Haining's Final Battle

Ever since the Black Heaven Book was created, no one had ever managed to become both a Calamity Master and a Calamity Slave alone. Even its founders had cultivated it in pairs.

If one wished to cultivate this bizarre technique without side effects, the best method was for two people to serve as each other's Calamity Master and Calamity Slave.

Two people cultivated together, each both master and slave; first cultivate the Hidden Meridians, then open the Manifest Meridians; wash away the Slave Seal, form a self-sustaining cycle; break free of the Four Laws, and let Calamity Power flow freely.

The method sounded simple, but carrying it out was harder than ascending to heaven. Otherwise, the Black Heaven Book would not have been passed down for a thousand years while always being regarded as a forbidden evil art.

However, after Wang Xuan used One-Click Max on the technique, all thirty-one Hidden Meridians within his body opened completely, and Calamity Power surged forth endlessly like a spring.

On a sudden inspiration, he tried gathering Calamity Power directly within the Hidden Meridians around his eyes. To his surprise, he forcefully opened up a Calamity Sea around them, and the Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power came into being.

At that moment, he was both master and slave, directly shattering every ironclad rule of the Black Heaven Book.

As for how exactly he had cultivated it, and whether it would leave behind any hidden dangers, his talent could answer that.

With the Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power running at full force alongside the Emperor's Qi-Gazing Technique, the entirety of Haining Prefecture held no more secrets in his eyes.

Suspended in the sky, he unleashed Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin. The sword intent within him linked with the qi of heaven and earth, and sword lights filled the skies like living creatures, accurately killing the powerful auras rising from throughout the city.

With several Divine Arts stacked together, the Grandmaster Servant Players had virtually no chance against him. They fell in swathes, their corpses rolling off rooftops as blood ran down through the gaps between the tiles.

"Are they actually killing themselves to leave the Plot World?" Every change in the city lay within Wang Xuan's sight.

Slaughtering them was simplicity itself, but he keenly noticed that the auras belonging to the Royal Clan were rapidly going out, like candles being snuffed out. When the people died, so did their lights.

As though some switch had been flipped, more than twenty Royal Clan auras went out almost simultaneously, as if they had arranged it beforehand.

Looks like those Royal Clan members who were killed out of here have finally understood. In the second-layer Plot World, sheer numbers are no longer enough to take me down. As Wang Xuan pondered, his attacks only grew more ruthless.

Sword lights poured down like a torrential rain, constantly weaving through the city's streets and alleys, piercing roofs, walls, and cellars to pin Grandmaster Servant Players to the spot with incomparable precision.

Until their deaths, those Servant Players never even saw what their enemy looked like. They only saw a sword light flash before their eyes, then their consciousness sank forever into darkness.

Thinking back to when he had first entered this Plot World, the plot had collapsed and both the main and side quests had descended into chaos. He could only cautiously gather intelligence, fighting forward step by bloody step, barely resolving the crisis through his extraordinary courage and methods.

Back then, he had been confident that with his peerless talent and ability, he could carve out a broad path through blood. Looking at it now, everything had unfolded just as he expected, even more smoothly than he had imagined.

"I'm still ridiculously overpowered. In a world where everyone cheats, only a peerlessly gifted man like me can crush the entire age!" Wang Xuan muttered, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Hm? Trying to run?" As he thought, he detected dozens of Grandmaster auras rapidly fleeing toward the outskirts.

Those auras moved far faster than ordinary Grandmaster Servant Players. They had clearly devoted themselves to martial arts such as movement techniques and lightness skills.

Moreover, as a Calamity Master cultivating the Black Heaven Book, he keenly sensed traces of Calamity Power within those auras. They had clearly activated Calamity Slave, one of the Nine Divine Abilities—servants infused with Calamity Power by the Royal Clan, who had developed Calamity Seas.

But trying to escape before him was clearly wishful thinking.

Wang Xuan split off part of his focus and directed dozens of sword lights to turn, chasing after the fleeing figures. Sword lights were far faster than lightness skills, and the distance closed in the blink of an eye.

On a high platform in the city, Orona and Hoshino Taki looked utterly grim.

The two stared fixedly at the latest order issued through the System Panel. It read: To successfully carry out the Final Ordinance cleanup, the ordinance must be executed in its entirety!

The Final Ordinance was actually quite simple, and it had not been used for many years.

It meant that if, during a mission, the target was found impossible to eliminate, then to ensure that important materials did not fall into the target's hands, all mission personnel would be forcibly withdrawn from the Plot World. Servants would take away any remaining supplies or corpses, bury the Storage Bags in concealed locations, and once the Plot World restarted, authorized personnel would retrieve the Storage Bags one by one.

And the message now displayed on the System Panel clearly told them that if they wished to carry out the Final Ordinance, someone had to step forward and restrain the target so that the Grandmaster servants could act.

Never mind whether they could stop the target—charging in now was plainly suicide.

Being killed out of the Plot World would be the best possible outcome. What they feared was the target using the God-Splitting Spike.

If that thing struck them, then even if they left the Plot World, the agony of Soul-Splitting would be enough to make them suffer after returning.

Worse still, even if they charged in to die, the ordinance would most likely still fail. Once they left the Plot World and returned to the bureau, another charge would be added to their sentence. Either way led to death; any choice was a losing one.

"Damn it! Ye Xianxian, fuck your mother!" Orona smashed the long table before him to pieces with one palm, showering himself with wood chips and wine.

His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently. He looked like a trapped beast driven into a corner. He had mocked Hoshino Taki for losing his composure earlier, yet now he had fallen into the same state. The situation had changed too quickly for anyone to react.

"Orona, we absolutely cannot accept this order. I'm planning to leave the Plot World. I can't gamble on the target not using the God-Splitting Spike!" Hoshino Taki said darkly. True Qi had already begun to churn inside him, faint muffled sounds coming from his meridians. He was clearly planning to directly reverse his meridians and end his own life. "At worst, I'll report it to my family after I return and have them fight for a reduced sentence!"

"Wait!" Orona suddenly seized his wrist, gripping so hard that his knuckles turned white. His heart raced at that moment, as if it were about to leap out of his chest.

He did not know whether the Hoshino Family would help Hoshino Taki.

But the Augustus Family would absolutely not help him. Back then, he had committed a grave mistake in the family and been forcibly sent to the Waste Disposal Bureau. His sentence alone was the longest in the bureau, and he had spent countless years doing filthy, exhausting work.

If this incident caused his sentence to be maxed out again, he could hardly imagine how he would survive those days.

Therefore, when Hoshino Taki proposed leaving the Plot World, Orona's heart had never pounded so fiercely.

It was better for one person to die than two, and the odds of gambling on luck would be slightly better. He calculated rapidly, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

"Hoshino, I'm afraid it's not as simple as you think. Have you considered why the director sent this order to us?" Orona steadied himself, his mind racing as he tried to find a reasonable argument.

Hoshino Taki answered without hesitation, "What other reason could there be? Nothing but discrimination! They discriminate against people like us—those damned Shenzhou people discriminate against foreigners!"

His voice was full of fury and unwillingness, his clenched fist cracking audibly.

Orona's eyes lit up, and he immediately seized on the point. "Exactly, Hoshino. Think about it. The director is from Shenzhou's Ye Royal Clan. He's the leader, and he's the one taking the lead in discrimination.

"If you ignore the order and return to the bureau, even if your family is willing to pay the price for you, the demands in those negotiations will increase without limit. When that happens, are you sure your family will still be willing to spend resources on you?"