We agreed to seek enlightenment together, but how did you end up seeking enlightenment for my mother

Chi Feng's forehead veins bulged and his eyes twitched wildly; he was furious beyond measure.

"You're an Alliance spy?! Damn it, I should have known!"

Xu Zhou neither admitted nor objected, but simply gave a meaningful smile and casually waved his hand at Zhenyan's hair.

Unlike [Silent Death (1/5)], Xu Zhou just happened to meet all the prerequisites required to use this golden relic.

[Relic: A strand of hair that was given to the witch as a mantra]

[Restrictions: Special Forces 4, Support Forces 2]

[Effect 1: Controlled by willpower, possessing high strength within the same rating; its duration can be temporarily extended by consuming mystical energy.]

[Effect 2: When connecting with other life forms, both parties can communicate telepathically, and the connection will only consume the holder's mystical energy.]

[Effect 3: When Effect 2 is triggered, there is a chance to stack the marks of the same witch. When ten marks are accumulated, the witch's evil will be attracted.]

[Current marker: 0]

[Relic Trait: Use will affect sanity.]

Even without triggering the effect, simply controlling the relic would consume mystical energy. However, after the previous refining and confrontation, Xu Zhou's body was just full of energy, and he could even feel an incomparably wonderful sense of fullness in his limbs and bones.

It's like a mirage. Before you've seen it with your own eyes, no matter how eloquently others describe it, you won't have any concept of it. But once you've experienced it, you'll never forget it.

Whoosh!

Zhenyan's hair curled up the black robe that had fallen to the ground, and it floated into the air towards Xu Zhou, burrowing into his arm from his wrist, and then disappeared without a trace as if it had never existed.

However, Xu Zhou knew it was there; it was a bond that originated from the depths of his soul.

Chi Feng watched helplessly as his secret treasure was taken away by a cow. For a moment, the doubts in his heart outweighed his hostility towards Xu Zhou, simply because he couldn't understand it.

"You can steal a living person's belongings out of thin air? Without even needing a complicated refining process? You... just who are you?"

From the other party's brief words, Xu Zhou instantly extracted a large amount of key information.

"So, the effect of rotten wood blossoming actually goes against the consensus of most people in this world?"

"Refining relics not only requires the relics themselves to be unclaimed, but also necessitates various complex preliminary preparations?"

"It seems that Kuchiki Iroha is indeed quite powerful... no, she's practically a supermodel."

Without hesitation, Xu Zhou made a decision: unless an unexpected event occurs, he must not easily reveal his talent and abilities in the future.

As for how to fool them right now...

Xu Zhou put on a black robe, casually dusted off the surface dust, and looked at Chi Feng indifferently.

"You don't need to know who I am, you just need to know that we're here for you today."

These words were, in effect, an admission of the priest's earlier suspicions about his identity.

Chi Feng had no doubts. The color slowly faded from his face. At this moment, he seemed to think of many things. The successive blows in reality made him feel dazed. His arms trembled slightly, and he subconsciously shook his head slowly.

"You, one by one... why...?"

He muttered incessantly, his breathing becoming increasingly heavy, and his already bloodshot eyes turned completely crimson. He staggered back two steps, clutching his head, then suddenly raised his head, straightened his chest, spread his arms wide, and let out a roar towards the sky.

"Ah—!! Why is everyone trying to stop me! Is this a test of my faith by the God of Fire!?"

Xu Zhou frowned, watching the priest's performance and pondering how to extricate himself.

He did not become complacent after successfully taking the relic. Unlike Chi Feng, a genuine superhuman, he was ultimately just an ordinary person who could not passively recover his mysterious energy.

Since one's vital essence cannot be directly used to replenish bodily deficiencies, the remaining reserves within the body are finite; every bit used diminishes the remaining amount.

The reason he didn't take advantage of the chaos was entirely out of respect for the enemy. It wasn't that he was polite enough to wait quietly for Chi Feng to finish yelling, but rather that he was worried that the old man on the other side was putting on an act and playing tricks.

After all, at most ten minutes have passed since the end of the confrontation. Perhaps the priest has already accumulated enough mystical energy and is just waiting for Xu Zhou to approach rashly and launch a surprise attack?

"When you sacrificed those innocent people, didn't you consider whether the direction was correct?" Xu Zhou retorted from afar.

"Absurd! Is there any shortcut to transcendence that doesn't involve bloodshed? I'm willing to give up everything to reach the end of this path!" Chi Feng sneered, dismissing the offer with disdain.

Xu Zhou sneered inwardly—of course you can abandon it, after all, it's not you who's going to die.

He hates people who apply double standards the most, unless they are the ones applying double standards.

"No matter what hardships I may endure, my journey of fire worship will never end here!"

Chi Feng's arms were clenched inwards, his veins bulged all over his body, his muscles were clearly defined, and a hazy orange light gradually appeared on his body, making him look extremely strange.

It undoubtedly involved some kind of extraordinary power.

"He really did have a backup plan!"

Xu Zhou felt relieved and, taking advantage of the other person's inattention, suddenly threw out the still-warm stone.

Snapped!

The sneak attack, which he thought would definitely hit, was unexpectedly caught easily by Chi Feng. He slowly raised his eyes to look at Xu Zhou, his scarlet pupils particularly intimidating.

Suddenly, his arm muscles tightened, and with a crisp sound, the stone was crushed into pieces on the spot, making Xu Zhou's heart pound.

"I will kill you, kill the bishop, kill those powerful beings high in the heavens, and all the enemies who stand in my way!" the priest said through gritted teeth.

Xu Zhou could see no rationality in Chi Feng's eyes, only boundless killing intent towards him. That aura almost materialized, pressing heavily on his shoulders.

At this moment, the super intelligence told him that he had to use the super escape method.

The two locked eyes, the air seemed to freeze, and just before they could each take action, a cry of surprise suddenly came from the sky.

"Be careful!"

Accompanying this clear and bright call was another piercing cry from a bird.

"Hey——!"

Xu Zhou and the priest looked up simultaneously, only to see a shadow suddenly fall over the sky, followed by a huge object falling from the sky right where they were.

""Grass!""

The two spoke in unison and immediately stepped back to create some distance between themselves.

Xu Zhou, exhausted, had to use his mantra hair to entangle himself with a dead tree not far away and pull himself away. On the other hand, Chi Feng took a clean and decisive step back, retreating more than ten meters.

The next second, the massive object hit the ground, sending earth and rocks flying and dust billowing into the sky.

Chi Feng covered his mouth and nose and fanned away the flying ash. When the mist dissipated, a monster more than five meters tall, half bird and half snake, was lying on the ground in front of him.

Upon closer inspection, it has silver wings and red down, a slender neck, a long, thin beak like a gun, sharp, hooked claws that gleam coldly, a chest and abdomen covered with blocky hard armor, and a long, green worm growing from its tail.

It is clearly the dominant creature in this area.

Above the giant bird stood a slender human figure with beast ears and a wolf tail; he was a young wolf-like being.

The girl was tall and slender, with long, light blue hair tied back. A few strands of hair, damp with sweat, clung to her smooth forehead. Her eyebrows and eyes were narrow and sharp, and there was a hint of panic in them, but it was not obvious.

She was dressed in the Alliance's standard dark combat uniform, holding a gun in one hand and stabbing it into the side of the strange bird's belly, while her other arm tightly gripped the snake's head, its forked tongue slapping back and forth across her face.

The girl immediately spotted the vigilant priest beside her, and a genuine smile spread across her face.

"Kind sir! Please help me, it's dying!"

Chi Feng frowned. He didn't intend to pay attention to the other party, but then he suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked something very important because of the other party's interruption.

"Wait, where's that kid?"

Looking around, there was no sign of Xu Zhou anywhere.

Having lost two relics in succession, and having just activated the extremely harmful Blood Burning Secret Technique before he could even unleash its full power, the other party had already passed away right before his eyes.

Five years of planning, all for naught.

Anyone who suffers such a blow would probably find it hard to bear.

The wolf-like girl not far away had not received a response for a long time. Seeing Chi Feng standing with his head down and trembling, she thought that she had not been sincere enough and had not moved him.

So he quickly added:

"I won't let you work for nothing! Kill this stinky bird, and afterwards we'll split the profits 30/70... no, 50/50!"

"Uncle! You seem like the kind-hearted person who would rather suffer a loss yourself than let others suffer! Please help me out!"

It's unclear which keyword triggered Chi Feng's sensitive nerves, but two lines of bloody tears suddenly streamed from his eyes as he roared in anger.

"Damn Alliance spy! I'm not done with you!! You just wait! You just wait—!!!"