Anime Crossover: The Small Workshop System's Aggressive Feeding

Page 421

Wang Ai's face was even more ashen than if his own father had died. His eyes, which always gleamed with shrewdness and calculation, were now filled with pure terror. He stared intently at the banner, his body stiff as a log. As one of the Ten Elders, he had seen countless magical artifacts, but none had ever given him such a visceral sense of terror, as if they were about to erase his entire existence.

This is no longer in the category of "magic weapon".

This is a "torture instrument"! It's the cruelest torture instrument, specifically designed to target the soul!

The old master Zhang Zhiwei was the only person besides Zhou Ye who could still stand upright. But his eyes, which had just regained their clarity, were now filled with shock.

A name from mythology flashed uncontrollably through his mind: the emperor who ruled the underworld, decided life and death, and made all ghosts bow down.

The Great Emperor of the Northern Yin Fengdu!

This banner looks exactly like the magical artifact in the hands of that legendary emperor, which was used to register all ghosts and capture their souls!

At this moment, the most pathetic one on the field was undoubtedly Lü Ci.

The moment that Emperor's Banner appeared, he felt his prized "Soul Clarity Technique" was like a childish toy, utterly laughable before a real butcher's blade. The Qi within him seemed frozen, completely unresponsive. His soul screamed and cried out in terror, telling him: Run! Get as far away from that thing as possible!

But his legs felt like they were made of lead, and he couldn't move an inch.

Zhou Ye ignored everyone's reactions. He simply looked calmly at Lü Ci, whose face was ashen, and revealed a playful and mocking expression.

"Lu Ci." He spoke, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"There's a phrase that appears very frequently in male-oriented novels."

"【If you don't work hard at cultivating immortality, you'll just be brothers in the Emperor's Banner】."

He pointed to the large banner that exuded an endless aura of misfortune.

"You see, I'm a very reasonable person, and I like to help others achieve their goals. I think your request to search souls is very reasonable. It's just that your magic is too outdated, inefficient, and can easily damage the soul."

"So, I brought my tools with me."

"It's not just about making you and your target brothers,"

Zhou Ye paused, and a string of cold code seemed to flash in his inorganic eyes.

"It can also allow your family to be together, all together."

As soon as he finished speaking, the purplish-black patterns on the surface of the Emperor's Banner began to writhe violently.

Several extremely distorted and painful human faces bulged out from the banner!

The faces were all squeezed together, as if enduring eternal, unimaginable torment. Their mouths were opened to their widest extent, as if emitting the most shrill screams, but not a single sound could escape.

Lu Ci's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

His body began to tremble violently, not from fear, but from an extreme, uncontrollable anger and horror.

Because he saw his son, his grandson, and several core members of the Lü family who he had sent out on various dirty missions and who later mysteriously disappeared on those faces!

Their souls, their consciousness, their very existence, were all imprisoned within this eerie banner! Forever condemned to eternal damnation!

"you you……"

A hoarse, bellowing sound came from Lü Ci's throat as he pointed at Zhou Ye, his withered finger trembling uncontrollably.

"What...what did you do to them?! You monster!!"

"devil?"

Zhou Ye shook his head.

"That's inaccurate. I'm just using their methods against them."

He was stating a fact.

"Your family has been waiting for you inside for a long time."

Zhou Ye's eyes turned back to Lü Ci.

At that moment, in everyone's perception, Zhou Ye's figure seemed to be infinitely taller and magnified. He was no longer a young man sitting on a stone bench, but a giant with his head reaching the sky and his feet treading on the netherworld. The square, Longhu Mountain, and even the entire world became miniature bonsai at his feet.

His calm eyes no longer belonged to mortals. There was no joy or anger, no sorrow or happiness in them, only an absolute "reason" that looked down upon all living beings and judged all things.

That is not divinity.

Even God has joy and anger.

The Zhou Ye before us is the "Way of Heaven," the "Law," and the "Principle" itself.

He looked at the tiny Lü Ci, trembling under the oppressive power of the Emperor's Banner, as if he were looking at a criminal about to be executed.

"You should come in too."

Chapter 397 The List of Sins of the Human Emperor's Banner, Lü Ci Dies!

"Do not--!!!"

Lu Ci let out the most mournful and unwilling roar of his life.

The instinct for survival, coupled with the overwhelming hatred of witnessing the suffering of his descendants' souls, finally overwhelmed the fear that originated from the depths of his soul. A crazed, bloodthirsty light erupted from his turbid, triangular eyes.

"I will fight with you!"

At this moment, the Qi within him erupted without reservation. It was no longer the domineering and unruly Qi of before, but rather carried a resolute determination to destroy everything in its path. Deep purple Qi flames, like demons crawling out of hell, coiled around his gaunt body.

"Ruyi Jin Demon Ape!"

Lu Ci's body swelled up at a visible speed. His muscles bulged, veins stood out, and his emaciated figure instantly transformed into a ferocious giant ape over two meters tall. His fur turned an ominous deep purple, and his face was covered in blue fangs, revealing his vicious nature.

This is a secret technique passed down within the Lü family, a life-or-death method that sacrifices one's life essence to gain immense power in a short period.

"die!"

Lu Ci, transformed into a demonic ape, shattered the bluestone slab beneath his feet with a single stomp. His massive body became a purple afterimage, carrying a force powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, as he punched Zhou Ye in the face!

This punch was the culmination of his century of cultivation, an outpouring of all his anger, fear, and despair. Even before the wind of the punch arrived, the violent aura it exuded caused the surrounding air to groan in agony.

The elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion paled and instinctively tried to stop him. They knew very well that if that punch landed, it would level not only a young man, but even a small mountain.

However, the old celestial master raised his hand to stop them. His gaze was fixed on Zhou Ye, his face as calm as still water. He wanted to see how this being who could "analyze" all things, who reminded him of the King of the Underworld, would deal with this purest and most primal violence.

Zhou Ye's reaction to Lü Ci's punch was extremely simple.

He didn't even stand up.

He simply raised his right hand and extended one index finger.

Then, he gently tapped the fist, which was larger than his head and wreathed in purple demonic flames.

There was no earth-shattering collision.

An explosion without energy counteraction.

Time seemed to slow down at this moment.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, Zhou Ye's slender, pale finger precisely touched the center of the demonic ape's massive fist.

"Boom."

A soft popping sound, like a soap bubble being punctured.

Lu Ci's fist force, powerful enough to shatter mountains, and the ferocious power gained by burning his life force, simply vanished...

It wasn't blocked, it wasn't resolved, it completely vanished into thin air.

Then, an even stranger thing happened.

From the moment Zhou Ye's fingers made contact with Lü Ci's fist, Lü Ci's enormous demonic ape body began to "disintegrate".

It's not a bloody, disintegrating process, but rather a kind of "pixelated" disintegration.

The purple flames on his fist first decomposed into countless tiny, flickering purple specks of light, which then quickly dimmed and vanished without a trace. Subsequently, his skin, which was harder than steel, his bulging muscles, his thick bones... all the matter that constituted his "demon ape" form was reduced to the most basic, invisible particles in a way that defied the laws of physics.

For Zhou Ye, this process was as simple as selecting a file and clicking "delete".

It only took two seconds.

The ferocious demonic ape had vanished.

Lu Ci returned to normal, but his face was deathly pale, and he was drenched in sweat as if he had just been pulled out of the water. He staggered back a few steps and collapsed onto the ground, his eyes vacant and his mouth open but unable to utter a sound.

His most desperate, all-or-nothing strike was simply wiped out by the opponent with a single finger.

This blow was more painful than killing him.

This is no longer a matter of strength versus weakness.

This is a dimensional crushing defeat.

The square was deathly silent.

If the appearance of the Human Emperor Banner previously brought everyone a metaphysical fear of the unknown, then Zhou Ye's act of "erasing it out of thin air" now brings a more direct and unreasonable despair towards absolute power.

"monster……"

Wang Ai's Adam's apple bobbed, and he felt his legs go weak. For the first time, he felt a deep regret for his decision to come with Lü Ci to venture into the mountains today.

Zhou Ye didn't look at the limp Lü Ci anymore. He turned to the [Human Emperor Banner] stuck in the ground.

"Target: Lü Ci. Loading the list of sins..."

As his cold voice rang out, the banner of the Human Emperor changed once again.

The twisted purplish-black patterns began to project three-dimensional, lifelike light and shadow images onto the open ground in front of the banner, like a projector.

The first scene appears.

It was a dark and damp dungeon. A young superhuman was chained to the wall, his body covered in wounds. A younger version of Lü Ci, with a sinister grin, placed his hands on the young man's skull, casting the "Soul Brightening Technique." The young superhuman's body convulsed violently, blood flowed from his seven orifices, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, eventually turning into a deathly gray.

"In the autumn of the year Guimao, in order to seize a fragment of the 'Binding Spirits and Sending Generals' manual, in the Jinzhong dungeon, the Bright Soul Technique was used on Feng Zhenghao, a collateral descendant of the Feng family, causing his soul to disintegrate and turning him into an idiot."

Zhou Ye's cold voice, like a narrator, provided commentary on the scene.

The assembled extraordinary individuals erupted in uproar. Some of the older generation vaguely remembered the name Feng Zhenghao; he was once a somewhat renowned genius who had mysteriously disappeared. They never expected…

The scene changes.

It was a training room belonging to the Lü family. A dozen or so children, around seven or eight years old, with vacant stares, were attacking each other using "Soul Clarity Technique." One child couldn't withstand the attack, screamed, and collapsed to the ground, black blood gushing from his mouth and nose; he died instantly. Lü Ci, standing to the side, merely glanced at it coldly, waved his hand, and ordered his men to drag the body away.

"After the Jia Shen Rebellion, in order to improve the Minghun Technique and avoid the risk of its backlash, more than 300 orphans were kidnapped and purchased for live experiments. Less than 10% survived."

"hiss--"

A collective gasp swept across the square. Even the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion showed expressions of fury. This behavior was utterly heretical!