Reversing Falsehood and Preserving Truth: All Gods and Gods Are in My Hands

"You...you're saying I...don't imitate people well enough?"

As soon as the sound of rusty metal scraping subsided, the female shop assistant's body suddenly twisted at an eerie angle, her face lifted, but the standard, stiff smile on her lips remained—more chilling than any ferocious expression.

Her uniform was stretched so tight by the surging muscles under her skin that it hissed and cracked, and several tentacles covered in viscous fluid burst out of her clothes, rushing straight at the pale-faced man in the suit.

"Oh my god!" The man in the suit scrambled backward, his head crashing heavily into the sequined woman's arms. Just as he was about to cry out for help, he saw a faint mist rising from the woman's bare skin. Her fingers, covered in glossy nail polish, instantly transformed into tiny tentacles that wrapped around his arm.

The man in the suit rolled his eyes, let out a half-whimper, and fainted from fright, collapsing limply to the ground like a discarded rag.

"Wow! What is this? An octopus spirit?" Zhao Lei's eyes widened. After confirming that it wasn't a gimmick for a mall promotion, he rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the metal shopping basket next to him.

"You dare to play tricks on me? I even felt sorry for you just now!" Zhao Lei roared and charged forward, the shopping basket whistling through the air as it slammed into the forehead of the shop assistant, Xu Ling.

With a muffled thud, the ethereal spirit's head didn't even shake, its eerie smile remaining unchanged. Instead, it extended several tentacles, wrapping them around Zhao Lei like a rice dumpling, and suddenly pulled him into its arms—clearly intending to devour him.

The ethereal mouth split open in an exaggerated gash on its face, and viscous fluid flowed from its dark throat. Despite all the commotion, Zhao Lei was not only unharmed, but also complained that the mouth was too tight.

He grabbed the ethereal creature's mouth and ripped it open, tearing the flesh apart. Thick, sticky fluid splattered all over him, but he didn't care. He wiped his face and shouted, "Lu Yu, run! This thing is more suffocating than being forced to study by a teacher!"

The ancient coins in Lu Yu's pocket were incredibly hot. Seeing Zhao Lei unable to move, entangled by the tentacles, the urge to save his friend instantly overcame his restraints—

With spirits roaming the world, his grandmother mysteriously disappearing, and Zhao Lei's life hanging by a thread, danger is closing in. He can no longer afford to be passive!

To save my friend, to protect my parents, and to find my grandmother, I have to do something!

Lu Yu recalled the rhythm of the flowing light threads within the myriad dao hub. The warmth at his fingertips spread through his blood vessels. He concentrated his mind to guide his power, and suddenly a half-foot-long golden light blade condensed, radiating a cold halo—this was the first time he had actively controlled the power of reality to form an attack form. Tiny light particles danced along the edge of the light blade, like crushed starlight.

"Let go!" Lu Yu shouted, his light blade flashing in a clean arc, precisely striking the tentacle that was wrapped around Zhao Lei. The tentacle severed instantly, and viscous fluid gushed out.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhao Lei broke free and kicked Xu Ling in the chest, sending it crashing into the shelf, causing countless sneakers to roll down.

Lu Yu seized the opportunity to step forward, his light blade flashing in his hand, severing several tentacles surrounding the man in the suit one after another. The foul-smelling liquid splattered onto his trousers, causing the fabric to sizzle and smoke.

"Su Wan, take good care of him first!" he shouted without turning his head. Where the light blade passed, the ethereal spirits emitted a piercing shriek.

Su Wan quickly crouched down and dragged the unconscious man in the suit behind the shelf. The man was quite heavy, and she felt her cheeks flush red from straining. She then pulled out her phone and called Liu Jing, her voice urgent: "Teacher Liu, there's a massive riot of spirits in the sports area of ​​Huayi Shopping Mall! Lu Yu, Zhao Lei, and I are trapped!"

Liu Jing's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Take care of yourself, don't confront anything head-on, I'll be there in ten minutes at most!"

By this time, the mall was in complete chaos, with screams and the sounds of shelves collapsing all around.

The couples who were shopping, the sales assistants, and even the sanitation workers pushing cleaning carts all suddenly started emitting a light mist. Countless tentacles emerged from the muscles under their skin and began to crawl out, surrounding the group of people.

Although Lu Yu's light blade was sharp, it couldn't withstand the increasing number of ethereal spirits. Moreover, he had no combat experience. After only three or five rounds, a tentacle grazed his arm, instantly opening a bloody gash in his skin. Blood splattered, and he grimaced in pain, the wound still burning with a lingering sting.

"This can't go on! And if the ethereal spirit escapes, it'll be troublesome!" Lu Yu said urgently while parrying with his sword.

Zhao Lei's eyes lit up at this, and he patted his chest: "Leave it to me! I'll go lock the gate!"

Zhao Lei was naturally strong and had trained at a sports school. Relying on the fact that he could not be devoured by the ethereal spirits, he charged out of the ethereal spirit gap like a wild bull and ran wildly toward the escalator.

He did parkour all the way, sliding down the handrail from the third floor to the second floor, kicking away the pounced phantoms, and leaping over their tentacles like hurdles using the scattered bags as footholds.

"Make way! Don't delay me from closing!" The customers on the first floor who hadn't yet transformed screamed and dodged. Zhao Lei finally rushed to the door, grabbed the roller shutter door ring with both hands, and pulled it down with all his might.

"Crash—" The heavy iron door slowly slammed down, separating the inside from the outside.

"Three of a kind with two! Dare to bet?"

"I can't afford it! This hand is terrible!"

Inside the mall's security room, three security guards were playing cards around a table. The ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts, and instant noodle containers were strewn all over the floor. Two of them had their backs to the security camera screens, while the third was facing them, his face covered in white slips of paper, clearly having lost miserably.

"A royal flush! This time I should win!" The security guard, facing the wall of surveillance cameras, excitedly slammed his fist on the table. Several slips of paper fell to the ground, and through the gaps, he finally saw the chaos in the surveillance footage—tentacles flying everywhere, figures twisting, shelves collapsing. He was so frightened that the playing cards in his hand scattered all over the floor, and his mouth opened into an "O" shape.

"What the hell is this? Is this a horror movie?" He had barely uttered the question when a light mist appeared around his neck, and his eyes instantly went vacant.

The other two security guards turned around and, before they could react, they too transformed. One of them dropped his security hat on the ground, and he instinctively bent down to pick it up and put it on. Several tentacles emerged from under the brim of the hat, roaring and rushing out of the monitoring room towards the interior of the mall with an absurd and eerie quality.

As it ran past the power supply box, a tentacle accidentally swept across the box, and with a "sizzle," the circuit was completely destroyed, plunging the entire mall into darkness.

The sudden darkness startled everyone, followed by more screams and the howls of the spirits.

The light blade in Lu Yu's hand became the only source of light. The pale golden halo could only illuminate an area of ​​one or two meters in front of him. What was even more deadly was that this light was particularly conspicuous in the darkness, like a lighthouse in the dark, and all the ethereal spirits rushed towards the light blade.

"Oh no!" Lu Yu's heart skipped a beat.

His arm was already tingling slightly; the continuous gathering of light blades and blocking attacks had greatly depleted his energy. Su Wan stayed close to him, breathing very softly, but her ears were constantly alert to the sounds around them.

The man in the suit on the ground woke up at some point. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw countless pairs of eyes glowing with an eerie light in the darkness, and a slippery tentacle brushed against his cheek. He only had time to let out a half-scream before he fainted again with a thud.

"Zhao Lei! Are you back?" Lu Yu called out in a low voice.

He could feel the excruciating pain in his wounds, blood trickling down his arm and dripping onto the ground with a faint sound. The energy of the light blade was growing weaker and weaker, like a candle flickering in the wind. If this continued, they would be surrounded and exhausted by the ethereal spirits before Teacher Liu Jing arrived.

In the darkness, a thick tentacle suddenly lunged at Su Wan. Lu Yu reacted swiftly, slashing it off with his sword. But he didn't notice that two more tentacles coiled around his arm like pythons, instantly dimming the light from his blade.

He struggled desperately, but felt his strength rapidly draining away. He could hear the roars of the spirits and the increasingly close, slippery touch.

"Lu Yu!" Su Wan exclaimed, raising various goods around her and throwing them at the tentacles, but it had no effect at all.

Lu Yu gritted his teeth and desperately mobilized the remaining power of his true energy, trying to make the light blade light up again.

But the temperature of the ancient coin gradually dropped, and a dizzying sensation of completely depleted energy struck. Lu Yu's vision began to blur, leaving only boundless darkness and the ever-approaching ethereal spirit.