Chapter 9: The Broken Cane

"So bright!"

"What is that?!"

"Is there a fire somewhere?"

"Impossible! No fire could be that bright! And there aren't any buildings that tall in Cangnan City!"

"Hurry! Take a picture! Post it on social media!"

"..."

The pillar of light shooting into the sky was so dazzling that half of Cangnan City took notice. Pedestrians stopped in their tracks, excitedly speculating the cause of the phenomenon.

Some said it was an explosion, others thought it was an optical experiment, and some believed it was a divine miracle... But only a few people knew what this light really meant.

Two minutes ago, in the Old District.

On the empty street, a ripple in the space formed, as if someone had lifted a corner of the shroud covering the Old District. Five figures, cloaked in black and red, stepped out from it.

One of them glanced around, stepped forward, and picked up a "No Entry" sign from the ground, closing it.

The moment the sign was lifted, the silent Old District shattered like foam, revealing the true Old District beneath it.

Eerie blood had soaked the old streets, turning them red. Fragments of grotesque monster limbs were scattered everywhere. If Lin Qiye had seen this scene, he would have recognized that the body parts strewn on the ground were from the grotesque monsters he had faced earlier.

There were at least thirty-four of them!

"[Unrestricted Void] recovered," the figure holding the sign spoke flatly, "Call the cleanup crew."

"What about Old Zhao?"

"He's chasing the two ghost-faced ones that ran away."

"...We were careless," the injured woman muttered, clutching her right shoulder, her expression faintly exhausted.

"Don't say that, Hong Ying. No one knew there was a Ghost-faced King among these ghost-faced monsters," the man beside her comforted.

"Do you think the captain can handle the Ghost-faced King alone?"

"Of course. Don't forget, the captain is a Third Realm 'Chuan' level expert. Nothing will happen to him," the man paused, then added, "I just hope... the two escaping ghost-faced ones don't cause harm to any civilians."

As his words faded, a brilliant light pillar shot up from another direction, illuminating half the sky!

The five figures turned their heads in unison, shock filling their eyes.

"What is that..."

"A forbidden ruin has appeared! The energy fluctuation... it's ridiculously powerful!"

"This... This has to be a Fifth Realm 'Wuliang' level expert! No, it might even be a Sixth Realm 'Klein'... How can a small city like Cangnan attract such a strong being?"

"No, this doesn't feel like a human's forbidden ruin," the man's brow furrowed deeply.

Hong Ying froze for a moment, then as if realizing something, she said, "You mean..."

"This feels like a divine forbidden ruin... A divine ruin."

At the mention of the word "divine," their eyes all hardened.

"Which god?" 

"Fiery, holy, powerful, and with the aura of creation... If I'm not mistaken, this should be..." The man stared intently at the fading light pillar and spoke slowly:

"Divine Code 003, King of Angels, Michael."

...

Lin Qiye felt awful.

At the center of the golden light pillar, his body had completely lost control, bizarrely floating in mid-air as endless energy surged from his eyes.

Lin Qiye felt as though he had returned to ten years ago, looking at that pair of eyes across the boundless universe once again.

That supreme, holy aura, he still remembered it clearly.

The difference was, ten years ago, the aura came from the moon, but now, it came from... his own eyes.

The angelic aura and divine power were madly pouring out from his eyes, which burned like two suns, as if they would burn everything into nothingness.

Ten years ago, the angel Michael had locked eyes with him from the moon.

Ten years later, Lin Qiye opened his eyes, and the lingering power of the angel burst forth!

Fortunately, the angelic power remaining in Lin Qiye's eyes wasn't too much. After seven or eight seconds, the light pillar gradually faded, and Lin Qiye's body fell back to the ground, staggering to steady himself.

The brilliant golden light in his eyes slowly dimmed, leaving only a faint golden halo.

If the brightness earlier was comparable to the sun, then now it was like the light of a single candle.

The golden radiance that had erupted earlier was immensely powerful, but it did not belong to Lin Qiye. Now, the faint golden halo in his eyes, however, was something Lin Qiye truly controlled.

A weak trace of angelic power.

Lin Qiye took a deep breath and slowly lifted his head.

The pitch-black night sky, the old streets, the grotesque monsters, and the blood-soaked ground... when this horrific scene unfolded before Lin Qiye's eyes, he smiled.

He smiled with joy.

Ten years. After ten long years, he had once again seen this world through his own eyes.

At this moment, in Lin Qiye's eyes, the bloodied monsters almost seemed somewhat... cute.

From the moment Lin Qiye's angelic power had erupted, these two monsters had been pressed to the ground by the divine force, nearly flattened into puddles of flesh.

It wasn't until the golden pillar of light faded that they regained their senses. Dazed, they looked around before once again fixing their bloodthirsty gaze on Lin Qiye.

"Chi—!" one of the monsters screeched, suddenly leaping towards Lin Qiye!

Compared to earlier, Lin Qiye was now much calmer. As soon as the monster made its move, he immediately predicted its trajectory, leaping sideways with all his strength.

Lin Qiye's speed was slower than the monster's, but his reaction speed was astonishingly fast. The few seconds of anticipation he had gained allowed him enough time to dodge.

It wasn't that he could predict the future, but rather that after opening his eyes, his perception abilities had undergone a drastic change.

One change was in his mental perception range, which had expanded from ten meters to twenty meters. Previously, it had taken Lin Qiye five years to reach ten meters, but now it had doubled instantly.

The other change was his dynamic vision.

Within this twenty-meter range, Lin Qiye's dynamic vision was nearly three times faster than a normal person's, with reflexes that could be described as abnormal. In close combat, he was nearly able to anticipate movements with uncanny accuracy.

As for other abilities granted by his eyes, Lin Qiye hadn't noticed them yet.

But for now, there was no time to experiment.

The monster, like an arrow released from a bow, flew past where Lin Qiye had been standing, crashing through a large section of the wall. Using its limbs to push off the wreckage, it launched itself at Lin Qiye again!

At this moment, Lin Qiye had already rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the monster's landing point. Reaching out, he grabbed the half-broken cane that had fallen nearby!

Lin Qiye quickly sprang to his feet, crouching down, his eyes locked on the rapidly approaching monster. He gripped the cane tightly with both hands.

The monster left a trail of afterimages, its movements stirring up a fierce wind that tousled Lin Qiye's hair.

With a powerful push of its hind legs, the monster shot into the air!

This time, Lin Qiye didn't dodge.

He gripped the half-broken cane tightly, his eyes locked on the monster's eyes.

"Chi—!"

The monster's claws shot out, aiming straight for Lin Qiye's neck.

Just as the claws were about to reach him, Lin Qiye's eyes suddenly contracted!

The faint golden halo in his eyes flared, as though fueled by a burst of fire, becoming as bright as two blazing furnaces!

A trace of divine power surged into the monster's body through Lin Qiye's eyes.

In that instant, the monster saw Lin Qiye in a completely different form—now, he appeared as a supreme god, six wings unfurled, radiating overwhelming divine pressure!

Under this divine force, the monster's body stiffened, frozen for a brief moment.

In that fleeting time, Lin Qiye raised the half-broken cane high...

And precisely drove it into the monster's right eye!