Inside Anna Country, Jiang Yan stood amid the mountain range watching the storm that still raged over the distant capital.
The place had basically become a dead city, yet Jiang Yan had not ordered Malgoth to move elsewhere.
"I refuse to believe you won't come looking for me." Jiang Yan glanced at the website on his phone.
Right now the whole world was flooded with posts about the Anna Country incident; even in the dead of night the chatter never stopped.
So many sites and apps were overwhelmed by the discussion that their servers kept crashing for maintenance.
Jiang Yan planned to land a heavy blow on those disgusting people of the Xuanjian Division—right here.
He sank his consciousness into his mind; the pearl of the abyss was full again.
pearl of the abyss: 409,600 / 409,600
"Negative energy at maximum. Summon?"
"Summon!"
Buzz! A shapeless ripple appeared before Jiang Yan; a purple-black cloud emerged and instantly expanded to fifteen metres across.
Rumble—!
Thunderous roars came from within the cloud. Jiang Yan waited for more than ten minutes.
The purple-black cloud vanished, leaving an eleven-metre-tall giant clad in purple-black.
Its skin was smooth and featureless; no eyes, nose, or mouth—only a huge purple eye on the left side of its chest.
Jiang Yan studied the thing and sank into his mind to check its data.
Evil Eye: an entity from the Netherworld, emotionless, a mindless remoulded Monster!
Void Realm: its unique body lets it walk in the Umbral Plane, ignoring all real-world attacks! (Remoulded Monster; immune to soul/spirit control).
Negative Absorption: can drain negative energy from an area, turning it normal! (Energy can replenish Evil Eye's condition).
Observer: hides completely in the Umbral Plane, watching everything around it! (Remains hidden unless it attacks).
Reading the info, then glancing at the intimidating Evil Eye, Jiang Yan's expression turned odd.
"An invincible peeping-tom plus air-purifier—who the hell turns a security camera into this?" He shook his head helplessly.
At first sight he'd been fooled by its appearance and assumed it was a powerhouse rivalling a Fifth-Level Awakener.
After pondering, he looked at Evil Eye. "Enter the Void Realm."
At the command the air around it stayed unchanged, yet Jiang Yan suddenly sensed its presence vanish.
If the towering figure weren't still in front of him, he'd have thought it had disappeared.
"Attack it," Jiang Yan said without turning to Blood Master behind him.
"Understood." Blood Master expressionlessly raised his left hand and fired a red energy beam.
Whoosh! The beam passed straight through Evil Eye without harm, as though the two existed in different spaces.
Boom! The beam struck a mountain a hundred metres away, blasting a twenty-metre crater and flinging dirt dozens of metres sky-high.
Crash! Dirt rained down, filling the air with noise.
"Hmm? Interesting." Blood Master's interest was piqued.
He lifted both hands; countless red spikes instantly covered Evil Eye.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
A flurry of piercing sounds echoed; every spike passed through Evil Eye and slammed into the mountain behind.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Violent energy surged from the mountain a hundred metres away; shock-waves swept past Jiang Yan with each blast.
His clothes and hair whipped wildly.
Seeing Evil Eye unharmed, Blood Master scowled. "President, this thing's in a different space; normal attacks can't touch it."
After two probes he'd roughly grasped Evil Eye's nature.
Jiang Yan nodded. "Enter Observer mode."
Buzz! The eye on Evil Eye's chest glowed purple, then it vanished before them.
Because it was his summon, Jiang Yan could still see it standing there.
He turned to Blood Master. "Can you sense or detect it?"
He ordered Evil Eye to move; it stepped right up to Blood Master until they almost touched, yet Blood Master shook his head. "Can't see or sense it. This ability's insane—plant it inside Xuanjian HQ and we could monitor them completely."
Jiang Yan's lips curved slightly. "No rush—they might already be on their way."
He checked his mind; in just this short time the pearl of the abyss had surged again.
pearl of the abyss: 194,657 / 819,200
Meanwhile, at the border forest between Anna Country and Mbutang Country.
"Huff… huff… huff…" A young martial artist missing his left arm sprinted through the trees.
He kept glancing back, terror on his face.
Rustle! Behind him came the dense sound of leaves and grass being shoved aside.
"Hahaha, where do you think you're running, kid? A Level Three head is worth big points—even without a soul crystal the higher-ups will notice!"
A dozen Monsters chased him, grinning hideously.
"Damn it, why are these freaks so tough?" the youth gritted his teeth and ran for his life.
After he'd killed a few stragglers during the city invasion, over ten of them had popped up to hunt him down.
Under all sorts of weird abilities they'd torn off his arm in ten seconds flat.
"Just run—ten kilometres more and I'll hit a Mbutang garrison; their firepower should buy me time." His eyes blazed with the will to survive.
He was too young to die; he hadn't even started enjoying life.
"So this is the thrill you promised us—a Level Three weakling?" A resigned voice sounded ahead.
Another voice followed: "To grow stronger you challenge the strong. Anna's full of trash—why bother? The president said free action."
The youth jerked his gaze forward, wary. "Who's there?"
He scanned quickly and spotted three figures on a huge tree twenty metres ahead.
In the dark he couldn't see any obvious Monster traits and relaxed slightly.
"Haha, your head's mine!" The instant his guard dropped, air rippled behind him.
A chameleon-like Monster lunged, razor claws aimed at his back.
Thud! A blur flashed from ahead and punched through the Monster's skull; it dropped dead.
The other pursuing Monsters froze, staring ahead warily.
Relief flooded the youth. "Great, let's team up and wipe them out!"
A figure walked toward him, but as it neared the youth's face stiffened.
A dishevelled, bare-chested man with huge wings appeared.
He glanced back at the Monsters and said coldly, "Scram—don't even think of touching my prey."
"Y-yes, Cadre Wei! Leaving right now!" The Monsters paled and fled.