Spirit Realm Wanderer

Chapter 30: Slaying

Dance? Ou Xiangrong froze, momentarily unable to process what was happening. This supernatural artifact was actually inviting him to dance. Ou Xiangrong let out a cold laugh. There was no way he was going to dance with the enemy’s dancing shoes in the middle of a battle. He immediately bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the gleaming edge of Liu Renbai’s blade. As an experienced Spirit Realm Walker—and a member of the “Evil” class—he’d fought Night Wanderers countless times and was well aware of the class’s skill set. Supernatural artifacts are notorious for their eeriness; Ou Xiangrong had once been plagued by one for several days—it was incredibly tenacious. But their weakness was also obvious: their actual lethality was somewhat lacking. Furthermore, supernatural artifacts generally fear objects imbued with strong yang energy; for an item like this, which appeared to harbor a vengeful spirit, a single spit of blood from the tip of his tongue was enough to subdue it. No big deal. The Red Dancing Shoes, rising and falling, waited for a few seconds. Seeing that the human before them was unwilling to dance with them, they seemed to grow angry; a faint dark red glow emerged from the shoes, and amid a rapid “tap-tap,” they charged toward Ou Xiangrong. Ou Xiangrong stood his ground, waiting for the red dancing shoes to close in. Just as they leaped toward the hood of the car to attack him, he calmly swung his willow blade, attempting to deal a heavy blow to the vengeful spirit dwelling within the shoes. However, as the blade sliced through the dance shoes, it lacked the tangible sensation of striking solid matter; these eerie red dance shoes seemed to exist in another dimension, not in reality. “Boom! In the next instant, Ou Xiangrong’s chest and face were struck by two fierce kicks. He experienced the same sensation Zhang Yuanqing had felt moments earlier—pain so intense it felt as if his heart had stopped beating, making it difficult to breathe. At the same time, his face burned with stinging pain, and warm liquid flowed from his nostrils. This… this isn’t a Night Wanderer’s class item… Ou Xiangrong looked stunned and bewildered, asking in disbelief “Void?” The properties of this item seemed somewhat similar to those of a certain foreign class. How could a Level 1 Night Wanderer possibly possess an item from a foreign class? Before he had time to think further, those eerie dance shoes in Ou Xiangrong’s line of sight changed direction and charged at him once more. He had no time to wipe the blood from his nose; he raised both arms to shield his chest. With two loud thuds, the seductive demon was kicked off the car roof. Ou Xiangrong dodged by lunging forward, sprinting, rolling, or using vehicles as cover, weaving through the spacious underground garage to evade most of the red dancing shoes’ trampling. But he was still unfortunately trampled several times; each blow sent excruciating pain through his body, and the injuries sustained during last night’s fierce battle flared up, causing blood to seep from his internal organs. “Wow, she’s so strong…” Zhang Yuanqing, the useless master, watched Red Dance Shoes’ battle, stunned into silence. Once again, he deeply realized the terror of rule-based items. Its pursuit cannot be thwarted or interrupted; the target can only passively endure it—unless they break its rule, which is to dance. But that was unrealistic. Even if Ou Xiangrong were to submit to the Red Dance Shoe and force himself to dance tap despite his shame, he himself would step in to cause him to make a mistake. And if his steps were off, everything would be for naught. However, Zhang Yuanqing also gained a clear understanding of the Bewitching Demon’s power—given the force with which the Red Dance Shoes stomped, Ou Xiangrong was actually able to withstand it. His physical resilience was terrifying. “Ou Xiangrong won’t just stand there waiting to die. Once he realizes he can only take blows passively and can’t fight back, he’ll definitely choose to flee...” Zhang Yuanqing’s mind was clear; he had to launch a surprise attack before his opponent could escape. He didn’t aim to kill him, but he had to hold this murderer back at all costs. Boom! Ou Xiangrong was once again unable to dodge in time and took two kicks to the face from Red Dance Shoes. The blows sent him stumbling backward, leaving him seeing stars and reeling with dizziness. His chance! Zhang Yuanqing darted forward like a cheetah, sprinting with the Demon-Subduing Mace in hand. He traced an arc, circling around to get behind Ou Xiangrong. He drove the Demon-Subduing Staff viciously into Ou Xiangrong’s back. “Hum!” Suddenly, a white light as dense as fog blocked the three-pronged tip of the Demon-Subduing Mace. This force originated from the bronze waist plaque clenched tightly in Ou Xiangrong’s left hand—an ancient plaque covered in cracks and bloodstains, resembling the belongings of a veteran soldier who had seen countless battles. This was Zhao Yingjun’s defensive artifact. “A defensive item?” Zhang Yuanqing, whose ambush had failed, felt a chill run down his spine. He shifted his stance and darted around Ou Xiangrong, repeatedly striking the wall of white light with his Demon-Subduing Mace, creating ripples of light with each blow. This time, with the Red Dance Shoes providing cover, he wasn’t “instantly killed” by this seductive demon and narrowly dodged several slashes and blows. Crack! Finally, under the rapid barrage of the Demon-Subduing Mace and the Red Dance Shoes, the bronze waist plaque shattered into pieces, and the white light dissipated into specks of light. Just then, Zhang Yuanqing’s nighttime excursion came to an end, and his body materialized. Ou Xiangrong seemed to have been waiting for this very moment; a crimson glow surged in his eyes, and twisted, sinister runes emerged. Bewitchment! A thunderous roar echoed in Zhang Yuanqing’s mind, robbing him of his ability to think—as if he’d forgotten he was in the midst of battle. At the same time, a voice reverberated in his head Drop your weapon. Don’t resist. Drop your weapon. Don’t resist........ Ou Xiangrong let out a savage laugh as he slashed his willow blade toward the young Night Wanderer’s neck. The reason he’d chosen to endure the attack from those terrifying dance shoes rather than use this defensive item was precisely to wait for the Night Wanderer to strike first. This item, from the Scout class, was already half-damaged; if used prematurely, it would at most block the dancing shoes for a moment before breaking completely. He decided to grit his teeth, deliberately leaving himself open to a weakness to lure his opponent into striking first. Just as he’d expected, the young Night Wanderer, lacking experience and unable to keep his cool, fell for the trap. However, just as the blade was about to slice across the young Night Wanderer’s neck, Ou Xiangrong saw his body suddenly collapse; the willow blade swept past his scalp, cutting off a few strands of hair. Those red dancing shoes—the very ones that had been relentlessly chasing him—had somehow appeared on the Night Wanderer’s feet, forcing him into a split and thus averting the throat-slitting blow. At the same time, the Night Wanderer—who should have been under his spell—had a brilliant golden light surge in his eyes. He instantly shook off his dazed and bewildered state, sprang forward with a burst of energy, and slammed himself into Ou Xiangrong. Ou Xiangrong hadn’t anticipated this turn of events at all; he hadn’t expected a mere Level 1 Night Wanderer to be able to break free from his spell. At that moment, he was still in the midst of swinging his blade and couldn’t pull back in time, so he could only watch helplessly as the brass pestle plunged toward his chest. “Thud!” Flesh and bone were torn apart, and a blinding golden light erupted from the tip of the Demon-Subduing Pestle, burning away every last trace of life within his chest. Ou Xiangrong’s vision went black, and the pain nearly caused him to faint. But he was, after all, a battle-hardened demon of seduction; on the brink of death, he unleashed his latent potential, pulling his right arm back and dragging the willow blade toward the Night Wanderer’s throat. At the same time, he tensed the muscles in his left arm, snapped his elbow, and transformed his left fist into a spear brimming with power, thrusting it with a sharp “thud” toward the enemy’s shoulder. Zhang Yuanqing jerked his head back sharply, dodging the blade aimed at his throat, only to be struck in the shoulder by Ou Xiangrong’s fist, sending him flying like a burst sandbag. Clang! Zhang Yuanqing crashed into a minivan, shattering the window with cracks. Before his falling body even hit the ground, it was erased inch by inch, vanishing from Ou Xiangrong’s sight. He had once again entered his “Night Wanderer” state. Ou Xiangrong, however, paid him no mind and staggered toward Xu Yingying. His heart had been destroyed; now, the only thing that could save him was the vital blood of a living person. He needed to kill to enter a frenzied state. Then he would burst out of the underground parking garage, run amok across the campus, and use the bloodthirsty nature of the Bewitching Demon to heal his wounds and turn the tide of life and death. Doing so would inevitably cause his morality score to drop below 60, making him a wanted fugitive in the Spirit Realm and a target for a city-wide manhunt by Spirit Realm practitioners—but he couldn’t worry about that now. “Tap, tap, tap...” Two faint dark-red glimmers materialized out of thin air, transforming into a brand-new pair of red dance shoes, closing in to ambush Ou Xiangrong. To Ou Xiangrong at that moment, those footsteps sounded like a death knell—the sigh of the Grim Reaper, the verdict of the King of Hell. “Thud! Ou Xiangrong’s face was trampled, leaving it a bloody mess. He fell backward, his head thrown back uncontrollably, but at the very last moment, he flung the willow blade in his hand. The forty-centimeter-long blade shot like a streak of silver light toward Xu Yingying in the distance. Ou Xiangrong’s gaze was fixed intently on the blade. Clang! Suddenly, sparks flew as the willow blade was knocked aside by a brass pestle that materialized out of thin air. Beside Xu Yingying, a figure emerged. It was none other than Zhang Yuanqing. Upon witnessing this scene, the hope in Ou Xiangrong’s eyes turned to despair and resentment. At that moment, a pair of red dancing shoes descended from the sky, crushing his face—smashing his nose, splitting his lips, and causing both eyeballs to burst from their sockets. Ou Xiangrong’s limbs twitched a few times before all signs of life vanished completely. Zhang Yuanqing slumped down beside Xu Yingying, exhaling a long breath as if completely drained. At that moment, a surge of rage churned within his chest, and his limbs trembled uncontrollably. This wasn’t fear—it was the mental euphoria brought on by a surge of adrenaline. When a person is in danger and desperately needs to save themselves, adrenaline is secreted at a frenzied rate. In this state, people are capable of killing without batting an eye. It’s commonly known as “getting high on the thrill”! The battle plan had succeeded. Before entering this battle, he had already thought everything through clearly; the only thing he needed to avoid was the enemy’s mind-control ability. Therefore, before deciding to launch the ambush, he had already performed a sacrifice to the Demon-Subduing Mace. One of the Demon-Subduing Mace’s functions is purification. And the second form of the Red Dance Shoes was the very reason he dared to engage in close-quarters combat—it had indeed helped him dodge a fatal throat-slitting attack. Marking, Seduction, Rage, Melee... Zhang Yuanqing had calculated every one of Ou Xiangrong’s abilities down to the last detail and devised countermeasures. If he still couldn’t win after that, Zhang Yuanqing felt there was no point in continuing. After catching his breath for a few minutes, Zhang Yuanqing calmed his turbulent emotions and heard the Spirit Realm notification sound in his ear [Ding! You have defeated a Level 3 Seduction Demon, earning 30 Morality Points and 15 Reputation Points. Reputation has been unlocked. ] Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback and quickly opened his character stats panel, where he discovered a new “Reputation” section. Reputation? Killing Spirit Realm travelers from the opposing faction grants reputation? As a veteran gamer, he was no stranger to the concept of reputation, but he didn’t know what it was used for in the Spirit Realm. Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and decided to put it aside for now; he’d log into the official forum later to look it up. Compared to the reputation rewards from the Spirit Realm, the loot in the real world mattered more to him. He got up and walked over to Ou Xiangrong’s corpse, kicked the eyeballs under the car, then dragged the body into the shadows in the corner. He carefully searched the body and found a cell phone and a wallet. The cell phone was an old-fashioned model that could only make calls, but the wallet was bulging. He opened it to find a stack of 100-yuan bills and a fake ID. Zhang Yuanqing counted the money carefully. “For a fugitive, carrying only a little over 1,500 yuan—does that even make sense...?” Confiscated! He pulled out the money and shoved it into his pocket. Then he walked over to a spot farther away and picked up the sharp willow blade. The moment he touched the weapon, a message appeared in his field of vision [Name: Bloodthirsty Blade] [Type: Weapon] [Functions: Bleed, Bloodthirst, Armor Penetration] [Description: A powerful seductive demon nourished this blade with its own vital blood. Over time, it became extremely bloodthirsty. Its blade can cut through hardened steel, and wounds inflicted by it are difficult to heal. It absorbs the vital blood of its prey and feeds it back to its master, making him even stronger. ] [Note: A blade that doesn’t care for its master isn’t a good blade. ] “This sword seems pretty awesome. If I’d let it kill Xu Yingying just now, Ou Xiangrong would’ve gained the weapon’s nourishment... Good thing I kept my wits about me and stayed by Xu Yingying’s side.” Zhang Yuanqing ran back to Ou Xiangrong’s body, removed the scabbard from his lower back, equipped it himself, and then sheathed the “Bloodthirsty Blade” inside. The blade was currently ownerless; to have it recognize a master was simple—just stow it in his inventory. But Zhang Yuanqing didn’t want to put it away just yet, because the [Remarks] section in the item’s information was a bit unsettling. The Bloodthirsty Blade must be a “cost-based” item, and that line in the notes describes the price one must pay to use it. Based on the blade’s description, Zhang Yuanqing could roughly guess what the price would be—it boiled down to one of two possibilities: First, whoever obtains this blade will be cursed and ultimately meet a gruesome death. Second, the blade requires its owner to periodically feed it with their essence blood. This is the most likely possibility. More vital blood feeding? The Demon-Subduing Mace has already left me anemic—if I add this Bloodthirsty Blade to the mix, how am I supposed to get by? Just then, Zhang Yuanqing saw the Red Dance Shoes “tap-tap-tap” their way toward him. With each step up and down, a message appeared [Would you like to dance with me? If so, please march in place. ] Only then did he remember he hadn’t put this item back in his inventory yet. Just as he was about to refuse and put it away, a notification from the Spirit Realm suddenly rang in his mind [Warning: Each use of this item requires you to dance once. If you refuse, the Red Dance Shoes will no longer favor you and will hunt you down. ] Zhang Yuanqing’s mouth dropped open in surprise. This was the first time he’d used it in the real world since taming the Red Dance Shoes, and he hadn’t expected using this rule-based item to come with such a price. “Kill me if I don’t dance with you? That’s way too harsh...” Zhang Yuanqing stood up with a beaming smile. “I’d be delighted.” Soon, the crisp sound of tap dancing echoed through the empty, quiet parking garage. This time, Zhang Yuanqing didn’t trigger his old injury; instead, he relied on his extraordinary physical constitution to complete a dance, though his steps were frequently off. Fortunately, as the owner, he wasn’t attacked by the Red Dancing Shoes. After finishing the dance, the Red Dancing Shoes took a step back with its right foot, stood on the tips of both toes, and performed a curtsy. Just as he put the Red Dance Shoes back in his inventory, his ears twitched slightly as he heard hurried footsteps coming from the steep slope. Following the sound, he saw Li Dongze leading Guan Ya and seven or eight unfamiliar Spirit Realm practitioners as they sprinted into the underground parking garage. Some of them were holding guns, some were holding knives, and some were holding cats... fully armed. Thank goodness, thank goodness the dance was already over... Zhang Yuanqing felt immensely relieved.