Hei Qi pressed his black blade against Jin Buhuan’s neck. “Bring me to Han Wu!”

If Jin Buhuan remained silent, his head would roll in the next instant. He had no choice. “I will take you to him!”

Jin Buhuan stood up and glanced toward a corner of the street. Jin Tuantuan was trying to run to him, but Sun Qingnian held her back safely. Relief settled in his chest. There were only two things he cared about in life: his family’s prosperity and Jin Tuantuan’s happiness.

At present, the state of his family remained unknown, but at least he had found a good son-in-law. If even he, the powerful city lord, lost, Sun Qingnian and the others would stand no chance. As a father, he would rather Jin Tuantuan live as a coward and have a long life.

“Bring me there!” Hei Qi growled. The evil god had possessed him.

Jin Buhuan feared that the fight would endanger the city, so he led Hei Qi outside its walls. They stopped ten kilometers away, far enough to spare the city from damage. He then took out the jade pendant.

Before Han Wu entered the secret realm, he had given an identical one to Han Wu, one that could summon him back here. Now was the time.

He crushed the pendant and murmured, “Please don’t blame me. If sacrificing you can save my city, then I have no choice.”

The shattered pendant turned into a one-way gate.

Within the secret realm, Han Wu had just cleared a wave of monsters when the gate appeared before him.

How many days have passed? Has the Armament Spirit appeared? He wanted to stay longer to upgrade his Divine Weapons, but the jade pendant could only be used once. If he didn't leave now, he wouldn’t be able to return for a long time.

“I should be fine. My Divine Weapons have improved enough. The Armament Spirit comes first,” he murmured, stepping into the gate.

He emerged and immediately saw a strange monster clad in bone armor and wreathed in black gas. Jin Buhuan stood beside it, his face filled with shame and regret.

Hei Qi spoke sinisterly. “Han Wu, we meet again.”

Han Wu frowned. “Who are you?”

Hei Qi paused, his anger surging. At that moment, the evil god’s influence slipped, and his own ego flared. “You don’t recognize me?”

Han Wu studied the bone armor, the huge mask, and that black gas. He shook his head. “Nope. I don’t know anyone as ugly as you.”

Hei Qi was stunned. He had been humiliated when he was weak, and now he was humiliated again, even after gaining power. What was the point?

“I am Hei Qi, and I will kill you!” He wanted to see Han Wu’s fear and hear him beg for mercy.

Instead, after learning the strange monster’s identity, not only was Han Wu not afraid, but he even mocked him. “Did you drink a jar of radioactive wastewater, or did you eat some sort of mutated beast to end up like this? Your bones are on the outside, and you don’t even have skin and muscles anymore. Terrible, indeed. I doubt your mother would recognize you.”

Each word struck Hei Qi like a blow. Rage consumed him, and he had no interest in arguing. He wanted to cripple Han Wu, then slowly torture him to death. He moved, and the black blade released a powerful blade pressure that could sever Han Wu’s arm in one swing.

Han Wu appeared relaxed, but he remained fully alert. He wasn’t an idiot. Hei Qi had already defeated Jin Buhuan, which meant he was extremely dangerous. Escape was impossible, so his only chance to survive was to fight. He also wanted to test his Divine Weapons’ strength, so he welcomed the opportunity.

Han Wu summoned his Small Locust Blade. After several days within the secret realm, it had reached 6 Stars and rank 65.

Each time it was upgraded, one of its effects improved. Tough had upgraded after the Small Locust Blade reached 4 Stars, raising the effect to the God grade. Another upgrade enhanced Seven Killings, elevating it to God-grade as well, allowing each blade to split into seven additional blades. The remaining two upgrades enhanced Split, enabling the Small Locust Blade to divide across thirty generations.

In theory, given enough time, he could control up to 1,073,741,824 “original” Small Locust Blades. In practice, time remained the limiting factor. For now, Han Wu had only managed to gather 10,000 Small Locust Blades.

He summoned all of them and used Triplicate and Seven Killings. The 10,000 blades multiplied into millions, blotting out even the sun. Under his control, they flowed like a river of steel to block Hei Qi’s black blade pressure.

The individual blades couldn’t withstand the blade pressure and shattered. Han Wu lost more than 10,000 blades before blocking the blow. Still, with millions at his command, the loss amounted to only a fraction. The remaining blades surged forward and pierced toward Hei Qi.

Hei Qi panicked and swung his blade to protect himself. Each blow shattered several blades, but their numbers were overwhelming. Like a locust swarm, they descended on him from various angles.

His bone armor and mask shattered under the assault. His sinister face was exposed in the open air. He refused to yield, wouldn’t admit defeat, and couldn’t accept that Han Wu was that powerful.

The evil god’s voice echoed in his mind again. He didn’t care anymore; he would win at any cost.

“I need strength. Unlimited strength!” Hei Qi roared. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Many eyes popped across the black blade, each one channeling immense power into him. The horrifying power formed thicker bone armor and an even more grotesque mask. Beneath him, a throne of unknown crystal slowly took shape as well.

The overwhelming aura pushed back against the pressure from Han Wu’s millions of blades. If this continued, Han Wu would die.

At that moment, Jin Buhuan staggered forward despite his injuries and approached Han Wu. “Han Wu, listen to me. If you use your Divine Weapons together with the Jin family’s secret technique, we might be able to defeat this monster. The technique is called Armament Baptism!”