Chapter 633: Shadows of Mental Turmoil

Lu Xin realized what was wrong.

His father’s mental trait was ‘Fear’—arguably the most polluting form of mental power.

Yet at that moment, rather than affecting the opponent, his father’s trait was overwhelmed by the adversary’s, turning back on him.

Clatter…

A line of mental entities clad in black suits stretched out like a river, steadily advancing from the far end of the street.

They came in waves, building an immense pressure.

To the shadow locked in stalemate against them, it felt like facing layer after layer of ever-strengthening force.

The central line began its rapid retreat toward Lu Xin, nearly collapsing in the process.

At that moment, Lu Xin looked up to see a multitude of pale, indifferent faces barely a meter away.

Each one featured distinct features, all as ghostly white as if covered in lime.

Row upon row, these pallid faces appeared, creating an almost dizzying, overwhelming effect.

His father’s shadow was already under severe compression, as chaotic, murky air intertwined with his roar.

“So annoying…”

Lu Xin, surrounded by these faces and beset by strange odors and ghostly sounds invading his ears, nostrils, and sight, felt their bizarre influence even if it barely touched him.

Suddenly irritated, he instinctively raised his hand.

His right hand moved to shield his eyes, but instantly the air before him thickened.

Tiny black particles trembled before Lu Xin’s eyes.

“Swish!”

In the next instant, the black shadows representing his father expanded explosively.

Every tendril of shadow generated fierce friction.

Both the air and the disordered aura emanating from the mental entities were torn apart by the violent friction, shredding them into fine particles—as if fed into a paper shredder.

An aura of utter destruction immediately enveloped Lu Xin…

“Shh…”

A vast open space suddenly appeared before him.

The black-clad mental entities that had crowded around him were completely torn to shreds by the shadows, leaving not a trace.

It was as if a dense crowd had been obliterated under the force of a nuclear explosion.

In an instant, they were annihilated, vaporized, and erased from the world without leaving a mark.

……

……

“So these mental entities are immune to mental traits and can only be countered with raw mental power?”

Lu Xin could hear his father’s derisive laughter echoing as he unleashed an expanding wave of mockery around him.

Yet Lu Xin was staring at his own hand, pondering the connection between it all.

Even as he deliberated, the sound of resounding footsteps erupted once again.

Lu Xin had obliterated countless black-suited mental entities—he had lost count; there were simply too many.

Because he had destroyed so many, a vast blank space had formed before him.

But in the next moment, even more black-suited mental entities surged forward, not only filling the void but also bearing an overwhelming force, charging at him like a frenzied black tide.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Xin stepped back slightly as the shadow by his side swelled dramatically.

“Shh…”

The black mental entities were being shredded and vanishing, only to be instantly replaced by countless more.

From above, the entire Flame City revealed itself besieged by these entities in every street and alley.

They flowed along the streets like water in a canal, ceaselessly surging toward Lu Xin.

The murky, chaotic aura even managed to dim the streetlights along the road.

Only the streetlight nearest to Lu Xin continued to emit a faint glow.

Lu Xin stood quietly beneath that light as the shadow lashed out with claw-like strikes, assailing everything in its path.

Chunk by chunk, he tore apart the black mental entities, yet more relentlessly crashed toward him.

……

……

“How can such bizarre things exist?”

His father’s burst of expansion and madness lasted only a short while.

Empowered by the black particles, he momentarily felt he could disdain every life and existence under the sky.

He believed he could shred anything in his path.

But that thrill soon ebbed away like a receding tide, and he grasped the crucial point.

It wasn’t about whether he could break them—it was whether he could finish them off completely…

After he had torn apart countless mental entities with wild abandon, he noticed that the number of expressionless, pale figures in black suits had not diminished but instead seemed to multiply, evoking a sense of mounting pressure.

“These things are unkillable and unfrightening. I suspect… I suspect they were designed specifically to counter you!”

“……”

“No…”

Watching the nearly endless surge of black-suited mental entities with their lifeless, indifferent faces—as if oblivious to what true destruction means—Lu Xin felt a chill harden within him:

“I doubt only I can hold them off for a while…”

“……”

Despite sharing the same phenomenon, Lu Xin and his father drew completely different conclusions.

Everything stemmed from these bizarre mental entities.

His father believed they were engineered to target Lu Xin—after all, it was the first time he’d seen that even he could do little more than rely on Lu Xin’s power to wipe out these relentless forces.

In short, when polluted traits were rendered useless, only raw, brutal mental power could counter them.

Lu Xin’s claim that he alone could hold out was born of a deep recognition of just how terrifying these entities were.

Faced with mental entities seemingly immune to pollution, any other Ability User in his place would have had no hope of resistance.

Lu Xin wasn’t even sure if such entities now existed in every corner of Flame City.

If so, he began to worry about the club members back in Qinggang.

No matter their abilities or potential, if any of them ever fell into a situation like his, they’d have no chance of fending off these black mental entities.

Simply put, only Zero Ability Users could possibly counter them.

On the flip side, it seemed these entities were also designed to restrict Zero Ability Users, as their own mental power is limited. And in this city, the black-suited mental entities appeared endless…

No Zero Ability User could hold on for long under these conditions…

It was, in essence, an unsolvable dilemma.

……

……

“We can’t just keep stalling like this…”

Suddenly, his father’s will transmitted through the shadows into Lu Xin’s mind: “You won’t last!”

Alerted by his father’s words, Lu Xin regained some clarity.

He gently wiped the blood from his nose, recognizing his own frailty.

After that heavy-handed use of his father’s ability in Water Buffalo City, he hadn’t borne such a burden in a long time.

Now, standing on a bench by the riverside with swirling shadows erasing batches of black mental entities with ease,

Lu Xin could feel an abnormal pressure mounting.

Waves of people surged toward him in layers.

Even though he left nothing in reserve, battling these entities with all his might, he felt an unprecedented strain—as if a man at the mouth of a great river were trying to evaporate its water with a high-temperature jet.

It was a situation where one might hold a constant advantage, yet the overall circumstances were overwhelmingly tragic.

Wave after wave of these figures, like walls of black, pressed in on him; while he stood frozen, his father had already wiped them out completely, not a single mental entity reaching him…

But his father made it look so effortless, thanks to the boost from those black particles.

Using the power of the black particles, he wasn’t sure when his own limits would be reached.

He could even sense the strain on his mind from unleashing such power.

Each black particle pulsed before his eyes as his pliable mind bore the relentless impact.

It was like a blob of jelly…

A bizarre thought crept into his mind: “Will I die?”

“You won’t…”

Black shadows advanced as his father stepped in front of him. Like a tide, the shadows surged forward, obliterating rows of what looked like human walls, while his low voice intoned, “But the outcome is far worse than death…”

Lu Xin looked at his father, a slight look of surprise on his face.

The towering black shadow repeatedly raised massive black waves to repel the onslaught.

Yet amidst it all, he sensed a pair of blood-red eyes locked onto him from within the darkness.

In a strange, hushed tone, a voice murmured, “I don’t know where your limits lie…”

“But you can’t use that power endlessly. After all, you’re not him…”

“Even if you were, it wouldn’t work. An emperor’s strength isn’t measured solely by his prowess on the battlefield…”

“……”

Lu Xin could clearly sense that his father’s attitude had shifted from before.

He wasn’t as indifferent as he once was—instead, he was earnestly pondering and hinting at something deeper.

This realization lifted Lu Xin’s spirits, and he softly asked, “Then what should we do?”

“What now…”

Suddenly, his father’s shadow swelled even larger, engulfing the nearby black mental entities and erasing them completely. Then, as they approached, he swiftly reined in his power to strike back.

It was as if he deliberately employed this tactic to grant Lu Xin a brief moment of respite.

Within the dark shadows, sullen gazes tracked the towering buildings of the city.

At the same time, a low, foreboding voice arose from the gloom of the forest, “Let me become the mental overlord of this city.”

“That way, I can harness the mental power of every inhabitant and continuously drain it.”

“Let’s see whether the people of this city die first or whether these black mental entities are completely exhausted…”

“Hehe, the funniest part is, no matter how it ends, we won’t lose!”

“……”

“Betting a whole city’s lives so carelessly?”

Lu Xin sighed softly, “That doesn’t seem right…”

He understood his father’s intent—he couldn’t pollute these black mental entities, but he could corrupt the minds of the city’s people.

In this city, no one knew how many souls slumbered undisturbed.

If his father became their mental overlord, his mental power would become immeasurable.

He wouldn’t even have to rely on himself—he could crush everything effortlessly.

Yet, they were fundamentally different. Lu Xin knew that mental pollution came in degrees—mild and severe.

Mild pollution required the polluter to expend their own mental power to infect others—a gradual process.

But once it escalated to severe pollution, the polluted individuals’ mental power would be completely commandeered by the polluter.

It was a natural law—a phenomenon that only Qinggang’s children could partly defy.

In that respect, his father was the most conspicuous.

If he wanted to become the mental overlord of Flame City, his father would have to enforce severe pollution upon its people.

It would be entirely different from the days in Heichao City.

In Heichao City, Lu Xin could impose restrictions, telling his father to only punish those who crossed a certain line.

For those who didn’t, his father was powerless.

But now, his father’s intent was clear: if Lu Xin were to overcome these destructive entities, he must grant him full authority. Then, everyone would suffer severe, irreversible pollution.

……

“You disagree? You actually disagree?”

His father roared, frustration lacing his voice, “Would you rather let these wretched beings offend you than allow me to touch these sleeping souls?”

“Can’t you see? At the level of a mental overlord, these become both sustenance and weapon…”

“……”

“Sustenance? Weapons?”

A conflicted look crossed Lu Xin’s face as he shook his head, “No way.”

His father, now visibly agitated, asked, “Why?”

Lu Xin exhaled deeply and replied, “Because it’s illegal.”

“You…”

Stunned by Lu Xin’s words, his father faltered, “Illegal according to whom?”

Lu Xin responded, “Qinggang’s law.”

His father fell silent, “……”

Then Lu Xin allowed a small smile, “That’s the law I acknowledge.”

……

His father was rendered speechless for a long while before he finally sighed softly, “You are too deeply polluted.”