Chapter 680: Ritual of the Parasitic Exchange

Although amidst the chaos, Sister’s partially woven “human spiderweb” remained intact. So when Lu Xin shouted his inquiry, everyone on the spiderweb surrounding the stadium cried out in unison, like Gourd Babies on a vine:

“Who has a parasitic item of the Desire tier?”

“……”

Amid the recent surge of chaotic contamination, a decrepit old apartment building was seen plummeting from the sky.

Then, an overwhelming blast of black Mental Power descended from above, ensnaring the building tightly.

Suddenly, iron chains connecting them were severed by several women who appeared out of nowhere, as if united in purpose, and completely retracted.

Next, a mysterious mental power from Flame City was entirely siphoned away.

Everything happened too fast—so much information bombarded the mind that it struggled to keep up.

In the middle of the chaos, voices from the spiderweb resounded in unison.

Instantly, countless people below jolted in shock.

For a moment, no one could even react.

However, it was Xia Chong who responded the quickest.

Nearby, a scalpel that had been carried over reached out with two movable fingers to tug at her skirt, urging her with a pleading glance.

In that instant, she reacted. From the voices on the spiderweb, she caught Lu Xin’s tone and immediately recognized it as a command from her own. She hurriedly shouted to the crowd, “Quick, whoever has a Desire-tier parasitic item, hand it over…”

Suddenly, everyone around looked utterly baffled, exchanging confused glances.

Parasitic items are extremely rare—even more so when designated for a specific tier.

And even if someone had one, not everyone would be willing to lend it out.

“I have one…”

Amid the astonishment, a woman’s voice rang out.

Following the sound, everyone saw Red Dancing Shoes bending gracefully; her figure was exquisite as she elegantly and swiftly tore off one red high heel from her foot and tossed it lightly toward the floating figures on the spiderweb.

Then she shifted her stance to remove the other.

“Enough…”

At that moment, Lu Xin’s response rang out.

The figures on the spiderweb passed the shoe hand-to-hand until it reached him.

As he spoke, Lu Xin quickly produced his black bag and withdrew a Memory Hourglass, a Black Playing Card, a 12-layer Puzzle Cube, a Six Senses Mask, and even his glasses, arranging them neatly on the steel frame in front of the stadium.

Alongside them lay thirty-seven red high heels.

In such a swift motion, even Red Dancing Shoes was visibly startled, hastily asking, “How do you use it…”

Before she could finish, Lu Xin fixed a deep, intense glance on the red high heel.

The black particles in his eyes trembled violently…

“Thud!”

That red high heel, which had been carelessly leaning against the steel frame, suddenly straightened and stood upright obediently.

“You are…”

Even Mom, Father, and Sister were taken aback as they stared at him in astonishment.

“If I’m not mistaken…”

Lu Xin glanced at Mom, then smiled while stealing a look at the falling apartment building. “That should be a self-tier parasitic item, right?”

“…Yes!”

Mom vaguely sensed something, slightly surprised, but still nodded.

“Then that’s enough…”

Taking a deep breath, Lu Xin’s expression grew markedly serious as he abruptly looked up at the nearly vanished figure of the Cangzhang Sect member.

Then he said in a low voice, “I’ll give you these seven parasitic items in exchange for a chance to meet you…”

……

……

Earlier, while helping Xia Chong and the others capture that Hell’s Messenger, Lu Xin inadvertently caught a group from Flame. Through the words of the Dragon Team Leader, he learned about the Black Box Codex and discovered that it recorded mysterious rituals.

Among these, the highest tier involved sacrificing seven parasitic items in exchange for a chance to face a God directly…

Lu Xin had carefully inquired about the details of the ritual.

Normally, every step of such ceremonies demands meticulous precision.

They require utmost caution and complete piety.

Whether in the preparation or during the ceremony, countless details—each word of prayer, the exact placement of the seven parasitic items, and even the posture and utterances—must be flawless.

But Lu Xin disregarded all of that.

He simply arranged the seven parasitic items here and made his request.

Even his words were spoken with casual indifference.

It wasn’t a plea to a god but more an invitation: “I allow you to come so I may meet you.”

……

Some instinct, sparked by black particles, made him unusually sensitive to this kind of ritual.

All that garish, flashy ceremony was inherently useless.

No matter how elaborate the preparations, or how pious the words and humble the demeanor, they all had just two purposes:

First, to guard against mistakes in the ritual that might draw unknown entities.

Second, to ensure the god wouldn’t be displeased with his attitude.

It was just like signing a contract—beyond that, it was all extra theatrics for the client, complete with drinking, smiling, and handing over shopping cards.

Essentially, it was all about sealing the contract; everything else was secondary.

The essence of the ritual was an exchange.

Lu Xin felt he didn’t need to act subservient or offer a shopping card.

What a joke—now in his company, he even receives shopping cards.

Moreover, being so near, he wasn’t worried about mistaking the person, nor was he concerned that the “God” would mind his lack of reverence.

If he could control these parasitic items with a mere glance, then conducting a mysterious ritual should be just as simple, right?

It was all about conveying intent.

……

……

And the ritual worked…

As soon as Lu Xin spoke those sincere words, the seven parasitic items before him began trembling in unison.

Even the old apartment building beside the stadium shuddered.

The intense quivering revealed that the mental power within was suddenly expanding outward at breakneck speed.

Their mental power merged invisibly with Lu Xin’s own, coalescing into one.

The fusion of these seven distinct tiers of mental power shattered a barrier, transporting them into a mysterious realm.

Within that realm, they converged on a specific point and summoned yet another type of mental power.

The ritual, fueled by the power of contract, precisely guided them to find one another in that remote, illusory world.

Then, suddenly, the clanging of chains and endless incoherent murmurs erupted around Lu Xin.

These intertwined mental powers swiftly formed a bizarre yet perfectly proportioned pattern at his feet.

If one could trace these patterns with tangible materials, it would resemble a near-perfect hexagram.

The next moment, Lu Xin felt a slight loss of gravity.

It was as if he had traversed countless mountains and crossed bizarre, distant spatial barriers in an instant.

He even felt as though he were drifting through a God’s Nightmare.

It felt both interminably long and blindingly fast as Lu Xin suddenly opened his eyes.

The next second, he realized he was in a strange, unfamiliar space.

It resembled an abyss, yet it was far cleaner—immensely so.

There was almost nothing around, only an eternal, complete solitude.

The seven parasitic items, along with the old apartment building, floated beside him as if in a zero-gravity vacuum.

The scattered, interwoven mental powers kept his body stable.

Before him, a lone iron chain floated, extending from afar, barely visible.

It guided him, propelling him swiftly through this illusory world…

The guidance of this chain seemed entirely automatic, requiring no conscious control.

In theory, it could be viewed as a kind of program.

Once set in motion, the program ran without needing constant oversight.

In an instant, Lu Xin traversed an immeasurable distance and then noticed a figure emerging within the illusory space.

It was a man clad in a black robe, with countless iron chains dangling from him.

Cangzhang Sect.

He appeared grievously injured, moving with great difficulty as his chains drooped heavily, bearing immense weight.

He trudged forward in despair, completely unaware that someone had appeared behind him.

At the moment Lu Xin saw him, both men convulsed violently.

The instant Lu Xin caught sight of his counterpart, a splitting headache assailed him.

His mental power seemed to lose its stable structure all at once, devolving into a cacophony of fearsome chaos.

He even felt his mental power continuously shifting under a powerful magnetic pull.

It was like a balancing beam made of magnets encountering an even stronger force.

In an instant, everything teetered on the brink of collapse.

Only when the black particles in his eyes trembled violently did he finally regain stability, preserving the steadiness of his mental power.

In that moment, Lu Xin suddenly understood.

When mortals come face-to-face with a God, their minds collapse or they go mad instantly—it’s as real as it gets.

If one compares a mortal’s mental power to a magnetic field, then a God’s magnetic force far surpasses that of any human.

Luckily, Lu Xin himself possessed an immensely strong magnetic field.

At the same time, the Cangzhang Sect member slowly turned around as he continued his trudging ahead.

The moment he caught a glimpse of Lu Xin, the black chains draped around him began shaking violently.

Beneath his cloak, a stiff, pale face revealed an expression of incredulity.

It was as if a dejected, exhausted man—already in a low mood—had suddenly encountered a debt collector…

In a flash, he quickly raised his hand and swiped the thought away.

For him, the ritual of sacrificing seven parasitic items to meet was nothing more than a contract—a kind of program.

It was a rule he had set for himself, one that governed even him.

Caught off guard, he could neither predict nor reject the rule. In fact, he considered such rituals trivial—a minor fluctuation in the realm of mental power—so he barely paid attention to it.

It was by this method that Lu Xin managed to meet him.

Only after a brief moment of stunned silence did he suddenly comprehend what had transpired.

Facing him, Lu Xin suddenly flashed a cold smile and softly said, “Hello…”