230: Chapter 230 Under the Rules, There Must Be a Way to Survive

"O Great Lord of All Spirits, King of the Endless Soul Abyss, the One True God!"

"Thank You for bestowing upon me the True Authority of the Clone, [Assimilation]!"

"Your most devout lamb shall assimilate the entire city and offer You a feast! This city, these sentient beings, shall either become nutrients or one of the myriad spirits!"

"All glory belongs to You!"

A deathly darkness enveloped the entire city, as if the world had suddenly lost its light.

With the echoes of those frenzied wolf howls, everyone heard them clearly, no matter where they were.

The whole world went silent.

Most people were at a loss, unsure of what had happened or why everything was pitch black, some even suspecting they had gone blind.

What exactly were those wolf howls echoing in their ears?

The entire city fell into immense panic, especially the vehicles that had not yet left the urban area, which honked their horns incessantly.

Following that, screams, exclamations, and angry curses rose and fell one after another.

Inside the detention room, Chu Xuan naturally heard the phrase "It's dark, please close your eyes." His heart immediately tightened as he knew who had arrived.

The Night Demon!

"The Night Demon... the Night Demon isn't dead!"

"According to Future Tang Zheng's description, in the original timeline, Azure Dragon appeared and killed the Night Demon just as it was ascending to S-rank."

"But in the current timeline, the Night Demon failed its ascension and fled, so Azure Dragon kept it alive, waiting for it to ascend again. Now that Azure Dragon is dead, the Night Demon has successfully ascended to S-rank..."

"The True Authority of the Clone... Assimilation! After becoming a World Traitor, Azure Dragon gained the ability of Assimilation, allowing him to subtly influence and unknowingly turn targets into Clones. Ming Xiucheng fell victim to this and became one of Azure Dragon's identities."

"And now, the Night Demon seems to be using this ability... to assimilate the entire city?!"

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Chu Xuan instantly understood the content of the redacted message sent by Future Tang Zheng.

Watch out for the Night Demon! Leave Haicheng immediately!

Future Tang Zheng likely died because of the Night Demon!

Continuing to endure the burning pain, Chu Xuan's vision was pitch black, yet he vaguely felt he could see Black Flames burning, though they were somewhat blurry.

The System's notification for the duration of the Fire of Nirvana baptism continued to flash.

[Remaining Time: 11:45:58]

"Almost there..." Chu Xuan gritted his teeth.

Under the burning of the Black Flames, he continuously gained the Phantom Demon's spirituality value. What was originally supposed to take 24 hours for the baptism to finish had already had its time reduced by more than half, even though only an hour had passed.

Unfortunately, the intervals between the "+1 spirituality value" prompts were growing longer, and the Phantom Demon's screams had become very faint.

"My friend, please let me go, I can't take it anymore..." the Phantom Demon pleaded.

"Don't you think it's ridiculous to tell me this now? You chose this yourself!"

Chu Xuan panted and sneered, "If you can't stand it, why don't you proactively give me more spirituality to speed up the baptism! You're going to die sooner or later anyway, and there's an S-rank Specter outside, so why not be a bit more proactive..."

"No... no..." The Phantom Demon's screams grew even weaker.

Chu Xuan stopped speaking. With the spirituality value constantly fueling the fire, the tempering of the Fire of Nirvana became increasingly unbearable for him.

His consciousness was becoming blurred, and he could only grit his teeth and endure.

Fortunately, his four attributes—Constitution, Strength, Agility, and Spirit—had all risen to 56 points and were still slowly increasing with the tempering, which gave Chu Xuan more confidence.

Meanwhile, in the corridor outside the detention room, amidst the brief shock of the crowd, a faint light flickered and emerged from Zhao Hongchan's palm.

She held a child in one arm, while a crimson flame danced in the palm of her other hand, dispelling some of the darkness and illuminating the group.

"My flames can barely withstand the encroachment of this darkness... It's confirmed, this is definitely an S-rank Domain! The Night Demon has finally ascended to S-rank!"

The flame in Zhao Hongchan's palm flickered, reflecting her extremely grim expression:

"Damn that Azure Dragon! I had more than one chance to hunt down the Night Demon, but things always went wrong. Thinking back, he must have been interfering. He got off easy by dying, leaving such a mess for us..."

In the flickering light, everyone's faces looked extremely grim.

At that moment, Tang Zheng's voice suddenly rang out, "Old man, didn't you always want to suppress S-rank Specters? Now that an S-rank Specter has appeared, why don't you go deal with it? You're so powerful, you must have a way, right?"

Everyone's gaze immediately fell upon He Jun.

"Boy, now is not the time for your smart mouth!"

He Jun snorted coldly, "Since the Night Demon has enveloped the entire city in its Domain, it clearly doesn't intend to let anyone escape! As the core of the Domain, it has become part of the Domain's rules; it must use the rules to kill and cannot act personally!"

"Under the rules, there must be a way out! As long as we don't proactively face the Night Demon itself and instead find a way to escape through the rules, that will be our path to survival!"

"What? You're going to run away?" Tang Zheng sneered. "That's quite a different attitude from before!"

"What do you know? This is an S-rank Specter event involving True Authority. It requires Transcendents of a matching level to resolve. With just us, if we dare to proactively seek out the Night Demon's true body, it wouldn't be enough even if we sacrificed all our lives!"

He Jun said resonantly, "As official Transcendents, we certainly have an obligation to proactively resolve Specter events and protect the common people. However, when something is impossible, we cannot be brainlessly reckless. As the saying goes, 'where there is life, there is hope.' We must preserve our vital forces for the future!"

"So many fine words, but isn't it just that you're afraid to die?" Tang Zheng provoked him intentionally.

He Jun ignored Tang Zheng and said with a frown, "Wait a bit longer! Whether the Night Demon wants to or not, it will state the rule prompts..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the flame in Zhao Hongchan's palm suddenly went out.

Immediately after, the heart-pounding, frenzied wolf howls rang out again, echoing in everyone's ears.

"My lovely lambs, do you want to survive? I have designed a very interesting survival game for you. Next, I will explain the rules."

"I will only say this once, so listen carefully. The relevant information is as follows..."