"Take Action"
"Stop acting tough, watch me smash you into a fool!"
The Emerald Wolf Spirit howled low, and the five evil spirits covered in a wicked shell instantly erupted. They turned into shadows, disappearing from sight, only to launch a swift attack from all directions toward Li Aozi and Alexia.
"Scan."
Alexia raised her hand, sweeping it across in front of her. The evil spirits hidden in the shadows were immediately exposed. She struck out with both fists, fiercely hitting the four-armed Snail Man charging at her.
"Damn it!"
The four-armed Snail Man was horrified, hastily raising its arms to block in front of it, but its strength was nowhere near Alexia's.
Thud—
Alexia's fists forcibly broke the Snail Man's four folded arms. Her unwavering determination was like the blazing sun as her fists plunged into it, burning and melting the Snail Man as if it were spring snow.
She pulled with all her might, and the once-aggressive Snail Man immediately let out a wail, with black smoke rising from its body. Soon after, its upper half was violently torn in two by Alexia's strength, melting and burning away on her metal gauntlets.
Despite this, the Snail Man still didn't die. This spirit's life force was extraordinarily tenacious, and it struggled to crawl back to the grand duke's feet with the last bit of its snail shell. Duke Gamos lowered his hand, releasing a weak spirit from his body for the Snail Man to consume, slowly restoring it.
Compared to Alexia's brutal efficiency, Li Aozi's methods were more dazzling and shocking.
Boom!
Li Aozi lifted his long blade, and the vengeful spirit warrior behind him did the same. The overwhelming killing intent was palpable; just approaching him was enough to send a shiver down your spine.
The Emerald Wolf Spirit and the White-Robed Spirit Wife exchanged a glance, seeing their thoughts reflected in each other's eyes:
They both realized that everything about them had been seen through.
'Feint and probe, force him to attack.'
'Just what I wanted.'
The two evil spirits communicated silently, launching an attack together. The Emerald Wolf Spirit shot out a compressed spiritual energy orb, while the Spirit Wife slashed out a crescent-shaped dark wave with a human spine fan.
[Soul-Imprinted Sword Saint•War Ghost]—Stacking
[Gravity•Contact]—Stacking
"Dual Unity—Ghost Fang Slash!"
The vengeful spirit behind Li Aozi instantly swung its blade, a terrifying purple flame sweeping horizontally forward. The two spirits retreated, but they quickly realized it was too late to avoid it.
After the vengeful spirit warrior slashed, Li Aozi also stepped forward leisurely, raising his crystallized greatsword.
Gravity Drive!
His acceleration instantly increased to 120G, with a speed of 1,176 meters per second, causing a terrifying sonic boom. As the two evil spirits were still retreating mid-air, Li Aozi's blade had already sliced past them.
Clang—
His figure moved like lightning, despite wearing the incredibly heavy lava armor, his speed exceeded the reactions of the eye and nervous system. The blade danced like a rider without a mount or a butterfly flitting through a flowerbed. In a split second, purple slash marks appeared on both the Emerald Wolf Spirit and the Spirit Wife.
"Ugh—damn it, Fetus Ghost, Thunder Spirit, get moving!"
The Emerald Wolf Spirit's eyes darted around, pretending to be severely injured, and urgently shouted to the rear:
"Do something, you two idiots!"
"Shut up!"
The Thunder Spirit, a creature between a lion and a deer, was different from these spirits born of resentment in life. Its demeanor was clearly more noble. As a spirit born of nature, it was a manifestation of the Blue Star's ecological will, disdainful of standing with the nearby evil spirits. It opened its mouth, spiritual energy swirling, gathering into a brilliant purple lightning ball.
"Hmph!"
The Thunder Spirit growled lowly, and the dazzling ball of lightning instantly flew toward Li Aozi, forcing him to pull back as he continuously slashed at the two evil spirits.
No matter how much Li Aozi maneuvered mid-air to create distance, the lightning ball stayed locked onto him.
"Soul Mark Tracking—this guy's a bit tough."
Seeing the lightning ball about to catch up with him, Li Aozi suddenly turned around and landed, stomping on the ground.
Boom!
[Armor of the Mountains]
[Gravity]
He once again harnessed the power of the earth, forming a crude rock golem under gravitational control, crashing into the lightning ball.
Crackle—
The intense heat melted a portion of the rock golem, shattering part of it, but it didn't matter. Instead, Li Aozi used gravity to hurl it toward the grand duke's body on the throne!
Guh!
The Fetus Ghost instantly shifted forms, blocking in front of the grand duke. It swung its umbilical cord, shattering the rock golem into fragments. Only some tiny bits of rock, amid the dust, landed on Duke Gamos's face.
Tap, tap, tap...
The rocks rolled off the grand duke's face, getting caught in the wrinkles and age spots on his skin. No one could know exactly how that felt, but judging by Duke Gamos's reaction, it was clearly unpleasant.
Duke Gamos raised his head, for the first time, surveying the battlefield directly.
He saw the melted and trampled marble, treated like dirt by these two seemingly young Beta-tier individuals.
He saw their youthful bodies, gradually stepping into the same painful domain as his own, even growing stronger to kill him—especially that woman from the old era.
He saw the Omega Energy, which had long been reduced to street tricks, now being transformed into countless possibilities in the hands of the new generation. Just like the young people themselves, it was vibrant, full of potential.
He saw those who should have perished with the old world, now filled with resolve, growing stronger as they fought.
These things, he once had them too. He should have had such an era.
But all this power had become a curse.
Duke Gamos's heart shifted suddenly.
Perhaps it was jealousy of the young, or resentment at the unfairness of fate, or simply anger at being humiliated.
He removed the respirator from his face and slowly stood up. The Snail Man was still greedily consuming weak spirits but was immediately reabsorbed by Duke Gamos.
"Gamos, I'm not fully healed yet—"
Before it could finish speaking, the grand duke raised his hand, casually pointing between its snail antennae.
Squish!
The Snail Man's body instantly exploded, dissolving into a torrent of spiritual energy that reversed back into Gamos. His body shook slightly, and snail-like antennae grew from his forehead.
"Hey, Gamos—" The Fetus Ghost had just begun to speak when it was also grabbed by the grand duke, its umbilical cord torn away, wrapping around his arm. The placenta at its head slammed heavily into the ground, dragging along like a meteor hammer, leaving a black, filthy trail.
"Gamos! Are you betraying us? We're the ones helping you!"
The destruction of the Fetus Ghost and Snail Man left the Spirit Wife deeply displeased:
"If you don't understand the bigger picture—"
Before she could finish speaking, Alexia punched her, causing the Spirit Wife to stagger back, landing right in front of the grand duke.
Clap.
A faint blue crack slowly opened in the grand duke's chest, and before the Spirit Wife could scream, she was swallowed by the grand duke in one "bite."
The folding fan fell to the ground as Alexia cautiously looked up, and Duke Gamos's figure suddenly burst forth. Even the shockwave from his movement was enough to send the immensely powerful Alexia flying to the ground.
He took a large step forward, moving silently, dragging his eerie steps as he completely ignored the rules of physics, rapidly skimming across the wall, directly pouncing on Emerald, who was battling Li Aozi.
Thud——
Even with all its deep schemes, Emerald was caught off guard this time. Its head was lifted high, grabbed by the grand duke, who swiftly and cleanly skinned the wolf, draping the pelt over his shoulders, forming a luxurious and savage cloak.
Li Aozi stood face to face with Gamos, only half a meter apart. Whether it was the flames on Li Aozi's body or the rotting stench of corpses on Gamos, they could clearly smell each other's presence.
"You're not afraid of me."
Gamos's voice was sickly, utterly lacking in strength, like an old man on his deathbed, yet each word he spoke rolled like thunder through the Flame King's Hall. Facing him was, in itself, a terrifying experience.
For the first time, facing Duke Gamos, Li Aozi understood the despair and fear felt by those crushed under his gravity.
This was completely different from facing Bio King Kong. The Abyss professor didn't know how to fight and wasn't a true powerhouse, just a pile of flesh built up by Omega Energy.
But Duke Gamos—if Bio King Kong was a drop of water, then the duke was a flood, bringing destruction and disaster in an overwhelming torrent.
Yet, compared to Li Aozi's feelings, the duke was even more surprised.
"You're not afraid of me, and even your eyes are filled with eagerness."
What kind of concept is this—like an ordinary person with bare hands seeing a high-speed train rushing toward them, not only without fear but with a burning desire to overturn the train and smash it into scrap metal.
Gamos was silent for a moment. He initially thought he had many thoughts, many words to mock this young man.
'Overestimating yourself,' 'meaningless,' 'you'll eventually regret pursuing power'—he knew those kinds of looks all too well.
Before he had succumbed, step by step, to becoming an agent of the Frost-Plated, Gamos remembered he had once looked that way too.
The young man before him, or that bride of the old era—neither had any personal enmity with him.
Reasonably, they shouldn't be fighting him, especially not against an enemy so powerful it was despairing.
Whether it was the grand duke, the Frost-Plated, or any of the imperial powers.
But now, he realized that those supposed taunts were actually proof of his own failure.
These two young people weren't fighting for self-interest but for their beliefs.
In terms of power, he was overwhelmingly superior, but from the very beginning, Gamos knew he had already lost far too much.
"...Forget it."
Duke Gamos said nothing more.
If you overlook the things he did and the historical role he played, he didn't really look like a villain at all.
Rather, he resembled a lifeless old man, devoid of any will to fight.
"Thunder Spirit."
Gamos waved his hand, and the Natural Beast Spirit immediately clung to him, merging with his body. Brilliant purple lightning erupted, instantly tearing through the ceiling of the Flame King's Hall.
Crackle!
Amidst the red and black clouds of calamity, a bolt of lightning struck down, piercing through the roof of Surut Palace and slamming into Gamos.
A vast cloud of discharging electricity instantly engulfed the entire Surut Palace. Seeing the dire situation, Xislong and the Bemudes soldiers on the periphery quickly retreated.
Rumble, rumble, rumble——
The ground trembled, buildings collapsed, and the Surut Palace, with its nearly thousand-year history, shook continuously. The massive cloud of discharging electricity spread like malignant cancer cells, swallowing countless soldiers alive. Amid the flashing lightning and thunder, a towering, inhuman figure slowly unfurled six pairs of arms, descending upon the world like an Asura.
The ferocious demon god's arrival sent the thunderclouds roiling in response, trembling as they transmitted his will:
"—Take Action."
'Take Action' is a term rooted in ancient shamanic culture, later evolving into a cultural tradition in northeast China.
Though I'm not from the northeast, I've heard of the tales of the Horse Spirit. This intriguing folklore became the direct inspiration for the [Shaman] in this book.
Shamanic culture, whether in Asia or across the world, has always been present, and no one can say for sure where it originated. I think it might be the result of early humans' simple faith practices, where tribes relied on figures like shamans to bring them together.