Chapter 161: The Purge Plan (5)

As Wu Zui had this thought, all the corpses in the surrounding iron cages slowly sat up. Shaking off the foul-smelling blood, they slowly closed in on Wu Zui's position.

Their previously tightly closed eyes now all snapped open, glowing with a scarlet light, while drops of yellowish liquid dripped from the corners of their mouths.

At this moment, the Asking Heart Sword transformed into several iron chains, swiftly weaving through the bars of the various iron cages and binding them tightly. After the first corpse that touched the Asking Heart chains was burned to ashes by the karmic fire, the other corpses seemed to sense the danger and came to a halt.

However, while Wu Zui was controlling the Asking Heart Sword to turn into chains to block those corpses, the white-coated man, who had been quite far away just a moment ago, suddenly appeared right in front of him. A flash of silver light tinged with red swept past, and an extremely deep gash instantly appeared across Wu Zui's chest.

Blood continuously gushed from the wound, faintly wreathed in wisps of black qi, and a wave of agonizing pain surged straight into Wu Zui's brain. Yet, having landed the blow, the white-coated specter instantly retreated, giving Wu Zui no chance to counterattack whatsoever.

Blood flowed down Wu Zui's clothes onto the ground. The scalpel just now had directly pierced through the embryonic stage of his domain, which meant he had found the true master! Unless it was a specter whose cultivation realm surpassed his, it would be impossible to pierce his embryonic domain so effortlessly.

At this time, the Asking Heart chains in Wu Zui's hands began to lengthen, and then multiplied, slithering like spiritual serpents as they attacked the specter. Seizing this opportunity, Wu Zui hurriedly applied medicine to his wound to stem the relentless flow of blood.

"Hehehe~"

Although the specter that had wounded Wu Zui looked frail and delicate, it was exceptionally slippery. While dodging the attacks of the Asking Heart chains, it let out eerie chuckles. Hearing these strange cries, the corpses inside the iron cages grew increasingly agitated, pounding frantically against the bars.

Disregarding the miserable fate of being burned to fine ash by the Asking Heart chains, they began touching the chains repeatedly. As corpse after corpse was ignited, the power of the Asking Heart chains was indeed consumed quite a bit.

"Die!"

Wu Zui let out a furious roar, swinging his blood-stained fist to pincer-attack the specter alongside the Asking Heart chains.

Yet the specter showed no fear of the special properties of Wu Zui's blood. Taking a direct punch from Wu Zui, the red glow of the karmic fire began to spread across its body surface, and the areas burned by the fire continuously expanded.

"Hehe~ Hehe~ Hehehe~"

Though the specter retreated in pain, it still kept emitting those weird cackles. Hearing this sound, the corpses in the surrounding iron cages began to roar in agony. Soon, their bodies started to rapidly wither and melt.

Once they all turned into pools of red liquid and slipped past the obstruction of the Asking Heart chains, they merged into the specter's body.

Then, Wu Zui watched as the specter cackled and its figure began to swell violently. A layer of black fog blocked the ongoing assault of the Asking Heart chains and Wu Zui. Before long, the specter's body reached the ceiling of this floor, yet it continued to grow.

Soon, Wu Zui sensed that something was amiss. The specter's aura was growing stronger and stronger, breaking through the peak of the six-star specter tier. Although no power of rules had been generated yet, it was no longer as easy to deal with as before.

The black leather book materialized in Wu Zui's hand.

The pages turned automatically without any wind, rapidly flipping to a blank red page. Such pages, condensed using Wu Zui's blood and magnetic energy, could no longer regenerate now that the black leather book had lost its nascent intelligence. Aside from the one used last time, Wu Zui had only four left.

Enduring the pain, Wu Zui made this page detach from the black leather book. Boundless suction erupted, forming a visible blood-red vortex on the surface of the page. And the specter, which had grown as tall as the quarantine building, was sucked straight into the page.

A specter composed of red liquid formed a continuously struggling pattern on the black book page. Meanwhile, the surface of the red page bulged repeatedly; this specter, on the verge of the seven-star rank, actually possessed the residual strength to struggle.

However, as the page returned into the black leather book, the specter was quickly suppressed by the power of the rules contained within the book. Before long, the resentment energy within the specter's core would be slowly and completely devoured by the black book.

Wu Zui closed the black leather book and put it away again.

Subsequently, Wu Zui grasped the greatly elongated Asking Heart chains, and karmic fire flared over them.

Boom~

The entire quarantine area was swept flat by the Asking Heart chains.

Carrying the Asking Heart Sword and supporting his embryonic domain, Wu Zui walked out from the ruins. The surrounding black fog quickly closed in, and the newly born half-snake ghost slaves launched another attack on Wu Zui.

The Asking Heart Sword, still glowing with karmic fire, once again transformed into chains that encircled Wu Zui, turning all the charging half-snake ghost slaves into ashes.

Frowning, Wu Zui sensed the confinement space that still existed, a mix of surprise and a hint of fear rising in his heart. A specter capable of breaking through to the seven-star rank at any moment could actually exist in the very same area as other specters.

This could only mean one of two things!

First, the specter imprisoned by Wu Zui using the black book was merely a lackey here, and an even fiercer specter resided in this place.

Second, the other specter matched the imprisoned one in strength, allowing the two to keep each other in check and prevent being devoured by one another.

As for the specter that released the confinement space being weaker than the one Wu Zui locked into the black book?

Impossible! If that were the case, the confinement space would have vanished long ago! The intelligence of a six-star specter is no less than that of a human, and it is no fool. If it couldn't win, would it stay here to throw its life away?

Regardless of which scenario it was, Wu Zui's current physical condition was incapable of handling it.

The medicine he applied to his wound could only temporarily stem the bleeding. The gash inflicted by that specter across his chest ran straight from below his navel all the way to his chest, and it was deeply incised. Had it not been for his spirit investigator's coat blocking most of it, his internal organs might have spilled right out of his abdomen.

Moreover, hampered by the obstacle of the resentment energy, Wu Zui could not recover even after taking small medicinal pills. The resentment energy lingering in the wound constantly destroyed flesh and blood, hindering the healing process. At this moment, Wu Zui's complexion was deathly pale; his injuries could no longer be dragged out.

Furthermore, now that Wu Zui had emerged and remained inactive for a moment, he faintly sensed that something in the other two buildings was spying on him. If another six-star specter were to attack him right now... Wu Zui felt his situation was becoming rather precarious!

"Blade Shatter!"

Following Wu Zui's furious shout, the red light of the Asking Heart chains blazed fiercely. Then, a portion of the Asking Heart chains abruptly shattered, and countless fragments laden with karmic fire blasted toward the surrounding fog. The locations corresponding roughly to the mild illness ward and the severe illness ward were paid special attention by the flying fragments!

Soon, a specter resembling the half-snake ghost slave bolted out from the mild illness ward building, countless fragments still embedded in its body as karmic fire began to spread across its massive frame.

Meanwhile, from the severe illness ward building, a mass of black mist fled into the distance. Though it looked intact, it had actually severed its own body, abandoning the parts ignited by the fragments! Otherwise, relying solely on its six-star realm, it could never have withstood the attack of the karmic fire!

Shortly after, Wu Zui used the black leather book to imprison the specter that resembled the half-snake ghost slave using a book page. At this point, it had lost all ability to resist, and an ordinary white page was more than enough to handle it.

Having finished this, Wu Zui did not pursue the escaping specter, but immediately put away the Asking Heart Sword, which was now reduced to just a hilt.

Blade Shatter was a technique Wu Zui could execute with the Asking Heart Sword after completing the first stage of master recognition. At the time, the sword spirit had warned him not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Because shattering the blade to kill enemies would reduce the suppression on the Karmic Fire Body within Wu Zui's physique.

And now, having used Blade Shatter, Wu Zui acutely felt the restlessness of the Karmic Fire Body inside him, and a searing sensation emanated from the bones throughout his body.

Had he not feared that continuously using the black leather book to imprison six-star specters would easily give birth to new nascent intelligence, Wu Zui would never have risked using Blade Shatter. Right now, the entity lying dormant in his body was by no means as easily awakened as before!

A flash of blue light later, Wu Zui opened a spatial singularity and headed straight for the Modu base. Upon returning to the Modu base, Wu Zui was promptly rushed away for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, the four purge squads composed of elite spirit investigators were currently progressing smoothly without encountering any overly powerful specters so far.

Newly-minted six-star specters could be easily dealt with using the book pages Wu Zui had given them. Together with ten six-star spirit investigators, unless they ran into a seven-star specter, casualties were virtually out of the question. Very soon, Modu and three other cities—except for certain special locations—were completely cleaned out!

For a time, a large number of specter cores were shipped back to the base for storage, awaiting devouring by the black leather book.

As for the book pages Wu Zui had distributed, quite a few had returned to the black book. At this moment, the black leather book constantly exuded a plume of black qi. The resentment energy surging across its surface gave off the impression that it might rank up at any second.

Having finished suturing his wounds and with the effects of the anesthesia having worn off, Wu Zui had regained consciousness.

"Awake? Stay put and behave yourself. Your injury this time is very strange; even injecting adrenaline didn't work. You'd better recuperate properly." Ming Rourou rattled the test tube in her hand—a sample collected from Wu Zui—and tossed the remark casually at the newly awakened man.

"Yeah. Hiss~ So cold! Damn it, Ming Rourou, where are my clothes?!"

After acknowledging the statement, Wu Zui felt a draft blowing across his body—it was freezing! Only then did he realize that all his clothes were gone, and he was lying stark naked on the operating table, looking precisely like the group of corpse ghost slaves on the quarantine operating tables in that psychiatric hospital!

"Cut them off! Why are you blushing? It's not like I haven't seen you before!"

Ming Rourou glanced sideways at the thoroughly uncomfortable Wu Zui, placed the test tube in its rack, and then tossed a white sheet over his body.

Wu Zui raised a hand to test his condition; the anesthesia in his body had not fully dissipated yet. Consequently, his limbs lacked all strength and couldn't even be lifted, let alone allowing him to pull the blanket over himself!

"Oh, the medicine hasn't worn off yet. Wait!"

Ming Rourou walked over and tucked the white sheet properly over Wu Zui.

"Come in! Roll the patient out!"

Once she tucked him in, Ming Rourou pressed a button on the wall and spoke to the people outside.

Shortly after, a group of people entered and wheeled the grim-faced Wu Zui off to a ward.

"Bye-bye."

Ming Rourou gave a slight wave of her hand, watching the awkwardly blushing Wu Zui depart.

"Ming Rourou! You just wait!"

"I await your honorable presence~"