Chapter 86 – [Death Messenger (Extraordinary)]

It was now 3:05 AM.

Lu Yuan took out his mobile phone and checked the time.

He looked up at the eastern sky, where a faint morning star was starting to appear.

Lu Yuan decided not to go home.

Given his current state, it was doubtful he could even make it home without incident. If his family saw him like this, they would probably be scared to death.

Even going to the hospital would likely take a month or more for a full recovery.

It was better to wait here for Yellow Bear’s people. With their advanced medical technology, he might be back to his old self by morning.

“The Crow Deity sect’s Powerful Divine Servant must be in bad shape too. The black aura that originally covered his whole body had thinned out significantly towards the end.

Luckily, Zhou Ling and his team hit him with a Mushroom Cloud, weakening him severely. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to strike effectively.”

Bored, Lu Yuan began slowly peeling off the dead skin on his knuckles, a result of the black aura from the Crow Deity sect’s servant clinging to his fists during the fight.

He had no idea what that black aura was made of, but even a tiny bit of contact caused this.

“No wonder Zhou Ling said the Ratman aren’t even considered Ordinary Divine Servants. Compared to this kind of extraordinary power, the Ratman are nothing.”

The grey aura of the Ratman, which could heal wounds and enhance strength and speed, seemed impressive to Lu Yuan.

But after witnessing the bizarre black aura of the Crow Deity sect’s servant today, he realized what true monstrosity was.

“A body of flesh and blood simply can’t withstand it!”

Lu Yuan doubted even Lin Zhiqin or Qin Feng could handle it.

No wonder Yellow Bear’s cyborgs were tasked with hunting down Evil Deity servants.

Cyborgs didn’t fear injury and had metal skeletons, making them largely immune to such strange powers.

His face suddenly itched.

Lu Yuan scratched it absentmindedly and looked at his fingers, finding bits of dried blood under his nails.

He had exerted himself to his limits, and every punch he threw had been more than twice as powerful as usual.

Adding to the fact that he seemed to have triggered the passive skill [A Moment of Inspiration] several times, delivering crane cry punches with critical effects, even boosting his constitution points to 13 wasn’t enough to prevent muscle and blood vessel damage.

The capillaries on his face had burst from the exertion, causing a tearing pain with any slight facial movement.

However, the effect of the 13 constitution points was starting to show.

Small wounds on his body, like those on his cheeks, had begun to heal.

Previously, he guessed it would take a month for his injuries to heal naturally. Now, it seemed like he might be fully recovered in a week.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but pull up his professional panel to check—

[You have experienced a battle, professional experience +1002]

[Your skill, advanced boxing techniques, has gained a boost, experience points +23]

[Your skill, advanced boxing techniques, has gained a boost, experience points +45]

A series of notifications appeared, making Lu Yuan’s eyes blur with excitement.

His professional experience had surged by over a thousand points!

To level up his [Martial Artist] profession from Level 5 to Level 6, he needed a total of 1600 experience points. This battle had pushed him almost two-thirds of the way there.

“No wonder he’s extraordinary, and not just any ordinary extraordinary!

Even in a weakened state, defeating him gave me four times more experience than defeating a Ratman.

It’s equivalent to facing dozens of amateur ninth-rank opponents!”

The experience points for his advanced boxing techniques had also skyrocketed, leveling up by more than one level to reach Level 3, surpassing his previously leading advanced leg techniques in progress.

Lu Yuan also checked the skill point representing “crane cry punch.”

This ultimate skill, shining brightly like the morning star in the dark upper part of the panel, still hadn’t been fully unlocked.

But the brightness of the skill point had significantly increased, indicating he was very close to fully comprehending it.

“It should only take one more punch, or maybe a few more punches.”

Maybe the next punch, or the one after that, or the one after that…

And he would fully master it.

This battle had yielded significant rewards for Lu Yuan.

But when he thought about the fact that these rewards came at the cost of Zhou Ling and the other Yellow Bear members being severely injured, or even at the brink of death, his joy was dampened.

“Zhou Ling died a horrible death.”

Lu Yuan was still deeply moved by Zhou Ling’s desperate attempt to hold off the Crow Deity’s Divine Servant, allowing him to escape.

Zhou Ling probably thought he wouldn’t survive after being attacked, and instinctively fought for his life.

But regardless of his motives, Lu Yuan owed him a great debt.

“Yellow Bear… Yellow Bear.”

Lu Yuan muttered these words softly, his eyes flickering with thoughts unknown.

The flapping of wings pulled him from his reverie.

Lu Yuan turned toward the sound and saw a few crows, drawn by the scent of blood, landing to peck at the remains of the Crow Deity’s Divine Servant.

Lu Yuan’s mouth twitched into a semblance of a smile.

The scene struck him as increasingly ironic.

The Divine Servant of the Crow Deity, who had killed so many in the name of his so-called deity, could command a flock of crows and seemed like a figure straight out of a fantasy horror film. Yet, in death, his body was being pecked at by those very crows.

Lu Yuan watched quietly, surprisingly not feeling disgusted.

Suddenly, he saw a few crows pull a black, skin-like object out of the bloody remains.

Along with it came a blood-red bead.

As the bead rolled, it emitted a brief flash of scarlet light in the dark.

“What’s that?!”

Lu Yuan’s expression immediately changed.

He had a good memory and instantly recalled the red flash he had seen through his mobile phone camera when he first encountered the Divine Servant of the Crow Deity, emanating from the flock of crows.

Was this bead the source of that light?

Curiosity surged within him.

He braced himself and stood up, shooing away the feeding crows with a few kicks.

He searched around and found a branch about a foot long on the ground.

Using the branch, he carefully poked and prodded the black skin and the blood-red bead, moving them both aside.

He then used his foot to rub the items against the ground, trying to clean off the blood and grime.

Lu Yuan first picked up the black, skin-like object and shook it gently in his hand.

The limp black skin immediately transformed into a bizarre mask with a protruding, beak-like shape.

“Huh?!”

Lu Yuan was startled.

Wasn’t this the mask worn by the Crow Deity’s Divine Servant?

His first punch had struck the Divine Servant squarely in the face, and after a series of brutal blows, the Divine Servant’s head was practically pulverized. Yet this mask remained completely intact.

No idea what material it was made of.

A good find, albeit a bit ugly.

After examining it briefly and finding nothing unusual, Lu Yuan shifted his attention to the bead.

The bead was about the size of a marble a child might play with.

Its hardness was similar too.

It was entirely crimson.

Lu Yuan held it between two fingers, squinting as he examined it under the firelight a short distance away.

He noticed a black line inside the bead, surrounded by a small ring of white light.

It looked almost like an eyeball.

A crow’s eyeball.

“Doesn’t it emit a red glow?”

Lu Yuan was still pondering this when the bead in his hand suddenly emitted a scarlet light.

Instinctively, he flinched.

Immediately, several notifications from his professional panel flashed before his eyes—

[Congratulations, you have obtained professional advanced materials. Would you like to advance your profession?]

[Prerequisites not met, advancement failed.]

[Would you like to choose professional panel fusion?]

[Prerequisites not met, fusion failed.]

[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new professional panel—[Death Messenger (Extraordinary)]!]

With the appearance of the last notification, the blood-red bead in Lu Yuan’s hand shattered with a “crack.”

Thick, scarlet liquid flowed from it, resembling blood.

The liquid quickly ran down Lu Yuan’s fingers and seeped into his skin.

Before Lu Yuan could react, a buzzing sensation hit his brain, as if something had struck him hard.

He fell backward, his eyes closed tightly.

Simultaneously, flocks of crows suddenly gathered in the night sky.

These crows circled, flew, and cawed around Lu Yuan.

They soon lifted him and swiftly carried him away into the distance.

Just as it had been when the Crow Deity’s Divine Servant had appeared.