Lord of Prayer

He had made wishes for his enemies to die instantly a few times before, and the cost had never exceeded 10 Wish Value. Today was a real eye-opener.

Apparently, the reason it cost so much Wish Value was due to the enemy’s special nature as an "Apostle."

Not long ago, Zhou Chen had encountered a "Resurrectionist" revived by the "Apostle Factor." Back then, the Apostle Factor was still imperfect and had fatal flaws. But now, after so much research, the Poison Master had probably created a perfect Apostle Factor by fusing it with the Crystal Virus. The crystal-eyed man before him was the best example.

—’Control over crystals, corrosive Assimilation, and a regenerative Ability so extreme it bordered on immortality...’

’Perhaps this is the first true Apostle of the Rebuilding Eden project!’

’In that case...’

’Killing him would definitely be a loss for Fallen Paradise, right?’

Zhou Chen decisively made a wish for his opponent to die on the spot.

[Wish Value -5000]

The crystal-eyed man’s head had just regrown when, before he could make another move, his body began to convulse violently. With a THUD, he collapsed limply to the ground. He twitched stiffly a few times and then went still.

As far as Zhou Chen could sense, the man’s breathing and spiritual fluctuations had stopped instantly. The Life Force in his body was rapidly draining away. A few seconds later, a thin layer of crystal formed on the corpse’s skin. If one looked closely, they could see its flesh and blood were transforming into a crystalline state.

SWOOSH! Zhou Chen instantly appeared next to the corpse. With a tap of his Magic Wand, he dismembered the body. The Sword of Law, gleaming with a solemn light, stabbed downward, piercing the corpse’s torso. At the same time, he made a wish in his mind—’Turn to dust.’

[Wish Value -1000]

A faint sound, like a sand dune collapsing, arose as the corpse’s torso rapidly "sanded down," crumbling into a pile of dust mixed with many sparkling Crystal powders. Zhou Chen then repeated the process on the other limbs before finally taking out his Magic Wand, aiming it at the pile of dust on the ground, and spewing forth a scorching Fiery Fire.

Grinding his bones to dust, literally.

The flames blazed, and the grayish-white powder was incinerated in the blink of an eye, but the Crystal powder stubbornly remained.

Zhou Chen’s eyelid twitched. ’What in the world is this crystal? Even for a creation from the Abyss, this is too ridiculous.’

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, a dangerous red thermic ray shot through the air. Zhou Chen tilted his head, and the ray grazed past him. With a backhand wave of his Magic Wand, he flung a Fireball that sent the attacker, who was holding a Thermic Gun, flying. It seemed the scholars here had high clearance; they wouldn’t be punished by the Royal Tower even if they killed someone.

At that moment, a shrill, ear-piercing alarm blared through every corner of the hall. Layers of Defense Arrays materialized, enveloping the precision instruments and equipment.

The scholars in white lab coats pulled out all sorts of Weapons from who-knows-where and opened fire fiercely on Zhou Chen.

THUMP.

Unhurried, Zhou Chen lightly tapped his Magic Wand on the ground. In that instant, as if time had frozen, the incoming thermic rays, bullets, grenades, and rockets all halted in mid-air. Meanwhile, the Weapons in the scholars’ hands shattered inch by inch, turning into crumbling scrap that slipped through their fingers like sand.

—’Freeze all attacks.’

[Wish Value -50]

—’Shatter all Weapons.’

[Wish Value -60]

—’I forbid the use of Extraordinary Abilities in this area.’

[Wish Value -1000]

—’Everyone here but myself is forbidden from moving.’

[Wish Value -1000]

With the prohibitions set, the Ascenders among the scholars immediately felt their vision go dark. The Essence within their bodies was sealed by a Mysterious Power, rendering them unable to use their Extraordinary Abilities. At the same time, their movements were restricted, freezing them in place like statues, unable to budge.

Zhou Chen’s gaze swept calmly over them. He wanted to brainwash these scholars one by one, but they were all Enoch’s most important subordinates and carried High-Level Spiritual Element defense Artifacts—the prohibitions he had just set did not affect these Spiritual Artifacts.

Not only that, but their minds were likely also rigged with self-destruct mechanisms. If anyone tried to pry into their memories or use Mind Control, the mechanism would automatically trigger, destroying their psyche and turning them into imbeciles.

After a moment of thought, Zhou Chen decided to ignore them and used Instant Movement to appear before the control hub of the Alchemy Matrix.

A formidable Defense Array protected the control hub. Overlapping layers of the Matrix intertwined, forming a defensive framework that was nigh impregnable.

After just a few glances, Zhou Chen was certain this Defense Array was the handiwork of a Great Sage from the Alchemy Realm. Forget him, even another Great Sage might not be able to crack it, as every Great Sage has their own unique techniques.

’If only Tang Ling were here...’ Zhou Chen paused for a few seconds, then had a flash of inspiration. He took out his phone and started recording, not stopping until he had captured every Matrix on video.

Then, the phone in his hand vanished as he used his Prayer Space to perform a long-range airdrop.

·

「Jinzhu, The Villa」

A battle-worn phone, fresh from the field, appeared in Zhou Chen’s hand. He immediately took out his own phone to call Tang Ling.

"What’s up?" Tang Ling’s chibi-style portrait appeared on the phone screen.

"I’m inside the Royal Tower. The Matrix Core is protected by a defensive framework created by a Great Sage. I need your help. This phone has the video I recorded of the Matrix," Zhou Chen said concisely, holding up the other phone.

Tang Ling didn’t waste words. She directly hacked into the other phone. After fast-forwarding through the video, she said, "This Matrix has the style of Great Sage Solomon. As it happens, I’ve reverse-engineered his tech before. I’ll have the lab send a cracking device to you. All you have to do is activate it in front of the defensive framework."