Volume 6, Chapter 76 – A Whisper Stirs, and a Sinister Smile

Night wind howled across the scorched earth, sweeping black powder in its wake. The residual Augury Force and curse power that lingered in the air intertwined with each other, saturated with an unsettling, deathly stillness. Renoval was pinned hard to the ground by three violet energy crosses, the wounds on his shoulder blades and chest still seeping blood. His dark-green hair was matted against his cheeks. He didn’t bother with the pain — he had both hands clamped over his head, his entire body shaking violently.

“Impossible…… absolutely impossible! Those two failed? No, that can’t be……”

He snarled under his breath, voice as hoarse and scraped-out as a cracked bellows. His crimson eyes were shot through with red as they swept frantically over the wreckage around him — over the bodies of the Vassals of Sea Corrupted Beasts that had spontaneously died one after another. The reality of the two evil gods’ deaths hammered at his nerves like a blunt instrument, driving him to the edge of collapse.

He had been planning this operation for so long. From the enormous risk he’d taken in convincing Ulutiel and binding her through contract, to uniting both evil gods, to guiding and helping Weiya rapidly absorb the curse power from the canyon, then orchestrating the Clavino incident to lure Bai Lianyue out — every step had been calculated with meticulous care. He had been absolutely certain he could bring his master under his control without fail.

And what was the result?

The fact that Polarvitan and Ulutiel had dissolved entirely already proved it — the operation at Wishaven had failed.

Everything he had so carefully woven together had crumbled to nothing within a few short hours.

“The plan was so perfect. What in the world happened……”

Renoval’s fingernails drove into his own scalp. Blood ran down through his fingers, mixing with mud and sweat, leaving him in a state of complete disarray. “Wasn’t it just said that Master’s power had already started to weaken? Doesn’t that mean the operation at Weiya’s location succeeded? Polarvitan and Ulutiel may be individually weaker than Master, but working in tandem there was no reason they couldn’t win — especially with Master already weakened.”

“So why did they lose?!”

“Those two useless pieces of trash!!!!!”

Renoval kept snarling in a low, desperate voice. His entire state of mind seemed to be teetering right at the edge of total breakdown.

But no matter how much he raged, no matter how much he refused to accept it — the facts could not be changed.

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Now that he knew the two evil gods had failed, there was no point hoping that after bringing Master under control they would come to his rescue.

Which meant he had to face this absurdly powerful girl in front of him with nothing but his own strength——

Trembling, he raised his head and looked at the silver-haired girl ahead of him — utterly impassive — the greatest variable his entire plan had never accounted for. Renoval bit down on his lip in anguish.

Shit!

Why…… why the hell does a child who was literally just born have Divine Graced Realm strength?! Is that not completely deranged?!

Even as he raged internally, Renoval desperately searched his mind for some way to break free. Countless possibilities flickered through his thoughts — escape and regroup, then return with renewed strength? Seek out another Corruption source to augment himself? Even the idea of threatening Bai Xingwu with the evil god contractors imprisoned in the dungeon crossed his mind.

But every idea, faced with Xing Wu’s overwhelming Divine Graced Realm aura, looked completely and utterly futile. With absolute power bearing down on him, none of those plans could be executed.

What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!!

Is this really just…… how it ends?!!

Absolutely not — there’s no way! No way!

Yet no matter how desperately he tried to deny it, the despair welling up from deep within him flooded over him like a tide. Obsession and unwilling fury bred wildly in the depths of his chest, almost consuming whatever rationality remained.

But——

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Right at the moment when Renoval’s mind was on the verge of shattering under the crushing pressure Xing Wu was exerting on him, a sinister whisper sounded at his ear with no warning at all.

The voice was cold and raspy, laced with a smile that sent a crawling sensation up the spine — as though it had risen from the very bottom of some abyss, and burrowed straight into the depths of his soul:

——”Those troublesome ones — just get rid of them…… Let me give you a little help, heheheh……”——

“Who’s there?!”

The instant he heard it, Renoval’s entire body went rigid. He wrenched his head up and looked wildly in every direction — but there was no one. The voice seemed to resonate directly inside his mind, carrying with it a bewitching magnetism. The curse power inside him, which had been nearly fully spent, abruptly began to stir.

“Who are you? What do you want……”

He threw the question at the voice in his head with confused urgency, his eyes a mixture of wariness and manic desperation. But all that answered him was that cold, quiet laugh — and the energy inside him growing more and more violent.

——”Heh, heheh, hehehehe, hahahahaha~”——

At the same time——

Xing Wu was walking unhurriedly toward Renoval, violet scythe in hand. A cold glint moved through her eyes:

“Since you won’t talk, there’s no reason to keep you around.”

She’d deal with this one, then head back to Wishaven to check on things. Someone who spent every waking moment scheming against her mom — Xing Wu had zero interest in keeping him alive.

Before the words had finished leaving her lips, she raised her hand and began condensing Augury Force. Violet radiance swelled along the scythe blade as she prepared to purify this threat in a single strike.

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But right at that moment — something changed.

“HMMM——————!”

The three violet crosses pinning Renoval to the ground began to shudder violently. The Augury Force coating their surface dimmed at a rapid pace. A wave of icy curse power erupted from within Renoval — far beyond anything he’d produced before — and dark-green energy rolled outward like black fog, forcing the violet crosses to crack and split apart by sheer pressure.

“Crack! Crack!”

A sharp sequence of fractures, and the three violet crosses shattered, dissolving into scattered motes of light. Freed from his restraints, Renoval launched himself off the ground in an instant. He vanished and reappeared mid-air like a specter. Dark-green curse power gathered around his body, forming a black energy barrier.

Xing Wu’s pupils contracted sharply. She took a reflexive step back and tightened her grip on the scythe.

“This…… now what?”

The Renoval in front of her was nothing like the one who had been completely suppressed and helpless just moments before.

His entire bearing had transformed beyond recognition. Gone was the dark brooding and bitter resentment from before — in its place was something suffocating, something cold and unhinged. Dark-green curse power roiled around him like a living thing. His eyes had gone hollow and strange. The corner of his mouth had curved into a smile — a sick, diseased smile that didn’t belong to him.

“Bai Xingwu, don’t think for one second you’ve won!”

“Give me a break……”

Xing Wu’s brow twitched with distaste.

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“A sudden power surge right when he’s about to collapse? Could this get any more clichéd……”

But——

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she immediately picked up on something unusual about Renoval.

His soul force was still at Peak Divine Departure Realm…… but his aura intensity had already surpassed the Divine Departure Realm?

Which meant an external force was interfering?

Xing Wu’s eyes sharpened. She opened her Augury Force perception to full capacity.

And then her slender frame gave a sudden, involuntary shudder.

Using her perception abilities — which exceeded anyone’s expectations — Xing Wu detected it: within the dark-green curse power swirling behind Renoval, a faint, indistinct shadow had quietly materialized. Its specific form could not be made out — only a smile could be vaguely discerned. A sinister smile stretching from the corner of an eye down to the jaw. Grotesquely exaggerated. Deeply unsettling. A smile that seemed as though it could swallow all the light in the world.

“This…… what is that? It’s…… it’s disgusting.”

Xing Wu’s brow locked down hard. Her cherry-colored eyes were full of revulsion and gravity.

Mid-air, Renoval slowly raised his hand. Dark-green curse power condensed in his palm, forming a black energy sphere. Within the sphere, countless twisted human faces could be faintly glimpsed, their mouths open in silent screams. He looked down at Xing Wu, his voice dropping to something hoarse and glacial — carrying a madness and ferocity that hadn’t been there before:

——”You little brat — don’t think you’ve won that easily. This is far from over!!”——