The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

As a ninth-tier powerhouse, he had his own pride.

Since I can't help, I can't let them save me for nothing.

"Take this."

Lin Yuan shakily pulled two items out of the tattered trench coat.

A bone shield radiating a lustrous white light, and a thing no bigger than a thumb.

Yet, one could vaguely hear the howling of ghosts and wolves emanating from the black bead.

"This is the [Holy Bone Shield], a legendary defensive item that can withstand one fatal attack."

"This is the [Undead Orb]. It contains the essence of high-level undead that I have collected over the past hundred years. If you run out of magic power, crush it to instantly restore your health."

Lin Yuan handed the two items to Gu Xu, his eyes sincere: "I know you're very strong, so you probably won't need them."

"But the thing in that bridal sedan chair is very strange; it's always good to have a couple more trump cards up your sleeve."

Gu Xu's eyes lit up instantly when he saw the two top-quality pieces of equipment gleaming with an orange light.

Legendary item!

This thing is truly priceless on the market; any one of these items could be exchanged for a building in downtown Kyoto.

"You're too kind."

Gu Xu spoke politely, but his hands moved faster than anyone else's, grabbing the two items and stuffing them into his pocket: "Since it is a token of your kindness, senior, then I will accept it without hesitation."

"After all, it is a gift from an elder that cannot be refused."

Looking at Gu Xu's money-grubbing appearance, Lin Yuan's previously heavy mood suddenly relaxed a bit.

This kid is incredibly strong.

But thankfully, it still retains some human touch.

"Alright, I'll take the things."

Gu Xu patted the bulging pocket, in high spirits: "You'd better get out of here quickly. If a fight really breaks out later, it'll be quite a commotion, and I'm afraid it'll shake you to pieces."

"Also, that bead is nice. Get me a couple more next time you have the chance."

After saying that, Gu Xu didn't linger.

He turned around, and with the bride in red, the festering rat, and the enormous eyeball floating in the air, strode into the deepest part of the darkness.

Watching the boy's departing figure, Lin Yuan leaned against the wall, remaining motionless for a long time.

He watched the black mist crumble and dissipate with each step of the boy, and he looked at the bright road that split the heavens and the earth.

A bittersweet smile appeared on his lips.

"Is this what they call the younger generation...?"

……

After saying goodbye to Lin Yuan, Gu Xu's pace quickened considerably.

With no worries about the future, he completely unleashed his inner energy.

"Boom!"

That was the mournful cry of space being squeezed by high-density energy.

The [Domain of Calamity] behind Gu Xu was fully activated, although its radius remained at 625 meters.

But the oppressive feeling was several times stronger than before.

He was no longer simply forcing back the black mist, but began to devour it in reverse.

Those strange fragments of rules that couldn't escape in time were directly sucked into the void vortex behind Gu Xu.

It turned into the numbers jumping in his experience bar.

But they're all pitifully low +1.

Ten minutes later.

Gu Xu finally reached the end of this road.

This is the northern suburbs of Beichuan City.

It is also the place where that enormous gate to the secret realm opened.

At this moment, the view above the secret realm is enough to kill any person with trypophobia on the spot.

Countless paper figures floated densely in mid-air.

They were wearing red mandarin jackets and had blush on their cheeks.

Holding a suona, a gong, and a soul-summoning banner, they were playing music and drums facing downwards.

And right in the center of these paper figures.

The enormous, mountain-like red sedan chair was silently suspended there.

It's too big.

The sedan chair door alone is as tall as a dozen stories.

The red sedan curtains concealed the view inside, but the chilling aura emanating from the gaps caused black ice crystals to form in the surrounding space.

Four enormous, hundred-foot-tall ghostly soldiers stood guard at the four corners of the bridal sedan chair like sculptures.

The moment Gu Xu stepped into the surrounding area.

"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."

The suona horn that had been echoing between heaven and earth suddenly stopped.

All the paper figures, thousands upon thousands of paper figures.

They all turned their heads at the same time.

Those countless painted dead fish eyes stared intently at the tiny human figure at the edge of the square.

A wave of malice, as real as a physical force, crashed down like a tsunami.

Faced with the stare of countless ghosts, Gu Xu merely raised his head slightly.

He looked at the enormous bridal sedan chair, and a slow grin spread across his face, revealing a smile even more eerie and excited than that of the paper figures.

"Finally, I've met the person in question."

"I hope you taste a little better than that eyeball monster."

The next second, the strange bride behind Gu Xu suddenly lifted a corner of her red veil.

A piercingly sharp ghostly howl shot straight into the sky.

"roar--!!"

The ancient eye, suspended in mid-air, instantly became bloodshot, and after accumulating power for a moment, it slashed fiercely at the bridal sedan chair.

……

boom!

Visible to the naked eye, a streak stretches across the sky!

The [Disintegration Ray], flashing with an eerie purple light, roared out.

This ray was not an ordinary physical or energy attack.

Instead, it involves "erasing existence" from the most fundamental level of matter.

Wherever it passed, the space became stuffy, as if even the void itself had been scorched black.

The ghost mother's sedan chair in the distance seemed to sense a deadly threat.

The enormous bridal sedan chair trembled slightly.

The originally dull suona sound instantly became even more shrill and piercing.

Countless densely packed paper figures seemed to have received a death order, their movements stiff yet swift.

They formed an overwhelming barrier in front of the bridal sedan chair.

These paper figures are not merely lifeless objects.

Each piece of cardboard shimmered with tiny points of light.

Thousands upon thousands of paper figures were stacked together, forming a giant white wall tens of meters thick.

They tried to forcibly erase this death ray.

When the disintegrating ray struck the paper doll wall, there was no sound of impact as expected.

Instead, there was a sickeningly sweet sound of melting.

The white pieces of paper, upon contact with the purple light, instantly transformed from a solid state into nothingness.

The purple beam of light passed through an uninhabited area.

Violence penetrated through several layers of paper doll defenses.

The paper figures that were affected began to disintegrate in mid-air, turning into wisps of black smoke.

Immediately afterwards, a massive shockwave exploded outwards from the point of impact.

This sound even exceeded the speed of sound, forming a visible, transparent ring-shaped ripple that swept across streets for several kilometers around.

The nearby abandoned buildings were like sand sculptures encountering a strong wind in the face of this noise.

It collapsed silently into a pile of debris.

The commotion was comparable to a miniature nuclear explosion.

The thick black fog that originally shrouded the northern suburbs.

This violent energy forcefully tore open a gap with a diameter of one kilometer.

The soldiers who were observing from the safe zone suddenly felt the ground beneath their feet sink into a deep hole.

My ears were ringing.

Many people were so shocked that they fell to the ground and blood trickled from their mouths!

This... is the clash of powers of higher levels.