Thud! Thud! Thud!

  His footsteps resounded louder than normal, echoing throughout the mist veiled space.

  The system also kept dinging nonstop, every few kilometers.

  Ding!

  Soul Decay rejected!.

  Ding!

  Curse of wombless seed rejected!.

  Ding!

  Curse of the unanchored echo rejected!.

  It seems this is another whole trial. Physical wear down first, now Soul curses. Whoever owned this Red World must be a wicked person.

  Jin Yu thought.

  But it's useless against me, the owner's jaw must be dropping wherever he is.

  Unbothered, he kept on walking.

  Gradually, the dim shapes in the mist took form.

  His face twisted in disgust as the outlines became clear.

  “What ugly things,” he muttered, almost to himself.

  The statues were huge, so tall they seemed to scrape the unseen sky, their forms rising like black cliffs. Their skin was rough and broken, a patchwork of jagged edges and warped bulges, as if something had forced them into shape and then abandoned them to rot. The black surface seemed to drink in the light, swallowing every color around it.

  He couldn’t tell if they were meant to be human or beast as their Limbs were bent at strange angles, features melted or stretched until they no longer made sense. It was a kind of wrongness that didn’t belong to any world he knew.

  And yet, as he walked past, a chill threaded through his spine. Their faces, if they could be called faces, seemed to turn ever so slightly, the empty hollows where eyes should be following his every step.

  Whether it was the shifting mist or something more, he could not tell… but he felt the weight of their gaze, heavy and unblinking.

  Forget it, can't let them sully my eyes.

  He shook his head, trying to shake away the chill in his spine.

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  Hours passed, yet the system didn't stop dinging, rejecting so many curses he couldn't keep count of.

  I must admit, you really have your own perks.

  Jin Yu couldn't help but praise the system, feeling grateful.

  With his shallow knowledge of this world, he really didn't think he could survive for so long.

  For a split moment, he could almost feel the smug face of the system.

  Jin Yu rolled his eyes.

  "Don't be arrogant, you're still a bitch."

  Just as his voice dropped, he stopped abruptly in his steps, his eyes narrowed and his senses went on full alert.

  Barely hidden by the grey mist was a figure, standing ten meters away from Jin Yu. It's empty eyes socket was locked on him with intensity.

  But what made Jin Yu react so much wasn't just the person, it was the familiar sight.

  The figure has the same rough and broken body as the statues behind it, every inch was marred with hideous bulges that throbbed beneath the skin.

  Its limbs bent at angles no joint should allow, one foot twisted sharply to the left, the other grotesquely reversed so the toes pointed backward.

  Loose folds of flesh sagged and hung in uneven curtains, as if the skin had been melted and then cruelly stretched over a frame that did not fit. Every movement made it seem less like a living being and more like a mockery of one, stitched together from nightmares.

  "What.....on Solenthia is this?"

  Jin Yu muttered as his brow furrowed in both disgust and anger.

  If he could retch, he would have.

  "Why the hell are you sullying my eyes with this abominable body?"

  His tone was pure offense, like the thing had just tracked mud into his ancestral hall. "Your curses aren’t working on me, okay? So do me a favor: scram before I lose my refined temperament."

  The figure stood there, silent.

  Jin Yu’s frown deepened. "I know you’re blind, but your ears shouldn’t be broken too. Do you want me to come over there and personally hack you down?"

  Nothing.

  He gave it a long, disgusted stare, the kind usually reserved for suspicious stains on silk robes. "Is this hideous thing even alive?" he muttered, stepping forward.

  A sword materialized in his hand, but the moment his gaze took in the bent limbs, drooping skin, and bulging growths, his expression twisted. "If I touch that thing with you, I’m throwing you away afterwards," he told the blade, the thought alone making goosebumps rise on his arms.

  He closed the distance to just a few meters—then,

  Bang!

  A burst of Qi sent the creature cartwheeling into the mist. "It’s an insult to even consider using a weapon on you, you walking insult to craftsmanship!"

  Momentarily satisfied, he started forward, but the mist began to pull back… slowly… theatrically… like it knew it was about to ruin his day.

  Shapes began to emerge. One, two… ten… fifty… a hundred…

  And then the full sight hit him like a slap— thousands of them. Each one an original masterpiece of ugliness: some with limbs twisted the wrong way, others with skin sagging like melted wax, and more with enough bulges to start a personal plague.

  Jin Yu froze, his eyes wide, lips parting in slow horror.

  "…Are you trying to retch me to death? What in the seven heavens is this?! I’d rather fight a swamp full of demon beasts than—than this parade of filth!"

  For a moment, he actually felt tears prick at his eyes. But then he inhaled sharply, back straightening, young master pride surging back like a war drum.

  "No. Absolutely not. I am destroying every single one of you shites. How dare you dirty these eyes?! These are premium eyes!"

  Without hesitation, he conjured hundreds of sword Qi in the air, each one glowing with violence.

  WHISSSSSSSSS!

  The swords made a whizzing sound as they flew through the air, some diverted upwards and went towards the ones at the back.

  Bang! Boom! Bang! Bam! Bang!

  The scene was pure chaos as they collided heavily with the beigns square in the chest, splitting them apart and sending them crashing into each other.

  Jin Yu didn't give them a breathing space, he instantly created another, then another, and another.

  Limbs torn, heads rolled, black intestines like stone fell like rain.

  The number diminished, but he soon noticed something devastating.

  The ones he thought he had killed were far from death. Far.

  Slowly, almost mockingly, they rose to their feet, each perfectly standing with missing limbs and vitals.

  Even the ones without head stood up.

  All facing him.

  The grey mist parted even more, revealing them standing up one after the other.

  Whole Torsos, half bodies, legs, hands, heads. They all turned to face him and went still, as if telling him to do his worst.

  Jin Yu's eyes widened.

  Fuckin Zombies!

  Is this some horror convention or what?!