Lord of Prayer

The atmosphere suddenly turned grim, as if he had stumbled onto the set of a horror movie.

This seemed to be the true form of the Soul Rest Cemetery.

"AHHH!!!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched, ear-piercing scream from a woman rang out.

The sharp sound spread like ripples through the gloomy graveyard. The burial mounds, agitated by the sound, began to tremble violently. Soil rustled off them as they cracked open, and the things buried below began to awaken one after another.

The sound ripples swept rapidly toward Zhou Chen. He summoned the Dream Light and Shadow and swept it out casually. A streak of cold light flashed through the air, tearing the noisy sound wave apart. He then aimed at the figure of a woman screaming loudly from within a collapsed burial mound and hurled his Long Spear like a javelin.

WHOOSH—!

The Crystal Spear let out a sonic boom, creating a ring of white vapor as it instantly pierced the woman’s body. The Cyan Flame erupted, burning fiercely.

BOOM! Flames shot to the sky as the woman and the earthen grave beneath her feet exploded.

Zhou Chen opened his hand. With a flash of dreamlike light, the Crystal Spear reappeared in his palm.

He surveyed his surroundings with cold eyes. Agitated by the scream, more and more burial mounds cracked open, and figures rose from within. They all had the deathly pale, expressionless faces of corpses that had long been dead, utterly devoid of life.

’These are all Souls taken in by the Soul Rest Cemetery...’ Zhou Chen mused. Without exception, these Undead emanated Essence Fluctuation, which meant every one of them had been an Ascender in life. A rough count put them at nearly forty, with more Undead continuing to appear.

Before he had time to think, several Undead launched an attack. Under the effects of the Soul Rest Cemetery’s Ability, these Undead had all retained their Extraordinary Abilities.

A tall man was the first to charge. He raised his hands high as Essence, radiant as the Sun’s light, surged and condensed into a gleaming golden Sun Battleaxe, which he brought down upon Zhou Chen’s head.

At that moment, two pairs of cold, stiff hands suddenly shot out from the ground beneath Zhou Chen, gripping his ankles tightly. At the same time, a wave of intense drowsiness washed over him.

For a brief moment, the Undead executed a perfectly coordinated attack.

Unfortunately for them, Zhou Chen had extremely high resistance to Spiritual Attacks. The sleep-inducing Ability had no effect on him at all.

He swung his Long Spear in a horizontal strike, cutting through the fragile air as its blade clashed violently with the Sun Battleaxe.

BANG!

With a sound like a massive thunderclap, terrifying aftershocks of Essence rippled through the graveyard, and a hurricane-like wind spread out.

A terrifying amount of Power surged from the Sun Battleaxe. The ground beneath Zhou Chen’s feet couldn’t withstand the immense force and sank several centimeters with a rumble. The two pairs of cold, stiff hands were instantly blasted into dust.

Using the force from the rebound, the tall man raised his axe again. A golden flame ignited on the axe, its light blinding. It burned fiercely, emitting an extreme heat that evaporated all the moisture in the air. Then, the Sun Battleaxe came down, unleashing a thick torrent of Fiery Fire like a waterfall.

The Crystal Spear Gun in Zhou Chen’s hand lit up with a magnificent, dreamlike radiance. The Cyan Flame on its blade surged and burned. He swung the spear in a diagonal slash. A streak of cold light instantly split the torrent of flames, causing a massive explosion on the spot. Turbulent air currents howled in all directions.

Amidst the explosion, the Cyan Flame condensed, scattering like a rain of fire and splashing onto the man. He let out a pained groan, and the light from the Sun Battleaxe in his hand dimmed at once.

Cyan Flame was extremely effective against Spirit Bodies.

Zhou Chen thrust his spear forward. The man hastily blocked with his axe. With a DING, the man was sent flying backward at a rapid speed, as if he’d been hit by a train. The Sun Battleaxe vanished into a stream of light, and several loud cracking sounds erupted from his body, which was instantly riddled with holes.

The tall man crashed heavily to the ground, his body covered in seven or eight gruesome explosive craters. Just then, someone unexpected appeared by the tall man’s side.

Tang Zhongwen!

But this Tang Zhongwen lacked the lifelike animation he had before. His face was a deathly pale, expressionless mask, and his movements were as stiff as a machine’s.

Tang Zhongwen crouched down and dragged two fingers down one of the tall man’s wounds. The motion looked just like zipping up a zipper in everyday life. And with that simple, ordinary action, the wound actually closed up, just like a zipper being pulled shut.

’All the dead in the Soul Rest Cemetery are being controlled...’ Zhou Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. He saw dozens of figures speeding toward him in his peripheral vision and knew he couldn’t drag this out any longer. He directly activated the Body of Steel Melting. His entire being turned into a piece of crimson steel, resembling a majestic, divine, and awe-inspiring statue of a fiery-red, masculine God.

Then, his Body of Steel Melting grew brighter and more dazzling, until finally, his entire body transformed into a brilliant radiance, like a Sun illuminating the gloomy graveyard.

—Skill Derivation: Elemental Bomb!

Stacked.

—Forging Hammer: Destruction of All!

BOOM!!!!

Like a long-dormant volcano finally erupting, the light expanded with rapid speed. A Fiery Fire that incinerated everything swept out like a tidal wave from a broken dam. In an instant, the area was submerged in a sea of flames, and all the Spirit Bodies met a swift and clean destruction.

However, as terrifying as the Elemental Bomb’s power was, it failed to destroy a single grave. This was to be expected. After all, the Soul Rest Cemetery was a fourth-level Extraordinary Artifact and wasn’t so easily destroyed.

Just then, a biting, sinister wind blew from the depths of the graveyard. Wherever the wind passed, the raging flames were swiftly extinguished, including the Cyan Flame burning on Zhou Chen. The strange, cold wind hit him in the face, giving him goosebumps and making him feel as if even his Soul was freezing.

The cold lasted only a few seconds before gradually fading. This seemed to be the Soul Rest Cemetery’s self-defense mechanism.

Zhou Chen scanned his surroundings. He figured the culprit behind the scenes had been frightened, which was why they hadn’t ordered any more Undead to attack.

He pondered for a moment, then walked over to Bai Qinyong’s tombstone and slashed at it with his spear.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as the Dream Light and Shadow was repelled. The seemingly ordinary tombstone was unreasonably hard.

’Can’t be damaged, huh...’ Zhou Chen had no choice but to give up on the idea of destroying the place.

"That man from earlier looked a lot like a believer from the Dawn Church. Hmm... he must have been hunted down and brought in by the culprit, just like Tang Zhongwen. And those other Ascenders... all of them were killed by the culprit, their Souls extracted, and locked in here to serve as muscle... But what use does the culprit have for taking in these ordinary people?"

Zhou Chen thought for a while but couldn’t figure out the culprit’s motive, so he gave up.

"Eva, where is the exit to the Soul Rest Cemetery?"

[Wish Value -500]

[Exit location has been pinpointed]

A giant cursor arrow appeared in Zhou Chen’s vision, pointing toward the depths of the graveyard. Without pausing, he strode in the direction the arrow indicated.

Perhaps because he had just displayed such immense strength, he wasn’t attacked at all along the way.

Two minutes later, Zhou Chen saw an empty area in the depths of the graveyard. There was nothing there, but it was the final location the cursor arrow was pointing to.

[Master, the exit of the Soul Rest Cemetery has been hidden by the user. This is not a problem for you. You can use the Revealing Curse Technique recorded in the Book of the Dead.] Eva said.

Zhou Chen was about to step forward and cast the Revealing Curse Technique when suddenly, a nervous, fearful, and panicked cry came from behind him.

"Is anyone there...?"

Zhou Chen whipped his head around, his brow furrowing slightly.

’There’s someone else here?’

’Or is this another one of the culprit’s tricks?’