Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Calamity
Staring at Wu Chang emerging from the shadows, Liu Shan’s face was ashen.
Wu Chang shrugged and said, "I told you this was a key point. I’d test you on it when we met again. Let me ask you once more, how should a villain laugh?"
Liu Shan laughed stiffly, "Ha ha ha?"
"Wrong! It’s ngeh ngeh ngeh. Sir, how old are you this year?"
"Sixty-four," Liu Shan answered instinctively.
"Live and learn until old age. Besides, at your age, people where I come from haven’t even retired yet. So young, and already lying down, giving up on learning and progress, yet trying to be a villain."
Wu Chang shook his head in disappointment, then said:
"It’s getting late. You should get going; you may still catch up with your second-in-command. But before you leave, I have one last question for you."
"You say you’re bandits, but why do you play the role of villagers so naturally, without a trace of guilt? Even I was fooled by you."
At this question, Liu Shan’s dull expression showed a trace of emotion.
He looked at Wu Chang, unwilling, and said:
"Because we want to forget everything and start anew!"
"The imperial court is corrupt, traitors run rampant, local aristocratic families control everything, recklessly seizing land and disregarding our survival! We became bandits just to have a bite to eat!"
"We used to have no choice. Now we just want to hide in the mountains and become ordinary villagers again. Why can’t you just let us go!"
Wu Chang lowered his gaze, took a deep breath, and said, "Fine, go tell that to the villagers of Huai Valley Village buried in the crypt and see if they’ll let you become ordinary villagers again."
Upon hearing Wu Chang’s words, Liu Shan broke down.
"They are evil spirits! They are demons! You come from a famous sect, a great hero, yet you side with demons over humanity! How can you live up to your sect, live up to the world?"
Wu Chang pursed his lips, his face solemn as if enduring a moral and spiritual interrogation.
"I..."
He burst out laughing, unable to hold back.
"Actually, I’m lying to you. I’m neither from a famous sect nor a great hero."
Having said that, taking advantage of Liu Shan’s peak of anger and surprise, he shot Liu Shan in the head.
Phew.
Wu Chang took a deep breath, as an old hand finally regaining his footing.
He picked up the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp near Liu Shan, and a prompt appeared on the lamp.
"Current lamp oil burn time: 7200 seconds."
He added the remaining lamp oil burned by the Fog Demon to make it up to 8000 seconds.
"This much time should be enough."
He turned and looked towards Huai Valley Village, able to hear screams and cries carried by the wind.
Wu Chang, with a compassionate heart, couldn’t bear to see demons slaughter humans, even if these people were blood-soaked bandits.
So he distanced himself far from Huai Valley Village, to a place where he could no longer hear the screams.
He found a sheltered place by the mountain path, lit a bonfire, and brought out a leg of lamb.
Earlier, during the chaos, he had seized the sacrificial offerings prepared by Liu Shan and the others for the year-end festival, now intending to make a barbecue."
As the lamb leg browned, its outer skin turned a golden brown with a hint of char, glazed with his homemade sauce, fully releasing its aroma.
As he was about to eat, his vision blurred momentarily, and he saw the scene of blood-red resentment within the Evil Qi again.
The beginning of the scene was the same, with the villagers of Huai Valley Village working in the valley, the atmosphere carefree and content.
Only this time, it was not the Black Mountain Bandits entering the valley, but him.
He rode through the valley, and everyone he encountered—whether villagers sowing seeds, hurrying home with water buckets, or playing children—would pause and bow to him.
"Thank you, Hero Wu."
"Thank you, Hero Wu."
"Thank you, Hero Wu."
...
As all the villagers of Huai Valley Village thanked him one by one, the vision shattered, and he was brought back to reality with something new in his mind.
He looked towards Huai Valley Village and found that the commotion there had ceased, and the blood cloud that hung in the sky was now gone.
Everything had come to an end; the resentment of the evil spirits had dissipated, and the reward for exorcising the resentment was received.
Exorcising the evil spirits brought him one Life, one Energy, two Inspiration, and one Will.
In addition to the inherent part of the attribute reward, the exorcism also brought him a Talent Skill.
"Talent Name: Calamity."
"Skill Description: When the skill is activated, you will enter a Calamity state. In the Calamity state, the user becomes a Spirit Body, directly attacking the target’s soul. If the sum of the target’s Inspiration and Will Attributes is less than 80% of the user’s sum of these two attributes, one of ’Plague’, ’Inviting Calamity’, or ’Curse’ will be triggered randomly; if less than 50%, two will be triggered randomly; if less than 20%, all will be triggered, with an additional special state triggered."
"Plague: When a target is affected by Plague, they will randomly receive 1-5 major diseases. The lower the current Life Value, the worse the symptoms; the greater the difference in Inspiration Attribute between the target and the user, the more types of diseases."
"Inviting Calamity: When a target is affected by Inviting Calamity, they will suffer continuous misfortunes and accidents, with effects determined by the difference in Inspiration Attribute between the target and the user."
"Curse: When a target is affected by Curse, they will experience hallucinations and suffer from a Spiritual Shock, with effects determined by the difference in Inspiration Attribute between the target and the user."
From the skill description, it’s not difficult to see that the effect of the Calamity Talent is equivalent to him transforming into an evil spirit, possessing various capabilities of evil spirits.
Having seen those controlled by Evil Qi, the effects of Plague, Inviting Calamity, and Curse are known to be strong.
In a duel between equally skilled opponents, the condition can determine victory, let alone such a significant impact?
Imagine two people in a duel, and one suddenly suffers from sudden illness, even a minor ailment like appendicitis or diarrhea is unbearable.
Not only that, the most powerful aspect of the Calamity skill lies in the fact that its judgments are related to the Inspiration and Will Attributes.
Having just entered the Abyssal Game, he lacked all attributes except for Inspiration and Will.
With 90 Inspiration and 64 Will, he can ensure that whenever he acts as a Calamity, it will always hit the mark.
Just as he wished to further study Calamity, a sound of hoofbeats came from afar.
Correctly speaking, it was the sound of donkey hooves.
Soon, Daoist Chi Yuan rode up on his little black donkey, rushing over.
Wu Chang tore off a piece of lamb leg and asked, "Daoist Chi Yuan, want a piece?"
Chi Yuan saw Wu Chang barbecuing by the roadside and was full of surprise, "Young Hero Wu has such refined interests."
Wu Chang smiled and asked, "Daoist, at such risk, traveling overnight, where are you headed?"
"I just dealt with the escaping mountain ghost and was heading towards Huai Valley Village. On the way, I sensed intense Demon Qi and ominous air here, so I rushed over to see what happened in the village."
Wu Chang raised the lamb leg and sighed, "Alas, at the year-end festival, several wild demons attacked Huai Valley Village. The villagers fought bravely but the demons were too strong, and the whole village was massacred."
Chi Yuan turned pale, muttering in a trance, "How could such a tragedy occur!"
Wu Chang bit into the lamb leg and asked, "Tragic?"
"Young Hero Wu, why do you say that? The whole village slaughtered by demons, how is this not tragic!" Chi Yuan shouted angrily.
Wu Chang blinked, showing an embarrassed expression.
"I thought it was a cause for celebration; I was going to congratulate you on avenging your great nemesis."