A Battle of Attrition, Come On! (Please Favorite)

"This time, the evil entity wasn't that strange man—it was this Black Umbrella. That strange man was merely a puppet controlled by the Black Umbrella."

Only then did Lu Chen understand why the system had not sent any notification after he killed the strange man. What he had killed was merely a puppet.

But now was not the time to think about that. As Lu Chen looked up, the blackness suddenly descended and enveloped him.

At the same time, black mist sprayed out from beneath the umbrella canopy.

A large amount of black mist instantly shrouded Lu Chen, making his figure somewhat indistinct.

However, that indistinctness was only what those outside saw.

As for Lu Chen himself, when the black mist enveloped him, he had only one feeling. "Cold!"

The mist was freezing to the extreme. More terrifyingly, the moment it appeared, it burrowed into Lu Chen's body, leaving him somewhat numb.

If anyone else had encountered such a situation, they would have been completely invaded by the mist in an instant and turned into another puppet of the Black Umbrella.

But this time, the Black Umbrella had been greedy and chosen Lu Chen—and that was its nightmare.

"If you'd found someone else and controlled them to fight me with your swordsmanship, I might have been somewhat wary. But a battle of attrition? I've never been afraid of that!"

Do not forget that although Lu Chen was a Swordsman, his greatest strength had never been agility, nor his exceptional power, but his physique—his physique bonus was as high as 44 points.

His terrifying physique gave Lu Chen extremely vigorous vitality and resistance against all kinds of negative effects.

The first time he faced the Black Umbrella, it had struck his heart with its strange force.

If others suffered such an attack, even if their hearts did not stop, they would have fainted.

But with his formidable physique, Lu Chen had merely blacked out for a moment before forcibly enduring it.

Afterward, he had even been able to spew out his vitality and force back the Black Umbrella.

Now, the black mist spewed out by the Black Umbrella was indeed strange and could turn people into puppets. Yet before it could enter Lu Chen's body, it was melted away by his vigorous vitality.

The black mist continued pouring forth, but the vitality within Lu Chen's body also flowed ever more fiercely.

The sound of his heartbeat—"thump, thump, thump"—rang continuously within the black mist. The cold black mist kept spewing out as if it showed no sign of stopping, but this did not make Lu Chen afraid in the slightest.

"A battle of attrition is my specialty."

"I've got 44 points in physique!"

With that thought, Lu Chen directly cut open his palm and let blood spread across it. Then, with his bloodstained hand, he grabbed at the Black Umbrella above him.

"Come on, trash. Let me see whether my vitality runs out first, or you die first."

Confident in his physique, Lu Chen grabbed the Black Umbrella with his bloodstained hand. Then, hissing sounds continuously rang out from where he gripped it.

As if doused in sulfuric acid, the black umbrella handle gripped by Lu Chen's bloodstained palm began to rot away, while black mist constantly seeped out.

The seeping black mist also harmed Lu Chen. The moment it touched him, his skin would become rigid.

Although the black mist would soon be melted away by the flowing vitality, the back and forth still left Lu Chen's palm a bloody mess of torn flesh.

Yet none of this made Lu Chen flinch in the slightest.

"Pain? I have Blood Boiling. It lets me ignore half the pain!"

His will strengthened by Conqueror's Haki, along with the pain reduction brought by Blood Boiling, allowed Lu Chen to endure the excruciating pain. Not only did he not let go, he gripped even tighter.

At the same time, blood continuously sprayed from Lu Chen's mouth as he forcefully spat it onto the Black Umbrella.

In almost the blink of an eye, Lu Chen had turned into a man covered in blood, while half of the Black Umbrella had been dyed red.

This time, the Black Umbrella was finally afraid.

It immediately struggled, trying to fly away. But Lu Chen had already discovered when he rushed over that the Black Umbrella was not very strong. Its body was not even tougher than that of a barbarian. What made it powerful was only its formidable swordsmanship.

That was also why Lu Chen dared to wear down the Black Umbrella head-on.

"You've always relied on technique and agility. How could you possibly outlast a Physique Warrior like me?"

The facts proved that Lu Chen had gambled correctly. Though the Black Umbrella's technique was extremely strong, it truly could not outlast Lu Chen. As for escaping, that was even more wishful thinking. Caught by Lu Chen, it struggled constantly, but Lu Chen's strength restrained it so thoroughly that it could not move.

After all, when Lu Chen said his strength was weak, he was only comparing it to his own physique. Compared to other barbarians, strength nearing thirty points was already at the level of a Barbarian Body Warrior. The Black Umbrella could not break free from Lu Chen at all.

"Now, it's my turn."

With a sinister grin, Lu Chen controlled his blood and continuously sent it toward the umbrella handle, eroding the Black Umbrella. Soon, the entire umbrella canopy had turned blood-red.

But just as Lu Chen thought the outcome had been decided, several streams of chaotic information suddenly came from the umbrella handle.

"Save me, save me, I don't want to die..."

"Demon Umbrella, is that you? I'm willing to give everything in exchange for power!!!"

"Kill me, ah..."

"Once I picked up the Demon Umbrella, I was no longer myself. Kill me..."

All kinds of chaotic messages battered Lu Chen's mind. He quickly understood that those messages were memories emitted by the puppets the Black Umbrella had devoured.

Of course, the Black Umbrella would not kindly give Lu Chen those thoughts. It wanted to use the chaotic aura of those souls to assault Lu Chen's soul, turning him into an idiot for it to control.

Unfortunately, vigorous vitality was also effective against resentful souls.

Just as on that night, when several people walked together, ghosts always possessed the one with the weakest constitution. That was because those with healthy bodies could burn ghosts.

Lu Chen's powerful physique and vigorous Yang blood were all infused with his will. No matter what kind of mental attack or vengeful spirit it was, if it wanted to enter Lu Chen's body and attack his soul, it had to withstand the impact of his blood and vitality.

Only after enduring the searing of his blood and vitality could it enter Lu Chen's mind.

Yet most of the vengeful spirits absorbed by the evil Black Umbrella were incomplete. They were already weak and exhausted. Many of them were dissolved by Lu Chen's blood and vitality before they could even enter his consciousness.

And even if they did enter, more than half of their souls would definitely be dissolved.

At the same time, Lu Chen's mind contained the will and imposing aura carried by Conqueror's Haki, which could suppress ghosts.

As a result, even after entering Lu Chen's mind, many ghosts could do no more than leave behind a single sentence before dissipating.

Therefore, Lu Chen only felt as if many people were talking beside his ears whenever those mental attacks came. It was somewhat noisy, but aside from the noise, they had little effect on him.

"That makes sense. Even when people walk at night, evil ghosts choose those with weak constitutions to possess. With my current physique, merely getting close to some vengeful spirits is enough to make them dissipate.

"Sure enough, having a high constitution is great. Anything that wants to invade my body has to endure being dissolved by my blood and vitality."