STG 09
Chapter 9: The Broken Cane
“It’s so bright!”
“What is that?!”
“Did something catch fire?”
“No way! A fire wouldn’t be that bright! And there’s no building in Cangnan City tall enough to reach that high!”
“Hurry, take a picture! Post it online!”
“…”
The towering pillar of light was so dazzling that half the city noticed it. Pedestrians stopped in their tracks, speculating excitedly about its origin.
Some said it was an explosion, others claimed it was an optical experiment, and a few even called it a divine miracle… But only a handful knew what its appearance truly signified.
Two minutes earlier, the old district.
On a deserted street, ripples shimmered through the air as though someone had lifted a corner of the “canvas” covering the old district. Five figures cloaked in black-and-red emerged from the distorted space.
One of them glanced around before stepping forward and picking up a “Road Closed Ahead” sign from the ground, folding it shut.
The moment the sign was put away, the eerie silence of the old district shattered like a bubble, revealing its true state.
The aged streets were stained crimson with blood, and grotesque monster limbs were scattered everywhere. Had Lin Qiye seen this, he would have recognized them—the same masked fiends he had faced!
Dozens of them, at least thirty-four, lay dismembered across the ground.
“[Boundless Void Domain] successfully retrieved,” the person holding the sign announced calmly. “Call the cleanup crew.”
“Where’s Old Zhao?”
“Chasing the two Masked Fiends that got away.”
“…We slipped up.” A wounded woman clutched her right shoulder, her expression weary.
“Don’t blame yourself, Hong Ying. None of us expected a Masked Fiend King to be hiding among them,” a man beside her reassured her.
“The captain went after the Fiend King alone… Will he be okay?”
“Of course. Don’t forget, the captain’s a third-tier ‘River’ realm expert. He’ll be fine.” The man paused. “I just hope… those two escaped fiends don’t hurt any civilians…”
As soon as he finished speaking, a blazing pillar of light erupted from another direction, illuminating half the sky!
All five of them whipped their heads toward it, their eyes wide with shock.
“That’s—”
“A Forbidden Zone has manifested. This energy signature… it’s absurdly strong!”
“T-This is at least a fifth-tier ‘Infinite’ realm expert… No, maybe even sixth-tier ‘Klein’… How could such a powerhouse appear in a small city like Cangnan?”
“No… This doesn’t feel like a human’s Forbidden Zone.” The man frowned deeply.
Hong Ying froze, then seemed to realize something. “You mean…”
“It resembles a divine Forbidden Zone—a Divine Ruin.”
At the word “divine,” their expressions hardened.
“Which god?”
“Burning, sacred, overwhelming… and that aura of creation. If I’m not mistaken…” The man stared at the fading light pillar and spoke slowly, enunciating each word:
“Divine Designation 003, King of Angels—Michael.“
.
.
.
Lin Qiye was in agony.
At the center of the golden light pillar, his body had completely lost control, hovering unnaturally midair as boundless energy erupted from his eyes.
It felt like he had been transported back ten years—once again staring into the cosmos, gazing at those eyes.
That supreme, sacred presence was something he would never forget.
The difference was, back then, that aura had come from the moon.
Now, it radiated from… his own eyes.
The power and divine majesty of the Seraph surged violently from his pupils. His eyes burned like twin suns, as though threatening to reduce everything to nothingness.
Ten years ago, the Seraph Michael had locked eyes with him from the moon.
Ten years later, Lin Qiye opened his eyes—and the residual Seraphic power within them detonated.
Fortunately, the divine energy lingering in Lin Qiye’s eyes wasn’t excessive. After seven or eight seconds, the light pillar gradually dissipated, and his body dropped from the air. He stumbled but managed to steady himself.
The brilliant golden light in his eyes dimmed, leaving only a faint golden glow.
If the previous radiance had rivaled the sun, what remained now was little more than candlelight.
The earlier eruption had been overwhelmingly powerful, but it didn’t truly belong to him. The golden ember now smoldering in Lin Qiye’s eyes, however, was something he could control.
A wisp of Seraphic power.
Lin Qiye took a deep breath and slowly raised his head.
The dark night sky, the decrepit streets, the horrifying monsters, the blood-soaked ground… When this far-from-beautiful scene unfolded before his eyes, he smiled.
A wide, unrestrained smile.
After ten years, he had finally seen the world again with his own eyes.
At this moment, even the blood-drenched monsters seemed almost… adorable to him.
The moment Lin Qiye unleashed the Seraph’s divine might, the two monsters had been crushed flat against the ground by the overwhelming pressure, nearly pulverized.
Only when the golden light vanished did they recover, looking around in confusion before refocusing on Lin Qiye.
The bloodlust in their eyes reignited.
“Screeee—!”
One of the monsters shrieked and lunged at him!
Compared to before, Lin Qiye was now far calmer. The instant the creature moved, he predicted its trajectory and threw himself to the side.
Though his physical speed was still far slower than the monster’s, his reaction time had become terrifyingly fast. Those few seconds of anticipation were enough to let him evade.
It wasn’t precognition—with his eyes now open, his perception had undergone a metamorphic transformation.
First, his spiritual perception range had expanded from ten meters to twenty. Considering it had taken him five years just to reach ten meters, doubling it instantly was staggering.
Second, his dynamic vision.
Within this twenty-meter radius, Lin Qiye’s ability to track movement was nearly three times that of an ordinary person. His reflexes were borderline supernatural, allowing him to almost “foresee” attacks in close combat.
As for other abilities these eyes granted him… Lin Qiye hadn’t discovered them yet.
But the current situation didn’t leave him time for experimentation.
The monster shot past like an arrow, crashing through the spot where Lin Qiye had stood and demolishing a section of the wall. It kicked off the rubble and launched itself at him again!
By then, Lin Qiye had already rolled away and snatched up the broken half of his white cane from the ground.
He scrambled to his feet, crouched low, and tightened his grip on the cane, his eyes locked onto the charging monster.
The creature blurred into afterimages, the wind from its movement whipping through Lin Qiye’s hair.
Its hind legs coiled—then it leaped.
This time, Lin Qiye didn’t dodge.
Clutching the broken cane, he stared straight into the monster’s eyes.
“Screeee—!”
Its claws slashed toward his throat.
At the last possible instant, Lin Qiye’s pupils contracted sharply.
The faint golden glow in his eyes flared like embers fed with fresh kindling, blazing like twin furnaces!
A wisp of divine majesty channeled through his gaze, pouring directly into the monster’s mind.
In that moment, the monster’s vision of Lin Qiye changed.
The frail boy transformed into a six-winged deity, radiating terrifying divine pressure!
Under this overwhelming presence, the monster’s body froze.
And in that split second of paralysis—
Lin Qiye swung the broken cane.
Straight into the monster’s right eye.
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