Ghost Spider Post made several jumps, scouting his way north.
His condition worsened with each spatial jump, aggravated by the plague and disease afflicting him.
Fortunately, his subordinate’s dying reconnaissance had been accurate. He spotted a strange Iron Armor Man, completely sealed up and impossible to see clearly.
Given the getup and his appearance here at this time, he was undoubtedly an enemy.
The enemy had indeed found Qi Suian. It wasn’t that Qi Suian didn’t want to be farther away; rather, the Holy Orchestra had a limited control range. If he moved too far, it would simply collapse.
It was roughly 100 meters per 10 points of armor value.
So, it was no surprise that Qi Suian had been found.
The man was loaded with holy relics; locking onto Qi Suian wouldn’t be difficult.
The concealment and shielding modules could only handle native holy relics. Against puzzle relics, they would only last for a short while.
He could have also used the Wind Master aviation system to evade, but for Qi Suian, it was unnecessary.
Aside from Ghost Spider Post, the other School Officers were doomed to die.
Therefore, as long as Qi Suian killed him, he could start harvesting the spoils.
"Void-Piercing Fang!"
Ghost Spider Post performed another spatial jump, appearing directly behind Qi Suian. Two terrifying fangs instantly pierced through the Tai Sui God’s body.
Being a spatial ability, it bypassed the shield, divine energy, and armor, penetrated the expedition-grade ecological circulation unit, and struck Qi Suian’s body.
’Space, penetration, lock-on, and tracking. It creates something like a guaranteed-hit ability.’ Qi Suian instantly analyzed the composition of his opponent’s technique.
However, this was just the beginning. The fundamental purpose of Ghost Spider Post’s Piercing Fangs was simply to hit the target.
The damage wasn’t significant; Qi Suian was merely run through from front to back.
"Void Fatal Toxin!"
This was a combo move: hit the enemy, then inject the venom.
The entire process was incredibly fast. By the time the Tai Sui God struck back at Ghost Spider Post with the Soul-Devouring Evil Force, the venom had already been fully injected.
Qi Suian... felt nothing.
The moment the venom entered his body, it was met and devoured by the even more ferocious Abyssal Virus and a host of modules.
It was consumed completely before it even had a chance to take effect.
In fact, the Piercing Fangs still lodged in his body were the only things making him a little uncomfortable.
The Tai Sui God’s attack landed on Ghost Spider Post’s physical half, instantly creating a huge dent and causing a large amount of corrosive fluid to erupt.
It splattered onto the Tai Sui God’s shield, creating numerous holes, but the Supernova Strong Nuclear Reactor immediately supplied energy to repair them.
So, there was no real impact. As long as it wasn’t blown apart in one shot, everything was manageable.
Having taken a hit, Ghost Spider Post endured the pain and initiated a spatial jump, trying to get away from Qi Suian.
In his mind, Qi Suian was already poisoned. All he had to do now was wait for his opponent to die.
There was no need for him to press the attack.
Unfortunately, reality defied his expectations. He wanted to leave, but would the Tai Sui God let him?
Before he could complete his spatial jump, it closed in and attacked again, interrupting the attempt on the spot.
"Impossible! How are you unaffected?!" Ghost Spider Post couldn’t help but exclaim. Then, because the jump was interrupted, he had no footing and not only took the full force of the blow but was also sent tumbling several times by the Tai Sui God’s immense strength.
He couldn’t stop himself.
Seeing such a perfect opportunity, the Zhineng would surely command the Tai Sui God to unleash a relentless combo.
Having transformed into the Void Ghost Spider, Post’s life force was extremely resilient, especially since half of his body was in a phased state.
Therefore, without finding his weakness, any damage inflicted would only be half as effective—a different kind of Undying Body, similar to the former Earth Element Monarch.
It just went to show how uniquely blessed holy relics were, granting ordinary people all sorts of miraculous powers, including immortality, invincibility, and more.
Of course, unleashing a holy relic’s full power still depended on synergy and the user.
If Ghost Spider Post hadn’t first been weakened by the Holy Orchestra, the Cursed Psalms, and the Shepherd Priest, then injured himself by forcing spatial jumps, and then fatally misjudged Qi Suian’s strength...
...then to win, Qi Suian would have had to rely solely on his plot armor.
However, to say his plot armor didn’t play a part in Post’s current predicament would be unrealistic.
"Let’s die together, you Xuan Empire person!" In his terrible state, Ghost Spider Post knew he had no chance of survival.
But if he could take this powerful Xuan Empire person down with him, it would still be worth it.
Forcing himself to endure the Tai Sui God’s attacks, he abruptly extended his spider-like limbs and locked them tightly around the Tai Sui God.
"Void Death Binding!"
Countless translucent spider threads surged from all directions, all under Ghost Spider Post’s control.
They possessed extraordinary toughness and stickiness.
The threads formed a massive web, which descended and began to wrap continuously around both him and Qi Suian.
’If we’re going to die together, I can’t let my enemy escape.’
Thus, restraining him first was essential.
"Void Space Destruction!"
The half of Ghost Spider Post’s body that was previously phased began to solidify.
This meant he had abandoned his undying state. At the same time, the rampant Power of Space within him erupted.
The spider threads began to vibrate, complementing the Power of Space bursting from his body and creating a destructive effect.
Seeing this, Qi Suian couldn’t help but think, ’Holy crap, these people really aren’t normal.’
’They all come equipped with a self-destruct ultimate ability.’
It was only because of his plot armor that Harrington’s puzzle relic had broken down into a native holy relic back then.
Otherwise, Harrington would have hit Qi Suian with a self-destruct attack as well.
"Zhineng, stand down. I’ll handle this. Plot armor, work with me!" Qi Suian said, immediately taking direct control of the Tai Sui God.
Then, with lightning speed, he whipped out two Floating Cannons and indiscriminately fired their Dark Energy Beams.
The plot armor’s effect is diminished when applied to the Tai Sui God; Qi Suian had to use it himself to maximize its luck-based effect.
There was no telling where the two Dark Energy Beams would hit.
But both of them struck the web formed by the Void Death Binding.
And then, Ghost Spider Post’s Void Space Destruction came to an abrupt halt.
It became as calm as if the terrifying anomaly just moments ago had never happened.
Qi Suian paid no mind to how his opponent could express shock and horror through spider-like compound eyes. Instead, he reached in and ripped out the puzzle relic from within Post’s body.
Without the puzzle relic, Post reverted to his human form, stripped of all his power.
After shoving the Ghost Spider puzzle relic into his Subspace Pocket, Qi Suian grabbed Post and stuffed him into the Melting Furnace on the spot.
The entire process was so practiced it couldn’t be more so.
Although he hadn’t personally stuffed as much "fuel" into the Melting Furnace as the Zhineng had while controlling the Tai Sui God, he had sent his fair share of powerful individuals in there with his own hands.
After dealing with Post, Qi Suian returned to the location of the Holy Orchestra.
A portion of the men were still desperately resisting the plague and disease with their own puzzle relics.
The only reason they weren’t dead yet was that the Holy Orchestra had no offensive power; it could only play music and sing.
Otherwise, in their current weakened state, all it would take was a finishing blow for each of them, and they’d be guaranteed to die.
When the survivors saw the Iron Armor Man arrive, despair filled their eyes.
They all knew their commander, Post, had gone to hunt down the mastermind. Yet, the one who appeared was not the commander they were eagerly awaiting, but an unknown Iron Armor Man.
This meant Post was dead.
And that was why they despaired.
"Alright, time’s up."
"Time to hit the road." Qi Suian’s voice was projected through the Tai Sui God, so this time it was mechanical.
Qi Suian ignored the flailing zombies, forcibly stripped the puzzle relics from the survivors, and tossed them into his Subspace Pocket.
Without their puzzle relics, they naturally had no resistance and instantly became zombies.
"As for you lot... hand over your things, and then it’s into the Melting Furnace." Qi Suian then turned to those who had become zombies earlier.
Their puzzle relics were still on them, so Qi Suian directly controlled the zombies, taking all the puzzle relics from their grasp.
He placed them into the Subspace Pocket as usual. It was now clear that the Subspace Pocket could effectively block the holy relics’ retrieval mechanism.
To be honest, when he returned, he hadn’t expected the puzzle relics to still be there.
He had returned quickly, but there was still a huge gap when compared to the speed of the retrieval mechanism.
After all, these people had been zombies for at least five minutes.
’Strange, what’s the reason?’
’Is it because they’re within the Holy Orchestra’s area of effect, preventing the retrieval mechanism from entering?’
Qi Suian couldn’t figure out the exact reason, but he knew what was different.
The relics had been retrieved before, but Qi Suian hadn’t used the Holy Orchestra then.
’So the Holy Orchestra’s abilities aren’t just info-curses and mutant strains, but also include domain and shielding-related powers?’ Qi Suian was curious.
[The Shepherd Priest module of the Plague-Curse has synergized with the concealment and shielding modules, causing the area covered by the psalm’s content to gain an isolation effect.]
The Zhineng gave Qi Suian its feedback immediately via a data report.
’I see. It really does pay to test things out in the field.’
After obtaining the Shepherd Priest module, Qi Suian hadn’t used the Holy Orchestra again. Instead, he had come straight here to kill.
So, his understanding of the Holy Orchestra’s changes had been purely theoretical.
Only after putting it into practice this time did he gain a proper understanding.
’This way, as long as I deploy the Holy Orchestra, I won’t have to worry about the holy relics being retrieved.’
’Plot armor really is OP. I completely misunderstood the Shepherd Priest module’s strength. You’re basically a top-tier support!’ Qi Suian felt his perspective had been too narrow.