The spell's range covers the entire territory of China? Hand it over to the state.

Swish-!

The red light finally dissipated.

Everyone's eyes widened suddenly.

On the other side of the arena, a grand chair had appeared out of nowhere.

A person was sitting casually on the chair.

No, to be precise, it is a god.

But the appearance of this god is truly unsightly, and can even be described as... shockingly ugly.

He wore a bright red official robe, embroidered not with auspicious clouds and mythical beasts, but with menacing bats. He wore a black gauze hat, but the hat's wings were askew, one side higher than the other.

The scariest thing is that face.

His face was as black as the bottom of a pot, covered in thick, fleshy flesh, with a thick beard that bristled like iron spikes, and a pair of round eyes that stared like copper bells, flashing with a cold light more ferocious than a demon.

At this moment, this guy was sitting with his legs crossed, one foot bare, his big bare foot brazenly stepping on the arena floor.

In one of his hands, he was holding a translucent little ghost that he had somehow gotten his hands on, and like eating a radish, he snapped off half of its head in one bite.

It tastes so good when you chew it.

"This is... Zhong Kui?!"

Zhang Daoxuan suddenly stood up, his beard trembling with excitement. "The Red-Robed Judge! The Exorcist True Lord! My God, Xiao Su brought this gentleman out?!"

"Is Zhong Kui really that good at fighting?" a young man asked, unaware of Zhong Kui's prowess.

"Of course!" Zhang Daoxuan said, exasperated. "Let me put it this way: if Wu Song fights beasts of the mortal realm, this guy eats ghosts of the underworld. In his eyes, there's no such thing as death or not death; it's just a matter of whether something is edible and whether it's crunchy or not."

The perspective shifts back to the arena.

Thanatos was clearly also bewildered by the sudden appearance of this ugly man in red robes.

As the Western Grim Reaper, he had seen countless hideous undead and the three-headed dog of hell, but he had never seen anything so...unique.

Especially the aura emanating from the other person.

It is neither divine power nor magic.

Rather, it is an extremely domineering "official power".

It's like... you're a street vendor who suddenly runs into the captain of the urban management brigade.

"Who are you?" Thanatos instinctively became alert, gripping his rusty scythe tightly. The gray deathly aura behind him surged like a tide. "I am the agent of death, the end of life..."

"Alright, alright, stop making such a racket! You're giving me a headache!"

Zhong Kui waved his greasy hand impatiently, interrupting the Grim Reaper's chant as if shooing away flies. He tilted his head back and swallowed the remaining little devil in one gulp, smacking his lips with lingering satisfaction, before casually wiping his hands on his red robe.

With a creaking sound from the armchair, he stood up.

At this moment, a dark red aura of malevolence surged into the sky. He was over two meters tall, like a moving iron tower, his broad shoulders seemingly capable of supporting two mountains.

Zhong Kui stared with his large, round eyes, looking Thanatos up and down. His gaze finally settled on Thanatos's rusty scythe, and he exhaled two puffs of white breath from his nostrils.

"Hmph, how shabby."

Zhong Kui curled his lip in disdain. "Ragged clothes, rusty weapons—this wretched appearance dares to call itself a soul-reaper? It's a disgrace to the underworld!"

As he spoke, he pulled a crumpled account book from his pocket and then a worn-out judge's pen, licking the tip with his tongue.

"Name?" Zhong Kui asked without looking up.

Thanatos: "..."

"I'm asking you a question!" Zhong Kui glared suddenly, unleashing a tangible aura of malevolence that shattered the deathly aura surrounding Thanatos by three meters. "Name! Place of origin! Place of death! Do you have a Fengdu travel permit? Do you have a soul-reaping permit?"

This series of probing questions left audiences around the world completely bewildered.

Is this a war or a household registration check?

Thanatos finally lost his temper.

He is Death! The embodiment of rules that make humanity tremble! He is not a suspect coming to the local police station to give a statement!

"You false god among mortals, you've gone too far!"

Thanatos let out a shriek, the ghostly blue flames in his eye sockets surged instantly, and he swung his rusty scythe in a fierce swing, drawing a semicircle.

"Death Harvest!"

This strike lacked both earth-shattering light and the sharpness to tear through space. It was an unavoidable strike of causality.

In Western mythology, the swing of a scythe signifies the forced severing of the target's "lifeline." Whether you are a god or a demon, as long as you have a concept of life, this strike will surely kill you.

The gray ripples instantly pierced through Zhong Kui's body.

The hearts of the people of Longxia jumped into their throats instantly, and many even exclaimed in surprise.

however.

One second passed, then two seconds passed.

Zhong Kui remained standing in the same spot, and even casually reached out and picked his nose, flicking out a black object.

The causal attack, powerful enough to bring down a god, struck Zhong Kui like a gentle breeze across a hill, barely lifting the hem of his red robe.

"This..." Thanatos's eyes flickered with blue flames, and a hint of panic finally appeared in his voice, "Impossible! I clearly severed your lifeline..."

"Were you trying to cut my lifeline just now?"

Zhong Kui seemed to have just come to his senses, and his movements paused.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely unrestrained laugh resounded throughout the world.

"Hahaha! This is utterly ridiculous!"

He pointed at Thanatos, laughing so hard he almost fell over. His ugly face contorted, making him look even more ferocious and terrifying. "You want to talk to me about lifelines? I am a martial arts graduate from Zhongnan Mountain in the Tang Dynasty. I died once before, by striking my head against a pillar in the imperial court! I am already a ghost! Since I have no life, how can I die? You think you're worthy to kill me?!"

"besides……"

Zhong Kui's laughter suddenly stopped.

In an instant, the world changed color.

His face instantly darkened, his previous playful and sarcastic demeanor vanishing completely, replaced by a chilling pressure a hundred times more terrifying than before. That pressure was like Mount Tai pressing down, causing the entire arena to groan under its weight.

"On someone's territory, if their name isn't in the King of Hell's Book of Life and Death, who dares to die?!"

"If your name is crossed out in the Book of Life and Death, who would dare to live?!"

"You, a mere barbarian from a small foreign land, dare to disrupt the rules of the underworld with a broken sickle?"

Zhong Kui took a step forward.

With this move, he shrank the distance to an inch, appearing directly in front of Thanatos.

Thanatos was shocked and instinctively tried to retreat, his body turning into nothingness in an attempt to escape.

But in the face of Zhong Kui's "ghost eyes" that can see through yin and yang, all invisibility is just for show.

"run?"

Zhong Kui sneered, and a large, hairy hand suddenly reached out.

The hand rapidly enlarged in mid-air, its palm seemingly containing a dark vortex with an irresistible suction force.

All spatial rules and the concept of spiritual intangibility become ineffective under this grasp.

Snapped!

A crisp sound.

Just moments ago, the arrogant and domineering Western Grim Reaper was grabbed by the neck by Zhong Kui and dragged out of the void like a chick about to be slaughtered.

Thanatos, clad in a black robe symbolizing mystery and death, trembled under Zhong Kui's massive hand. The terrifying aura of death surrounding him was scattered and broken by Zhong Kui's domineering murderous aura, like snow melting under the blazing sun.

Thanatos struggled desperately, gripping Zhong Kui's wrists with both hands, his eyes filled with disbelief. "I am a concept! I am the rule! How could you possibly touch my true form!"

"Concept my ass!"

Zhong Kui spat, "In my eyes, you're just a nameless, wandering ghost!"

"and……"

Zhong Kui brought his dark face close to Thanatos, took a deep breath, and, as if a gourmet had smelled an unparalleled delicacy, his Adam's apple bobbed violently, emitting a chilling swallowing sound.

"Gulp."

"Hmm...this taste...it's a bit like aged Hunan-style cured pork, with a slightly fermented sour flavor."

Zhong Kui stuck out his scarlet tongue, licked his lips, and revealed a set of jagged fangs.

"Although its appearance is a bit ugly, its soul is quite plump."

"Since you're here, don't leave."

"Perfect timing, that kid in my family didn't get enough to eat, so I'll use you to fill the gap!"