Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 1275 - 29 Spoils of War

Chapter 1275: Chapter 29 Spoils of War

Blood sprayed through the air, and like iron filings drawn to a magnet, it clung to the Soul Dagger.

The ghost bride delivered a powerful kick to Mu Nianqi’s stomach, sending her flying as she advanced on Gu Xueqi and Song Xin. If not for their efforts in treating Li Xinlan, she would have perished long ago.

Feeling utterly dejected, Li Xinlan had barely caught her breath when the bride attacked, forcing her to fight desperately, launching an Ice Wall in an attempt to block the assault—but to no avail; it was easily punctured by the Vine Spear.

The newbies, who had just caught their breath, scattered like cats whose tails had been stepped on, instinctively retreating to distance themselves from the bride.

The bride revealed a mocking smile and spat out two semi-transparent Soul Bombs.

Gu Xueqi fired a Flame Phoenix, which collided with the bombs, causing a shower of sparks. She wielded her machine gun, firing away, but sadly, her bullets were stopped by the Soul Shield.

With a thunderous crash, the bride landed amongst the crowd, instantly grabbing a university student by the neck and brutally twisting it ninety degrees before using him as a human shield.

The newbies fired, with their bullets tearing the alumni’s corpse to shreds.

The bride surveyed the crowd with disdain, noticing her silk stockings were stained and torn with blood. She simply tore them off to reveal her smooth, pale, beautiful legs, which, along with the bloodstained wedding dress, gave her an exceptionally seductive look.

Tang Zheng couldn’t afford to cover the newbies, as he was caught in serious trouble. The Soul Dagger penetrated his flesh, and blood vessels on the blade began to pulsate, greedily sucking blood and turning from black to crimson red in an instant, inducing hallucinatory attacks.

Piercing noise rang in his ears, nearly bursting his eardrums, and his vision filled with floating spectral illusions. Tang Zheng remembered the dagger’s description: the blade would grow in power after consuming the blood of its holder, but who would have imagined it would be like this.

Despite his headache, Tang Zheng gritted his teeth and pulled the dagger out. His body and soul felt as if they were being torn apart by an invisible hand, almost driving him to the brink of a nervous breakdown. However, thanks to the tremendous endurance bestowed by Hero Mode, he finally managed to extract the dagger.

A layer of dark red ghostly light enveloped the blade. Scanning it with his wristwatch, Tang Zheng realized it had temporarily ascended from S-grade to SS-level, with significantly altered attributes.

The Enhanced Soul Dagger, lasting five minutes: upon striking a target, all forms of healing techniques would be unable to mend the wounds for the next ten minutes, targets would suffer random strength reductions of one to three tenths along with various negative effects, note, please use with caution, as there’s a one-third chance that it could kill the wielder while consuming their blood.

Cursing in his mind, Tang Zheng acknowledged the dagger’s might but resolved never to use it again; he had no wish to die before achieving his goals.

Injured, Li Xinlan’s combat effectiveness greatly diminished, posed little threat. The bride shattered the Ice Wall and charged at Gu Xueqi, the most formidable in the group.

Lu Fan, hidden within an eggshell-like sand sphere, attempted stealth attacks, but his Sand Spears were all parried. Though his Sandstorm failed to engulf the flowers, his life was not in immediate danger.

Thanks to the equipment generously given by Tang Zheng, Gu Xueqi saved her points for close-combat techniques, and facing the bride’s fierce onslaught, she danced a capoeira battle sequence, with her legs creating afterimages like butterflies striking at the bride.

The bride countered strength with strength, grabbing Gu Xueqi’s calf, then kicked her in the stomach, followed by spitting out another Soul Bomb.

Gu Xueqi flew out, coughing blood as she crushed numerous roses. The powerful blow prevented her from deploying a phoenix for defense in time, and the bomb’s explosion left her chest a bloody mess.

Vines seized the opportunity to entangle Gu Xueqi’s limbs, but the beauty’s quick reflexes allowed her to strike the ground forcefully, dispatching an explosive punch of flame that incinerated them to ashes.

Ruan Feifei’s Electric Net failed to breach the vine defenses, and after futilely launching an all-out attack, she witnessed Gu Xueqi heavily injured and Tao Ran also spitting blood. The fragile soul hidden beneath her pride could not withstand such pressure, and she started to adopt a defensive strategy, prioritizing her own safety.

With the bride’s wild assault interrupted, the warriors, Tang Zheng’s clone, and the three female musketeers surrounded and launched a fierce attack.

Tang Zheng himself, with a momentum as unstoppable as a thunderbolt, leapt and smashed down at the bride. Spotting the dagger in his hand, the bride’s expression turned serious as she attempted to dodge but was held back by the musketeers as Gravity Suppression descended.

Hiss—the dagger sliced through the air with a sonic boom, grazing the bride’s cheek. The cut finally elicited a scream from her.

"I’m going to slaughter you all!" Just as the bride’s threat fell silent, a rhino-sized O-state eagle swooped towards her like a meteor, its black wings stirring powerful gusts that dispersed countless roses with each beat.

The bride was slammed into the ground, and before she could rise, the warhammer of the warrior came crashing down on her skull. Yet, the damage was minimal. The bride stood up, blasted the warrior away with a Soul Bomb and then saw Tang Zheng lunging from behind.

Thuck—Tang Zheng finally plunged the dagger into the bride’s heart, staining the wedding dress with blood. Gripping three Nightmare Vine shoots, he threw them onto her face, where they wriggled and burrowed into her flesh.

The bride screamed and kicked at Tang Zheng’s abdomen, but he dodged, extracted the dagger and swiftly sliced across her chest.

The low-cut wedding dress had torn, revealing the bride’s fair bosom, which swung violently with her attacks, yet this enticing scene went unappreciated.

Mu Nianqi appeared behind the bride and hacked at her arm with her curved knife, while Tang Zheng shifted to the side, thrusting his dagger upward into her ribs.

The bride’s features contorted in pain, her feet kicked into Tang Zheng’s stomach, flipping him over. This time, when he pulled out the dagger, it carried a wisp of translucent soul fragment.

Not knowing how many bosses were still left, Tang Zheng was reluctant to waste his Rabbit Explosives—otherwise, he would’ve blasted her face into a flower. However, what he did was enough.

After being smeared with Tang Zheng’s blood, the power of the Soul Dagger greatly increased. The bride, who had been struck by the dagger twice, had her self-healing abilities sealed off. Along with breaking through her defenses with the Nightmare Vines, she finally fell into disadvantage.

Mu Nianqi would not miss such an opportunity; her body suddenly split into two clones, each wielding a curved knife and launching a ferocious attack.

Tang Zheng’s summoned minions were numerous, and even the Daylily joined in with cheers and battle cries. In under ten seconds, the bride was riddled with dozens of wounds. Seeing the bad turn of events, she tried to leap away in escape.

Tang Zheng grabbed hold of her smooth calf, and then he slammed her onto the ground. No one held back as they unleashed their signature moves on her with desperation.

The bride spit out several Soul Bombs in succession. Just as she managed to get up, she was struck in the eye socket by a dagger thrown by Tang Zheng, followed by a chop to her head by Xueqi’s blade.

A head with hair flying soared into the sky, before rolling onto the Blue Stone Slab strewn with petals. When Mu Nianqi plunged her curved knife into the heart of the bride, churning it into a mess of broken flesh, the once Sleeping Beauty finally died.

The headless corpse lay among the roses. As the Drizzle and Night Wind blew, it disintegrated into a burst of petals, and the entire sea of flowers withered rapidly, leaving a scene of devastation.

"Finally dead, that bride was tough," Lu Fan said, patting his chest as he came over and picked up three Seeds that had fallen, a crystal-clear blue Potion, and a two-inch Bronze Key, handing them to Tang Zheng.

"That was brutal, are you okay?" Seeing Tang Zheng’s pale face from blood loss, Mu Nianqi asked. Li Xinlan and Gu Xueqi also looked rough, the other Conquerors were fine, but the newbies were less fortunate—over thirty had died. If Zhao Yunwu hadn’t warned them in time, the losses would have been even greater.

"Let’s rest here for a bit—Song Xin, treat the injured!" Tang Zheng pulled out a Recovery Potion and took a gulp before checking the Spoils of War.

The Bronze Key was shown to be a mission Prop with no detailed introduction.

The bridal tears, at SS level, after being ingested, could double the drinker’s seven major physical abilities for a period of time. Note: Each person could only use it once, and drinking more had no effect.

Prying off the bottle cap, Tang Zheng took a sip and casually passed it to Mu Nianqi. It was somewhat like chilled soda, a refreshing coolness spreading on his tongue and then piercing through his chest to his stomach, making him shiver with delight.

"Only enough for twenty people?" Mu Nianqi drank her share and returned the bottle to Tang Zheng. "Give me one Seed."

"You’re getting it for Ge Cang, right?" Tang Zheng wasn’t stingy and tossed her a Golden Seed. Not to mention that Queen Mu had contributed a great deal in the battle, but even if he hadn’t given her one, she could’ve earned it herself. It was better to offer a favor in passing—it’s just the Star Seed that was of some value to the Fearless.

"Everyone take one sip, no more than that." Tang Zheng passed around the bride’s tears. Anyone who fought got a share, including the suspicious Li Xinlan, as he found no excuse to exclude her.

"If these guys are fake, why do they fight so desperately?" Tang Zheng couldn’t understand and began to doubt his judgment. Perhaps it was just his own overthinking.

Gu Xueqi didn’t hesitate; she knew the value of the tears—seven thousand Points. Song Xin remained demure, saying thank you before taking a sip.

Black Long Straight decided silently to work hard in the future, to help Tang Zheng with difficulties. The female broadcaster held the tears in her hands, regret and self-reproach flooding her heart. She felt she had let Tang Zheng down once more and began to doubt herself. Her once proud self was now losing confidence.

"Can I give Ge Cang a sip?" Mu Nianqi tried to secure a small advantage for her brother’s friend.

"He hasn’t activated any abilities yet," Tang Zheng put away the bottle.

"He will activate them." Mu Nianqi understood what Tang Zheng meant. In the big cleanup, Ge Cang would hardly have a chance to sleep for 12 hours.

"Once he has abilities, then he can have some," Tang Zheng hadn’t expected the seemingly aloof Mu Nianqi to show such a side, realizing that when it came to friends, it was hard to remain indifferent.

"Forget it," Ge Cang said when he saw Mu Nianqi about to argue further and grasped her arm. "It’s not worth spoiling the relationship over me."

"What about the others? We took down the ghost bride; what boss did the other team face?" Lu Fan looked at the empty small town, unable to find any trace of Dantai and the others.

The Fairy Tale Town under the night sky, soaked in the rain, lay silent and lifeless. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)