Grudge Breaker

Chapter 375 The Living Paradox
Perhaps because he had half of Mo Tingfeng's divine consciousness with him before, Song Weichen had not seen the Corpse Demon King for quite some time, so long that he had almost forgotten its existence.

But now it has appeared out of nowhere—its red aura is even stronger than before, and the five skulls on its head, which look like hair buns, turn around with a click, their blood-red eye sockets all looking at Song Weichen!
It's locked onto her!
"Sacrifice..."

The familiar demonic groans of the Corpse Demon King filled the entire cave, and the horrific scenes of his past battles with it flashed rapidly before Song Weichen's eyes like a deathbed replay—

A gigantic, monstrous hand, starting from her wrist and composed of countless fingers, seized her. The fingers coiled around her like snakes, tightening their grip. Song Weichen's bones shattered, and blood filled her nose and mouth...

A sinister aura coiled around the fingers that bound her, rising upwards and transforming into a slimy, terrifying black snake that attempted to burrow into her lower abdomen...

……

As the Lord of the Shakya clan continued chanting, the entire ground turned as black as a deep asphalt pool, bubbling with ominous bubbles... Soon, from the cracked bubbles, buds glowing with fluorescence sprouted, and the buds continued to climb and grow into long, narrow stems, blooming into countless eerie, ghostly green spider lilies.

The pollen of the red spider lily dispersed into the air, turning into explosive ice crystals upon contact with its prey. The little guinea pig suffered burns and festering sores all over its body, barely managing to survive thanks to the Vermilion Bird's intervention, but was almost beyond saving...

……

Above the void, the black-eyed monster face of the Corpse Demon King and the black swamp switched places. The hellish swamp that was originally below became a thick, heavy sky, like the apocalypse, instantly swallowing the little guinea pig and the Vermilion Bird! Then, countless fine threads hung down from them, each with a black spider with a ghostly green luster, as big as Song Weichen's fist.

The spider quickly spun a web around the Azure Dragon's body, which was desperately protecting Song Weichen. The moment the web was completed, it shone with a bright, eerie light and tightened suddenly like a tight band. The spider silk, like the sharpest steel blade, instantly cut into the Azure Dragon's body!
In that fierce battle, without the illusory spirit within the puppet wielding protecting her to the death, it wouldn't be surprising if Song Weichen had died a thousand times over. And afterwards, she encountered the Corpse Demon King several times; without the half of Mo Tingfeng's divine consciousness protecting her, her grave would probably be overgrown with weeds by now.

……

"Sacrifice...offering sacrifices..."

The chanting of the Corpse Demon King interrupted Song Weichen's memories, but it only made her more terrified of her current situation!

No, she can't possibly resolve this crisis on her own!

"Mo Tingfeng!"

She subconsciously called out to him, knowing better than to fight a losing battle. Song Weichen was well aware of her own strength. To make sure she didn't call out loud enough, she even summoned Xiao Biezhi to assist her. So, a childish and adorable "Mo Tingfeng" followed, echoing through the sky.

The ice block didn't appear, and despair gripped her heart like a giant bear trap.

Song Weichen had already realized why the summoning ban was ineffective.

Because she "saw" the cave floor become transparent, and the scene beneath the ground was incredibly clear—it was exactly the same there, with Song Weichen sitting cross-legged in meditation, and Xiao Biezhi sitting on his shoulder also meditating. The difference was that the candles and torches inside the cave had not been extinguished, and were emitting a warm glow.

Song Weichen swallowed hard.

In other words... her consciousness, and even the consciousness of the Puppet Spirit Embryo, were all abducted by the Corpse Demon King to a new space, where any cries for help would be meaningless.

If she wants to live, she has no choice but to save herself.
.
"Crack, crack-crack—"

Was it an illusion? It was right in front of him, yet Song Weichen clearly heard the unique clicking sound of the five skulls twisting on the bone hair bun, a sound that belonged only to the Corpse Demon King, from behind.

After quickly glancing behind him, Song Weichen almost froze. How could there be another Corpse Demon Lord behind him?!
Unlike the previous one, this shaman had eyes as black as ink and exuded a sinister green aura, seemingly contrasting with the other one.

The Black-Eyed Ghost King and the Red-Eyed Ghost King—the Corpse Demon King that Song Weichen encountered before did indeed have two faces, but at least they were the same A and B sides. How come it's splitting now?!

They're not following the rules anymore!!!

Song Weichen groaned inwardly. Although she had prepared for the worst-case scenario of encountering the Corpse Protector on Goddess Peak, after all, the Ghost King Mask and the Necromancer originated from the same source, both being the work of cursed death magic—the person behind it had been scheming for so long, even a fool could tell that this person would cause a big commotion on Goddess Peak...

But Song Weichen never expected that his opponent would unleash such a powerful attack right from the start!

"Om-"

Another demonic chant rang out, and the Red-Eyed Demon King launched the first attack.

With an eerie buzzing sound, layers of blood-red light waves rippled from the depths of the empty eye sockets between the foreheads of the Shakya Protector, expanding in circles like ripples. Although the speed was not fast, it was full of ominousness.

"pay close attention!"

Xiao Biezhi rode her scooter, pulling Song Weichen in a sharp, tricky spin, narrowly avoiding the incoming light wave.

However, the moth hovering in the air was not so lucky—the moment it touched the crimson ripples, a breathtaking scene unfolded:

The moth's body disintegrates layer by layer in the light waves, yet strangely retains its three-dimensional outline from when it was alive.

The outermost scales float like dust, beneath which lie the fully separated mouthparts, tentacles, and six legs. The chitinous exoskeleton has a translucent amber-like texture, while the internal mesh-like trachea resembles a hollowed-out work of art, maintaining precise spacing with the completely separated digestive system—foregut, midgut, hindgut, and Malpighian tubules. Even the finest ventral nerve cords and dorsal blood vessels are clearly visible, enveloped in hemolymph.

These organ components are suspended in their respective light wave layers, maintaining the original topological structure of life, yet seemingly forcibly fixed by some supreme law, like a chilling "layered anatomical art installation".

The strangest thing is that all the components are still working, as if the moth is experiencing an endless quantum Zeno effect—a superposition of being both dead and alive.

"I'll choke you!"

Xiao Biezhi was both scared and excited; her voice even changed tone.

"Boss, is this the legendary entropy reduction attack? This masked old man is clearly reversing the assembly process of life!"

"Entropy reduction attack..."

Song Weichen unconsciously repeated it, her heart and mouth filled with bitterness. This word was so unfamiliar to her... Xiao Biezhi's question was clearly beyond her comprehension... In fact, she only understood the sentence it said, "It is the process of assembling life in reverse."

Something flashed through Song Weichen's mind, and she paused. What was it? She had clearly thought of something just now!
"big--"

"Don't speak! Try to avoid attacks, let me think." Song Weichen interrupted Xiao Biezhi's words, trying to grasp a fleeting thought in his mind.

Yes!

She might know the attack methods of the Sita Demon King!

It is essentially a mind monster. Its attack methods and degree of harm do not depend on the power of the shaman or the curse, but on the imagination of the target!
In other words, if Xiao Biezhi had no idea what an "entropy reduction attack" was, Shi Tuo Huzhu would not have been able to "generate" such a powerful move to deal with it and Song Weichen.

In other words, from the first encounter with the Corpse Protector, all of its attack methods—those black snakes and black spiders, the spider lilies blooming in the hellish swamp, and the Cthulhu-like strange hands and eyes—all came from Song Weichen's own imagination: whatever you fear, I will manifest to kill you.

If the Shakya Demon King had a battle slogan, it would definitely be:
I do not create death; I am merely a transporter of the death you imagine.
.
"Little rascal, I know how to beat it!"

"Minimize your imagination! Especially don't imagine scenarios of our deaths!"

Song Weichen's eyes grew brighter as she spoke; this deduction must be correct! So when the Corpse Demon King first appeared, it relied on "her fear of death" to capture and locate her. When her fear of death disappeared, the Corpse Demon King's "radar" malfunctioned and could no longer lock onto her, thus allowing her to escape.

When it appeared a second time, Song Weichen believed that if she wasn't afraid of death, she wouldn't die, so she put on a show of being ready to die. Now that I think about it, the reason this trick failed was because she was "acting" for herself that she was not afraid of death, rather than having no fear in her heart. In fact, she was subconsciously fantasizing about the possibility of her death, and this was the driving force behind the Corpse Demon King's attempt to kill her.

So the best way to beat it is to not think about it and not be afraid.

"Little trick, meditate, meditate! Empty your mind, we don't need to think about anything, then it can't do anything to us!"

……

"Cough, boss, it's too late..."

The little guinea pig had a bitter look on its face, and pointed its chubby paws in another direction inside the cave, where the Black-Eyed Corpse Demon King was located.

"I've already considered all the possibilities of an entropy attack on it..."

"?!!!"

……

Song Weichen suddenly began to regret why he had created this fleshy guinea pig as his phantom spirit... What a terrible mistake!

"Giggle, click—"

The eerie sound of bones turning rang out again. Song Weichen resignedly looked towards the source of the sound—not far away, the jawbone of the black-eyed Corpse Lord slowly parted, as if it were laughing, and something was clearly brewing deep within the empty eye sockets on its forehead.

Sure enough, layers of light waves also emanated from the depths of the Black-Eyed Demon King's eye sockets, though they were eerie green. Its attack method was almost identical to that of the Red-Eyed Demon King. Xiao Biezhi barely managed to dodge a few times with Song Weichen. One of the light waves, during its spread, struck the dismembered moth, and an even more terrifying scene unfolded:

The moth's disassembled organs, the midgut and Malpighian tubules suddenly proliferate out of control, twisting and swelling into a fleshy cluster, the surface of which is covered with compound eyes, legs and mouthparts.

The moth's chitinous exoskeleton is now covered with neural cord synapses, like a living circuit board.

At the same time, an even more bizarre reversal of cause and effect emerged.
The moth's reticulated trachea lignifies, extending outwards into countless vine-like excretory tubes, which then flower and bear fruit at their ends—transparent fruits containing countless tiny moth embryos.

These moth embryos are in both "dead" and "alive" states simultaneously, presenting two forms: rotting maggots and newly born larvae, vying for existence on the same individual.

Is this an entropy attack? The scene is beyond description, beyond just fear and disgust.

……

"Little quirk, your imagination is really dirty..."

……

The little guinea pig's mouth was agape in an "O" shape; it was clearly stunned. It took it a while to find its voice again.

"Boss, disgusting as it may be, doesn't this just confirm your guess? The attack methods of the Shattra Protector originate from the fear and imagination of its targets regarding death."

"I must say, I'm quite the philosophical thinker! Look, what perfect symmetry!"

"Entropy reduction attack is a reasonable deconstruction of life, representing absolute order."

"Shang Yi's attack, on the other hand, infuses life into the creative power of chaos, representing absolute loss of control."

“Once the two collide, life will be caught between ‘overanalysis’ and ‘oversynthesis’, becoming a living paradox that violates the law of causality.”

"Oh my, I think I've figured it out!"

Song Weichen's lips twitched; this level of comprehension was truly superhuman.

"You've got it right, but don't try to figure it out next time."

……

"Boss, I'm afraid there won't be a next time... Look..."

It timidly stretched out its two fleshy paws, pointing to both ends. Before anyone knew it, the two ghost kings had moved to a rather tricky position inside the cave. From this angle, the ripples of light they generated could radiate and overlap with each other, meaning that Song Weichen and the little guinea pig had nowhere to escape, and that they would soon become the death-living paradox of their own imagination.

"Sacrifice...sacrifice...sacrifice...sacrifice..."

The low murmur of the Shakya protector resonated infinitely due to the special angle, and just as infinite as these echoes were the eerie blood-red and eerie green light waves, which were sweeping towards Song Weichen in layers and circles!
She had nowhere to run!