Chapter 958: Chapter 958

The colossal force carried the dry-thin man’s body along with the shadows surrounding him, directly towards a nearby half-collapsed old building.

With a booming roar, the man’s body smashed through the half-collapsed structure, bringing down a spray of cement bricks like raindrops, crashing into the old cement ground behind the building.

The ground, mixed with goose egg stones and weeds, shattered instantly, creating a ’flower’ of dust and rocks as if a stone had been thrown into a pond, while also leaving a deep pit on the surface.

At this time, He Ao also lifted his feet, following the direction in which the dry-thin man had flown, stepping forward.

"How could this happen..."

As the dust and cement from the scattered debris began to clear in the night breeze, the dry-thin man, who had fallen into the pit, wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth and struggled out of the pit he had made. He looked up towards the building ahead.

At this moment, atop the remaining half of the collapsed building, under the pitch-black sky, an elderly man in a white shirt had already appeared on the top of the wall, gazing down from his high position at the dry-thin man now embedded in the ground.

The clouds that had been accumulating in the sky had at some point stealthily parted slightly, allowing slivers of bright moonlight to filter through the gap in the darkness, trailing over the elderly man’s head.

He Ao’s gaze traveled downwards, calmly observing him, "Bring forth some real power."

The dry-thin man looked up at the old man above, letting out a hoarse roar.

One after another, giant black Shadow Serpent Heads emerged from behind him, opening their ferocious giant mouths, and together with the dry-thin man, they suddenly bellowed in rage.

A piercing shriek that could rupture eardrums suddenly reverberated through the night.

Some gang members who were close by, hoisting their guns, preparing to shoot at He Ao, froze in place as blood streamed from their eyes, nostrils, and ears. Then, their bodies collapsed forward like boneless husks, hitting the ground without a sound.

Under Super Memory’s gaze, phantoms of shadow began to emerge from the bodies of the gang members who had just lost their lives to the shriek, separating from their corpses—those were their souls.

These wandering Soul Spirits, which should have naturally dissipated, were swirling like dancing willows in the night sky, drifting towards the gaping Giant Mouths and being swallowed.

Consuming souls, huh.

Standing atop the collapsed building, He Ao watched the snake heads with giant mouths on the ground below.

One, two, three... eight, eight heads.

Then, he lightly tapped the tip of his foot and, looking at each of the serpent heads, leaped down from the building. The Hawk Claw Knife unfolded in his hand, his body tracing a streak across the sky like a shooting star, he charged towards the dry-thin man on the ground.

"Old Geezer, I was just careless a moment ago, now this is my true power."

The dry-thin man, spotting He Ao descending from the sky, let out a sinister laugh.

His mouth opened wide to reveal the fresh red flesh inside, a Phantom Shadow of a snake’s head emerged on his cheek.

At the same time, the Shadow Serpent Heads entwined around him further opened their Giant Mouths.

A hint of crimson appeared from within those gaping shadowy maws, and on their dark bodies, vaguely visible patchy green glowing scales began to emerge.

The dry-thin man’s clothes trembled as if the flesh beneath was writhing to a certain degree.

Behind him, those massive serpent heads that seemed to be spawned from darkness were rapidly taking on the properties of flesh and blood.

The man himself appeared to be gradually undergoing Metamorphosis into a twisted monster.

Underneath those flickering giant green-glowing serpent heads, slender snake bodies were emerging at that moment, striking towards He Ao.

He Ao gripped the Hawk Claw Knife, twisted his body in midair, dodged the closest snake head, then slapped his hand directly onto the snake head to leverage a forward leap, deftly avoiding the two heads that crossed paths behind him.

In an instant, he had closed the gap between himself and the gaunt man to within ten meters.

He Ao looked down, glancing at the palm of his hand that had just touched the giant snake.

There was no issue with his hand, but he could clearly feel that his Divine Sense covering his palm had diminished significantly when he had slapped the giant snake.

It appeared that the snake’s body possessed some kind of corrosive power that eroded upon contact.

Moreover, this power did not manifest physically; it seemed more like a ’special ability’ that took form as a corroding effect.

However, He Ao did not spend any more time contemplating this; his main focus remained on the gaunt man ahead, speeding forward.

With his current speed, the ten-meter distance was merely a blink away.

The gaunt man clearly understood this as well, as the five snake heads coiled in the sky swiftly surged over, their slender bodies shining with an emerald glow like intertwined ropes, blocking He Ao’s path.

Four of the heads also opened their fearsome giant mouths simultaneously from four directions, lunging towards He Ao. Emerald glows formed within those gaping maws, converging into two sharp and slender fangs aiming for He Ao’s body.

He Ao watched all of this intently. The giant snake from below was the quickest, the one on the right was next, while those above and on the left were a bit slower, and the gap between these two heads was also relatively wide.

He lowered his head, glanced at the gaping mouth of the nearest snake head below, spun around with the tip of his foot on the snake’s forehead, then his form flickered, shooting towards the upper left like a breeze.

The two heads on the upper left side, seeing He Ao approach, immediately opened their massive jaws, predicting his position, and aimed a bite at He Ao.

And then the two heads bit the air, ’crack—’ clashing together, while the sharp Hawk Claw Knife plunged into the body of the left snake head. Accompanied by the overflow of green gleam, He Ao’s figure had already appeared behind the two heads, breaking through the encirclement of the four heads.

But after breaking through the encirclement, He Ao did not continue forward; instead, he put his hands behind his back, gripped the handle of the Hawk Claw Knife, and forcefully pulled it back.

"You’ve been tricked."

At that moment, the gaunt man below raised his head and split his lips into a grin.

Almost at the same time as his words emerged, the gaping maw of the snake head previously hidden below had already reached under He Ao’s feet, a strong corrosive power and sharp venomous fangs emerging within its mouth.

The fearsome giant mouth suddenly sprang upward, swallowing everything above it.

"Old Geezer, finally dead," the gaunt man sighed in relief as faint shadowy snake forms emerged across his cheeks, hissing with an emerald-shining crimson tongue.

"Not a bad scheme, but it’s still lacking."

An elderly voice emerged beside his ear.

The gaunt man’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked ahead.

The elderly man with graying hair had somehow appeared before him.

His body trembled, and a pitch-black snake tail emerged instantly from the darkness, coiling towards He Ao.

But He Ao didn’t answer his question; instead, he raised the Hawk Claw Knife in his hand and, before the black snake tail could reach him, thrust it forward, stabbing into the gaunt man’s neck, and with a forward slice, decapitated him.

Then, without pausing, he rose and leapt to the side, dodging the snake tail that was already curling towards him from behind.

A grating shriek sounded once more in the darkness as the giant snake heads opened their maws again, ferociously biting towards He Ao.

At the same time, a gigantic snake head phantom suddenly emerged from the body of the gaunt man, its mouth opening wide, snapping viciously at He Ao.

He Ao glanced at the headless corpse of the gaunt man before him and at the Shadow Serpent Heads that covered it, then abruptly kicked out, sending the gaunt man’s body flying.

The slender body was once again violently kicked into the air.

The serpent head phantom shadow and the surrounding serpent heads had not yet touched He Ao, when they were dragged backward with the body, plowing through the old cement ground and flying out hundreds of meters in an instant.

His figure rolled close to a tea table set with pastries and a radio; it seemed that people had just been sitting around it, but they had likely heard the sounds of battle and had already run away.

"I understand... I understand..."

A hoarse voice emerged in the night; on the neck where no head was attached, flesh covered with a pale green glow started to bulge out. Then the flesh rapidly inflated into a spherical shape with a human face emerging on it, immediately afterward, the flesh ball shrank and turned into a new, bald head.

At that moment, He Ao lifted his head and glanced at the shadows in the sky; as the gaunt man’s new head formed, one of those eight massive serpent heads in the sky was rapidly decaying, dissipating into nothingness.

Soon there were only seven giant serpent heads left.

"You guessed my plan, so you simply used my trap against me,"

Feeling the man’s head tilted, hanging from the neck like a spherical ball stitched on with threads, he opened his mouth and his voice grew raspier, "You deceived me into rushing out of the breach, then found a leverage point in the air to back away, and using the cover of the serpent heads, your strange Agile Movement technique appeared in front of me."

As he spoke, his head gradually straightened, as if the threads connecting it to his neck were tightening, fully propping his head up.

He Ao moved forward; in an exceedingly brief time, he had come very close to the gaunt man. He lifted his hand, and the Hawk Claw Knife spun in it, then he asked, "Are all people from the Prisoners’ Gang like you?"

"Only a few pure souls can receive such a great grace."

The gaunt man lifted his new head. The shadow of the serpent heads, covered in snake scales, briefly flickered across his face, momentarily covering his cheek.

The shadow serpent head seemed much more pronounced than before.

"Is that so? How many more like you are there?"

He Ao kept his eyes on the gaunt man, gripping the hilt of the Hawk Claw Knife in his hand.

At this moment, the ’mark’ He Ao had placed on the gaunt man’s body was rapidly conveying the thoughts in the gaunt man’s mind to him.

This guy had already been half-mad at the time of meeting He Ao, his mind filled with a plethora of insane thoughts. However, back then, he still had some sanity, and his questions did not lead to too many tangents.

After having his head cut off by He Ao, he became even more seriously insane, but because of the severe madness, his lucidity had also weakened a lot. A single question from He Ao would lead to a flood of thoughts.

However, many of those thoughts were mixed with plenty of useless, mad notions.

"There aren’t many holy like me,"

The gaunt man said, parting his lips, "The Low-rise District is the most populous area in the Southern District. The Great Tutor wants to select the most central and most holy souls for protection,"

He slightly raised his head, stretching out his arms, "Old Geezer, I admit you have a bit of Strength, but you cannot kill me, you will only make me stronger! And this is my home ground!!!"

In the darkness, one after another, humanoid shadows rapidly emerged all around.

He Ao looked up, not far away an apparent ’gate,’ sealed by iron gates, was faintly visible—a bunker.

In the silent darkness, the crisp sound of guns being loaded could be heard.

He Ao lifted his hand, spinning the Hawk Claw Knife once again, and continued forward.

His figure passed the retro radio on the tea table, then he casually reached out and pressed the play button on the radio.

Vigorous music suddenly resonated in the pitch-black night sky.

In tune with the beat of the music, the first gunshot rang out from the darkness.

He Ao brushed his hand past the Hawk Claw Knife in his pocket, lightly lifting the hilt; the sharp blade unfolded in his hand almost instantly, dancing into brilliant Sword Light.

Immediately after, a succession of gunshots resonated in the darkness.

The scorching bullets fell upon He Ao’s dancing blade and were instantly deflected.

Watching the bullets flying off one by one, He Ao slightly narrowed his eyes.

This type of gun could easily penetrate light armored vehicles and inflict serious injuries on C-level combatants; it was restricted military hardware.

This already exceeded the level of weaponry a local gang could possibly obtain.

In the darkness, a shadow holding a large knife rapidly charged toward He Ao.

He Ao raised his hand, and the soaring blade instantly pierced the neck of the attacker.

Then he lifted his head to glance at the attacker.

This attacker was dressed similarly to the pseudo-C-level who had previously attacked He Ao under the guidance of the gaunt man.

The attacker’s eyes had already lost their luster, resembling a puppet in motion.

On the assailant’s back, the shadow symbolizing the soul had numerous black snakes swiftly slithering over it.

As He Ao’s knife penetrated the assailant’s body, the fragile Shadow Soul crumbled rapidly along with the snakes.

The snakes seemed to have become part of this puppet-like attacker’s soul, or perhaps, they had already devoured it.

Gunshots continued to echo in the darkness.

He Ao, with his right hand gripping the knife handle, lifted the body of the attacker and rolled forward, hiding behind a wall. Simultaneously, he glanced at the handgun tucked on the waist of the attacker.

He immediately reached out, pulled out the handgun, and with his finger flicked off the safety.

A bullet struck the wall behind him, blasting half of it apart.

In that instant, he drew the Hawk Claw Knife from the corpse, gripped the gun handle, rubbed it against his thigh, pulling back the slide, and chambered a round.

Quickly after, he flipped to his feet, leaped out from behind the wall, and raised the firearm in his hands, rapidly pulling the trigger towards several sniper points.

With a flurry of gunfire, He Ao pressed on the magazine release, ejecting the empty shell casings, tossed the firearm away and then lifted the Hawk Claw Knife, immediately turning around.

The crescent-like Sword Light cleaved through the sky, slashing the necks of two attackers who had stealthily approached from behind.

The puppet-like attackers and the distant sniper fell backward almost simultaneously.

But at the same time, dense shadows emerged from all around, encircling He Ao.

These were all puppet-like pseudo-C-level figures, their souls covered with dense, writhing black snakes.

"My underlings, though not particularly strong themselves, barely touching C-level, are numerous in quantity and fearless in death. Even an ordinary B-level would be worn down to death here, let alone someone like me with the strength of a powerful B-level and undying!"

The dark snake tail lifted the gaunt man’s body, floating him and the remaining seven heads in the air, as he watched He Ao, extended his arms, and his mouth curled into an ever more ferocious grin,

"Old Geezer, how about that? Is this strength enough?! I told you, today, you are bound to die here! No matter how clever or powerful you are, once you come here, unless you’re a Divine Being, you only have the Fate of death to greet!"

He Ao lifted his head to look at him, the flickering Shadow Serpent Heads almost completely concealing his face.

From the Super Memory’s mark, came twisted and chaotic thoughts.