Lord of Prayer

’This is impossible!’

The moment he saw the man with the crystalline eyes, Zhou Chen was stunned. He had just watched the man get blown to smithereens by an Extraordinary Skill!

Even the Blood Race, renowned for their Life Force and Recovery Ability, couldn’t have survived that kind of damage. ’And this guy doesn’t have a Death Substitution Artifact, so how can he still be alive?!’

Amidst his shock, Zhou Chen noticed a few details. The crystal-eyed man was wearing a different set of clothes—the uniform of a Tower Guard. This meant that he really had been blown to pieces, but had then revived. He must have also killed the Tower Guards... ’The blood on him is probably theirs...’

Revived...

Zhou Chen’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the man’s crystalline eyes, a connection forming in his mind. But before he could think it through, those eyes lit up. Two rays of holy light burst forth, shooting toward him like swift arrows.

TAP.

The Magic Wand tapped the ground lightly, and Zhou Chen vanished on the spot, reappearing dozens of meters away.

However, the two intensely hot rays seemed to have a built-in auto-targeting system. They bent in mid-air and continued streaking toward him. They were so fast he had no time for any other action; he could only repeatedly use the "Great Transformation of Living People" to teleport and dodge. The rays followed his every move, etching two searing, jagged paths through the air.

Suddenly, Zhou Chen appeared behind the crystal-eyed man, intending to use him as a human shield.

The two rays shot toward them at extreme speed, about to strike the crystal-eyed man. But at the last second, they abruptly swerved, bypassing him completely.

Scrambling, Zhou Chen threw up his left arm to block. At the same moment, he pressed his Magic Wand against the crystal-eyed man and activated the "Human Body Cutting" Ability.

The crystal-eyed man’s body was instantly dismembered by invisible blades. At the same time, a searing pain shot through Zhou Chen’s left arm. Two charred holes appeared, wisps of green smoke rising from them. Then, brilliant, translucent crystals began to sprout from the wounds like clusters of flowers, spreading rapidly up his arm.

’Crystals...’ Zhou Chen’s expression hardened. He immediately used his Magic Wand’s "Recovery" Ability on himself, but it couldn’t stop the crystallization from spreading.

Just then, something bizarre happened. Crystalline threads extended from the severed limbs of the crystal-eyed man. The transparent filaments linked together, pulling and tugging until the dismembered remains pieced themselves back together.

The reassembled crystal-eyed man spun around and threw a palm strike, unleashing a gale-force wind.

BAM!

Zhou Chen was sent flying, slamming hard into the corridor wall. His chest caved in, revealing a clear five-fingered palm print. Translucent crystals sprouted from the wound amidst a gush of scarlet blood. In that short span of time, his entire left arm had turned to crystal.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs and looked up at the crystal-eyed man.

"Apostle?"

The crystal-eyed man froze. Zhou Chen immediately made a wish in his mind, ’Eliminate the crystallization effect on my body!’

[Wish Value -200]

CRACK! CRACKLE! SNAP... With a series of crisp shattering sounds, the translucent crystals on Zhou Chen’s body exploded. The sharp fragments shot forward like a blast of shotgun pellets.

The crystal-eyed man was instantly riddled with holes by the countless fragments, but his wounds healed automatically just as quickly.

"You know about Apostles? That’s not something you should know." His right arm transformed into a translucent, crystalline Long Saber. He lunged forward, bringing it down on Zhou Chen’s neck with a piercing whistle.

CLANG!

The stately Sword of Law materialized in Zhou Chen’s hand, clashing with the Crystalline Long Saber and sending a shower of sparks into the air.

Zhou Chen twisted his blade and forced it down. The immense Power made the crystal-eyed man lose his balance. Immediately after, the Magic Wand thrust forward with unstoppable momentum.

Through the heart!

Bathed in a majestic radiance, the Sword of Law swept out like a passing Thunderbolt, utterly devastating.

Decapitation!

To engage in close combat with Zhou Chen, a man honed by countless battles with Li Xiye, was to court a swift and certain death.

Blood sprayed like a fountain as the head flew into the air. Zhou Chen was about to strike again when a searing light flared in the decapitated head’s eyes. The next moment, a blinding, fiery glare erupted.

The Magic Wand tapped the ground, and Zhou Chen vanished from inside the blast of scorching light.

BOOM!

The corridor wall behind him was blasted open by the terrifying heat, leaving a massive, charred hole from which molten metal trickled with a SIZZLE.

Meanwhile, the crystal-eyed man’s head used the force of the blast to fly back toward the scholars in the main hall.

Their fight had been incredibly fast and brief. The scholars had only just realized an intruder was present and had no time to act. One of them was struck by the flying head, which then proceeded to melt directly into his body!

"AHHH!"

Amidst a bloodcurdling scream, the scholar’s entire head melted like wax. Then, the crystal-eyed man’s head grew out from the scholar’s neck.

’Is he a parasite...?’ Zhou Chen thought, stunned. He quickly asked Eva in his mind, ’How much Wish Value to brainwash this guy?’

[Wish Value required: 89,999]

’Ridiculous... Brainwashing this guy costs ten thousand more Wish Value than brainwashing the Painter. Does he have a mental defense Artifact, too?’ Zhou Chen asked again, ’What about just killing him instantly?’

[Wish Value required: 5,000]

’Five thousand?’ Zhou Chen was a little surprised. Compared to "brainwashing," which altered memories and personality, "instant death" was significantly cheaper. There were many ways to cause death, like "cardiac arrest," "respiratory failure," or "reversed blood flow," which usually only cost a single point of Wish Value. Of course, the cost would increase if the target had a powerful physique, special abilities, a high enough rank, or was protected by an Extraordinary Artifact. In some cases, it might even be impossible to kill them.