Shadow Hack

Panda Novel

“Immediate death,” Li Yunmu said with a smile. “This bird beast wasn’t very formidable; it should be a cub. If it was a mature one, this combatant’s head and body would’ve been separated already.”

By his side, Brunhilda was leaning across the railing and watching the battle on the stage. The two enormous arms above her head were peeling a fruit and putting it in her mouth.

“This combatant is only a flux expert. If they had sent a mature bird beast, how would he deal with it? If he had been instantly killed, this colosseum wouldn’t be so lively. Alright, Chen Xiu has come.”

Li Yunmu turned around and looked at the Chen Xiu, who had a pale complexion but was full of formidable power. Upon taking note of it, hint of astonishment appeared in Li Yunmu’s eyes and he asked, “Have you become god?”

Chen Xiu nodded, and Li Yunmu, while embracing Brunhilda, left the colosseum. He then entered a nearby house and went up the stairs to the fourth floor with Chen Xiu following behind him.

In the colosseum, Domingle was sitting at the highest position, and he saw Chen Xiu walking behind two people of Asura City. When he noticed someone who should have been dead, a hint of suspicion appeared in his eyes, and he turned around to look at Jasmine and Luo Tian.

“You two, guess who I saw just now?”

“Who?”

Luo Tian and Jasmine did not turn around and asked casually while looking at the battle between the combatant and a tiger beast.

“I saw Chen Xiu just now, following behind two unfamiliar people.”

The moment Domingle finished speaking, Jasmine and Luo Tian turned around with incredulity on their faces.

“How is it possible, isn’t Chen Xiu already dead?”

“Yes, we personally saw a divine presence erupting inside the city lord’s mansion. You shouldn’t try to cheat the two of us.”

Domingle wanted to explain himself when he suddenly thought of something and mysteriously said, “What if we dispatch people to check whether Chen Xiu is here or not? If he is, then we can go see personally.”

After saying that, Domingle waived his hand to attract an attendant and said something in his ears. Once he finished, the attendant walked away without saying anything. Before a long time had passed—the combatant and the tiger beast were still busy fighting—the attendant returned and presented the information he obtained to Domingle.

“What happened, did you see wrong?” Jasmine asked with a frown.

Domingle shook his head and revealed a hint of smile before saying, “It is Chen Xiu. He followed two others into a room inside a four-story building. How about we go and personally take a look?”

Jasmine nodded, becoming excited all of a sudden.

The three of them left the colosseum soon after and proceeded towards the four-story building.

Inside a room of the four-story building, Chen Xiu was respectfully kneeling on the ground while paying his respects to Brunhilda and Li Yunmu.

After doing that, he stood up and said, “Master, according to your plan, I got close to Ancient God Asura and became his son. Then, he gave me enough power of belief to become a god.”

Li Yunmu nodded and said with a smile, “This Asura is not alert and directly adopted you as his son. Before, I was sure that you would need more time hiding by his side to obtain his confidence. But this is also good. We can speed up our plan. The only thing that remains now is your cultivation as a god.”

“What about it, master?” Chen Xiu asked suspiciously.

Li Yunmu walked to Chen Xiu’s side and placed his hand on Chen Xiu’s shoulder, sensing the enormous power within him. Some divine power entered Chen Xiu’s body and circulated inside him. It soon reached his dantian and saw a dazzling ball of light with extended tentacles entrenched on the antenna.

The divine power withdrew, and Li Yunmu sat down on the chair, understanding everything. At the Pipa Clan, he had seen Liu Bailing use her jade pipa to raise her cultivation to god realm, which made him curious about the usage of power of belief.

Chen Xiu had advanced from initial stage sage flux expert to god realm, and after examining him, Li Yunmu finally understood what was going on. The difference between relying on one’s ability to increase cultivation and relying on the power of belief was like the difference between poor players and rich players in an online game.

Those without resources could only advance steadily like poor players, while the rich ones could rely on the power of belief. The poor players would need to spend much more time, but the strength they obtained would be more steady and consolidated.

The rich players could use the power of belief to raise their strength straight to whichever level they need. The difference between the two sides, however, was that choosing the first path meant following a difficult road first then going down an easy path while choosing the other meant following an easy path early and experiencing difficulties later.

Once someone used the power of belief to raise their strength and it completely fused with their cultivation, they could only use an even larger amount of power of belief in the future to increase their strength. Otherwise, even if they cultivated a thousand or ten thousand years, it would be of no use to them.

“Chen Xiu, do you intend to choose the path of power of belief or the path of steadily advancing which I prepared for you? If you choose to fuse in the power of belief, you will remain a god.

“If you choose to increase your strength steadily, however, your cultivation will return to initial stage sage flux expert level, and it will take you a long time to become a god,” Li Yunmu said while looking at Chen Xiu.

On the journey, he had discussed that question with Chen Xiu. At that time, Chen Xiu had agreed with him. But before, Chen Xiu had not been a god due to the power of belief bestowed by Asura, and perhaps his choice would be different afterwards.

“Master has helped me in choosing the path of steady advancement, so I will naturally continue with it. But the power of belief provided by Asura has already entrenched itself in my body, so what should we do about it?” Chen Xiu said resolutely while looking back at him.

“Power of belief can be extracted. But while it is being extracted, you will suffer an unbearable pain. Moreover, you have to sacrifice something to obtain something else, so you will be forced to stay in a secret place while my shadow substitutes for you and stays by Asura’s side. You must be mentally prepared for that.”

Chen Xiu nodded, and Li Yunmu stood up and placed a hand on Chen Xiu’s dantian. Divine power flowed out from his five fingers and formed a pale white whirlpool.

A formidable absorption power appeared at the lower end of the whirlpool, shaking up the power of belief which had taken roots in the dantian. The pain of countless tentacles being pulled out from one’s flesh was unbearable. Instantly, a wave of intense pain submerged Chen Xiu. He was on the verge of fainting, but remained conscious with his firm will.

A ball of dazzling light appeared in Li Yunmu’s hand, and Brunhilda, who was standing by his side, curiously observed the power of belief.

Once Li Yunmu finished with it, a ball of black fog rose up from his shadow and formed into Chen Xiu.

He threw the ball of light into the shadow, and white light blossomed in the room. After it disappeared, a divine presence was emitted by the shadow’s body.

Chen Xiu was paralyzed on the chair, gasping for breath, but he still looked at the shadow identical to him with curiosity. He extended his hand to touch its hand, but found it no different from a real person. If he hadn’t personally seen the black god transform into his appearance, he would have thought that he had a twin brother.