The Ghost Realm, in a place shrouded in grey mist and littered with the ruins of buildings.
The yin wind howled, filled with roars.
A faint, warm orange glow bloomed within, vaguely illuminating a human silhouette.
A figure holding a lantern in one hand and a heavy sword in the other.
Yet, the lantern's light was weak, seemingly unable to dispel the extremely dense grey mist surrounding them. The figure was hazy within, staggering along.
"Roar—!"
The grey mist suddenly shook, and a colossal head emerged from the fog, its monstrous maw baring fangs as it plunged downwards.
Plunging towards that blurry, tiny human figure.
In a fraction of a second, the figure raised their heavy sword, and orange flames erupted from their body. Both person and sword were enveloped in the flames. They stomped the ground, exploding upwards, leaving trails of flowing light and afterimages as they unleashed a brilliant orange sword aura.
Boom—!
The colossal head crashed to the ground, sinking deep. A monstrous wound, tens of meters long, marred its surface, nearly cleaving the entire head in two.
Lingering flames raged, the grey mist billowed.
The figure who landed suddenly staggered, their face flushing an intense crimson. They coughed up blood tinged with black.
They grabbed the lantern and fled quickly. Moments later, terrifying roars emanated from the place where the calamitous evil had been cleaved.
Only after fleeing for several kilometers did the figure finally slow down.
Forcing themselves to lean on the heavy sword for support, they were already gasping for breath.
Their face was eerily flushed red, their eyes bloodshot. Their face was smeared with blood and dirt, clinging to their disheveled hair, making them look filthy, as if they had emerged from a mud pit.
Their armor was tattered beyond repair, exposing much of their skin. There was nothing alluring about it; instead, these exposed areas were either filled with blood and wounds or marred by black patches. Faintly, one could see flesh buds growing within the wounds, like wriggling worms. The black patches also seemed to be changing, as if trying to form a human face.
It was bizarre and chilling.
Xitina gasped, her voice tinged with uncontrollable moans.
And despair.
She knew her current state all too well, and the memory of what had happened not long ago filled her with terror.
...
Not long ago,
Xitina was an islander of the Great Oasis, 'North Wind Island.' This oasis was situated within a remote black marsh, and had been relatively less afflicted by evil incursions. Year after year, generation after generation, North Wind Island had grown stronger.
With a formidable force of eleven Throne-level powerhouses, it ranked among the top Great Oases.
Xitina was one of North Wind Island's Throne-level powerhouses, and also the youngest by far, considerably younger than the other powerhouses.
From a young age, she had been instilled with a mission!
To strive for the rise of North Wind Island, and to lead it to new heights!
Xitina indeed lived up to expectations. She began learning at three, practicing sword at five, and at fourteen, she embraced the mystical and officially awakened.
From that day forth, Xitina's talent truly shone.
Awakened a second time at 15, a third at 16.
At 18, she achieved the fourth awakening, entering the Non-Human level. At 19, the fifth awakening, reaching the Commander level. By 21, she had already entered the sixth awakening, the Throne level, being more than ten years younger than the youngest sixth awakening powerhouse in North Wind Island's history!
Most crucially, Xitina's contamination level had always been low. She embraced the mystical, yet was able to resist its corrosion.
Her combat strength surpassed that of many veteran sixth awakeners.
She was hailed as a mythical seed, a star of the future! Carrying the hopes of everyone on North Wind Island. However, just today, an accident occurred, not of Xitina's own making. It was the sky itself... that suddenly changed!
The sky split open.
One half was a seductive crimson, the other a twisted black.
The entire North Wind Island was enveloped in this phenomenon, and terrifying contamination spread. Ordinary people and even low-level awakened individuals could not resist. Their reason was instantly overwhelmed by some boundless desire surging from their hearts. Soon, the sounds of lustful moans, shamefully embarrassing, echoed from all over North Wind Island.
This was merely the first part of the catastrophe.
Domesticated animals grew two or three heads. People walking on the streets twisted their limbs, transforming into abominations in an instant.
All sorts of monsters swarmed the streets.
Only the stronger awakened could resist, or use certain mystical artifacts to shield those around them. But this was less than one in ten thousand.
If it were only this, North Wind Island would suffer a devastating blow, but not be completely destroyed.
However, colossal shadows that blotted out the sun soon appeared.
A great battle erupted.
Terrifying torrents of energy swept forth, and contamination descended like layers of dark curtains.
Even more terrifying was the black river that stretched across the sky, originating from an unknowable place, twisting and winding towards an unknown end.
Beneath the pale red sky curtain, a lake vaguely emerged, with a graceful, alluring, semi-nude figure from behind, glimpsed indistinctly on the surface of the pale red, misty lake water.
"The Twisted Black River and..."
"The Mother of Desire!"
Within North Wind Island, an elder with vast knowledge trembled as they spoke.
Following this, the entire Great Oasis of North Wind Island ceased to exist.
It was submerged by the collateral damage of the clash between two unspeakable evil gods. And the source of the contamination was, in fact, still... very far from their Great Oasis of North Wind Island.
They were merely slightly affected, and then people were gone. The Great Oasis was also corroded by contamination, losing every trace of life.
This was a disaster of no fault,
And a disaster that was impossible to resist, leading to despair.
Only Xitina, in a daze, was swept up by the turbulent flow. She was tossed and tumbled amidst the churning grey mist, finally crashing to the ground like a tattered sack, miraculously surviving.
Yet she had suffered immense contamination.
Had she not been contaminated, she might have achieved divinity. But now, simply surviving was difficult, let alone divinity... would divinity even matter?
Divinity was still like ants before such unspeakable beings.
Even super Oases, facing such a calamity, could only meet their doom.
This was the nature of evil gods!
Representing chaos, disaster, and destruction, evil gods that could not be opposed!
Upon thinking of this, Xitina's breathing became even more chaotic. Crimson heat vapor puffed from her flushed cheeks, her toes involuntarily curled, and the black patches on her waist converged, gradually revealing a monstrous face.
Her ears were filled with shrill, chaotic noises, as if a thousand insects were drilling into her ear canals.
But suddenly, a powerful and clear voice boomed, drowning out all the noise.
"You have been chosen by destiny—"
"You have been chosen by destiny—"
"You have been chosen by destiny—"
A resonant sound, like the voice of heaven and earth, echoed repeatedly in her ears.
Xitina propped herself up. "Is it auditory hallucinations?"
At a time like this, they must be hallucinations caused by contamination. Yet, since this powerful hallucination appeared, the other chaotic noises had significantly weakened, and her headache lessened.
Hallucinations could have such an effect?
Xitina shook her head, trying to block out this, to her, even more terrifying hallucination.
Suddenly,
Light particles converged, slowly forming lines, then rapidly sketching a complete object – a vial emitting a faint orange glow. The cap was unscrewed, and it was tilted, pouring directly into her mouth with a gulping sound. Before she could react, the liquid quickly flowed down her throat, draining in one go.
She resisted, but could only utter faint "whimpers."
The next second, her eyes widened, her mouth agape.
...
...
Tens of seconds ago,
When Fang You saw the prompt information about drawing 'Apostle of Destiny,' his eyes also widened.
"How long has it been since I last drew one!"
He had even thought that Apostles of Destiny could only be drawn from the 'Destiny Card Pool,' and that these 'Normal Card Pools' were incapable of producing them.
Today, he got lucky.
And it was the first one, a Golden Legend-class Apostle.
Fragments of memories flickered before Mentor Fang. He wasn't just able to see 'CG scenes'; he was immersed in them more deeply.
Thus, Mentor Fang also witnessed the horrifying phenomenon that spanned the skies of the Ghost Realm, which the grey mist could not obstruct in the slightest!
"The Twisted Black River!"
"The Mother of Desire!"
These were evil gods, residing in the deepest, most terrifying, and unspeakable parts of the Ghost Realm!
Information about such evil gods was extremely scarce, let alone seeing their 'true forms.' Even from two layers away, his soul trembled instantly. However, at the same time, wisps of information fragments flowed into his mind.
"Ritual of Greed"
"Ritual of Aberration"
These were not high-level rituals. After all, they were extremely far away, and what was seen was merely the 'external manifestation' of the evil gods.
Compared to this meager information, the terrifying nature of the evil gods made his heart pound even more.
The gap in levels was too vast!
Don't even think about plotting against evil gods. One must still play it safe! Develop in secret!
"However, I am now someone who has 'directly faced an evil god.'"
These thoughts flashed through his mind, and Fang You quickly saw the 'Apostle of Destiny,' Xitina. He saw her pitiful state, looking like she was about to die.
The person was startled.
This Apostle he had just drawn couldn't just die like this.
He flipped through Xitina's status tab. It showed multiple injuries, depleted life energy, as well as various forms of corrosion and contamination.
The contamination was the most severe, exceeding 50%!
This girl could turn into an evil spirit at any moment!
Fang You hurriedly rummaged through his warehouse. The self-produced 'Purification Potion' was too low-level to be effective. Fortunately, from previous draws, he had obtained a blue-level 'Clarifying Potion,' which was equivalent to a high-spec, high-spec version of the purification potion.
The quantity was not large, a total of only 5 vials.
He immediately operated, selecting 'Xitina → Choose → Cultivate → Item → Use Potion,' and poured four vials into the girl.
Seeing her condition stabilize slightly, Fang You breathed a sigh of relief, but not entirely.
He continued to administer some recovery potions.
Only when Xitina's wounds healed slightly and her condition shifted from 'critical' to 'moderate' did he finally have some leisure to examine the specific information of the new Apostle.
"Xitina (Sixth Level Awakening)"
"Age: 24"
"Potential: Golden Legend"
"Dimensions: (details omitted)"
"Mysticism: 19,850,000"
"Equipment: Unsharpened Heavy Sword (Purple Mystical Artifact), North Wind Armor (Blue Mystical Artifact - Damaged), Bright Light Lantern (Green)"
"Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (White - Master), North Wind Swordsmanship (Green - Damaged - Proficient), Language Comprehension (Green - Skilled)"
"Talent: Combatant"
"Ability: Battle Flame"
—
"Combatant: Holders of this talent possess extremely strong combat intuition. Through combat, they can continuously improve their dimensions, abilities, skills, and so on. If they are critically injured and on the verge of death due to combat, they will receive significant dimensional improvements after the battle. This improvement is achieved by squeezing their own potential, and the effect diminishes with continuous use."
—
"Battle Flame: Can convert one's life energy into a higher-grade special energy to envelop oneself. This ability possesses effects such as defense, amplification, and damage."