Wen Wen gently caressed the bone staff. To avoid being discovered by the Ripper, he would try his best not to use swordsmanship, so the Mad Howl Staff, which rarely appeared, became his ideal weapon.
The leg bone of the unknown creature that fashioned the Mad Howl Staff was extremely hard, so there was no need to worry about it being damaged during combat. Furthermore, its residual madness grew alongside Wen Wen's strength.
During combat, even without intentional activation, the Mad Howl Staff would naturally emit a mad aura. The longer the battle, the more susceptible Wen Wen's opponents would become to its influence.
After being struck by Wen Wen, the Ripper's ugly features contorted, and foul-smelling blood flowed from his wounds, making him look terrifying to the extreme.
The Ripper now understood that there was no way to reason with Wen Wen; force was the best solution.
However, the Ripper never imagined he could lose to Wen Wen because the Dim Domain was his home turf. He could exchange injuries with Wen Wen and still achieve victory, something Wen Wen couldn't do.
The only reason he had tried to persuade Wen Wen earlier was because he enjoyed playing games like this.
Watching others twist in difficult predicaments and ultimately make the wrong decisions was a great source of amusement for him.
He simply hadn't anticipated that Wen Wen would choose to fight him without any hesitation.
The Ripper suddenly shifted his body sideways, lunging towards Wen Wen like a puppet on a string. The purple scalpel in his right hand slashed rapidly towards Wen Wen's throat.
Wen Wen held the Mad Howl Staff upright in front of him, blocking the blade. But then, the Ripper's wrist snapped, and the hand holding the scalpel swung past the Mad Howl Staff, aiming for Wen Wen's neck.
This move genuinely startled Wen Wen, but he reacted in time. A blue light flashed around him, and he appeared in another corner of the room.
That scalpel looked poisonous. Wen Wen certainly didn't want to risk being cut by it.
Wen Wen gazed at the Ripper's wrist and nodded, understanding dawning on him.
Beneath the Ripper's robe, his entire body should have been fractured, connected by black threads in the middle to ensure he could control his movements freely.
Therefore, when fighting the Ripper, one had to pay attention to every limb, as these limbs could detach from the body at any moment and attack independently.
Without giving Wen Wen much time to ponder, the Ripper swiftly charged towards him, the scalpel following like a shadow, its strikes always aimed at Wen Wen's vital points.
In addition to his body's segmentation, the Ripper's swordsmanship and footwork were also incredibly peculiar. His arm movements were rapid, and he could perform attacks with dislocated joints at any time, making his attack trajectories unpredictable.
His right leg possessed immense power, providing him with strong bursts of speed. His left leg, on the other hand, was more flexible than a normal person's arm, allowing the Ripper to pivot with agility.
If this were before his battle with Cicada Ancestor, the Ripper would undoubtedly have been a formidable opponent for Wen Wen. But now...
As long as Wen Wen wished, he could quickly defeat him!
Suddenly, Wen Wen's pupils contracted. He noticed that the Ripper had only been using his right hand with the scalpel for attacks. Where was the surgical needle with the black thread on his left hand?
That needle should have occupied a significant position within his ability system, yet it had vanished without a trace.
The Ripper was definitely using that needle for something!
Wen Wen split his attention, quickly scanning his surroundings, and soon discovered the needle's presence.
The needle was currently on the first floor of Gan Zhe Temple, moving stealthily and rapidly. It left behind black threads as it traversed, transforming the area into a vast black net.
If Wen Wen had discovered it even a moment later, this place would have become the Ripper's domain.
Fortunately, when Wen Wen used the Faceless Demon physique, his favorite tactic was to use black hair to create similar arrangements, so he naturally knew how to dismantle them.
The more he fought, the more triumphant the Ripper felt. He probably believed his opponent was still gloating about evading his attacks.
However, he had no idea that he was laying a trap here. Once the arrangement was complete, this place would become his domain, rendering even spatial teleportation impossible.
At that point, no matter what trump cards he had left, escaping his grasp would be impossible!
But as the fight progressed, the Ripper's expression changed, because Wen Wen suddenly stopped and unleashed several black energy projectiles.
The locations struck by these projectiles were all crucial nodes where the Ripper had deployed his threads. After the black energy projectiles destroyed those nodes, the power of his arranged threads was reduced by at least fifty percent!
However, this was not the end. Wen Wen's figure suddenly vanished and reappeared before the rapidly moving needle, striking it with his staff and sending it clattering to the ground.
Then, the tip of the Mad Howl Staff pressed against the needle. Scarlet madness infiltrated the needle, and then this madness spread along the threads, rapidly surging towards the Ripper's hand!
The Ripper's already distorted and grotesque face became even more so.
But the Ripper, being an undead being of the Upper Order, sensed the anomaly and immediately severed his connection to the needle, cutting off the link of madness. Only then did he barely recover.
However, after severing the connection, he saw the needle being grasped in Wen Wen's palm, and then a sound like metal clashing against metal echoed.
When Wen Wen opened his hand again, the needle had vanished, and his connection to it was completely severed!
Wen Wen smiled and said, "You're a grown man; you can't always be playing with needles and thread. So, I've confiscated them for you."
The Ripper stumbled back several steps, his face a mask of horror.
His black threads were already incredibly durable, and the nodes were like impregnable fortresses. While Upper Order strength could indeed break them, it certainly couldn't do so with the ease and grace Wen Wen displayed. Not to mention that after destroying the nodes, Wen Wen immediately captured his needle!
Therefore, this man wearing a bizarre mask was definitely more than just an Upper Order esper!
Even worse, the Ripper had originally had another arrangement he could have deployed. Regardless of whether he could defeat Wen Wen, he could at least have held him off. But now, without that needle, he couldn't control those things at all!
In other words, he couldn't even escape from Wen Wen now!
With the needle secured, Wen Wen lost interest in further probing the Ripper. His priority was to capture him quickly for interrogation. Thus, Wen Wen threw out the purple alms bowl from Wu Liu Gen.
The golden light emitted by this alms bowl would weaken the Ripper, helping Wen Wen capture him more effectively.
But the moment the alms bowl lit up, Wen Wen's eyes also brightened.
He realized he might have underestimated this item.