell in his body seemed as if it had been drugged, bursting with vitality unlike anything before. His heart pounded fast and powerfully, like a war drum sounded when two armies clashed on the battlefield!

At the same time, a mysterious force field radiated outward from Zhao Kongcheng at its center.

Zhao Kongcheng's eyes lit up.

The Ghost-faced King seemed to sense the danger. With a low roar, it sprinted through the rain, launching itself forward with terrifying kinetic force!

Zhao Kongcheng gradually straightened his back, his grip around the sword hilt tightened tighter, rain struck the straight blade's surface, producing soft clinks, and as he held the sword in the rain, an unprecedented brilliance erupted from his eyes!

Then, he raised his hand, and toward the rapidly approaching Ghost-faced King, he swung his blade from afar.

A black crescent four or five meters tall swept from the blade, silently slicing through the curtain of rain. In an instant, it tore through the space between them.

The crescent was simply too fast—so fast that the Ghost-faced King did not even have time to turn!

And so, a mangled, grotesque arm flew high into the air.

One slash had severed one of the Ghost-faced King's arms.

Zhao Kongcheng held his sword, the corners of his mouth rising uncontrollably...

He threw back his head and laughed.

"Forbidden Ruins, Sequence 083—Life-Annihilating Flash Moon!

Hahahaha! I knew it! I, Zhao Kongcheng... am fucking genius too!!"