The star extinguished, regenerated, then extinguished again. It seemed infinite and unending, but even the brightest stars must go dark eventually.

It felt like time was crawling at a snail’s pace, and the giant fireball might burn forever. In reality, it only last an instant. When the energy generated from Pei Qiansui’s suicide had vanished completely, an involuntary tremble coursed through Chu Wangsun’s body. The book in his hand also turned tattered and dim.

However, Chu Wangsun’s face twitched yet again. It was because the Soul Refining Furnace suddenly began shaking all of a sudden. Scarlet flames were gushing out of its orifices, the flames themselves were bubbling with unimaginable heat, and the unholy screams were growing louder by the second. At the same time, the Soul Refining Furnace grew larger, and the face on the Strange Artifact was slowly coming alive. It was laughing at everyone and everything.

One could vaguely see what seemed like infinite darkness and evil in its gaping maw.

The next moment, countless eerie white arms stretched out of its mouth. Their frantic movements resembled the ghosts of Nine Nethers trying to escape the eternal prison and descend onto the human world.

The atmosphere in Number One instantly turned cold and dark. Yin wind blew furiously, and ghastly screams filled the ears. Everyone felt as cold as ice and almost distracted by the sudden change. It was like the restaurant had plunged into a ghastly domain.

“The Strange Artifact is resurrecting?!”

At the distance, Xie Taohua’s already pale complexion grew even paler. Even he had underestimated Pei Qiansui’s ruthlessness and viciousness. Not only had he destroyed his own Yin God, he had resurrected his Strange Artifact as well.

In essence, a Strange Artifact was a special kind of Stranger. When people said that a Strange Artifact had resurrected, they meant that the Strange Artifact was transforming into a Stranger that was no longer under anyone’s command.

Of course, resurrecting a Strange Artifact was no easy feat. At the very least, it wasn’t something that could be done with, say, the mere press of a button.

First, the Strange Artifact must be ownerless or at a near uncontrollable state for a long time.

Second, the darker, stranger, and more powerful a Strange Artifact was, the higher the chances it might come back to life.

It was said that the main ingredient used to forge the Soul Refining Furnace was the skull of the Disaster-class Stranger, Devourer of Souls[1].

Devourer of Souls had a human head but a monkey’s body. Its laughter sounded like a wail, and it lived on living souls. Whenever it made an appearance, everything within tens of kilometers would transform into a ghastly hell where countless ghosts were loose. Any living being who was unfortunate enough to appear in its domain would be hunted down and consumed by the ghosts.

When the ghosts had consumed every living soul in its domain, Devourer of Souls would disappear somewhere. However, the ghastly hell where all living souls had been consumed would remain for all to witness.

Every time Devourer of Souls appeared, there would be terrible casualties. It was why it was deemed as evil and terrifying.

The Soul Refining Furnace was made from Devourer of Souls’ skull. Naturally, it was evil, deadly, and had an extremely high chance of resurrecting, not to mention that Pei Qiansui often used it to slaughter innocents and other inhuman atrocities and intentionally pushed it to the brink of resurrection.

And why did he do such a thing, pray tell? The answer was simple: to use it as a trump card if he encountered a danger that he could not possibly defeat. Devourer of Souls would return to the world and transform a whole region into a ghastly domain of hell. Best case scenario, the Stranger would keep his enemy occupied while he made his escape. If his enemy turned out to be stronger than expected, he could still use the surrounding people as hostages and negotiate for his freedom.

After all, few people would be willing to allow Devourer of Souls to resurrect in the middle of a highly populated city, especially those who fancied themselves as noblemen of righteous sects or so-called virtuous heroes.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Some people might think that his scheme to use innocent lives as hostages to negotiate for his survival was despicable, shameless and cruel, there was a reason he was labeled as a heretic and a monster. If the sanctity of life meant anything to him at all, then he would be loathed and hunted no matter where he went. Selfishness and indifference toward all life were their motto.

Pei Qiansui wasn’t unique among his brethren. There were many heretics who carried at least one such “trump card” with them, if not more—and that brought up a curious question. Why didn’t Pei Qiansui use his trump card to threaten Chu Wangsun and negotiate for his freedom? That was the point of the trump card, wasn’t it? Instead, he chose to stain his reputation and throw his Saint’s Heart into disarray at the cost of his own life. Just why?

Now was the time to think about this, however. The resurrection of the Soul Refining Furnace took precedence.

The Soul Refining Furnace was a Phenomenon-class Strange Artifact. If it resurrected, it could not hope to compare with a true Devourer of Souls, but it could still transform everything within several kilometers into a ghastly hell. As this was the city center and the most prosperous area of Bei You, thousands, if not tens of thousands of people would suffer if Pei Qiansui succeeded.

“Brother Chu, we need to stop it! We can’t allow it to resurrect no matter what!”

Xie Taohua was no sage, but he was no heartless villain either. He had no desire to witness a bloody massacre. Without hesitation, he rushed toward the Soul Refining Furnace.

Xie Taohua knew full well what would happen if the Soul Refining Furnace was allowed to resurrect, and Chu Wangsun was no exception. The second he spoke, Chu Wangsun abruptly grabbed the resurrecting Strange Artifact and took a step toward the exit.

A strange, illusory door abruptly appeared at the exit, and Chu Wangsun stepped right through it. The door shook a little, and Chu Wangsun vanished into thin air just like that.

After he was gone, the eerie, dark atmosphere gripping everyone by their throats abruptly disappeared as well.

It was at this moment everyone in Number One finally awakened from their stupor and exchanged confused glances with each other. They had no idea what just happened. They had no idea that they had been one moment away from hell.

Xie Taohua shot the guests a glance before dashing toward the city gates as fast as he was able. He had no idea that one man had disappeared from the second floor as well.

……

There was a withered forest where not a soul could be spotted anywhere about five kilometers away from Bei You.

The forest was called the Withered Forest, and as its name implied, every single tree in this forest was dead and lifeless.

It wasn’t because Bei You’s environment was poor, however. Yes, Bei You had poor rainfall and was generally unsuitable for plant growth, but these trees were born this way. It was also why they were called “Withered Trees”.

A Withered Tree was a Malice-class Stranger that was shaped like a withered tree. It usually lived in groups, and any living being who wandered into a forest of Withered Trees would become withered, drained and fatigued over time. While a human would not die if they approached the Withered Forest, they would feel thirsty and tired much faster than usual.

This was why there was no human or animal within several kilometers of Withered Forest.

Today, the peace of Withered Forest was disturbed by an uninvited guest. An illusory door suddenly opened above their heads, and a man stepped out from behind that door. The second he did, the sky darkened, the yin wind blew, and the ghosts wailed of torture and suffering.

The unholy phenomenon came from the furnace the man was holding in his hand. It was none other than Chu Wangsun and the Soul Refining Furnace.

By now, the Soul Refining Furnace had already resurrected. The darkened environment and myriad ghosts were proof of this. However, Chu Wangsun paid them no attention. He simply gripped the Soul Refining Furnace tighter and tighter.

“Uwah!”

Laughter that wasn’t laughter and cries that weren’t cries came from the furnace. Countless cold, white arms reached out from the Soul Refining Furnace and grabbed Chu Wangsun’s arm. It looked like they were planning to drag him into the furnace.

The swarm of ghosts roaming the Withered Forest also turned around and surged toward Chu Wangsun like a tidal wave.

“Righteous qi is like the blue sun…” Chu Wangsun whispered without looking at the ghosts. Light descended from above as if the sun was slowly rising from the horizon.

“... it repels the shadows and exposes the monsters.”

The ghosts had nowhere to hide under the light. They didn’t even have the time to struggle before the tidal wave of ghosts dissolved into green smoke.

The pale arms grabbing Chu Wangsun also let go as if his arm was made of molten steel. Most of them sizzled and melted into nothing just like that, and those that somehow survived hastily pulled back into the Soul Refining Furnace.

1. There’s already a Soul Devourer and Soul Eater lol. ?