Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 315 - The Land Between

"So... so many Specters!" Xiao Chuxia stammered, her voice trembling as she instinctively edged closer to Fang Xiu.

But Fang Xiu had already sidestepped her, darting forward like a shadow. The Scalpel in his hand flashed with silver light as he charged headlong into the oncoming Specters.

The others didn't hesitate, immediately following his lead and preparing to break through the encirclement.

The Specters stepped out from behind the trees, revealing their ghastly forms.

They were entirely pale, hairless, and eerily silent as they rushed forward. Their pallid skin contrasted sharply with the darkness of the forest, making them appear even more menacing.

SWISH!

With a single sweep of the Scalpel, Fang Xiu cut through several Specters, blocking his path as though they were paper.

The other captains unleashed their abilities, activating their Domains to launch devastating large-scale attacks.

It didn't take long for the group to realize that the Specters, while numerous, weren't particularly strong.

However, the sheer volume of them was overwhelming—an endless flood pouring out of the forest.

In seconds, the team had already taken down over a hundred Specters. Yet, instead of thinning, the swarm seemed to grow larger, as if thousands more were surging from the depths of the woods.

Fang Xiu's gaze sharpened, cold determination flickering in his eyes. "We need to break through. Don't waste too much Spiritual Energy here."

He knew the truth: because the Land Between was connected to the Other Side, the Specters here were likely infinite.

Their Domains were already draining their Spiritual Energy just to keep the gray mist at bay. If they stayed too long and ran out of energy, they'd be doomed.

"Leave it to me," Luo Qingxin said sharply.

An icy aura burst from her, freezing the ground beneath her feet. The energy coalesced into a massive frost dragon that roared to life, surging forward with unstoppable force.

BOOM!

The dragon carved a path of ice through the Specters, freezing everything in its way—trees, ground, and Specters alike.

The frozen creatures shattered into glittering shards as the dragon advanced.

"Let's move!" Li Xiaoru shouted, and the group wasted no time stepping onto the freshly created icy trail.

The frozen path was slick and smooth, allowing them to slide rather than run. Even without skates, their superhuman abilities made it easy to glide forward, covering ground far more efficiently than running.

For hundreds of meters, they skated along the frost path, dodging swarming Specters while Luo Qingxin extended the icy trail further and further.

After several minutes of sliding and sprinting, the group finally emerged from the relentless pursuit.

The swarm of Specters suddenly stopped at an unseen boundary, refusing to cross it.

The silence that followed was eerie, but the group dared not relax.

"Phew!" Yang Ming exhaled, relief washing over him. "Finally, we're safe. Those Specters were endless—you could kill them all day, and there'd still be more!"

"Don't let your guard down," Li Xiaoru warned, scanning the forest with a wary gaze. "Have you thought about why they stopped chasing us?"

Yang Ming paused, taken aback. "Why?"

"Really? Use your brain," Xiao Chuxia said, rolling her eyes. "Obviously, there's something ahead they're afraid of. You've been on enough missions with Xiu to know that nothing's ever that simple!"

Yang Ming shrugged casually. "Why bother thinking when Xiu's here? Trusting him is easier than wasting energy on guesses."

Yang Ming's words reflected a shift that had come over him since joining Fang Xiu's team.

Once an independent thinker, he had grown accustomed to following Fang Xiu's lead without question.

This made perfect sense—when someone only needed to follow orders to survive, expending effort to think became entirely unnecessary.

Fang Xiu ignored the others' banter and turned his attention to the forest around them. This area was vastly different from the one they had just passed through.

Nearly every tree was draped in long, flowing white silk ribbons, like the remnants of a funeral.

"Let's move," Fang Xiu ordered, and the group resumed their cautious march, weaving through the forest of white ribbons.

Their pace was slow, and their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings, on high alert for any unseen Specters lurking in the shadows.

SWISH... SWISH...

The unsettling sound of the ribbons brushing against tree trunks suddenly broke the silence.

The group froze in place, their eyes snapping to the ribbons.

Something eerie was happening—the ribbons began to writhe like living snakes, twisting and swaying unnaturally.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The sound of something slicing through the air rang out as countless ribbons launched themselves toward the group like projectiles.

Everyone immediately reacted, unleashing attacks at the incoming ribbons.

Thousands of the white ribbons were torn apart in an instant, but to their horror, the ribbons regenerated just as quickly.

It was as if they were endless, growing back the moment they were destroyed.

The ribbons swarmed them like a mass of writhing serpents, filling every inch of space around them in mere moments.

"Damn it! Are these Specters trying to exhaust us to death?" Li Xiaoru cursed loudly.

"Luo Qingxin, you handled the last fight. Let me take over this time," he said with determination.

Luo Qingxin, her icy demeanor unchanged, nodded in agreement.

Alternating who expended Spiritual Energy was the most efficient strategy in this situation. If one person were to completely deplete their Spiritual Energy, they would become a liability for the entire group.

"Domain Activated: Infinite Conflict!" Li Xiaoru roared.

A surge of Spiritual Energy erupted from him, and the air around them shimmered, transforming into the projection of an ancient battlefield.

Rows upon rows of soldiers, resembling life-sized terracotta warriors, marched forward in perfect formation.

For a brief moment, it felt as though they had been transported into a massive, ancient war.

"Soldiers, attack!" Li Xiaoru bellowed, embodying the spirit of a legendary general as he led his spectral army into battle.

The army surged forward like an unstoppable tide of steel. Wherever they passed, the white ribbons were crushed into pieces.

But the ribbons regenerated almost instantly, seemingly multiplying as they grew back.

The battlefield devolved into chaos.

Several of Li Xiaoru's spectral soldiers were ensnared by the ribbons, which coiled around their necks and hoisted them high into the trees, hanging them like marionettes.

Fang Xiu's sharp gaze flickered as he observed the ribbons' behavior. He quickly deduced their killing method: strangulation by hanging—and specifically by suspending victims from the trees.

'What if someone stands higher than the trees?' A bold thought formed in Fang Xiu's mind, and he decided to test his theory.

Meanwhile, Li Xiaoru's frustration reached its peak.

He hadn't expected that even after fully activating his Domain, he couldn't break through the entrapment of the ribbons.

Just as he prepared to unleash an all-out attack, Xiong Tianguang stepped in to stop him.

"Your abilities are being countered by these ribbons," Xiong Tianguang said calmly. "Even if you manage to break through, it'll cost you an enormous amount of Spiritual Energy. And without enough energy, you'll barely last against the gray mist."

Li Xiaoru scowled. "Damn it! I've never fought such a suffocating battle in my life!"

The group's restraint was evident. It wasn't that the Specters here were overwhelmingly powerful—it was the constant drain from the gray mist that forced them to conserve their energy.

None of them could afford to act recklessly.

"I'll take care of it this time," Xiong Tianguang volunteered, stepping forward.

But before he could act, a voice echoed from deep within the forest.

"Stand upside down! The ribbons won't attack anyone who's upside down!"

The voice, calm yet tinged with an eerie undertone, stopped the group in their tracks.

It was a man's voice—completely unfamiliar.

Everyone was stunned. 'How can there be someone else in this unsettling, fatal forest? Is it a person... or a Specter?'

They turned toward the source of the voice and saw a strange shadow approaching from the depths of the forest.

It was a man dressed in a burial shroud, walking on his hands in a perfect handstand. 

His feet were pointed toward the sky as he moved closer with a bizarre, fluid grace.

Even more disturbingly, the white ribbons, which had been relentlessly attacking the group, seemed to completely ignore him.

Translator's note: Why do they have to shout out the name of their domains every time before they release it? That's a bit hilarious lol.