Chapter 167
Chapter 167 With the power of the emperor, with the word of God!
【Word Spirit·Imperial Might (Sequence 033)】
【Effect】: Releases Imperial Dominance, causing all people within a hundred-meter radius to fall into a state of paralysis.
And conjures True Dragon Chains, forcibly piercing through and locking down the flesh and soul of any struck target!
【Trait】: Ignores defense. Control duration is determined by the difference in soul strength between both parties.
Minimum forced crowd control: 1 second. Maximum upper limit: ∞.
【Cost】: 8 characters.
【Activation Method】: Stamp one foot heavily upon the earth, and roar: "By the Emperor's might, let the eight wastes be leveled!"
‘Not a bad Word Spirit.’
A hint of appreciation surfaced on Jiang Nan's face.
As a qualified all-rounder.
What he lacked most right now was exactly this kind of simple, brutal hard-crowd-control skill.
‘As long as I use Imperial Might first to forcibly freeze someone in place.’
‘Then follow up with Instant Eternity's time stop.’
‘And finally unleash a burst combo, sealing them into the Sovereign Lantern...’
Jiang Nan simulated the combat scenario in his mind and nodded in satisfaction.
‘This smooth little combo chain is more than enough to completely arrange any monster that dares show its HP bar.’
‘Send them straight to work—skips even the onboarding process.’
However, even as he felt satisfied, Jiang Nan's brow furrowed slightly.
‘Piercing the soul... chains binding...’
Jiang Nan glanced at the Sovereign Lantern floating beside him, then looked back at the new Word Spirit's description, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
‘Why does this Word Spirit's casting effect look so similar in style to that broken lantern?’
‘Whatever, it's probably just a coincidence.’
Jiang Nan didn't dwell on the question any further.
After all, all great paths lead to the same destination—it was perfectly reasonable for crowd-control skills to resemble each other.
At this moment, his system panel showed a remaining balance of exactly 60,000 Grand Love Points.
‘Since I'm already here, might as well spend them all.’
Jiang Nan made the decision without the slightest hesitation and activated Grand Love Upon Time once more.
60,000 Grand Love Points—just enough for him to perform 3 consecutive time-accelerated check-ins.
For the outside world, this was no more than a brief 3 minutes passing.
But within this sealed small world, a full 3 days had already elapsed!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
【Ding! 24 hours reached! Daily settlement complete!】
【Word Spirit Reserve refreshed: +3 (Current Balance: 5,625)】
【Check-in successful! Congratulations, Host—you have received your Word Spirit lottery reward!】
As the screen flickered, Jiang Nan received 3 more Word Spirits.
However, when he checked the information, his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.
【Word Spirit·Stone Wall (F-Grade)】: Summons a half-meter-tall earth wall.
【Word Spirit·Flame Burst (F-Grade)】: Conjures a fireball the size of a washbasin.
【Word Spirit·Divine Oracle (Sequence 019)】: Please tap to view detailed information.
‘One top-tier Word Spirit from the top 20 Sequences, plus two F-Grades?’
Jiang Nan casually waved away the panels of those two F-Grade Word Spirits.
Although drawing Sequence 019 was absolutely a massive gain, this kind of situation—
—immediately reminded him of his experience checking in at Seattle Mercy Hospital.
Back when he check-in continuously at the hospital, the early rounds had poured out top-tier items like mad.
But toward the later rounds, it had started giving him F-Grade trash Word Spirits one after another.
By all logic, with his ridiculously godlike luck, even the baseline guaranteed pull should have been at least a B-Grade.
Something was very wrong.
Drawing on the experience of these two check-in sessions, Jiang Nan arrived at a reasonable hypothesis.
‘It seems the check-in mechanic of this system operates on what might be called a 'Location Prize Pool' concept.’
‘Continuously checking in at the same coordinates is like fishing from the same pool.’
‘The higher-Grade Word Spirits drawn in the early rounds deplete the pool faster—the bigger the fish you pull, the more the pool gets drained.’
‘Once the big catches are gone, what's left in the pool is naturally nothing but scraps and leftovers.’
Having worked out this logic, Jiang Nan shrugged with remarkable composure.
‘Doesn't matter.’
Jiang Nan gave a light laugh. ‘I was never going to act like an earth-bound spirit anyway, stubbornly refusing to move from one spot.’
‘The world is vast—there are plenty of leek fields out there. If I can't get top-tier Word Spirits here, using this place to stack Word count reserves is still worth it.’
‘Once I reach a new high-danger map, I'll just switch to a fresh pool and start pulling again.’
With that settled in his mind, Jiang Nan turned his full attention to the Divine Oracle.
【Word Spirit·Divine Oracle (Sequence 019)】
【Effect】: At the most fundamental level of the soul, forcibly rewrites a target's core will, or reconstructs their memories!
【Trait】: Permanent. Dual-state.
【Cost】: 8 characters.
【Activation Method 1】: Press a finger lightly to the target's forehead and hiss sharply: "By the Divine Word, let the soul be branded forever loyal!"
Once activated, the target's stance and will are permanently altered from the depths of the soul, transforming them into your absolutely devoted fanatic.
【Activation Method 2 (Memory Falsification)】: Extend a sword-pointed finger before you and look directly into the target's eyes: "By the Divine Word, let the soul bear my decree!"
The moment it activates, the eyes will erupt with boundless brilliant divine radiance.
Any living creature whose eyes are touched by this radiance will have fabricated false memories of your choosing forcibly implanted!
‘Sequence 019, Divine Oracle...’
Having read through the Word Spirit's detailed description, Jiang Nan's pupils contracted slightly.
If Imperial Might was a dual physical-and-soul hard crowd control—then this Divine Oracle...
Was practically an uncheckable rule-level brainwashing cheat code!
Just as he was calculating how to weave the new techniques into a combo chain...
The Sovereign Lantern suddenly stirred!
‘Hmm? A signal that an enemy is attempting to intrude from outside?’
Jiang Nan's brow arched. ‘There are actually stragglers left from the Scholar's Dojo?’
‘Perfect timing—I was just looking for someone to test the power of this new Word Spirit.’
Without the slightest hesitation, he willed himself forward, dissolving into a wisp of black smoke that slipped out of the Sovereign Lantern.
However, the very instant he solidified back into form amid the ruins of the outside world...
A killing intent immediately surged at him from behind!
Hum!
The helmet portion of the Dragon God Imperial Armor instantly auto-deployed and sealed shut!
Jiang Nan didn't even bother turning his head—relying purely on combat instinct, he stabbed backward with the God-Slaying Spear in his hand!
Whoosh!
Through the sound of wind breaking, a massive dark silhouette executed a back-flip and retreated over 10 meters in an instant!
‘What is this thing...’
Jiang Nan narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the humanoid weapon that had landed atop a shattered stone pillar before him.
This figure's height was visually at least 9.6 chi.
A full 2-plus meters tall!
Its upper body was bare, and those mountainous rippling muscles were even more perfect than a top-tier bodybuilding champion.
Most absurdly of all—across this hulking man's back was slung a massive axe, and the character engraved on its blade was “德”—"virtue."
Confucius.
"Ahem."
The muscled hulk cleared his throat, looked down from his height at Jiang Nan, and began introducing himself.
"Confucius said: 'When a friend comes from afar—execute him regardless of distance!'"
"I am the Chairman of the Soul-Return Town Confucian Alliance, none other than Master Kong himself!"
Confucius planted the massive axe behind him into the ground with a thud, shattering a wide swathe of stone slabs, eyes blazing with fury.
"This Confucius has deigned to descend to this place today to collect some protection fees..."
"Oh no—I mean, initiation fees!"
"And incidentally, to select a suitable groom for the Sage of Painting!"
At that, Confucius swept his gaze across the Scholar's Dojo, now reduced entirely to rubble.
The veins on his forehead immediately bulged and throbbed.
"But now..."
"Where have all the disciples and students this Confucius invested in gone?!"
"Could it be that this shameless brat with no manners burned this dojo down?!"
Staring at this hulking giant who managed to make "protection fees" sound so elegantly refined, Jiang Nan felt a wave of scalp-numbing discomfort wash over him.
As unbelievable as it was to accept—this absurd height, this axe of moral-physical enlightenment carved with the character for virtue—
This was undeniably, unmistakably Confucius, the true power behind the Scholar's Dojo!
‘So you want to play Confucius Says with me?’
Jiang Nan snorted coldly, far too lazy to dignify that idiotic question with an answer.
Trading words with these corrupted Confucians was a pure waste of breath.
Since the mastermind himself had arrived, they might as well test their skills first!
Jiang Nan stomped forward, the God-Slaying Spear in his hand spinning a dark-red spear-flower, its tip aimed squarely at Confucius—battle intent soaring!
"Good, good, good! So that's your answer!"
Confucius, seeing this, laughed with fury instead of anger.
"Since you have no manners, don't blame this Confucius for showing no mercy!"
"Today, I shall teach you what rules look like!"
"Confucius said: 'Do not speak of supernatural forces, chaos, or spirits!'"
As these words descended, the muscles across Confucius's entire body began to writhe and swell!
Along the spine of his back, a ghastly face slowly tore itself open!
In an instant, the heavens and earth lost their color!
The massive oppressive pressure caused the surrounding ground to crack and splinter inch by inch!
BOOM!
Confucius erupted with black combat energy, like some ancient primordial beast charging straight at Jiang Nan!
Speed swift as a high-speed rail!
Force heavy as Mount Tai!
Anyone even grazed by this flesh-and-blood battering ram—
The only outcome would be shattering into a sky full of blood mist and body parts!
"Die, you impertinent little brat!"
Watching that terrifying figure bearing down like a collapsing sky, Jiang Nan didn't even blink.
‘Lecturing me about martial virtue?’
A mocking curl pulled at Jiang Nan's lips.
"In an instant, eternity."
Hum!
The world, in that single moment, was forcibly stripped of all color.
It became an absolute stillness, a black-and-white tableau!
Confucius's violently charging body suspended itself in midair.
Jiang Nan elegantly sidestepped the human cannonball.
His gaze swept across that back radiating boundless ghost energy, and he made a silent internal assessment.
‘As expected of the Confucian Sage—this raw physical power and depth of ghost energy reserves are leagues above those wastes like Scholar Chun.’
‘By that fluctuation alone, at minimum an S+ top-tier Cursed Creature!’
‘But...’
‘This is probably only a drop in his ocean.’
‘Perfect—I'll use this to accumulate a bit more real combat experience.’
Assessment complete.
Jiang Nan gripped the spear shaft with both hands, his gaze turning sharp.
"Time, flow."
0.01 seconds after the world's color returned.
Jiang Nan surged forward without hesitation, the God-Slaying Spear driving straight into Confucius's back!
Spht!
Yet the spear tip had only pierced roughly 3 centimeters in before producing a grinding friction sound.
The muscle groups across Confucius's back had clamped down and locked the God-Slaying Spear's blade!
"ROOARRR!!!"
Confucius let out a roar that shook the heavens.
He stomped one foot hard into the ground, forcibly canceling the momentum of his charge, and used the force to tumble forward and put distance between them.
He pressed a hand to the wound on his back where black blood was flowing, turned his head around, and his eyes were filled with utter disbelief.
"This person is truly bizarre to the extreme!"
"He was clearly right in front of me just now—how did he teleport to my back without leaving even a residual afterimage?!"
Confucius was deeply shaken, but the pride of a powerful being snapped him back to composure in an instant.
"No matter what sorcery you've used, in the face of absolute power, all flashy tricks are worthless!"
Confucius let out a roar, both arms suddenly heaving backward.
"Insolent boy! Let you see what this Confucius excels in most among the Six Arts—Archery!"
"ROOOARR!"
The ghastly face on his back suddenly stretched its maw wide open and spat out a pitch-black enormous bow condensed entirely from ghost energy.
And a bone arrow a full 2 meters long!
Confucius raised one arm and drew the bow—a full moon!
The arrow instantly locked onto Jiang Nan's brow!
CRACK!
The next second, the bowstring erupted!
The bone arrow launched like a thunderclap!
The violent slipstream from its tail even gouged a trench into the stone slabs along its path!
However, facing this lethal shot capable of instantly killing an ordinary S-Grade Cursed Creature—
Jiang Nan made no attempt to dodge at all.
His eyes fixed on the incoming arrow. Every muscle memory and combat instinct in his body erupted to their absolute peak in this moment.
Clang!!
A single sound!
Jiang Nan swung the God-Slaying Spear and, relying purely on superhuman reaction speed and physical strength, struck the bone arrow on the side of its arrowhead!
Deflecting it away—embedding it into the mountain wall in the distance!
"This... what terrifying reaction speed!"
Confucius's pupils suddenly contracted.
As a grandmaster of martial arts, he could see at a glance.
This time, Jiang Nan had used none of that strange technique for instantly shifting position.
It was purely the reflex nerves of the physical body!
Just as Confucius experienced that brief moment of distraction from this sight—
Swoosh!
A residual afterimage flashed past, and Jiang Nan had already appeared at his side.
Those ice-cold eyes erupted with red radiance.
He had already spotted Confucius's weakness.
"Has no one ever taught you... that in a life-and-death battle, you absolutely cannot lose focus?"
Before the words had finished, Jiang Nan tightened his grip on the God-Slaying Spear.
"Incineration of Silence!"
His powerful spiritual force instantly communicated with the Sovereign Lantern at his waist.
Earlier inside the lantern, hadn't those pedantic Confucians used their Righteous Aura to stack up 16 S-Grade scholars in order to survive?
That was exactly 1 more than the number he needed for his upgrade!
This 1 extra unit of backup fuel was just right for testing the new technique!
And while he was at it, he'd make an example, send a message to that herd of cattle and horses inside the lantern who were thinking of slacking off!
......
At the same time, inside the Sovereign Lantern's Men's Work Zone.
A S-Grade scholar by the name of Bai Lan was seated in a secluded corner.
While operating a sewing machine in slow motion, he was smugly passing on to the scholars around him...
108 Methods of Slacking Off on the Job.
"See that? Work with your brain!"
"When the foreman walks over, stomp the pedals hard for a bit and put on a show."
"The moment he walks away, stop immediately and rest!"
As he spoke, Bai Lan pointed with contempt at a scholar not far off who was pumping the sewing machine pedal like a spinning wheel of wind and fire, and sneered.
"Never be like that fool!"
"This factory has no KPI cap—all we have to do is get through the 8-hour shift!"
"At least we're not getting paid anyway!"
Several scholars listened in a daze. Among them, one asked with some worry:
"But Scholar Bai..."
"Your attitude in front of the Dragon God was not like this at all!"
"Aren't you afraid he might be watching us?"
"Pfft."
Scholar Bai gave an extremely contemptuous wave of his hand.
"So what if it's the Dragon God? He's got ten thousand affairs to attend to daily—does he have time to babysit a bunch of small fries like us every day?"
"He couldn't possibly be watching this Confucius slack off from all the way over..."
Hum!
Before Scholar Bai had even finished speaking!
In a flash of black light, he vanished from atop the sewing machine!
Every scholar around him was struck dumb, then erupted into screams!
"Holy sh*t! Scholar Bai is gone! Scholar Bai's soul has been scattered into nothing!!!"
"It must be the Dragon God! The Dragon God saw him slacking off and sent divine punishment to obliterate him!!!"
"This is terrifying! The boss's eyes are everywhere! Pump the pedal! PUMP IT!!!"
In an instant, the entire Men's Work Zone descended into a frenzy of frantic productivity!
Every scholar, cold sweat pouring, began pumping their footboard for all they were worth, nearly smoking from the effort.
Each one desperately trying to stamp their sewing machine into pieces to demonstrate their loyalty!
And at this moment, the Jiang Nan out in the real world had absolutely no idea that this Scholar Bai had been slacking off.
All one could say was that this poor wretch's luck was spectacularly good—he just happened to be randomly selected!
BOOM!!!
……
In the real world, as one S-Grade powerhouse's soul was forcibly converted into fuel for Incineration of Silence—
The aura of the God-Slaying Spear in Jiang Nan's hand exploded to a terrifying degree!
The black chains coiled around the spear's body snapped apart one by one!
The tangible killing force that had solidified into substance fused into the dark-red blade!
"This aura?!"
Confucius was thunderstruck—a chill ran straight down his spine!
But—too late!
"Tch!"
Under the true-damage amplification of Incineration of Silence, Confucius's muscle defense became utterly worthless.
The God-Slaying Spear pierced through the ghastly face without the slightest resistance!
And through the left side of his chest!
"AAAARGH!"
Confucius let out a howl of agony.
But Jiang Nan had no intention of stopping!
Pressing the advantage!
Spht! Spht!
Jiang Nan withdrew and thrust again!
The spear shot out like a dragon—in an extremely short span of time, it punched 3 through-and-through blood holes into Confucius's body!
"Insolent wretch, cease your recklessness!"
Forced to the brink, Confucius's eyes went bloodshot. Heedless of the grievous wounds to his chest, he hurled a heavy fist straight at Jiang Nan's face!
Jiang Nan had already predicted this.
His form slid backward, effortlessly evading the lethal strike.
At the same time, he glanced down—the black chains on the God-Slaying Spear's shaft had re-coalesced.
This indicated that the soul-fuel of that S-Grade scholar had burned out, and the true-damage effect had ended.
"Huff... huff..."
Confucius heaved great gasping breaths. The 3 massive holes in his chest were gushing black energy outward at a furious rate.
He stared at Jiang Nan, his expression turning grave.
"Young one... this Confucius acknowledges—you are indeed very strong."
"Your combat instincts and that bizarre long spear have both far exceeded this Confucius's expectations."
"But..."
Confucius slowly straightened himself, one hand closing around the massive virtue-axe at his side.
"In the face of this old man's true ultimate technique, all your methods are still far from enough!"
"Today, this Confucius shall overcome you with virtue!"
With a roar, Confucius raised the massive axe high with both hands!
Every scrap of ghost energy in his body poured without reservation into the axe blade.
The muscles, unable to withstand this force, cracked and split inch by inch—spraying black blood!
"Virtue Covers All Under Heaven!!!"
Rumble rumble rumble!
A phantom axe silhouette over 40 meters tall coalesced in the sky with a thunderous crash!
It came hammering down toward Jiang Nan's position in a furious strike!
However, facing this killing blow—
Jiang Nan simply did not move.
He planted the God-Slaying Spear he had been holding into the stone slab beside him, both hands hanging naturally at his sides.
Then, under Confucius's disbelieving gaze, Jiang Nan...
Stepped his right foot forward, planting it on the earth!
"By the Emperor's might, let the eight wastes be leveled!"
Hum!
Imperial Might—activated in an instant!
A surge of crimson-gold undulation, with Jiang Nan as its epicenter, erupted with a thunderclap!
The 40-meter phantom axe silhouette that could have split mountains asunder—the moment it contacted the golden ripple—
Froze suspended in midair as though halted by some invisible force, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch!
And that golden ripple continued forward undiminished, sweeping over Confucius!
"This... this is impossible!"
Confucius found to his horror that his body, capable of moving mountains and lifting oceans, had lost all control—frozen in place!
Immediately after, the vast golden ripple transformed in an instant into True Dragon Chains!
Spht!
The golden chains pierced through Confucius's every limb and bone!
Even the soul within his body was nailed motionless by those chains—unable to move a single hair!
A full 3 seconds later.
When Confucius's consciousness finally snapped free from that imperial dominance—
He looked at the golden chains piercing through his own body, and a look of confusion crossed his face.
"This... this is..."
"This is Imperial Might! This is the Dragon God's technique!"
He fixed his gaze on the armored figure before him. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the lantern hanging at Jiang Nan's waist.
"And that lantern..."
"That is the Ancestral Dragon Emperor's Sovereign Lantern!"
Confucius broke down completely, shrieking in hysterical disbelief.
"You... why do you simultaneously possess the signature trump cards of both of them?!"
"Who on earth are you?!"
However, facing Confucius's stunned interrogation—
Jiang Nan had no interest in answering.
He'd been through this once before. He was tired of it.
Jiang Nan simply pulled the God-Slaying Spear free from the stone slab where he'd planted it.
And stepped forward slowly, walking to stand before Confucius, who was bound by chains.
Under Confucius's eyes—wide with terror—
He raised his left hand and pressed it to the very center of Confucius's forehead.
"By the Divine Word, let the soul be branded forever loyal!"