Chapter 39: Desire

Even in his sleep, Li Yela felt an immense exhaustion, yet he also felt a profound sense of release.

He had done a rough calculation: excluding the Dual-Blade Knights, he had personally slain at least two hundred steppe cavalrymen, with the final King of Zolan serving as a mere bonus.

It was, in a sense, vengeance for his fallen comrades and heroes.

As he drifted into a deep sleep, his physical body—strengthened by the Heart of Slaughter for two hours—began to radiate a surging vitality.

It was so intense that the administrative staff stitching his wounds were astonished to find that their needles could no longer easily pierce his skin.

They had no choice but to give up, disinfecting the area and binding him with bandages instead.

After all, with this level of physical fitness and intensity, such wounds would likely heal completely within a few days.

Consequently, when Li Yela opened his eyes, he found himself wrapped in numerous bandages, lying in a relatively large containment room alongside a group of other wounded individuals. Many administrative staff members were acting as medical personnel, moving back and forth.

Not far away, some staff members were burning incense and praying.

Despite the functioning ventilation system, the air was still thick with the scent of disinfectant and incense.

The eerie scene left Li Yela feeling somewhat disoriented.

"Oh, you're awake?" Cheese's voice drifted from beside him. Li Yela turned his head.

He saw her leaning against the wall next to him. A smile appeared on her pale face, much like when they first met: "You've become quite the girl, haven't you!"

"The same old tricks won't work on me," Li Yela grinned, then asked, "Are you alright? Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I just ate too much saccharin and felt nauseous. Combined with my psionic energy being depleted, I came here to rest." Cheese made a face of disgust. "I never want to eat sugar again for the rest of my life!"

Li Yela sat up, stretching his limbs.

As he twisted his body, a series of crisp cracks and pops echoed from his joints, leaving him feeling refreshed.

Instinctively, Li Yela felt that both his strength and reaction speed had significantly improved.

His abdominal muscles were now clearly defined, and the muscular lines across his entire body were much more pronounced.

"It seems the Heart of Slaughter's reinforcement worked." Li Yela clenched his fists and swung them casually, creating a sharp whistling sound in the air. "I feel like I could kill an ox with a single punch."

"You were reinforced by the Heart of Slaughter for two hours, which far exceeds the safety limit. Moreover, you were in the middle of a slaughter, which makes it even more dangerous!" There was a hint of lingering fear in Cheese's voice.

Normally, when colleagues used the Heart of Slaughter to reinforce their bodies, they were essentially fixed to a restraint platform. Once the time was up, the Heart was immediately removed.

To engage in combat while carrying the Heart of Slaughter, as Li Yela had done, was truly perilous.

If one were to be swallowed by the desire to kill, it would truly be the end.

"Fortunately... you pulled through. Theoretically, after two hours of reinforcement, your physical strength is no longer inferior to a Third Awakening True Martial path. As for killing an ox with one punch, that's nothing." Cheese continued, "However, while it was a blessing in disguise, you wore the Heart of Slaughter for too long in a single session. It left some scars on your chest."

Hearing this, Li Yela looked down at his upper body, which was wrapped in gauze. Indeed, three crimson scars stretched across his chest.

"As long as there's a gain, a few scars are nothing," Li Yela responded, mimicking Cheese by leaning against the corner of the wall. He asked, "How long was I out?"

At the same time, Li Yela surveyed his surroundings. From the current situation, it seemed the Taboos had not yet been fully suppressed. Otherwise, the wounded wouldn't be housed in a containment room meant for suppressing Taboos.

However, the Taboo in this specific room was indeed one of the lowest in danger.

Grade-D Taboo: The Door God Talisman.

Its effect: By placing two Door God Talismans on either side of a door or opening and offering incense to them, the talismans would activate, projecting a psionic barrier to protect the space behind the door.

Its loss-of-control manifestation: It would open every door in the vicinity. No matter what means were used to lock a door, it would be forced open.

This was considered one of the most "friendly" Taboos for humanity. One could obtain protection simply by offering incense.

This was the primary reason for choosing this location to house the wounded.

"You slept for about five hours," Cheese replied. "After you lost consciousness, three different Taboos appeared there due to various coincidences. They were collectively attacked by Bai Yang and the others and were all successfully suppressed. Counting the King of Zolan's flag and the Heart of Slaughter, a total of seven Taboos have been suppressed because of you. Therefore, the Night-Collectors intend to apply for some merit points for you as a commendation."

"There's nothing to commend. So many colleagues sacrificed themselves; what's the point of a commendation?" Li Yela asked in a low voice. "What's the situation now?"

"The Taboos in the upper zone have all been suppressed, but the battle in the lower zone is still intense," Cheese responded. "Bai Yang and the others have gone to reinforce the lower zone, while we continue to guard the upper zone and wait for reinforcements."

"I wish them victory!" Li Yela nodded. He then found his crimson longsword, the summoning bell, and the jet-axe nearby.

Aside from the summoning bell, the sword and axe were in a state of disrepair.

The high-intensity, continuous combat had left the crimson longsword riddled with nicks and chips, and the jet-axe had also been damaged during the fight.

"You'll need to spend some merit points to repair your psionic equipment, or just replace it entirely." Cheese picked up Li Yela's crimson longsword, inspected it, and shook her head. "The edge is completely gone; it's unusable."

She then picked up the jet-axe, checked it for a moment, and said, "I suggest you have the Equipment Department custom-make a thermal axe or a thermal sword for you. Although they lack psionic abilities, their raw power is outstanding."

"I can guess what you want to save those points for... The Captain can help you apply to trial an anti-psionic helmet. If it works, I can buy it for you directly, and you can pay him back with merit points later. If it doesn't work, you won't have wasted your money." Cheese advised, "Right now, your priority should be strengthening your combat power."

Li Yela indeed wanted to save merit points to purchase an anti-psionic helmet to see if he could suppress Li Yunyan's curse.

If it worked, everyone would be happy; if not... Li Yela estimated he would have wasted ninety merit points.

Since Cheese's suggestion was excellent, Li Yela could only nod. "Thank you."

Afterward, Li Yela, Cheese, and the other recovered wounded left the containment room.

They arrived at the entrance leading to the lower zone.

There, they joined other processors and Iron Guards waiting for potential reinforcements.

While waiting, Li Yela calculated his current strength.

His psionic equipment was half-broken; the jet-axe was malfunctioning. Only the summoning bell could still summon the Dual-Blade Knights.

In terms of equipment, his losses were heavy.

But in terms of ability, Li Yela had gained a massive boost.

First was his physical strength.

Li Yela followed the Myriad Manifestations path. In terms of reinforcement ranking, the physique of the Myriad Manifestations path was considered balanced or mediocre among psionic users of the same awakening level.

But this time, through the Heart of Slaughter, he had turned misfortune into a blessing.

His physical strength had surged. According to Cheese, his body had reached the strength of a Third Awakening True Martial.

This meant that based on pure physical power alone, a Second Awakening user like him could now challenge a Third Awakening True Martial.

He finally had the foundation to fight across levels.

Of course, many processors had reinforced their bodies with the Heart of Slaughter; it was just that Li Yela's reinforcement was exceptionally long.

Next were the facial patterns.

Much like Xiang Yu's facial pattern, Huo Qubing's pattern brought many techniques to Li Yela.

Riding techniques: Huo Qubing was a master of horsemanship.

But times had changed; this technique likely wouldn't be very useful. He couldn't exactly go out and buy a horse, could he? To ride a horse during a mission?

Then, there were mounted archery techniques.

Huo Qubing was also highly skilled in mounted archery. But again, times had changed.

In truth, Xiang Yu's facial pattern had also provided Li Yela with archery skills, including the abnormal technique of rapid-fire volleying.

However, due to the psionic barriers of psionic users, ranged weapons like bows and guns were difficult to use.

A psionic user could indeed inject psionic energy into an arrow and shoot an enemy.

But the energy in the arrow would dissipate mid-air.

Unless they were from the Divine Control path, psionic energy from users of other paths would lose its potency shortly after the weapon left the body, failing to break through an enemy's psionic barrier.

Therefore, ranged weapon attacks were often the exclusive domain of the Divine Control path.

But even for the Divine Control path, few people used consumables like arrows.

It was a matter of cost. To inject psionic energy effectively, both the bow and the arrows would need to be psionic equipment, right?

A bow was one thing; at least it wouldn't break immediately.

But arrows?

Was every single arrow supposed to be psionic equipment?

That alone was enough to make most psionic users reconsider.

Thus, most Divine Control users used recyclable weapons like flying swords or simply controlled puppets to fight.

Li Yela's "Overlord's Halberd Throw" worked because the weapon was large enough to hold a significant amount of injected psionic energy, and the distance wasn't too great, allowing him to strike decisively. He couldn't exactly use a gun as an arrow.

However, he could perhaps learn from his teammate Yang Chen's spear-throwing...

So, he couldn't use the mounted archery or the bow and arrow. He could only hope to obtain a Divine Control facial pattern when he unlocked subsequent patterns.

Then, there was the third technique from Huo Qubing's pattern: Directional Perception.

This was a sense similar to intuition. No matter how chaotic the terrain, Huo Qubing could rely on his intuition to discern the correct direction.

*This is very useful,* Li Yela thought with a nod.

Aside from these techniques, the ability brought by the "Champion Hou" facial pattern was the most direct improvement.

The Shadow Army: Any unit killed by Li Yela would have its shadow stolen, becoming a new member of the Shadow Army.

Having killed over two hundred Zolan cavalrymen earlier, Li Yela now possessed nearly twenty Shadow Army members.

The buff from just these twenty members granted Li Yela incredibly high speed and extremely strong defense.

This ability filled one of Li Yela's shortcomings.

In the future, he wouldn't have to fear being unable to catch an enemy, nor would he worry about being heavily injured by a massive attack.

The Shadow Army's enhancement was multi-faceted. While its raw power was inferior to Xiang Yu's "Weakness Insight," its utility was immense.

Later, if he were surrounded by enemies, he could fight using Xiang Yu's pattern to efficiently slaughter them and absorb more Shadow Army members.

If the number of the Shadow Army increased further, the buffs would likely become even more powerful.

Thinking of this, Li Yela suddenly frowned.

"I'm not some kind of killer. Why am I even considering this? Am I really being influenced by the Heart of Slaughter?"

Li Yela shook his head, casting the thought aside.

Although he had experienced countless bloody battles within the illusions of Xiang Yu and Huo Qubing and was no longer afraid of bloodshed, Li Yela had no desire to cause slaughter.

Currently, the only human to have died by his hand was that old man, Wang De.

At that moment, Bai Yang, who had finished bandaging his severed arm, noticed Li Yela's movement and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. How are you? Why don't you go rest?" Li Yela looked at Bai Yang's severed arm. It had been lost during the fight with the Void creature of the Crimson Wanted Poster.

"I'm fine. My arm has been found and preserved. Once this is over, I'll just have the Plague Doctor Captain reattach it for me," Bai Yang smiled. "If you have any doubts, you can tell me."

"Actually, I was thinking about this Shadow Army ability. How can I gain more buffs without killing people?" Li Yela spoke truthfully; since the other had already seen his second facial pattern, there was no point in hiding it.

Hearing this, Bai Yang gave Li Yela a deep look. "In Border City No. 2, someone also obtained the Shadow Army, but it was during their Fifth Awakening."

"And then?" Li Yela asked.

"Even as a Processor, it's impossible to encounter the right people or monsters to kill every time. So, his Shadow Army was very small. Eventually, he was consumed by desire. To gain more Shadow Army members, he slaughtered several villages in the wilderness and became a wanted criminal," Bai Yang said gloomily. "Don't you become that kind of person."

Li Yela said seriously, "I won't. I do not enjoy slaughter."

Bai Yang thought to himself, *'If I hadn't seen you chasing down that group of cavalry, I might have actually believed you!'*

However, considering it was all for the sake of avenging their comrades, Bai Yang nodded slightly. "Don't get addicted to it. Within the Void, there are supreme beings who specialize in tempting those obsessed with slaughter. However, some people deserve to die, like the bastards who caused this chaos. If I catch them, I'll show them what a hellish landscape looks like!"

Li Yela nodded in agreement.

He knew that the fight wasn't just being waged by the Black Prison of the East City Branch. Other teams and other branches were all fighting hard.

If Li Yunyan hadn't been in the family apartments, ensuring her safety, Li Yela couldn't imagine how terrified he would be.

He wondered how many more comrades would fall in this battle...

Those animals who committed such acts had become his mortal enemies.

He would show them no mercy!

***

On the other side, in the lower half of the Black Prison.

A fierce battle had just concluded. The Ice Witch, Yin Hu, and the Demon Host had all been suppressed in succession.

But the price paid was tragic.

Several veteran Night-Collectors had fallen in battle.

The man lying before Yang Chen had, in order to suppress the Taboo, voluntarily donned the Black Dragon Armor.

As the battle ended, he had decisively driven a blade through the gap in the armor into his own heart to end his life, preventing himself from becoming a monster controlled by the armor.

Yang Chen looked at his dying comrade in silence, his expression terrifyingly grim.

"Captain... after I die, take the mysterious materials from my Soul Well. There is quite a lot of stuff in this Black Dragon..." The man, clad in pitch-black armor, had scales growing from his skin, and his hands had turned into claws; he was in a half-human, half-dragon state.

The Dragon-man leaned against the wall and smiled. "Whether it's to make a magic potion or psionic equipment for Night General, consider it a token of my respect as a senior."

Yang Chen said in a low voice, "You saw through it?"

"Of course. You can't hide things. You want to cultivate the Night General into the next generation's Champion. I will do my best to help you," the Dragon-man chuckled lightly. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself... You've done very well. Very well..."

Then, his breath ceased.

Yang Chen stared at his corpse, and then at the corpses of his comrades.

In agony, he clutched his head and let out a terrifying roar.

Once again, he had watched helplessly as his teammates died before his eyes.

Once again...