Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 646 The Candle of the Snake's Nest
The creaking sound of the wheel hubs turning, trailing off in a hoarse tone, reached Luo Xiu's ears.

Luo Xiu lifted the carriage curtain, his gaze calm and indifferent as he looked out of the carriage at the bustling scene of the capital's main avenue, before slowly passing to the left of his field of vision.

He admired the night view of the capital, and heard his carriage attendant greeting him in a humble and respectful tone, almost as if in casual conversation:

"Are you satisfied with tonight's premiere at the Royal Opera House, guest?"

"..."

"Not bad." Luo Xiu smiled and nodded in response.

Upon hearing Luo Xiu's somewhat "satisfactory" reply, the driver's voice softened, and he respectfully said to Luo Xiu:
"Your satisfaction is our greatest honor, guest."

"In fact, Duke Austin was also involved in the investment and rehearsal of this performance. The actors who performed in the opera 'Triumphal Triumph' were among the best selected by the manor from thousands of actors throughout the empire."

"..."

Austin Estate's business clearly extends beyond just the "estate" itself. As Luo Xiu already knew, the estate was also involved in the arrangement of the opera "Triumphal Glory" and would receive a large share of the profits from the opera.

In fact, many of the empire's nobles and royalty also participated in the investment of the opera "Triumphal Glory." The imperial court indeed attaches great importance to this opera, and if the premiere at the Royal Opera House and several branch theaters goes well, "Triumphal Glory" will embark on a tour throughout the empire.

"Ah."

While the waiter was still enthusiastically introducing the opera "Triumphant Glory" and the collaboration between Austin Estate and the Royal Opera House, Luo Xiu had stopped paying attention to what the waiter was saying. He simply continued to admire the scenery outside the car window, occasionally gathering his thoughts and letting them flow freely again.

The carriage continued to move forward with a creaking sound.

We had now driven off Imperial Avenue and onto Austin Street. Judging by the distance and time, we were not far from Austin Estate.

……

suddenly.

The waiter continued talking about the opera while driving the carriage.

"Isn't this the way to Austin Manor?"

Luo Xiu interrupted him.

"what?"

The waiter's voice carried a hint of doubt.

He didn't seem to understand why the guest suddenly said that—but the next moment, he felt his shoulder being pressed down heavily.

The passenger in the carriage—Luo Xiu—had already pulled back the curtain in front of the carriage, and his right hand was heavily pressed on the waiter's shoulder, with such force that it could almost crush his shoulder bone!

"--ah!!!"

The waiter let out a bloodcurdling scream; the intense pain in his shoulder made him tremble uncontrollably. He struggled, twisting his neck, and looked at Luo Xiu with utter terror in his eyes—

"Guest, you... ah!!!"

"do not move."

Luo Xiu's voice had become low and cold.

He had sensed something was wrong the moment he saw the waiter after leaving the Royal Opera House. Out of habitual caution, Luo Xiu immediately checked the waiter's status panel and saw an item in the waiter's "Status" section...
——【Deep Soul Stealing (Deepening Anomaly, 2h13min)】!
In fact, the manor servant's consciousness had already been taken over—it's just that there's no sign of anything unusual yet, because the Soul Reaper isn't actively controlling the servant to do anything, but rather letting the servant's consciousness take the lead.

But in the waiter's subconscious, he wasn't actually driving the carriage to Austin Manor, but rather to a "guided" destination—

Luo Xiu had no idea where his carriage was headed. However, he was certain that the "Auston Street" he saw around him was definitely an illusion!
He saw several familiar faces reappear on the street, performing the same actions as before. It was difficult to detect unless one observed closely; even Luo Xiu's spiritual senses failed to perceive anything unusual.

at this time.

The carriage continued to move forward, and the horses pulling it, somewhat startled, twisted their long necks and neighed. They began to run around in a panic, causing the carriage to lurch.

But it didn't crash—after all, it hadn't been hit by a huge external force.

Luo Xiu pressed down on the waiter's shoulder, ignoring his struggles and cries. At the same time, a brilliant golden light emanated from the hand holding the waiter's shoulder, and the "purifying" spiritual energy poured into the waiter's body—

Wow!
Wisps of gray mist emanated from the waiter's body in bursts!

He was indeed influenced and manipulated by the [Void]. The dark mist was the spiritual energy that the [Void] had infused into the waiter's body. The moment the mist separated from the waiter's body, it scattered rapidly in all directions as if fleeing, and soon disappeared into the air.

Luo Xiu was performing a "purification" spell on the manor's servants—

In fact, the waiter was an innocent ordinary person; he was simply caught up in a conspiracy against him—Luo Xiu knew this. In reality, the waiter was just an ordinary person, as ordinary as could be.

In fact, she was also using him—she wanted to see where the manor waiter would drive the carriage and take her, under the influence and control of the enemy in the shadows!

"..."

While "purifying" the waiter, Luo Xiu was also thinking about these things.

In just a few seconds, Luo Xiu had almost completely purified and expelled the spirituality of "nothingness" from the waiter's body.

However, at the same time, the unusual situation in the surroundings has become increasingly apparent—

The waiter's constant groans of pain from his shoulder seemed to go unheard by the pedestrians on Austin Street—as if Roche, the carriage, and the waiter didn't exist, as if no one could see or hear them.

At this point, even an ordinary person could see that they were definitely in a rather strange environment.

While purifying the servant, Luo Xiu also spread his spiritual energy to observe his surroundings. In fact, since the surrounding environment became obviously abnormal, the subtle spiritual surge that had always existed in the surroundings but was concealed by the "illusion" had become extremely clear.

"..."

The waiter was still struggling in Luo Xiu's hands in a panic. He didn't know what was happening to him and his surroundings. Luo Xiu then raised the hand that was pressing on his shoulder and gently patted the back of his neck—thump!

Some dull sounds came, and the waiter fell asleep immediately—Luo Xiu had knocked him unconscious, carried him into the carriage, and then set up three layers of radiant gold barriers outside the carriage.

"—Moo!!!"

The horses pulling the cart were still neighing, galloping wildly, but the road ahead was perfectly clear; they encountered no obstacles.

But in reality, the carriage wasn't moving forward. Luo Xiu could sense that from a certain moment on, although the carriage wheels were still turning "creak-creak," they were no longer moving any distance.

Luo Xiu then jumped off the carriage—

When he leaped to the ground, he did not fall backward in the direction the carriage was traveling due to inertia—from a real perspective, the carriage had indeed "stopped," and the horses pulling it, though kicking their hooves, were merely running in place.

And the surrounding scene—the pedestrians on "Auston Street"—their movements stopped at a certain moment, their "colors" began to fade, and their outlines were rapidly fading away, peeling away their skin, decaying flesh and blood, revealing their withered bones!

Soon, all the "pedestrians" turned to dust, and the scene of "Auston Street" began to fall into chaos, tearing open the air with cracks from which thick black liquid flowed.

The intense surges of spiritual energy around them were no longer concealed; they had all locked onto Luo Xiu!
—Wow!!!

A dark, murky light shot out from behind Luo Xiu through a rift that opened in mid-air, shining directly at him!

The murky light transformed into a giant, transparent hand in mid-air. The moment Luo Xiu turned around to look at it, the hand's sharp claws had already pierced into Luo Xiu's forehead!

—Wow!!!

In Luo Xiu's ears, he heard a series of sounds as something thick and viscous poured out.

He knew that the enormous hand was actually a manifestation of "soul stealing"—the [Void] Saint who attacked him might also be the Saint who had stolen the attendant's soul!
But when the transparent gray claw pierced Luo Xiu's forehead, Luo Xiu was not "soul-stealed".

The ethereal spirituality carrying the power of "Soul Stealing" vanished like a boulder falling into the sea upon touching Luo Xiu. Simultaneously, a brilliant golden light flashed in Luo Xiu's eyes as he shouted loudly towards the source of the "Soul Stealing"!

"--come out!"

"..."

—Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The sound of the thick, damp substance flowing became increasingly clear—right at the edge of the "illusion" that Luo Xiu could see, a figure staggered out from a writhing, deep crevice.

It was a hunched old man wearing a gray cloak, holding a burning white candle, his eyes already vacant.

That is the sixth destiny of [Void] - a "Soul Stealer"!
He suffered the backlash of the "Soul Stealing" technique he himself had used against Luo Xiu!

Luo Xiu was not affected by his Soul Stealing—because the legendary specialization "Spirit of Annihilation" came into play. It was precisely because of the self-generated effect of "Spirit of Annihilation" that the Soul Stealing Apostle, whose "resistance" and "perception" attributes were far lower than Luo Xiu's, suffered the backlash of the Soul Stealing's doubled effect!

Luo Xiu walked towards the Soul-Stealing Apostle. He had already drawn his demonic sword and scepter, and while performing several holy spells and prayers, he threw a command at the Soul-Stealing Apostle—

"Untie!"

"..."

The soul-stealing apostle, its eyes glazed over, then gently raised the burning white candle in its hand—the flickering flame then spread outwards, indeed "illuminating" parts of the illusion.
Right where the Soul Reaper stood, Austin Street behind him receded into the surrounding area, revealing the hidden truth—

It was a desolate suburban woodland.

The road the carriage had been traveling on was a dilapidated lane that had long been neglected. It was indeed a suitable place for murder and robbery, and several figures hidden under cloaks were darting and concealing themselves behind twisted trees.

This time, the number of enemies targeting them is clearly quite large.

Besides the "Soul-Stealing Apostle" whose soul he had reversed, there are at least seven other enemies. The lowest level they are Saints with "Fivefold Destiny" and the highest level is "Sixfold Destiny," but so far, Luo Xiu has not discovered any enemies with "Sevenfold Destiny."

"……call."

Luo Xiu let out a long sigh of relief—

He gazed at the "Soul-Stealing Apostle" whose soul had been taken, strode towards him, and stood before the apostle, reaching out to press his head down.

From the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of that soul-stealing apostle, scorching light burst forth. His spirit, transformed into "holy light," began to burn fiercely and intensely!

—Bang!!!!

Until his head exploded with a bang, not a single drop of blood splattered onto Luo Xiu. Instead, before hitting the ground or splashing around him, it turned into a gray mist that merged and evaporated into the surrounding air!
Killing the first enemy, the Soul-Stealing Apostle of the "Sixfold Fate," was an easy task for Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu already knew his identity—he was an elder of the "Snake-Candle" secret cult, which had deep roots in the capital!
This esoteric organization has a long history—its belief is in the secret prayers offered to the soul in the pale light of a flickering white candle, in which one can see the pillar of nothingness and a corner of the enormous body of the "Void Serpent."

Without exception, all believers in the [Void] path have a fervent pursuit of "seeing the 'Void Devouring Serpent' with their own eyes." Furthermore, the esoteric traditions of [Void] have their own ancient rituals and methods for achieving this goal.

And this Soul-Stealing Apostle, who came from the "Serpent's Candle" esoteric sect, was merely the beginning of this premeditated attack against him—

The instant Luo Xiu killed the [Void] Soul-Stealing Apostle, he had already locked onto a dead tree not far away, where another [Void] Soul-Stealing Apostle was!

The spiritual energy emanating from all directions allowed Luo Xiu to roughly discern the levels of the enemies targeting him. Among the seven enemies he had sensed, two were "Sixth Destiny Realm" beings, and the one behind the tree was one of them!
Luo Xiu lightly raised his scepter, and the "ancient dragon's malevolent breath" that had been accumulated within it was aimed at the withered tree and a large area around it.

But just before Luo Xiu unleashed his blazing dragon breath—

A dark red color suddenly appeared in his vision, and a strong sense of crisis began to frantically sound alarm bells in his heart!

That came from behind him—

A cold, bone-chilling sensation surged up his neck, and he heard a breath, the breath of a snake.

—The breath of the "Vicious Serpent"!

……

(End of this chapter)