Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 58 - 34: Then I No Longer Need to Pretend to Be a Gentleman

Chapter 58: Chapter 34: Then I No Longer Need to Pretend to Be a Gentleman

The ritual was over.

The final tide of Spiritual Energy was contained within the old house by the array. Aside from a faint, almost imperceptible ripple spreading outward, there were no other anomalies.

Under Shao Qiming’s gaze, Su Zhou walked out of the shadows. The newly Awakened youth stared cautiously ahead, then muttered to himself.

’Evil-Devouring Demon Lord... No matter how you slice it, a Divine Technique with a name like that belongs to a villain, doesn’t it?’

Su Zhou, who considered himself one of the good guys, squatted down and bit his thumb in frustration. He racked his brain but couldn’t figure out where he’d gone wrong. ’Yara, did something go wrong with the Awakening? Isn’t "Slay Evil on Sight" the most righteous belief there is? No matter how I think about it, my mindset is that of an ultimate righteous knight! So how... how did I awaken a "Demon Lord" Divine Technique?!’

"Righteous? Su Zhou, you just used the word righteous, didn’t you? As your guide, I’m going to shatter that ridiculous fantasy of yours!"

The little red snake poked its head out from Su Zhou’s sideburns and berated him loudly, "Su Zhou! You don’t deliberately do good, nor do you pursue fairness and justice! To put it bluntly, you just want to act on your grudges and cut down anyone you deem evil! Do you know what that’s called? It’s called vigilantism! An eye for an eye! People like you, no matter the era or dynasty, would be caught, strung up, and put on trial! And you really think you’re one of the good guys?!"

"There’s no absolute standard for good and evil, and your Evil-Devouring Demon Lord ability is completely subjective—whatever you think is evil *is* evil! A terrifying, vile, and utterly self-righteous Chaos Divine Technique like that, and you still say you’re not a villain?!"

But halfway through, Yara’s tone abruptly shifted to one of praise. "Anyway, you are my Contractor, after all. That Divine Technique is a fantastic Awakening, simply marvelous!"

"Wh-what... You mean ’Slay Evil on Sight’ isn’t justice...?" At that moment, Shao Qiming helped the half-squatting Su Zhou to his feet. With his friend’s help, he shakily sat down on a nearby chair, his expression frozen and blank, his eyes lost. "Impossible... I’m... I’m not one of the good guys..."

As he said this, countless memories flashed through his mind...

—’With this much power, I could rip a person’s head off, spine and all!’

—’If I just squeeze a little, applying force from both sides, I could crush their skull!’

—’This long pole... I could probably skewer someone on it and swing them around in the air!’

—’As expected of me! (Sound of maniacal laughter and a cheekbone shattering)’

...

’Could it be... that I was born to be a villain?!’

At this point, a normal person’s Dao Heart would have shattered, or they would have started to doubt whether their choices and thoughts had gone wrong.

But Su Zhou was not a normal person. After a moment’s thought, he immediately cheered up again. "Oh well, it’s not so bad. If I’m a villain, I’m a villain. It’s actually pretty cool when you think about it."

"This is great! Now I don’t have to pretend to be some upstanding gentleman. I can eradicate evil however I see fit!"

"My dad always tells me to take any robbers I run into to the police station and not to break their arms and legs. And with human traffickers, I’m supposed to leave them alive and not finish them off on the spot... I’ve been holding back for so long!" As he said this, the chaotic youth with a blurred sense of good and evil flashed a cheerful smile. He grinned at his friend. "Right, Qiming?"

"You know it." Shao Qiming shrugged and laughed as well. But then, after a moment’s thought, he added a well-intentioned suggestion: "Make sure it’s gruesome. Sprinkle some chili pepper on their wounds before they die."

"No problem."

After making his promise, Su Zhou eagerly closed his eyes and began to experience his new power.

’Let’s see what new abilities I’ve got.’

He had learned from Yara that across the many worlds, including the one behind the Sealing Sect, there was a universal seven-tier ranking system that applied to almost all of them.

Tier One, Mortal World. This ranges from an ordinary individual to the physical limits of their race. As long as they have no Spiritual Power, they belong to this tier.

Tier Two, Awakening. The ability to control Spiritual Power, but limited to within oneself. A typical Awakener can smash concrete walls with their bare hands and twist steel bars like pretzels. The strongest among them can even slightly induce celestial changes.

Tier Three, Extraordinary. The ability to skillfully control Spiritual Power, even connecting to the great source of Spiritual Power outside the body to trigger various anomalies and superpowers. The most powerful at this tier can even influence celestial changes within a certain range.

Tier Four, Leader, Chieftain, or Commander. These are generally the rulers of mid-to-high-level wild Transcendent groups, or special creatures like Beast Kings. At this level, a being’s life essence has undergone a degree of sublimation compared to its kin. Their lifespans are greatly extended, they are very difficult to kill, and they can even cause true celestial changes, creating thunderstorms, hurricanes, landslides, and tornadoes.

As for the next three tiers, Yara didn’t think it was necessary to elaborate since they were basically impossible to encounter in the early to middle stages of the Spiritual Energy Revival. Su Zhou couldn’t be bothered to find out either. A Leader alone was enough to establish an organization in most worlds.

And Sacred Geometry: Holy Triangle was a Cultivation Method corresponding to Tier Two: Awakening.

As for the differences between his various abilities...

To put it simply, the Perfect Body was a Racial Talent. Sacred Geometry was a class-based talent bonus that required a specific bloodline. And the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord was a Divine Technique awakened from his personal traits—a passive ability from his True Spirit’s template, so to speak.

The three class abilities Su Zhou gained from Sacred Geometry were considered top-notch, even up to the Extraordinary Tier.

[Dragon and Snake Power]

As the name implies, it granted the user the power of a dragon and snake. To be honest, Su Zhou had no way to measure his own strength now. Back when he only had the Perfect Body, a regular gym was already far from adequate. Now, even more so... However, Su Zhou experimentally squatted down, grabbed a handful of the concrete floor beneath his feet, and crushed it into a pile of dust and gravel.

To him, ordinary buildings were probably as fragile as cracker-houses made of tofu.

’Is this what they call "crushing iron into mud"...’ Su Zhou blinked. He felt that if he encountered the Wood Centipede now, he could probably take it on in close combat. With a suitable weapon, he could likely kill it in just two moves.

’As for an ordinary person... faced with this much power, they’d be nothing more than a blood-filled plastic bag...’

[Celestial Human Cycle]

Su Zhou couldn’t test this one for the time being. The Spiritual Qi wasn’t dense enough yet. According to Yara, this was an ability that would only show its true potential during the Era of Spiritual Qi Revival, as it could dramatically increase a Transcendent’s Spiritual Power Recovery Speed.

At the very least, he could now constantly maintain his Spiritual Vision, which he could previously only use a few times a day. He could even see more clearly, and the stamina drain was much lower. This was likely because his Spiritual Power was now helping to run his internal Spiritual Power Organs.

As for [True Spirit Undying]...

"It just adds a touch of undying to your soul and body, greatly enhancing your regeneration ability. It’s not that useful for you."

The Snake Spirit’s words were brutally honest. "After all, there aren’t many people in this world who could beat you to the brink of death in a one-on-one fight. And if it’s not one-on-one, it doesn’t really matter whether you die once or twice."

"What do you know!" the high school sophomore Su Zhou retorted. "The name is so cool! I’d love it even if it was just an empty shell!"

The three great abilities of the Holy Triangle were a comprehensive enhancement of body, spirit, and soul. Each one was a top-tier ability on its own, yet Su Zhou had all three at the Initial Stage. Who knew if Sacred Geometry would grant even more abilities later on.

And most importantly, [Evil-Devouring Demon Lord].

Su Zhou calmed his mind and focused on comprehending this ’Divine Technique’ that had awakened from his own True Spirit.

The ability of the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord was actually quite simple.

It allowed Su Zhou to devour the souls of Evil Ones and obtain a portion of their greatest strength... In simpler terms, after defeating a worthy opponent, he would gain attributes based on the opponent’s type.

Alternatively, he could choose not to devour the Evil Soul, but instead condense it into an ’Essence Soul’. This could be used to attach to an existing weapon for Enhancement, or through a special method called ’Soul Forging’, be directly converted into a weapon, piece of equipment, or even a special skill to be learned.

For example, if the current Su Zhou were to kill the Wood Centipede, he would obtain a ’Dark Wood Centipede’s Soul’. He could devour it directly for a bonus to his constitution, or use various methods to convert the soul’s power into an Enchantment. However, creating a Soul Weapon or a special skill would be impossible; the Wood Centipede’s soul wasn’t high-grade enough.

Su Zhou could vaguely sense that most Evil Souls didn’t possess the ’quality’ to be forged into weapons, let alone skills. That would require the essence of a peerless villain, a Demon King capable of destroying worlds.

’I’ll try it out first.’

Since there were no Evil Souls to consume for now, Su Zhou could only stand up and experiment with his own Spiritual Power.

With a thought, he mobilized the Spiritual Power stored in every ’triangular Spiritual Qi structure’ throughout his body, gathering it in his right hand.

Motes of light-like Spiritual Essence manifested in the physical world, instantly erupting into blazing, blue-violet flames. The temperature-less fire spread through the air, seeming to coalesce into an illusory long spear. Sensing this terrifying aura, all spirits with even a hint of intelligence within a several-mile radius fled for their lives, terrified of being tainted in the slightest. Nearby, the various Spirit-Attached Items began to crack, looking as if they might shatter completely at any moment.

"Oof."

But the gathering had only just begun when Su Zhou felt a wave of dizziness and slumped right back into his seat. This prompted Shao Qiming, who had been watching with great interest, to quickly stand up and ask with concern, "You alright, Azhou?"

"...I’m, fine!"

Shaking his head, Su Zhou gritted his teeth and spoke, fighting a deep-seated exhaustion welling up from his body... But just then, the [Celestial Human Cycle] kicked in!

As wisps of blue-green mist from his Spiritual Vision spontaneously gathered and flowed into his body under his astonished gaze, he immediately felt the exhaustion recede. A portion of his Spiritual Power had been restored!

’The Celestial Human Cycle’ recovers this fast?!’ Su Zhou’s jaw dropped. ’If I were in a place with abundant Spiritual Qi...’

"Wait, Azhou."

Just then, Shao Qiming, who had been quietly watching Su Zhou test his powers, frowned and said softly, "I didn’t get a clear look earlier, but your eye color has changed."

"Oh, right!"

It was only then that Su Zhou realized he had been in his Spiritual Vision state ever since the ritual ended.

He hurried to a corner of the basement, lit up his hand with a Spiritual Light, and studied his reflection in a mirror that was ’rumored to have a reflection that moved on its own.’

The mirror, naturally, didn’t dare move. Su Zhou stared back at his own reflection.

Sure enough, he saw that his pupils had turned blue-violet and even showed a faint tendency to become slitted.

After his Awakening, his Spiritual Vision ability had become permanent—he could turn it off if he wanted, but the color wouldn’t change back.

’Looks like I’ll have to buy colored contacts to hide this... sigh.’

With a sigh, Su Zhou stood there, speechless at this new complication. Meanwhile, Shao Qiming smiled, casually picked up his phone, and sent a message.

"Since the Awakening is done," he said after he finished sending the message, looking up and patting Su Zhou’s shoulder. "Which restaurant should we go to for a celebration?"

He knew Su Zhou’s preferences quite well.

But this time, he guessed wrong.

"What are you talking about?"

Su Zhou looked at his friend with a bewildered expression. "Now that I’ve successfully Awakened, the first thing to do is obvious. I’m going to get rid of the curse on you and Aunt Wen!"