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Chapter 98 City of Destruction
Chen Xuan reached out, crossed the railing, and caught the snowflake in his hand.

He noticed that even though it was snowing heavily, there was no trace of snow on the rooftops or the ground. The outside temperature was a bit low, but not cold enough to make you shiver. Keep in mind he was only wearing a single layer of clothing; in the dead of winter, he would definitely feel the cold as soon as he stepped outside.

The snowflakes that landed on my hand were strange; they were neither crystal clear nor did they melt into water in an instant.

Chen Xuan blew a breath and found that they scattered like dust.

Dust... yellowish-green sky...

What the hell!

No way, could this be radioactive dust?

Chen Xuan shuddered and quickly shook off the remaining ash from his hands.

This abandoned city before us... is it the apocalypse after a nuclear war?!
Tianxia has a vacuum protection function, but I don't know if it can protect against radiation!
He quickly slipped back inside, closed the heavy iron door again, and tightened the airtight valve.

Just then, Chen Xuan heard a soft tapping sound behind him, as if something was crawling along the steel plate.

Sure, you were still a moment ago but you're moving now. You want to ambush me too?

Unfortunately, I already knew about your existence!
He turned around abruptly, and immediately a chill ran down his spine—that wasn't some cultivator at all, it was clearly a human centipede!
A centipede-like monster crawled down from the roof and landed beside the altar. Each segment of its body was a combination of human limbs, either hands or feet, as if those people had been swallowed by its body. Yet, it could still move nimbly between the walls and the floor using these limbs.

Its head was even more terrifying, with a gaping maw taking up most of its head, and half a human body sticking out of its mouth, as if that bloody upper body was the nerve center that controlled it.

No wonder it exhibits multiple spiritual energy reactions under the influence of the Heavenly Cloud Technique.

Disgusting as it was, Chen Xuan remained calm. He could teleport back into the shop at any time; there was no reason for him to turn and run away in fear at the sight of an ugly monster.

He even had time to pull out his phone and take a picture of the monster.

Why did you return the book?

As the monster perched beside the altar, it suddenly spoke.

The source of the sound was indeed that half-human-like body.

That voice was like the reverberation of many human voices, with high and low pitches, male and female voices, giving people a feeling of mental pollution.

"I didn't intend to return the book," Chen Xuan silently rolled his eyes. "I just brought the book here to take a look."

"Put the book down, then leave and never come back," the monster said again.

It seems to make a reasonable argument.

Chen Xuan curiously held up the book. "You mean this? Who wrote it? Why would you set up an altar for a book?"

However, the monster did not answer; instead, it lowered its body, as if issuing a final warning.

"Put it down."

"What if I don't release it?" Chen Xuan was also prepared. This thing was guarding the altar, wouldn't it be like walking into a trap if he went over to release the book? If it waited until he got close before suddenly attacking, that would be quite disadvantageous.

Unexpectedly, it let out a strange roar and suddenly pounced on Chen Xuan!
Chen Xuan immediately summoned two Thousand Thought Swords and stabbed at the monster from the left and right sides.

Its movement speed is extremely fast, and ordinary people probably can't react at all. But as long as Chen Xuan is on guard and activates his Divine Eye Technique in advance, he can see even bullets fired at supersonic speeds, let alone the monster's lunging movement.

As he dodged and rolled away, the sword pierced the monster's body.

However, what he didn't expect was that the flesh and blood shell fused with his hands and feet was unusually hard. Even when the Qi sword emitted sparks, it couldn't pierce his body. Instead, it was bounced away by his heavy lunge!

The monster even rammed its head into the airtight door that Chen Xuan had come from, denting the door and the wall together.

If he were an ordinary wanderer, this would be tantamount to cutting off his escape route.

Chen Xuan added two more qi swords and used the four swords to slash at the monster in turn.

Blood splattered everywhere, limbs flew off, and the enemy let out a soul-piercing howl! The human hands and feet impaled on the body weren't particularly tough; a flash of cold light and they were cleaved in two. But if they struck the centipede itself, they would only leave a finger-width wound.

"You... how dare you resist the embrace of fusion!"

The monster roared, stood up in three sections, and spewed out several blobs of slime from its abdomen. The slime shot towards Chen Xuan like water swords, which he easily dodged, but the steel plates and iron walls that came into contact with the slime immediately began to melt, emitting a foul stench and thick smoke.

Oh no, this stuff is some kind of strong acid! Chen Xuan stared at the spot where he had been standing, now riddled with holes.

The room is only about 100 square meters in total. If a few more floorboards are melted down, there will be nowhere to hide.

However, this monster is unlikely to be a cultivator, so could it be considered some kind of demon?
The Heavenly Thunder Decree is a spell used to subdue demons.

Chen Xuan decided to give it a try. After all, he still had enough spiritual energy to cast several rounds of gold-level spells. If he couldn't eliminate the opponent before his spiritual energy ran out, and he had no way to avoid it, he would just use the recall function to escape.

He first used the Thousand Thoughts Sword to sever several pipes, then picked up another one to use as his weapon—the Heavenly Thunder Token was not the talismanic thunder magic that Liu Shuyue had used before. The latter was intimidating in appearance but lacked significant destructive power; the former was like an enchantment, requiring attachment to a physical weapon. Although the Qi Sword could also be used as a physical object, it was ultimately formed from spiritual energy, and the two were incompatible.

As the Heavenly Thunder Command was unleashed, yellow lightning flashed instantly across the broken steel pipe!
Weapons are always more powerful the longer they are, which is why those with abilities always like to pull out a gun when fighting. Chen Xuan naturally didn't want to be a melee soldier, raising the pipe to engage in close combat with the monster. After dodging another of the enemy's breaths, he seized the opportunity to recall his four qi swords, making them clamp tightly onto the steel pipe!
"go with!"

With a flick of his finger, the four swords, along with the steel pipe, accelerated and flew straight toward the monster! When they had traveled three-quarters of the distance, the swords, under Chen Xuan's control, burst out in all directions, as if the hilts of the swords were giving the steel pipe a final push!
This is the discarding sabot fin-guided blaster he envisioned!

The steel pipe, flashing with yellow lightning, pierced the monster's body like a cannonball, instantly shattering its hard shell.

At the same time, electric light traveled through its body, rendering the multi-legged centipede unable to move for a moment!
good chance!
Chen Xuan controlled the Qi Swords to change direction and thrust them at the enemy again—this time, each sword tip was aimed at the bowl-sized gap pierced by the steel pipe. The four Thousand Thought Swords flew in like ghosts, directly into the monster's body, and tore through the soft flesh inside, gushing out large amounts of blood and bits of flesh, which splashed everywhere as the monster struggled in its death throes.

Chen Xuan quickly found a pillar to hide behind to avoid getting his hands on the blood.

Five minutes passed before the monster seemed to lose all its strength and collapsed.

"I... curse you with my flesh and blood..."

The half of the body connected to the centipede's gaping maw struggled to raise its hand, pointed in Chen Xuan's direction, and spoke with its last breath.

Is this guy dead?
After confirming that the spiritual energy reaction had completely disappeared, Chen Xuan cautiously stepped out from behind the pillar.

He jumped over several large holes corroded in the ground and came to the monster's corpse—which was rotting at a visible rate, its huge body gradually turning into a writhing black shadow.

What is this again?
Chen Xuan poked it with the Thousand Thoughts Sword and found that it was somewhat like translucent clay, somewhere between a liquid and a solid. But even without applying any external force, it would twist and turn on its own.

He felt it was best to stay away from such a strange thing.

Suddenly, a small cluster of firelight caught Chen Xuan's eye.

He was slightly taken aback, turned his head and found that the two candlesticks next to the altar had been lit!

Who started it? There was no open flame in the room at all!
Chen Xuan looked closely and discovered another strange phenomenon: the once empty basin was now filled with blood! Tiny bubbles were constantly rising in the center of the blood, as if it were being heated by a fire below.

This blood... was it filled when the monster sprayed blood into the sky just now?

Chen Xuan suddenly remembered its last words.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

At that very moment, my blood suddenly boiled, and the candle flame shot up high, instantly illuminating every corner of the room!

Chen Xuan suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest, as if something had forced its way in.

He immediately took out the barcode scanner and activated his recall ability—the next second, he was back in his familiar neighborhood shop from the eerie altar.

However, the burning sensation did not disappear.

He felt as if his body had developed a self-awareness, and it wanted to devour something at any moment.

Chen Xuan quickly scanned himself and discovered that two of the four abilities he had previously equipped had been forcibly altered!
"Curse: Thirst for Flesh" LV1, Blue.

—"You are eager to merge into a new body, a new soul, until you reach perfection. Every body can enhance your power, but if you cannot have it, destruction will follow."

"Crack and Remelt" LV5, Purple.

— "Taboo +3".

Could the strange symptoms I'm experiencing be caused by this curse? But since the shop recognizes it as an ability...

Chen Xuan selected the ability and immediately stored it in his inventory!

The burning sensation and agitation in my heart vanished instantly.

(End of this chapter)