"I said I wouldn’t kill them, and I won’t. I’ll bear any consequences myself."

Su Zhou chuckled, raising a hand and wagging his finger. "Besides, why do you think I went to the trouble of wearing a full set of height-enhancing gear and bringing two weapons? It was so they would report this exact misleading information!"

"My word is my bond. My actions are decisive. I said I’d only punish the ringleaders. Of course, that only applies to people who aren’t *that* bad in my eyes. If I had run into any truly heinous cultivators in the Tang Family, I would have gone back on my word and struck them down immediately, even if they had nothing to do with Qiming and Aunt Wen’s curse."

"After all, I am the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord, who judges as I see fit! Hahaha!"

His mind at ease, Su Zhou let out a hearty laugh. With a single leap, he crossed several hundred meters and strode for home. Yara couldn’t help but chuckle. "The way you talk, you really do sound like a Demon."

"Look who’s talking. I’m the Contractor of a ’Great Demon’ like you. How could I not be a Demon myself?"

Su Zhou’s voice dissipated into the icy, snowy wind.

A short while later, sirens wailed within Hengcheng City.

But just before the Hengcheng City Patrol and official Cultivators could reach Tang Family Village, the snowflakes in the air began to flow and gather unnaturally.

Beneath the shade of a tree, a humanoid figure of intertwined ice crystals and shadows silently coalesced, gazing upon the ravaged courtyard.

’This is truly unexpected... The Tang Clan was actually wiped out. Tsk, I told them long ago, the shadier your business, the more careful you have to be. Did the government discover them?’

After observing for a moment, the snowy shadow’s tone carried a trace of irrepressible surprise, even shock. ’Wait, it wasn’t the Zhengguo Government. Right, they’d at least wait until this wave of celestial Spiritual Power fluctuations is over before making a move... A personal vendetta? But where did they manage to provoke a Cultivator nearing the Extraordinary Level? How is it that I don’t recognize them?!’

In this day and age, a Cultivator nearing the Extraordinary Level was as rare as a phoenix feather, and the shadow was very familiar with the auras of such individuals.

Sniffing the air, the shadow calmed itself and nodded slightly. ’Pure physical explosiveness? This level of power is at least over twenty tons. The nature of their Spiritual Power is well hidden, but I can still smell a trace of Extreme Yang Power, skewed toward the Gold Element... A Spiritual Martial Arts Ascetic practicing the Child’s Skill? Judging by the traces, this person must have at least thirty to forty years of profound Cultivation. It’s impossible to have this kind of physical strength without spending that long tempering the body.’

’To reach this level through pure Spiritual Martial Arts Cultivation... is this a legacy from the Celestial Capital’s Only Martial Liu Clan? Or is it the Vajra Unbreakable or Dragon Elephant Wisdom from the Buddhist School?’

Many theories ran through its mind, but it couldn’t find a match. The shadow shook its head. ’Whatever. It has little to do with us, it’s just a bit of a hassle.’

’Without the Xiang State’s Tang Family, it’ll be hard to find another Spiritual Master this good at refining Hungry Ghosts on short notice. The "Celestial God Factor" experiment at headquarters is going to be delayed again.’

’Interesting... very interesting. I don’t know who they are, but this person who’s suddenly appeared is certainly worth keeping an eye on... Still, curiosity killed the cat. It’s best not to provoke such a formidable character who’s come out of the woodwork before our plan is complete.’

The last few words were nearly inaudible. The ice-crystal shadow let out a laugh, then instantly dissipated, leaving behind only a few snowflakes scattering in the wind.

A short while later, screaming police cars arrived, carrying the well-prepared local Hengcheng City Patrol and official Cultivators.

"Traces of a high-intensity cultivator battle have been found! Three High-level Awakening cultivators are dead! Notify our superiors! A civilian cultivator nearing the Extraordinary Level has appeared in Xiangdong!"

The lead official Cultivator was a middle-aged soldier who was decisive in both speech and action. His jet-black hair stood on end like a porcupine’s quills.

The soldier had a stern face and a burly build, carrying the unique aura of the military. After getting out of the car, he immediately strode into the Tang Clan residence. A team of fully armed Patrol officers, carrying guns and shields, followed behind him on alert, seemingly ready to fire at any moment.

"The Spirit Witch Tang Family... This is their Spirit Nurturing Ancestral Land. It was directly shattered by Slaughter Qi. Eleven Awakened Level Spirit Bodies have all been turned to ash, and the Spirit Awakening Body was purified outright."

Seeing the wreckage and the half-collapsed mansion crushed by two stone lions, the soldier’s pupils contracted slightly. ’Such immense power? Could it be a pure Spiritual Martial Cultivator? But most of the Spiritual Martial Cultivators in the south have already been recruited by the military. Only the northwest and the area around the Capital have any civilian Spiritual Martial Arts legacies... and even they shouldn’t be able to produce a cultivator this powerful.’

’Hmm... Gold Element Extreme Yang Spiritual Power. Is it the Vajra Body or the Pure Yang Skill? Or could it be the White Tiger Martial Arts from the northwest?’

Moving closer to investigate, he sensed a trace of the Blade of Annihilation’s aura and quickly came to the same conclusion as the ice-crystal shadow. The middle-aged soldier strode forward, examining the bodies of the three Tang Family Awakeners. He then looked up at the numerous coffins inside the mansion, his face flushing with anger. "I can’t believe it! The Tang Family seemed so law-abiding on the surface, but they were actually harming people for Soul Refining?! Fifteen Evil Ghost Corpses! When did they kill this many people and accumulate so many Spiritual Materials—what were they planning? A rebellion?!"

Leaving aside the obvious capital crime of murder, with fifteen Evil Ghost Corpses, plus the Tang Family’s original eleven Awakened Level Evil Spirits and their own eight Awakeners, the Tang Clan could muster thirty-four Awakened Level combatants, including three at High-level Awakening. This already surpassed the strength of the official Cultivators stationed in Hengcheng City. If they had decided to cause trouble, it would have required dispatching additional armed Patrols or reinforcements from the relevant departments!

’A major, vicious crime committed by a cultivator. No traces left behind. The abnormal celestial phenomenon is part of the reason, but there must have been a Secret Technique involved to mask their aura... To be honest, though, this was clearly for revenge. Did the Tang Family provoke one of the suspect’s friends?’

After classifying the incident, he frowned and picked up his phone, stepping back to contact his superiors and report the intelligence. He also had the relevant forensic investigators move forward to search for other clues.

At this point in time, the appearance of a cultivator nearing the Extraordinary Level was a major event, significant enough to be reported directly to the Holy Seat!

About an hour later, the initial clue gathering came to a close, and a profile of the suspect appeared in the report.

[Tang Family Village Malicious Cultivator Homicide Case]

[Based on shoe size and estimated weight, the suspect is approximately 6’3" to 6’7" tall (margin of error +/- 2 inches) and weighs over 460 pounds. His build is robust, with an extremely developed physique. There is a high probability he is a Spiritual Martial Cultivator, with a high likelihood of having cultivated for over thirty years.]

[The suspect’s Spirit Attribute leans toward Extreme Yang Gold Element. He possesses extremely strong material-destructive abilities. His cultivation is at the Awakening Peak.]

[The suspect’s attacks are direct and powerful, delivering a fatal blow in one strike. After purifying the Evil Spirits, he left immediately without silencing the five remaining Tang Family Awakeners.]

[Psychological profile: A male cultivator, aged forty to fifty. He is an expert in human vital points and striking techniques, possibly a professional martial artist. He likely frequents a gym. His personality is likely straightforward and direct, taciturn, with some experience in militarized training and mild obsessive-compulsive disorder.]

The accompanying sketch depicted a tall man with short black hair, a neat beard, a hard and somber face, and profound eyes. He had a burly, powerful build and an indifferent air.

Meanwhile, Su Zhou—who was 5’10" and 265 pounds, and on the surface just looked like an ordinary student—was already humming a little tune on his way home.

This contrarian with OCD was now in the kitchen. In one hand, he held a kitchen knife and the Spirit Plant fruits and vegetables he had brought back from the Divine Wood World. In the other, he gleefully opened his phone, ready to take advantage of the good mood from his successful revenge to do some pulls in his mobile games.

"Ancient Ark, Azurebow Fantasy!"

"Two ten-pulls!"

DING-A-LING—the wonderful sound of a rare drop played. Su Zhou, who had expected another screen full of blues and whites, widened his eyes, a look of astonished joy on his face as he stared at his phone. "Heavens! Four rainbows! Three six-stars! My Destiny really is a rainbow!"

"Could it be that upholding justice and doing good deeds really does bless you with Destiny? If that’s the case, I really need to do this kind of thing more often!"

Whether it was because his luck had been so bad before that it had finally swung to the other extreme, or because good deeds were truly rewarded, Su Zhou was simply overjoyed.

He put his phone back in his pocket and prepared to start cooking—something he hadn’t done in a long time—under Yara’s guidance, to properly celebrate this double happiness.

As for the ingredients, they were, of course, the Spirit Plants from the Divine Wood World!