The ever-changing array vanished from his palm, replaced by a weapon.
<What is it? What is it? Let me see.>
<This should be the only weapon in the dungeon. It must be super strong. Damn, I’m hyped.>
<God Qi, counterattack! Defeat the Soul Ghost! Charge!!>
The light gradually faded, and Qi Dengzui’s palm was empty.
But beside him appeared,
A cannon.
Qi Dengzui: “…”
Guan Si: “…”
Chu Yang and Ji Mi, watching from the side: “…”
Wait, no one said that an item not found in the shop, unrestricted by the exam venue, would be a goddamn cannon!
At this moment, whether inside the exam, outside the exam, or Xie Buyu and Lian Zhuo secretly watching from the shadows, everyone fell silent.
An ancient exam venue, an invulnerable black-suited skeleton Soul Ghost and in this situation, a cannon gets pulled out.
This was practically a dimensionality reduction strike!
Jumping straight from an agrarian society to an industrial one.
Absolutely absurd.
They should have seen it coming. If a Soul Ghost could wear a modern black suit in an ancient exam venue, then Qi Dengzui pulling out any weapon shouldn’t have been surprising.
The livestream viewers barely managed to convince themselves to accept this ridiculous plot, while the Soul Ghost was still frozen in place, not having processed what was happening.
Its pupils were shaking violently. It couldn’t make heads or tails of this exam venue.
Qi Dengzui’s expression was grim. Without hesitation, he fired two shots.
The Soul Ghost’s body reacted faster than its mind, immediately turning to flee, trying to escape the cannon’s range.
Qi Dengzui’s face cold, he released a talisman.
<Talisman Launcher: 50% chance to fire a talisman, controlling the vengeful spirit for 3 seconds.>
[Congratulations, judgment successful. Talisman fired.]
The Soul Ghost was locked in place by the talisman, and both shells hit it dead-on.
“Boom, boom”
Dust filled the air, the entire exam venue shrouded in thick smoke, nearly swallowed by black fog.
The Soul Ghost took damage, and a health bar appeared above its head.
[Black-Suited Vengeful Spirit, HP: 70%]
Qi Dengzui didn’t wait for it to react. Another shot.
[Black-Suited Vengeful Spirit, HP: 40%]
[Black-Suited Vengeful Spirit, HP: 10%]
No one knew how many shells a real cannon could hold, but the cannon Qi Dengzui had pulled out only had one shell left, clearly the system had calculated exactly how many shells were needed to destroy the Soul Ghost.
One final shot would completely eliminate it.
However, unexpectedly, Qi Dengzui didn’t use the last shell. Instead, he pulled out another item.
<Guillotine: When a vengeful spirit’s HP drops below 30%, instantly deal damage equal to 10% of its max HP.>
10% just enough to kill the Soul Ghost!
The Soul Ghost let out a furious roar, watching helplessly as the miniature guillotine in Qi Dengzui’s hand suddenly expanded several times its size, flew above its head, and a massive blade swung up into the air.
Snap.
Its head was severed.
The Soul Ghost dissipated into smoke instantly.
It was all over.
<There are too many things to complain about. I don’t even know where to start. No, seriously, that cannon is genuinely insane. Which genius came up with that?>
<I considered every possible weapon, but a cannon was the last thing I expected.>
<God Qi has so many items, damn. One after another. The Soul Ghost was completely dumbfounded.>
<Hey, isn’t the pause time almost up?>
Qi Dengzui caught his breath and put away the cannon with shells still remaining.
“Qi Dengzui!”
Hearing his name, Qi Dengzui turned around. At the same time, the half-hour finally came to an end.
This Soul Ghost had been killed almost entirely by Qi Dengzui and Guan Si. Chu Yang and Ji Mi had basically just watched, contributing little.
Chu Yang awkwardly waved his hand and said, “I didn’t expect you to be this strong. How many items do you have left?”
Qi Dengzui let out a cold laugh. “No comment.”
Ji Mi asked him, “Are you going to the Body Dimension to kill the Body Ghost next?”
“Naturally.” Qi Dengzui didn’t waste more words with them. He didn’t use the ten-minute pause to chat, instead returning to his own room.
At this stage of the exam, Chu Yang the lone wolf and the “Yin-Yang Master” were unreliable. Ji Mi’s abilities were still unknown. The only ones they could rely on were themselves.
Qi Dengzui returned to his body. His soul was severely damaged not fatal, but it greatly affected his ability to control his body. He had to end the exam quickly while the Liar was still inactive.
Once the Liar realized he was in a weakened state, not only would he be in danger, but Guan Si would be too.
Qi Dengzui lay on the bed, quietly resting for a moment.
“Qi-ge.”
Guan Si called out softly above his head.
Qi Dengzui couldn’t see him, but the moment he heard Guan Si’s voice, he lifted his head.
“What?”
Guan Si floated to his forehead and said, “Look up.”
Qi Dengzui didn’t know that, in the dimension he couldn’t see, Guan Si very, very gently touched his forehead.
Like a dragonfly skimming the water’s surface, there wasn’t even a sensation of touch.
He looked upward, his posture proud, while Guan Si bowed his head downward, willingly.
Across the span of a different space-time, Guan Si kissed Qi Dengzui.
“It’s nothing.” Like sugar dissolving into water, joy seeped out of Guan Si’s heart bit by bit, and his voice was light as he said, “I’m just suddenly a little happy. Maybe it’s because we destroyed the soul-devouring ghost, and I feel much lighter.”
Qi Dengzui said, “Too much pressure? If you’re tired, go rest in the Sea of Consciousness for a while. I’ll try to finish this within two rest periods.”
Guan Si shook his head and said, “I’m not tired, Brother Qi. What do you plan to do next?”
“Next?” Qi Dengzui’s mind stirred, and he said, “We just wait for the fish to take the bait.”
Ji Mi returned to the physical space-time. After Meng Shu was killed, she had become the lowest level of vengeful ghost, possessing only enhanced physical abilities but no consciousness of her own. Therefore, Ji Mi easily found the wandering ghost Meng Shu.
Soul-devouring ghosts were clearly a higher tier of ghost, possessing their own consciousness and thoughts. When they sensed their opponent was in a bad state, they would even grow arrogant.
Ji Mi muttered incantations under his breath, seemingly using some kind of spell formula. His fingers shifted and changed, constructing a formation.
The formation flew onto Meng Shu’s body, and in that instant, the ghost Meng Shu’s body trembled and stopped moving.
Ji Mi’s face was pale as paper constructing the formation had clearly drained much of his energy. But he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he smiled at the ghost Meng Shu and said, “Little Shu, are you alright?”
The ghost Meng Shu nodded stiffly, responding through her damaged vocal cords: “I’m… fine, Ji… Mi.”
Beside Ji Mi lay a broken surveillance camera, silent and still.
If anyone had witnessed this scene of him communicating with Meng Shu, they would have easily recognized his identity.
He was the famous tactician of the Supernatural Academy the Ghost Tamer.
He patted Meng Shu’s head and said, “Little Shu, come with me. Don’t wander around, someone might hurt you.”
The ghost Meng Shu nodded in jerky motions and said, “I’ll… follow… Ji… Mi.”
And so, one human and one ghost walked in neat formation, like a line, toward the direction of the shop.
When they reached the shop, Ji Mi said, “Little Shu, go inside the shop and don’t come out. It’s safe here. Qi Dengzui and the others won’t go in, so they can’t kill you.”
The ghost Meng Shu obediently walked inside, her movements slow and sluggish. If not for her truly terrifying appearance, it would have been a rather endearing scene.
The ghost Meng Shu waved her mangled, flesh-torn hand and said, “Ji… Mi, I’ll… wait… for you.”
Ji Mi smiled wryly and said, “Alright.”
【The ten-minute rest period has ended. The game continues!】
Qi Dengzui took a moment to recover, his body feeling a bit better. He said, “Guan Si, the soul-devouring space-time seems to have gone quiet.”
“Mm.” Guan Si drifted slightly and said, “There’s no one left in the soul-devouring space-time. Ji Mi and Chu Yang and the others should have all gone to the physical space-time.”
“Is that so?”
Qi Dengzui’s expression darkened.
Chu Yang’s door had been broken, why would he go to the physical space-time? Shouldn’t he have stayed in the soul-devouring space-time where the ghosts were already gone?
Qi Dengzui pushed open the door, went through the usual routine of turning off the lights in the corridor, and only then stepped out of the room.
Three rest periods had already passed since the exam began. If nothing unexpected happened, the exam would end within at least two more rest periods.
Qi Dengzui had only taken a few steps when he ran straight into Chu Yang.
Chu Yang said, “Qi Dengzui, did you hear any noise?”
“No.” Qi Dengzui asked him, “Why? Did you run into a ghost?”
“Yeah.” Chu Yang pointed at the corridor behind him. “Just now I heard footsteps. I couldn’t tell if it was Ji Mi or a vengeful ghost, so I ran over to find you. Should we go check it out together?”
Qi Dengzui’s voice rang out in the darkness: “Alright.”
The two walked along the direction Chu Yang had indicated. The further they went, the brighter their surroundings became, this area clearly hadn’t had its lights turned off.
As they walked, Chu Yang said to Qi Dengzui, “Qi Dengzui, I feel like it’s gotten chilly around here. It feels like something’s on my back.”
Qi Dengzui said, “Is that so? Want me to take a look?”
“Sure.” Chu Yang responded, then turned around and suddenly shouted, “Qi Dengzui, watch out!”
The next moment, a scythe swung straight at Qi Dengzui.
That strike startled both Qi Dengzui and Chu Yang.
What startled Qi Dengzui was that the scythe didn’t come from any ghost it came from Chu Yang. Chu Yang was trying to kill him!
And what caught Chu Yang completely off guard was that Qi Dengzui wasn’t hit at all. In front of him, a white shield caught the scythe’s attack.
It was Guan Si’s skill.
“You…” Chu Yang said in disbelief, “How could you.”
“How could I be on guard against you, is that it?”
Qi Dengzui said, “This isn’t your first time trying to kill me, is it? Let me think was your first attempt right at the start of the ten-minute rest period just now?”
“You called my name to divert my attention and seize the chance to kill me, but you didn’t expect it to coincide with the rest period, so you had to retreat empty-handed. Am I right?”
“Actually, there were no footsteps here at all. You were just trying to lure me over to kill me.”
“You… are you the Liar?”
Qi Dengzui subdued Chu Yang, staring into his eyes as he asked.
Chu Yang’s expression froze in surprise, then he began to laugh, his voice low and deep. “You know far too much. I have to say, you’re the fastest one I’ve seen progress in this examination hall.”
He suddenly broke free from Qi Dengzui’s restraint, hoisting the sharp scythe of the Grim Reaper onto his shoulder, his gaze dark and sinister. “However, I’m sorry, Qi Dengzui.”
“You’re not leaving this examination hall.”