Once the dual-blade form activated, Feng Qi began to fall under the influence of overwhelming negative emotions. His emotions quickly spiraled out of control.
Scenes started flashing rapidly through his mind.
The negative energy he now wielded didn't come from his own emotions—it came from Zai Lin. And with it, he saw the many agonies Zai Lin had endured.
The suffering began with the destruction of his race during the war.
The death of his parents left a wound deeper than any blade. Zai Lin was left aimless, uncertain of the future.
That was when the seeds of negative emotion first took root.
During their migration with the last of their people, both of his younger brothers died from starvation. From that moment on, Zai Lin began to truly hate this cursed world.
Then came the years of being captured and used as a test subject—a lab rat. His body slowly decayed, trapped in pain, forever on the brink of death.
His life was like a leaf adrift in a stormy ocean—always on the verge of being extinguished.
After barely escaping that living hell, he met another wanderer in the same situation. He thought they could help each other survive.
But all he got in return was betrayal and torture.
And so the years went on. His life was nothing but pain.
Having faced despair again and again, a demon was born in Zai Lin's heart.
That demon was the very Negative Consciousness that ultimately killed him.
Now borrowing the power of that same Negative Consciousness, Feng Qi felt all the pain Zai Lin had lived through.
The deeper he sank into it, the more his mind was flooded with violent resentment.
And because his negative persona was still linked with his main consciousness, the hatred began to infect his core self as well.
Destruction, death, despair, fear… he wanted to drown the entire world in endless catastrophe, to let it rot in the shadows of hopelessness.
And deep inside, a disgust for life itself began to rise.
As his transformation completed, a twisted foggy pattern emerged behind Feng Qi's back.
The pattern kept shifting—torment, suffering, betrayal… one image after another—until it finally solidified into a terrifying demon.
It was the Asura Demon, born from the deepest evil within Zai Lin's soul.
Left hand held the Ghost Blade. Right hand gripped the Demon Blade.
Gray and pitch-black flames burned fiercely in his hands.
At this moment, he looked like a demon that had crawled up from the depths of hell.
He crouched slowly, storing strength. Both weapons crossed before his chest.
His face twisted, lips pulling into a warped, maniacal grin.
"Kill!"
Overwhelmed by the influence of negative energy, Feng Qi lost control of his body. Driven by sheer instinct to slaughter, he shot forward like a streak of light.
Ahead, a tall specter wrapped in black mist raised a claw covered in talismans. Around it, countless ghostly figures responded to its command and flew straight toward Feng Qi.
But none of them even needed a blade swing.
The flames on Feng Qi's body ignited them on contact, turning them to ashes in an instant.
He charged through, headed straight for the talisman-covered specter.
His left hand struck first, slashing the Ghost Blade forward.
The strike was silent—no sonic boom, no gust of air. Just a clean slice.
In that instant, the field of negative energy engulfed the target.
The Ghost Blade inflicted no physical harm. Instead, it unleashed a soul-deep invasion.
As Feng Qi's figure passed through the specter, a patch of gray spread rapidly from the wound across its entire body.
Boom!
Power exploded. The specter disintegrated under the pressure of the negative force, its form completely erased.
"Heh heh… hahaha!"
The smile on Feng Qi's face carried no trace of warmth—just pure madness and ecstasy.
As he landed, his right hand swung the Demon Blade wide.
It instantly expanded like a mountain crashing down, sweeping toward the enemies rushing from the right.
Boom!
The bluestone street cracked apart. A massive shockwave surged forward like a roaring dragon, flattening buildings for over a hundred meters and throwing up clouds of dust.
The ghostly figures caught in the blast were shredded into energy fragments, drawn by the Demon Blade into itself, converting into energy and pouring into Feng Qi's body.
Without pausing, Feng Qi—still in his hysterical state—rushed forward again.
Dual-wielding, he was like an Asura incarnate, slicing through wave after wave of enemies. Nothing could withstand a single blow from him.
Sensing the danger, a massive figure of ghostly green energy appeared beside him.
It raised its hand, summoning a formation over ten meters wide that descended to trap Feng Qi within.
But Feng Qi didn't even try to dodge.
He leapt high, and the Demon Blade in his right hand howled like a dragon breaking free from water, piercing the formation's energy veil.
Right after, his Ghost Blade plunged into the chest of the massive specter.
Gray spread like wildfire. The specter froze on the spot—its consciousness dragged into the negative domain, forced to endure a hellish torment of suffering akin to the Eighteen Layers of Hell.
As Feng Qi landed, the Demon Blade in his right hand suddenly lashed out.
Boom!
The massive ghostly figure couldn't withstand the terrifying power of the Demon Blade. Its body shattered into glowing energy particles, all drawn into the Demon Blade and absorbed.
"Hahahahaha!"
Feng Qi leaned back into a crouch, the blazing flames on his twin blades flaring like a pair of wings as he slowly raised them.
His vision had also changed under the Asura form.
In his left eye, the world had become nothing but shades of gray and white, stripped of all color.
In his Demon Eye, everything was dazzling—countless spiritual energy particles floated in the air, visible to him alone.
The fusion of the two visions revealed something terrifying—countless threads of energy drifting in from the north of the city, manipulating the ghostly creatures in secret.
He raised the Demon Blade and stepped forward, slashing it downward without hesitation.
Boom!
The ground quaked. A crack burst forth along with a shockwave that swept straight ahead. All ghostly figures along the path were annihilated, clearing a path several hundred meters long.
Pushing off the ground, Feng Qi turned into a beam of light, streaking toward the hidden presence behind the scenes.
"Hahahahaha!"
His manic laughter echoed through the air as the negative energy consuming him intensified.
Strange, grotesque patterns began to crawl across his skin, and the hazy demon behind him became clearer by the second.
The puppeteer behind the ghosts clearly realized things had spiraled out of control—the bell chimed again.
Then, heavy, synchronized footsteps approached from afar.
Behind the swirling yellow paper mist, an entire squad of skeletal warriors appeared, each over three meters tall and fully armed with battle axes, warhammers, and other weapons. They marched forward in perfect formation.
But Feng Qi didn't slow down.
Instead, his speed abruptly increased.
The Ghost Blade in his hand slashed forward in a wide arc.
A gray crescent swept across the skeletal warriors with frightening speed. As it passed through them, they all suddenly froze, as if the threads connecting them to their master had been severed.
The Demon Blade followed up immediately.
His body leaned forward mid-sprint, twisting from right to left. As the blade rose to its peak, it suddenly extended to sixty meters in length—like a colossal black mountain crashing down.
When the blade struck the ground, a massive shockwave shattered the surrounding buildings. Rubble flew in all directions, ground into dust. The skeletal warrior army on the main road was smashed deep into the earth.
Crack!
Overusing the Demon Blade, Feng Qi's right arm let out the unmistakable sound of bones fracturing—his shoulder dislocated on the spot.
But he didn't feel a thing.
The storm of negative emotion clouding his mind drowned out all pain. All he wanted was to keep killing.
Blood energy from the Demon Blade surged into his body.
The broken bones in his right arm began healing on their own. As the blade shrank back to its original size, Feng Qi raised it once more.
He crouched again, a savage grin spreading across his face.
The ground beneath him suddenly caved in, and in the next instant, his body shot out like a beam of light toward the city center.
More and more death-type creatures emerged to block his path.
But with his twin blades, none of them could stand even a single exchange.
The Ghost Blade shattered the mind.
The Demon Blade crushed the flesh.
Feng Qi ran faster and faster, and deep inside, the sealed Negative Consciousness began to stir—pounding against the boundaries of his soul, trying to break free and merge into the Asura form.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dust clouds surged around him as he charged toward the heart of the city.
More and more death-type creatures appeared along the way. Besides the energy-based ones, physical forms had started showing up.
Vicious spirits, malevolent ghosts, skeletal warriors, corpse beasts—they threw themselves at Feng Qi in droves, trying to stop his advance.
Through waves of hysteria and laughter, Feng Qi pushed his body past its limits.
Empowered by immense strength, both his spirit and flesh endured crushing pressure from the twin forces at play.
The Ghost Blade's negative energy constantly gnawed at his soul like countless hands from hell, trying to drag him into the abyss.
Meanwhile, the overdrive from the Demon Blade placed unbearable strain on his body. His bones broke and healed repeatedly, pushing him to the very brink.
And when a terrifying figure with a scythe appeared up ahead, a pitch-black flame ignited in Feng Qi's heart.
The God Ascension Challenge had begun.
A black pattern surfaced on the Demon Blade's surface and lit up.
At the same time, the Asura Ghost Blade—its mirrored twin—flared with the same pattern.
Feng Qi closed in on the scythe-wielding horror. He suddenly leapt into the air, the flames in his eyes burning like twin suns, radiating brilliant light.
Both blades slashed down at once.
The scythe-wielding figure raised its weapon in response, swinging to meet the strike.
Their figures crossed paths mid-air.
Feng Qi landed on one knee. Blood mist burst from his body. Cracks ran all across his skin, and fresh blood poured down.
He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood at the corner of his mouth. The taste of blood spread through his mouth.
Feng Qi slowly stood up and kept walking forward without looking back.
Behind him, a massive figure holding a scythe now had an X-shaped gash across its chest, cutting straight through its body.
Boom!
With a deafening blast, the figure exploded. The burst of energy chased after Feng Qi's departing figure.
Growing through slaughter.
Once the God Ascension Challenge had been activated, the out-of-control Feng Qi turned himself into a sharpened blade, and the external pressure became his whetstone.
For an overburdened body, there were only two outcomes—either it would snap under the pressure, or it would undergo rebirth and evolve.
Manic laughter echoed ahead as Feng Qi darted through the death-born creatures.
Where the Ghost Blade passed, death creatures turned to gray stone and crumbled away. Where the Demon Blade slashed, everything was destroyed like dry rot.
The death aura leaking from those creatures meant nothing against the aura of destruction pouring out from his Negative Persona or the slaughter intent of the Demon Blade. It couldn't touch him.
The Demon Blade symbolized ultimate killing. The God Ascension Challenge fed on killing to grow stronger.
Negative emotions devoid of empathy meant ultimate destruction. Deep within, an endless desire to destroy burned uncontrollably.
Two extremes of evil merged.
At this moment, Feng Qi became the embodiment of ultimate evil.
As he slaughtered, his negative emotions were fully unleashed.
But rather than subsiding, his rage and hatred only grew stronger.
Like a demon that had broken free of its chains and tasted blood, he drowned in the euphoria of bloodlust.
"Haha…hahahaha!"
With a crazed laugh, Feng Qi rushed forward. Bones flew in every direction wherever he passed.
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
In his dual Asura blade form, Feng Qi wielded devastating mental attacks with the Ghost Blade and overwhelming physical destruction with the Demon Blade.
Even the Demon Blade's own consciousness was being affected by his bloodthirst—it, too, began to brim with hostility.
The bell's chime suddenly grew urgent.
The echo of it rang nonstop in his head like commands being directly uploaded into his brain.
Feng Qi, holding his two blades, came to a halt.
His vision started to blur under the bell's influence.
His consciousness wavered, and once again, he fell into an illusion.
The fluttering yellow paper disappeared. The ruined streets returned to their original intact form.
From the city center, a towering golden figure slowly rose. Its body was enormous, like a mountain. Talismans swirled around it, golden light shone all over its form.
It radiated a holy aura.
The figure looked like a divine being untouched by mortal dust, casting a cold gaze down upon Feng Qi.
As he stared up at it, Feng Qi's brain kept repeating the same message—this was a god. An unbeatable, invincible, supreme being.
In front of a god, lay down your blade.
Commands of cognitive rewriting surged into Feng Qi's mind. His expression grew dazed.
He knew what he was seeing was fake, but his brain gradually accepted the illusion as reality—believing it to be the truth.
Just as he was about to loosen his grip on the Demon Blade and the Ghost Blade, two mad voices shouted in unison inside his head:
"Kill!"
At the moment Feng Qi was about to lose himself, the energies of both the Negative Persona and the Demon Blade suddenly exploded.
The Demon Blade's consciousness had once again sensed the presence of a Miracle artifact.
That presence infuriated the Demon Blade to its core.
To kneel before a Miracle? Unacceptable.
When its wielder forged the blade with his own body, its very core had been shaped around shattering the so-called miracles. How could it bow?
"I am a mere mortal, but I can still slay gods—kill!"
The Demon Blade's frenzied voice roared through Feng Qi's mind. The flames coiled around the blade surged upward, casting twisted shadows across Feng Qi's face.
The Negative Persona was also stirred.
In its eyes, there should be no god that ruled over order. All things should return to void and chaos. Destruction and death were the true reality.
This world didn't need gods. No one had the right to become his god.
"If there is a god, then slay the god—kill!"
That raspy voice of the Negative Persona echoed after the Demon Blade's, reverberating in Feng Qi's mind.
In his ultimate evil form, he didn't believe any so-called supreme being existed.
Even as the commands of cognitive rewriting kept flooding his brain, they couldn't affect the darkness etched into his very bones.
Feng Qi slowly raised his head.
He looked up at the towering figure radiating divine light, and a wicked grin twisted his face.
"You bastard—try controlling me again."
As the words fell, he raised both the Ghost Blade and the Demon Blade high into the air.
The gray and black flames reflected across his face, making him look even more sinister. His gray and black eyes were like bottomless pits—like the depths of hell.
As his aura surged skyward, the demonic mist behind him expanded, its monstrous form growing larger, baring its fangs and claws toward the holy figure as it let out an earth-shaking roar.
At that moment, both blades slashed down together.
Twin streaks of gray and black light shot forward—aimed straight at the god.
To slay the divine.