224: Chapter 224 There is still hope

Chu Xuan knit his brows in deep thought.

Before [Future Tang Zheng] finally disappeared, he had left hints to "be careful" and "hurry up."

But looking at the situation now, perhaps he really was meant to be careful of the Phantom Demon and hurry to become a Purifier.

However, the five prerequisite conditions for becoming a Purifier were clearly told to him by the other party. Why was there no reaction at all now that he had satisfied all of them?

Exactly what went wrong?

In that split second, a sentence suddenly flashed through Chu Xuan's mind—

Never trust anyone!

This motherfucker...

Could it be that [Future Tang Zheng] was waiting here just to set him up?!

In fact, there might not even be a person called [Future Tang Zheng] at all; as the Phantom Demon had said before, [Future Tang Zheng] was just a manifestation of part of the rules.

The other party's ability to accurately predict the future was merely based on the [Precognitive Dream] Talent.

And the reason the [Precognitive Dream] Talent existed was that it had absorbed the dissipation after the collision of rules—a dissipation that wasn't limited to the real world, but included the Dark World as well.

The existence of [Future Tang Zheng] might be equivalent to the Charm attribute in the System.

Poison coated in sugar.

Chu Xuan fell into deep doubt at this moment.

After so many schemes and hardships, reaching the final step only to have everything fall through at the last moment... it all felt like a reflection of a flower in a mirror or the moon in the water.

As things stood, it might be better to follow the Phantom Demon's advice and add 1 more point to the Charm attribute to trade for some freedom and delay death for a few days...

Wait!

How could I have such a defeatist thought of giving up?!

Chu Xuan's eyes suddenly narrowed.

Immediately after, he reached his hand into his abdomen and, with a "crack," snapped off a section of a rib, brutally pulling it out directly from his gut.

"Max-level Heart Bewitchment can bring continuous influence to a person... Phantom Demon, did you plant the seed of doubt regarding [Future Tang Zheng] in my heart during the previous dreams just so it would take effect at a critical moment?"

Chu Xuan's hands were covered in blood, and the pain made him grit his teeth, but his gaze was incredibly calm: "No matter how you influence me, even in the most desperate situation, I will never, under any circumstances, give up!"

In an instant, Chu Xuan cast all those doubts aside.

This was merely the Phantom Demon's instigation from the previous dreams. At this point, even the greatest amount of doubt was useless and would only add to his troubles; he could only walk this path to the end.

He would consider the problem based on continuing to trust [Future Tang Zheng]!

"So... where exactly did the problem occur?"

"Which part was wrong? Or was a condition missed?" Chu Xuan pondered. Based on previous experience, [Future Tang Zheng] indeed had a history of missing information or sending the wrong information.

Chu Xuan recalled the scene at that time.

It was in an ordinary hotel. At the final moment in the dream, [Future Tang Zheng] had not only sent the conditions for becoming a Purifier to his phone, but they were also densely packed everywhere his eyes could see.

He had even heard his voice in his ears.

"Among the five conditions—owning a Curio, Charm attribute not exceeding 20, and Heart Bewitchment at max level—even if these three are wrong, I can no longer make changes. So I can only try to find a solution from the other two conditions!"

Chu Xuan's eyes showed contemplation.

"Retain at least 1000 spirituality value! Personal Rank raised to at least 5, and Constitution, Strength, and Agility all raised to their limits... He wouldn't be playing word games with me, would he? Is the problem with the words 'at least'?"

"Or perhaps, it's not just the three attributes of Constitution, Strength, and Agility, but also a missing spirit attribute?"

"Regardless, what this path needs is spirituality value!"

In an instant, Chu Xuan organized a new line of thought.

"Find a way to accumulate spirituality value to 1500 points. If that's useless, then use all 500 points to raise the spirit attribute..."

"If it still doesn't work, then the reason might be within the dream! Just like System tasks, it might be impossible to trigger within a dream!"

"Then... let's try the first method first! My current spirituality value is 1193, still over 300 short..."

Chu Xuan's mind raced. He glanced at his current spirituality value and felt his consciousness becoming blurry again. He immediately gritted his teeth and snapped off another rib.

"So what if you use self-mutilation to maintain a brief moment of clarity? This is just your dream; you'll wake up after you die, right? When that time comes, you'll still be in this state. Are you going to keep mutilating yourself then?"

The Phantom Demon chuckled. "I already stand in an invincible position."

"In that case, I'll just have to commit suicide directly when I wake up," Chu Xuan said with downcast eyes. "Since you won't let me live, I certainly won't let you have your way."

The Phantom Demon said, "You won't do that. I can sense that you still seem to feel you have a sliver of life left. Your desire to survive is very strong; I know you definitely won't commit suicide!"

"I have no way left to live. You won't even give me a single day, and instead, you keep tricking me into raising my Charm attribute. Isn't that just providing you with nourishment to allow you to achieve a better Fusion?"

Chu Xuan said, "Right now, I have nothing to lose. If I commit suicide in reality, there's a high probability you'll die with me, isn't there?"

"But if you give me a little more time to settle my affairs and don't push me so hard, then I'll accept it."

"That way, the longer you stay in my body, the more likely you are to completely parasitize me under the erosion of the eerie aura, and it might not even be impossible to achieve a perfect Fusion."

"Based on the above, I should be correct, right?"

The Phantom Demon fell silent for a full half-minute before finally speaking:

"What you say makes a lot of sense, but I can feel that you seem to have some sort of scheme. I suspect you might already know a way to deal with me through Future Tang Zheng! Although it's unlikely, I won't gamble. You can try to commit suicide... I will choose to forcibly parasitize you the instant you do!"

The Phantom Demon laughed again: "My power is almost fully accumulated, and you proactively spent spirituality value to raise Heart Bewitchment to max level. My success rate for forcibly parasitizing you now is at least sixty percent! You either suffer my suppression and slowly wait for death, or choose to raise your Charm attribute and I'll give you some freedom. There are only these two paths!"

"You won't gamble? Then why were you silent just now? What were you hesitating about?"

Chu Xuan said indifferently, "Can your success rate really reach sixty percent? I'm afraid it's not even fifty percent, is it? I truly don't want to die, but it seems you don't dare to take the path of forced parasitism either unless it's the critical moment. We share the same desire for survival; neither of us wants to die..."

Crack!

Another rib was brutally pulled out.

By now, Chu Xuan was already soaked in a pool of blood.

His physical appearance was also quietly undergoing changes.

His originally healthy wheat-colored skin had now become exceptionally pale, and his pitch-black hair was turning silver-white.

One crack after another had appeared all over Chu Xuan's body at some unknown point.

As the fissures opened, they revealed vertical pupils emitting a silver glow within, their blinking revealing an indescribable eeriness.

Bang!!

With a dull thud, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a large group of people appeared at the entrance.

"Chu Xuan!"

Tang Zheng's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to rush over, someone grabbed him firmly by the shoulder from behind.

"Wait! Don't go over there!"

He Jun blocked the way, keeping everyone behind him. He looked at Chu Xuan's current state with eyes full of wariness and shouted in a low voice, "Chu Xuan is about to lose control! Everyone, fall back immediately!"