Lord of Prayer

The yellow paper talisman with black characters glowed, slapping onto the clay effigy with a THWACK and sealing it.

This time, Wang Yaoting didn’t summon a weapon. Instead, he clenched his fist. The Golden Knight Armor he wore burst with a light like the morning dawn, instantly contracting and gathering onto his balled fist. A terrifying Essence Fluctuation emanated from it, resembling a blindingly small Sun.

He channeled all his power, lunged forward, and threw a heavy punch.

"Ghost" raised the Staff of Filth to block, but at that exact moment, the Illusion placed upon it dissipated.

The Staff of Filth had turned into a blood-soaked clay effigy!

And the blood-soaked clay effigy had turned into the Staff of Filth, now sealed by the talisman.

Wang Yaoting’s pupils shrank. This was an Extraordinary Ability "Ghost" had never used before. But with his vast knowledge and experience, he instantly recalled information about a similar skill—Magic Tricks!

He had no time to think further, however, because his fist was about to smash into Zhou Chen’s clay effigy. If the attack landed, Zhou Chen’s real body would suffer one-fifth of the damage from a Tier Four Ascender’s full-power strike.

Even just one-fifth was enough to be fatal for anyone below Tier Four.

Wang Yaoting pulled his punch at the last second, but his fist still flew forward. At the critical moment, a domineering Power forcibly twisted the point of impact, causing his fist to hit empty air.

At the same time, this domineering Power descended upon the clay effigy, severing the Curse’s connection to Zhou Chen and turning the effigy back into a simple lump of clay.

BANG!

A devastating force erupted, shaking the mountains and quaking the earth. Space trembled, forming a massive ripple. The ground caved in, ring by ring, as a violent shockwave swept through the surroundings, flinging car wreckage and trees into the air where they exploded into splinters. The ripple continued to expand, and the glass in every building within a one-kilometer radius shattered in unison.

"Ghost," long prepared, activated a defensive Artifact. He only took some collateral damage, using the blast’s momentum to achieve Rapid Speed and fly away, melting into a pool of shadow and vanishing into the city.

Wang Yaoting was about to give chase, but it was clear he wouldn’t be able to catch up, so he had to give up.

"That guy is a real pain. He has too many tricks. Even if my main body were here, I doubt I could kill him. Be careful, and don’t go looking for trouble."

Li Xiye’s body, formed from cyan thunderbolts, began to disintegrate. The crackling currents in the air slowly faded. She had only recently advanced to Tier Four, while both Wang Yaoting and "Ghost" were veteran Tier Fours. Moreover, she had only descended as a projection of her will. After several interventions, her Spiritual Power was heavily drained, and she could no longer maintain this manifestation.

"Forbidden Object C-699·Clay Man can’t be used on the same target repeatedly in a short period. There’s a cooldown of at least fifteen days. Even if Ghost still has your blood, you don’t need to worry for now. When the time is up, you can use various methods to evade the Curse," Li Xiye’s voice transmitted through the Bonds Ring.

’Having my blood fall into someone else’s hands is a huge problem, especially when that someone is a master of Curse Techniques. I won’t even be able to sleep soundly, constantly on guard against a potential assassination by curse.’

"It’s fine. I can use the Curse Techniques from the *Book of the Dead*. I can nullify the Clay Man or any other curse," Zhou Chen replied, unalarmed. Given time, any curse not involving Rule or Authority would be no problem for him.

"That guy’s Future Vision is a real pain. I found several good opportunities, but he blocked them all. It feels like everything is part of his plan, especially how he used our attack to escape at the end. He had our psychology figured out perfectly," Li Xiye said, displeased.

Wang Yaoting was a Holy Knight of the Life Church; he couldn’t bring himself to disregard human life, so he would inevitably pull his punch. And she, of course, did not want to see the man she loved get hurt, not even if there was the slightest chance. So she would inevitably twist the point of impact, causing the punch to miss.

"Ghost" had seen through all of this. He combined that insight with his Future Vision, laid his trap, and successfully used the aftershock of Wang Yaoting’s punch to aid his escape.

Add to that his arsenal of unexpected Extraordinary Skills and Extraordinary Artifacts, and one could only say there was a good reason the Life Church hadn’t managed to catch "Ghost" in over a decade.

’I need to find a way to Ban Ghost’s Future Vision...’ Zhou Chen muttered to himself, thinking.

"Figure it out yourself. I’m dead tired." Li Xiye promptly went silent. He guessed she’d gone off to find a place to sleep.

Just then, the other Knights arrived, fashionably late. It wasn’t really their fault. The battle between Tier Fours was incredibly fast; everything happened in the blink of an eye, not even lasting five seconds. It was normal for these Knights, who had just been attacked, to be slow to react. Even Zhou Chen himself couldn’t keep up with the pace of the fight.

Zhou Chen looked at the members of the Knight Order. Every one of them was injured, and the wounds on a few were horrific. Keep in mind, "Ghost" hadn’t been in the restaurant for long—only about ten seconds, all told. Yet in just those ten-odd seconds, even under Wang Yaoting’s protection, they had been reduced to such a pathetic state.

In the end, they had suffered for being caught off guard.

"It was you!"

Suddenly, the Platinum Knight named Li Miao pointed at Zhou Chen and roared in anger. He had eight or nine gashes on his body, deep enough to expose bone. Not much blood was flowing, so the injuries didn’t look too severe, but his eyes were bloodshot, as if he had suffered a Spiritual Attack.

"You’re the one who exposed our location and led ’Ghost’ here!"

Li Miao said hatefully, "Don’t even try to deny it! ’Ghost’ attacked us the moment you showed up. Who else could it be?

I told you before you weren’t qualified for this mission! And you had to bring the White Bird Palace Mother into it. Now look! You’ve completely disgraced the Palace Mother!"

His emotions grew more agitated as he spoke. "You need to remember, all the people who died, died because of your carelessness! Their deaths are on your head!

You’re useless! I knew it, all you celebrity Ascenders are idiots! Can’t even do something as basic as hiding your tracks!"

"Calm down, Li Miao. Calm down." A Knight suddenly raised a hand, signaling for him to be calm.

"Don’t get too agitated."

"Control your emotions."

"Just calm down first. Don’t overthink it."

The other Knights also spoke up to soothe him. Even Wang Yaoting spoke in a deep voice, "Li Miao, calm down."

"Calm down? How can I possibly calm down?!"

Just then, a pendant on Li Miao’s chest lit up. A cooling sensation washed through his mind, and his feverish brain gradually regained a sliver of rationality. Then, he looked at his comrades in confusion.

"Why are you all so far away from me?"

"Why do you look like you’re on guard against me?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a chill went down his spine. His own voice had become filled with a malevolent quality, sounding less like a human and more like a Demon!

Looking at his hands, his fingernails were growing wildly, becoming as sharp as small knives. Evil ritualistic markings appeared on his skin. From the wounds on his body, twisted arms and legs had sprouted, extending outwards and flailing about randomly.

Puffs of black smoke rose from the surface of his body. Unspeakable distortions wracked every part of his physical form, while his Soul was rapidly plunging into a hell of corruption.

"The Seed of Distortion."

Wang Yaoting’s gaze toward Li Miao was filled with disappointment.

—The Seed of Distortion. This was an Abyssal Curse Seed that could only be planted in someone who offered no resistance.

And from the looks of it, the Seed of Distortion in Li Miao’s body had been planted a long time ago. It had reached the point where it would sprout the moment his emotions became agitated.

When the Seed of Distortion sprouted, its host would face irreversible corruption.

Yet Wang Yaoting and the other Knights felt no pity or sympathy for their comrade.

Because Li Miao had betrayed the Life Church.

The Seed of Distortion could only be planted in the Soul of someone who was willing and offered no resistance.

This meant Li Miao had encountered "Ghost" before.

And he had surrendered.

He had abandoned his dignity, betrayed the honor of a Knight, and, out of fear of death, became a vessel for the Seed of Distortion—a beacon for "Ghost."

"No... NO, NO, NO, NO... This isn’t what we agreed on..."

Li Miao lost control and shrieked like a madman, "This isn’t what we agreed on!"

"Please leave. We will now pass judgment on the traitor."

Wang Yaoting looked at Zhou Chen with a solemn expression that permitted no refusal.

Zhou Chen nodded and turned to leave.

He let out a long sigh of relief inwardly.

’Thank god that wasn’t my fault.’

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