The Battle of Collaborative Ascension, Chen Mo's Power Unleashed

"Death throes."

Ling Yu's voice suddenly echoed from all directions.

Twelve searchlights pivoted simultaneously, their beams interlacing into a hexagram formation.

The shadowy veins that had been severed suddenly writhed back to life, coalescing within the star pattern into a three-meter-tall greataxe. Countless blood-red pupils blinked open along its blade.

Whoosh!

Then—

The axe came crashing down toward the two figures below with devastating force. At the moment of impact—

"Look out!"

Chen Mo wrapped his arms around Ye Qingmei, rolling them both to the right just in time.

BOOM!

The entire arena floor fractured, a five-meter-deep chasm splitting the ground where they'd stood moments before.

"Pathetic resistance."

Ling Yu's voice resonated again.

Twelve duplicates materialized.

Simultaneously, the crimson pupils along the axe blade rotated with a sinister hum—before firing laser-like shadow beams.

"ARGHHH!!"

Ye Qingmei's combat suit seared where the beams grazed, black veins immediately surfacing across her skin.

She collapsed, completely incapacitated by the pain.

Chen Mo could only stare at the monstrous axe through his left eye, fist clenched in helpless fury.

Was this...

really how far they'd make it?

But—

Just as the thought crossed his mind—

"We've come to aid you!!"

A clear male voice pierced through the battlefield.

BOOM!

Golden Buddhist radiance descended from the heavens as a swirling swastika sigil deflected every shadow beam.

A young monk in moon-white robes floated down on sacred scriptures, his nine-ringed staff chiming with each movement.

Behind him, a Miao girl in traditional dress sent a storm of silver bells flying, the buzzing of her gu insects resembling torrential rain.

"Damn monsters! Taste my latest gu creations!" she shouted.

"Great Compassion Mantra: Diamond Realm!"

The monk clasped his hands together, and a barrier of Buddhist light instantly enveloped Chen Mo and Ye Qingmei.

The shadowy veins on Ye Qingmei's skin squirmed like living serpents under the holy light before sloughing off entirely.

"Reinforcements?"

"Futile."

Ling Yu's greataxe suddenly pivoted midair. Every pupil along its blade ruptured at once, spraying black blood-rain.

Sizzle—

Where the droplets struck the holy barrier, corrosive smoke began rising.

"Careful! That's—"

Chen Mo's warning was cut short as shadowy tentacles erupted from the ground.

Their tips split open like trumpet flowers, emitting piercing infrasound waves.

The Miao girl's silver bell-gu exploded in succession as spiderweb cracks raced across the Buddhist barrier.

Then—

"Move!"

A woman's icy voice cut through the chaos.

A silver sword-light cascaded like a reversed galaxy—swish! swish! swish!—severing every shadow tentacle at their roots.

"Why are there so many monsters here?"

"My master's gonna scold me for wasting talismans again..."

A sword-riding Daoist nun sighed dramatically while flinging seven talismans skyward. Thunder coalesced above the arena, taking the form of a cyan-scaled dragon.

The wind pressure from the dragon's dive extinguished three of the twelve searchlights.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three duplicates vanished.

Finally—

Hummm.

Amid swirling black mist, Ling Yu's true form appeared atop one remaining searchlight, his face obscured by a playing card mask.

All remaining duplicates merged back into him.

"Heh..."

Before the assembled fighters—

Squelch!

He plunged both hands into his own chest, withdrawing two spinal-column swords.

The sonic boom from their collision made three nearby martial artists bleed from their ears and noses.

"Amusing," Ling Yu said, his voice suddenly mimicking the monk's cadence. "Diamond Temple's bald donkey... Qingcheng Mountain's ox-nosed..."

His body began expanding grotesquely. "Let me show you what true—"

Thunk!

The monologue ended abruptly.

The Miao girl had materialized behind him, an acupuncture needle buried in his neck. "Mister, you talk too much."

Tens of thousands of shadow-devouring gu poured through the needle, making Ling Yu's skin bulge with squirming lumps.

"Fall back!" the Daoist nun barked.

Not a second too soon—Ling Yu's bloated body detonated. But instead of gore, liquid shadows erupted outward, coalescing midair into hundreds of ravens.

Each bird's eyes held a different person's pupils.

"Illusions! Don't look!"

Chen Mo's right eye—the True Sight Pupil—pierced through the flock, spotting three ravens with glowing cores.

"There!" he roared. "Three o'clock! Ten o'clock! Six o'clock! Kill those three!"

No hesitation.

Every fighter unleashed their strongest techniques toward the marked targets.

SCREEE—

The ravens shrieked as they collapsed back into humanoid form.

The regrouped fighters gasped.

Ling Yu now stood with half his body gleaming like polished metal, the other half a rotting corpse.

His left arm had morphed into a gatling gun, while his right hand clutched the Daoist nun's sword.

"Thanks for the meal."

He pulled the trigger—shadow bullets infused with Buddhist light and thunderbolts tore through the battlefield.

The monk's Diamond Realm shattered instantly. The Daoist nun's hastily-erected Taiji diagram developed gaping holes.

"He's absorbing and replicating our abilities?!" Chen Mo realized in horror.

This wasn't a fight—it was a farce.

The battle deteriorated rapidly.

Ling Yu teleported between the nine remaining searchlights, each reappearance showcasing deadlier weapon combinations.

When he manifested as a three-headed, six-armed asura, his palms simultaneously conjured Buddhist seals, Daoist thunder, and Miao gu poison.

Even these prodigies felt despair creeping in. "What kind of bullshit... gets stronger the longer you fight him?!"

"If this continues..."

We'll all die...

Chen Mo coughed blood, his right eye's vision blurring crimson.

The thought looped: We'll die... die... die?

No—

His fist smashed the ground. Beside him, Ye Qingmei lay motionless.

He still had a wedding to attend. A future to share with her.

This couldn't be the end!

If death was inevitable either way—

Then burn it all!

True Sight Pupil—if you chose me as protagonist, then now's the time... to give me the hero's script!

Chen Mo's eyes flew wide.

Blood dripped steadily onto the fractured arena.

Under the pupil's overclocked vision, he saw shadowy threads extending from every person—all converging toward...

The lights? The searchlights?

Those weren't power sources for duplicates...

No—

His breath hitched.

"The light formation!" Chen Mo screamed hoarsely. "The searchlights are energy nodes!!"

He'd guessed wrong earlier. This wasn't about powering clones—

It was the monster's true body—an array formation!

As if confirming his epiphany, the nine remaining lights suddenly projected beams that wove into a cage.

Every ability within was suppressed. Even the Daoist nun's flying sword clattered to the ground.

"Damn it—"

Chen Mo pressed against the crushing force, face twisted in frustration.

Ling Yu's true form hovered at the cage's center, shadow energy coalescing into a throne behind him.

"Game over."

"How pitiful—you'll never even glimpse my king's majesty."

His hand clenched. The light-cage contracted.

Squelch.

The nearest martial artist's body contorted violently, flesh and blood siphoned away as shadow energy fed the throne.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Warriors exploded into crimson mist one after another.

Chen Mo lay paralyzed, bitterness flooding his mouth.

Was this... truly the end?

But—

Are you really going to accept this, Chen Mo?

Is this really how it ends?

You're not dead yet... You're not dead yet, Chen Mo...

So... that's right...

My heart is still beating.

"I... can't give up!"