After purifying the departed souls, Su Zhou frowned again and turned to look at the three corpses. ’Their values are so twisted. These old-school cultivators truly don’t see ordinary people as human... I finally understand why Zhengguo, and the entire world for that matter, is so insistent on making cultivation methods available to all.’

Before the Spiritual Energy Revival, cultivators were at the Awakened Level at most. Compared to mortals armed with weapons, they didn’t have an overwhelming advantage, so a certain level of equality could be maintained. But even then, there were those like the Tang Family, who caused trouble from the shadows and showed a complete disregard for the lives of ordinary people.

After the Spiritual Energy Revival, the potential of cultivators increased dramatically, but weapon technology couldn’t keep pace. The gap between cultivators and ordinary people widened even further... Besides, cultivators could improve just as ordinary people did. They could also use modern weapons to enhance their own power.

There was no rule that said Daoist Techniques had to be rigid and couldn’t be improved. Take the pistol version of the Eight-Curse Soul-Splitting Nail wielded by that Sacrificial Lord. Compared to the original version, which required a massive sledgehammer, it was an incredible advancement. If it were fired as a sneak attack from a custom anti-materiel sniper rifle, even Su Zhou, or someone at the Extraordinary Tier, would be in trouble.

Extraordinary power is a component of the means of production. Rather than hiding it, allowing society to naturally stratify into classes and creating oppression and conflict, it was better to make it available to all and raise society’s overall productivity. That way, at least on the surface, everyone would have a bright future and belong to the same "spiritual power class."

’We’re all at the Awakened Level, but the old leader of the Holy Snake Spirit Prayer Association had a Spiritual Shield that could block an RPG blast. This guy from the Tang Family’s shield couldn’t even take a single punch from me, and the shrapnel from the rocks nearly broke it. The difference is just too vast.’

Su Zhou didn’t dwell on it. He stepped forward, kicked aside the rubble of the half-collapsed Tang Family main house, and entered.

Immediately, he spotted numerous coffins in the main hall—fifteen in total.

"This... these coffins are all full of corpses!"

Though it seemed he had just stated the obvious—of course coffins contained corpses. Vampires were corpses, too. Still, Su Zhou couldn’t help but frown before letting out a soft sigh. ’Looks like most of them starved to death... some were even starved deliberately? The Tang Family’s higher-ups gathered here just for this? To create Hungry Ghosts?’

According to the Tang Family cultivators, they would go to other cities—to places where beggars and the homeless congregated—to find people to turn into Evil Spirits. A classic case of "a rabbit doesn’t foul its own nest." But Su Zhou never expected them to try and create more than a dozen at once. ’Who controls Evil Spirits like this? An Awakening Tier cultivator who can control more than five Spirits of the same tier would be considered talented. Those eleven from before required the help of an Array and a Spiritual Artifact.’

’Now, fifteen Hungry Ghosts at once? They would have likely suffered an immediate backlash and had the entire Tang Family devoured... And where did they get so many materials and so much money?’

Wild Evil Spirits and Resentful Spirits don’t just obey commands. They must be refined using Spiritual Power and Spiritual Materials to make these masses of resentment follow orders. The Tang Family could never have afforded the materials required to create fifteen Hungry Ghosts. If they could, the number of Evil Spirits and Transcendents Su Zhou faced on this trip would have surely been twice as high.

Unless... these Hungry Ghosts weren’t for their own use, but were being created on someone else’s commission.

"In any case, rest in peace." Though his mind was full of questions, Su Zhou didn’t dwell on them. He splayed his hand, placing it on the Blade of Annihilation at his waist and unleashing a burst of power borrowed from its Yang Flame. A torrent of Spiritual Power, as vast and scorching as a blazing inferno, began to forcibly purify all the surrounding Evil Ghosts.

For a moment, all fifteen coffins rattled in unison, as if the corpses within were struggling. But a few seconds later, heralded by wisps of black smoke, all the potential Evil Spirits twisted, melted, and vanished into thin air under a sliver of power from Su Zhou and the Blade of Annihilation.

—Both the Thunder Technique and Yang Flame were effective against Resentful Spirits. Since Su Zhou had already chosen to use Yang Flame, he wasn’t about to expose his Thunder Technique here as well.

Once the Evil Spirits were purified, Su Zhou turned to leave. He had killed a man in ten steps; his revenge was complete. The natural next step was to travel a thousand miles without leaving a trace.

As for the other five Awakened Beginner cultivators of the Tang Family, who were trembling in a corner of the main house like ostriches with their heads in the sand... they weren’t yet shrouded in resentment, which likely meant they hadn’t killed anyone.

Su Zhou couldn’t be bothered to act against these accomplices, who had committed no great evil. The Zhengguo Government would eventually sense the Spiritual Qi fluctuations and investigate the Tang Family anyway. These cultivators would naturally meet their end then. ’Best to leave the troublesome stuff to the officials,’ he thought.

"Sigh, these Tang Family cultivators don’t even have Evil Souls," he muttered. "They’re clearly at the High-level Awakening tier, yet they’re not even a match for a Demon General... They’re not completely evil, nor are they particularly strong. Half-assed in every way."

After a few more grumbles, Su Zhou walked out of the courtyard gate. He felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him, so much so that he couldn’t help but hum a little tune. Getting revenge for a friend felt absolutely fantastic!

He’d heard some people pretentiously claim there was no satisfaction in getting revenge on weaklings. That was complete nonsense! Stomping noobs was the most fun you could have, alright? When he, Su Zhou, played games—especially ones like *Relic Guardian*, *Heroic Federation*, or *King’s Glory*—his greatest hope was for the other team to be full of scrubs. There was nothing more satisfying than a match like that!

’When I get back, I’m going to make Qiming treat me to a five-star dinner. I’m definitely going to sponge a good meal off him! Hmm, but then again, don’t I kind of sponge off him all the time?’

But just as Su Zhou was about to leave Tang Family Village, Yara’s ethereal voice echoed from his hood. "Are you really not going to silence those five people? They might tell the authorities about you, you know."