Chapter 37

The blood on Bibi Dong's lips was like an appetizer waiting to be tasted at any moment. She watched Lan Changsheng as a hunter watched prey trapped in a cage, composed, as though counting down the moments before bringing down her blade.

Lan Changsheng heard what she said, but he had already lost the emotion of fear. He would not let such injuries affect his state of mind.

He was merely puzzled, his brows creasing slightly. "You... my perception..." Lan Changsheng could clearly see Bibi Dong standing right before him, yet his Divine Sense found nothing there, no proof of her existence.

"I erased it."

"Erased it?" Lan Changsheng repeated. He did not believe it. As a million-year-old Blue Silver Imperial Emperor Grass, his Divine Sense was immensely powerful. He could not accept that an inheritor who had yet to truly become a god could completely erase her own existence from his perception on the level of Divine Sense. It might have been possible if the actual Rakshasa God had come, but Bibi Dong could not do it. So the question was... how exactly had she done it?

"I already know how you did it. Next time, you won't have a chance." He had a conjecture, but he could not be entirely certain. He needed to test it once.

Lan Changsheng's words stripped the "gentleness" from Bibi Dong's expression. Her eyes narrowed, carrying a chill as sharp as a knife's point. "Oh? Then try again!"

Before her words had faded, Bibi Dong vanished from where she stood. Lan Changsheng closed his eyes and spread his Divine Sense with all his might. The result was just as he had expected: he found no trace of Bibi Dong. In his perception, there was only himself and the battlefield thrown into disarray by their fight. He could not even sense any lingering Soul Power from Bibi Dong.

Then he once again felt that prickling sensation behind him, like needles against his back. This time, however, Oath of Protection moved in advance and solidly blocked Bibi Dong's attack. Its collision with the Rakshasa Demon Scythe produced a muffled boom, shaking ripples through space.

"Next time, I don't believe you'll still be able to block it." Bibi Dong's voice came from behind the ripples.

She vanished again.

Lan Changsheng closed his eyes again, but this time, he did not extend his Divine Sense. Instead, he shifted his attention away from himself and connected to the Blue Silver Grass within a hundred-zhang radius. The grass swayed in the wind, transmitting images back to him.

At last, an image gathered from thousands upon thousands of faint consciousnesses appeared in his mind. Unlike the image constructed in his mind through Divine Sense, this was a colorful image formed by integrating what the countless blades of Blue Silver Grass around him saw through their eyes.

This time, he "saw" clearly.

He "saw" Bibi Dong, three zhang behind him to his right. The Rakshasa Demon Scythe silently sliced an opening in space. Six Spider Spears braced against the edges of the rift and forced them apart, like an evil god opening its eye. Bibi Dong's figure emerged from within, holding the Rakshasa Demon Scythe horizontally, its blade tip gleaming coldly.

A savage smile curled Bibi Dong's lips, and the tip of her tongue once again licked the blood from them, as though she were preparing to savor Lan Changsheng's stunned expression.

When she discovered that Lan Changsheng's expression remained calm, she raised the Rakshasa Demon Scythe high like a hunter who had lost patience, its cold gleam pointing straight at his neck.

At that moment, however, Lan Changsheng took the initiative. He twisted his hips and waist, gathering all his strength into his left arm, and thrust the Blue Silver Emperor Spear straight at Bibi Dong's face!

The spear's attack followed a shorter, more direct path. Though launched later, the Blue Silver Emperor Spear arrived first, forcing Bibi Dong to abandon her attack. The Rakshasa Demon Scythe spun in her hands, knocking aside the spear in Lan Changsheng's hand.

At last, a ripple disturbed Bibi Dong's calm gaze, carrying disbelief.

"How did you find me!"

Lan Changsheng withdrew his spear without pursuing her. He had confirmed it: Bibi Dong's "disappearance" was only a "disappearance" on the level of Divine Sense. Once he stopped relying on Divine Sense, she had nowhere to hide from him.

But if Bibi Dong used this move against anyone else, it would be unstoppable. After all, anyone else would lack his ability to share the perceptions of Blue Silver Grass.

But this did not mean he had completely unraveled her move, because even now, his Divine Sense still could not detect her. The Blue Silver Grass could only tell him "she is there," not "where she will go next."

"I told you, you wouldn't have another chance."

Bibi Dong did not respond. She merely looked down at her feet, where a clump of newly sprouted Blue Silver Grass had appeared at some unknown point. Its leaves were gently turning, always facing her position. Those were rules of perception that she could not erode.

This move was Bibi Dong's greatest gain from her latest seclusion. She called it: Rakshasa True Form: Silent Shadow Severed Thought.

She possessed Twin Martial Souls, and her second martial soul, the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor, had a powerful ability to devour minds. Previously, she had only passively accepted or even resisted inheriting the Rakshasa God's legacy. But after her last defeat, she had reflected on why Lan Changsheng possessed such strength when he had only just begun his ascent to godhood.

Thus, during this seclusion, she had used her own devouring nature to forcibly distort the Rakshasa power of destruction, deriving this unorthodox ability. During the process, however, the pain had felt as though she were being crushed inch by inch from the inside out, and it was not pain she could grow accustomed to with time.

She knew this was the Rakshasa God's punishment, his mockery of the ant defying his will. Even now, thinking back on it made her tremble involuntarily. Yet she had to accept it. She could not scream or cry, because she was Bibi Dong, His Holiness the Pope of Spirit Hall!

In that bedchamber, after enduring pain for who knew how long, she had finally weathered it. She had gained this self-created divine skill, one that belonged not to the Rakshasa God but to her alone. Although it had enormous flaws, it was an ability that belonged only to her.

Using the Rakshasa God's negative Divine Power, she eroded the rules governing living beings' perception and distorted their cognition, causing the target's mind to erase her existence.

Yes, she, a mere mortal, was talking about using Divine Power. No wonder the Rakshasa God was so furious.

But she also knew this skill's weakness: she could be seen with the naked eye. The Rakshasa Divine Power she controlled could not yet erase the light and shadow of a physical body.

Once an enemy saw her, the conflict between their own cognition and the distortion of Rakshasa Divine Power would allow them to react. The stronger the enemy, the faster they would react. Against mental probing and the like, however, it provided almost absolute concealment.

But its consumption was also immense. At present, she could maintain it for no more than a minute.

Moreover, perhaps because she was not proficient with it, she could not unleash other offensive skills while using it and could only rely on the Rakshasa Demon Scythe in her hands. This was why she had swung her scythe again and again without unleashing any Soul Skills.

With every use, her own Divine Soul simultaneously suffered the backlash of missing cognition, and her once-beautiful memories were devoured along with it.

This was the Rakshasa God's punishment for her.

While she devoured others, she was also being devoured by herself...