12dz Chapter 318 - 314: Ox-Head and Horse-Face
Chapter 318 - 314: Ox-Head and Horse-Face
"Yama’s Token. You know about this thing?"
Hu Qi’s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing the familiar name.
"That’s right. The name of this Dream Eye is Yama’s Token. It seems someone has targeted you, my lord."
Hu San’s tone was grave.
"Although this Dream Eye isn’t one of the primordial nightmares, in some ways, its lethality is even greater than some of them."
Hu San paused for a moment before continuing.
"However, using this Yama’s Token comes at an extremely high price.
One must sacrifice ten thousand people just to use it once, and it has a long cooldown period afterward.
But once a target is marked...
...it will not rest until its goal is achieved—until the target is completely killed and its soul reaped. The monsters you just killed, my lord, were merely the weakest. The ones that appear later will be progressively stronger..."
Just as Hu San was speaking...
...a CLANKING and RUSTLING sound approached from a distance.
Hu Qi and Hu San looked toward the source of the sound.
There, directly in front of them, two figures had appeared out of nowhere.
The pair emerged from the thin mist, their bodies gradually solidifying.
They were larger and more bizarre than the previous monsters, exuding an aura that sent a chill down one’s spine.
The one on the left had a massive, sturdy ox head perched on its neck. Its large, bell-like eyes glowed with a faint red light, and a pair of thick, incredibly sharp horns grew from its head.
Its body was coiled with muscle, and it clutched a steel trident that glinted coldly in the gloomy surroundings.
The one on the right had a long, narrow horse face with slender eyes.
It held an iron spear, and a chain covered in red rust was wrapped around its waist. The CLANKING and RUSTLING sound from before was the end of this chain scraping and striking against the stones on the ground.
"Ox-Head and Horse-Face?"
Seeing this, the strange look on Hu Qi’s face deepened.
However, the two figures did not respond to Hu Qi’s question.
Their expressions were as still as stagnant water, showing no flicker of emotion. They clearly lacked sentience.
The next moment, they swung their steel trident and iron spear.
They charged straight at Hu Qi, their momentum kicking up a sinister gust of wind.
At the same time, the chain around the waist of the ’Horse-Face’ creature shot out like a nimble serpent, snaking its way toward Hu Qi.
Compared to the two black shadows he had encountered earlier, this ’Ox-Head’ and ’Horse-Face’ were clearly a cut above in terms of strength.
For Hu Qi, however, it made no difference.
Calm and composed, he raised his hand in a chopping motion and swiped forward. In an instant, an arc of flame flashed past.
Instantly, the approaching chain shattered, its broken fragments scattering like black fireworks.
The massive bodies of the charging ’Ox-Head’ and ’Horse-Face’ were also torn apart and severed by the flame, instantly turning into motes of light.
They dissipated on the spot, as if they had never been there at all.
"My lord is mighty!"
Hu San, who was standing to the side, quickly offered his flattery with a fawning smile.
"Do you know the names of those two monsters?"
Hu Qi asked, looking at Hu San.
"I’m not too sure about that."
Hu San shook his head, then added obsequiously,
"But ’Ox-Head and Horse-Face,’ as you called them, my lord, seems very fitting."
Hu Qi heard this and said no more.
「A few minutes later.」
Watching a black and a white figure disappear before him once again, Hu Qi confirmed his suspicion.
’This so-called Yama’s Token must be inextricably linked to the Underworld from Blue Star’s myths and legends.’
’The power of some mighty beings can be projected through the Spirit Realm, using the Mind Realm as a medium, and be received by some humans in their dreams.’
’They might receive it as inspiration.’
’And write it down.’
’Of course...’
’...it’s also possible that some cataclysm occurred on Blue Star in the past.’
’Those mythological beings left Blue Star and entered the Spirit Realm.’
’It’s not impossible that these are the traces they left behind when passing through this world.’
Shaking his head, Hu Qi decided not to let this continue.
He directly summoned his panel and his gaze fell on one of the lines.
——
[Status: Abnormal △ (Marked by unknown power)]
...
[Modification Points: 12068 (64%)]
Hu Qi had actually noticed this abnormal mark on him long ago. With his current power, he was capable of removing it, but it wasn’t something he could do in a short amount of time.
And the Yama’s Token clearly wasn’t going to give him that time. As the moments ticked by, Hu Qi could clearly feel that the summoned creatures were getting stronger and stronger, a fact that Hu San had also confirmed.
If this continued, he might really end up facing the Ten Halls of Yama, the Yin Celestial Monarch, or even the so-called Ksitigarbha King.
These were the terrifying existences that ruled the Underworld in myth and legend.
’If they really appear and I can’t beat them, I’ll have to delete my account and start over.’
’Therefore, it’s better to play it safe.’
Thinking this, he looked at the panel and made a decision.
"Crimson, remove the abnormal status!"
Hu Qi gave the command without hesitation.
As soon as he spoke, the number in the Modification Points line instantly decreased by three hundred.
The status line first blurred slightly, then became clear again.
[Status: Normal]
...
[Modification Points: 11768 (64%)]
And in Hu Qi’s perception, the bizarre mark attached to him shattered.
The moment the Yama’s Token mark on him was cleared, the Twisted Light flashed and covered the surface of his body.
In the distance, several phantom figures that were about to solidify seemed to lose their target and promptly disintegrated.
Seeing this, Hu San, who stood to the side, was stunned.
As a being who had lived for countless years, he naturally understood what this situation meant.
The killing pattern of the Yama’s Token had been broken.
This was a situation that had never occurred before.
Even the one who had sealed him away in the past had only managed to escape the Yama’s Token’s pursuit by sacrificing a life.
Once chosen by the Yama’s Token, it was basically a death sentence, with almost no possibility of escape.
He had been preparing to see how many rounds Hu Qi could last before dying. Once his master died, he would be free from his control.
But he had never expected...
"Alright. No one will be disturbing us now. Let’s continue our previous conversation."
Just then, Hu Qi’s gaze fell upon him again.
...
At the same moment Hu Qi used his Crimson panel to remove the mark and conceal himself with the Twisted Light, in a massive underground space several thousand kilometers away from Fox Tail Mountain...
Here, the scene was a living Purgatory. Severed limbs and mangled flesh littered the ground, and so much blood had been spilled it could float a shield.
And above these corpses, a palm-sized slip of paper, looking as if it had been soaked in blood, was suspended in mid-air.
Suddenly, the bloody light on its surface dimmed.
The slip of paper fluttered down from mid-air, as if it had lost all its power.
It landed on the face of a corpse.