Die, Replay, Repeat

Xiao Chuxia's heart raced. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Yan Changshou creeping closer, and panic set in. "This isn't the time! You need to break through to the third-tier first!" she urged.

While she was clearly distressed, Fang Xiu stayed completely calm.

"Remember," he said evenly, "if you lie again, I'll make sure it's the last lie you ever tell."

She nodded hurriedly, and only then did he release her wrist.

As soon as she was free, Xiao Chuxia tapped into her abilities. "You're already a third-tier psychic!"

In that moment, Fang Xiu felt a strange force wash over him. The Spiritual Energy in his body surged, and his mind cleared with an intense sharpness.

Her voice broke through the stillness. "Quick! You need to trick yourself—convince yourself you're a third-tier psychic. That's the only way this will work."

"Trick myself?" Fang Xiu muttered under his breath, pulling a small mirror from Xiao Chuxia's pocket.

He stared at his reflection for a second before his eyes lit up with a blood-red glow, and the figure in the mirror flashed with the same blinding red light.

The red aura intensified, and the Specter's Spiritual Energy swirled within him. Using his Blood Pupil ability, Fang Xiu hypnotized himself into believing he had already ascended to third-tier.

As Xiao Chuxia's deception took hold, Fang Xiu's clarity only grew, and his Spiritual Energy flowed even stronger.

Suddenly, Xiao Chuxia screamed, "It's coming! It's coming right at us!"

From the shadows, Yan Changshou—a twisted mass of blood tumors—roared and swung countless crimson tentacles toward Fang Xiu.

The night sky seemed to disappear behind the writhing tentacles, swallowing the moonlight.

Fang Xiu wasted no time. He called upon his last domain power. "Domain activated, Frozen Zone!"

A bone-chilling cold erupted from his Double Dragon Ring. The world around them froze in an instant, visible even to the naked eye.

The crimson tentacles were sealed in ice, and Yan Changshou himself was locked within a towering ice sculpture.

But the ice wasn't built to last. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, growing fast.

Luckily, Fang Xiu didn't need long.

In that fleeting moment, a massive wave of Spiritual Energy exploded from within him. The sheer force of it ignited black flames around his body.

His silver hair whipped wildly in the energy storm, and the blood-red glow in his right eye became so intense it almost looked solid.

Spiritual Energy Awakening: 40%… 41%! Third-tier!

The instant Fang Xiu reached third-tier, he felt something shift deep within.

It was like a shell cracking open inside him, releasing a dark, ancient force he had never known.

CRACK. CRACK.

The ice continued to splinter.

"Fang Xiu!" Yan Changshou's voice, echoing like a ghost from the depths of hell, shattered the air.

The ice exploded into shards.

But Fang Xiu was ready.

His power, now fully awakened, surged through him. He could feel it coursing in every fiber of his being.

The blood-red light in his eyes blazed even brighter, his twisted grin stretching wider across his face.

The black flames around him morphed with his expression, almost as if the demon within was laughing too.

"Hehehe... What a beautiful power."

A powerful aura erupted from Fang Xiu, signaling his third-tier breakthrough. The energy of the Specter surged from the Genesis Mask, sending black flames roaring into the sky.

The sheer force of it all caught Yan Changshou off guard. He hadn't expected Fang Xiu to wield such immense power so quickly, and it was bordering on the strength of a fourth-tier psychic.

"Third-tier or not, you're still going to die!" Yan Changshou bellowed, his voice dripping with fury as his blood-soaked hand, bristling with tentacles, swung down toward Fang Xiu.

"Die?" Fang Xiu's grin was twisted and wild. "Let me show you what real power looks like."

His power roared to life—Manifestation of Pain!

"Taotie Descends!"

With a sharp clap of his hands, pitch-black Spiritual Energy exploded outward.

What unfolded next was something out of a nightmare.

The sky bled red, the ground cracked open like glass, and the air churned as if it were boiling.

Slowly, an enormous shadow began to rise from beneath Fang Xiu, growing and growing until it seemed to swallow the sky itself.

It was an unholy mountain of decaying, blackened flesh, pulsing with twisted veins and squirming muscle.

At the peak of this grotesque formation sat a rotting head—massive and horrifying.

This was the shadow of Taotie, a creature so monstrous that its very existence seemed to crush the souls of all who gazed upon it.

Its low, incoherent whispers echoed through the battlefield, sending shivers down the spine of everyone within earshot.

Fang Xiu stood triumphantly on top of the beast's decaying head, towering over everything below like a dark god.

This was his new ability after reaching the third-tier: Manifestation of Pain. Though he couldn't summon the real Taotie yet, even this projection was more than enough to terrify anyone who faced it.

The moment Taotie's projection appeared, a deathly silence swept across the battlefield.

It was as if the very air had been sucked from the world. The only thing left was the oppressive, soul-crushing fear radiating from the beast.

Everyone—whether injured or still fighting—froze in place. All eyes were glued to the nightmarish figure that loomed over them, their faces painted with terror.

Even Fang Moli, Joker, and the others who had seen countless battles were stunned beyond words. The shock in their eyes was unmistakable.

"What is that monster? An S-Class? No... A hundred S-Class beings couldn't come close to this horror!"

"Is the world about to end?" someone screamed, their voice trembling with fear, as others felt the same dread creeping up their backs.

Yan Changshou, who stood directly in front of Taotie, was paralyzed with terror. His attack faltered, and his body refused to move.

Taotie's size alone dwarfed him a hundred times over, but it wasn't just the creature's sheer mass. The horrifying energy pouring from the projection seemed to suffocate Yan Changshou, freezing him to his core.

The whispers coming from the beast sent shockwaves through his body, threatening to tear him apart from the inside.

The Specters that made up Yan Changshou's very being were unraveling under the pressure. He could feel himself falling apart just by standing in Taotie's presence.

"W-What is this thing?!" he screamed, eyes wide with disbelief, like a mortal staring into the abyss, meeting a demon from the depths of hell.

Fang Xiu stood tall atop the decaying beast, looking down at Yan Changshou with the detached amusement of a god mocking a bug.

His voice dripped with dark satisfaction. "You should be honored, Yan Changshou. Few ever get the chance to experience the same pain I've lived through."

Yan Changshou's mind broke under the weight of what he was witnessing. "No! This can't be real! My power commands Specters! How could you possibly summon something like this? It's... It's impossible!"

"Pathetic!" Fang Xiu's laughter rang out, cold and cruel, echoing across the battlefield. "Take your confusion with you... to hell!"