Book 3, Chapter 107: Temple Of The Strange God

Just as Chen Chuan entered the arena to watch the tournament, a young man with long arms and hair tied with a band retrieved water from a well. He poured it into a stone bucket in front of a temple on Greenpeak Hill, located southwest of Central City.

The young man was Du Geng, who the people participating in the betting pool believed would be the last person Wei Wusheng was going to kill.

Ever since he returned from Rhinoceros’ Horn, Du Geng had been staying at the Temple of the Strange God, as if all the chaos in the outside world had nothing to do with him.

After filling the stone bucket, he walked into the temple and kowtowed respectfully to the statue inside.

The Strange God came from another land, but had long since been adopted into the country’s culture, even if it wasn’t one of the main religions. Its influence had been waning for a long time, though. While there were still some worshippers of the Strange God in the rural parts of the world, most places had never even heard of it.

However, there was still an undamaged temple and complete religious heritage in Jibei Road’s Central City.

This was all thanks to the old temple priest. He had cast aside the old worship methods and used decades of his life to turn this place into a mental and psychological rehabilitation center catered to the middle- and upper-class of Central City, which kept the patrons coming.

Du Geng was a disciple here and had grown up in this place. Since he had an outstanding talent for martial arts, he had once taken part in a tournament and killed a Martial Valor University external student covered in implants.

After the tournament, he rejected all invitations to join any organizations and returned to the mountain. However, since his performance had been outstanding and he was the most valued disciple in the temple, the temple priest focused all of the resources on him. He was even named the next priest after he reached Third Limit, which was the minimum requirement.

It had been a long time since then, but many people believed that he had a chance of reaching the Third Limit, so those on the platform voted that he was Wei Wusheng’s most important target.

After worshipping the Strange God, Du Geng went to the old priest and bowed to him respectfully. “Master.”

While the temple priest was in his eighties, aside from the chest-length white beard showing off his real age, he actually appeared to be around fifty years old.

This time, the temple priest didn’t respond to his greeting. Instead, he looked outside and said calmly, “Du Geng, we have a guest.”

Du Geng looked outside and walked out to look down. A tall, well-built man was walking up from the temple gate.

The man had firm muscles and wore a loose, blue martial arts uniform. Strapped around his waist was a thick belt with a hammer hanging off it. Even though the man appeared heavy, his footsteps were light.

Du Geng stared at the man. If he defeated this enemy before the Strange God, his soul and body would evolve to a whole new level.

The temple priest walked out as well and said to Du Geng, “This is your fight. Remember that he is your greatest obstacle. Use him to break free of the shackles in your heart and body.”

“I’ve been waiting for this day, Master. I’m ready,” Du Geng said firmly and earnestly.

“Take your medicine and drink the Strange Water,” the temple priest said.

Du Geng grunted and immediately took medicine that could bring out his potential. His breathing quickened, and his muscles bulged, but once he began adjusting his body, his breathing and muscles slowly returned to their normal state.

He had used a special medicine made within the Temple of the Strange God. Even though it was quite irritating, it suited Du Geng’s body and wasn’t too harmful to him. As long as he took some relief medicine afterwards, it would mitigate most of the negative side effects. After that, all he would need to do was rest for a few days.

After taking the medicine, Du Geng returned to the stone bucket, retrieved a gourd ladle, filled it with water, and drank it all.

His hands were steady, and not a single drop spilled out.

Once he drank the water, his eyes became much clearer. When he turned to watch Wei Wusheng walking up the stairs, he seemed to be looking forward to it.

Wei Wusheng had already reached the final flight of stone stairs, and in another thirty steps, he was going to be in front of the temple at the top of the mountain. Just then, he noticed that something was off and quickly lowered his chin before shielding his throat. Then, a thin, bloody gash appeared on the top of his chin.

He retreated a few steps back. It was only at this moment that he realized that something had bound his left hand, and he couldn’t break free instantly.

He looked around and found that there were intersecting threads all around him. The threads were connected to the insects hiding between the branches and leaves by the wide flight of stairs. The insects were flying rapidly around the tree trunks to bind their threads to them.

Alarm bells rang in Wei Wusheng’s head, and he stepped back to break free of them. In an instant, half of his arm was sliced cleanly off from his elbow and fell on the ground. Still, Wei Wusheng managed to free himself of the binds.

But he could not go back far, because the area around him was covered in the thin threads, and they were closing in on him.

In no time, bloody gashes appeared on his limbs and torso. The threads easily cut into his sturdy muscles and were only stopped by his bones. Blood spilled out from the cuts.

The moment they were unable to cut any further, the insects wrapped the threads around the trunks. If Wei Wusheng struggled, he might end up getting more of his other limbs sliced off, just like his arm.

Once Wei Wusheng was trapped, Du Geng smiled and walked down the stairs. Yet even when he walked past the thread-covered places, they never cut into him. Instead, they slid past him.

He smiled at that. The insects were mutated lifeforms that had existed since the old era in the Temple of the Strange God. They were the Strange God’s messengers and were specifically tasked with fighting against Third Limit martial artists.

Those who weren’t believers of the Strange God could not break free once they were bound by the threads. Du Geng didn’t need to engage Wei Wusheng in a head-on fight. All he needed to do was walk over and end his life.

He didn’t think that there was anything shameful about this, because he was a believer of the Strange God first, and a martial artist second. Using the Strange God’s strength to fight his enemies was a perfectly logical thing to do, and if he sacrificed a powerful enemy’s life to the Strange God, he could grow closer to his god.

As he walked down, he grabbed a metal spear with a hilt from a stand by the side and slowly arrived in front of Wei Wusheng.

While staring at the man’s bound body, he said, “Your greatest mistake was coming here.”

He brought the spear up and aimed it at Wei Wusheng’s eyes. “I heard that there’s a huge reward for your head. I’ll be taking it.”

He moved and thrust the spear, but Wei Wusheng grabbed the spear with one hand, which surprised Du Geng greatly.

How could this be?

Wei Wusheng was supposed to be bound by the strength of the Strange God.

The moment he realized that things were going badly, his body reacted faster than his brain, and he retreated, but a large shadow loomed over him and grabbed him.

When an arm tightened around him, Du Geng’s face turned pale, and he tried to break free, but it was too late. Once Wei Wusheng tightened his hold around Du Geng with his remaining arm, the sound of bones cracking rose. Du Geng’s back and chest pressed against each other in an instant. His eyes bulged, and blood oozed out of his mouth.

Wei Wusheng let go, and Du Geng slid down against his body to slump on the ground between Wei Wusheng’s legs. One side of his face pressed against the cold stone tile of the stairs. “H-How...”

Wei Wusheng looked down and said casually, “You managed to pass through the threads by changing your biofield, and I can do the same. This is a simple matter.”

Third Limit martial artists were able to copy other people’s biofields for a short period of time. However, their biofields had to cover a large enough area. After losing his arm, Wei Wusheng managed to expand and change his biofield.

“Is that so...”

Du Geng was filled with regret. If he had just been a little more careful or had waited a little longer...

Before he could finish that thought, Wei Wusheng stomped on his head and crushed his skull.

The temple priest shut his eyes.

Wei Wusheng walked over to his severed arm. He picked it up and pressed it against the cut. Mutated tissue resembling flesh buds popped up from both sides of the wound and started twisting against each other until they melded together. The wound closed, just like any other.

Once it was done, Wei Wusheng rolled his neck and walked up the stairs.

The temple priest retreated into the temple. Behind him, a few old men wearing temple robes came out and took some medicine.

But Wei Wusheng acted as if he didn’t see them. When he stood in front of the temple, he looked around himself. “This is a good place.”

Then, he removed his hammer and stepped into the temple.

A little over ten minutes later, he walked out and left behind bloody footprints with every step he took.

After such a long time, no wound was left on his body. He could also move his formerly severed arm normally again.

Just then, someone spoke. “There’s more—”

Wei Wusheng interrupted the person. “I know. But they’re worthless. Only one was worthy of my attention.”

Xiongjian Yi’s mutated tissue had grown too quickly and affected Wei Wusheng to the point that he had to change his fighting style.

But this was also a fight, in some sense. Their minds were fighting for dominance over the body, and Wei Wusheng had to work hard to reclaim control over his body. Now, he had completely overpowered Xiongjian Yi’s mind and no longer had to listen to the man’s thoughts. All he needed to do was to act according to his own will.

The merging of their mutated tissue hadn’t just brought about a fusion of yielding and firm forces. It also brought about a new accelerated growth period for Wei Wusheng.

He no longer wanted to show his face in public not because he was scared of the bounty hunters, but because he needed to find a place to get through this period. After all, he had already killed almost all the people with any value.

At this stage, there was only a little bit of power left from the purpose of his heart that could be absorbed.

He needed a greater stimulus for all of his mutated tissue to evolve until it reached perfection. The perfected body was the only thing that could let him pass that threshold.

So, it was time for him to kill the last person stopping him from fulfilling the purpose of his heart and getting its full power.