Chapter 324

Chapter 324

Hui Cui didn't use his gun.

In the Divine Kingdom, the weapon storage space of dual-natured practitioners cannot be opened. To carry more weapons, when he entered with a black cloth, all the weapons needed for this operation were floating around him.

Bullets could be either special physical bullets or magical bullets, but compared to expending magic power, engaging in close combat with the shadow fiend would better reveal its true nature.

So Hui Cui raised his hand and gripped the longsword.

"Huh?"

The glowing Solomon let out a slight sound of surprise. After Hui Cui grasped the longsword, the shadow fiend running towards them also had a shadow of a longsword in its hand.

The many weapons floating around Hui Cui, of course, had shadows as well, but they did not transform into shadow fiends like Hui Cui's own shadow.

Only after Hui Cui grasped the sword did the shadow fiend's shadow connect with the shadow of the longsword.

That was one thing, but after gripping the sword, the shadow fiend's stance changed from that of a Combat Master to the starting position of a Sword Dancer, while Hui Cui only assumed a simple defensive posture. The shadow fiend's Sword Dancer opening move did not follow Hui Cui's change!

"It doesn't seem to be an ordinary Shadow Fiend," Solomon said.

Shadow Fiends, these fiends, can mimic the shadows of other things to some extent, but such mimicry is limited to shape; it is impossible for them to replicate their owner's abilities or spells.

Hui Cui observed the shadow, only defending and parrying the slashes. The longsword clashed with the black shadow sword, producing the metallic clanging of metal striking metal.

"Its moves are consistent with my habits," he judged after two exchanges, swinging the longsword and using the first spell.

Weapon Enchantment.

The dark black magical energy flowed into the longsword, enhancing its destructive power and making the blade even sharper.

This was a spell unique to dual-natured practitioners. Without the magic power of a dual-natured practitioner, the shadow fiend could never have replicated it.

But it also swung the shadow sword, and suddenly a ring of light appeared around the black blade.

Hui Cui blocked for the third time, and the destructive force clashed with the ring of light on the shadow sword. The destructive force cut through the ring of light and severed the black blade inside.

The spells of dual-natured practitioners were indeed the most suitable for battle.

Hui Cui was not surprised by this result, but instead returned to a defensive stance, waiting to see if the shadow fiend had any more spells.

"That spell," Solomon said, "seems to heat the blade and has a dispelling effect."

Like the Weapon Enchantment spell belonging to dual-natured practitioners, this heating and dispelling enchantment spell used to belong to practitioners of the Light Dragon or holy spirits like Light Fairies.

In any case, a monster in the shadows should not be able to use it.

"Is this a type of Shadow Fiend, or a new fiend born from the combination of light and shadow powers?" Solomon pondered, pinching his chin inside the yellow diamond. As Hui Cui deliberately held back several times to allow the shadow fiend to counterattack, revealing six or seven different spells of light and shadow, he saw the shadow fiend start to repeat spells before ending it with a swift strike.

Hui Cui's writhing shadow reattached itself to the ground covered with raw gemstones.

"It's probably a new fiend," Dover Birdman sheathed his sword and thought aloud, "Not only does it possess spells from both the light and shadow domains, but it also uses the same dual-natured church swordsmanship as me, with strength and speed equal to mine after losing my blessing. In other words, it mimicked an unblessed version of me using a longsword as a weapon."

"If so, it might be a bit tough for low-level practitioners," Solomon commented, "Intermediate practitioners already have their own combat insights. Simply mimicking strength, speed, and moves without learning the spells would make this shadow fiend weaker."

The two apostles were already thinking about how to illustrate and describe this shadow fiend in the bestiary.

Unfortunately, adding content to the *Fiend Bestiary* was something they could do only if they survived and left the Light Dragon's altered Divine Kingdom. For now, they still had to find the dragon—

Hui Cui, who had turned away, suddenly turned back.

His shadow, which had reattached to the uneven ground, once again sprang up because he did not release the longsword, and the shadow fiend charged at him with the sword.

Another metallic clash.

Compared to the last time, the shadow fiend's strength had not increased; it remained at the level of the unblessed Hui Cui.

This was good news, but the clang of metal made Hui Cui and Solomon's expressions more serious than before.

"Is a new fiend attaching itself to the shadow?" Solomon asked.

"It's the same one," Nian Jian, who had been silent to conserve magic power, finally spoke, "Hui Cui's 'Destruction' spell didn't kill it; it only temporarily destroyed its magic core."

"Destroying the magic core kills a fiend," Solomon stated this mystical fact, but his tone was questioning rather than certain.

"In reality, yes, but the Divine Kingdom operates under different rules," Nian Jian answered his question, "Here, shadows may be impossible to kill."

Solomon immediately understood.

"As long as there is light, the shadow will always exist, right?" he asked, but this time he didn't wait for Nian Jian's answer, saying, "Then we can use the Shadowless Illumination spell."

The Shadowless Illumination spell is usually only usable in enclosed spaces, and the Divine Kingdom of the Light Dragon is indeed an enclosed space, albeit excessively large.

With such a vast area, even using Solomon's yellow diamond, only part of it could be illuminated, leaving another part in shadow. However, if the goal was simply to prevent Hui Cui from having a shadow, then illuminating the area around him with the Shadowless Illumination spell would suffice.

Or, there was a simpler method—

Solomon in the yellow diamond pointed at Hui Cui.

Light Spell, a very basic and simple spell.

This spell makes an object emit light. It is generally used on the ground to prevent shadow walkers from emerging, but it can also be used on other objects, as it was now, making Hui Cui glow brightly.

Becoming a source of light, his shadow instantly disappeared.

Hui Cui, who had been locked in a sword struggle with the shadow fiend, did not stumble due to the sudden disappearance of his opponent. He turned his longsword and maintained a vigilant stance until Nian Jian said, "The mind is gone," then released the sword, letting it float behind him.

"If it's a Fiend that can only be truly eliminated by a Light Dragon practitioner, that would be quite troublesome." He assessed from his position as the judge.

"Perhaps enchanted items could be issued to counteract it," Solomon interjected, "but that would be your job."

After this, Solomon was definitely going to formally abdicate... well, if he could complete this mission and leave this transformed divine kingdom alive.

The two of them fell silent.

The light from the Luminescence spell and Solomon’s Yellow Diamond was not extensive, allowing the Apostles, with their vast perception range, to sense the darkness beyond the light.

The darkness seemed like a place where demons danced, but even for the Apostles, they could only feel silence, stillness, nothing at all.

"Not even a Shadow Fiend..." Solomon sounded surprised. After all, this place was now the divine kingdom of the Light Dragon, which was also the Shadow Realm; there were no Shadow Fiends in the Shadow Realm?

"Not only are there no Shadow Fiends," Hui Cui echoed the same confusion, "there wasn't even a second one of those shadow Fiends we saw earlier?"

The divine kingdom is the holy land where Fiend spirits reside, yet even the light fairies that had disappeared from reality were absent here.

Something was off.

With their mind blades set to energy-saving mode, the two searched extensively, but the divine kingdom of the Light Dragon was as large as Earth. Even with the Apostles' swift pace, they could only cover a small area in a short time.

Their hope of finding the dragon upon entering was dashed.

The two Apostles did not lose heart, but thinking of the tense situation outside, their expressions became more serious.

Their serious expressions were not just due to the dashed hopes, but also because they had found no clues related to the dragon since entering.

Without any direction to search, did they really have to comb through this divine kingdom, which was the size of Earth?

Hui Cui and Solomon did not think searching the entire Earth was difficult, but choosing such a method might waste a lot of time if their luck was bad.

How much time did Earth have left?

Their rapid search continued, stepping on different gems toward a certain direction, spreading their perceptions as far as possible along the way, and splitting up to expand the search area.

Without needing to check their pocket watches, three hours later, they regrouped, both having found nothing.

"This won't work," Solomon tugged at the hair near the bottom of his ear, "we need to change our approach."

"Should we look for that shadow Fiend again?" Hui Cui asked, also pondering other search methods.

"Besides becoming darker, that shadow Fiend is one of the two anomalies in the divine kingdom." Solomon, sharing the same thought, directly continued the analysis, saying, "Unlike Shadow Fiends, this shadow Fiend seems to be the shadow of a spirit being, transformed into a Fiend under these special conditions. It can use both light and shadow magic, and even possesses some of its owner's abilities."

"The part about possessing some of its owner's abilities is strange," Hui Cui nodded, "strength and speed could be mimicry, but sharing combat habits is like a 'mirror image.'"

"'Mirror image'... Is there a similar holy spirit in Majesty Jing Zhong Tong's divine kingdom?" Solomon asked.

"No." Hui Cui answered for him.

"There's no way my Lord could have the authority of 'mirror images'..." Solomon was puzzled, Jing Zhong Tong was alive and well, and the one who died was Black Sun.

Hui Cui thought the same, the weight on his head was still intact, and the invisible mind blade remained perched on his scalp as a silver dove.

"Or we could return to reality with a black cloth first," Solomon sighed, suggesting, "find some mysticism experts, or bring in a ritualist."

"Goo!" The mind blade voiced its discontent.

Why look for another ritualist when he was here?

You can't perform rituals now, Solomon grumbled internally, then said aloud, "We should use support from the rear when needed—"

"Rituals." Hui Cui suddenly thought of something, interrupting.

Confused by Hui Cui's meaning, Solomon's mind filled with question marks inside the Yellow Diamond, but before he could ask, Hui Cui quickly explained, "Speaking of rituals, I remember Lin's previous paper..."

"Why does mentioning rituals make you think of that paper?" Solomon couldn't help but comment, but after his comment, he immediately said, "Go on."

"The main content of that paper is how to transform sacrificial actions into symbols to strengthen rituals," Hui Cui continued without interruption, "and transforming sacrificial actions into symbols mainly involves the symbolic nature of the actions."

Did Hui Cui actually read Lin's paper seriously? Solomon wanted to comment again but held back.

Not only did he hold back, but he also professionally followed the analysis, saying, "Symbolic nature... many aspects of mysticism are related to symbolism, an object symbolizing a deity, a behavior symbolizing a meaning... so what exactly are you getting at?"

"That shadow Fiend is a new type of Fiend, the light fairies and Shadow Fiends have disappeared, and this shadow Fiend has appeared instead. Its unique form might be a symbol explaining the transformation of His Majesty the Light Dragon."

Hui Cui said this first, seeing that Solomon was only thoughtful and not enlightened, he explained more clearly:

"The shadow Fiend is practically another me, could this symbolize that His Majesty the Light Dragon has split into two?"