Chapter 773: Clash of Spirits in the Cathedral

When I raced back to the church with Mom, I saw Father pummeling the old man.

Inside the church, endless currents of spiritual power collided, weaving together into surreal visions.

These battling and devouring spiritual forces permeated every corner of the church.

Every influence that reached a person’s mind was transformed by natural brain mechanisms into vivid scenes that the individual could comprehend.

So when this colossal, chaotic surge of spiritual power erupted, Lu Xin saw the church morph into a series of overlapping realms—a complex fusion of countless worlds.

In one vision, Father rode atop the old man, unleashing furious punches onto his face.

In another, the old man was pinned to an iron frame while Father administered brutal torture with various devices.

Yet another scene showed the old man lying in bed when Father suddenly clambered in through a window, wildly hacking at him.

In one vision, Father stood atop a high-rise, hoisted the old man, and then callously tossed him down.

In yet another, Father sat on a towering throne while a despairing old man knelt below, enduring the wrath of an emperor…

……

……

Fear manifested in countless forms. Even if one tried their hardest, no one could imagine every conceivable terror. Yet its essence was singular—amplified unimaginably by Father.

Despite Father’s frenzied onslaught, the old man remained remarkably calm and composed.

Amid the swirling spiritual waves and the constantly shifting visions, half the scenes depicted Father’s horrifying torture of the old man, while the rest—if not most—unfolded in entirely different settings.

In one vision, the old man stood before a class, solemnly lecturing Father on intricate subjects and theories.

In another, inside a research lab, the two were shown collaborating on an experimental study.

In that scene, Father was the subject of the experiment.

In yet another depiction, under the glow of the setting sun on a lawn, the old man and Father sat side by side, quietly conversing and debating.

……

……

In visions dominated by Father, some old men yielded under his torture, while many more perished—the submissive merging into his power and the dead dissipating as residual spiritual energy.

Yet, conversely, the old man’s power seemed to absorb even more of Father’s might.

In the collision of these two diametrically opposed spiritual forces, the old man’s power inherently countered Father’s.

Once you grasp the truth, does fear even remain?

If you think closely, the mere clash between these two forces sparks endless reflections.

But Lu Xin shook his head and refocused his attention.

Now wasn’t the time for pondering; clenching his fist, he prepared to step forward and lend a hand.

“Don’t rush…”

Mom halted Lu Xin, her steady gaze fixed ahead as she said:

“Every time we are deceived in his realm, we lose a portion of our power.”

“So wait for the right moment to strike.”

“……”

Listening to her, Lu Xin could only nod in understanding.

Mom took a deep breath, stepping forward slowly as she murmured, “Teacher, it’s time—I’m going all out.”

“Teacher?”

That title made Lu Xin feel a slight sense of surprise.

Meanwhile, Mom’s face remained serene as she explained softly, “My gift is Insight; his is Truth.”

“Insight and Truth naturally mirror the relationship between student and teacher.”

“So he has always been my teacher.”

“……”

“Sigh…”

During Mom’s explanation, the old man let out a low sigh, “We were once natural allies.”

“But in the end, you chose to walk the path of violence and fear.”

“……”

In the old man’s calm, measured tone, there was an undercurrent of helpless regret.

“Perhaps it’s because I’ve witnessed the fate of those who forget fear…”

Mom replied in a hushed tone, her hands slowly rising to each side.

Whoosh…

Lu Xin suddenly felt the entire spiritual world tremble violently.

His memories, emotions, desires, and instincts all seemed to spring to life, exposed completely under scrutiny.

Yet in the very next second, because they were watched, they recoiled in an instant.

Like timid little beasts unwilling to be fully seen, they shrank deep within themselves.

Even his black particles showed no exception.

Though they didn’t express fear as overtly as other emotions or spiritual forces, they clearly revealed their disdain.

Disdain for Mom’s spiritual power.

……

……

“Buzzing…”

In the abyssal world, the Undercover Units were likewise struck down by the tremendous tremor.

They crawled along the ground, retreating a few meters before huddling together in shivering clusters. One Undercover Unit wearing a Red Pointed Cap found itself at the center while all the grotesque little faces lifted their gaze towards the dark direction of the small town.

Amid the swirling mists, they spotted a streak of crimson.

It shone like the sun.

But as that ‘sun’ emerged from the fog, they realized it wasn’t truly the sun.

It was a massive eye with vertical pupils, veined with blood.

Like a rising sun, it loomed overhead, its gaze fixed upon the mist.

……

……

“Eyes!”

After Mom’s power unfolded, Lu Xin saw countless eyes.

They hovered densely, like balloons drifting in the air.

Some were as large as windows; others, as tiny as dust.

These myriad blood-red eyes appeared both inside and outside the church.

Each one exuded a chill, moving slowly along a mysterious trajectory.

They observed every angle of the epic battle between the old man and Father.

They watched over the small town, and took in Lu Xin—with his small backpack—hiding with his sister in a corner, along with others…

Some eyes even emerged within one of the bizarre visions rendered by the interlaced spiritual forces of Father and the old man.

Lu Xin could barely describe the overwhelming sensation of so many eyes suddenly surrounding him.

He instinctively stepped back, every hair on his body standing on end.

He had witnessed such power before…

That was back in Central City when, battling Black Table, an old colleague from Hell Group—a monstrous Mizang veteran—had caused him immense trouble.

It was an Ability User known for the Eye of Observation, who had troubled him greatly at the time.

But only now did Lu Xin understand that Mom’s ability was essentially that of a high-ranking Eye.

……

……

Insightful Eye.

It scrutinizes every pattern and trajectory, capturing every weakness and critical point.

As Mom’s myriad eyes appeared, even the old man suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure.

The flames behind him dimmed abruptly; though the candles were still long-burning, their flames began to wane.

Within the dilapidated church, the light grew several shades darker.

Seizing the moment, Father’s power roared as he launched another furious assault on the old man…

Insight not only reveals an opponent’s patterns and trajectories but can also weaken them.

After all, once something is completely exposed, it loses part of its intimidating aura.

……

……

“Sigh, what justification could possibly drive you to repeatedly harm your very essence?”

Mom’s Insight seemed to profoundly affect the old man.

Amid the almost frozen turbulence of spiritual energy, a faint tone of lament echoed.

Then, in those layered, surreal visions—whether of old men being tortured by Father or facing him in a gruesome experimental display—they all quietly turned to look beyond the immediate scene.

This moment carried a chilling, almost macabre power.

It was like peering through a kaleidoscope and seeing countless identical faces staring back at you.

Yet among this dizzying cascade of surreal imagery, only one old man moved slightly apart; he turned his head, and a sheepskin-bound tome nearly half a person’s height appeared beside him, while he produced a pen in his right hand.

He spun around in a flash, as if determined to scribble something onto the tome.

……

……

“There, right there…”

Mom’s voice suddenly echoed in Lu Xin’s ear.

“Sister…”

At that very moment, Lu Xin shouted—he knew without her cue that this was the decisive moment.

As he bellowed, he lunged forward.

His sister, who had been hiding in a corner of the church, also burst out at once.

When their hands met, Lu Xin’s body suddenly became remarkably precise and swift.

In a split second, he plunged into the swirling chaos of spiritual energy.

Within those overlapping, dazzling visions, he pinpointed the old man—who was on the verge of writing something—with his left hand, which was shrouded in black particles, and then he ferociously reached across the vision.

“Shh—”

The sound of thin, brittle glass shattering rang out as Lu Xin plunged his hand into the vision.

He seized the old man by the neck, as if pulling an entire world right before his eyes.

“The crucial moment is now…”

Lu Xin reminded himself, gritting his teeth as he fixed his gaze on the old man.

Facing the old man’s high-level ability, he realized that any power he unleashed might be blocked, deceived, or misdirected—a rare opportunity indeed. Without hesitating, he decided to use the Tyrant’s authority.

He had once used this method to crush the Sword-Bearer in an instant.

But this time, he wasn’t aiming to kill the old man outright—only to manipulate him.

As he pondered this, the spiritual forces around him began to shift rapidly, coalescing into a bizarre vision. Lu Xin’s shadow stretched swiftly, reaching back into his past, all the way to a black palace.

Inside the palace, a slanted black shadow sat in quiet contemplation.

That shadow glanced forward with a hint of mischief, and in an instant, Lu Xin’s eyes deepened into an enigmatic gaze.

Cold, noble, domineering—those eyes were not his own.

……

……

“Surrender…”

Lu Xin suddenly spoke, his voice melding two tones—calm and fierce:

“Otherwise, I’ll destroy you…”