Yaxiu opened his eyes and saw Dead Frenzy plummeting alongside him.
In the pitch-black deep sea, her ruby-red eyes remained radiant, yet Yaxiu could still discern a few differences: compared to Sonia's, Dead Frenzy's eyes were far more profound, like an unfathomable abyss whose depth could not be measured.
She was truly a beauty—though that went without saying, for if Sonia was a gorgeous girl, Dead Frenzy naturally was as well. Previously, however, it had been difficult for Yaxiu to take note of her beauty. She was too individualistic, too eccentric, and spoke with an icy aloofness that kept people at a distance of thousands of li, to the point where Yaxiu hardly dared to look her in the eye for long.
Only here in the silence of the deep sea did Yaxiu realize that she was dazzling enough to be impossible to ignore. Unlike Sonia's radiant, unrestrained allure, Dead Frenzy possessed an air of someone standing solitary from the world. It was not that her beauty was understated, but rather that she simply did not care about the opinions of others. Whether it was her attire, her smoking, or her tone, she pursued only her own desires. She was like a rose perched upon a cliffside—blooming with proud defiance regardless of whether anyone was there to appreciate her, beyond the right of anyone to judge.
She looked quietly at Yaxiu without uttering a single word.
Yaxiu intensely disliked this attitude of hers; he could never figure out what was going through this woman's head. As for whether she had engineered this situation, all she had to say was a simple "yes" or "no"—what was the point of that bullshit response, "Think whatever you like"? If he hadn't lacked the time and ability to hit her, Yaxiu would have loved to beat her senseless just to teach her how to speak like a normal human being.
If she had done this deliberately, then her goal was to use this situation to force him into selling his soul. But why had she reminded him how to fight? Shouldn't her performance be rewarded the more miserably she ruined him?
If it wasn't deliberate, why push him into such a corner and demand he sell his soul just to save his own skin? At the very least, she could show a hint of shame! Why maintain that arrogant expression, as if thunder and sweet dew alike were all gifts of royal grace?
So infuriating. Yaxiu closed his eyes, silently praying in his heart that Sonia would never grow up to become a woman like Dead Frenzy.
He had suffered far too many shocks tonight: the Doomsday Five's covetous designs on *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*, the garbage-scavenging environment of Hell, the Forgotten, the erosion of memories, the buying and selling of souls... Just sorting out his thoughts was enough to fry his brain. To make matters worse, Vichy, Weise, and Igola were nowhere near him. He had to rely solely on his own judgment, yet he couldn't even tell whether the only person he could rely on was friend or foe.
When he opened his eyes again, what stood before him: an evil demon to be slain with sharp blades, or a friend to be greeted with a smile and an embrace?
Yaxiu opened his eyes, silently exchanging gazes with Dead Frenzy as they fell. Only then did he notice that she still had a cigarette clamped between her lips—even the seawater couldn't extinguish her craving for tobacco.
Noticing Yaxiu's gaze, Dead Frenzy pondered for a moment, then took the half-burned cigarette between her fingers and offered it toward him.
Yaxiu stared blankly for a second. Even as he took the cigarette, he was bewildered by why he had done so.
He took a drag. The seawater did not seize the opportunity to flood his mouth, but he couldn't stop himself from coughing repeatedly.
Too harsh! No wonder the smell was so pungent... I really don't get along with this woman.
Yaxiu handed the cigarette back, then brought up *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*—"Operator Recruitment." As expected, a recruitment event had appeared on the interface: "Demon King Descends."
["Demon King Descends" Anniversary Event Recruitment]
[Rate-Up Operators: "Dead Frenzy Sword Princess," Limited Operators "Black and White Witch," "Eternal Night Silver Lantern," and "Demon Maid" ↑↑]
[Rate-Up Limited Resources: "Hell sky canopy," "River of Flowing Gold," and "Soul Barrow" ↑↑]
[Rate-Up Limited Attire: "Maid, Sovereign of All Life," "Silver Lantern, Return of Knowledge," "Witch, Group Frolic," and "Bridal Sword Princess" ↑↑]
[Ends on ?/? at 00:00]
Yaxiu ignored the details of the recruitment pool and spent three source crystals to perform a single pull. Because he knew that a single attempt would give him exactly what he wanted. From now on, his recruitments were stripped of all randomness, leaving only the shady manipulation of the operators.
As an eerie blue radiance lit up the interface, the shrill wails of countless wronged spirits seemed to echo in Yaxiu's ears. A turbid, profound black mist contaminated the entire interface, and an overwhelming sensation of suffocation clamped tightly around his throat. He had a vague guess of what he had pulled; he had witnessed this exact oppression half a year ago. The dim light crept forward bit by bit, fusing with the murky darkness to form a voluptuous elven maiden. She wore virtually no clothes; aside from her underwear, only a few purple silk ribbons wrapped around her body. Her snow-white skin formed a striking contrast with the gloom, like an alluring white lotus born within the fathomless dark.
["Nether Demon King"]
["Alter: Expend 25% of your soul to initiate alter attunement?"]
Across the interface, the Nether Demon locked eyes with Yaxiu. Her gaze penetrated his thoughts without the slightest resistance, seizing control of his actions. By the time Yaxiu came back to his senses, he had already pressed the "Alter Attunement" option.
At the same time, the physical arts demigods closest to Yaxiu lunged in for the kill.
Claws, blades, spears, and heavy fists—they sealed off every possible route of evasion, tearing into Yaxiu like sharks swarming a dolphin!
*Thud!*
Every single attack struck home, brutally devastating Yaxiu's body, piercing flesh and ripping tendons apart. A dense mist of blood erupted from Yaxiu's form, slowly blooming outward through the seawater.
Yet within the silent abyss of the sea, a voice that was almost a moan rang out:
"It hurts..."
"It hurts so much..."
"Ah, it hurts so bad...!"
"But if it doesn't hurt," the figure shrouded in nether mist burst into wild, unbridled laughter, "then how could it possibly be thrilling!?"
A Soul Shriek sonic wave erupted in every direction along with his laughter, instantly detonating and blasting away all seawater within a hundred meters. Even though the physical arts demigods retreated with astonishing speed, every single one of them was left vomiting blood and knocked unconscious by the sonic shockwave, and several even had their heads burst on the spot!
"Ah, ah..." The mist-shrouded figure stroked his own body with near-narcissistic delight, sparing not an inch of flesh and caressing the sensitive areas several times over. "This is what a fresh, living body feels like! This is what it means to be alive! Truly marvelous, so marvelous! Hahahahaha!"
"Calm down. There isn't much time to enjoy this. I need to formulate a plan and take care of the most critical matters first." The mist-shrouded figure grew so excited that his breaths became shallow and rapid, his hands cupping his flushed cheeks. "The very first thing to do, of course, is to head back and properly play around with Vichy!"
A gust of snow and wind swept across the interior of the ocean. The rushing seawater froze solid in an instant, plunging the entire expanse of sea into a deathly, frigid domain. But in the next second, the ice shattered completely, and the mist-shrouded figure emerged from within, kneading the souls of the several demigods who had just perished in his palm.
Once the souls had been condensed down to the size of a lightbulb, the mist-shrouded figure tossed them upward. They turned into an eerie blue light source, illuminating the space around him and effortlessly carving out a dry environment within the seawater.
"Such a wonderful body... It would be a waste not to admire it more." The mist-shrouded figure caressed his hands with infatuation. But when he raised his eyes to regard the demigods surrounding him, nothing remained on his face except icy disdain.
"Must I really play you all to death," he sighed with utter exasperation, "before I can go back and play with women?"
Chapter 1067