Honkai Summoning.

After yawning lazily, Su Mo said, "Speak, what is it?"

A moment of silence.

Finally, the same old man who had spoken first spoke, saying in an extremely hoarse and slow tone, "Lord Su Mo should know that this world is different from before, and it is no longer suitable for people like us to live in."

"Hmm, that makes a lot of sense." Su Mo nodded noncommittally. "Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds these days, but unfortunately, our power is disappearing little by little."

"Yes, as expected, Lord Su Mo has already noticed." The old man lowered his head slightly and continued, "Then, Lord Su Mo should also be very clear about our purpose."

“I understand. Since there is no space to survive, death is inevitable… It’s a perfectly normal thing,” Su Mo said.

"As expected of Lord Su Mo—" the old man said.

However, this time, Su Mo interrupted him halfway through his sentence.

"You're so great, my foot! Do you think I'd commit suicide just because you praise me a couple of times? Seriously, why would I have to die? I've made a huge contribution to this world. If it weren't for me, that zombie army would have devoured the world long ago."

"Therefore, I urge Lord Su Mo to make one more contribution to this world." The old man remained unmoved; in fact, he knew very well what was going on.

The other party wasn't trying to defend himself; he was just saying something out of boredom.

"Why should I sacrifice myself? What about you?" Su Mo asked with a smile.

"We will naturally follow in Lord Su Mo's footsteps. The world will not belong to us!" the old man said firmly.

"A bunch of noble madmen. If they can do it, then let them try. I also want to know if anyone can actually kill me—ever since I died with that mad vampire, no one has made me feel the threat of death again." Su Mo smiled, and a thick shadow spread from his body, turning into crimson blood that surged towards those around him!

Half an hour later.

The place remained silent, and the surrounding scenery was intact—if there was any change, it was that everything was stained red with a thick layer of blood, giving it an eerie feel.

The eight old men, some lying down and some sitting, were scattered on a circle with Su Mo as the center and a radius of fifty meters.

Compared to the crimson surrounding them, these guys were all deathly pale, as if all the blood in their bodies had been completely drained.

A violent coughing fit ensued, and the old man who had been talking to Su Mo struggled to his feet. He said with a bitter laugh, "Lord Su Mo is truly beyond my expectations. I even thought we were fighting Akat."

"Oh, so you are indeed fighting him." Su Mo nodded expressionlessly, and the blood beneath his feet surged and twisted, transforming into a half-body image of a man in front of the old man.

"you!"

The old man's expression finally changed.

“This guy is obsessed with fighting, searching for the meaning of existence. Do you think someone like that can be easily killed—even if the opponent is me?” Su Mo said coldly. “But now, with your help, we can finally kill him completely.”

As he spoke, Su Mo squatted down and looked at the bust in front of him: "Akatar, you can finally die."

The half-man opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he said nothing and just looked at Su Mo.

"Don't look at me with that pitying gaze." Su Mo pouted. "I'm different from you. I've always had my own goals. Speaking of which, you're always agonizing over things like the meaning of life, why don't you become a philosopher?"

The vampire known as Akat smiled, without answering Su Mo's question. His body, formed from blood, suddenly vanished—and the surrounding blood dimmed the instant he disappeared.

"It seems you're here to kill—"

Su Mo stood up and began to speak, but he stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence. He closed his mouth, slowly turned his head, and looked to his left, where a person was standing.

That person seemed to have vanished when the battle began, only to reappear now. However, in reality, this person had been standing to the side from the very beginning. And during the battle, both Su Mo and the others had intentionally or unintentionally overlooked her—Tang You.

At this moment, the dagger in Tang You's hand that had once cut Su Mo had pierced through her own chest and heart.

Tang You slowly knelt down on the ground, her body collapsing, her cheeks stained with dark red blood, a peaceful smile on her face, as if she were asleep.

The chains on Su Mo's chest began to tremble wildly, starting to erode his life.

The chains automatically detached from Tang You's body, dancing in mid-air like venomous snakes.

Su Mo reached up and pressed his head. His body, which had been standing steadily, swayed and he sat down on the ground quite decisively, without any regard for his appearance. His chest heaved violently, and after a long while, he finally exhaled a breath of stale air: "It really hurts."

"Even a love lock can't kill you?"

A trace of sorrow flashed in the old man's eyes as he looked at his disciple's lifeless body.

"Almost there, maybe it will be enough. Why don't you guys try a little harder?" Su Mo chuckled twice.

His upper body was already entangled and surrounded by numerous black chains, which constantly shifted between illusion and reality, piercing through Su Mo's body but leaving him unable to touch or grasp them.

"Although I failed to kill you, this is probably the weakest you've ever been." The old man stood up with considerable difficulty.

"Perhaps." Su Mo replied casually, reaching out to grab the chains that were constantly swaying in front of him. The chains turned into phantoms the moment his hand touched them.

Su Mo was not discouraged and continued to reach out and grab.

This scene looks like someone is teasing a kitten with a cat toy.

The old man shook his head, dismissing the absurd idea. Before him stood the King of the Night, a monster who walked in the darkness, a being whose age was unknown—how could he possibly be a cat?

"Ha, got it."

With a cheerful sound, Su Mo finally grabbed one of the chains, squeezed it hard, and crushed it into pieces.

"So fast!"

The old man was shocked, not expecting that the love lock could only suppress Su Mo for such a short time.

"Those who aren't dead, hurry up and die! We don't have much time left!" With the old man's angry shout, those who had been unconscious began to wake up.

After they woke up, they did not move their bodies, but sat down cross-legged, chanting incantations. A faint light emanated from the ground beneath them and then began to spread in all directions.

A few seconds later, an incredibly complex array appeared on the ground, replacing the ground that had been completely stained with dark red blood.

The instant the array appeared, the chains binding Su Mo instantly reversed direction, piercing the earth and lifting him up. From a distance, he looked like a gigantic spider with countless legs standing in the darkness.

“The materials used to make the love lock come from deep underground. Once it returns to the earth, it will regenerate its power. Now we are using an array to connect it to the earth, which means we have a continuous source of power.” The leading old man thought to himself, raising his head and looking intently at Su Mo, his gaze as sharp as two swords.

"Su Mo, don't you understand? We represent the will of this world. You are strong, that's true. But can you fight against the earth? Your enemy is not us! You are destined to be the loser in this battle!" A voice as loud as a bell rang in the night sky, but it only echoed in this small area and did not affect the outside.

"loser!"

"loser!"

The voice echoed in Su Mo's ears, as if it were trying to penetrate the depths of his soul.

The old man stared intently at Su Mo, hoping his "psychological warfare" would have some effect. If this guy showed even the slightest weakness, the Heart Lock, backed by the entire earth, would seize the opportunity to completely suppress this terrifying enemy, the Dark Night King, perhaps even sealing him away on the spot!

As if the old man's words had some effect, Su Mo suddenly opened his mouth, and a shrill scream came from his body.

Yes, it was on Su Mo's body, not in his mouth. With that scream, a large amount of black mist appeared on Su Mo's body. The black mist directly transformed into distorted faces, which were then instantly shredded by the chains of the love lock.

Su Mo remained motionless, his mouth slightly open, letting the love lock hold him aloft. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that his lowered face, hidden in the shadows, no longer seemed as pale as before. The eerie, handsome look that emanated from a vampire was slowly fading.

"It works!"

A feeling of surprise welled up in the old man's heart. He slightly withdrew one hand, which disappeared into his wide sleeve, as if confirming something. "In that case, we won't need to use this thing."

However, before the old man could show his surprise on his face, the concentric chains suddenly began to shake violently, making a crisp sound.

Su Mo, suspended in mid-air, slowly raised his head, his eyes completely covered by black: "You're right, my enemy has never been you..."

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Thank you Dongdongqi for the 588 reward! Thank you kuui and Yuanshidaluo for the rewards!

Chapter Three: Now, I am the Master

As those words seemed to emanate from the deepest hell, an incredibly terrifying scream erupted from Su Mo once again.

Large amounts of black mist appeared, transforming into distorted faces and figures before disappearing.

The love lock began to break!

The eight old men who were sitting cross-legged all coughed up blood at the same time. Five of them swayed and fell to the ground, dead.

Only three people remained, barely clinging to life.

The old man at the head of the group opened his eyes with difficulty and saw that only one chain of the love lock remained. That single chain was slowly being pulled out of Su Mo's chest, with the other end still connected to the ground, seemingly drawing power from the earth.

"It failed—"

Despair welled up in the old man's heart, but it was quickly replaced by joy. "No, no, these chains are pulling out that guy's soul!"

At the end of the chain that had been pulled out, there was a phantom figure wrapped around it, which looked exactly like Su Mo!

With the appearance of that illusory soul, Su Mo, who had regained his footing after the chains disappeared, became unsteady.

"OK!"

The old man thought to himself.

His words seemed to have an effect, for the last remaining chain was suddenly pulled out, drawing a perfect arc in mid-air.

"call--"

A long, labored breath followed, like the sound of relief after running 10,000 meters or after receiving exam results.

The old man stared wide-eyed at the scene before him, his heart pounding wildly, a testament to his utter shock.

The chains did indeed pull something out of Su Mo's body, but that thing was not Su Mo's soul as the old man thought.

To be precise, when the chain completely detached from the body, the thing it pierced and bound instantly changed. That thing split in two, and one of them turned into a stream of light and returned to Su Mo's body.

The other item was a tattered piece of paper, no bigger than a palm, trembling constantly within the encircling net of chains.

Su Mo's hand gripped the thin chain tightly, creating a strange and peculiar balance between the three.

“My opponents have never been you. Do you understand now?” Su Mo turned his head and looked at the old man lying on the ground.

"Heh... So this has been your goal from beginning to end?" The old man seemed to understand something and gave a bitter smile. "We are all just a link in your plan, a pawn, aren't we?"

Su Mo ignored the old man's words, clenched his fist tightly, and pulled back forcefully, grabbing a broken chain and the piece of paper in his hand.

After doing this, the terrifying aura emanating from Su Mo vanished instantly, and he collapsed to the ground, just like an ordinary person.

"Don't exaggerate. What do you mean by 'part of a plan'? I don't have the time or energy to come up with any plans. If something goes wrong, I'll be the one who gets hurt. I just guided you guys a little." Su Mo sat down on the ground, panting slightly, as if waiting for his strength to recover.

"Lord Su Mo is truly modest, even when it comes to chess pieces," the old man said.

Su Mo smiled and said, "What chess piece? You must watch too many movies. The more intricate a plan or conspiracy is, the easier it is to go wrong. The more people involved, the harder it is to control. We're not robots. Who can completely and accurately predict someone's next move? If someone can, it's nothing more than an open strategy, using overwhelming power to force the other party to make the choice they want."

"Been taught a lesson."

"Then give me some money," Su Mo immediately replied.

The men who had just been fighting tooth and nail were now sitting on the ground chatting casually like old friends, a strange sight indeed. In reality, both of them were recovering their strength.

The two of them can barely lift their arms now.