In that instance, Zhen Shi truly looked heroic, with his hair blowing in the light breeze, the light streak of blood at the corner of his chin, and the sheer look of unbendable determination in his eyes!
Well, at least he would have, if not for the front-only covering dirty loincloth wrapped around his legs and fluttering innocently in the wind... It truly ruined his heroic image!
Still, Zhen Shi neither knew nor paid any attention to his appearance, especially since he was completely focused on the big boss in front of him. Since his opponent was much stronger than him, he figured that he should try to keep it safe and attack from long-range...
Instantly, Zhen Shi flicked his hand forming a ball of Hel Fire emanating a fearsome aura. Since reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage and the combination of the Hel-Fire with his qi lake, the energy needed for a Hel's Flare fireball had dropped down to 10%!
As such, he could afford to use this skill quite a bit now and immediately threw it at Xue Yuegui.
However, with the poison aura around his body, he easily side-stepped and dodged the attack. Xue Yuegui was more than happy to see Zhen Shi throwing out fireballs. This was because he was aware that Zhen Shi had an astounding speed almost on par with him. And so to make things easier for himself, he was planning on exhausting Zhen Shi of his energy.
However, Zhen Shi realized this matter as well. If he allowed this to turn into a war of attrition, his defeat was definite! As such, he decided to try opening that special locked chest he had gained before. He could only hope that it was not actually locked...
But at that very moment, a well-placed gust of wind, or for Zhen Shi and Xue Yuegui a horribly placed gust of wind, blew silently through the clearing and easily flipped over the front flap of the loin-cloth.
This sudden turn of events was a source of great embarrassment for Zhen Shi and provided an eye-blinding view for poor Xue Yuegui!
????????????
Zhen Shi was feeling extremely stifled at this point, 'Where the hell did common sense and logic run off to? I've been dashing here and there this entire time, but this frapping loincloth never moved nor gave a peep. But when I was standing completely still, you suddenly decide on a whim to reveal me for all to see!'
System this is your fault, right? This time you've even teamed up with the wind to drag my dignity through the mud!
System: \"...\"
Ding!
Congratulations to the user for comprehending the Upgradeable skill
Support Skill: [ System Grade 1. The simple act of revealing oneself will cause feelings of shame to arise in all those who are fortunate/unfortunate enough to witness the 'divine revelation', even the heavens themselves are unable to escape! The sheer difference in size will cause all witnesses to be stupefied at their own inferiority!
All those successfully affected by the skill, will lose a portion of their rationality and act as if they have been blinded. The effects of the skill will be lessened on enemies with higher cultivation. The system withholds the right to be liable for certain side-effects...]
Ding!
The user has gained 100 exp for
The skill has reached System Grade 2.
Reading through the first few lines, Zhen Shi's face was twitching as if he was suffering from a seizure and cursed mentally, 'FUCK! System, what type of shameless and moral-less skill is this? When other people fight with swords and skills do you expect me to strip and reveal myself? Maybe even follow that up with a dance?
What type of evil path are you trying to lead this pure and humble person along?'
System: (¬‿¬)
However, reading the rest of the description, Zhen Shi was rather intrigued.
Raising his head, the sight that awaited him caused Zhen Shi to tremble in excitement while forgetting all about the lack of morals and shamelessness. This was because the Soul Transformation Pinnacle Xue Yuehai was standing still in a daze, with his face twitching between expressions of great sorrow and great happiness.
Zhen Shi happily thought, 'Good fortune indeed lies within misfortune! If this skill can even affect this soul transformation fellow while it is still at Level 1, I can only imagine how overpowered it could get in the future!
But... am I truly destined to overthrow the world while acting as a male stripper?' and ended in a rather self-pitying tone.
Ignoring this matter and continuing to read, Zhen Shi couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine at the last few words of the skill description, \"The system will not be liable for certain side-effects...\"
At the same time, a heavily repeating panting sound was heard. Warily raising his head, Zhen Shi was met with the sight of Xue Yuegui panting like a beast with reddened eyes. The previous conflict of happiness and sorrow had disappeared, and instead, he stared at Zhen Shi like a beast eyeing a slab of meat!
\"Little Boy, what have you done to me? Have you bewitched me? Hmm... looks like I'll have to use you to relieve myself. And after playing with you, I'll kill you. Honestly, it's a much happier ending than you deserve. Now be a good boy and COME TO DADDY!\" roared Xue Yuegui while dashing forwards with the full force of his cultivation.
Hearing these horrifying words Zhen Shi grew extremely fearful which sent his mind into a state unsuitable for using [Draconic Wind Steps]. As such, he hurriedly utilized a torrent of wind and fire aether to propel him away. Adding his 20x speed boost on top of that, Zhen Shi was easily able to dodge Xue Yuegui who currently had the mental faculties of a beast in heat. And for some reason, Xue Yuegui didn't attack with that poison serpent either...
Nevertheless, Xue Yuegui had completely underestimated his speed resulting in him missing Zhen Shi and even being propelled forth for a distance of several kilometers.
Now with room to breath, Zhen Shi heaved a sigh of relief having dodged that 'fatal' bullet and thought, 'Looks like this overpowered skill is a double-edged blade! But why did this happen?
Does this Xue Yuegui have some repressed tendencies? Or is this something else altogether? Looks like I'll have to be careful when I use this skill in the future...
System, explain this side-effect in detail. And also why the hell aren't you liable for your own skill?'
Ding!
Skill Analysis: To cause the effects of temporary blindness and reduced mental faculties, this skill performs soul and spirit based attacks on the minds of the targets. However, Spirit Primary Tier cultivators have considerable control over their soul manifestation greatly reducing the skill's effects. This is also why the affected party is not blinded in this instance.
It is at this point, that the fortune/misfortune aspect comes into play. Depending on the target, the user, and certain other conditions, various other results or emotions may be triggered to affect the mentality of the target. In this way, even with the user's lesser cultivation, the skill will be able to lower the mental faculties of even those with much higher cultivations.]
Zhen Shi contemplated this information silently. While the current situation was rather embarrassing, he had to admit that Xue Yuegui was much easier to handle with lessened mental faculties.
'No wonder this skill can shame even the heavens!'
But suddenly these conclusions were thrown into the sea as his face contorted lecherously, 'I wonder what effects this skill will have when used on women! *cough* Not that a handsome and scholarly gentleman like myself will ever use this skill for such menial purposes...'
Ding!
More information has arisen upon further analysis.
Zhen Shi was surprised, 'Oh? Could it be that I was mistaken and that the system is actually a good fellow? It's being seriously helpful right now.'
Ding!
To exercise the maximum might of the user must personally act and reveal themselves.
Zhen Shi almost coughed up blood reading this, 'Nani? System I take it all back. You're a fucking monster! I was hoping to maintain some dignity by using the wind to reveal myself, but at this rate...
Hais... Wait, could it be that the system got mad when I thought of using this skill on women? Could the system be a feminist then?'
System: \"...\"
Realizing that complaining would give no useful results, Zhen Shi hurriedly turned to Xue Yuegui who was panting like a beast in heat and staying still in one place. Immediately deciding to make use of this chance, Zhen Shi began manifesting Hel's Flare fireballs and chucked them at the poor fellow like he was throwing stones.
Boom! Boom!
Not having realized the danger until the last second, Xue Yuegui was unable to dodge the attack and was assaulted by the horde of fireballs that exploded upon contact.
Under the horrifying pain of the torturous fire of the underworld, Xue Yuegui began to roar like a beast that was suffering from grievous wounds.
Ding!
The user has gained 5 OP!
Seeing that he had gained no experience and that Xue Yuegui's figure was still visible within the hell-fire, Zhen Shi grew apprehensive. Observing further, he could see that Xue Yuegui looked life a half-burnt corpse, however, the Hel-Fire remained on his skin going no further, as if it was being held back...
Activating [Aether Sight] Zhen Shi's eyes widened as he saw a translucent white energy that was easily holding back the Hel-Fire.
Putting two and two together, Zhen Shi instantly realized the crux of the situation. was supposed to be able to burn anything... but only if there was no imbued soul energy.
When he had read about this previously in the skill description, he had been slightly confused. But now seeing Xue Yuegui, a Soul Transformation Pinnacle expert, holding the Hel-fire off with that colorless energy, he could only conclude that it was the so-called 'imbued soul energy'.
Nevertheless, that did not mean that being burned by the fearsome Hel-Fire would be any less painful. And judging by Xue Yuegui's burnt skin and tattered robes, that were still being burned by the inextinguishable Hel-fire, it had obviously been a horrendous and torturous experience for him.
Instantly, his face or what was left of it, contorted in rage as he roared out loud having lost all semblance of sanity under the sheer pain. Although he had been disfigured, he was nowhere near dying. But the desire to slaughter the one who had dealt him this pain and suffering burned brightly...
Suddenly the pressure exerted by him intensified by many folds and an eerie miasma that was almost on par with the Hel-fire wafted out from his body.
Instantly, the remnant Hel-flames on his body flickered out as if they had been faced with an entity that they dared not go against.
Even the Aether seemed to steer clear away from this strange miasma...
Ding!
The target Soul Transformation cultivator has successfully sacrificed his remaining life force to forcefully activate his divine blessing and has gained an Ammit persona!
The target cultivator has reached a pseudo-Nascent Soul stage!
The target cultivator has broken free of Shaming the Heavens!
As Zhen Shi looked on, the miasma disappeared into Xue Yuegui's body. Instantly his burnt body began to shuffle about like worms in mud, his flesh shuffled about and his bones cracked as he shifted into a terrifying monster; with the head of a crocodile, torso of a leopard and the hindquarters of a hippo. His figure was hideous to look at but his body emanated an almost god-like presence.
Staring at this hideous body Zhen Shi's eyes widened as he finally recognized this monster, 'T-This is Ammit, the Chimeric Goddess of the Egyptian Underworld. No wonder the Hel-Fire flickered out in her presence... Then could this be the power of a divine blessing?'
Nevertheless, his eyes twitched as he wondered, 'Who the hell would want to become a Chimeric Goddess just for revenge? Is this fellow even a man anymore?'
Ignorant of his thoughts, Ammit-Xue Yuegui roared out like a fearsome beast and dashed towards Zhen Shi with his/her claws outstretched for the kill. Instantly, he/she slashed out launching a terrifying claw strike of qi towards him...
The sheer might of the claw-strike seemed to freeze Zhen Shi in one place, he was unable to move! As such, he immediately threw away his dignity and shamelessly lifted the front-flap of his loin-cloth.
This was the full-powered attack of the System Grade 2 Shaming the Heavens!
Ding!
The target has temporarily lost control over their mental faculties, and hence the God Aether!
Ding!
The user has gained 200 exp!
Ammit-Xue Yuegui paused in a daze with their face shifting between happiness and sorrow. Strangely enough, the skill seemed to be even more effective...
Regardless of his success, Zhen Shi was still in grave danger as the full-powered claw strike was still coming over to lop his poor head off.
Deciding to take no more risks, Zhen Shi decisively took the Spatial Tear Sword out of his System Inventory. Instantly, he slashed it down with his full-power, in the direction of the claw-strike and Xue Yuegui.
As the sword slashed down, space itself seemed to tremble in fear as it was ripped apart like a piece of paper. And from the tip of the sword, a terrifying sword slash that threatened to tear apart all those who dared to obstruct it was launched out!
And as the sword slash streaked forwards the surrounding space was fraught with spatial waves that roiled about. Trees, Plants, Rocks, Air, basically anything and everything that came into contact with these waves disintegrated into nothing.
Finally, this terrifying spatial sword slash reached Ammit-Xue Yuegui who continued to remain in a daze, just barely recognizing that he was being attacked.
As such, the full power of a pinnacle Nascent Soul cultivator and the law of space instantly ripped apart his/her monstrous body into nothing... And just like that, under the power of the spatial tear, he died!
Zhen Shi continued to stare in amazement at the terrifying power of the sword strike. However, due to the spatial turbulence, the area surrounding him was rather blurry...
Ding!
Congratulations to the user for slashing apart a peak soul transformation expert!
Zhen Shi finally heaved a sigh of relief at the system's confirmation. Now that this matter was over, he could finally relax. In fact, he was even filled with a sense of satisfaction. Not for beating that monstrous fellow, but for having beaten the system!
After all, he used the Spatial Tear Sword as a weapon, instead of fleeing with teleportation as the system had suggested!
'Haha! System, I told you I'll definitely use it as a weapon!'
System: \"...\"
Even so, thinking about the matters of today, Zhen Shi felt that his luck was rather bad. Although he got reincarnated in an interesting world, and even though he got a system, since the moment he has arrived he had been facing enemy after enemy! He had also been falling into the most ridiculous situations!
There was even the problem regarding those memories...
Well, his luck just got worse. As the spatial turbulence lessened and the area grew clear, Zhen Shi was faced with a dangerous sight.
Apparently, the spatial sword slash had phased through Ammit-Xue Yuegui's claw strike without causing it to dissipate. And instead of dissipating, the claw strike had simply slowed down under the spatial turbulence.
And now that space was stabilizing once again and reverting back to its ordinary state, the claw-strike dashed forwards and struck Zhen Shi's body at full-force!
????????????
Just a few moments ago...
Deep within the forest that surrounded the clearing where Zhen Shi was facing Xue Yuegui, there was a mysterious valley.
Hidden by a magical mist, it lay unseen and hidden from all those who were not fated to visit. At the very center of this valley was a fountain trickling out pure water peacefully, with the tinkle of water sounding out like beautiful music.
Surrounding this mystical fountain were hundreds of vague figures... Most of them were lifeless and seemed no different from corpses, but they would occasionally shuffle towards the fountain for a drink...
Moving away from this dreary sight, at the precipice of the towering rocks and hills surrounding the valley, and overlooking those vague figures, there was a middle-aged man.
He was clean-shaven and rather ordinary looking... were it not for his eyes. His eyes were sharp, sharper than an eagle's as if they could peer into the essence of the world itself.
Suddenly he hurriedly turned towards a certain direction. Just barely visible through the thick mist one could only see a few trees, but this man seemed to see so much more...
His eyes glowed in surprise as he hurriedly flicked his hand causing a flat tray of water to appear. Instantly, he poked the water with a finger causing it to shiver with the ripples that spread out.
As the ripples cleared and the water calmed down, a vague vision rose within the tray. This image displayed a young man dressed in a loin-cloth who was slashing down a powerful sword that ripped the space apart as he attacked a terrifying and grotesque monstrosity!
The middle-aged man watched on with meager interest and muttered, \"Where did this little foundation establishment fellow find such an interesting treasure? To think that it even harnesses the might of space law...
That other monstrous fellow, seems to have used a divine blessing... perhaps from the Holy Pyramid? Either way, it seems like the two will kill each other off...\"
But suddenly his eyes transformed, and the darkness of his pupils spread out covering his entire eyes, resulting in a rather eery set of pitch-black eyes. Almost instantly, his eyes reverted back to normal, but his figure was now trembling in agitation and excitement.
But, he spoke out in disbelief, \"If this little fellow dies, I'll never be able to escape from this place? How could that be? He's only a foundation establishment stage kid... How would his life allow me to escape?
But I guess I'll have to risk it. Anything is better than being stuck here for all eternity. Besides, fate is seldom wrong...\"
The man suddenly began to shift his hands into a series of mystical signs. And as he continued, a powerful grey law manifested around his body.
As this law swerved and twisted around his body, his figure blurred and began to mysteriously shift between that of a wise old man with a long snowy beard wielding a wooden staff, and a small child with a fearsome presence and completely black eyes that seemed to pierce through reality.
The blurry figure spoke out, \"It seems that I'll have to use all of the energy that I gathered over the last ten millenniums... It's not like I could've escaped with it anyways... Even so, Little Kid, you better not disappoint me...\" and flicked his hand towards the water tray.
Instantly, the grey law dashed towards the tray of water and vanished within...
But suddenly, the middle-aged man shouted in agitation, \"What the hell? Is this Kid seeking death?
...............
Wait... but how?\"
????????????
Back in the present...
Completely unprepared to face a surprise attack, Zhen Shi had no chance to dodge, and the full-powered strike of the pseudo-nascent soul Ammit-Xue Yuegui struck his body and began to rip his body apart.
But before his body was completely ravaged, a strange grey energy that was worlds apart from the ordinary aether that he had seen with manifested around him.
And as the claw-strike continued to rip him apart, he could feel this law slowly healing his wounds. But more than healing... it felt like his body was being reverted back to its original state...
However, this powerful grey energy that had saved him was being slowly used up and ultimately disappeared. But quite a bit of the power of the claw strike still remained...
Pu!
Zhen Shi coughed up a mouthful of blood, as the remaining power of the claw-strike struck his chest. A terrifying claw mark appeared on his chest and slashed his flesh apart up to his bones. Blood splattered everywhere and the pain was unspeakable.
Zhen Shi felt himself losing consciousness, but could also vaguely sense the aether warning him about the arrival of some other experts. Unwilling to allow his wounded self to be captured, or even worse, bleed to death, with the last of his strength Zhen Shi pushed himself towards the spatial tear that still remained.
As his injured body entered into the spatial tear, the chaotic space attempted to rip him to shreds worsening his injuries. But, almost immediately, the primordial chaos base sent out a wisp of energy that miraculously caused the chaotic space to calm down...
However, this caused further strain on Zhen Shi's consciousness causing him to finally pass out.
But just before he did, his final thought, 'FUCK! I bragged like a king, but in the end, I was forced to use the sword to flee... System, this was your plan along wasn't it?'
System: \"...\"