Go

"I've said before, what Astaroth fears the most has never been power itself," someone said.

"His essence is to corrupt the good and deceive the innocent. He manipulates others' emotions, and his power is based on the control of emotions."

"What you're doing now is to throw wild emotions that are beyond his control right in his face."

"To him, this stuff is like poison."

Chen Guan heard these words, but his consciousness was already beginning to blur.

The cries grew louder, and the resentment grew heavier. His hands trembled, not out of fear but due to the resonance.

He saw a woman holding a child jump into the fire.

He saw an old man kneeling on the stage with his spine crushed under someone's feet.

He saw too many memories that didn't belong to him.

"Chen Guan!"

An Changqing's voice came from afar, clearly filled with anxiety. "Your state is wrong. Stop!"

For someone like Chen Guan, who had a rather calm personality, any intense emotion stood out sharply.

Chen Guan didn't answer. He didn't have the energy to.

He raised his scythe, preparing for the second strike. The black mist on the blade was thicker than the first time.

His pupils were being eroded by the blackness.

Baal's voice changed its tone. "Hey, kid, are you still there?"

"Yes," Chen Guan replied, a bit late. His voice was hoarse, almost like a different person.

"Good. Lord Bael doesn't want you to turn into a walking corpse. That would be no fun."

As a demon without human emotions, Baal actually couldn't understand Chen Guan.

It would have been so much easier if he had just let Baal handle everything. Why go through all this trouble?

The scythe fell.

The second black slash tore through the air, aiming straight at Liu Xiao's face.

Liu Xiao's face contorted. He no longer maintained his calm demeanor. He forcefully pushed out his hands, and purple demonic energy poured out, colliding head - on with the black slash.

Boom!

The two forces exploded in the air. The shockwave shattered all the remaining maze walls around.

Liu Xiao took three steps back in the dust. He looked down at his palm. A tiny wound on his palm was oozing blood.

He was injured.

"You..."

Liu Xiao looked up at the figure holding the scythe in the dust, sizing up this former underclassman who wasn't very remarkable before.

"Interesting."

When the dust cleared, everyone's hearts skipped a beat at Chen Guan's state.

His left eye had completely turned black. On his right hand holding the scythe, black veins were spreading up his arm.

The lingering hatred was devouring him.

"The third strike," he mumbled. When he uttered these words, there were voices that didn't belong to him mixed in his voice.

He raised the scythe again. The black mist condensed on the blade took on the form of distorted and overlapping human faces, which let out silent howls.

"Chen Guan, that's enough!"

An Changqing's voice rang out again. He dragged his injured body towards here, leaning on his sword. Every step he took left a trail of blood.

Long Ao crawled out from the broken wall. The dented armor on his chest still had gravel hanging on it. When he saw Chen Guan's state, his pupils contracted.

"Hey! Stop!"

Chen Guan ignored everyone's calls.

At this moment, there were only two voices in his mind. One was the howls and cries of countless souls, and the other was Baal's voice, which had become extremely clear.

"If you strike the third time, your consciousness will be completely submerged. Conservatively estimated, the probability of your recovery is less than thirty percent," Baal said, his tone rarely without mockery.

"Of course, if you hand your body over to Lord Bael, I can clean up those messy emotions after you strike and keep you safe."

He still didn't give up.

"... You're still circling back to that topic," Chen Guan replied intermittently. It seemed that only when talking to Baal could the noise in his ears be a bit less noisy.

"Hehe, Lord Bael is just stating objective facts."

The black veins had climbed onto his shoulders and were spreading along his neck towards his face. Black threads were also starting to appear in his right eye.

The scythe was held in mid - air. The power being gathered made the surrounding air tremble.

Liu Xiao stood three steps away. After a brief moment of shock, his expression regained its calm, and the corner of his mouth even curled up.

"Strike, Student Chen Guan," he said, spreading his arms as if inviting.

"Every strike you make brings you closer to losing yourself. Do you think I'm not dodging for no reason?"

He stuck out his tongue and licked the bloodstains on his lips, looking confident of victory.

These words made An Changqing's face turn deathly pale.

Hong Yuan's fingers holding the axe cracked. She wanted to rush up to stop Chen Guan, but her legs were pressed down by the divine pressure and couldn't move an inch.

Chen Guan stopped.

The scythe hung in the air. The black faces on the blade let out silent shrieks, urging him to strike.

The voices of the souls in his mind became deafening. Each one was crying for him to swing the scythe, to pour out this hatred and smash the smiling man in front of him.

"Strike!"

"Strike!"

"Tear him to pieces!"

Chen Guan pressed his lips into a thin line. The muscles in his arm holding the scythe tensed to the limit as he struggled fiercely against an invisible force.

Baal's voice suddenly became very soft. "Kid, if you can stop in this state, Lord Bael will really take a second look at you."

"However, most likely, you won't be able to do it."

A hoarse laugh came from Chen Guan's throat.

"Are you using reverse psychology?"

"Caught me? Didn't Lord Bael act naturally enough?"

The black mist on the scythe churned violently, and the howls of the faces reached their peak.

Chen Guan raised his left hand.

Instead of grabbing the handle of the scythe, he spread his five fingers and pressed the black mark on his palm, which was emitting a burning light, onto his forehead.

The moment the black mark was activated, all the negative emotions that had flooded into his consciousness were blocked out by a barrier. The wailing faces crashed into the barrier, let out shrill cries, and then fled in all directions.

The black mist condensed on the scythe didn't dissipate, but it stopped corroding Chen Guan's body.

He successfully locked all the power of the lingering hatred on the blade and isolated the erosion of his own consciousness.

What Chen Guan possessed was not only the power of lingering hatred but also the gift from a half - step emotion demon.

Liu Xiao's smile froze.

"How did you..."

"You're right. I shouldn't have struck you with the third strike," Chen Guan said. His voice regained some clarity. He turned around, and the scythe no longer pointed at Liu Xiao.

Instead, it pointed at the shattered heart behind Liu Xiao. Although it was broken, there were still residual pipelines maintaining the operation of the formation.

Liu Xiao's expression cracked.

"How dare you!"

He shot forward like an arrow. The purple demonic energy in his palm condensed into a sharp blade and stabbed straight at Chen Guan's back.

And at this moment, Long Ao's figure blocked between the two of them.

This time, he didn't punch. Instead, he spread his arms and took the blow with his own body.

The purple blade pierced through his left shoulder, and blood spattered.

Long Ao bared his teeth, showing a mouthful of blood - stained teeth.

"Go," he said to Chen Guan with just one word.