Chapter 80: Monster, Take This Blow!

The shadowy figure stood at least three meters tall, nearly touching the ceiling, cloaked in a floor-length tattered robe.

As it materialized, the air in the living room twisted like heat waves—yet the temperature plummeted, chilling Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin to the bone.

Fang Cheng noticed the bloody remains on the floor dissolving rapidly. The girl lying atop them grew more translucent, her face contorted in agony. Meanwhile, the shadow solidified further, its form gaining tangible density.

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Everything happened in a heartbeat. Kanzaki Rin’s sharp cry pierced the air: “That’s an evil god’s projection! Watch out!”

Arcs of electricity crackled from her emptied stun gun, lashing at the shadow. The bolts shattered into flickering sparks upon contact, scattering like dying serpents.

The motionless shadow stirred. An armored arm emerged from its robes, gripping an oversized Giant Sword pulled from thin air.

Fang Cheng had already lunged forward, hurling his third javelin. It whistled through the air—only to phase harmlessly through the shadow and lodge in the wall behind.

*Shit. Physical immunity?*

He jerked back mid-stride, yanking out his vajra. The shadow swung its sword horizontally. The blade blurred, slicing through walls like paper. Fang Cheng arched backward to evade, but the sword abruptly changed trajectory, slashing downward instead.

*Swoosh!*

White light flashed. Fang Cheng’s vajra-wielding arm dropped from his shoulder, blood fountainting as the weapon clattered to the floor. The Giant Sword cleaved through concrete, vanishing into lower floors with thunderous crashes.

*Clang-clang-clang!*

Kanzaki Rin’s vajra bell chimed urgently. Unfazed by Fang Cheng’s injury, she’d traded her spent stun gun for the ritual tool—another Sensō-ji artifact designed to repel supernatural threats.

Ripples of sound pulsed through the room. The shadow’s form wavered, transparency bleeding back into its substance.

The bell’s effectiveness came at a cost. The shadow wrenched its sword free and thrust toward Kanzaki Rin. Though she twisted aside, her movements lagged far behind the blade’s lightning strike—

—until Fang Cheng blurred into her vision. His short-distance dash carried him between Kanzaki Rin and death. Blood gushed from his wound, hardening into a crystalline entity shield via Tide of Blood.

*CLANG!*

The collision launched them both backward. They smashed through the doorway, crunching against the hallway wall. Kanzaki Rin choked on copper-tinged saliva, feeling like her ribs had liquefied.

She swallowed back the blood rising in her throat, frantically shaking the vajra bell while shouting, “Vajra!!”

Fang Cheng instantly entered the Crazed Blood state – Reason decreased by 1, Appearance increased by 5, Charisma increased by 5, Combat Power +?

The exact combat boost remained unclear, but Fang Cheng felt noticeable improvements in both strength and speed.

Bracing against his cracking crystalline armor, he executed a short-distance dash back into the house. With a sliding kick, he scooped up the fallen vajra.

The shadowy figure had been preparing to attack bell-ringing Kanzaki Rin, but switched targets when Fang Cheng’s approach became a threat.

In those crucial seconds, Fang Cheng already burst into the living room.

The Giant Sword swept toward him again, its fan-shaped attack range covering the entire space. With no room to dodge, Fang Cheng leaped upward. True to form, the blade altered course mid-swing, slicing upward.

Fang Cheng smashed his fractured crystalline armor downward against the rising blade.

Another deafening clang echoed as the steel-hard crystals finally shattered under the impact.

Mid-air adjustments saved Fang Cheng from worse injury, but white light flashed as the blade cleanly severed both legs at the knees.

The sword continued through the ceiling. Drone footage captured a faint light beam briefly appearing atop the building.

Fang Cheng plummeted legless, but spurting blood solidified into new calf replacements upon impact. Using these crimson prosthetics, he launched himself at the shadow.

The phantom couldn’t retrieve its sword in time.

“Eat this, monster!”

Fang Cheng drove the vajra into the shadow’s chest. The crude ritual tool erupted with blinding golden light, accompanied by distant Buddhist chants. For a moment, Fang Cheng felt transported to a memorial service.

Under the radiant glow, the shadow dissolved. From within its vanishing hood, an intense predatory gaze locked onto Fang Cheng – freezing his heartbeat like prey spotting its doom.

Undeterred, Fang Cheng spat. The gob flew through the fading specter and splattered on Sato Hayato’s forehead in the corner.

Sato Hayato: “…”

As shadow and golden light vanished, Fang Cheng crashed to the floor. Outside, Kanzaki Rin stopped ringing her bell.

Silence fell, broken only by their labored breathing.

Though brief, the battle’s lethal intensity nearly cost their lives. They’d come for river shrimp but found themselves trapped in a dragon’s lair.

After recovering, Fang Cheng exited Crazed Blood state, his wounds already healed. He wiped the vajra reverently before pocketing it – this supernatural bane was too valuable to surrender, even if Kanzaki Rin slashed his meal budget.

The sofa-hiding corpse resembled dried jerky stretched over bones. Cutting open its chest revealed a desiccated heart – nothing useful.

The spear-pinned wall victim proved better. As Fang Cheng touched it:

[Energy absorption activated…]

[Reading +1]

[Life (Fragment 1/3) +1]

This puzzled him. Earlier, Morishita family’s security guard corpse yielded nothing. Were fragments only from supernatural kills, human or monster?

But what did “Reading” mean here?