Chapter 247: Painting
Chapter 247: Painting
He felt a surge of hot blood slowly gathering in his chest and abdomen, and he slowly let out a breath.
Fang Jing felt inexplicably emotional for a moment. He deeply felt that encountering a humanoid monster that could fight him to this extent was quite rare…
After all, he was currently in the mode with his “Inner Ghost Gate” fully opened. Having unlocked his third Esoteric Energy Pore, his body had swollen to a height of four meters, with unfathomable power surging within.
However, the enemy facing him was no ordinary being. It was a massive monster ten meters tall, wrapped in a layer of black mist, with countless overlapping scales covering its body.
Suddenly, its single eye turned a brilliant gold-red, and an invisible field fluctuation descended directly over Fang Jing’s head.
Instantly, the surrounding area seemed to freeze, as if space itself had solidified.
Fang Jing felt the air turn solid. Despite his explosive effort, he couldn’t move an inch.
At the same time, a giant hand, large as a palm-leaf fan, pressed down with full force, like an adult swatting a fly or mosquito. The broad hand cast a dark shadow, covering his entire body.
Fang Jing naturally wouldn’t remain frozen. After opening the third Inner Ghost Gate, he could only maintain this state for fifteen seconds. He had to end the battle quickly, fearing complications if delayed.
Thump! Thump!!
Intense, powerful vibrations continuously radiated outward from him, spreading and pulsating in all directions, like the heartbeat of the earth. The feeling of restraint was broken, and the Resonance Field expanded fully.
Whoosh!
As streams of crimson light surged from his body, intense Magnetic Field Fluctuations transformed into dark red fire flows, spraying and swirling in all directions.
Annihilation Wheel Fist·Demon Subduing!!
With a low shout, his fingers on both hands touched briefly, as if forming a seal.
In the next second, his right hand shot out toward the other side, meeting the giant hand of the humanoid monster.
Explosive gales, crimson flames, and overwhelmingly fierce power converged into an earth-shattering strike as his arm thrust forward.
This was his ultimate killing move, born from combining the essence of the Ancient Martial Arts he had painstakingly studied with his Resonance Field.
This move seemed to concentrate all his power into a single point. Within a ten-meter radius, the area felt as if it had entered a vacuum. The air made popping sounds, as if the air currents were being squeezed out.
Two equally ferocious attacks collided in that moment. At the instant of impact, the entire world seemed to fall silent for a split second.
In an unavoidable, direct confrontation, the ten-meter-tall giant monster felt its body completely lose control. Overwhelming, terrifying force erupted from the other side, sending it flying through the air, giving it the sensation of its consciousness drifting away, as if its soul had left its body.
Even as it desperately tried to stomp its feet on the ground, slamming on the brakes to stop its body, all it managed to do was create one large crater after another with loud bangs, while its entire form was pushed back hundreds of steps.
With its massive frame, each step backward crushed the ground into depressions. The path it retreated along became riddled with pits and hollows.
It only came to a stop after crashing through and shattering a giant stone pillar.
In that split-second collision, the decisive outcome was determined.
“…Embrace destruction!”
He whispered in his heart, spreading his fingers open, transforming his fist into a palm, with his fingers aligned horizontally and vertically.
Ssshh!
A sharp, piercing shriek suddenly rang out in the air.
This was the hand blade he swung. In that instant, his hand blade released a blood-red, terrifying Magnetic Field Fluctuation, tracing an arc as it slashed diagonally forward, like the sharpest blade.
It seemed to dye the space red in an instant. A faint, eerie howling sound emerged as an extreme slashing attack burst from his hand.
Annihilation Wheel Fist·Instant Flash!
This was his ultimate move, transforming the sword techniques he had cultivated into a hand blade strike. In the blink of an eye, his palm and fingers swiftly swept through, tearing the air with a whoosh as it horizontally sliced out. Like a crimson streamer, it struck the humanoid monster’s side.
With a deafening roar, explosive gales erupted. The one-eyed humanoid monster let out a pained cry as half of its arm was torn off.
The hand blade, rubbing against the air, left a crimson trail. The swift and fierce slash cut through the air, creating a shockwave that struck a stone pillar behind the humanoid monster, instantly carving an extremely deep mark.
The severed giant arm fell to the ground, splashing large amounts of green liquid.
As soon as the liquid touched the ground, it rapidly evaporated, turning into copious black mist.
Even the arm itself dissolved into a blurry gray shadow, vanishing from the ground in the blink of an eye.
Fang Jing, of course, noticed this bizarre scene, but he didn’t hesitate. Instead, his arm, thick and powerful as a steel pillar, swung upward, and in the next second, he grasped the humanoid monster’s head.
“Be shattered!”
His five fingers spread and clamped onto the monster’s massive head. In the next moment, boundless brutality descended. Magnetic Field Fluctuations and terrifying brute force pressed down completely.
It was like squeezing a can with bare hands. Pure, horrifying power bore down like a mountain.
Though the head-locked humanoid monster roared frantically, it had no time to defend or counterattack.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, the humanoid monster’s head was crushed, its neck snapped violently, driven back into its body as if it were playdough, completely stuffed inside.
Die!
Crack! The humanoid monster’s bones shattered throughout its body. The force traveled from top to bottom into the ground, as if striking an ice surface, causing countless fissures to spread across the ground.
Without a word, Fang Jing opened his eyes again, revealing only a savage killing intent. Overwhelming, unstoppable violence pressed down. His outstretched fingers clenched into a fist, and the Resonance Field transformed into an even force field, like a heavy hydraulic press releasing destructive pressure downward.
In that instant, the giant monster’s flesh seemed to turn into mincemeat. The terrifying force pressed down to the very bottom. Under the immense pressure, the ground shook with a “bang,” ripples of impact waves spreading in all directions as if struck by brute force.
The dead giant monster’s body turned into black mist, vanishing silently right before his eyes.
Fang Jing’s fifteen-second state also ended, and he reverted to his normal human form.
“No energy value feedback from hunting an aberrant life, and no Fate Grade gained either… What exactly is this thing?”
The restored Fang Jing was deeply puzzled. After such a fierce battle, it seemed he had gained nothing.
But that wasn’t the main point. What truly made him suspicious was that during the confrontation, Fang Jing had felt a vague, distorted sensation.
It was as if his experience wasn’t real.
Or perhaps the enemy he faced wasn’t real.
(Was that thing… really the monster I encountered at Sagirimiyama? Something feels definitively inconsistent.)
He grew deeply doubtful about this.
…
Next, he continued exploring the cave. The place was spacious, with no other creatures—no insects, no animals—only empty, barren stones.
Suddenly, Fang Jing heard a sound. He turned around and saw a patch of light in the distance.
The cave environment was quite dark, so that bright light was rather unexpected.
He walked forward, feeling the air in the distance twist and distort. In a very short time, the anomaly ahead returned to normal.
However, he discovered strange objects appearing in the area ahead.
“Is this… a streetlamp?”
A glowing streetlamp stood alone in the stone cave. It was the common type found on street corners, less than two stories tall. The lamp, shaped like a birdcage, encased the light bulb within its cage-like fixture, emitting an unusually bright light.
No wires were visible in this place, nor any other structural facilities. Yet, a streetlamp had inexplicably appeared here.
Zzzzt!
Zzzzt!!
A staticky, flickering noise, like a TV with no signal.
Something gradually materialized out of thin air. Not far from the streetlamp, a strange object appeared. It seemed to be a wall—or part of a wall, with three sides in total, like the foundation of a dismantled house. The three walls were casually arranged ahead.
…Although this scene was eerie, it certainly caught Fang Jing’s attention. He took a few steps forward, approaching the wall remnants. The three walls formed a pin-shaped layout, with a painting hanging on each wall.
He carefully counted—nine paintings in total. Three were hung normally on the central wall, while the other six were placed on the two side walls, all covered with black cloth.
He didn’t touch the cloth-covered paintings but instead stared at the three “paintings” hung on the walls.