The next day, dark skies lood over the peaceful Rivertown. A biting northern wind swept through the streets, carrying thick snow in its wake.
The townspeople had grown accustod to this kind of life. They woke up as usual, boiled flasks of warming alcohol to fend off the cold, and set off for their work as usual, unaware of the danger approaching.
A large ship slowly drifted along the river, steadily heading for Rivertown. The guard at the town’s entrance moved forward to collect the usual docking fees, but he froze in shock when sunlight glinted off the ship’s passengers.
“Undead! There are skeletons here!” he hollered.
The guard on the watchtower rang the alarm, and the bell’s clamor echoed through the town. The rest of the guard squadron rushed to the entrance, where they saw a horde of skeletons wading through the frigid water, marching toward the town.
The squadron leader barked, “Alarm! Evacuate the citizens! All guards, follow ! Kill the undead!”
However, there were only a handful of them. How could they hope to defeat thousands of skeletons?
Within minutes, the skeletons captured the guards, bound them with ropes, and tossed them into Rivertown’s plaza. At the sa ti, the skeletal horde crashed into civilian hos, captured the townspeople, and held them hostage at the plaza as well.
Terror gripped the townspeople as the skeletons surrounded them. They shivered from fear and cold alike and were unable to comprehend that such horror could strike so suddenly. Only yesterday, their lives had been quiet and ordinary.
At the center of it all, a Crystal Skeleton reclined on a throne made of bones, her seven-colored spiritual flas flickering in her eye sockets as she surveyed the plaza. At her command, the skeletons started to draw a vast array around the plaza, marking the ground with fine bone dust.
The townspeople realized that it was so sort of sacrificial ritual and that they were the skeletons’ offering!
“Oh my god! Help ! Take all my money, but let live!”
“I don’t want to beco a sacrifice! I don’t want to turn into a monster!”
“Please, let my child go! He’s only five years old! He’s innocent!”
...
The townspeople pleaded for rcy, but the undead ignored them. They worked in silence and continued etching symbols into the ground to complete the array.
On the throne, the Crystal Skeleton shifted and murmured how unbearably dull it was.
One by one, more people were captured, including the mayor and his entire staff. His position carried no weight before the undead. No matter how prestigious or how much power he held, they remained indifferent and ignored him.
When the captives had all but surrendered to death, reinforcent arrived: Han Wu, Akanzor, and Bart!
To the townspeople, the skeletons they had feared as a natural disaster crumbled like paper mache before the trio, who easily tore through them.
The spiritual flas within the Crystal Skeleton’s eye sockets flickered, and she leaped from the throne. With a single punch, she sent Bart hurtling through the air, leaving him heavily wounded.
Akanzor swung his Overlord Sabre, but the Crystal Skeleton t the strike with a backhand that sent him sprawling!
The other two were incapacitated, so only Han Wu remained. The crowd’s hope vanished like a moth consud by an inferno, and despair tightened its grip. After all, the Crystal Skeleton was too strong, and no one could withstand her attack.
Then Han Wu shouted with righteousness, “I will not allow you to harm a single townsperson today!”
Han Wu activated his True Demon King Transformation, and his ten-ter-tall form was a shock to all who saw him. The Crystal Skeleton refused to back down and commanded the skeletons to rge into a giant skeleton matching Han Wu’s height.
The giant skeleton emitted a suffocating death aura, making everyone feel as if a skeletal hand were tightening around their throats.
As Han Wu engaged the giant skeleton, the ground quaked beneath them, and many houses crumbled under the shockwaves. At last, Han Wu triumphed over the giant skeleton. He pulled the Crystal Skeleton from its fra and subdued her with sheer strength. Before everyone’s eyes, the Crystal Skeleton knelt and pledged her loyalty to him.
Rivertown was saved. The townspeople hailed Han Wu with unwavering devotion, and thousands of Faith Points poured into him. In that instant, he gained thousands of new believers.
Still, that wasn’t enough. He needed all of them to submit fully to him. Over the next few days, Han Wu threw himself into the town’s reconstruction. He funded the rebuilding of houses, transford into the Sanctumbranch to heal the sick, and even placed a massive order of toys when the toy shop’s business stalled.
In just three days, he had earned their full faith. Nearly 100,000 humans generated enough Faith Points for him to condense a single Divine Essence in one day.
He quickly obtained five Divine Essence and gave them all to Bart. The latter absorbed them, and his body paraters improved. He also sensed a strange power awakening within him.At last, he could trust Han Wu completely and beca one of his believers.
Once he beca his believer, Bart revealed everything about the Black Arrows. When Rivertown had first burned, Bart’s ancestor had collected the ashes and bones of those slain by Smog to forge three Black Arrows. Two of them had already been used to repel Smog, leaving only one. The last Black Arrow was hidden atop Rivertown’s highest clock tower.
With this knowledge, Han Wu quickly flew toward the clock tower and retrieved the last Black Arrow. Despite years of exposure to the elents, it remained intact. A quick dusting restored its sharpness.
Han Wu could clearly feel the deep grudge embedded within it. That grudge’s power had turned into a poison that even Great Dragons couldn’t dispel. He carefully probed the energy within it and whispered, “I see now why Smog said this arrow could kill him.”
As he was about to destroy it to fulfill Smog’s request, Jing Jing stopped him. “I like this Black Arrow. I want it.”
Han Wu hesitated. “But I promised Smog I’d destroy it.”
Jing Jing tilted her head thoughtfully. “Then let destroy it.”
Han Wu considered his promise and confird that Smog hadn’t specified who must destroy the Black Arrow. Technically, it was acceptable to give it to Jing Jing, so he handed it to her.
The mont Jing Jing touched it, the grudges within the Black Arrow erupted like flood and surged into her body. Even its essence seeped into her bones.
After absorbing the Black Arrow’s power, her little finger had turned completely black, and the arrow in her hands crumbled into a pile of black dust. True to her words, she had destroyed it, but a smaller version had imprinted itself on her little finger. From that mont on, her little finger functioned as the Black Arrow that could slay Great Dragons.
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