When the sand was flying all over the sky, Chen Xu finally realized that the gap between him and Imhotep was not only in terms of strength but also in the way they released magic.

Imhotep could cast spells instantly, while he couldn't. Although the spell consisted of only a few syllables, it still required time.

When he was halfway through his incantation, sand had already reached him.

On Imhotep's face with bulging sand particles, there was nothing but ferocity.

"It's too late."

Chen Xu looked up at the sea of sand and then got swallowed by it.

"Evelyn!"

A scream came from afar. O'Connor looked at Evelyn being engulfed by sand with grief and anger on his face. "Damn you, Imhotep! Go to hell!"

He and two people beside him were filled with sorrow and indignation. Although he had known Evelyn for less than a few days, he had fallen in love with this girl who had dreams. Now seeing her being swallowed by desert sands and dying soon after made his hatred burst out like flames.

O'Connor took out his gun and fired repeatedly at Imhotep.

The sound of gunfire echoed as bullets hit Imhotep several times without effecting any damage on him whatsoever.

"After burying them, it's your turn next." Imhotep raised his head fiercely looking at O'Connor, Mustafa Bayoumi Hassan al-Khatib (the bearded man), Jonathan Carnahan running towards them quickly from afar.

"Hey High Priest," Chen Xu's voice suddenly sounded from beside which immediately caught Imhotep’s attention.

Chen Xu jumped out of the sand making faces at Imhotep saying: "You're no good."

"You actually survived? How did you escape from a dust storm?" exclaimed an amazed-looking Imhoptept.

"I'm not the only one who can control sand, Imhotep." Chen Xu laughed coldly. "The moment the sandstorm hit me, I controlled the sand that touched my body and turned it into a protective shield to block off the sandstorm."

"Although I'm not as powerful as you are, our essence is the same."

"Imhotep, you can't do anything to me."

Chen Xu held two books in his hands: The Book of Dead and The Book of Amun-Ra. He quickly read a few words from them and summoned sand to wrap around Imhotep restricting his movements.

"O'Connor, destroy Nefertiti's statue."

He had just tested it out; any spell that attempted to harm Nefertiti's statue would fail in front of it. In other words, he could not break Nefertiti's statue with magic alone.

Fortunately, there are more ways to attack in this world than just magic. Both his hands and firearms can break the statue made of white bones.

"Trying to break the statue? You're dreaming," Imoton became anxious and spat out locusts towards O'Connor.

Chen Xu saw this and began reciting spells with a sneer, "Your opponent is me."

The locusts that were flying towards O'Connor suddenly flew around like headless flies in the air.

"You dare to be my enemy, little priest. Your soul will definitely be sent to hell by me and endure eternal anger from flames and coldness," Imoton said.

"You have to send me to hell first. But according to the current situation, you may go there before I do," Chen Xu retorted coldly.

O'Connor on the other side saw that Chen Xu was holding back Imoton, so he put down his fear and ran towards Nephthys' statue.

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He was too far away from Nephthys' statue; he couldn't hit it at all.

"Foolish." Imoton opened his mouth again and sprayed out a large number of sacred beetles.

These sacred beetles rushed towards O'Connor like a wave crazily surging forward.

"The foolish one is you." Chen Xu started reciting spells as well.

"It's you who's right." A glimmer appeared in Imoton's eyes as they shone on the sand. The sand surrounding him retreated one after another.

Chen Xu was shocked when he saw this; his heart pounded heavily - it was an alert signal from within himself!

He kept backing away while pillars of sand spurted up where he had just been standing moments ago!

"Darn instant magic!" Chen Xu gritted his teeth in frustration.

Instant magic not only gave an advantage but also prevented others from knowing what kind of spell they were using. True masters could predict the effects of their opponents' spells based on incantations, but they couldn't do so with instant magic.

Imoton looked at Chen Xu and a sneer appeared on his face. "Not bad, but you think that's enough?"

Imoton opened his mouth again and spat out sand particles which gathered in the air to form a small sandstorm.

"Help me!" O'Connor's voice came from over there just in time.

"What happened?" Chen Xu turned around only to see O'Connor being chased by sacred beetles everywhere; the surging army was enough to engulf anyone!

Imoton looked at Chen Xu with a hint of mockery on his face. "Little priest, let me teach you not to be distracted during battle."

Imoton raised his hand and the tornado mixed with thin yellow sand rolled up Chen Xu inside it.

The sand particles were small and few, but under the push of the tornado, they rotated rapidly producing considerable damage. The sand flew around him forming one scar after another on his body.

"Bury yourself!"

"If you want to bury me, bury yourself first." A gunshot sounded as Nephthys' statue fell down.

"How is this possible?" Imoton stopped moving his hands; he stared blankly at Nephthys' fallen statue which had an eye-catching bullet hole in it.

"Why did this happen? How could this happen?"

"Focusing solely on fighting isn't good - especially when your own life is not entirely within your control - my predecessor," said Chen Xu coldly.

Just now, while Imotun was completely focused on Chen Xu and O'Connor, the bearded man quietly sneaked up to the statue of Nephthys and shot her.

"Now, let me send you to hell, my predecessor Imotun," recited Chen Xu with the spell of Sun Gold Sutra.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May your soul return to the great god of death Anubis."

A gust of wind blew in as an illusory knight drove a chariot from afar through Imotun's airspace and took his soul away.

"No, my soul!" Imotun chased after him and shouted at the Hell Knight in an attempt to retrieve his own soul.

Watching Imotun's anxiety, Chen Xu couldn't help but sigh. To be honest, he still admired Imotun for his love and loyalty towards it. Even though later on his lover Ansu Na was defeated by death and betrayed him.

But there was no other way. He appreciated Imhotep, but he still had to take action against him because he knew that Imhotep would not let him go with the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra. This was a battle between life and death, whoever sympathized first would lose. Perhaps in the future when he could defeat Imhotep without relying on the Book of the Dead, he would release him.

Imhotep clenched his fists and walked towards Chen Xu angrily. "I want you dead."

"Farewell."

"Barbatos, Barbatos, Barbatos..."

Chen Xu's hand emitted a green light which gradually condensed into a green arrow.

"Corrosive Green Arrow!"

Chen Xu threw out the arrow which hit Imhotep's chest and pierced through it instantly. The corrosive liquid slowly flowed out from his body corroding it until half of his body disappeared leaving him lying on the ground.

"Is he dead?" O'Connell ran over panting.

"He is already dead." The bearded man walked over happily saying: "Chen Xu used the Book of Amun-Ra to take away his power then killed him with magic; he can never come back again."

"Not necessarily," Chen Xu thought to himself.

In "The Mummy Returns", the descendants of those who believed in High Priest Imhotep dug him up and successfully resurrected him, so what the bearded man said is incorrect.

However, he wouldn't remind the big beard because there was something he needed in The Mummy Returns. He couldn't modify the plot and had to try his best to let it run as planned, at least until he could fully grasp the situation.

"What a pity." O'Connell looked at the yellow sand all over the ground with a somewhat disappointed expression. "I shouldn't have brought her here. It's my fault."

"If you have a chance, you won't go on an adventure again, will you?" Chen Xu looked at O'Connell with great interest.

In The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, O'Connell clearly developed some resistance towards adventures, although it wasn't too strong.

This poor man never had a chance to turn this resistance into reality because fate always liked to play tricks on those who thought they could keep their promises - she destroyed other people's promises in various ways throughout the story.

"Yes," O'Connor's expression gradually became cold. "If God gave me a chance to start over, I would decide not to let her continue taking risks. Unfortunately, there is no such opportunity."

"What about the future?"

"Here they come." A surprised voice came from the side.

Jonassen was pulling Evelyn out of the sand sea, with Suleiman's little hand still below.

"Evelyn?" O'Connor looked at Evelyn incredulously.

"O'Connor, you bastard and scoundrel! Why didn't you come help me? What were you doing just standing there?" Evelyn cursed at O'Connor, but her heart was warmed by his obviously caring words earlier.

"This bastard and scoundrel actually cares about me in his heart. Damn it, he likes pretending that he doesn't care."

"Good." O'Connor ran eagerly to dig up Evelyn.