Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 371 - 102: Dispelling

As Chen Chuan headed toward the basement, the signs of phasing on his body grew more pronounced. The farther he walked, the worse it became. Not only that, but the feeling of being watched also became omnipresent.

At that moment, the strand of the Flying Head Monster’s hair on his wrist and the Raccoon Cat Stone Token hanging from his body began to vibrate faintly.

’So it seems I really am facing one of those monsters.’

The Lost Objects left behind by monsters were known to react to their presence. ’But for the Raccoon Cat Stone Token to be trembling like this... could it be sensing some kind of threat?’

The temperature ahead dropped slightly. After descending the stairs, he saw a locked metal door. He walked up, placed a hand on it, and pressed. A GRINDING sound came from the doorframe’s joints as bricks and bolts gradually cracked and burst out. Under the force of his Power, the entire door twisted and deformed before crashing backward with a BOOM.

Once the dust behind the door settled a bit, he walked inside and saw a "tree."

To be precise, it was a Domain-disrupting lifeform, but it seemed to have been magnified several times over. The creature occupied nearly half of the hotel’s entire basement level.

Its branches extended outward, not only filling the entire underground space but also piercing through the floorboards like incorporeal things, reaching toward the levels above.

That alone would have been nothing special. What was horrifying was that the branches were hung with bare human arms, dangling down like vines.

Near the bottom of the trunk were human feet, neatly arranged and stacked all around, spreading outward in rings from the base of the roots.

Chen Chuan glanced over them. Some of the hands were slender, others thick and strong. They must have been taken from different men and women. They were a jumbled mess, as if haphazardly pieced onto the vines.

Near the base of the trunk and roots was countless—what was clearly—human hair, some of it tangled in the branches. The ground was littered with layers upon layers of tattered clothing.

Chen Chuan finally understood where the guests had gone. This thing was undoubtedly one of the monsters, but it must have undergone some form of metamorphosis.

If some of these monsters weren’t dealt with in time and were provided with a continuous supply of Life Force, they would gradually evolve beyond their original state and grow stronger.

The feeling of being watched he’d had earlier came from its branches, which had already extended into numerous corners of the hotel and were trying to influence him.

A normal person who came here would likely be gradually lured in or captured by it.

’To have changed so much in just three years... I can’t imagine what it would become if it’s allowed to keep growing.’

At this moment, perhaps because it couldn’t affect him, the creature let out a high-pitched, human-like shriek. The lights in the basement, which had been on the whole time, suddenly began to flicker.

After his observation, Chen Chuan stabbed the Snow Monarch Blade into the side wall. He gripped the hilt with both hands and, with a SHING, drew it free. He then held it in one hand, gave it a twirl, and slowly walked forward.

The dangling branches above suddenly whipped down toward him.

Chen Chuan slashed upward. Previously, the Snow Monarch Blade had limited effect against the Flying Head Monster because they could barely make contact. Now, however, as the blade swung up, the blood-red line on its spine grew a shade brighter. With a HISS, it severed the branches. The detached human hands CLATTERED to the ground, and a red, blood-like juice spurted from the cuts.

After a few more slashes to cut through the branches trying to block him, a sense of satisfaction rose within him.

’In the past, I could only rely on attrition, physical contact, or other unique methods to eliminate these monsters. But this kind of direct, brutal approach is by far the most convenient.’

He advanced while clearing a path, his speed not slowing in the slightest. He crossed thirty or forty meters in the span of a few breaths. When he was about ten meters from the trunk, he pushed off the ground and leaped forward, arriving before the massive trunk in an instant.

Just then, the monster tree let out an even shriller screech. Thick roots, hung with strings of human legs and hair, erupted from the ground, trying to stop him from getting closer.

’But in doing so, it just exposed its own weak points.’

Chen Chuan let out a low shout and lunged forward. A wheel of light from his blade suddenly bloomed in front of him, tearing apart all the tangling obstructions around him. Severed limbs rained down with a SPLASH. He leaped out from the heavy blockade, reached the trunk, and, while still in mid-air, gripped the hilt with both hands and brought it down in a diagonal slash!

As a crescent of blade light flashed, a long, slanted gash was torn open in the trunk.

The monster tree let out a piercing shriek as odorless, scarlet juice shot out from the trunk. Chen Chuan landed behind it, his forward momentum unbroken. He twisted at the waist, brought his blade around in a horizontal sweep, and another flash of light crossed over the trunk.

From the massive, cross-shaped gash, the crimson liquid gushed out uncontrollably. At the same time, the entire monster tree pulsed and made a sound like someone retching.

With a great SPLURT, countless internal organs and fragmented torsos spewed out from inside the trunk, instantly covering the entire floor of the level.

Chen Chuan stared at the creature. Although it seemed severely wounded by his two slashes, he noticed the gashes were already closing rapidly. ’These attacks must not have hit its true vital point.’

His mind raced, and he made a decision. With a flick of his blade, he bent low and charged forward. In a flash, he plunged through the gaping wound and into the trunk.

Once inside, he looked up and saw that he was surrounded by many interconnected internal tissues, all pulsating slowly as if breathing. Encased in the very center was something that looked like a brain.

This thing should have been nourished by the fragmented organs and fluids, but now they were all pouring out through the gashes. This was undoubtedly the part the monster tree was desperately trying to protect.

He took a shallow breath, took a few steps forward, and spun violently, delivering an upward diagonal slash at the object!

At that moment, as he entered, the gashes on the outside began to close. The limbs and appendages rushed to fill the gaps, secreting a red, gelatinous fluid that rapidly repaired the damage.

But halfway through this process, the movements suddenly stopped. A moment later, everything—the trunk, the branches, and the limbs upon them—began to dry out and wither at an incredible speed. Finally, as if they could no longer support themselves, they broke apart segment by segment, crashing to the floor, where they shattered and scattered into clouds of black ash.

Yet the entire process was utterly silent, as if it were all just an illusion that had never existed in reality.

In just over ten seconds, the entire monster tree’s trunk had crumbled into a pile of ash, forming a thick layer of slag on the ground.

Chen Chuan took off his hat, patted himself down a few times to brush off the ash, and put it back on. He scanned the area, confirming that the creature had been completely eliminated.

But there seemed to be something solid beneath the ash. He prodded it with the Snow Monarch Blade, and an object roughly the size of a fist rolled out.

Chen Chuan bent down, picked it up, and blew off the ash. He saw it was a heart-shaped object that looked like it was carved from wood, yet also resembled jade.

’This must be the monster tree’s Lost Object.’

He put it away and walked out of the basement. The entire hotel had felt lifeless before, but once the monster was dealt with, insects and other small creatures seemed to emerge all at once.

At the same time, his Realm Token’s connection was restored. He immediately contacted the city patrol to have them come and handle the situation. The cleanup was secondary; the main point was to inform the higher-ups through them that the area was now clear and no longer required special measures.

Back on the upper level, he pushed open the hotel doors, took a deep breath, and headed for the parking lot.

He had only taken a few steps when he saw several gang-banger types surrounding his car. An SUV was parked in front of it, and they were attaching a tow cable.

Chen Chuan checked them with his Realm Token. They were all gang members with extensive records of torture and arrest. Their leader even had a warrant out for him.

He calmly reached into his pocket and, with a gentle squeeze, crushed a small stone into more than a dozen tiny fragments. He casually pushed one of the fragments onto his knuckle.

"Boss, someone’s coming out," one of the gang members shouted when he saw Chen Chuan.

The gang leader was startled. He hadn’t expected anyone who went inside to come back out. He squinted at Chen Chuan, and with a single glance, he realized this man was probably not someone to be trifled with.

So he decided to give him an out.

He clapped one of his underlings on the shoulder. "Go say hello. The higher-ups said no one goes in and no one comes out. Tell him we were just looking after his car for him. Have him pay a ’storage fee,’ and we’ll call it even. We won’t stop him from leaving."

"Got it, Boss." The underling tossed his cigarette butt, then swaggered over with a few other guys. When he got close, he said, "Hey, you..." But before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the ground with a THUD.

The other gang members reacted quickly. Realizing something was wrong, they immediately scattered and pulled out their weapons. But before they could even figure out what was happening, they fell one by one, left sprawling on the street.

Chen Chuan simply continued his slow walk toward the car.

The gang leader sensed trouble. He immediately scrambled away from the car and took off running. At that moment, he noticed his Realm Token was working again and immediately sent out an alert: "Lockdown, lockdown! We’ve got a tough one! Grab your gear!"

Chen Chuan didn’t even look at him. He walked straight to his car and flicked the tiny stone fragment he was holding. The gang leader, who had already run about twenty meters, stumbled forward a few steps, pitched face-first onto the ground, and lay there motionless.

When Chen Chuan reached his car, he gave his hand a twist, and the door unlocked.

He paused for a moment and looked back. The little boy was watching him. He gave a nod in the boy’s direction, then got in, closed the door, started the car, and drove toward the sealed-off section of the road.

...

...