Chapter 219: I Understand

Boom!

Outside the underground vault, which was a complete wreck and littered with corpses, there was a deafening crash as a crimson storm descended from above.

“Storm Sweep! Charge!”

Now that Tang Qian was going all out, he seemed to transform into a massive, raging gale of blood. Wherever he passed, walls, tables, cabinets, corpses, and even pools of blood were destroyed as though they had been swept over by an invisible plow. Everything shattered, broke, and turned to dust.

Blood-colored flames coiled around his savage, ferocious face as his eyes swept across the horrific scene before him. Unable to contain his worry and fury, he roared, “Don’t be afraid, Father! I’m here to help you!”

The mutated priest was so moved that he almost burst into tears. All over his body, the eyeballs radiating evil light grew misty with joyful tears. He had never expected this. He truly had never expected it.

Smith usually did nothing but eat and shit. He was a useless glutton who annoyed everyone around him, and even the priest himself could barely stand the man. Had he not already spent so much money on him, he would have probably driven Smith away or sent him to the front lines as cannon fodder.

But never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that hardship would reveal the man’s character, and danger would show where his true loyalties lay. During the priest’s greatest peril, Smith had actually come to risk his life to save him. Even though he looked crude and rough, he was in fact a thoughtful man who repaid every kindness and grudge. He remembered even the smallest favor, down to every meal he had been given, and he had even come to regard the priest as his own father!

Overwhelmed by joy and emotion, the priest’s earlier anxiety and uncertainty vanished, and his heart surged with heroic resolve. He raised an arm, which looked like the branch of a withered tree. Several aberrant limbs shot out and plunged into a vortex that opened in midair, then emerged from another vortex behind Tong Shan. They split apart, hardened, and began dripping venom.

Every transformation bestowed upon the priest by White Hall was revealed in full! He threw back his head and laughed. “My good child! I misjudged you. Today, the two of us will—”

Bang!

The blood-red gale raced forward with savage force, speeding past Tong Shan. Then the heavy sword cleaved into the priest’s skull, splitting him apart from the crown of his head down to his chest. Even on his shattered face, an expression of disbelief still remained.

“You... you...”

Tang Qian glared at him furiously. “You what? You vile fiend! How dare you hurt my father? For that, you deserve death a thousand times over! Today, I’ll make sure you die a miserable death, a truly wretched death, a death so horrible it defies humanity!”

His one-headed, four-armed form unfolded once more. Two brand-new arms stretched out from behind him, gripping a great axe and a rapier.

Armed with a spear, a greatsword, a flail, a war hammer, a rapier, and a great axe, his six arms unleashed a relentless barrage of blows. As he thrust, slashed, battered, and trampled the priest, sharp cracks rang out without end.

The priest turned into a mass of mangled flesh in no time. Agonized wails burst from the countless mouths opening and closing across his remains. There were screams and furious curses until finally, crimson tears of rage and grief spilled from the remaining scarlet eyes.

“I’ll kill every last one of you!” the priest screamed, abandoning all effort to maintain his fragile human form.

Tendrils of blood and bone erupted from the pulped flesh like tree roots. They burrowed into the ground and ravenously drew in blood and death, devouring the surrounding aberration contamination in an instant.

A vague outline of a human body grew from the mass of roots. Hundreds upon hundreds of branches spread out like arms, emerging from nowhere in the most literal sense. There was no warning whatsoever. They appeared and vanished like phantoms.

No one knew what kind of aberrant bloodline he had fused with, but whatever he had absorbed, it had enhanced the Vortex lineage’s already formidable vitality to an unbelievable level.

The ground split apart as tendrils pushed their way upward and blossomed like flowers. Inside those flower buds grew tangled organs and tumors, dripping thick, viscous blood.

Deadly poison spread through the air. Roots coiled around everything they touched, greedily draining away blood and life the instant they made contact.

The vast vault mutated into a grotesque, self-contained ecosystem of horrors. This was the Rebirth form the priest had gained from the blessing of the Vortex.

Tong Shan rose into the air as waves of telekinetic force swept out in every direction, tearing away the poisonous branches growing around him. Under pure gravitational pressure, the tree trunks cracked, fell, and regenerated. Within just a few seconds, however, they adapted. Iron-hard branches now thrust toward the sky as they sprouted from the ground, and thick, bark-like carapaces multiplied and grew without pause, shielding them from the relentless pressure.

Tang Qian trampled over the aberrant flowers and grass without the slightest concern, then threw back his head and shouted, “Old geezer, get out here!”

At once, a withered face emerged from his shoulder, yawning listlessly. “Qian, what is it this time—”

Tang Qian casually stuffed the gold coin into his mouth. “Shut up!”

The old man froze. His few remaining teeth closed around the coin, and the moment he felt that familiar texture, his clouded eyes lit up. It was the real thing! It was actually the real thing! It was almost brand-new and exceptionally rare!

His eyes lit up with excitement. Fourth Great-Uncle swallowed the gold coin with a gulp, then shouted in delight, “Now that’s more like it!”

Two of the Asura’s arms instantly became covered in wrinkles and age spots. They shriveled and withered, yet the ferocity and power they radiated increased many times over.

In his hand, the once-ordinary spear was now covered in cracks. Beneath those cracks, a thick, crimson liquid dripped from the spearhead like mournful tears.

Reflected in those blood-red tears, Fourth Great-Uncle’s head appeared once more on Tang Qian’s shoulder. Rows of sharp, sharklike teeth sprouted from his shriveled gums. He tilted his head, glanced at the priest, and flashed a mocking smile. Even his way of addressing Tang Qian changed. “Lad, this time I’ll take the lead and you play defense?”

“What the hell? Shouldn’t I be the one attacking?” Tang Qian shot back. “I’m the one who paid!”

“That’s precisely why...” Fourth Great-Uncle let out a sinister cackle. “I’m very strong, you know.”

Without warning, a crimson torrent erupted from the ground and charged forward. With the faintest tremor of the spearhead, the earth split apart. All the flowers and grass were annihilated in an instant, and the remaining vitality gathered into a beam of flowing light that Fourth Great-Uncle devoured completely.

A diagonal crack tore through the grotesque tree formed by the mutated priest, shearing away half its branches. Then, with another sweep of the spear, the entire tree was severed across the middle!

The priest and Tong Shan weren’t the only ones stunned. Even Tang Qian was frozen in place. “Holy shit, old geezer. You were never this strong before!”

Fourth Great-Uncle side-eyed him. “What kind of worthless offerings were you burning for me before? Old newspapers[1]? You tried to cheat a ghost, so don’t complain when the ghost cheats you back. Besides, this is a commemorative coronation coin issued in the first year of the Emperor’s reign. How could it possibly be the same?”

“Hurry up then! I found a huge cash cow! Money won’t be a problem, he’s got all the gold coins you could ever need!”

“Why the hell didn’t you say so earlier?”

Fourth Great-Uncle was now fired up!

***

By the time Ji Jue finished helping the others clean up and finally arrived at the scene, the priest was on his last breath. Despite being a recipient of White Hall’s blessing and possessing seemingly inexhaustible vitality, he had been hacked apart. What remained of his upper half crawled weakly across the floor as he struggled to survive.

“Father, sit tight and watch me!” Tang Qian, drenched in sweat and brimming with enthusiasm, waved his hand eagerly. As though afraid that Tong Shan felt his money had not been well spent, he declared, “I’ll show you a Central Lands-style beheading. It’s thrilling! The blood can spray three meters high!”

Squelch!

The greatsword came down, sending the priest’s head flying. Blood sprayed two and a half meters into the air, half a meter short.

Having embarrassed himself in front of his patron, Tang Qian flew into a rage. He stomped the priest’s rapidly regenerating head into pulp, then stomped it again.

“Smith, you bastard... you’ll die a horrible death!” the priest wailed, cursed, and sobbed uncontrollably. At last, he made a desperate move, and the last of his life force erupted like a raging torrent. “You must die. You must all die. Every single one of you, every last one!”

The crimson eyes embedded in the scattered chunks of flesh wept tears of blood. The priest sacrificed every last trace of his life to make up the remaining shortfall.

The altar roared, and the earth shook fiercely. Invisible forces intertwined, forming a vortex that, drawing upon every previous sacrifice and offering, tore through the vast distance and every barrier in its path.

Through that compulsory summoning, carried out without regard for consequences or cost, aberrant spirit matter burst like a volcano, spreading until it turned the entire vault into a demonic realm.

From the tides of darkness, a solemn wheel of bone slowly rose, and a demonic eye looked down upon everything. As the bone wheel began to turn, the entire bank groaned under the strain, as though it could collapse at any moment.

After repeated urging and invocation, the Upper Abomination was finally dragged into the mortal world by forced summoning, ready to display its divine might. The Wheel-Turning Sacred King had descended!

“Ha... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...” The mangled priest laughed wildly and kowtowed[2] as tears of blood streamed from his eyes. “I offer my living soul as a sacrifice, no, I offer every living soul and dead spirit in this place! O Supreme Lord of Reincarnation, I beg you, reveal Your divine might!”

No one could utter a single sound. At the very front, Tom was already drenched in sweat. After calling for so long without receiving any response, he had assumed the Wheel-Turning Sacred King had stood them up. He had never expected that bastard priest to possess a method of forcing the summoning through.

And judging by this grand presence, It[3] had not been weakened, suppressed, or summoned in an incomplete state. It was a genuine Upper Abomination.

Tang Qian gasped. His face twitched as he turned toward Tong Shan and forced out a smile uglier than a grimace. “Boss, well... this one might be a little difficult to handle.”

Tong Shan stood ready for battle, nerves stretched to the limit. He had no time to waste on idle chatter.

The flag in his hand trembled frantically as it devoured telekinetic power, gathering strength for a thunderous final strike. This was his last, desperate gamble. Yet throughout the unnaturally prolonged silence, the Wheel-Turning Sacred King did not move, not even once. Instead, It stared at the scene before It in confusion, as though It had only just awakened from a dream.

At the center of the bone wheel, an eye filled with boundless heretical visions gazed down upon the entire ritual ground. In the end, Its gaze settled on Ji Jue, who just stepped through the entrance. Its expression began to change, each emotion unmistakably clear. It went from annoyance to displeasure to irritation to suspicion to shock, and then to a fleeting trace of fear.

Then came an uncontrollable explosion of fury! The scene before the Abomination was exactly the same as before.

Once again, the Heretic Cult had summoned It. Once again, there was an altar piled with offerings and sacrifices. Once again, there were demands, flattery, and hollow praise. There was the same scar-faced brat holding the same bell...

And the same sanctimonious bastard who looked utterly devout while secretly hoping to loot a few gold coins from Its corpse!

In that instant, It finally understood. It understood everything! You bastards from the Heretic Cult... Fleecing me once wasn’t enough, so now you’re trying to do it again?!

Thunder rumbled in the darkness as the wheel of bone spun and its furious roar echoed through the air. Without any restraint, It gathered every last bit of Its power. Blazing light burst from Its evil eye, weaving together in midair before forming a colossal hand that came crashing down at the deranged priest, who was still dancing wildly in ecstatic celebration.

A massive shadow spread across the ground, growing larger and larger until It completely swallowed the priest, who stared back in horror.

“Wai—”

Wait, my ass. Go to hell!

Boom!

1. The line refers to the Chinese folk custom of burning paper offerings for the dead. People traditionally burn joss paper, spirit money, or paper replicas of valuables so deceased relatives can receive them in the afterlife.

Fourth Great-Uncle is mocking Tang Qian for having previously burned him worthless offerings, apparently little better than ordinary newspapers. ☜

2. Kowtow is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. It was commonly used in religious worship, emphasizing its emotional depth, sincerity, and willing submission. In Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It was widely used to show reverence for one's elders, superiors, and especially the Emperor of China, as well as for religious and cultural objects of worship. Here is a reference image. You can read more here. ☜

3. The chinese character 祂 is a pronoun specifically used for gods, deities, and other divine beings. Hence I capitalized the ‘It’ here. ☜