Desire

Even in his sleep, Li Yèlái felt exhausted, but also exhilarated.

He had roughly calculated that, not counting the Dual Blade Knight, he had personally killed at least two hundred Prairie Cavalrymen. The Zhelan King at the end had been little more than a bonus.

It was some measure of vengeance for the comrades and heroes who had fallen.

As he entered a deep sleep, his body, strengthened by the Heart of Slaughter for two hours, began to radiate immense vitality.

The clerical staff stitching his wounds were astonished to find that the needle could barely pierce Li Yèlái's skin.

In the end, they gave up. After disinfecting his wounds, they wrapped them in bandages.

After all, with a physique this strong, wounds like these would probably heal completely in just a few days.

When Li Yèlái opened his eyes,

he found himself wrapped in bandages and lying among a group of wounded people in a spacious containment room. Numerous clerical staff were acting as medical personnel, moving back and forth.

Not far away, some clerical staff were burning incense and praying.

Although the ventilation system was running, the air was still full of disinfectant and incense.

The bizarre scene left Li Yèlái somewhat bewildered.

"Hey, you're awake?" Cheese's voice came from nearby. Li Yèlái turned his head to look.

She was leaning against the wall beside him, a smile on her pale face, just like when they had first met. "You're a girl now!"

"The same trick won't work on me twice."

Li Yèlái grinned, then asked, "Are you all right? Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I ate too much candy and feel sick. Plus, I've run out of psychic energy, so I came here to rest." Cheese looked disgusted. "I never want to eat candy again!"

Li Yèlái sat up and stretched.

As he twisted his body, it cracked all over, leaving him feeling refreshed.

He instinctively felt that his strength and reaction speed had both improved significantly.

His abs had become sharply defined, and the muscles all over his body were more prominent.

"Looks like the Heart of Slaughter's enhancement worked." Li Yèlái clenched his fist and casually swung it, producing a sharp whoosh. "I feel like I could punch a cow to death."

"You were enhanced by the Heart of Slaughter for two hours, far beyond the safe limit. And you were constantly fighting the whole time, which made it even more dangerous!" Cheese sounded a little shaken.

Normally, when their colleagues used the Heart of Slaughter to enhance their bodies, they were strapped to a restraint table. Once the time was up, the Heart of Slaughter was removed immediately.

What Li Yèlái had done—keeping the Heart of Slaughter on while throwing himself into battle—had been exceptionally dangerous.

If he had been swallowed by the urge to kill, he would have been done for.

"Fortunately, you made it through. In theory, after two hours of enhancement, your physique is already on par with a True Martial Path practitioner at their third Awakening. Punching a cow to death is nothing special," Cheese said. "But though you turned misfortune into a blessing, you wore the Heart of Slaughter for too long in one go. It left some scars on your chest."

Li Yèlái looked down at his bandage-wrapped torso. Sure enough, three crimson scars stretched out from his chest.

"As long as I gained something, a few scars are no big deal." Li Yèlái replied, then leaned against the corner of the wall like Cheese. "How long was I asleep?"

At the same time, he looked around. Judging from the situation, the Forbidden Items had not all been contained yet.

Otherwise, the wounded would not have been placed in a containment room for a Forbidden Item.

That said, the Forbidden Item in this room was indeed the least dangerous.

A D-Rank Forbidden Item: the Door Gods' Talismans.

Its effect was to place one talisman on each side of a door or opening, then burn incense and make offerings to them.

The talismans would come alive and produce a Psychic Barrier to protect the space behind the door.

When out of control, they opened every door in the surrounding area.

No matter how a door had been sealed, it would open immediately.

For humanity, it was probably the most benevolent of all Forbidden Items.

As long as people offered it incense, it would protect them.

That was the main reason they had chosen this place for the wounded.

"You were asleep for about five hours," Cheese replied. "After you passed out, three Forbidden Items appeared there one after another due to various coincidences. White Poplar and the others attacked them together and managed to contain them all. Counting the Zhelan King's Banner and the Heart of Slaughter, seven Forbidden Items have been contained because of you. So the Night Watch is planning to put you in for some Merit Points as recognition."

"There's nothing to recognize. So many colleagues died—what's the point of giving me an award?" Li Yèlái asked quietly. "How are things now?"

"All the Forbidden Items in the upper level have been contained, but the fighting in the lower level is still fierce," Cheese replied. "White Poplar and the others went to reinforce the lower level. We're staying here in the upper level and waiting for support."

"Hope they come back victorious!" Li Yèlái nodded, then spotted the Crimson Longsword, the bell, and the Jet Axe nearby.

Aside from the Summoning Bell, both the sword and the axe were badly damaged.

The intense, nonstop fighting had left the Crimson Longsword covered in notches.

The Jet Axe had also been damaged in battle.

"You'll need to spend some Merit Points to repair your Psychic Weapon, or just replace it," Cheese said. She picked up Li Yèlái's Crimson Longsword and examined it, then shook her head. "The edge is completely rolled over. It's unusable."

Then she picked up the Jet Axe and inspected it for a while. "I suggest asking the Equipment Department to make you a Heat-Melting Axe or sword. They don't have psychic abilities, but they're incredibly powerful."

"I can guess what you're trying to save up for. The captain can put in a request for you to try out an Anti-spiritual power helmet. If it works, I can buy it for you outright, and you can pay me back with Merit Points as you earn them. If it doesn't work, you won't have wasted your money." Cheese advised him, "For now, you should focus on getting stronger."

Li Yèlái had indeed been planning to save Merit Points to buy an Anti-spiritual power helmet and see if it could suppress Li Yúnyān's curse.

If it worked, everyone would be happy. If not, Li Yèlái would have wasted ninety Merit Points.

Cheese's suggestion was a good one, so he could only nod. "Thanks."

Afterward, Li Yèlái, Cheese, and several other wounded people who had recovered enough to move left the containment room.

They went to the entrance leading to the lower level.

Together with the handlers and Iron Guards stationed there, they waited in case they were needed to provide backup.

While they waited, Li Yèlái assessed his current strength.

His Psychic Weapon was half-ruined, the Jet Axe was out of commission, and only the Summoning Bell could still summon the Dual Blade Knight.

His equipment losses were severe.

But his abilities had improved tremendously.

First was his physical strength.

Li Yèlái followed the Myriad Paths. In terms of physical enhancement, a Myriad Paths practitioner's physique was merely balanced—or perhaps average—among psychics at the same Awakening level.

But this time, thanks to the Heart of Slaughter, Li Yèlái had turned misfortune into a blessing.

His physical strength had risen dramatically. According to Cheese, it was now on par with that of a True Martial Path practitioner at their third Awakening.

That meant that even though he was only at his second Awakening, he could take on a third-Awakening True Martial practitioner using sheer physical strength.

He now had the means to fight above his level.

Of course, many handlers had used the Heart of Slaughter to enhance their bodies. Li Yèlái had simply used it for longer than most.

Next came his second mask.

Like the Xiang Yu Mask, the Huo Qubing Mask had given Li Yèlái a wealth of skills.

Riding skills—Huo Qubing had been an expert horseman.

But times had changed, so those skills probably wouldn't be much use. Was he supposed to spend money on a horse and ride it to his missions?

Next were his mounted archery skills.

Huo Qubing had also been a master of mounted archery. But again, times had changed.

In fact, the Xiang Yu Mask had given Li Yèlái archery skills too. It had even granted him the monstrous skill of shooting multiple arrows in quick succession.

But because psychics had Psychic Barriers, ranged weapons like bows and guns were ineffective.

Psychics could indeed channel psychic energy into arrows and shoot them at their enemies.

But the psychic energy in the arrows would dissipate in midair.

Unless they followed the Divine Control Path, psychics would lose the psychic energy in their weapons a while after those weapons left their hands. The attacks could not break through an enemy's Psychic Barrier.

That was why ranged attacks were generally exclusive to Divine Control Path practitioners.

But even among Divine Control Path practitioners, few used expendable weapons like arrows.

The problem was cost. To channel psychic energy more effectively, both the bow and the arrows would have to be Psychic Weapons, right?

The bow might be manageable. At least it wouldn't break too quickly.

But the arrows?

Would every single arrow have to be a Psychic Weapon?

That alone was enough to make any psychic give up on the idea.

Most Divine Control Path practitioners used recoverable weapons like flying swords, or simply controlled puppets in battle.

Li Yèlái's Hegemon's Spear Throw worked because the weapon was large enough to hold a lot of psychic energy.

And the distance was short enough for him to throw it and strike down an enemy in one move. He couldn't exactly use a gun as an arrow, could he?

Still, he could learn from his teammate Yáng Chén and try throwing spears.

So Li Yèlái couldn't make use of mounted archery or archery. He could only hope he might unlock a Divine Control Path mask in the future.

Next came the Huo Qubing Mask's third skill: a sense of direction.

It was an ability like instinct. No matter how confusing the terrain, Huo Qubing could use his intuition to find the right direction.

That would be useful, Li Yèlái thought.

Aside from those skills, the ability the Champion Marquis Mask granted was the most immediately impactful.

The Shadow Army: any unit Li Yèlái killed would have its shadow taken and become a new member of the Shadow Army.

Li Yèlái had killed more than two hundred Zhelan cavalrymen earlier, so he now had around twenty Shadow Army soldiers.

The boost from just twenty Shadow Army soldiers had given Li Yèlái astonishing speed and powerful defense.

This ability made up for his weaknesses.

From now on, he wouldn't have to worry about failing to catch up with enemies. He also wouldn't have to worry about being gravely injured by powerful attacks.

The Shadow Army's enhancement was multifaceted. Though it wasn't as powerful as Xiang Yu's ability to see through an enemy's weaknesses, its support was exceptional.

In the future, if he was surrounded by enemies, he could fight with the Xiang Yu Mask, kill them efficiently, and absorb more Shadow Army soldiers.

If the Shadow Army grew larger, the enhancement would probably become even more powerful.

At that thought, Li Yèlái suddenly frowned.

"I'm not some kind of killer. Why am I thinking about this? Could I really be affected by the Heart of Slaughter?"

Li Yèlái shook his head, trying to throw the thought out of his mind.

Although he had experienced countless bloody battles in the illusions of Xiang Yu and Huo Qubing, and no longer feared the sight of blood,

Li Yèlái didn't want to cause any slaughter.

So far, the only human being Li Yèlái had killed was that old bastard Wang De.

Just then, White Poplar, whose severed arm had been bandaged, noticed Li Yèlái's movement and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. How are you? Shouldn't you go get some rest?" Li Yèlái looked at White Poplar's severed arm. It had been torn off during his fight with the Void Realm Creature from the Scarlet Wanted Order.

"It's fine. They found my arm and kept it safe. Once this is all over, I'll have Captain Plague Doctor reattach it." White Poplar smiled. "If something's troubling you, you can tell me."

"Well, I was wondering about the Shadow Army ability. How can I get a greater boost from it without killing anyone?" Li Yèlái answered honestly. The other man had already seen his second mask, so there was no point hiding it.

White Poplar gave Li Yèlái a long, searching look. "Someone in Border City No. 2 also gained the Shadow Army ability, but not until their fifth Awakening."

"And then?" Li Yèlái asked.

"Even handlers can't expect to find someone or something that deserves to be killed every time. So he had very few Shadow Army soldiers. Then desire consumed him. To get more, he slaughtered several villages in the wilderness. He became a wanted criminal." White Poplar said gravely, "Don't become someone like that."

Li Yèlái said solemnly, "I won't. I don't like killing."

White Poplar thought, If I hadn't seen you chase down a whole cavalry unit, I might have believed you!

Still, considering that Li Yèlái had only done it to avenge his teammates, White Poplar nodded slightly. "Don't get carried away. There are supreme beings in the Void Realm who specialize in tempting those who become obsessed with killing. But some people still deserve to die. Take the bastard who caused this whole mess, for example. If I catch him, I'll show him what hell looks like!"

Li Yèlái nodded in agreement.

He knew that the East City Branch's Black Prison wasn't the only place fighting right now. Other teams and branches were fighting too.

If Li Yúnyān hadn't been in the Family Apartments, where she was safe, Li Yèlái couldn't even imagine how terrified he would have been.

He had no idea how many teammates would die in this battle.

Those bastards who had caused all this had become his mortal enemies.

He would show them no mercy!

Meanwhile, in the lower level of the Black Prison,

a fierce battle had just ended. The Ice Witch, Yin Tiger, and the Demon Host had all been contained in turn.

But the price had been devastating.

Several veteran Night Watch members had died in battle.

The man lying in front of Yáng Chén had put on the Black Dragon Armor of his own accord to contain a Forbidden Item.

Now that the battle was over, he had decisively stabbed a knife through a gap in the armor and into his own heart, ending his life before the armor could control him and turn him into a monster.

Yáng Chén silently watched his dying comrade, his face dark with grief.

"Captain. After I die, take the mysterious materials from my Soul Well. This Black Dragon has plenty of them..." The man wore black armor. Scales had grown across his skin, and his hands had become claws. He was already half man and half dragon.

The dragon-man leaned against the wall and smiled. "Whether you use them to make a potion for the Night General or a Psychic Weapon, it'll be a small gesture from a senior like me."

Yáng Chén asked quietly, "You figured it out?"

"Of course. You're terrible at hiding things. You want to raise the Night General into the next champion. I'll do what I can to help." The dragon-man chuckled. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. You've done well. Very well..."

Then he stopped breathing.

Yáng Chén looked at his corpse, then at the bodies of his comrades.

He clutched his head in anguish and let out a terrifying howl.

Once again, he had been powerless to stop his teammates from dying before his eyes.

Once again.

(An update on the results: the first-day subscription count was 2,600. But since I gave out red envelopes, the actual number was probably under 2,000.)