Forge a path to success

The Demon of Indulgence intervened, saying, "It's no use. The demon's temporary interference targets 'race,' and your elemental conversion can only be done within the same point of origin. Changing to the new Purifying Fire will yield the same result."

"That's not necessarily true." Ji Huaisu played her card. "What I want to transform into is Level 3, Turbid Tears Guardian!"

The Purifying Judge on the field vanished into flames, and then the Guardian, wielding a great shield of ice, emerged from the fire! Gutaff smashed his cards again!

"How is this possible?! The Path to Supreme Power Point 3 is a choice of three, okay? Why can the Pure Fire turn into Turbid Tears?!"

The cheering groups in the audience shook their heads.

"This guy is such an amateur," Gulibo sighed.

Vande glanced at him with disdain: "Isn't it natural for pure fire to turn into turbid tears?"

"Naturally my foot! I've never seen anything like it! I've never heard of anything this outrageous in my fragmented memories from dozens of generations ago!"

Taking the opportunity, Ji Huaisu proclaimed to the audience: "Did you all see that? This is the consequence of only playing cards and not studying, of being out of touch with reality for too long!"

The students in the audience gasped in shock.

"And don't inhale the cold air! Why are you bunch of idiots convinced by such absurd words?!"

Unable to bear it any longer, the Demonic Indulgence spoke up to warn, "The enemy's attack is coming..."

"Oh, damn it!"

Seeing the attack from Tearful Guardian (2500 ATK) imminent, Gutaf frantically activated his second face-down card: "Activate Strategic Spell, Call from the Deep Sea. Special Summon one Fiend card from my Graveyard. This turn, your opponent can only target this Fighter with their attacks. I Summon Mad Fusion!"

The Mad Fusionist with an attack power of 4000 reappears, and the Guardian of Turbid Tears' great shield is slammed into the demon. At this moment, Ji Huaisu plays another card.

"I'm activating the second elemental transformation!"

"Why would you play two cards that clog your hand like that?" Gutaf scratched his head in frustration. "No, it doesn't matter. The temporary interference effect I activated earlier can still be used. Turning back into Cleansefire is better for me—"

"Return the Tearful Guardian to the Deck and Special Summon the Unbound Ranger."

"My turbid tears have turned into dust that has no fixed abode! Aaaaaaah!"

Replacing the Tearful Guardian was a desert ranger draped in sand and dust. Although he was level 3, his attack power was only 1500 points.

"The Wandering Swordsman can bypass the Fighter Card and attack the opponent's duelist directly." Ji Huaisu pointed a finger. "Go! Attack that fat guy! Desert Sandstorm Kick!"

The Unfettered Ranger appeared behind Gutaf in a flash and kicked him in the backside without hesitation. Gutaf tumbled three times on the field. "Remember this!!" he shouted angrily.

Vande, sitting in the audience, narrowed his eyes: "This guy has a terrible temperament."

“After all, it’s an entertainment demon,” Kanin explained. “All actions are unconsciously aimed at entertaining others, so indifferent emotions are exaggerated, and every word and deed becomes an exaggerated performance under the influence of its own characteristics… This player is so eager to improve, and is willing to take risks for it, because its driving force is to get rid of this nature.”

"You actually think highly of him."

“Underestimating this kind of person is not a wise move,” Kanin chuckled. “You can never imagine how much people are willing to sacrifice to climb the ladder.”

At this moment, Ji Huaisu covered 3 cards and declared the end of the turn. Gutaf had only 1500 health points left, while the Demon of Indulgence still had 3000. In the next turn, it would be the Demon of Indulgence's turn to play, and the Great Seal's -1000 health point effect would activate again.

“Hey, Indulgence,” Gutaf suddenly said, “show me your cards.”

The demon, engrossed in drawing cards, paused: "According to the original plan..."

"At this point, forget about plans. Those idiots on the other side aren't easy to deal with," Entertainment gritted his teeth. "Listen carefully: if we can take down the guys in Huilong City, we'll have more leverage. But if we lose here, we're finished. The master won't care about useless guys like us!"

"...You're right." Chenmian nodded. A faint black light flashed within his deck, and in that instant, his entire deck changed. Then Chenmian drew a card.

"Drawing is over, entering the main phase. The Seal's effect will deal me 1000 damage. Then I chain this effect and activate War Rituals from my hand, Call from the Deep."

The Demon of Indulgence revealed his newly drawn card, a spell card bearing a dark crescent moon that resembled the smile of a colossal being!

"This card can Tribute one Level 4 or higher Fighter on your field to Summon Fighters whose total Level does not exceed the highest Level of the materials." Four cards surfaced from the deck of Obsession. "I want to Summon a Level 2 Servant of the Black Moon - Bastard, and a Level 3 Blood of the Moon!"

A black crescent moon rose over the arena, and the giant seal, upon encountering the moonlight, mysteriously shrank and vanished into the black light. New warriors descended from the moon; one, like a shapeless mass of black blood plasma, coalesced into the strongest low-quality moon beast, "Moon Blood"; the other, with an obese body and a blank smile, was the most typical fallen one, the illegitimate son of the new moon.

The deck, obsessed with demons, is none other than the Black Moon series of Outer Path!

“The Fallen Ones got involved too…” Vande became nervous.

"Wow, amazing!" "It's a new card!" "Moonlight, beautiful..." "Quick, tell me its effect!"

The audience erupted in thunderous applause! The newly appeared fighters possessed an unusual appearance, yet they exuded an almost bewitching allure. This magical attraction, combined with the novelty of something new, created a direct stimulation to the senses.

The audience's emotions surged rapidly, with some frenzied viewers even attempting to force their way into the dueling arena to steal the cards! The venue instantly transformed into a demonic realm!

"Are you all crazy? That's heresy!" Gulibo exclaimed.

“It’s no use trying to reason with a crowd that has lost its mind,” Mr. Gray said. “The fanaticism of the group, and its almost drug-like addictive nature, can be compensated for by the magic of the cards, even though the methods of manipulating people are not very sophisticated.”

"Thus, the audience becomes slaves to entertainment," Mr. Lan said. "And this enslavement will become the power of the demons in the most direct way."

Just as Mr. Lan said, when the audience went into a frenzy, transparent spheres, invisible to ordinary people, floated out from their bodies and merged into the bodies of the two demons.

The audience's faces turned pale, but the fervor in their eyes intensified. Meanwhile, the life points of the Demon Addict and Gutaf began to fluctuate… climbing from 1500 and 3000 points respectively back to 4000, then doubling to 8000!

"They're already starting to cheat so impatiently," Ji Huaisu observed coldly.

"I forgot to tell you, this is a genuine duel between heretics... This life value doesn't just represent game stats, it's 'life' including combat power and status!" Gutaf grinned maliciously. "Well done, Obsession. Take them down!"

The Demon of Indulgence plays its third card: "Then I activate the effect of Crescent Moon Warrior, which allows me to Special Summon it directly from my hand when I have two 'Black Moon' Fighters. The Warrior summoned by this effect increases the ATK of all Black Moon Fighters on the field by 1000."

In the blink of an eye, the third Fallen Warrior arrived. This was an Inhuman, clad in tattered robes, his face twisted like rotting flesh. His level was 4, and his attack power increased to 3400 upon his appearance. At the same time, Moonblood's attack power increased from 2900 to 3900, while the Bastard's attack power also became 3000.

"I activate the effect of the illegitimate son, adding two Black Moon Spells to my hand." The Demon's Indulgence begins its chain, "Then, I activate the Continuous Spell, Black Moon's Protection. As long as this card exists, no fighter on the field can be destroyed."

"I'll activate it again, Black Moon's Compassion!" Immerse yourself in a new war spell. "As long as this card is on the field, when your opponent activates a card effect, you can send a Black Moon Warrior to your Deck to negate and destroy that activation. The warrior sent to the Deck by this effect will return to the field at the end of the turn!"

The black waning moon on the field gradually turned into a full moon, and the falling moonlight grew deeper. Gulibo was so angry that he jumped up and down: "This is a disguised form of three Conga resistances! When will this end!"

"Battle, the illegitimate son attacks the wandering knight."

Shuoyue's son unleashed tentacles, lashing out at the Ranger with only 1500 attack power. Ji Huaisu calmly activated her face-down card: "Activate strategic spell, Ice Shield - Reflective Power. Destroy all fighters on the opponent's field when the opponent declares an attack."

"Send the illegitimate son back to the deck, and negate that card with the effect of Black Moon's Compassion." Indulgence attacked again, "Then attack the Ranger with the Stranger!"

The attack came again, this time from a superhuman with an attack power of 3400. Ji Huaisu sighed deeply.

"You forced me to this... I'm activating strategic magic, Elemental Conversion!"

This time, not only Gutaf, but even the Demon Addict couldn't resist: "You've got three Elemental Conversion cards in your hand?!"

"The first three are masters of 'One Qi for a Thousand Autumns,' and the last three are masters of 'Elemental Transformation.' What kind of geniuses are they?!"

"This is how I fight, you got a problem with that?" Ji Huaisu scoffed. "When a Ranger becomes a Protector of Tearful Dews, this card won't take battle damage when destroyed in battle~"

The 2500-attack Tearful Protector was fielded, but this time, the Demon's Indulgence failed to counter it... because to counter it would require sending another Fighter back to the deck, resulting in lower total damage during the battle phase. He watched as the Protector was destroyed and sent to the field, issuing his final command: "Moon's Blood Attack Hime Huaisu!"

“I open the third face-down card; I am the shield.” Ji Huaisu flipped the last face-down card over. “This card allows a Fighter card to take the hit in place of the original target.”

"What's the use? You don't have any fighter cards left!" Gutaf sneered.

"You seem to have forgotten, this is a duel between two people." Ji Huaisu smiled smugly. "I've designated my partner, Chu Hengkong, to take the hit for me!"

"What?!" X2

In the blink of an eye, the massive, mountain-like Moon Blood lashed out at Chu Hengkong, only to be caught by him with a single hand and tossed back onto the Demon's Enchanted arena like a piece of trash! The Moon Blood let out a painful howl! And Chu Hengkong's life points, under the influence of the game rules, became…

4000 - 3900 = 100 points!

"Well done, partner." Chu Hengkong gave a thumbs up.

"I told you to leave it to me."

The two duelists cheerfully bumped fists, acting as if they had won, even though one of them was at a huge disadvantage with only 100 health points left!

"...I enter Main Phase 2, and the illegitimate child returns to the field due to its effect." The Demon of Obsession's expression was also not good. "Then I activate the illegitimate child's effect, summoning two Obsession tokens on Chu Hengkong's field."

Two rotting fleshy creatures covered in eyeballs leaped onto Chu Hengkong's field, and the Demonic Indulgence covered three cards.

"Sinking Tokens cannot be used as materials for Normal Fighters and will corrupt your Fighter cards. Set three cards face down and end your turn."

And so, it was finally Chu Hengkong's turn to play cards again. The Demon of Indulgence took a deep breath, and Entertainment whispered a reminder: "Don't panic! His Thousand Autumns Qi has been eliminated; even if you lower his health bar now, it's pointless. He'll die sooner or later!"

"That's true... but look at the way that man looks at you."

Gutaf also looked at Chu Hengkong, instantly understanding his partner's worries. The man simply looked leisurely at his remaining two cards, his expression so confident it was as if his next card could destroy the world!

“Yes, it’s a bluff,” Gutaf said softly. “It’s a bluff, isn’t it…?”

"My turn, draw a card."

Chu Hengkong leisurely drew a card, slapping it down without even glancing at it: "I activate the War Spell, Burning Night. This card can only be activated when my life points are below 1000. It halves my life points and discards all cards in my hand, thereby adding one Martial Arts card from my deck to my hand..."

Furthermore, the opponent cannot activate the card's effect in response to this card's activation!

The Demon of Indulgence, about to unleash his power, reluctantly stopped, seeing that Chu Hengkong's life points had dropped to 50, and that after discarding two cards, he had added a single card to his hand. Even he was baffled: "What are you trying to add? Chen Jun Swordsman? Summoning at this point is just a 3-for-3 trade, completely meaningless..."

“You’re wrong. What I added to my hand is a Fighter card that is also considered a Martial Arts Card according to the rules.” Chu Hengkong’s smile deepened. “I used two Fallen Tokens as materials to perform an Ascension Summon.”

"Impossible!" Gutaf shouted. "The Fallen Derivatives are servants of the Black Moon. No matter how much you spout nonsense, you can't use them to summon warriors—"

His shouts abruptly ceased, for the impossible had actually happened. An inorganic crimson glow spread across Chu Hengkong's arena, and the two Fallen Derivatives melted the instant they touched the light. Then, based on the dissolved matter, cold metal emerged from the glow.

It was a pure white, streamlined machine with a golden exoskeleton, and in the center of its perfectly teardrop-shaped head, a blood-red eye was slowly opening. The excited cheers in the arena abruptly ceased, and everyone looked at the terrifying machine that should never have been there.

Symbolizing perfection, symbolizing destruction, even by external standards, it is absolutely unstoppable and the strongest.

"Come forth, Ultimate Mech - Immortal Machine!"

(There are two more chapters left in this unit. Why is it so long? Because I accidentally wrote too much.)

But I won't apologize (smug face)

Chapter 306 Enjoying It (9)

Instantly, the dueling arena fell into a suffocating, deathly silence. Then, wailing and screams filled the air, turning the scene into a living hell!

"Real machines?!" "Mechanical?!" "Help! It's the Empire!" "We're going to die!!" "Let me go!!" "Aaaaaaahh ...

More than 90% of the audience members burst into tears and wailed on the spot! The remaining 10% of the audience members who did not make a sound went into shock due to excessive fear!

Intense fear, coupled with the survival instinct triggered by witnessing the true form of the machine, caused some to vomit. Students called out their parents' names. Many spectators prayed in various ways to the sacred tree, the dragon, the demon… and everything else they could think of. Among the audience were several Ascended to the third level, but even they were nearly driven mad by the sight of the true machine.

This is the indelible mark left on the beings of the Submerged Realm by the strongest heretical path known as Ultimate Body True Machine, in battles that have lasted for millennia. This mark inherits the tyranny of the former Nightmare King and is imprinted with "despair" and "fear" in every living being!

It was obvious that a massive stampede was imminent, and countless lives would be lost due to fear. At that moment, the killer roared!

"--Shut up!"

A roar swept across the arena, infused with spirit and dark magic. All movement ceased instantly; the terrified crowd froze, as if suspended by threads. All eyes were fixed on the assassin, behind whom a fleeting, withered, bony winged shadow flashed. The man's crimson eyes were filled with countless slashes, as cold as real weapons.

"Now you're scared?" the assassin said coldly. "Too late! Where do you think you are!"

"This is the playground of the delusional demons," Ji Huaisu sneered. "To act like naive newbies seeing heretics for the first time is truly laughable. You had already seen the Fallen and the delusional demons before you even saw the Ultimate Mech. Why didn't you run away then? You were cheering back then!"

The audience was jolted awake, as if struck by a thunderbolt from a dream. They heard the assassin say, "It's simply because they can't sense the danger. They think it's just a game, that it's no big deal, so they are neither afraid nor alert, and allow themselves to indulge in obviously abnormal pleasure. They are arbitrarily kneaded by heretical temptations, and even corrupted and ruined."

He looked at the stunned crowd, those fanatics who had been cheering and applauding just seconds before: "Since that's the case, let's see it to the end. Let's see what the real heretics are like!"

Chu Hengkong pointed to the opposite side of the field, his expression turning solemn: "When the Ultimate Mech - Immortal Machine enters the field, it can destroy all the opponent's spell cards and draw the corresponding number of cards. Matter Disintegration Ray, fire!"

A blinding red light shone from the Immortal Machine's single eye. The Demon of Obsession felt a chill and hastily activated a spell: "Activate the effect of Black Moon's Compassion, return the illegitimate child to the deck, negate this attack—"

"Activate the second effect of Immortal Machine." The pincer-shaped forelimbs of Immortal Machine flashed with golden light. "When the opponent activates a card effect, this card's ATK can be reduced by 1000, and that activation will be negated."

"Phantom Annihilation Field, launch!"

The pitch-black moonlight was directly annihilated by the Ghostly Annihilation Field, and the crimson rays swept towards the demon's back row, destroying two spell cards and three face-down cards.

The demons' faces turned ashen. At this point, they had no more spells to counter and could only rely on combat to decide the outcome. The Immortal Machine's attack power was reduced to 2000 points after its effect was activated, but… Chu Hengkong's hand had increased to 5 cards!

"Activate the spell from my hand, Heart of War Drums." Chu Hengkong revealed the bright red heart card. "Summon the Rank 3 Path of Unity Fighter card after doubling its attack power. Destroy any cards summoned with this card at the end of the turn. I will summon the Rank 3 Dragon Village Martial Cultivator - Heart Sword Cultivator."

His fiery heart pounded and burst into blood, and the martial artist, carrying a long sword, stepped out through the blood. His attack power increased from 2500 points to 5000 points, now surpassing all the fighters on the opposing side.

"When a Heart Sword cultivator is successfully summoned, they may choose one spell card to add to their hand." Chu Heng drew a card. "The game is over."

"What are you talking about?" The Demon of Indulgence frowned. "The attack power of your Immortal Machine has decreased; only the Heart Sword Cultivator card can attack. You can only deal a maximum of 2000 points of damage to me..."

"Battle!" Chu Hengkong commanded. "Heart Sword cultivators, attack Moon's Blood! No counterattack!"

The swordsman swiftly and decisively slayed the moon beast with a single Iai Slash, the monstrous form formed from its filthy blood disintegrating... However, the battle was not yet over. The filthy blood, which should have dissipated, instead flowed backward, clinging to the swordsman's left arm.

Meanwhile, the Heart Sword cultivator's attack power increased to 8900 points!

"What?!" Gutaf exclaimed.

"The heretics killed by the martial artists of Dragon Township will become a new force for the martial artists." Fan De was not surprised. "That's enough, you have to make such a fuss over such a small thing."

“Even the small animals in the city-state know this, Bo.” Gulibo shook his head.

"No, to be honest, I didn't know. Wow, that's amazing," Kanin laughed.