Seven Chosen

"Damn it, weren't there supposed to be many Chosen of a God tasked with stopping Lü Wang? Why was I the only one who came? Those cunning bastards must be hiding somewhere and watching the show. I can't keep foolishly fighting them head-on..."

It had to be said that Bai Xiaowen's mention of "running away" had struck right at Gaste's heart.

Gaste had lost all will to fight. He immediately retreated in swift strides, entering the area of the inner Four Symbols Formation.

"A formation can't stop me... Magic Mirror!"

Gaste's body stretched and contracted like a worm, slipping free of the inner Four Symbols Formation's area.

However, Gaste failed to escape far. He was trapped by the outer Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array.

The Magic Mirror ability had a Cooldown Time and could not be used consecutively!

This was precisely why Bai Xiaowen had set up a double-layered formation.

Gaste was caught in the space between the Four Symbols Formation and the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array.

Bai Xiaowen, meanwhile, remained within the inner Four Symbols Formation.

"Origin Thunder!"

As he unleashed the Origin Thunder, Bai Xiaowen waved his hand and deactivated the corresponding Array Talisman of the Four Symbols Formation. The inner formation's radiance immediately dimmed, placing him and Gaste in the same area once more.

"Not good..."

Gaste had already witnessed the tracking ability of Bai Xiaowen's Origin Thunder. Without being able to immediately use Magic Mirror, he could not evade the Origin Thunder through dodging alone. Its power and subsequent paralysis effect would leave Gaste completely exposed to Bai Xiaowen's attacks!

Swish, swish, swish!

Gaste's footsteps flashed repeatedly. His body split from one into two, two into four, and four into eight. In an instant, more than a dozen black-robed, blond-haired figures raced wildly around the outer perimeter of the field! Every Gaste carried a Spiritual Power aura realistic enough to pass for the real thing.

He tried to use this move, Shadow Conspiracy: Afterimage, to evade the Qi Lock of Bai Xiaowen's Thunder Method.

Yet it had no effect. Bai Xiaowen merely swept his gaze over the scene before the Origin Thunder struck without hesitation, directly hitting Gaste's true body.

With a crackling hiss, half of Gaste's body was charred black. He was in an even more miserable state than the last time he had been struck by lightning, because he was already injured.

Bai Xiaowen clenched his left hand, and the Seven Fiends Great Handprint "grabbed" Gaste and pulled him over. At the same time, the Formless Blade in his right hand followed up, piercing straight through Gaste's heart.

Bai Xiaowen was worried that Gaste might possess some method of avoiding damage to his heart, so the Formless Blade he had injected into Gaste's body exploded into hundreds of tiny True Yuan Power blades, shooting in every direction.

Boom!

Gaste exploded where he stood, blood, chunks of flesh, and shattered bones splattering everywhere.

The blood that sprayed toward Bai Xiaowen was blocked by his Mind Power Armor.

The Boss of the Hidden Society, the Chosen of a God upon whom the God of Shadows had placed great hopes—Gaste Bibi—had been successfully killed by Bai Xiaowen!

Bai Xiaowen received a notification from the Spirit Realm Rules. He had gained another Punishment Mark from the God of Shadows, as well as two Grace Marks belonging to other Deities—one from the God of Fire and one from the God of Elves.

It seemed that killing a Chosen of a God would result in receiving the corresponding Deity's Punishment Mark.

As for the Grace Marks, Bai Xiaowen understood them as well. They were blessings granted for helping the corresponding Deity "take revenge."

Clearly, during Gaste's exploration of the Land of Origin, he had killed two Chosen, one belonging to the God of Fire and one to the God of Elves. Those two Deities had each placed a Punishment Mark on him. Now that Bai Xiaowen had killed Gaste, those two Punishment Marks had turned into Grace Marks.

"These marks will probably be redeemed mainly after leaving the Land of Origin... They aren't very useful right now, but they do have one benefit. They let me, someone stumbling around in the dark, quickly determine which Deities belong to the friendly camp and which belong to the opposing camp!"

Based on the principle that an enemy's enemy was a friend, the God of Fire and the God of Elves, who opposed the God of Shadows, were clearly on Bai Xiaowen's side. At the very least, they were neutral and would not become Bai Xiaowen's enemies.

Several Divine Artifact Fragments flew out of Gaste's Storage Ring and were collected by Bai Xiaowen one by one.

However, the Spoils of War amounted to only those few Divine Artifact Fragments. Bai Xiaowen could not open Gaste's Storage Ring.

In the Land of Origin, Divine Artifact Fragments seemed to possess the trait of "automatically leaving Storage Tools upon death."

This made it more likely for Explorers in the Land of Origin to assemble complete Artifacts. The possibility of completing an Artifact would not be lost simply because several Divine Artifact Fragments were hidden inside a dead Chosen's Storage Tool.

Bai Xiaowen frowned. This trait was not normal, but for the moment, he could not determine what was hidden behind it.

He set aside what he could not figure out for now. Bai Xiaowen swept his eyes around the area and called out, "Everyone, come out."

He spoke in the Common Language of the Blue Star Evolutionary Platform. Evolutionists from other planets could not understand the words themselves, but they could grasp the meaning through Thought Waves.

Figures emerged one after another from the gray mist.

There were Turtlemen whose auras towered like mountains, Mantis People with slender bodies and eyes as sharp as blades, Bloodthirsty Barbarians covered in black fur with red eyes...

There were six of them in total.

Including the dead Gaste, seven Chosen had arrived before Death God Castle one after another!

These Chosen were not ordinary Chosen from the earlier star regions. Every one of them carried a Deity's great expectations. They were people for whom Deities had spared no effort, descending with their wills to convey the route map of the Best Star Path. They could be considered the Deities' representatives!

Including Gaste, each of the seven possessed several extraordinary trump cards. Together, they could kill any powerful being in the Land of Origin!

"I'm curious. Why didn't you join Gaste in attacking me? Wouldn't that have given you a better chance?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

A Lizardman Chosen said coldly, "He was a test stone."

The Mantis People said, "You set up formations. Now, we can wait until their effects end before attacking. That is Gaste's contribution after dying."

Bai Xiaowen thoughtfully glanced at the still-glowing Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array.

Before exploring the gate area of Death God Castle, Bai Xiaowen had already set up an Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array in advance without activating it. He knew that other Chosen would definitely come to interfere with him, so he had made preparations beforehand.

Later, he discovered that the one who had come was Gaste, the Boss of the Hidden Society, who excelled at using Magic Mirror to traverse space. A single layer of restriction from the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array could not stop him, so Bai Xiaowen had temporarily set up the inner Four Symbols Formation while fighting Gaste.

Although he had successfully killed Gaste, the Immortal Array he had set up in advance had also been activated. Within a few days, the energy contained in the Immortal Talismans would be exhausted, and the formation would automatically cease operating.

The only advantage was that Gaste had died miserably. This had warned the other six to some extent, making them unwilling to advance recklessly. They could only watch cautiously and wait for the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array to stop.