Dragons begin with courage

The faintly golden blood meandered down the lines of his palm, seeping into the eerie short knife in his hand.

hum-

The Seven Deadly Sins, specifically lust, has shaken the world.

It wasn't the metallic tremor, but more like the throbbing of an ancient heart awakening—deep, thirsty, carrying the resentment and pleasure of a thousand-year slumber. Lu Mingfei felt a burning pain in his palm, as if he were holding not a knife hilt, but a freshly peeled, scalding hot dragon spine.

The territory is expanding.

There was no earth-shattering display, yet it was all the more chilling. Centered on him, a ten-meter radius seemed to be quietly enveloped by an invisible membrane. The edges of the membrane rippled with a pinkish-gold, almost sweet, halo, within which countless tiny, capillary-like veins appeared and disappeared, pulsating slowly, like a massive living organism stretching out.

This is not Lu Mingfei's Word of Power.

This is the domain of "lust," the "rules" bestowed upon the weapon itself by Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, through his unparalleled alchemy, who imprisoned and forged a kind of extremely twisted "living spirit" into the blade. In a sense, the seven deadly sins are all "living" beings, weapons of regicide with their own will.

The dagger's shape subtly changed, its blade shortening on its own to less than twenty centimeters, its form increasingly resembling a cruel ritual dagger used to cut off sacrificial offerings. It greedily drank in Lu Mingfei's S-rank blood, thereby breaking through some of the seals that had been placed upon it over the long years.

She woke up.

Lu Mingfei looked up, his golden eyes burning with a cold and unfamiliar light against the backdrop of the pinkish-gold field. He looked at the twelve bronze death servants who had gathered again in front of him, their eyes blazing with ghostly fire, the sealed living beings within them emitting silent screams.

"Word of Power: Soul Hunting"

He whispered, his voice calm and utterly undisturbed. With one hand, he grasped the awakened "Lust" and casually swung it at the void.

"clang--!!!"

It wasn't the sound of real metal clashing, but a death knell striking directly at the soul!

In an instant, Lu Mingfei's aura changed drastically. The incomparably sharp sword intent did not emanate from him, but rather "pierced" out from within his body, making him seem as if he had transformed into a rack forged from blades. The human warmth in his golden eyes rapidly faded, leaving only the absolute indifference of a god looking down upon ants.

With a single swing, an invisible slash swept across the area.

Just as the "Great Harlot of Babylon" in the Book of Revelation seduces souls with extravagant illusions, the power of original sin, lust, does not directly destroy, but rather tempts, permeates, and corrupts. This blow to the soul carries the burden of immersing the soul in the illusory visions of its deepest desires, and causing it to wither and decay silently in the ecstasy of ultimate pleasure.

The blade's edge swept across, and within its domain, no soul could hide.

In Lu Mingfei's "vision," the world had changed. The physical shell of the Bronze Deadpool had become translucent, and within its chest cavity, twelve "living spirits," eternally tormented by alchemy and filled with resentment and killing commands, were clearly visible, flickering with tainted soul fire.

Where the slash passed—

"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"...

A series of faint, bubble-like sounds pierced the deathly silence.

Immediately following was a piercing scream, a mixture of relief and endless agony, that only the soul could "hear"! The "heads" of the twelve filthy soul flames were all severed and flung away by invisible blades! At the broken points, the soul light, like dissipating fireflies, was extinguished in the pinkish-gold mist.

The blade's light swept across the heavens and earth; a single blade of light, carrying the might of the Dragon King, slashed down, and nothing could stop it.

Deprived of their living power, the twelve bronze death servants, who had been brimming with murderous intent and comparable to B-grade hybrids just a moment ago, instantly froze. The ghostly flames in their eyes went out, their raised weapons froze, and then, as if all the supporting blocks had been removed, they collapsed to their knees and fell to the ground, completely turning into a pile of exquisite and cold bronze wreckage.

At the edge of the domain, the invisible slash mark slowly dissipated, leaving behind a blank space that had been "purified," where even the air seemed to be dead.

Looking at the bizarre outcome before him, Lu Mingfei stood with his knife in hand, motionless for a long time.

It wasn't ecstasy, nor was it shock; rather, it was a profound chill that was slowly creeping up my spine.

That's too easy.

It was terrifyingly easy.

These Bronze City guards, whom Chu Zihang and Caesar's squad needed to be on high alert, melted away in an instant before this awakened dagger, like thin snow in the sunlight. Their formidable physical defense and immortality were utterly meaningless in the face of "lust" that targeted the soul.

"No, I can't unleash the full power of the Seven Deadly Sins yet. This seemingly weakest of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Lustful Dagger, happens to have the ability to counter the Bronze Deadpool." Lu Mingfei looked down at this unreasonable dagger, as if it had been designed in advance. The Seven Deadly Sins possess the power to counter the Dragon King, and the power to counter the Dragon King Deadpool!

This was designed!

This is the power that Norton forged to kill his own king, a power that touches upon the very rules of the land.

He looked down at the short sword in his hand, "Lust," which seemed even more alluring from drinking in blood. The blade was slightly warm, as if carrying a... satisfied sigh? At the same time, a faint but clear thought, mixed with greed, resentment, and a kind of twisted pleasure, was trying to seep into his mind along his arm.

(Is evil fire rising?)

Lu Mingfei shook his head violently, forcibly suppressing the chilling foreign intent. The light in his golden eyes flickered erratically as human reason battled against the lingering ferocity of the weapon. He knew that using "Lust" was by no means without a price; each soul-level kill was likely a tightrope walk between the thirst of the blade and the depletion of his own will.

Lu Mingfei put the lustful object back into its designated slot in the bronze sword case. The hilt no longer had its previous pinkish-gold sheen, reverting to its rusted and scratched appearance as "scrap metal." The soft sound of the sword case closing was particularly clear in the deathly silent corridor.

Lu Mingfei let out a long breath and quickly scanned his surroundings. The passageway was temporarily silent again, with only twelve bronze skeletons on the ground as evidence of the almost one-sided massacre that had just taken place.

Lu Mingfei picked up the bronze box again, walked to a bronze wreckage, and squatted down. The place where the living creature had been sealed inside now only had a small clump of dim, ashes-like remnants, as well as several completely extinguished, broken alchemical cores.

"The living beings have been completely annihilated..." he muttered to himself, confirming his judgment. At the same time, his perception of the danger of "lust" rose once again.

Lu Mingfei stood up, preparing to continue forward following the subtle resonance among the seven deadly sins—

dong... dong... dong...

A heavy, slow, yet extremely penetrating tremor came from deep beneath my feet, as if some enormous creature was turning over in the core area of ​​the Bronze City, or as if a huge war drum was being beaten in a distant place.

The entire bronze passageway trembled slightly, and the rust that had accumulated on the walls for thousands of years fell down in a soft rustling sound.