Chapter 429: A Second Chance

The next moment.

The middle-aged man's vision blurred. A fist wrapped in monstrous murderous intent magnified in his eyes, moving so fast his expression didn't even have time to shift.

Boom!

Unimaginable force slammed into the middle-aged man. His head exploded instantly, turning him into a headless corpse.

In his hands, he still held the unretracted wooden carving and Whisper.

A slender, pale hand slowly drew Whisper from his grip, inch by inch.

The moment Whisper left his hand, the headless corpse lost its balance and crashed to the floor. The wooden carving, however, remained perfectly intact; even in death, the man's fingers never loosened their grip.

"Was that really necessary?"

Su Mu shook his head, stowed Whisper away, and turned to leave.

Just then, a deafening crash echoed out.

A massive force blasted the heavy iron doors open.

A slender, graceful woman slowly walked into the vault. Behind her followed a tidal wave of believers from the Pain Divine Cult.

Su Mu lifted his gaze to the woman. She was wrapped in a layer of black gauze that moved like flowing shadows. The fabric was so thin it was nearly transparent, perfectly tracing the exquisite curves of her body.

In terms of figure alone, she was peerless, but what drew the eye far more was her face.

It was a visage that seemed marked by a Demonic Curse. Her face had been almost completely destroyed by burns. The flesh and muscle were twisted and fused together in overlapping layers, leaving the skin a patchwork of charred black and bloody crimson. The blackened parts looked like carbonized wood, while the crimson patches were fresh, tender flesh growing back.

The most terrifying detail was the Gold solidified on her face. Melted Gold seemed to have flowed down her forehead, pooling at the center of her brows into an irregular, hardened lump that looked exactly like an eerie golden eye.

The newcomer's identity was obvious: the Saint Grade powerhouse of the Pain Divine Cult—the Scorched Visage Saintess!

The Scorched Visage Saintess acted very strangely. Her immediate focus wasn't the emptied vault or the dead man on the floor, but Su Mu's face.

Staring at his handsome, gentle features, a flash of obsession crossed her eyes, instantly twisting into boundless envy.

"What a perfect face. Destroying it will provide so much pain!" the Scorched Visage Saintess laughed coquettishly. Her voice was as clear as a mountain spring, but her smile was as twisted as a demon's.

"Did you know? The more perfect something is, the more people care about it, and destroying it breeds even more agony. Beautiful people always obsess over their looks. Since you killed the vault keeper, you will take his place."

Su Mu smiled faintly. "I originally just wanted to take Whisper. I didn't mean to kill him. How about a second chance?"

"Now you want a second chance? You didn't actually think you could break into the Pain Divine Cult and—"

Su Mu shook his head, interrupting her. "You misunderstood. I meant giving you a second chance."

The Scorched Visage Saintess froze. For a split second, sheer bewilderment was clearly visible even on her ruined face.

"Hahaha... give me a second chance?" She laughed out of pure fury.

Boom!

The aura around the Scorched Visage Saintess abruptly changed. Her figure, previously obscured beneath the black gauze, erupted with a terrifying momentum that chilled the soul, blazing like a star ignited in the dark night.

The air around her warped under an invisible, massive pressure, forming a visible ring-shaped shockwave. In an instant, the entire vault was reduced to ruins.

Her black gauze fluttered without wind, and her silky hair whipped through the air. Those eyelidless eyes stared fixedly at Su Mu. "Are you ready to feel pain?"

Su Mu glanced across the rubble. "As expected of a Saint Grade powerhouse," he praised. "Your aura is terrifyingly strong."

Swoosh!

The Scorched Visage Saintess vanished from her spot. Her horrific speed carried an unimaginable kinetic force, moving as though she had shattered the void itself.

Her hideous face suddenly appeared right in front of Su Mu. A delicate, pale fist wrapped in endless Pain Divine Power shot toward his stomach.

However, the moment the Scorched Visage Saintess moved, Su Mu had already closed his eyes. Right as her fist was about to strike him, his eyes gently opened.

His originally pitch-black pupils had turned a crystalline blue, reflecting the open sky.

Buzz!

Time seemed to stand still. The world turned black and white, stripped of all color.

The Scorched Visage Saintess realized in shock that she could no longer move. She was only centimeters away from hitting Su Mu, yet that tiny distance felt like an insurmountable chasm.

And in this black-and-white world, the only thing that retained color was Su Mu.

He calmly watched the Scorched Visage Saintess, a hint of confusion surfacing in his eyes. "Although your strength isn't equal to the Primal Pope, you are still a Saint Grade powerhouse... Why are you this weak?

"Forget it. It doesn't matter. You can start being afraid now.

"Wind."

A piercingly cold wind suddenly whipped up between heaven and earth. Countless tiny wind blades continually slashed across the Scorched Visage Saintess's body.

A flash of agony crossed the Scorched Visage Saintess's face. She tried to resist, only to suddenly find herself bound to a cross. The Pain cultists behind her were completely gone.

The pain on her face grew more and more intense, but a moment later, a trace of pleasure mixed into the agony.

At the same time, Pain Divine Power surged relentlessly from her body, so much so that the cross began to tremble as if it were about to snap.

"Oh?" A look of interest appeared in Su Mu's eyes. "So that's how it is."

He understood why the Scorched Visage Saintess had been so weak. She simply hadn't suffered enough pain beforehand. She was clearly a masochistic fighter; as the level of abuse she endured deepened, her power would steadily climb.

That meant he couldn't use torture on her. He couldn't even use an Illusion Technique that would cause her pain, because that would just be helping her boost her strength.

In the outside world.

Su Mu threw a direct punch. Terrifying force pierced through the Scorched Visage Saintess's body, blasting her entire form into fine powder.

But the next moment, a boundless light of pain flickered, and the Scorched Visage Saintess was actually resurrected from the radiance.

"Was that... an Illusion Technique just now?" The agonizing expression on her face hadn't yet faded, but a hideous grin stretched across her lips. "What a wonderful trick. This pain that reaches straight into the soul is far too pleasurable. Again!"

She was obviously treating Su Mu as a stepping stone, wanting to use his Illusion Technique to harvest even more pain as she charged forward once again.

Su Mu's gaze shifted slightly. An Undying Body?

He wasn't entirely surprised. If the Pain Divine Cult could mutilate themselves daily and still grow stronger, they definitely had unique methods for bodily recovery. It was hardly strange for their Saintess to possess an Undying Body.

He realized how troublesome she was to deal with. No wonder the Primal Divine Cult, despite being the top faction, was still unable to eradicate the Pain Divine Cult. An opponent like this was genuinely broken.

She couldn't be beaten to death, and she continuously boosted her strength by taking beatings. How was anyone supposed to fight that?

If it were anyone else, they truly wouldn't have any options against the Scorched Visage Saintess, but she couldn't stump Su Mu.

Since the Scorched Visage Saintess's power came from pain, wouldn't stripping her of that pain fix the problem?