As Skull Mountain was crushed by the Saint Master, the Wish Demon officially entered its third stage, this time having only one Health point left.

It appeared as a faint, shadowy figure, surrounded by numerous indistinct human faces.

"Death!" it declared without hesitation.

Subsequently, one of the surrounding faces disappeared.

Wang Linchi's and the Saint Master's Health directly dropped by 5%.

HISS... an instant death Skill? If he hadn't been holding a Card, he and the Saint Master would probably have been killed instantly.

The Wish Demon was also somewhat puzzled. How come they hadn't died?

"Death by breath," it consumed another face to make the declaration.

This time, Wang Linchi and the Saint Master didn't lose Health. Wang Linchi was a game character who didn't need to breathe, and the Saint Master wasn't a normal living being and lacked even a respiratory system. The Wish Demon had obviously made a fundamental mistake.

The Saint Master, however, was not going to go easy on it. He threw a punch, and his attack passed directly through the silhouette, even more effectively than in the first stage.

In the first stage, at least a "-0" damage indicator had appeared. This time, there was no damage indication at all, meaning it wasn't a hit. However, the Saint Master's attack shattered quite a few faces.

Destroy the faces first.

The opponent's Skill, similar to "Word Becomes Law," used faces as consumables. Wang Linchi guessed that each face represented a wish the Wish Demon had fulfilled.

The Saint Master spewed fire from his Dragon Talisman, burning all the faces.

CRACKLE...

The faces were clearly not durable but rather fragile, making a cracking sound like dry wood burning in the fire. If one listened closely, one could also hear faint screams of agony.

The Wish Demon didn't seem to care about the faces' demise at all.

Wang Linchi clearly saw that as the faces shattered, the Wish Demon's Health began to increase, and then it started to increase faster. Its body gradually solidified from its illusory state.

In the end, it transformed to look exactly like Wang Linchi.

The Wish Demon had just duplicated Wang Linchi's game character, which almost made him burst into laughter.

Perhaps, because it couldn't duplicate the Saint Master, it chose Wang Linchi as a host.

The Wish Demon was also confused. It sensed that something was wrong. Logically, it should have become stronger, but instead, it had grown weaker.

After looking at its Skills, its mood shattered even more. What kind of garbage Skills are these? There's only one attack Skill, and all the rest are for weakening the opponent! Most importantly, where is the Skill to summon this massive brute that's beating me up, and why is there an empty shell of a Talent? the Wish Demon wondered.

The equipment and Cards had been copied, though. The equipment was better and could be effective. However, the Cards were a sham. They didn't affect Wang Linchi and the Saint Master because they were designed to affect only demonized-type enemies. Wang Linchi and the Saint Master weren't demonized; the Wish Demon was.

The most impressive was the Strong Luck Talent, which increased Luck Contribution by 100%. Yet, where would it get the Luck Contribution attribute from? This directly trapped it in a pit.

Wang Linchi's game character purely relied on Plug-in and Luck. However, both of these required Wang Linchi's actual intervention. Otherwise, it was truly a useless character.

Before the Wish Demon could escape, the Saint Master had already begun to pummel it.

Even if the Wish Demon wanted to run, with its current attributes, it wouldn't have taken two steps before the Saint Master hauled it back.

"Damn it, you'll pay for this!!!" The Wish Demon, beaten beyond recognition, began to bulge and transform into the Saint Master's likeness.

What the fuck?! Wang Linchi was shocked at the sight.

So you could transform into the Saint Master, huh? Why didn't you do that earlier?

Wang Linchi understood the Wish Demon's intent. It probably assumed the Saint Master was Wang Linchi's summon, and by transforming into Wang Linchi, it could naturally inherit his Skills. Who knew the Saint Master was a product of Plug-in?

So, only after failing to copy Wang Linchi did it shift its target to the Saint Master.

The Wish Demon version of the Saint Master made its appearance, and Wang Linchi promptly burst into laughter.

He was professionally trained and usually wouldn't laugh—unless he couldn't hold it back.

"How is this possible? Why did I get even weaker?!" The Wish Demon couldn't comprehend it. The Saint Master was so formidable, yet after copying its avatar, the Wish Demon was even worse off than when it had copied Wang Linchi's trashy game character.

"Hahaha! This is the first time I've seen someone as unlucky as you!" Wang Linchi laughed loudly.

Firstly, the Saint Master's essence was merely an add-on for Wang Linchi's Book of Records; it wasn't truly a living entity or summoned creature. Therefore, if the Wish Demon wanted to duplicate the Saint Master's power, it would need to duplicate the Book of Records itself. Directly duplicating the Saint Master would only result in an empty shell.

Wang Linchi's game character at least had some attributes. Copying the Saint Master, however, meant all its attributes would reset to zero.

This caused the Wish Demon's Health to fall directly to 1 point. The fact that it was still alive was already quite generous, because even an empty shell needs a host. With nowhere for the Wish Demon to attach itself, it effectively played itself to death.

The number zero, no matter what it's multiplied by, will always yield zero.

If the Wish Demon had duplicated another Player, combined with its own support abilities, it could have easily defeated its opponent. Unfortunately, it encountered a user of Plug-in like Wang Linchi and ultimately met a resentful end.

With only 1 Health point remaining, the Saint Master didn't even need to get close. A single laser beam from the Pig Talisman, and the Wish Demon was gone.

[Your summoned creature has slain...]

The kill notification appeared, Experience points were credited, and Wang Linchi leveled up directly to Level 30. If he had to grind by killing monsters and doing quests, it would have been impossible to go from Level 26 to Level 30 in a single day.

This time, instead of a pile of Abyss Crystals, a single, profoundly deep black crystal dropped.

[Grade 1 Concentrated Abyss Crystal]

[Type: Material]

[Quality: Abyss]

[Effect: Can be converted into one hundred thousand Abyss Crystals at quest settlement.]

"So many! No wonder the unit changed. If there really were one hundred thousand crystals, I'm afraid it would create quite a heap." Wang Linchi was naturally very pleased with this.

He had previously been annoyed when picking up the Abyss Crystals dropped by the True Magician. More powerful bosses in the future would inevitably drop even more.

"However, with just this, it'll be hard for me to manage," Wang Linchi felt. His reward was definitely more than just the Grade 1 Concentrated Abyss Crystal. There must be other rewards, but I skipped the quest line and fought the boss directly, causing me to miss out on them.

Looking again at the Accumulating Blessings Temple, the fire had been extinguished. Skull Mountain had been situated in front of the temple when the Wish Demon entered its second phase. The commotion from its battle with the Saint Master had doused the flames, or perhaps the Wish Demon itself had put them out. In any case, the Saint Master hadn't done it.

The Saint Master had actually been fanning the flames at that time, intensifying the fire.

The day is still young. It's a good time to scavenge the ruins for any loot, Wang Linchi thought.

Wang Linchi felt that while there might not be any quest items to restrain the Wish Demon, there should still be some left to deal with the Wicked People.

After all, the main storyline of this dungeon instance concerned the Wicked People; the Wish Demon was just a side quest, much like the Mutated Dwarf Demon King in the previous instance. Killing that boss didn't interfere with fighting the True Magician boss, unless one foolishly sent the Mutated Dwarf Demon King to the True Magician prematurely, which would unlock the True Magician's full strength.

However, killing the Mutated Dwarf Demon King could permanently weaken the True Magician, making it a side quest beneficial to the main storyline.

After scavenging for a while, Wang Linchi quickly found what he was looking for.

[Poisonous Crane Top Red]

[Type: Quest Item]

[Stored in the item bar. When attacking a demonized enemy, if the target has a plague effect, this item will inflict 1 stack of deadly poison. This poison lasts until the plague effect disappears, with no stacking limit. For every 100 stacks of deadly poison, the plague effect will be upgraded one level, with no limit on the number of upgrades.]

Wang Linchi had found a Quest Item, and he was very satisfied with its effect.

The poisonous effect of Crane's Crest Red was different from normal poison. Each stack inflicted 10 points of True Damage per second. Unless the plague effect on the target was removed, this 10-point damage would persist. Each additional stack added another 10 damage. Against high-attack-speed enemies, the effect would be even better, as stacks could be applied rapidly and wouldn't diminish.

This is a key item, but acquiring it is genuinely difficult, Wang Linchi thought.

However, if I use the little helper... Wang Linchi had an idea. If he temporarily altered the effects of the Silver Needle and Crane's Crest Red, introduced them into the water supply for everyone in the city to drink, and then delayed their activation...

...then, when the entire city transformed into Wicked People, they would all be afflicted with plague and poison. This might create an opportunity to farm a large number of Abyss Crystals.

I just need one more item that can stack the poison effect, he mused.

Hopefully, I can find something like that in this dungeon instance if I'm lucky. Wang Linchi wasn't sure.

Subsequently, Wang Linchi scoured the Accumulating Blessings Temple twice more but, as expected, found nothing.

Getting this much was already very good.

"Alright, it's time to head back." Wang Linchi looked at the gradually darkening sky. If he didn't return soon, it would be nightfall.

There were still three Wicked People waiting for him to deal with at the City Master's Mansion. Even if the Wicked People had contaminated the mansion, it didn't matter. In the worst-case scenario, he could just reset the dungeon instance.

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