Chapter 179: Chapter 68: Rounding Up, I’m 2 Meters Tall

The main house of the Tang Clan estate was forty meters from the front gate. Between them lay a small, southern-style garden, brimming with classical charm. It featured rockeries, willows, and a pond with flowing water. All the paths were paved with bluestone slabs, on which ancient sculptures and Talismans had been meticulously carved. It was a fusion of beauty and art, a natural display of the Tang Family’s thousand-year heritage.

At the same time, this seemingly serene and beautiful garden was also where the Tang Family’s impenetrable Array was located. Every inch of seemingly harmless ground actually concealed a deadly threat!

However, no matter how impenetrable an Array was, it would have a hard time reacting to something completely absurd—for example, a stone lion that carved an arc through the air, crossed a distance of over forty meters, and fell from the sky, smashing a good portion of the main house to smithereens.

After the thunderous crash, a Spirit Sound signaling an enemy attack rang out!

As the stone lion crashed down and the warning sounded, the garden, which had been dim and dreary in the heavy snow, automatically activated in response to the invading Cultivator. Layers of blue phosphorescent light abruptly appeared!

As the ghastly light flickered, faces emerged on the bluestone slabs, the half-frozen pond churned into a vortex, and the willow branches began to curl against the wind. Faint, spell-like sounds echoed from all directions!

BZZZ! In an instant, layers upon layers of Spirit Bodies emerged from all corners of the garden. At least fifty translucent phantoms, their entire forms shimmering with Spiritual Light, appeared in the mortal world, empowered by the phosphorescent flames.

Among them were even eleven figures wreathed in gray-black Spiritual Light—they were actually Awakened Level Evil Spirits!

The true strength of a Ghost-controlling Family never lay with its living members. As long as each generation had an Awakened Level Witch Sacrificial Lord, they could command Evil Spirits, maintain their heritage, and ensure the family’s continuation!

The Evil Spirits opened their hate-filled eyes and looked toward the front gate—but this time, they didn’t ferociously swarm the intruder as their instincts and the Array’s activation would dictate. Instead... they followed a deeper, instinctual urge and fled in disarray!

CRACK! With a sound like a steel wheel grinding against flint, like the flick of a lighter, a dazzling Spiritual Light flared up at the front of the estate. Countless Soul Spirits dwelling there sensed the terrifying, murderous intent coming from the front and began to flee madly in all directions. A tall, burly giant, who looked to be nearly two meters tall, was hoisting a stone lion weighing at least three tons. He had smashed through the courtyard wall and was striding forward!

He hadn’t even used the gate!

At this moment, the fully-armed Giant, Su Zhou, had arrived uninvited!

’I grew two centimeters recently, so my real height is 178. My platform shoes make it 181, the insoles 183, and two pairs of socks bring it to 184. Big shoes make you look taller, so that’s 186. The thick hood makes me look 189. The shoulder pads make me look stout, and with Yara coiled up in my hair, I’m 193. Exaggerate by five centimeters and that’s 198. Round it up and I’m two meters tall.’

’On top of that, I weigh about 130 kilograms, and over 200 with my weapon. I walk with the force and presence of a tiger. Anyone who sees me would never guess that behind this disguise is a handsome, elegant young man!’

BOOM! His violent Spiritual Power tore through the Array’s restraints with brute force, driving away the surrounding Spirit Bodies. Facing the three Tang Family Cultivators who had rushed out of the main house with grim, sullen expressions, Su Zhou couldn’t be bothered to say a word. He just grinned, raised the stone lion with the Qi Condensation and Object Manipulation Technique, and hurled it with a sound that ripped through the air!

’Explain? Communicate? The whole place is swarming with Resentful Souls. What the hell is there to explain?! Are they going to claim these Resentful Souls were grateful for the Tang Family’s help and willingly allowed themselves to be bound by the Array? If that’s the case, what’s with the black, resentful aura clinging to these three?’

’Even ordinary Demon Soldiers probably don’t have this much resentment clinging to them! These guys have either killed a lot of people or tortured a lot of people!’

’In short, they must die!’

With a whistling gale, the stone statue hurtled toward them. No one thought blocking it was a good idea, so the three immediately scattered to evade it. The statue crashed through the main entrance of the mansion with a loud RUMBLE, followed by the tremendous sound of the building collapsing.

No one shouted anything like "It’s all a misunderstanding." An attack on their own doorstep, a misunderstanding? It was obvious this was aimed at their Tang Clan. Without a word, the three, long-practiced in coordinated tactics, launched a counterattack with grim faces.

"TING-A-LING!"

The oldest of the three, a white-haired old man, glared and chanted a spell. He then raised a bronze bell in his hand and shook it forcefully. A Soul-Breaking Sound Wave, a hundred times more piercing than the shriek of an ordinary Resentful Soul and far beyond what even the Spirit Sound of an Awakened Level Evil Spirit could produce, shot straight toward Su Zhou, bringing with it a shockwave of frigid Spiritual Power.

Not only that, but upon hearing the bell, the Evil Ghosts and Resentful Spirits that had been fleeing in all directions turned in unison, their eyes glowing blood-red, and charged at Su Zhou once more!

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man on the left fully channeled his Spiritual Power. His hands, which emitted a bleak gray light, raised a bronze mirror and aimed it at Su Zhou. The moment Su Zhou’s reflection appeared in the mirror, an invisible binding force, accompanied by the sounds of hateful curses, descended upon him. It aimed not only to immobilize him but also to incite the madness in Su Zhou’s heart, rendering him unable to think!

And in the instant Su Zhou was hit by the bell’s chime and the bronze mirror, the middle-aged female Sacrificial Lord in the center unhesitatingly loaded a finger-like bullet into the bone pistol in her hand. This move, the "Soul-Splitting Nail," was an ancestral close-quarters Spiritual Skill. It could break a Horizontal Training Body, shatter a Hundred Forged Essence Soul, and even damage a person’s foundational Spiritual Energy. It originally required a long nail to be used with a Soul-Stabilizing Hammer, demanding not only high Spiritual Power Cultivation but also significant physical prowess.

But with recent technological advancements, driving a nail into a human body wasn’t as difficult as it used to be. A custom-made pistol was enough to solve everything.

BANG! The Bone Bullet shot out. The colorful ribbons wrapped around the pistol fluttered in a nonexistent wind. The power of eight Talismans converged on the single bullet, causing the surrounding snow to tremble and even stirring up a gale with the force of a small cannonball. If this shot hit, ignoring the physical damage, the Curse alone was enough to make one dizzy, suffer from toothaches and stomach acid, lose control of their limbs, and have their blood and qi flow in reverse!

But what they heard was a gruff voice, poorly disguised and laced with disappointment.

"Is that all? Where are your anti-materiel rifles, your Exoskeleton Armor, your landmines?"

"If you don’t have those, at least pull out a few more Spiritual Artifacts."

’If we could get our hands on that stuff, we’d have been one of the top Noble Families in the country a long time ago, okay?!’

Before such thoughts could even form in their minds, Su Zhou took a step forward, shattering the stagnation power that sought to bind him. He activated his Gale Shield, and a wind several times stronger than when he first formed his Gale Seed swept out. This wind, mixed with Spiritual Power, directly shredded the incoming Bone Bullet to dust!

The wail of a Resentful Soul seemed to spill from the shattered Bone Bullet, but Su Zhou had already reached out a hand and caught the fragments of bone dust. He then clenched his left fist, causing his Spiritual Power to form a block around the bone dust. With a jolt of his arm, he hurled this Spiritual Power Block at the chest of the middle-aged man who was desperately trying to immobilize him with the bronze mirror!

"CRACK!"

Su Zhou’s throw was faster and more ferocious than a bullet. The sound of cracking bones was heard as the force of the Spiritual Power gathered in the bone fragments erupted, shattering and piercing the man’s chest. He was sent flying backward and crashed to the ground, unconscious!

Then, facing the horde of Evil Spirits controlled by the bell’s chime and rushing toward him, Su Zhou took a deep breath and let out a furious roar!

"Rest in peace!"

BOOM! A violent wave of Spiritual Power, mixed with a savage, bloodthirsty aura, crashed down like a tsunami. Su Zhou had been no saint in the Divine Wood World. He was the Madman who had charged the Demon Army head-on multiple times, even going against the tide of his own reinforcements to rush up the Divine Tree and slay the Demon Emperor. Using his aura against these Awakened Level Evil Spirits and sub-Awakening Resentful Souls was complete overkill.

Overwhelmed by this aura as if struck by a rude awakening, all the Resentful Souls shrieked and dissipated in an instant, as if they had been exposed to the midday sun. They were merely fragments of human resentment left in the world, without True Spirits. How could they withstand the cleansing torrent of such immense Spiritual Power, surging like a great river?

Even the Evil Spirits trembled, emitting black smoke. The vindictive, hateful looks in their eyes turned blank under the wash of Spiritual Power. It was clear that Su Zhou’s single roar was about to purify them completely! 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The difference in power was decided in a single, brief exchange. Su Zhou didn’t even wait for the white-haired old man to collapse from a heart attack, his eyes bulging from the spiritual backlash of his Resentful Souls being annihilated. He stomped his foot, and the thick bluestone slab shattered into a dozen pieces. Then, Su Zhou kicked out, pulverizing several of the stone fragments. The near-supersonic stone chips shot toward the two remaining Tang Family members with the force of a shotgun blast!

BZZZ! The stone chips were blocked by a Spirit Shield that rapidly materialized from the Sacrificial Lord’s robes. The robe was actually a Spiritual Artifact as well, capable of automatically defending against ranged attacks like bullets and arrows.

Even so, the entire Spiritual Shield rippled violently from the impact, distorting to the point of near collapse.

"What is happening?! Which powerhouse is making a move against our Tang Clan?!"

At this moment, the flustered Tang Family Patriarch still couldn’t figure it out, her face beginning to twist. "We never provoke any Cultivators, nor have we ever directly targeted any public rivals... To outsiders, our Tang Family is supposed to be unconcerned with worldly affairs and kind to others!"

"The Zhengguo Government? No, if they wanted to wipe us out, they’d do it openly and legitimately. Wait, could it be... an enemy of the ’Spirit Summoning Association’..."

But there was no time left for her to think.

Because Su Zhou had already shrunk the ground to an inch, covering forty meters in a single step. His right hand, clenched into an iron hammer, smashed toward her head!

CRACK! The Spirit Shield shattered and the gale dissipated. The Sacrificial Lord’s forehead caved in on the spot as blood splattered through the air. She collapsed with a vacant look in her eyes. Without a shred of pity, Su Zhou stepped forward again and, with another CRACK, finished off the male Awakener next to her.

Next, Su Zhou walked over to the middle-aged man who was scared out of his wits, clutching the wound on his chest and trying to get up to flee. Su Zhou reached out, hoisted him up, and asked in a low voice, "I don’t think I need to ask, but I will anyway—do you people often curse the families of your business competitors, or torture ordinary people to refine Evil Spirits?"

"No, it wasn’t me!" the man shrieked, breaking down completely and flailing his limbs. His Third Uncle and Big Sister being killed in an instant had scared him so much he was crying and sniveling. The person before him was clearly half a step from the Extraordinary Tier, far beyond his ability to resist. "Most of the Evil Spirits were passed down from our ancestors! We’ve used curses to vent our anger, sure, but we’ve never used them on a Cultivator like you, sir! Only on some mortals who offended us... As for refining Evil Spirits, in the last hundred years or so, at most we’ve just... abducted a few people from beggar’s dens and homeless encampments in other cities and villages. D-does that count?!"

"Bullshit. Of course it counts." Confirmation complete. Su Zhou shook his head in disgust and, with a CRACK, crushed the man’s neck. "Mortals? You really think you’re a cut above? You can start talking like that when you’ve cultivated into an Immortal Spirit."

At this point, all three of the Tang Family’s Awakeneds were dead. Most of the eleven Awakened Level Evil Spirits had been purified by his single roar.

Su Zhou then finished off the remaining, trembling ones one by one. "Let your lingering resentment return to the heavens and the earth. Sigh... perhaps you were all pitiful people in life. May your True Spirits find Reincarnation and live a happy life."

From the start of the assault to the end. Total time: two minutes.

The Tang Family’s upper echelon was annihilated.