"Damn! What kind of fire is this? Why can it burn my Power of War?" Horseman of War looked at the wound on his arm, his eyes full of anger and disbelief. He has lived for thousands of years and has never encountered a fire that can burn him.
"This is a fire specially designed to burn away the evil ways of evil spirits like you." Bai Haorui said coldly. Taking advantage of the victory, he pursued the attack, swung his sword again, and fired flaming sword energy towards Horseman of War.
Horseman of War was trapped in Eight Trigrams Soul-Suppressing Formation, dodging left and right, in a state of embarrassment. His body was covered with wounds, and black blood flowed all over the floor. His red suit had become tattered, stained with blood and dust. His hair had become messy, and his face was full of anger and despair.
"Fake!" Horseman of War was forced into a desperate situation and roared. He knew that if he continued like this, he would be consumed by Bai Haorui sooner or later. He had to make a desperate move.
He condensed all his Power of War into the ring on his left hand.
The silver ring emitted a dazzling black light, and the black mist of the entire town was sucked in, condensing into a huge black fist. The black fist smashed towards Eight Trigrams Soul-Suppressing Formation with a destructive momentum. Wherever the fist passed, the space was torn apart, and a harsh scream was emitted.
"Boom!"
There was a deafening loud noise, and the whole town was shaking violently. It was as if a magnitude 10 earthquake had occurred. A huge black fist hit the formation barrier, and the golden light of Eight Trigrams Soul-Suppressing Formation dimmed instantly, and all the runes were shattered. The formation was smashed violently.
Bai Haorui spat out a large mouthful of blood, took a few steps back, and his face became as pale as paper. The formation was broken, and he suffered severe backlash. He felt that all his internal organs had been displaced, and True Gang in his Dantian also became disordered.
Horseman of War rushed out of the formation, like a wounded beast, and rushed towards Bai Haorui. His eyes were bloodshot, with a crazy expression on his face. He wore a ring on his left hand, flashing black The five fingers turned into claws, and the nails became sharp and long, flashing with an icy cold light. He wanted to take out Bai Haorui's heart and crush it! He wanted to make Bai Haorui pay for everything he had done!
Although Bai Haorui was injured, his reaction was not slow at all. He turned 90 degrees to the right, just in time to avoid Horseman of War's fatal blow. Horseman of War's nails scraped across his chest, tearing his clothes apart, leaving a shallow wound on his chest. The black Power of War penetrated into his body along the wound, causing a bone-chilling pain.
While turning sideways, Bai Haorui with his right hand pulled out the meteorite iron ax given to him by Bobby from behind. Using the power of his body rotation, he poured all the remaining True Gang in his body into the iron axe, and swung it out with all his strength.
The iron ax carried the whistling sound of the wind and flashed with an icy cold light as it accurately struck Horseman of War's left wrist.
"Crack!"
The sound of Bones breaking was clear and harsh, which seemed particularly loud in the silent square.
Horseman of War's left wrist was chopped off with an iron ax. The silver ring fell off the broken hand and rolled to the ground. Black blood spurted out from the broken wrist and sprinkled all over the floor.
"No!" Horseman of War screamed. He looked at his empty left wrist, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Bai Haorui immediately raised his foot and stepped hard on the ring. Purple-gold True Gang and golden True Fire surged out from the soles of his feet at the same time, wrapping the ring.
"Ah--!"
Under the burning of True Fire, the ring made a piercing scream, as if countless innocent souls were crying at the same time. It kept twisting and deforming, trying to break free, but was firmly trapped by True Gang, unable to move. In the end, it slowly melted, turned into a pool of silver liquid, seeped into the ground, and disappeared without a trace.
With the destruction of the ring, the black fog that shrouded the town instantly dissipated. The sun shone on the earth again. Those people whose minds were affected by Horseman of War and who were still fighting crazily regained their consciousness. They looked around blankly, and then let out painful cries.
"I won't let you go!" Horseman of War looked at Bai Haorui fiercely and said through gritted teeth, his eyes full of resentment, "We will meet again! Next time, I won't be the only one! Apocalypse has already started, and no one can stop it! You all have to die! All of you have to die!"
After saying that, he turned into a black smoke and disappeared into the night together with his red Mustang sports car.
Bai Haorui looked at the direction in which Horseman of War disappeared and breathed a sigh of relief. He could no longer hold on, and his body went limp and fell to the ground. He gasped for air, the wound on his chest ached faintly, and the True Gang in his dantian was almost exhausted. He felt that his whole body was falling apart, and he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.
Not long after, those who survived gathered in the central square. They walked out of their hiding places cautiously, looking at the corpses on the ground and the broken town, their faces full of sadness and despair. The whole square was dead silent, with only suppressed cries.
A gray-haired old man walked up to Bai Haorui and knelt down with a plop. His face was covered with wrinkles, his eyes were cloudy and sad, he was leaning on a crutch, and his body was shaking constantly. "Thank you, thank you for saving us." The old man said with tears in his eyes, his voice hoarse, "If it weren't for you, all of us would die here. You are our savior. You are the angel sent by God to save us."
Other survivors also knelt down and kowtowed to Bai Haorui in thanks. Their faces were full of gratitude and awe.
Bai Haorui stood up quickly and helped the old man up. He staggered a little and almost fell down. "No need to kneel, get up quickly." He said, his voice was a little weak, "I just did what I should do. If I can save him, I will save him. You don't have to be so polite."
At this moment, Bai Haorui felt a strange, warm power emanating from the survivors and slowly flowing into his body. This power was pure and gentle, with the breath of gratitude and faith, flowing like a warm current through his limbs and bones.
This is Power of Faith.
Bai Haorui My heart moved. I don't remember where I saw that when people express gratitude and belief in a person from the bottom of their hearts, Power of Faith...
He could clearly feel that his Divine Sense had become clearer and more agile, and his thoughts were running several times faster than before. Most of his energy, which had been exhausted due to excessive consumption, recovered in an instant, and was even more energetic than before. The True Gang in his dantian also began to recover slowly, becoming more pure and concise than before, and running more smoothly. Even the wounds on his chest were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the pain was reduced a lot.
Bai Haorui was overjoyed. He didn't expect that this time against Horseman of War, there would be such an unexpected gain.
He took out all the yellow talismans and healing elixirs left on his body and distributed them to the survivors. He helped them bury the bodies of the deceased, treat the wounds, and called Bobby to tell him about the situation and asked him to contact nearby hunters to help with the aftermath.
At noon, Bai Haorui said goodbye to the survivors and drove away Lone Star Town. He took out his mobile phone and dialed Dean's number. "Dean, it's me. I've settled the matter here. Horseman of War was beaten away by me. Where are you? I'll go over and meet you."
Canton City Wax Museum.
The two brothers took an iron ax and a shotgun and sneaked into the wax museum quietly. It was already late at night, and the wax museum was empty. Only the emergency lights gave off a faint green light, illuminating the long corridor.
The wax figures stood motionless one after another, looking particularly strange under the dim light. Their eyes were blank, but they seemed to be staring at you. The corridor was quiet, only their footsteps echoed.
"Look at this." Dean pointed at the wax figure of Lincoln and said in an exaggerated tone, trying to ease the tense atmosphere, "Eighty-seven years ago... I had a funny hat."
"Dean." Sam said helplessly and glared at him, "Now is not the time to joke."
"Can't I have some fun?" Dean pouted, "Let's burn these things, burn the ghosts, and get out of here, okay? I'm going to get the key chain of "East of Eden". The signed key chain of James·Dean, this is a priceless treasure."
The two brothers split up. Sam walked towards the wax figure of Gandhi, preparing to take off his glasses. According to their experience, ghosts usually attach themselves to their belongings during their lifetime. Gandhi's glasses are the best possessions.
Suddenly, the door to the museum closed with a bang.
The temperature dropped sharply, and Sam could see the white breath he was exhaling. There was a biting chill in the air.
He immediately raised his shotgun and looked around cautiously. "Dean?"
No one answered.
At this moment, an invisible force knocked the gun out of his hand. The shotgun hit the wall and fell to the ground.
Sam turned around suddenly and saw that the wax figure of Gandhi had come to life at some point and was standing behind him, with fierce eyes and a face full of anger. He held a wooden stick in his hand and hit Sam on the head.
Gandhi screamed and rushed forward, jumped on Sam, and strangled his neck like a howling monkey. His strength was so amazing that Sam couldn't break away at all.
"Dean! Dean!" Sam shouted with difficulty, feeling that the air was getting less and less, and his eyes began to turn black. His face turned red and his tongue stuck out.
Just when he was about to lose consciousness, Dean rushed over. He grabbed the glasses Gandhi placed next to him, threw them into the trash can next to him, and then lit the lighter. The flames jumped up and swallowed the glasses.
Gandhi let out a shrill scream, and his body began to become transparent. He let go of Sam's neck, turned into a wisp of black smoke, and disappeared into the air.
Sam collapsed on the ground, gasping for air and coughing non-stop. There were several deep fingerprints left on his neck, which caused severe pain.
Dean walked over, looked down at him, and suppressed a smile. "Can't you admire a cooler person? Really? Gandhi? You were actually choked by Gandhi."
Sam rolled his eyes and said angrily, "This is not funny."
"No, it's funny." Dean laughed harder, "I will never forget this in my life. I will tell Bobby, Old Bai tell Castiel, tell everyone I know. Sam·Winchester was almost strangled to death by Gandhi."
At this moment, Sam suddenly frowned. "Wait, something is wrong."
"What's wrong?" Dean stopped laughing.
"If he is a ghost, if we burn his possession, he should be gone. But just now, he just disappeared." Sam said, his eyes full of confusion, "Moreover, ghosts are incorporeal. But just now, I can clearly feel his weight and strength. This is not an ordinary ghost."
Dean's smile also disappeared. "You are right. This is not right. Then what is he?"
"I don't know." Sam shook his head, "We have to investigate again."
Early the next morning, Canton City morgue.
The air here is fully refrigerated. Rows of stainless steel morgues are neatly arranged and covered with white sheets. The walls are white and the lights are white, making the entire morgue look particularly eerie.
Sam insisted on conducting a second autopsy on the bodies of Carl and Professor Hill. Dean stood aside with a look of disgust on his face, putting his hands in his pockets and covering his nose with his sleeves.
"That's disgusting." Dean said with a frown, "Why are we here? We should go to the wax museum and burn all the wax figures. That way the problem will be solved."
"No." Sam said, putting on a pair of rubber gloves. "We can't act rashly until we figure out what it is. What if we burn the wax statue and anger it instead?"
He pulled back the sheet covering Carl's body. Carl's head had been sewn back, but the expression of horror still remained on his face. Sam carefully inspected the body, from the head to the feet, not sparing any detail.
"I actually missed this before." Sam said suddenly, his eyes lit up. He used a scalpel to carefully take out a few small black seeds from Carl's stomach. The seeds were only the size of rice grains, oval in shape, with a smooth surface and a strange luster.
"What?" Dean came over, not caring about feeling sick anymore.
"I re-examined the other two victims." Sam said, "They both lost a lot of blood. Much more than a car accident or a head wound should cause. It was as if... something was sucking their blood. And, in both of their stomachs, these seeds were found."
"Yeah. That's great." Dean wrinkled his nose, "And then there are these. What are these, are they the seeds of some kind of man-eating plant?"
"Yes, they were found in the stomachs of both victims." Sam put the seeds in an evidence bag and held them up to the light.
"These seeds are different from any seeds I have seen before, Dean." Sam said, observing the seeds carefully, "Their structure is very strange."
"Wow, just when I thought you couldn't stop being nerdy," Dean said, rolling his eyes.
Sam ignored his ridicule, took out his laptop and typed on the keyboard quickly. He uploaded the photos of the seeds to a plant database and conducted a comparison search. Suddenly, he stopped and his eyes lit up.
"Found it."
"What?"
"These seeds are not local. In fact, they are not the seeds of any tree or plant in this country," Sam said. "They come from an ancient forest in Eastern Europe. Balkan Peninsula that no longer exists. It was cleared about 30 years ago to build a factory."
"So?" Dean asked, still not understanding, "What does this have to do with our case?"
"So local legend says that the forest is guarded by a god named Leshi (Leshii)." Sam continued, "Leshi is the god of the forest in Slavic mythology. He is the god of the forest. Master, all animals and plants are under his control. He is a mischievous god who likes to play tricks on humans, but will also punish those who destroy the forest. He can transform into countless forms, men, women, animals, and even trees. And I guess, he now likes to eat his worshipers."
"How does Leshi kill people?"
"He will lure his victims deep into the forest, and then drain their blood. He will leave forest seeds in the victim's stomach as his mark." Sam said, "And he has a weakness. You can kill him by chopping off his head with an iron ax. Iron tools can restrain his strength."
"Then why did he become Abel Lahan·Lincoln and James·Dean?" Dean asked puzzledly, "Why didn't he continue to be the god of his forest?"
"Because he needs people to worship him. His power comes from faith." Sam explained, "When his forest was cut down, he lost all his admirers and his power also weakened. So he began to become a celebrity and use people's attention to his fame. He seeks power and food from people's worship. And the wax museum is the perfect cover. There are all the celebrities' personal belongings there. He can turn into their appearance with just a touch. Those he kills are the super fans of those celebrities. Their worship is the strongest and their souls are the most delicious."
At this moment, Dean's cell phone rang. It was the police chief.
"Hello?... What?... Okay, we'll be there soon." Dean hung up the phone and his face became serious, "The police chief said that two girls came to report the crime. Their friend Danielle was kidnapped by Paris Hill ton. Just now, near the wax museum."
Late at night, the decoration area behind the wax museum.
The place has been transformed into a primeval forest setting, with several tall artificial trees standing in the center of the room, the ground covered with dirt and fallen leaves, and some simulated animal specimens placed in the corners.
The two brothers took an iron ax and a shotgun and sneaked into the decoration area quietly. Their steps were very light and they tried not to make any noise.
Danielle was tied to one of the trees, unconscious. She was a teenage girl with long brown hair, wearing a pink T-shirt and jeans. Her face was covered with tears and she looked very scared.
"Danielle." Sam shouted softly, about to walk over.
Suddenly, a figure flashed out from behind the tree.
She was wearing a shiny pink dress, long golden hair shawl, huge sunglasses, and holding a designer bag in her hand. It was Paris Hill ton. She had a sweet smile on her face, but there was no warmth in her eyes.
"Good evening, boys." She said with a smile, her voice sweet but with a hint of coldness, "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Dean immediately raised the shotgun and pointed it at her. "Stay away from her, you monster."
Paris Hill just waved her hand gently. An invisible force suddenly hit Dean. Dean flew out like being hit by a truck, hit the wall hard, and fainted. The shotgun flew out of his hand and fell to the ground.
"Dean!" Sam shouted, swinging the iron ax and slashing at her.
Paris Hill ducked sideways, moving as light as a cat. Then she punched Sam in the stomach. Sam bent over in pain and felt that all his internal organs had moved. She grabbed his collar again and threw him out. Sam's head hit a large artificial tree, his vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, Dean woke up.
He found himself tied to a tree and unable to move. The rough rope cut deeply into his flesh, making him unable to breathe. Sam was tied to another tree nearby, still in a coma. Paris Hill sat on a stone not far away and was sharpening her nails with a rusty knife. Her movements were elegant and slow, as if she was performing an artistic creation.
"It's good that you're awake." She raised her head and said with a smile, "I don't like to eat when others are asleep. That's too rude. And it will affect the taste."
"Who are you?" Dean struggled, but the rope became tighter and tighter. His wrists were worn and bleeding.
"I am Leshi." She said, "But you seem to like me better the way I am now. After all, people nowadays worship celebrities, don't they? You would rather believe in a star than an ancient god."
"Why did you kill those people?" Dean asked, his eyes full of anger.
"Kill?" Leshi chuckled, the laughter was as sweet as a silver bell, but it made people shudder, "I'm just eating. Don't you humans also kill cows and pigs to eat? What's the difference? In my time, people would build temples for me and offer sacrifices. They worshiped me, feared me, and regarded me as a real god. They would offer the best food to me and hold a grand sacrificial ceremony for me. What now?"
Her tone was full of ridicule and anger. "What now? You have cut down my forests, killed my animals, and destroyed my temples. You no longer worship me, no longer fear me. You worship these... celebrities. They are more famous, more powerful, and more popular than gods. They can make thousands of people crazy with just a word. So I just adapted to the times. I became what you worship so that I can survive."
She stood up, walked to Dean, and looked at him condescendingly. "The world is about to be destroyed. Apocalypse has already started, and Lucifer and Michael are about to go to war. By then, everyone will die and the whole world will be in ruins. Why don't I enjoy it now? What's wrong with eating a few fans who admire me to replenish their energy? They will all die sooner or later anyway."
She turned around and walked towards Sam, looking at him carefully. She stretched out her hand and gently stroked Sam's cheek. "Your brother looks delicious. There is a lot of darkness in his soul. I like the taste of darkness. It is the most delicious condiment. After eating him, my strength will definitely increase greatly."
"Don't touch him!" Dean roared, his eyes filled with bloodshot eyes. He struggled desperately, the rope tightened, and the blood on his wrists flowed more. "If you want to eat, eat me! Let him go!"
"Don't worry, I will eat you first." Leshi said with a smile, his eyes full of playfulness, "I know who your idol is, Dean·Winchester. It's not Paris·Hill ton. You haven't even watched "House of Wax", right? Your idol is your father, John·Winchester. You admire him, fear him, and long for his approval. Everything you do in your life is to make him proud of you. You live for him."
Leshi's body began to change. Her long blond hair turned into short brown hair, and her pink dress turned into a worn leather jacket and jeans. Her height became taller, her shoulders broadened, and the lines on her face became tougher. After a few seconds, she transformed into John·Winchester.
The same eyes, the same expression, the same sternness. Even the smell on his body is exactly the same as John.
"Dean." She said in the voice of John, her tone full of disappointment.
Dean looked at the face in front of him that he thought about day and night, and his heart suddenly shrank.
"You always disappoint me, Dean." Leshi became John·Winchester, shaking his head and approaching him step by step, holding an ax in his hand. "I asked you to take good care of Sam, but you let him be bewitched by the devil, drink the devil's blood, and release Lucifer. I asked you to stop Apocalypse, but you accomplished nothing. You can't do anything well. You are a loser. I am really ashamed of you."