I Can See Experience Points

"As a show of sincerity, how about I release one of them?" The black-robed man didn’t dare to gamble. The stakes were simply too high; a loss was more than he could bear. Otherwise, with his temperament, he would’ve killed a couple of them by now to pressure He Xiaotian.

Unfortunately, the man acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, continuing his step-by-step advance toward the shrine.

"Wait! I can offer you more. Spiritual Energy Crystals, how about those? I’ll give you as many as you want."

THUD! THUD!

The sound of his footsteps didn’t stop; instead, they grew faster.

As He Xiaotian raised the massive hammer in his right hand, the black-robed man abruptly flicked his wrist.

Five crystals, shimmering with intoxicating colors, flew through the air.

They glittered brilliantly under the moonlight, their radiance utterly mesmerizing.

He Xiaotian stopped and turned to look.

The crystals hovered in a neat row before him.

Seeing this, the black-robed man finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, he didn’t actually expect this mysterious man—who had already twice appeared on his organization’s radar—to truly abandon his plan to destroy the ritual.

He’d figured it out: He Xiaotian couldn’t care less about the lives of Lei Yang and the others.

His earlier indifference hadn’t been an act. It was a genuine disregard that came from the bottom of his heart.

’This guy is a pure egoist. Threatening him with something that isn’t his? It’d be a miracle if that actually worked!’

So, the black-robed man switched tactics to bribing him. ’I’m not asking you to give up, just to delay for a little while until the ritual succeeds.’

’By then, an avatar of the Gluttonous King will have descended.’

’And that will be the day the mysterious X dies.’

He Xiaotian turned around, and with a wave of his hand, swept the five shimmering Spiritual Energy Crystals of various colors into his storage space.

Then, to the black-robed man’s murderous expression, he smashed the shrine’s main gate open with his hammer.

"Holy shit!"

His actions were simply dumbfounding.

’That black-hearted bastard! He took my money and didn’t even show a shred of courtesy.’

’The least you could do is pretend to hesitate for a moment, right?’

The black-robed man suddenly realized that after all his flashy maneuvers, he was the one who had ended up getting screwed.

Not only had he lost the Spiritual Energy Crystals, but now he also had to face the consequences of the ritual being destroyed.

"You mother—PFFT..."

Overcome with rage, he immediately coughed up a large mouthful of blood.

Even in the Gourmet Kitchen, he wasn’t at the top of the pyramid, but thanks to his connection to the Food King, very few people dared to treat him with disrespect.

But today, after meeting He Xiaotian, he was so angry he felt like his lungs would explode.

"AAAAAHHH!"

The black-robed man threw his head back and roared at the sky as his Spiritual Power ran rampant, lashing out at everything around him.

And so, Lei Yang and the other four suffered for it.

As the tyrannical Spiritual Power washed over them, their bones began to creak and groan.

It was as if a giant, invisible hand was squeezing them mercilessly in its grasp.

Squeezing them brutally, as if to make them burst.

He Xiaotian shattered the wooden doors, and the thick stench of blood immediately wafted out from inside the shrine.

He glanced inside and saw that the entire hall was drenched in blood.

Severed heads, their eyes wide in death, were piled up around a stone statue that was over four meters tall.

They were men and women, and their eyes were all filled with horror and despair.

In short, a desolate aura filled the air.

By the faint moonlight, he could even make out severed limbs and torsos floating in the pools of blood.

One could only imagine the torture these people must have endured before their deaths.

He Xiaotian glanced back, shooting a venomous glare at the crazed black-robed man.

’You just wait.’

’After I destroy this ritual, I’m coming to kill you.’

THUD.

He took a single step inside and walked toward the sphinx-like stone statue.

He didn’t know how to break this so-called ritual.

But there was a very simple and brutal solution: smash the statue to bits with his hammer.

He Xiaotian walked up to the sphinx and raised his hammer.

"Insolence!"

A furious roar exploded in his ears.

It shook him so violently that he grew dizzy and his vision blurred, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground.

After a moment, he managed to recover thanks to his exceptional Spiritual Power, only to see that the statue had come to life!

BOOM!

Without a second thought, He Xiaotian swung the heavy hammer in his hand.

CRACK!

The sphinx’s stone arm moved like a bolt of lightning, tearing through the darkness of the shrine to block the spiked hammerhead.

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

"I don’t give a damn who you are. Why are you talking all fancy? Trying to act all cultured?" As he spoke, he swung the heavy hammer in his left hand, aiming a vicious blow at the sphinx’s head.

BANG!

Unfortunately, the attack was futile.

This blow was also blocked by a stone arm.

"An interesting mortal. Are you willing to become my servant? When I descend, I shall bestow upon you supreme power."

"Get lost! If you’re willing to get on your knees and go down on me, I might just let you be my boy toy."

"You?!"

The sphinx’s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

He had never before encountered such a degenerate who dared to speak to him with such vulgarity.

Given his status in the Netherworld, who didn’t treat him with the utmost respect, groveling and bowing, desperate to kowtow at his feet?

Who would ever be like the human before him, so brazenly mocking him?

He even had the audacity to tell him to go down on him.

Don’t think for a second he didn’t understand the implication. Anyone could hear the mockery and contempt in those words.

A terrifying pressure raged forth, and the threat of death washed over He Xiaotian.

It felt as if in the next second, the sphinx could send him to his grave with a mere flick of a finger.

"You’re pretty good at bluffing, aren’t you?"

He Xiaotian said with a wide grin.

’Just think about it,’ he mused. ’How would a big shot from the Netherworld react to a mortal attacking him?’

’If I were in his shoes and someone attacked me...’

’No matter how impressive my attacker was, I’d definitely pull out my three-hundred-plus-jin hammer and smash them into a pulp.’

’I wouldn’t be acting all high and mighty, trying to recruit them as a subordinate.’

’Talent is a dime a dozen these days.’

’All a big shot has to do is put out the call, and countless people would flock to serve them.’

Therefore, He Xiaotian was certain the ritual hadn’t succeeded, and the sphinx hadn’t fully manifested in the physical world.

’My own perception just isn’t sharp enough. I’ve fallen for an Illusion Technique or some other strange ability.’

The stone statue would never have dreamed that a mortal, when faced with a supreme being like itself, could have processed so much in a single instant.

Outside, the storm of Spiritual Power had long since subsided.

This was because the black-robed man had seen He Xiaotian suddenly freeze in place the moment he stepped into the shrine, as if hit by a paralysis spell.

"Hahaha!"

THUD! THUD!

The sound of several heavy bodies hitting the ground followed. The black-robed man could no longer be bothered with torturing the five city Cleaners; he strode briskly toward the shrine.

He first tested the waters, wrapping He Xiaotian in his Spiritual Power and applying constant pressure.

When he met no resistance, he was instantly overcome with ecstasy.

’It seems a wisp of the Gluttonous King’s divine consciousness has already descended.’

’Next, as long as it steadily absorbs all the blood in the shrine and reconstructs a body, the descent will be complete.’

"Brat, you’ve finally met your end! I’m going to make you pay back everything you took from me, and then some."

As he finished speaking, the black-robed man pulled two daggers covered in strange runes from within his robes.