I haven't even used my full strength, and you've already fallen?

Looking at the half-devil, half-Buddha King Shipi, the players felt a sense of doubt rising within them, even as they continued to release various skills, strengthening the seal.

Li Ang summoned more plant vines, entangling King Shipi's hands, feet, and limbs, piercing beneath his skin, extracting his divine essence, and greedily absorbing his form.

The Swamp God mark flickered, conveying a joyous sense of satisfaction.

The pseudo-god embers preserved in Li Ang's sea of consciousness exploded and blazed.

From a dying candle in the wind, it instantly transformed into a roaring torch.

Current divine essence repair progress: 26.78%, 26.79%, 26.80%...

...

Inside the inventory, the repair progress of the pseudo-god embers slowed down before finally stopping at 30.00%.

However, Li Ang's face showed neither joy nor disappointment.

King Shipi was indeed strong. The toughness of his body was comparable to that of the Mirage Dragon Red Mane.

Some low-level energy attacks would be directly ignored by his skin, unable to even leave a scratch.

Moreover, the strength and speed of his body steadily surpassed even the most skilled martial artist among the players, Shiko.

If it weren't for Hohenheim continuously using control-type spells from the Book of Sand to restrain him, coupled with Li Ang and the Side of Truth supporting from the sidelines, King Shipi could have killed all the players except the four of them in less than ten seconds, ensuring they couldn't even activate their skills.

But King Shipi wasn't strong enough.

At least, he didn't live up to the imposing aura he exuded, not as unstoppable as the players had imagined.

“...”

Michael, wielding the Flame Sword, beat the air with his two pairs of wings, suspended in mid-air.

His gaze was fixed on King Shipi, whose hands, feet, and limbs were bound by vines, and he remained silent.

Xing Hechou and the others merely felt puzzled, while Michael, Hohenheim, Li Ang, and others could recognize the crux of the matter.

King Shipi wasn't using the massive power of faith to repair his body and sanity.

Instead, half of the faith provided by the millions of believers outside was used to maintain the Buddha Kingdom and the maze lock, while the other half was consumed internally within King Shipi's body, like filling a bottomless black hole, to no avail.

King Shipi was just an empty shell?

The situation was unclear. Li Ang pondered this discovery, not having the time to sense the effects brought about by the pseudo-god embers charging.

*Crack.*

The sound of bones breaking came from ahead.

King Shipi's left shin was tightened by the vines and snapped on the spot, followed by his right leg and both arms.

Li Ang immediately controlled the vines to slightly loosen their grip.

He didn't increase the output of the Swamp God power in the vines. It was entirely King Shipi who was rapidly degenerating and weakening at an eerie speed, crippling himself.

Amidst the players' strange and perplexed gazes, King Shipi collapsed.

His brown skin, from its previously full state, once again shriveled and withered, covered in wrinkles.

The kasaya robe he wore was also shattered into fragments of cloth, no longer as tough as it had been when it survived the Dragon Break Slash.

*Bang!*

With a loud noise, King Shipi's body, lying on the ground, automatically broke into several pieces.

His hands, feet, and limbs fell off, and his head and torso split open.

His entire corpse spontaneously combusted, and a golden flame nearly three meters high rose from the spot, igniting the surrounding Astral Realm walls and swamp vines all at once.

The sudden change happened too quickly for Hohenheim to even release a time stasis spell and preserve King Shipi's body.

In an instant, King Shipi's corpse was like coal that had burned out, naturally loosening and crumbling.

It turned into dust and spread out on the spot.

The golden flame also disappeared like nighttime fireworks.

Leaving only wisps of smoke.

"Burning my calories?"

Li Ang scratched the chin of his dragon head mask, not caring about the lost plant vines, and turned his head to look outside the stone cave.

With King Shipi's confirmed death, the Buddha Kingdom covering Ajanta also began to dissipate.

Starting from the outer edge of the horseshoe-shaped valley, the light spheres shrank and retreated from bottom to top.

Outside sunlight shone in.

Through the gaps in the light spheres, one could see the tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, helicopters, and other modern military equipment that had been waiting outside, as well as agents from European Heavy Industries and the Global Supernatural Alliance.

As the Buddha Kingdom dissipated naturally, the missing persons standing on the surface of the Buddha Kingdom were also freed from control.

Most of the missing persons fell to the ground and fainted.

Those missing persons who had previously shown signs of becoming Buddhas had their kasaya robes quickly fade and disappear, transforming into the normal clothes they had been wearing.

The kind and benevolent expressions on their faces also calmed down and returned to normal.

Only their heads, which had been shaved bald during the transformation into Buddhas, failed to return to their original state and regrow their hair.

What's this supposed to mean? Is it implying that baldness is an incurable disease that even the Buddha can't save?

Li Ang's mind was filled with a jumble of thoughts. He turned his head, exchanged a look with Hohenheim and the others, and with a tacit understanding, they stepped forward together.

They began to examine the ashes formed by the burning of King Shipi's corpse after his death.

The ashes were very normal. There were no glittering and translucent relics or anything like that. They were purely inorganic substances.

"So, what exactly is going on?"

Shiko frowned. "We didn't even put in much effort, and King Shipi blew himself up?"

"I'm more inclined to believe that there was an error in the reincarnation program."

Hohenheim said in a deep voice, "From the viral spread of the Buddha Kingdom to the ingenious design of the maze lock, to the strength of this body, it can be seen that King Shipi's strength is greater than that of the current Killing Game players.

"Like other ancient transcendents, he took the path of faith to become a god, wanting to rely on the power of faith to maintain his existence and be able to awaken and be reborn in the future.

"But there was some kind of mistake in the middle. There are not many people in the world who still believe in King Shipi and spread his legends.

"This led to the power of faith not being properly used by him, which is why he blew himself up.

"Of course, these are just my guesses. After all, this is the first awakened god, and there are not enough case studies for reference."

"Yeah, I also think there might be a problem with the resurrection."

Li Ang nodded. "In the concept of mysticism, an important part of faith to become a god is to determine the god's divine duty.

"Such as thunder, life, death, grain, fertility, marriage, war, and even fame, fortune, and wealth.

"Gods rely on their divine duties to attract believers.

"Only in this way can the power of faith provided by the believers be specialized to consolidate the essence of the gods.

"Although King Shipi left a mark in history, his only known deed is cutting flesh to feed an eagle. There is no such thing as a divine duty.

"Maybe that's why he burned to death."

He paused, shaking his head, "Anyway, it's always good that everything's okay.

"It's a pity that no equipment or items dropped.

"Well... if you guys don't mind, I'll take this pile of ashes."

No matter what, King Shipi was the closest thing to a god-like mortal life that Li Ang had ever seen.

Taking the ashes back to study might allow him to extract some divine essence.

Shiko's eyelids twitched. "You're taking the ashes?"

"Of course."

Li Ang said as a matter of course, "My grandfather was a devout Buddhist. I'll take some of the Buddha's ashes home to make him happy."

Shiko was silent for a moment. "...If I remember correctly, you should be an orphan."

"That's not contradictory."

Li Ang said casually, "When I was little, I liked to pee and play in the mud with my grandpa. Later, my mom put my grandpa's ashes jar on a cabinet I couldn't reach."

???

Shiko's mind stalled for a moment, and it took him a second to process the logic. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he suppressed the urge to retort.

Alright then.

Players at their level basically had some understanding of the information of others at the same level, and knew some of Li Ang's experiences.

Hohenheim's eyes flickered. "Uh... We at the Clock Tower are also interested in King Shipi's remains. How about we divide them?"

King Shipi's sudden awakening and sudden death were too bizarre. Perhaps there was some key information about the path to godhood hidden behind it.

The Clock Tower's Mage Association was also very interested in this.

The Side of Truth suddenly opened his mouth and said, "I want a share too."

"Alright."

Li Ang nodded in agreement. "We can exchange any research results we have later."

With that, he took out a stack of paper from his sodium ring, alchemized it into a large sheet of paper, divided King Shipi's remains into three parts, and gave them to Hohenheim, the Side of Truth, and himself.

As for Shiko and Michael, they were not interested in this.

*Tap.*

Li Ang weighed the square paper package in his hand and smiled casually, "This feels a lot like nasal allergy powder.

"I remember when I was younger, I had rhinitis.

"So I took out the nasal allergy powder in a cafe because my nose was uncomfortable, put it on paper, and crushed it with a bank card to snort it. The people next to me were stunned.

"Several white-collar youths who had brought notebooks to the cafe ran away on the spot."

The more Hohenheim listened, the more uneasy he felt. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened later?"

Li Ang glanced at him, feeling a little baffled, "What later? Later, my rhinitis got better."

???

Wasn't there a satisfying arrest and criticism segment?

The corners of Hohenheim's mouth twitched.

Alright then.

This short interlude did not affect the players' actions.

Hohenheim and the Clock Tower members began to examine the energy trajectories left behind by the maze lock.

The members of European Heavy Industries and the Global Supernatural Alliance left the stone cave and cooperated with the support personnel who came in from the outside to rescue the missing persons who had been without water or food for several days and were severely malnourished.

These missing persons who had been caught up in the Buddha Kingdom's mutation had not eaten anything for several days.

At the same time, they had been continuously providing faith energy, and their physical and mental strength had already reached their limit.

The rescue personnel gave them energy drinks and high-energy foods, placed them on stretchers, and loaded them into trucks, transporting them to the outside world in batches.

There, professional medical staff and rescue facilities were available. The final death toll should be kept within a relatively low range.

News also came in from other parts of the world, with the Buddha Kingdoms in various locations retreating almost simultaneously, and the light spheres having been completely cleared.

If there were no accidents, King Shipi's mutation would come to an end and enter the final cleanup phase.

Xing Hechou relayed this news to Li Ang.

Li Ang didn't care much about it. His purpose had been achieved. The pseudo-god ember's charging progress was close to one-third, and he had also observed some of the basic structures of the divine kingdom, gaining a lot.

Before leaving India and returning to Yin City, he found Francis, the representative of the European Heavy Industries Group, to demand the final payment.

King Shipi had died inexplicably, but the final payment could not be left unsettled.

Facing Li Ang's scrutinizing gaze, Francis dared not delay and immediately used the teleportation array to go to the European Heavy Industries headquarters, get the final payment, and then use the teleportation array to return to Mumbai.

He handed the final payment—a perfect quality item—to Li Ang.

Li Ang got the item, and then returned home to Yin City with satisfaction.

【Name: Ms. Wordsworth's Birthday Cake】

【Type: Magical Item Consumable】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect: Birthday Blessing. After lighting the candle, gain relatively good luck for a period of time while eating the cake】

【Consumption: None】

【Cooldown Time: None】

【Usage Condition: Must have had at least three birthdays in life without receiving a blessing】

【Note: The birthday blessing effect will only activate after eating all the cake. Good luck will last for one hour and has certain limitations, unable to violate physical rules. In the process, if unavoidable misfortune occurs, the duration of good luck will be shortened in advance】

【Note: If you think about it carefully, you will find that birthday parties are like demonic rituals. Everyone sings around a burning object, which represents how many years your life has lost. Greedy desires appear in your mind, the flame is blown out, and then you stab through it with a knife】

This perfect quality item looks like an ordinary strawberry cake.

There is a slender red and white candle inserted on it.

And it is actually a one-time-use consumable, and the range of its effect is the vague "gain good luck."

In the Killing Game, there are many strange and bizarre equipment items, but items that grant luck are truly rare.

Even a transcender of Li Ang's level may have occasions to use it.

The other reward provided by the European Heavy Industries Group was also a consumable skill scroll.

【Skill Scroll Name: Frivolous Masquerade】

【Attribute: Consumable, disappears after one use】

【Type: Psionic】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect: Masquerade Disguise. Transforms your appearance into the last human you touched】

【Consumption: 500 points of psionic power】

【Cooldown Time: None】

【Learning Condition: Perception attribute greater than or equal to 15 points】

【Note: The transformation disguise lasts for 30 minutes. During this time, it exempts all detection skills. Any attacking or being attacked will cause the disguise to fail. 】

【Note: The transformation disguise is limited to appearance and cannot simulate personality, habits, behaviors, or ways of thinking. There is a certain possibility of being recognized. When recognized, the disguise will be automatically canceled】

【Note: Hide water in the sea, hide wood in the forest, hide people in the crowd】