Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 41 - 20: Resentful Spirit Fireworks

Thanks to Yara’s earlier explanations, Su Zhou knew that Ghosts, too, were divided into different levels.

The most common Ghosts were the white shadows and black Dark Shadows Su Zhou used to be able to see. The white ones were soul fragments with little lingering obsession, their True Spirits long gone; they could only be considered secondary derivatives of Spiritual Qi. In an environment with a high concentration of Spiritual Qi, they would quickly decompose into pure Spiritual Qi. The black ones, on the other hand, were soul fragments filled with resentment, obsession, and malice. Although they too would decompose in high-concentration Spiritual Qi, they first possessed the ability to latch onto people and cause listlessness.

The next level up, Wandering Souls and Resentful Spirits, possessed a degree of intelligence, like the little girl Wandering Soul and the old soldier Wandering Soul that Su Zhou had seen before. They had their own thoughts and intellect.

However, Wandering Souls of this level couldn’t casually approach humans, as their intelligence was built upon a fragile structure of Spiritual Qi. This structure, while preventing them from being broken down by Spiritual Qi, could be disrupted by the Life Force of physically strong individuals, causing them to lose power or even memories—the very foundation of their existence.

Resentful Spirits, on the other hand, didn’t have to worry about this. Their memories weren’t important; what mattered was their malicious obsession with harming others. This obsession would resonate with the surrounding Spiritual Qi to create various ’Spirit Sounds’. The effects of these Spirit Sounds varied depending on the Resentful Spirit’s particular obsession. Wandering Souls could naturally produce Spirit Sounds too, but most of theirs lacked the ability to harm other living beings.

Of course, Wandering Souls and Resentful Spirits of this level were also individuals without a True Spirit. But because they were derivatives of a soul, they still had some residual Spiritual Energy. Killing them might yield some Spiritual Energy Crystal Fragments, which was precisely the goal of Su Zhou’s hunt this time.

Only at the next level would a Ghost once again nurture a True Spirit and transform into a whole new Spiritual Creature. Of course, this new being had no connection to the original person, much like a flower blooming from a corpse.

And the path of a Ghost Cultivator was to transform oneself into a Spiritual Creature while preserving one’s own True Spirit.

At this moment, the residential complex was silent in the dead of night. Even the crowd of plaza dancers had dispersed. There might still be a few people walking on the quiet streets, but that was of no consequence.

What Su Zhou cared about were not the people who couldn’t spot him, but the ubiquitous surveillance cameras. Some of the older districts or newer developments might not have full coverage yet, but in the urban area where he lived, a dense web of cameras already covered ninety percent of the vicinity. To avoid being discovered, he had to take the road less traveled.

At the very least, he couldn’t use the stairwell. Otherwise, any Patrol officer could just check the building’s surveillance footage and easily discover that he, Su Zhou, had left in the middle of the night with a large wooden spear and hadn’t returned. He’d be suspicious as hell.

So, time to jump!

Standing on the edge of the balcony, Su Zhou felt no fear. Instead, he was filled with eager excitement.

With no hesitation, he took a clean, crisp step forward, letting his body fall from the seventh floor toward the hard concrete ground below.

WHOOSH—

At this moment, he could feel the wind. Su Zhou could hear the air whistling past his ears. A supreme sense of freedom emerged in the fall, then returned to tranquility. He chuckled, closed his eyes, and felt the ’Elves’ around him.

Elves, Magic Power, Spiritual Qi, or any other name from any Extraordinary System—they were all, in essence, the same thing. Su Zhou could feel that in the brief moment of his fall, the surrounding Spiritual Qi, triggered by his drastic movement, began to spontaneously gather at his sides, applying a ’levitating’ force.

Su Zhou knew he could dispel this force at any time. If he succeeded in his Spirit Awakening, he would also be able to use his own power to bolster this Spiritual Qi and glide through the air.

’Because of Wind Aid, I will not die from the fall!’

THWACK!

It was like jumping down from a height of one or two meters, making a light thudding sound. The moment he landed, Su Zhou ducked into the shadows. He knew the locations of most of the nearby surveillance cameras; his dad, Su Beiluo, had pointed many of them out while showing off his keen eyesight. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

With no time to marvel at the usefulness of the experience his old man had passed down, Su Zhou carried his wooden spear and easily slipped out of the residential complex by sticking to the blind spots in the shadows of trees and walls. He then blended into the woods along the adjacent Fuhe River.

The green coverage rate in Hongdu Hongcheng was very high, over forty-two percent, and the complex where Su Zhou lived reached sixty percent. It might be lacking in other things, but the abundance of tree-filled shadows was incredible. He easily reached the depths of the small woods by the river and hurried along the bank, moving away from the streets.

He kept going until he heard a ’Spirit Sound’.

"AIEEEEEE—"

A bizarre roar flowed on the wind, carrying a sound that made ordinary people feel uneasy and gave Transcendents a headache. Su Zhou stopped and immediately activated his Spiritual Vision, scanning his surroundings.

"Judging by this sound, this Resentful Spirit feels a bit stronger than the average one I’ve encountered before."

Having Spiritual Vision was so much better than the old days of relying on luck just to see some shadows. In an instant, Su Zhou located the source of the Spirit Sound.

It was a gray-black cloud of mist. Within it flashed gaunt human faces, along with arms and torsos covered in festering sores and cysts, all appearing diseased. The limbs didn’t seem to belong to a single person; it must be a Resentful Spirit born from the fusion of many Dark Shadows.

Noticing someone approaching, the Resentful Spirit sprang into action. It began to rush toward Su Zhou at a speed far exceeding that of a human sprinter. Even Su Zhou felt that he couldn’t beat it in terms of raw speed.

’It’s likely a Plague Spirit formed from the gathering of Suffering Spirits. Its Spirit Sound will lower a person’s immune function, causing illnesses like influenza to spread.’

Having easily identified the creature’s origin with Yara’s help, Su Zhou eagerly tightened his grip on his spear. Facing the attacking Spirit Body, he wasn’t the least bit nervous or afraid. Instead, in the very next moment, he stepped forward and swung the wooden shaft, striking at the wailing Plague Spirit that was still emitting its Spirit Sound!

SWOOSH!

The enchanted Chou Wood swept through the air, kicking up a gust of wind that sent fallen leaves scattering. This simple, direct strike would have likely left a huge dent in a sheet-metal car. At the tip of the spear, the Spiritual Blade formed by the ’Exorcism’ Rune traced a translucent arc of light.

But faced with such a fierce attack, the Resentful Spirit didn’t dodge or evade. It met it head-on, shrieking as it lunged forward, and then—

—it was blasted into a firework display by Su Zhou’s spear, bursting and scattering in all directions.

"AIEEEEE??!"

The Resentful Spirit was still shrieking, but its entire Spirit Body had been blasted apart. Under the arc of ’Exorcism’ light, all the dark shadows were rapidly dissolving. Its obsession and malice were reduced to nothing by the Spiritual Light fueled by Holy Water and Su Zhou’s blood. It looked as if Su Zhou had swept his spear and created a gray firework.

A few seconds later, the shrieking stopped. The Resentful Spirit was completely purified, leaving only a small, gray-gleaming crystal fragment to fall from mid-air and clatter to the ground. A dumbfounded Su Zhou was left standing there, still holding his sweeping pose.

"No way—that was too easy, wasn’t it?!"

A shocked Su Zhou subconsciously asked Yara as he walked over and picked up the crystal fragment. His voice was still laced with deep disappointment. "How did I kill it with just one swing? Didn’t you say that Resentful Spirits are supposed to be tough for the average exorcist?"

"What did you expect? Are you an average person?"

Yara seemed to have anticipated this. Hanging from a strand of Su Zhou’s hair, it had an ’I told you so’ expression. "Even though you haven’t undergone Spirit Awakening yet, you’ve been listening to Spirit Sounds for ten years and have developed exceptional Mental Resistance. Back in the old days, even without any Extraordinary talent, that would have made you a top-quality exorcist."

"You have to understand, without Mental Resistance, an ordinary Demon Exorcist would get dizzy and even hallucinate upon hearing a Spirit Sound... Not to mention, you’re carrying a pretty decent Magical Artifact, and with the powerful Blood Qi inherent in your physical body, an ordinary Resentful Spirit can’t even get close to you."

’A guy who ’Awakened’ before the Spiritual Energy Revival, even in ancient times, would be the kind of person with an Innate Daoist Body and Innate Divine Techniques.’

Thinking of this, the young man could accept the fact that he might have already graduated from the novice village before the New Era even began.

"One just isn’t enough to be satisfying—I’m going to find more Resentful Spirits to play with."

After a moment of disappointment, Su Zhou gave his verdict on the hunt so far. He raised his hand, looking at the crystal fragment in his palm, and mused, "But still, is this thing the so-called ’Spiritual Energy Fragment’?"

The gray crystal was only half the size of his pinky fingernail and was extremely light. You could even say it was just a clump of air.

"Yes. A specialty of Ghosts, a naturally condensed Spiritual Energy Fragment."

Yara looked at the Spiritual Energy Fragment, then shook its head. "The quality is too poor... Sigh. A Resentful Spirit without a True Spirit would be completely purified just by being illuminated by a Shelter Cross, its Spiritual Qi returning to the world. Otherwise, I would have had you take the Cross and sweep the area. That would have been most efficient."

"What’s this thing used for? As a material for Arrays?" Su Zhou carefully pinched the Spiritual Energy Fragment, applying a little bit of force. He discovered that the fragile-looking crystal was surprisingly hard—at least harder than a lobster shell and not so easy to break.

And Yara, in the tone of the Zhengguo People, said, "Eat it."

"Eating normal food and exercising can strengthen the physical body. By the same logic, only by eating Spiritual Food and training can you strengthen your Spiritual Power."

"Although this Spiritual Energy Fragment is low-quality and filthy, eating enough of them can still allow someone to successfully Awaken and achieve the Extraordinary. Of course, an achievement like that is far from the Perfection of using an Orbit and an Evil Demon Core. You might even go insane before you Awaken."

At this point, Yara added a warning, "It’s fine for you to eat one or two of these Spiritual Energy Fragments occasionally, but you can’t consume them regularly."

"Otherwise, it’ll contaminate the Spiritual Power in my body, making it harder to advance?" Drawing from his experience with all sorts of traditional novels, anime, games, and TV shows, Su Zhou licked his lips and guessed with a bit of excitement, "Or will I go mad and see hallucinations?"

"You’ll get diarrhea."