14: Chapter 14: One million was thrown in, and it was done in seconds!

Chen You stood at the entrance, his entire body frozen.

That wasn't smoke, nor was it mist.

It twisted and coiled, carrying a bizarre, life-like rhythm, as if it were the only heartbeat of this dead city.

Just as he was concentrating, trying to discern what that thing was, a pale blue virtual screen popped up before him without any warning.

[Scene Battle Mission Triggered]

[Mission Name: Rebirth of Zhao City]

[Mission Objective: Purify the core area of Zhao City and dispel the source of the vengeful spirits]

[Mission Reward: ? ? ?]

[Mission Hint: This city is shrouded in endless resentment, and living beings are extinct. Only by destroying the evil spirits can life reappear.]

Chen You's heart tightened.

Scene Battle? A solo story dungeon?

He immediately understood.

This lifeless, silent city before him was not the real Zhao City at all, but a special level he needed to clear.

Only by breaking through this dungeon would the true Zhao City appear.

"What the heck..." Chen You couldn't help but mutter under his breath.

"Is the planner for this game crazy? Without even a prerequisite quest, they just throw people into this ghostly place. Aren't they afraid of scaring players to death?"

He felt his little life was full of misfortunes.

Just escaped the wolf's den, only to enter the ghost city.

This game experience was simply terrible!

That being said, the quest was triggered, so he had to fight whether he wanted to or not.

Chen You took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and began calculating countermeasures.

He first quickly scanned the empty main street.

As soon as the mission appeared, faint black shadows began to emerge on the previously empty street.

Those shadows twisted and writhed, gradually condensing into translucent humanoid outlines.

They had no facial features, only hollow eye sockets, and exuded a chilling resentment.

[Vengeful Spirit (Level 5), HP: ? ? ?, Attack: ? ? ?, Defense: ? ? ?]

[Skill: Resentment Corrosion (Continuous Damage, Weakens Target's Spirit)]

The Spiritual Sight skill automatically provided the monster information, but the string of question marks made Chen You's eyelids twitch.

This indicated that the attributes of these vengeful spirits were far beyond the scope his current level could investigate.

"Are you kidding me!"

Chen You's first reaction was to retreat, almost turning around to run out of the city.

But reason told him that running was useless.

The quest was accepted; he absolutely had to enter this Zhao City dungeon.

"Safety first, I have national support..."

He muttered to himself, forcefully suppressing the shock in his heart, and quickly brought up the Mall interface in his mind.

He still had over ninety gold coins. The previous heroic feeling of instantly killing the Ghost Wolf hadn't completely dissipated, but now he had to be frugal to save his life.

"Health potions are a must!"

He looked without hesitation at the peiyuan pill, 1 gold coin per set, 10 pills per set, each restoring 300 HP.

His own health was only a little over two hundred, so one pill was already an overflow.

But at a time like this, who cared about overflow?

"Ten sets first!"

Chen You directly placed the order.

10 gold coins, which was ten million huaxia coin, was spent just like that.

In return, his inventory gained 100 peiyuan pills.

Looking at the fully stocked pills in his inventory, his heart settled a bit.

With medicine, he had confidence.

Next, he shifted his gaze to the Talisman section.

The substitute talisman had less than a minute remaining, so there was no need to replenish it for now.

His attention was drawn to a new icon.

[Exorcism Talisman: Evil spirits depart, malevolent spirits retreat. Deals massive damage to Ghost-type monsters. Price: 1 Gold Coin/Sheet.]

Specifically targets Ghost-type monsters?

Chen You stared at the words "massive damage" and fell into thought.

Based on his many years of gaming experience, items specifically countering a certain monster race usually meant...

That race of monsters likely had some disgusting characteristics.

For example, physical immunity.

"Although my novice iron sword has spiritual power enhancement, its essence is still physical attack, right?"

"What if it deals no damage when I strike? Wouldn't that be a joke?"

The more Chen You thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

He hadn't learned any proper immortal cultivation skills yet; his only means of attack was basic melee.

If physical attacks were ineffective, what difference was there between him charging in and being a target dummy?

"No, I can't save this money."

He gritted his teeth and made another major decision.

"Ten sheets first to test the waters!"

Another 10 gold coins disappeared, and his inventory gained ten yellow papers inscribed with vermilion runes.

After finishing all this, Chen You finally felt his backbone stiffen.

One hundred health potions, ten Exorcism Talismans, plus the substitute talisman with only a few dozen seconds left.

With this net worth, he should be able to walk a few steps in this ghost city, right?

He took one last look at the countdown on the substitute talisman [00:48].

He couldn't wait any longer!

Chen You gripped his iron sword and stepped into the silent city.

As soon as he walked into the city gate archway, a cold, gloomy wind rushed towards him, making his whole body tremble.

On the street, the wandering vengeful spirits seemed to sense the presence of the living. They all turned around in unison, their hollow eyes staring at him.

The next second, the closest vengeful spirit let out a silent screech and turned into a black shadow, pouncing directly at him!

Extremely fast!

Chen You's heart leaped into his throat, but he didn't panic.

"Test the normal attack first!"

He didn't use the Exorcism Talisman immediately; that thing cost one million each, far too expensive, he had to use it sparingly.

He shifted his feet slightly, narrowly avoiding the vengeful spirit's direct pounce, while simultaneously flicking his wrist. The novice iron sword, carrying a sharp gust of wind, slashed towards the vengeful spirit's waist from a tricky angle.

Swoosh!

The blade scraped across the vengeful spirit's translucent body, making a soft sound like a hot knife cutting through butter.

A bright red damage number popped up above the vengeful spirit's head.

[- 83]

Effective!

Chen You was delighted.

It seemed the spiritual power bestowed by the Nine Revolutions Primordial Chaos Art could indeed inflict damage on this kind of spiritual entity monster.

Wait, then wasn't the Exorcism Talisman he bought a waste?

Could he get a refund!

Before he could 'grieve,' the vengeful spirit he struck retaliated with a claw towards his chest.

The vengeful spirit's movement was silent but carried a chill that seemed to tear at the soul.

Chen You only felt a chill in his chest, and a damage number floated up above his head.

[- 22]

Simultaneously, a negative status icon appeared in his status bar.

[You have suffered 'Resentment Corrosion,' losing 5 HP per second, and Spirit Resistance is reduced.]

"Holy crap! This damage!"

Chen You was startled.

Although 22 damage wasn't high, combined with the continuous damage of 5 HP per second, this was very annoying!

And there was the negative effect of reduced Spirit Resistance; who knew if there would be stronger mental attacks later.

The vengeful spirit's health bar, after his previous strike, had only dropped by less than a third.

Didn't this mean he needed at least three strikes to eliminate one?

Three strikes!

Chen You's face immediately darkened.

Think about how majestic he was when he instantly killed the Ghost Wolf before?

One sword, one kill, clean and neat. Now, fighting a mere vengeful spirit actually required three strikes?

The drop-off was too huge!

More critically, the surrounding vengeful spirits had all been alerted and were now closing in on him from all directions.

A rough count showed at least seven or eight of them!

If he got surrounded, one claw from each, plus the continuous damage...

Cold sweat broke out on Chen You's forehead.

Without hesitation, he pulled out an Exorcism Talisman from his inventory.

"Go!"

He imitated the way Taoist priests in movies acted and slapped the talisman onto the face of the pouncing vengeful spirit!

Boom!

The thin piece of paper suddenly exploded the moment it touched the vengeful spirit, transforming into a cluster of blazing golden flames that instantly engulfed the entire spirit!

The vengeful spirit didn't even have time to scream before it turned into ashes in the golden flames.

A massive damage number exploded where it had been.

[- 1258!]

Instantly killed!

And it was an exaggerated four-digit damage!

Chen You himself was stunned.

"This... this is too fierce, isn't it?"

He looked at the remaining Exorcism Talismans in his hand, then looked at the vengeful spirits still floating in the distance.

He only had one thought left in his mind.

"Is this the power of one million?"

No retreating, no retreating!