He shook the Imperial Bell violently with his left hand, keeping its chimes from stopping.
With his right hand, he lit the Black Candle. Orange flames sprang up, enveloping him and Jiang Yingying.
Warmth flowed through their bodies, but waves of searing pain coursed through Su Wu's third hand-the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand.
The Black Candle had affected Su Wu's Fiend Hand.
The light of the Black Candle set every Trapped Corpse within thirty feet of them ablaze!
Yet the Trapped Corpses turned into living torches did not stop. Instead, they quickened their pace toward Su Wu!
Their previously steady steps suddenly accelerated.
The torches were about to set Su Wu and Jiang Yingying alight as well!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of flesh and sinews being torn apart kept ringing out!
Then, without warning!
An enormous pitch-black arm clenched its ten fingers into a fist and shot out of the raging flames-it was more than ten stories tall, and that single forward thrust was like a train smashing through the air!
The Trapped Corpses directly in the path of that charging locomotive of a fist were instantly pulverized!
Blood and flesh exploded into the air!
The pitch-black arm plowed a path through the flesh and blood!
On either side of that path, many Trapped Corpses were still trying to approach the heart of the flames. The enormous black hand spread like a folding fan snapping open-and swept from the left side of the road to the right!
That fan-shaped sweep reduced every Trapped Corpse to minced flesh!
Ding!
The Imperial Bell's chimes stopped abruptly.
The gray mist slowly dispersed.
The road ahead was no longer an endless succession of streetlights. The outlines of buildings and city blocks appeared.
The girl holding the rooster clutched the Black Candle in one hand, sobbing as she walked out of the firelight toward the streets ahead.
But in the shadows beyond the firelight's reach, shadows gradually gathered into solid forms, about to rise upright.
Within the firelight.
A desiccated corpse stood silently.
Beneath his right armpit, an arm bone entwined with purplish-red sinews pierced the pitch-black membrane of skin. Rows of savage bone spurs grew from it, stabbing into the surrounding scraps of flesh and frantically devouring their blood.
The arm bone kept extending and twisting.
The ten finger bones split and branched.
The arm bone transformed into a hideous, uncanny skeletal dragon.
The Corpse-Strider Fiend awakened.
You died. This simulation has ended. Rating: B. Comment: You were just one step away from escaping successfully. Rewards: Base reward for a B rating +300 Origin Jade; Discovered a safe house +10 Origin Jade; Successfully evaded the Eye Fiend's pursuit 18 times +540 Origin Jade; Smashed 273 Trapped Corpses +273 Origin Jade; Cleared all Trapped Corpses belonging to the trapped corpse fiend, temporarily depriving it of its ability to kill +1,000 Origin Jade; Blue Talent Upgrade Talisman ×1; Green Talent Upgrade Talisman ×2. Your wallet balance is 1,056 + 2,123 = 3,179 Origin Jade. You have three green Talent Upgrade Talismans. Would you like to combine them into a blue Talent Upgrade Talisman?
During his previous future-life simulation, Su Wu had received a C+ rating and a green Talent Upgrade Talisman, which he had already used on the Art of Speaking talent.
But after his last simulation of Zhuo Jie's past life, he had received a B− rating, earning one blue and one green Talent Upgrade Talisman.
Together with the two green talismans he had obtained this time, he now had exactly three, enough to combine into a blue one.
"Combine them." He nodded.
Combination successful! You have obtained a blue Talent Upgrade Talisman. You have three blue Talent Upgrade Talismans. Would you like to combine them into a purple Talent Upgrade Talisman?
"Yes."
Combination successful! You have obtained a purple Talent Upgrade Talisman!
Su Wu now had one spellmark and six talents.
The spellmark was the strongman spellmark.
Two of his six talents were blue: Composure (blue) and Koi Blessing (blue).
The four green talents were Dark Walker, Hunger Endurance, Veteran Driver, and Art of Speaking.
He could now use the purple Talent Upgrade Talisman to improve the quality of either Composure or Koi Blessing.
After weighing his options for a moment, he finally chose to use the purple talisman to upgrade Koi Blessing.
The Composure talent would remain sufficient for a long time to come.
But every upgrade to Koi Blessing would inevitably increase his chances of acquiring mysterious items. This talent was practically a miracle tool for finding bargains at street stalls.
It was thanks to this talent that he had found the coarse porcelain bowl at a street stall-a bowl worth little, but with some age to it.
Koi Blessing (purple): Your luck has become abnormally good. For every seven treasure-hunting purchases you make, the last is guaranteed to yield a mysterious item of relatively high quality.
Upgraded to purple, the talent had already surpassed the bounds of normality.
A guaranteed high-quality mysterious item on every seventh treasure-hunting purchase undoubtedly gave Su Wu a guaranteed reward!
From now on, all he had to do was start hunting for treasures. Even if he picked things with his eyes closed, he would get something good on the seventh try!
But at this moment, Su Wu could not possibly go treasure hunting.
Staying alive came first.
He raised his head and looked at the enormous dial suspended in the darkness. It already listed the items he could bring out of the simulator.
The very first item firmly captured Su Wu's attention.
Option 0: Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form. Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form: An awakened, mutated form manifested by the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand after consuming all of its vessel's flesh, blood, and spirit. 1. Feeding it large quantities of flesh and blood can cause the bone python form to mutate further. 2. Feeding it flesh and blood can delay its awakening. 3. The bone python is brutal and ferocious, and extremely difficult to tame. 4. This form cannot currently be housed by creatures with relatively fragile bodies. The simulator rates creatures with relatively fragile bodies on a scale of 1-10. The host's body rating is 7. If the host forcibly fuses the Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form with his own Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand, he will die immediately. Current chance of successful housing: 50%. Compatibility: 10.6%. 5. The Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form originates from the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand housed within the host. Therefore, only 1% of the item's actual value will be charged. Price: 50,000 Origin Jade.
After reading the description of the Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form, Su Wu sank into deep thought.
A pitch-black arm extended from beneath his right armpit and supported his chin.
After a single trip through the simulator, the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand had left him an extremely valuable Corpse Buddha Ghost—Bone Python Form inside it.
But bringing this derivative out of the simulator would not only cost fifty thousand Origin Jade. If he forcibly fused with it before his body was strong enough, he would die immediately!
The simulator rated creatures with relatively weak bodies on a scale of 1-10.
His own body had received a rating of 7.
Was that score high or low compared with a normal adult man?
My simulated self used the Black Candle to improve his physical condition again. If I brought the Black Candle out and used it to strengthen myself once, could I raise my physical rating to 8 or 9?
The Eye Fiend hasn't appeared yet, the Shadow Fiend is still lying dormant, and the Little Temple hasn't appeared either.
If I redeemed the Black Candle now, without the Little Temple's flame to light it, wouldn't carrying it be practically asking to die?
Su Wu looked up at option 1.
Option 1: Fiend Candle. Fiend Candle: Its materials cannot be determined. This item cannot be lit with ordinary flames. When lit with anomalous flames, it will produce various radically different effects. May cause death. Carrying an unlit Black Candle will attract the scrutiny of certain fiends.
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