Taran, who was discussing affairs with Lin Qiu in the office, was initially perplexed by the anxious shouting of the clerical assistant. This assistant was usually very composed. But after hearing what was said, both Taran and Lin Qiu stood up from their chairs, their faces full of shock.

"What did you say?"

"What did you say?"

"The customer service department is overwhelmed; countless calls are coming in, saying that their relatives and friends have suddenly forgotten everything about Mr. Chu Feng and our firm."

Looking at the assistant's anxious expression, Lin Qiu and Taran exchanged glances, instantly remembering the forgotten James.

Lin Qiu exclaimed anxiously, "What on earth is Chu Feng up to?" She immediately took out her phone, wanting to ask Chu Feng about the situation. But staring at the empty call log, a jolt shot through her mind.

"Quick, activate the firm's protective Array!"

At Lin Qiu's sharp command, Taran suddenly understood and immediately headed out of the office. However, the assistant, who should have moved with them, suddenly froze on the spot. Two seconds later, a terrified voice escaped the assistant's lips.

"Who... who are you? How did I get here?"

"Xie Te!" Taran cursed, standing in the doorway and watching her assistant suddenly turn into a stranger. She then rushed out of the office, running towards the core of the firm's Array.

「...」

"Impossible... impossible..."

The ethereal figure was hunched over the broken stone slabs, constantly muttering to itself. Streams of dark light continuously shot from its body towards the sky, taking away the little Strength it had left.

"Forgotten... why haven't you forgotten..."

Seeing its own lower body suddenly shatter, the black-robed Bizarre let out a cry filled with resentment.

PFFT!

A wisp of tattered, misty energy was spat out from beneath its cowl. To avoid the backlash from the Rules, the black-robed Bizarre could only watch helplessly as the wisps of Strength it had painstakingly obtained slowly dissipated into the air.

ROAR!

With its roar, all the Strength that had left its body seemed to be summoned, continuously returning. The majestic Temple instantly reverted to its original dilapidated state. In the distance, streams of dark light were also rapidly returning. Carrying the Strength of the black-robed Bizarre, they fused back into its ethereal body like swallows returning to their nest.

With the return of the dark light, the black-robed Bizarre's ethereal body slowly solidified, no longer looking as if a gentle breeze could scatter it.

"My Strength~"

Its roar was filled with profound resentment towards a certain person. This time, the black-robed Bizarre had indeed lost more than it had attempted to gain. Not only did it receive no reward from the Rules, but only most of the Strength it had already consumed returned with the dark light. As for the remaining small portion, what was gone was gone. The Rules wouldn't haggle with it! This time, its efforts yielded no reward, which could only be blamed on its bad luck!

The black-robed Bizarre, having barely regained its corporeal form, had just stood up when a rumbling noise suddenly came from the dilapidated Temple behind it.

RUMBLE RUMBLE~

Amidst the violent shaking of the ground, the Temple, already mostly collapsed, finally gave way completely. With its shattered stone walls, collapsed pillars, and billowing dust, the Temple, once a symbol of majesty and mystery, was now unrecognizable.

Amidst the swirling dust, three vague figures gradually appeared. Two adults and one child, with the occasional soft cough of a girl.

RUSTLE RUSTLE. The footsteps approached slowly. The black-robed Bizarre, still absorbing the dark light, cautiously retreated. It paid no mind to two of the figures, whose auras were as insignificant as ants. But the third figure, somewhat familiar, set alarm bells ringing in its mind.

"Impossible... How did you find the exit of the Forgotten Land?"

The black-robed Bizarre, stumbling backward, was filled with disbelief. It even began to wonder if some bored Hell Demon God was toying with it.

Chu Feng, emerging from the dust, nodded to the side. James, given the signal, stared with hateful eyes at the distant, diminutive black-robed Bizarre. The feeling of his spirit being gnawed away by powerlessness, born from his weakness, almost made him retch. But the sound of the girl coughing beside him restored his composure. His fists, veins bulging, finally relaxed. He silently picked up his daughter and moved aside.

The black-robed Bizarre watched helplessly as the young man threw something that enshrouded the father and daughter, daring not to make any rash move. The dark light was still streaming back from the horizon, but it needed a little more time to recover its peak Strength. This man is being a bit too cautious... Is he afraid I'll take hostages?

"Sir, wait~ please wait a moment!" The black-robed Bizarre retreated slowly, a hint of regret in its heart, but its voice was earnest. "Don't you want to know how to use the Rules?"

Seeing the man halt abruptly, the black-robed Bizarre's unseen eyes lit up. "I knew it!" it exclaimed. "Above the Evil Spirit is the Demon... of course, you must already know this! The Rules, let's talk about the Rules..."

Seeing the young man's pace suddenly quicken and his eyes turn ice-cold, the black-robed Bizarre panicked and hastily changed its tune with an embarrassed laugh. "When we Evil Spirits reach Completion, we can vaguely sense the existence of the world's Rules. And upon ascending to Demons, we can truly feel the Rules aligned with us and use our own Strength to influence them."

Hearing this, Chu Feng scoffed. "With that paltry Strength of yours, you think you can influence the Rules?"

The blatant mockery ignited a spark of rage in the black-robed Bizarre's heart. However, sensing the Strength slowly recovering within its body, it chose to suppress its anger for the moment. "Of course... certainly! With my trivial Strength, I naturally cannot affect the world's Rules!" The black-robed Bizarre glanced at the father and daughter in the distance and gave a sycophantic chuckle. "However, merely affecting the Rules within a few individual entities is quite easy!"

The black Bizarre extended a finger, making a "classic" gesture. "We just need to pay a tiny price, and the world's Rules will naturally reward us generously!"

"You? Pay a price?" A sneer escaped Chu Feng's lips. "It's the sacrifices of those unfortunate ones, isn't it?"

Recalling what he saw and heard in the Mist Space, he suddenly clenched his fists tightly.

The next second, with a sonic BOOM, Chu Feng's figure instantly appeared beside the black-robed Bizarre. The Palm Imprint, filled with furious energy, directly struck the Bizarre's chest.

With a deafening BOOM, the ground around them abruptly sank by half an inch. And the black-robed Bizarre's form dissolved into a streak of black light, shooting into a distant pile of rubble.

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