The Fate Officer looked at Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou stood frozen in place, clutching that sphere of pale white light. His entire body was trembling violently, and his skin was rapidly turning the exact same color as the light.
He looked as if he might collapse at any moment. The aura of profound grief billowed around him, nearly overflowing, like a container that was already full to the brim but still had water continuously poured into it.
The Fate Officer hesitated.
Just moments ago, he had been filled with shock and fury. But now, looking at Chen Zhou’s tottering state, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.
If his opponent truly possessed the power to crush him, why had he only stolen a single breath's worth?
And why was he unable to even stand steadily after stealing it?
The Fate Officer’s gaze lingered on Chen Zhou for a few breaths before sweeping over to Wei Tu Zhi nearby.
Wei Tu Zhi was still holding her bow, but her fingers were trembling so hard she could not even pull the string back fully. The white slime on her face rippled constantly; she was clearly also suffering from the impact of losing the Tears of Heavenly Weeping.
The Fate Officer withdrew his gaze, having already made up his mind.
Since things had already reached this point, these useless fools might as well fulfill their final purpose.
The seven Mansion Spirits were originally just tools refined by Bai Xing to help him perfect Heavenly Weeping. Except for Lou-Metal Dog, every single Mansion Spirit’s body was stuffed full of white slime—which was to say, the Tears of Heavenly Weeping.
The sorrow and longing accumulated over a hundred thousand years by the countless dead souls in the Myriad Ghost Array had been refined by the Fate Officer through a special technique and housed within the bodies of the Mansion Spirits, to be slowly converted by relying on the array.
As long as the Mansion Spirits did not die, those sorrowful thoughts would continue to gather, eventually to be absorbed by him.
He had originally planned to wait a bit longer, until all seven Mansion Spirits had fully matured, before harvesting them.
However, that old geezer Xuan Cai’s sudden interference had disrupted his rhythm. He could only force the tears to mature prematurely. Although the effect would be greatly diminished—
It was still better than nothing.
Since he had already harvested several of them ahead of schedule, there was no need to care about the rest.
The Fate Officer raised his hand.
His five fingers, smooth as white wax, suddenly clenched, grabbing Wei Tu Zhi by her skull.
A blank terror still lingered in Wei Tu Zhi’s eyes. Before she could even utter a single word, her head exploded within the Fate Officer’s palm.
White slime splattered in all directions as a dense aura of profound grief erupted from her shattered body. The Fate Officer opened his mouth and swallowed the glob of slime along with the sorrowful aura.
【Notification: The target’s strength has increased. The duration of the stolen ability has been reduced.】
【Current remaining duration: Five breaths.】
The system's notification rang out in Chen Zhou’s sea of consciousness, but he could barely hear it clearly now.
The riot of the black thread fragments grew increasingly violent. Fine cracks had already been battered into the edges of the water membrane, and the sorrowful emotions seeped through the fissures like a tide, soaking into his divine soul.
His thoughts were rapidly plummeting.
Darkness surged up once more.
He felt as if he had fallen into a deep well, surrounded by thick, freezing darkness. His ears were filled with the roaring sound of rushing water and the mechanical countdown of the system.
【Countdown: Four breaths...】
Standing in the distance, after swallowing Wei Tu Zhi’s slime, the white wax-like shell on the surface of the Fate Officer's body glowed faintly.
He tried to sense the destiny of the Heavenly Weeping Star once again.
This time, he touched it.
Though it was very faint, it was indeed still there.
His connection with the Heavenly Weeping Star had not been completely severed; it was merely being temporarily shielded by some force.
As long as he absorbed a bit more of the power of grief from the other Mansion Spirits, he would be able to regain control of the Tears of Heavenly Weeping.
The Fate Officer breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that although his opponent's fate-stealing technique was incredibly fast, its foundation was not stable. Since the other party could snatch it, he could take it back.
【Countdown: Three breaths.】
Chen Zhou’s consciousness drifted in the darkness.
His knees began to tremble.
Just as he thought he was about to be completely dragged into that darkness, an extremely tiny golden light shot out from the distance.
That light was very small, only the size of a grain of rice. In the boundless darkness, it looked like a spark about to go out. However, it moved incredibly fast, trailing a golden tail of light as it rushed straight toward Chen Zhou.
Then, the golden light ground to a sudden halt in front of him.
Immediately after, a shriek so sharp it cracked the air rang out.
Even through the roaring sound of rushing water, it was exceptionally clear.
“Ah!!!”
“What did you do to my precious baby boy?!”
“Didn't we agree to protect him well?! Is this how you protect him?!”
“He's practically about to shatter!”
The voice of the River of the Underworld floated lazily from the bottom of the water.
“Sigh, isn't he still alive? What's the rush?”
The little gold grain bounced three times in place, sending golden light bursting in all directions.
“Look closely at his current state!”
“That eye is about to open! If you wait a few more breaths, his soul will be dragged directly into it!”
“Did you trick him into doing something again?!”
“Do you have any idea? He is the only variable, the only hope, in nearly an entire eon!”
“I'm warning you, if you keep messing around like this, I'll find a different Dao protector!”
The River of the Underworld chuckled twice. “Stop yelling at me. You can save him anyway, can't you?”
“Besides, it's not like I didn't do my best.”
“I've already protected his consciousness. Look, he wasn't dragged away by that thing; his soul is still in its original place.”
“As for the rest... keeping his physical body from being polluted and mutated, that's your job.”
The little gold grain whipped around toward Chen Zhou’s physical body.
Pale white slime was constantly seeping out from under his skin. More than half of his exposed skin had already turned into that white wax-like texture, smooth and rigid.
“Look at you, dumping such a huge burden on me without a word, and then acting like a hands-off boss, not saying a single thing.”
“This kid is pretty decent, but he doesn't know how to do anything.”
“When he runs into trouble, what am I supposed to do?”
The River of the Underworld innocently blinked its massive eyes from the bottom of the riverbed.
“Besides, I don't have much power right now. I can't even manifest my true form.”
“Unlike you. You've recovered a bit, at least. Those with greater ability should do more work.”
“Don't just stand there, get to work! If you don't do something, his entire body will be completely polluted!”
“Even if his consciousness is still there by then, this physical vessel will be ruined.”
“Then you'd have to go through the even greater trouble of fashioning another body.”
“You!”
The little gold grain endured and endured, its golden light leaping violently a few times as if it was too angry to even know what to say.
In the end, it still plunged into Chen Zhou’s divine soul. The golden light erupted from within its body, transforming into countless tiny golden threads that wrapped around the rioting black threads one by one.
Like a helplessly furious husband.
“You're going to be the death of me!”
“(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”
...
【Countdown: Two breaths.】
Chen Zhou’s consciousness drifted between the darkness and the golden light.
One was cursing in a high-pitched, screeching voice, while the other was slick and smiling, throwing out playful retorts. The two voices bickered noisily in his head, each louder than the last.
Forced to listen to two primary schoolers argue, Chen Zhou felt utterly speechless.
But soon, his vision began to blur again.
All the sounds rapidly receded, as if someone had pushed him underwater. Everything grew distant, muffled, and hazy.
His eyelids began to droop.
Rate on N.U.
