Inner Destroyer

　Formatting means returning everything to its "original state" before creation.

　Isn’t that what it means to prepare a blank canvas before officially starting to depict the world?

　"The Peacock King" formats the world, and the resulting unpredictable, invisible, lightless night of life is the original chaos, the endless dark void.

　The "place" where this world originally existed—if Samael had not come to create the world, in fact, even the concept of "place" itself would not exist.

　It's not "nothing", but there is not even "nothing" itself.

　There is no space, no time, no logic, no possibility.

　Neither belonging to existence nor to nothingness.

　The chaos that appears now after formatting is the original appearance of this world before it was created by Samael.

　"Qi Xing, there's no need to fight an enemy you can't defeat."

　Sasa floated in the air, arms folded across her chest, and continued to speak unhappily.

　"Eight Hundred Bhikkhuni is dead. The instructions she left for the giant spirit must have been very limited. After it has formatted all of Northeast Asia, it will likely remain in the same place, staring blankly, and at most killing anyone who comes close."

　Her tone was filled with annoyance and unwillingness, but there was also a hint of worry that could not be concealed.

　"Forty hours, that's plenty of time for you to fly away with the little nun and everyone you like."

　But Qi Xing shook his head: "Who knows if it has received other instructions?"

　"Okay, even so, I'll take a step back."

　Sasa clicked her tongue and waved her hands around, apparently really annoyed.

　"Even if you absolutely must fight it, it shouldn't be now. In 40 hours, how much can you recover? 80% of your strength?"

　"Once the giant spirit has annihilated all of Northeast Asia, and the devastation it has caused has become known to the entire world, the terrified nations will undoubtedly offer their full support, bringing out their most powerful weapons and national experts."

　"There's no shame in turning back temporarily. You should retreat now, fully recover, and even further improve yourself. Then, you can lead the powerful from all over the world and gather the greatest strength. Only then will you have a chance to successfully slay the gods and destroy the giant spirits."

　She said these words until her ears turned red. It was obvious that she was really trying to persuade him.

289

　I am really worried about Qi Xing, and my reasons are indeed very convincing.

　And what's rare is that she doesn't have a sharp tongue.

　However, Qi Xing still just shook his head lightly: "No."

　"Why, you little fool!"

　Sasa finally got angry!

　"You've been praised as a great hero all the time, so you think you're a god? You want to save everything, right?"

　"Then let me tell you, if you rush forward and get killed by the giant, and it actually starts slowly formatting the entire world, then it won't just be millions of people who will die—the entire world will be destroyed!"

　"I suppose there's no other righteous hero in this world who can rival you. Even so, are you still determined to put all of humanity in danger just to protect a few lives? Do you realize how illogical this is?!"

　"Do you think I want to see my djinn bound in golden shackles by mortals?! I'm so pissed! But this is the best advice I can give you under the circumstances!"

　"Being moderate isn't cowardice; it's a different kind of courage! And if you die, who will help me collect the silver coins?!"

　Sasa was furious.

　Qi Xing looked at her so excited and finally couldn't help laughing.

　"Thank you, Sasa."

　He reached out and touched the hairy little loli evil god's head.

　"Even if you're just worried that if I die, no one will help you collect the silver coins, I still want to thank you."

　Sasa's face puffed up like a balloon, but she still didn't dodge Qi Xing's hand, but just gritted her teeth.

　After laughing, Qi Xing's eyes gradually became sharp.

　"But, Sasa, I didn't go into battle with the Peacock King to save the lives of millions. At least not entirely. I had my own reasons."

　"Besides, it's not like I have no chance of winning."

　"Yabikuni herself said it—the power of the Black God can restrain the White God's followers. For example, Rin's black flame can actually block "Formatting", even if only temporarily."

　Coincidentally.

　Just at this moment, Shingorin opened the door of Qi Xing's ward and walked in with steady steps and a calm expression.

　She has recovered 70% and looks much better than Qi Xing.

　"I see, this is the great demon that possesses you?"

　Lin only glanced at the loli evil god floating in the air above the ward, then looked at Qi Xing.

　"I don't want to agree with what this demon said, but she's right."

　Her tone was calm, yet firm.

　"Qi Xing, this is not your battlefield. This land already owes too much to your guest, and I don't want you to risk your life again."

　She said it very seriously.

　"Besides...I don't want you to continue using that dangerous demonic power."

　For some reason, Lin only took a glance at this loli demon floating in the air and felt a sense of déjà vu - a strange sense of familiarity and disgust.

　Although she was sure that she had never seen this demon in her life, she still felt a kind of disgust hidden in her bones for some unknown reason, as if it were some kind of unforgettable karma from a past life.

　"Devil power?"

　Qi Xing was startled.

　"I didn't use any demonic power this time... Are you saying I used the 'silver coin' to command myself to go all out? That was just the backlash from overdriving my lightning technique."

　This sentence finally made Lin stunned for a moment: "Lei Fa? Aren't you the forbidden artificial demon host transformed by the former president of the "Association"? "

　what?

　The air suddenly became quiet.

　This conversation left the two people, and even the three people present, all confused.

　Only Sasa knew what was going on—and a cold sweat was already starting to form on the back of her neck.

　"What are you talking about? The Exorcist Association never does anything like this." Elaine frowned. "Even if it did happen, how could the local branch possibly have such confidential information?"

　This makes sense, doesn’t it?

　"But I asked Ayame to secretly look at Qi Xing's files at the Exorcist Association branch, and it was all written there. I thought all those lightning bolts he usually used were just Devil Jinchūriki skills."

　Lin was also confused and puzzled.

　If that’s the case, where did the files that Rin had Ayame steal from come from?

　Neither of them had a clue; it was impossible for them to know what had gone wrong.

　Only Qi Xing guessed who the most suspicious guy was at this moment, and turned to look at Sasa in the air with a guilty look on his face.

　"Miss Sasa."

　"Uh"

　"explain."

　At this point, even Sasa finally had to confess: "Well... didn't I say before that I wanted to prevent others from spying on you? So I used the 'illusion' silver coins... to change your file a little bit... Actually, I didn't really change it... but anyone who reads the file will see a fixed illusion."

　Qi Xing finally frowned. "What hallucination? Oh, forget it. You're just going to write me some third-rate novel, right? 'The Road to Hell,' right?"

　——Five minutes later, after Elaine’s calm and detailed explanation, Rin finally understood.

　All the stories she had heard about Qi Xing's experiences before, those tear-jerking stories about "a lonely star who had suffered emotional trauma, wandered all his life, and fought only for revenge", were all made up by Miss Devil.

　"I see……"

　She murmured softly, then raised her head without saying a word.

290

　Raise your fist.

　The next second, the fist, filled with red lotus fire and unjustifiable anger, smashed heavily on Sasa's little head!

　Whoa!

　108: I don’t understand!

　It's incredible.

　Lin's red flaming fist hit Sasa's head and actually hurt Sasa.

　You have to remember that she was just a shadow here—her true form was sealed on the throne at the bottom of the universe. Logically speaking, how could a mere shadow be hurt?

　“It hurts! It’s so hot! Wahh ...

　After being hit by a flaming fist, Sasa screamed like a kitten splashed with boiling water.

　The last time she'd been hurt was when Qi Xing spanked her personally. That was a pre-arranged bet, and the rules of the game, so she'd agreed to it. That's why she'd actually gotten the slap from Qi Xing.

　This time it was obviously not voluntary, so why was she hit by Lin's fist?

　Just based on what Yaobikuni said, using fabricated mortal faith to process it, this shadow could be hit by a real fist? That's a bit too far-fetched.

　Qi Xing always felt something was strange.

　Back to Lin, she originally wanted to talk to Qi Xing again and persuade him not to sacrifice himself like this - but before she could get back to the point, everyone heard a faint commotion outside the ward.

　In Japan, making noise in such an occasion, especially in a convalescent ward, is extremely rude. Furthermore, "Rep Master" is a VIP among VIPs. So Elaine walked over first, slightly opened the ward door, and glanced out into the corridor.

　As soon as the door opened, the commotion outside stopped instantly.

　A group of people were quietly crowded in the corridor.

　Some were dressed as exorcists, while others were officials in neat suits. Their expressions were reserved and their movements were stiff, as if they were afraid of disturbing some deity in the ward.

　They didn't make any noise or speak loudly, but they looked at each other, hesitating and unwilling to leave, which made people feel even more uncomfortable.

　As the door opened, the atmosphere froze. They seemed to be snapped back to reality, and they hurriedly lowered their heads, some even trying to put on a smile.

　One of the civil servants, about fifty years old, bowed first, his voice as soft as cotton candy: "Uh, Miss Elaine... I'm sorry for the inconvenience... We just wanted to check on Mr. Qi Xing—no, Master Lei Pu's—recovery status... We are so sorry."

　"exactly."

　A nearby exorcist echoed this, his tone so earnest it was almost sickening.

　"We are all sincerely grateful for the heroic actions of Mr. Rep."

　"In this unprecedented time of world disaster, only a righteous hero like him can lead us through this crisis."

　"He is a true hero of righteousness. We all believe that he will rise again and defeat the Peacock King."

　"We're all actually very worried about his injuries, but... we don't dare to disturb Master Leipu rashly... so we just..."

　They rushed to offer compliments, handing Elaine an exquisite lacquer gift box. "This is a small amount of nutrition we managed to collect. Please convey our gratitude and respect. We truly... truly admire everything Master Leipu has done to protect the people."

　These words, expressions, and implicit meanings all imply: Hero, you can't leave!

　We are weak and we can't win, but you are different, you are a hero.

　If outsiders saw this scene, they would probably feel how respectful these people were to Qi Xing and how sincere and touching their actions were.

　But they couldn't see Rinya standing in the ward through a crack. They didn't know Rinya was watching them, and they didn't know that Rinya actually understood them.

　Of course, she could see that they were saying they were here to express their gratitude, but in reality, they were just "checking in advance"—whether "Rep Master" would run away, or become scared after losing once.

　A hero wouldn't run away from a fight, right? A hero wouldn't be so selfish, wouldn't be afraid. A hero wouldn't refuse to save the common people.

　If the heroes really want to escape, they will have no umbrella to shelter them from the wind and rain, and they will all be wiped out in the formatted storm.

　Therefore, Lin's expression and mood are very complicated now.

　Elaine was unfazed by this, she just nodded and maintained a polite smile.

　"Lepu Zhenren is currently resting. I will convey your wishes."

　However, just as Elaine was about to close the door of the ward——

　The next second, Qi Xing stepped out!