Inside the cold blue-black stone casket, there was neither the divine weapon he had expected nor any sealed evil demon.
There was only one item, lying quietly in a recess lined with dark red velvet that resembled dried blood.
It was a broken horn.
It was about a foot long, entirely a profound, absolute black, as though it could devour all light.
Its broken end was jagged, bearing traces of some brutal tearing.
Most bizarrely, several dark golden blood patterns flowed slowly across the black horn like living creatures!
The blood patterns twisted and wound about, emanating an ancient, primordial aura filled with ultimate evil and madness!
This aura came from the same source as the Resentful Eye imprint on Fang Gang's left arm! It was even purer... even more fundamental!
Buzzz—!!!
The instant the stone casket opened and the imprint on his left arm saw the broken horn, it was completely ignited!
The dark golden vertical eye at its end expanded to its limit, opening and closing wildly as it trembled!
An unprecedented devouring desire, greedy to the extreme like a black hole, mixed with a pilgrimage-like trembling, crashed into Fang Gang's mind like a tsunami!
Had the perfected Heart Like Glazed Glass not suppressed it with all its might, this intent would have nearly taken control of his body!
"Container... origin..." Fang Gang's gaze turned grave.
This broken horn was what the Nightmare Holy Cult and that Faceless Cult Master had been willing to seek at any cost? Was it the key to awakening the so-called "source"?
Even the perfected Mirror-Still-Water felt a trace of oppression from the aura it emitted!
The Faceless Cult Master's cold torrent of data still shrouded the entire underground palace. As it scanned the broken horn, it issued an emotionless electronic voice:
"Container core... confirmed... status... stable..."
"Key... in position... commencing... synchronization... guidance..."
The data streams were like invisible tentacles, attempting to coil around the imprint on Fang Gang's left arm, then connect through the imprint to the broken horn and complete some kind of "guidance" ritual!
However!
Just as the data stream was about to touch the imprint!
Fang Gang made a move that caused even the Faceless Cult Master's "logic" to crash!
He ignored the cold data stream, ignored the imprint's frenzied devouring desire, and ignored the possible danger!
Pure battle intent burned in his eyes, along with the domineering conviction that said, Why should I give you what belongs to me?
His right hand, covered in golden-red astral energy and wielding absolute control over the power of dragon and elephant, shot out like lightning and seized the icy black broken horn from the stone casket!
The moment he touched it, it was like gripping a block of ten-thousand-year black ice! Bone-piercing cold and violent evil intent stabbed viciously into his arm like steel needles, attempting to erode him!
"Hmph!" Nine Yang Qi and Blood roared through Fang Gang's body, and supremely yang true fire surged down his arm!
Golden-red light blazed, clashing violently with the black evil energy emanating from the broken horn and producing a sizzling burn!
But an even fiercer reaction came from the Resentful Eye imprint on his left arm!
"Roar—!!!"
Fang Gang seemed to hear a silent roar from deep within his left arm, filled with ultimate greed and ecstasy!
The dark golden vertical eye at the end of the imprint erupted with unprecedented light!
Countless dark golden energy threads, like living blood vessels, instantly burst through his skin from the imprint and spread madly toward his right hand!
Their target was the black broken horn clenched in his hand!
Ignoring the obstruction of Fang Gang's Nine Yang Qi and Blood as if they shared the same origin, those dark golden threads plunged viciously into the flowing dark golden blood patterns on the horn's surface like leeches scenting blood!
Sizzle—!!!
The broken horn suddenly shuddered!
The dark golden blood patterns coiled around it seemed to awaken, bursting with dazzling ghostly light!
A source of evil power far purer and more violent than before, as though it had come from an ancient abyss, poured back into the imprint on his left arm through those dark golden threads like a flood bursting through a broken dam!
"Urgh!" Fang Gang let out a muffled groan!
This backflowing power was too immense, too violent!
His left arm instantly felt as though it had been filled with magma, searing pain and icy cold intertwining!
The veins beneath his skin swelled and bulged, taking on an eerie dark golden hue!
The patch of skin bearing the imprint rapidly heated up, as though it were about to ignite!
He felt his left arm being forcibly transformed into a container for this terrifying evil power...
"Error! Error! Error!!"
The Faceless Cult Master's cold data stream instantly descended into chaos! For the first time, the synthesized electronic voice carried a shrill fluctuation like an alarm!
"Key... forcibly... fusing with... container origin!!"
"Data... synchronization... disrupted!!"
"Energy flow... reversed!!"
"Logical conflict! Priority... disorder!!"
Like an enraged swarm of bees, the torrent of data frantically crashed against and scanned Fang Gang's left arm and the broken horn whose origin was being devoured. It tried to sever the connection between the dark golden threads, only to strike an invisible barrier and be violently flung away by the chaotic yet powerful evil energy erupting from the fusion process!
"Stop him!!!" For the first time, the Faceless Cult Master's cold voice carried a clear command!
In the shadows at the corners of the underground palace's dome, the air suddenly warped! Two ghostlike black figures silently emerged!
Their entire bodies were wrapped in tight black leather armor, their faces covered by pale ceramic masks without any features.
Each held a strange weapon: one wielded a Water-Splitting Emei Dagger curved like a snake, its edge glinting with ghostly blue poison; the other held a Bone-Piercing Heart Drill, slender as a needle, its tip surrounded by a twisted force field!
Elite assassins of the Nightmare Holy Cult!
Their auras were condensed. Both were at the peak of B-rank, shadowy blades created specifically to guard the "container"!
The two appeared without warning, and their attacks were vicious and tricky to the extreme!
The Water-Splitting Emei Dagger shot straight for Fang Gang's back, its poisonous gleam flickering soundlessly!
The Bone-Piercing Heart Drill became an almost invisible streak of black light, carrying a soul-piercing chill as it stabbed straight at the wrist of Fang Gang's right hand holding the broken horn!
Their coordination was flawless, and their timing precise. It was exactly the moment when Fang Gang was fully occupied suppressing the mutation in his left arm and unable to attend to anything else!
"Courting death!"
Though he was suppressing the mutation in his left arm, Fang Gang's spiritual perception from Heart Like Glazed Glass had long covered the entire area! He noticed the assassins the instant they appeared!
Facing this fatal ambush, a cold gleam burst from his eyes! His body abruptly twisted to the side at an angle that defied the laws of physics!
Slash!
The poisoned Water-Splitting Emei Dagger grazed the tracksuit beneath his ribs, sending out a shower of sparks!
The tough fabric was sliced open, but his skin was completely unharmed!
At the same time, his right wrist holding the broken horn jerked sharply! Power erupted, swinging the horn upward like a heavy hammer to block the attack!
Clang—!!!
The black broken horn slammed viciously into the incoming streak of black light!
The supposedly fragile horn did not shatter as expected! Instead, the slender and sinister Bone-Piercing Heart Drill struck it as though it had collided with an immovable mountain, letting out a piercing metallic explosion!
The drill's body bent and trembled violently! The assassin holding it groaned, his tiger's mouth split open, and his weapon nearly flew from his grasp!
A tyrannical force of recoil surged brutally into his body through the drill!
Using the recoil from that collision, Fang Gang turned his left hand from palm to fist! Golden-red molten energy surged beneath his skin!
He needed no technique. Pure strength, layered with the domineering force of supremely yang true fire, blasted toward the Water-Splitting Emei Dagger assassin's face like a cannonball leaving its barrel!
Fast! Ruthless! Utterly domineering!
Horror flashed through the assassin's eyes! He had never seen such an overbearing, unreasonable fighting style! In his haste, he could only cross the Water-Splitting Emei Daggers before him to block!
Boom!!!
The golden-red iron fist smashed fiercely into the crossed Emei daggers!
An unstoppable and terrifying power erupted!
Crack!!
The Emei daggers forged from refined steel snapped in response!
The fist did not slow, carrying the force to pulverize everything as it slammed into the pale ceramic mask!
Splat—!!!
The mask and the head beneath it burst apart instantly like a watermelon struck by a heavy hammer! Red and white matter, mixed with shattered ceramic fragments, sprayed backward!
The headless corpse was sent flying by the violent force of the punch, crashing hard into the cold stone wall before sliding down!
The other assassin was terrified out of his wits!
The sight of his companion's head exploding from one punch made his courage shatter! With a shriek, his body suddenly burst into a cloud of black mist, attempting to melt into the shadows and flee!
"Stay!"
After killing one man with his left hand, Fang Gang's movements did not pause in the slightest!
His right hand gripped the broken horn, which was still frantically devouring origin power, as though he held a violent evil dragon!
He hurled the broken horn fiercely toward the cloud of black mist that was about to disperse!
"Roar—!"
The instant the broken horn left his hand, it seemed to let out an unwilling roar! The dark golden blood patterns around it flared brilliantly!
A terrifying suction force from the origin erupted!
"Aah—!!!"
The black mist about to escape into the shadows was caught by an invisible giant hand, instantly dragged and twisted!
The assassin's figure appeared within the black mist as he struggled in despair! The energy, life force, and even soul within his body were frantically drawn away by the suction force erupting from the broken horn!
His body rapidly shriveled like a deflating balloon!
In just two seconds, only a shriveled suit of leather armor and a pale mask fell to the ground. The broken horn floated in midair, the light of its dark golden blood patterns seemingly brightening a little before Fang Gang seized it again.
The imprint on his left arm devoured even more violently because of this additional "nourishment"!
Within the underground palace, the cold electronic voice carried a fluctuation that was almost furious:
"Warning! Origin loss accelerating!!"
"Key... fusion rate... rising uncontrollably!!"
"Activating... emergency protocol! Awakening... Slumbering Guardian!!"
"Coordinates... transmitting to... all priests!!"
The cold data stream receded like a tide, carrying intense unwillingness and a warning of the coming storm.
Fang Gang tightly gripped the broken horn, which was still frantically transmitting origin power. Feeling the furnace-like transformation in his left arm and the growth of his strength, he coldly swept his gaze over the remains of the two assassins before looking toward the entrance of the underground palace.
Storm?
He licked his somewhat cracked lips, battle intent burning in his eyes like tangible flames.
"The more that come, the better!"
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