Chapter 192: Review

Jin Meiting unzipped the back of her dress, and it slipped off.

She wore a strapless top and hot pants.

The atmosphere grew charged.

Faintly, amidst the sensual, desire-filled atmosphere, a holy hymn could be heard.

The hymn wasn’t ringing out in the antique shop; it was materializing directly in one’s mind.

Strangely, the song—which sounded as if sung by holy nuns—was also as captivating as a siren’s alluring, decadent call, stirring the soul.

Jiang Chaosheng raised an eyebrow.

‘Is this a vision?’

Goat horns, symbols of evil and lust, slowly sprouted from Jin Meiting’s forehead.

Her pupils had become golden hearts.

The Succubus’s Evil Mark on her lower abdomen burned, glowing brightly.

A radiant Holy Light shone from her lower back as two slender, golden Angel’s Wings unfurled.

She gazed at Jiang Chaosheng, her eyes full of affection.

Her gaze was viscous, as if it could hook a man’s soul and drown it within her.

If the Succubus of old represented lust, then the Jin Meiting of now was the very fiend of carnality.

The woman of all women, the ultimate female!

What was most breathtaking was that this Jin Meiting, radiating raw sex appeal, also possessed a holy aura.

A perfect fusion of seduction and purity, like… a fallen Holy Mother.

Jiang Chaosheng’s heart physically skipped half a beat.

Even he felt a flicker of desire in the face of this almost irresistible charm.

Noticing Jiang Chaosheng’s reaction, Jin Meiting rejoiced inwardly. She leaned over the counter, resting her heavy bust on its surface.

Her wings gave a mischievous flutter. She tilted her head, looking at Jiang Chaosheng with a gaze as clear as holy water, yet utterly suggestive.

Jin Meiting exhaled, her breath as fragrant as an orchid.

“Master, if you haven’t had your fill… I can do more…”

The breath she exhaled carried a feverish, cloying sweetness, like an overripe fruit in the split second before it begins to rot.

The air was thick with a contradictory scent: incense mixed with lust, chastity laced with depravity.

Jiang Chaosheng’s eyes remained clear.

“You have already surpassed the Succubus, becoming a completely new form of Extraordinary Life.”

“Have you given a name to your new extraordinary form?”

Jin Meiting froze.

‘Did the Charm of my new form have no effect on him at all?’

With a face full of disappointment, Jin Meiting retracted her demonic form and said sullenly,

“Please, Master, you name it.”

Jiang Chaosheng said,

“Think of one yourself.”

Jin Meiting grew even more crestfallen.

“Very well. Then I shall take my leave, Master.”

Jiang Chaosheng nodded.

Jin Meiting departed, clutching the Grandmother’s Book.

‘The Magic in the Grandmother’s Book is clearly very strong…’

‘But I just can’t feel happy about it.’

‘Whatever. I should just go back.’

‘Let those cheap bitches get all excited about receiving Dusk’s reward.’

‘Oh, right, speaking of those Witches…’

Jin Meiting spoke up.

“Master, one of the Witches in the Witch Association is also a leader in the Taiping Dao.”

Jiang Chaosheng nodded, replying with an air of indifference.

“I know.”

That was actually encouraging news.

‘But that piece has to stay on the board for now.’

….

After Jin Meiting left, Jiang Chaosheng looked toward the wall.

A shadow was branded onto the wall, looking just like a painting.

Jiang Chaosheng said,

“Are you okay?”

The shadow crawled out of the wall.

It was Yang Xiao.

A transparent version of him.

Dim and dark, like a humanoid cloud of black gauze.

Yang Xiao scratched his head.

“If Evil Crow hadn’t stepped in to help, I’d probably be a goner.”

Jiang Chaosheng nodded.

“Evil Crow certainly has a lot of tricks.”

“What about you? What are your plans?”

Yang Xiao shrugged helplessly.

“I’ll see if I can find a powerful body.”

“I’ll find a way to get back to my peak.”

“Xia Li is running experiments on Extraordinary Creatures. Maybe she can help me out.”

Jiang Chaosheng nodded.

“Good.”

Yang Xiao cupped his hands in a salute.

“Sir, I’m relieved to see you’ve returned after dealing with your troubles.”

The next second, Yang Xiao melted back into the ground. He became a black shadow that slithered rapidly across the floor and out of Antique Shop Zero.

Jiang Chaosheng glanced around the empty Antique Shop Zero, then at the darkening sky outside. He pulled a notebook from under the counter and began to write.

“Evil Crow has left. Yang Xiao’s condition has deteriorated. Two members of the Taboo Association are unavailable for the foreseeable future.”

Jiang Chaosheng paused his pen.

“This is not a good thing.”

‘The more involved I become with Taboo Items, the more I sense the world’s treacherous nature.’

‘The Taboo Association needs to be powerful.’

‘This vacuum, with two key members of the Taboo Association out of commission, leaves me feeling a little insecure.’

‘Actually, it’s not that bad.’

‘The seven Witches of the Witch Association are countless times stronger than they used to be.’

‘With the addition of the Grandmother’s Book, they’ve become even more formidable.’

‘The Divine Peptide Biotechnology Company, co-founded by Xia Li and Liu Weiqian, is also about to become operational.’

‘No matter how you look at it, the Taboo Association is still growing.’

“Summarizing all known information from the recent period yields two key points.”

Jiang Chaosheng continued to write in the notebook:

“First: The Last Human Emperor once launched a war against All Gods.”

As he wrote this, a hint of confusion flickered in Jiang Chaosheng’s eyes.

Lucifer once told him that he was the only one qualified to save this world.

‘That’s very strange.’

‘The Human Emperor and Lucifer belong to two completely different factions; they could even be considered mortal enemies.’

‘So, the word ‘world’ is intriguing.’

‘The Human Emperor would obviously not save the ‘Western Heaven,’ an enemy faction.’

‘And Lucifer certainly wouldn’t want the Human Emperor to save the Human World.’

Jiang Chaosheng muttered to himself,

“‘World’… does it just mean the Human World, or… does it have a broader meaning?”

‘Perhaps I’m thinking too narrowly.’

‘The world might represent all three realms: the Celestial Realm, the Human World, and the Underworld.’

‘Perhaps calling it the ‘Great World’ would be more accurate.’

‘What exactly is threatening the ‘Great World’?’

The more Jiang Chaosheng thought about it, the more the secrets of that past era seemed like a tangled mess he couldn’t begin to unravel.

He decided to stop thinking about it for now and wrote in his notebook:

“Second: The war against the gods, initiated by the Human Emperor, did not end with his death. The war continues.”

“After the Qin Dynasty, the battlefield shifted from the Human World to the Underworld. This is the fundamental reason for the disappearance of Extraordinary Creatures.”

“Following the timeline, during the Tang Dynasty, three of the four great domains of the Underworld were destroyed, leaving only the Eternal Hell.”

“During this period, the Dusk of the Gods occurred, and even Zeus the God-King fell.”

“Therefore, the myths and legends passed down to the modern day are all set before the Tang Dynasty.”

It was true for modern legends.

The settings of myths were almost always before the late Tang Dynasty.

The Saint Mother of Yao Mountain aiding the Tang, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong becoming Door Gods, Zhong Kui capturing Ghosts, and so on.

And of course… there was Wei Zheng beheading the Dragon King in a dream—the Jing River Dragon King.

In the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, one rarely heard stories of Demons running rampant or anyone ascending to immortality.

A flicker of understanding crossed Jiang Chaosheng’s eyes.

‘The relics of those Extraordinary Life forms became Taboo Items.’

‘That’s how Antique Shop Zero, the place that contains these Taboo Items, came to be.’

‘And Fan Xiliang was the first Manager.’

Jiang Chaosheng put down his pen.

Fan Xiliang was just a mortal.

If he could figure out how Fan Xiliang took over Antique Shop Zero, the shop’s secrets would be completely unlocked.

Antique Shop Zero was the central thread leading back to the age of extraordinaries.

Unlocking its secrets would reveal what truly happened in that era.

Jiang Chaosheng narrowed his eyes.

‘Niu Lang… he’s the only Extraordinary Life who still has memories of that era.’

‘The problem is, the man never tells the truth.’

‘The only thing I can trust is that Fan Xiliang truly saw him as a brother-in-arms.’

‘Otherwise, he never would have told him all the rules of Antique Shop Zero.’

‘If Fan Xiliang could trust him with such a secret, then it’s possible he also told him how he came to manage Antique Shop Zero.’

The thought of Niu Lang and the Taiping Dao made his head ache.

Niu Lang was Taboo Item 1-01.

None of the low-numbered Taboo Items were simple.

The Sea Coachman, the Black God—each one was a handful.

And the Taiping Dao was a behemoth of unknown depths.

From the looks of it, the Taiping Dao could not only perfectly wield Taboo Items, but they also had followers all over the world.

The undisputed crime lord of Liancheng was just a small fry in the Taiping Dao.

They probably had followers inside the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, too.

Niu Lang could also block the Manager’s perception of Taboo Items, and his movements were erratic and difficult to track.

“Containing Niu Lang is going to be incredibly difficult,” Jiang Chaosheng murmured.

Jiang Chaosheng let out a heavy breath, feeling a pressure he hadn’t felt in a long time.

But his eyes burned with intensity.

‘The harder it is, the more interesting it gets.’

‘An opponent like this is what keeps things from getting boring.’

The thrill of battle, the excitement of a strategic game against a powerful foe—it made his dopamine surge.

Niu Lang, the Eternal Hell, and the “variable” mentioned by the Taboo Sculpture.

Everything was moving in a more thrilling direction.