Chapter 632 Is That So? I Don't Believe It (7400 Words, Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

A deathly silence.

Due to the vibration just now, all the source energy devices in the surrounding area temporarily went offline.

All light sources were extinguished, and the Earl's mansion fell into darkness both inside and out. Nothing could be seen through the gate. Everything was pitch black, with shadows everywhere.

In the courtyard, Earl Avend stood up, his body trembling slightly, his wide brown eyes locked onto the back door.

This tall, sturdy man, who had once been on the battlefield, twitched his ears slightly, taking in every sound. His Adam's apple bobbed, but his dry mouth swallowed nothing.

Footsteps were approaching.

Extremely heavy, like the vibration of someone wearing full body armor, the solid wood floor creaked and groaned under the weight of the sound, gradually approaching the gate.

"Who is it!"

He shouted sharply, "Guards? Guards!"

The Earl called out to his personal guards.

But there was no answer.

*Thud*.

Suddenly, a dark, bloody shadow was thrown from the darkness, landing on the ground in the courtyard, stirring up dust and blood.

Blood splattered on the Earl's boots, which normally would have made Earl Avend furious, resulting in the beheading of one or two unlucky maids or servants.

But now, after seeing it clearly, he couldn't help but take a step back, exclaiming, "Knightローラ?!"

It was a pile of bloody, mangled, and dying humanoid flesh.

The armor on his chest was caved in, a clear fist mark imprinted in the center of the source-forged steel armor, with cracks spreading around the fist mark.

"Earl...my lord..."

On the ground, the humanoid struggled to open his swollen eyes. When he saw Earl Avend, he desperately opened his mouth, spitting out blood: "Run, run... I, he... strong..."

But the Earl's eyes were not focused on him.

Earl Avend looked again at the shadows behind the door.

In the shadows, a white-haired figure was slowly walking out, covered in blood. He tore off his blood-soaked coat and threw it aside.

Although his hands were covered in blood, and his face was splattered with it, Su Zhou stood calmly at the gate of the Earl's mansion, surveying the pleasant scenery, the various rare plants, and the exceptionally fresh air of the noble's backyard.

"ローラ? So that's the knight's name."

"Although this guy has done a lot of evil things, he's still somewhat pure at heart—he's essentially just following the orders of 'the loyal' to kill and do evil. If he had a better noble to serve, he might have become a good knight."

Su Zhou raised his hand and wiped the minced meat from his face, shaking his head. "It's too late. And I've seen a lot of terrible things on my way in from the outer city."

"Polluted air, wastewater discharged from factories, beggars and vagrants in the sewers, knights oppressing the common people."

"Greedy factory owners, people from the Earl's mansion driving vehicles recklessly, ignoring pedestrians; the bones of demonized people, hanging on the execution platform, a large number of corpses of criminals whose crimes are unknown..."

Saying so, he stared at Earl Avend, who seemed frozen in place. "I believe you know it yourself."

Flicking the blood off his fist, Su Zhou smiled, "Earl Avend."

His eyes seemed to burn with a red flame that could melt gold. "As a leader, you're very incompetent."

Earl Avend was covered in cold sweat, seemingly completely frightened, afraid to move.

Walking closer, Su Zhou's eyes remained fixed on the dark green-haired nobleman before him. His tone was slow and deliberate: "I have some questions to ask you."

"...If I answer truthfully, will I not die?"

After a moment of silence, the Earl said.

"No."

The man's voice was calm but firm. "And it will be terrible—but it will avoid me searching your soul."

At this time, he was only twenty meters away from Earl Avend, and the stewards and maids beside him were screaming and running away in terror.

But Su Zhou didn't care about these ordinary people.

His eyes were only on the turbid firelight that burned pure black, without any other color, in the 'Devouring Demon Lord's' perspective. "I just saw a lot of demonized corpses in several medical clinics under your name, and there are even more corpses in several warehouses, and most of them are incomplete."

"The souls of those corpses were stripped away, and the demonized organs were cut off... Seriously, Earl Avend, do you really see demonized people as tools?"

Earl Avend did not answer.

Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up, revealing a ferocious smile.

"Nonsense."

He mocked, "They're all my property, is it your place to interfere?"

More than a minute had passed since Su Zhou blasted through the gate of the Earl's mansion.

Even if he was shocked and unable to react, it was enough time for Earl Avend to activate his backup plans and accumulate power.

*Crack*, he crushed the crystal glass in his hand, the sharp crystal shards cutting open his flesh, causing blood to flow out.

The red, symbolizing the essence of life, did not drip down, but directly condensed into a coat-of-arms-like magic circle in mid-air. It was the Avend family's coat of arms, but it was even older and more mysterious.

In an instant, a deep tremor sounded, the Earl's heartbeat. The violent and heavy heartbeat even seemed to be resonating, causing the hearts of the stewards, maids, and knightローラ on the ground, who had not yet escaped, to gradually synchronize and unify, their faces filled with pain.

The next moment, Earl Avend raised his right hand. The original coat-of-arms magic circle transformed into a blood-colored longsword. Then, he ruthlessly raised his left hand, biting open the blood vessels in his left wrist. A dark red light shone, and then transformed into a full body armor, covering his entire body.

"I don't know where you came from, you idiot, but you let me get ready!"

At this moment, Earl Avend's voice was cold and muffled. Covered by the family's inherited 'Blood寄之鎧' (Blood-Entrusted Armor), he was full of confidence: "Whether you're a rebellious militia, or a killer sent by Earl摩拉 to assassinate me, the ending is the same!"

"That is to be skinned and have my bones drawn out, hung at the door until the flesh is dry!"

The Blood-Entrusted Armor, inherited through bloodlines, was a high-level source energy technique passed down through generations of the Avend family. It could continuously strengthen with the user's strength. In its complete state, it was said to be able to withstand natural disasters.

Even when used in the Mind Light Realm, its defense was enough to withstand the continuous bombardment of ordinary warship cannons for more than ten minutes.

"The Avend family is not a newly promoted family from the Imperial Capital, but a genuine family with military achievements!"

At this time, the Earl was surrounded by blood filled with source energy fluctuations. The longsword in his hand seemed to be able to draw upon the flow of blood in his body, making people dizzy.

Behind him, a black wolf soul shadow, with blood flowing from its mouth, emerged. A gorgeous and ferocious blood armor covered it, and there were vague gear and mechanical structures replacing the joints of this giant wolf, emitting a deafening roar.

*Boom!*

Without wasting words, Earl Avend, who had fully adjusted his state during the previous exchange, stepped out, cracking the ground. His entire body shot towards Su Zhou like a cannonball.

The air was torn apart and shattered, but the sharp whistling sound could not keep up with his body.

"Werewolf?"

But Su Zhou just muttered to himself in confusion, and then shook his head. "No, there's also a bit of demon blood mixed in."

"Whatever, it's all the same."

He raised his hand and snapped off one of his fingers, making a crisp sound of metal breaking.

At the root of the broken finger, plant root-like structures intertwined and emerged, reforming the shape of a finger. A layer of metallic leaves covered it like skin, quickly turning into the same blood-colored white as the original skin.

Facing Earl Avend, who was flying towards him at supersonic speed, Su Zhou directly threw his metallic finger out with force. At the end of the finger, a violent explosion occurred, like a rocket propulsion, suddenly erupting with extreme thrust.

*Thud*. The blood-colored armor that had been pouncing stopped in place. A hollow hole appeared in his left shoulder, as if he had been hit by an anti-material sniper rifle. Both armor and flesh and bones were blown away, pierced through, leaving only a thin layer of flesh connecting Earl Avend's shoulder and left arm.

Blood flowed from this huge wound, instantly soaking the surrounding ground.

After so many days of cultivation, although he had not yet officially begun to finalize his cultivation method, Su Zhou's 'Yin Yang Rotation Immortal 法 (Fa)' had been cultivated to the great success of the 'Undying Root' realm.

Like the demon generals and demon emperors of the former Divine Wood World, his body was already full of Divine Wood roots. The metallic plant epidermis was extremely strong, and it greatly enhanced the flexibility of his body. He could even turn his finger into a high-performance small armor-piercing rocket.

If he were to return to the beginning, Su Zhou's current form would be even more demonic than the Demon Emperor.

"Hoo... ah!"

But such a blow could not kill Earl Avend.

With heavy breathing and heartbeat, the blood that had originally spilled into the air and dripped into the soil stopped floating and seeping. As if they had heard a command, they began to converge in the opposite direction, towards the original wound.

And not only that.

"Ahhhhh! It hurts!"

"My blood, I..."

With two extremely miserable screams, the stewards and maids who had originally run to the corner of the courtyard squatted painfully on the ground. The former vomited large mouthfuls, while the latter clutched at their faces like madmen.

But if you looked closely, you could see that the steward was not vomiting filth, but his own internal organs and blood; after the maid scratched her face, a stream of blood gushed out from the wound.

Before long, both of them died, turning into withered husks. The knight named ローラ, who had been thrown to the ground by Su Zhou earlier, was also like this. He had already died silently, and all the blood and source energy in his body had been drained, turning into a river of blood, converging towards Earl Avend.

Visible red mist lingered in the courtyard, causing Earl Avend to regenerate at a speed not inferior to Su Zhou's, much to Su Zhou's surprise.

"...So strong..."

The figure wrapped in blood-colored armor took a slight step back. He held the longsword horizontally in front of him. Earl Avend's fearful voice sounded almost like a gnashing of teeth: "But, as long as the flesh peasants are still there, I am immortal!"

"Don't underestimate the nobles of the Empire!"

However, he didn't understand.

The reason for Su Zhou's surprise was not Earl Avend's regeneration speed.

It was the thing that had been activated in his body, at the heart, a mass of root-like things.

That tiny mass of roots shrouded Earl Avend's entire heart. It was now operating violently, continuously converting the life force, blood, and even souls that it had just absorbed into Earl Avend's life force and source energy, strengthening his regenerative ability.

"This is..."

He murmured to himself, "The World Tree's 'Undying Root'?"

"Why is there such a thing... Well, it's not surprising."

After all, this was a world where the World Tree and Twilight had once fought.

"You can't kill me!" Raising his sword again, this time fully prepared, and vigilantly watching Su Zhou, Earl Avend once again struck a posture of accumulation.

Then, it was a rapid charge again!

The blood-colored blade light tore through the air, bringing with it a meteor-like edge. The overflowing air could cut through the soil and rock bricks in the courtyard.

"Is that so."

Su Zhou also raised his hand again, his tone indifferent.

This time, he held up his palm, like a blade.

"I don't believe it."

After entering the Aean world, Su Zhou's strength was indeed limited.

Because it was located in the Twilight World Group, a fragmented world of the Twilight Primordial World, Su Zhou did not exert his full strength in order not to be discovered by the strongest in this world, or the direct dependents of Twilight.

But even so, with his original experience, inheritance, and knowledge, he could use physical modification to exert power that suppressed the Mind Light Realm without breaking through the Spiritual Radiance Realm of this world.

Earl Avend's strength was about at the middle to high stage of the Mind Light Realm, which was quite good. After all, he was only in his early thirties, and he had hopes for the Divine Intent Realm in the future, which was enough to support the title of a great nobleman. He was resting in his backyard, and he didn't bring his special weapons and armor, but even so, the Earl's strength was very powerful, enough to suppress the entire Avend City on his own.

If he added the previous strange regenerative ability, he could even entangle with four or five people of the same level, and also have the strength to suppress the Mind Light Realm.

But even if Earl Avend was fully armed, it would be impossible to defeat Su Zhou.

Because the cultivation of this world was still using knives and guns to fight, while Su Zhou was already using rockets.

Raising his hand knife, Su Zhou aimed it at Earl Avend, and then swung it out with force.

Source energy ignited the undying root of the Divine Wood material, evaporated the blood, and erupted with energy far exceeding the rocket propellant on Earth, spraying out a huge amount of scarlet hot gas from the holes in his arm.

The enormous force enough to send this section of arm into the sky tens of thousands of meters high, easily made the speed of the hand knife exceed the speed of sound, tearing the air and bringing a formless and intangible source energy vacuum blade.

The Earl, who was charging, instinctively sensed something was wrong. He flipped his body, narrowly avoiding this hand knife that could tear through the armor of a warship. The derived source energy vacuum blade crossed behind him and shattered the walls of the Lord's Mansion backyard and the entire street behind it.

The man's heart unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had avoided the most terrible blow.

But the next moment, a scene that happened on Su Zhou's arm made him extremely shocked, his pupils constricted—although the hand knife missed, Su Zhou's fingers seemed to have their own consciousness, bending to aim at his body.

*Buzz*. Source energy vibrated and burned, and flames like light lit up from the roots of these fingers, and then exploded.

Five bullets, or rather, rocket-like fingers, shot out in the explosion, covering Earl Avend's body, who had already dodged once.

The nobleman in the blood armor rapidly transformed the longsword in his hand, turning it into a shield to block in front of him. The five finger rockets were indeed blocked by it, penetrating deep into the shield, but the next moment they exploded. The violent shock wave and explosion resounded throughout the entire core city, lingering in the center of Avend City for a long time.

*Bang!* The body flew out, and Earl Avend's entire body rolled horizontally in the courtyard. The armored wolf soul shadow behind him had dissipated, and the blood-colored armor that had originally enveloped him also collapsed after a burst of wriggling, turning into a pool of blood, seeping into the soil.

"Cough..."

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, knocked back to his original form, and relieved of his blood armor form, Earl Avend's heart was now filled with hatred, despair, and incomparable confusion.

The Avend family's blood armor battle technique was condensed from countless battles when the Empire opened up the southern border. It was the most effective war technique in the battle formation. He could devour the enemy's life to replenish himself, just like a hungry wolf would devour the enemy's flesh and blood to make himself stronger.

The more enemies there were, and the more of his own people there were, the more powerful the blood armor battle technique would be.

But now, there was only one enemy, and his own guards had been defeated before, and the distant reinforcements had not yet arrived.

But the most important thing was not these.

"Why..."

He struggled to get up from the ground, but was stepped on the head by Su Zhou, who walked slowly, and trampled into the mud.

But even so, Earl Avend still spoke unwillingly, his tone as if he felt that this matter was extremely absurd: "Why, my 'Spirit Burning Technique' didn't work... How was my regenerative ability taken away?!"

"Clearly... as long as those flesh peasants are still there, I am immortal... This is impossible?!"

He roared: "I am immortal!"

"You say you're immortal, so you're immortal?"

Su Zhou used force under his feet expressionlessly, completely trampling Earl Avend's head into the ground: "What's the evidence?"

Why was his regenerative ability taken away? It was simple.

Although he didn't know what the so-called 'Spirit Burning Technique' was, Su Zhou could completely guess that this technique relied on the 'World Tree Root' located at the Earl's heart to absorb the life force of others and provide himself with endless life force.

And the flesh peasants he was talking about should be all the people in the entire Avend City.

Just now, during the time that Su Zhou entered the Earl's Mansion and spoke with him, he realized that Earl Avend seemed to have activated some kind of magic circle. Although the source energy fluctuation was slight, it enveloped the entire city and even penetrated into the core of the mobile city.

It would have been a little difficult to isolate the influence of this magic circle, after all, Su Zhou's current strength was not strong, and he couldn't isolate the entire city.

But who told the other party that the medium for performing this secret technique was the Undying Root of the Divine Wood.

And Su Zhou happened to have the Divine Wood Qi personally given by the 'Great Dao Tree'?

Su Zhou himself was also a Divine Wood - the warship Divine Wood was also a Divine Wood - with his experience, it was easy to isolate the Divine Wood roots in Earl Avend's heart, simpler than breathing.

But Su Zhou's mood was not relaxed.

Squatting down, he stretched out a hand and grabbed the other party's neck. Su Zhou's fingers used so much force that they even broke through Earl Avend's skin and flesh, directly gripping his spine.

Lifting the other party up by the spine, Su Zhou met the Earl's face covered in blood mud and filth. In his red pupils, source energy was spinning.

Then, he began, 'Soul Search'.

The Heavenly Immortal's soul forcibly searched the soul of a Mind Light Realm source energy cultivator. The efficiency was extremely high.

In just a few seconds, the light in Su Zhou's eyes dimmed.

He already knew the reason for many things.

"...So that's how it is, no wonder this world is so discriminatory and harsh towards the demonized, but the lord still allows the demonized to live in the city, and even doesn't set up various measures to allow the demonized to freely spread their numbers..."

"Because, the demonized themselves, from the flesh to the soul, are the 'fuel' of this world!"

In the Aean world, the basic condition for manipulating source energy is to have a soul.

Only through the soul's vibration and resonance at a certain frequency can the extremely dense source energy be freely manipulated.

Being able to complete this step is the Soul Condensation Realm.

And all the demonized, from the time the demonization completely breaks out, are at this realm.

They can manipulate source energy like ordinary cultivators, but because everyone's talent is different, the degree of skill in manipulation, and the degree of education they have received, they cannot fully exert this power.

The essence is the same.

And the most important creation in the Aean world, the 'Giant Source Energy Reactor' that provides energy for the mobile city, was created four hundred years ago, and was improved into its current form by Asmodeus VII more than a hundred years later.

The original source energy reactor could only drive a fortress, a castle, or a small fortress-level warship to move, and nothing more was possible.

But under the encouragement and improvement of Asmodeus VII, the efficiency and performance of the new giant source energy engine, the new source energy reactor, were improved to the point where it could drive almost half of a city.

However, this engine can only be fully driven during the 'Blood Moon', or at least under the light of the moon.

Because, only during the Blood Moon, under the illumination of the Demonic Moon, after the source energy is extremely activated, can the new source energy engine fully unleash that powerful energy conversion efficiency.

However, the moon is not always there, and the Blood Moon is even rarer.

How can source energy be activated even during the day?

After searching for a long time, a researcher finally found the answer.

The Demonic Moon catalyzes demonization, which is essentially activated source energy forcibly catalyzing the soul, but interfering with the physical mutation and demonization.

In other words, the essence of the soul is the pure product of source energy, the most activated manifestation of source energy.

The light released by burning the soul is like the light of the Demonic Moon, which can maximize the efficiency of the source energy reactor.

The soul is the essential additive to drive the source energy reactor to power the mobile city.

Of course, everyone knows that people who cultivate souls normally are very rare, and are the reserve for the professional class. Using their souls as a catalyst is too wasteful, like using sandalwood as fuel for heating.

In this case, demonized patients, and the cheap and mass-producible souls of the demonized, became the only source of additives.

Although the efficiency is not as high as that of normal soul condensation, the number of souls of the demonized is large!

As long as there is still a Demonic Moon, and there is still source energy radiation and interference, there will only be more and more demonization patients.

Moreover, after extracting the soul, the mutated parts on the body of the demonized are essentially a kind of extraordinary material that can be used to manufacture weapons, equipment, and various spiritual mechanical equipment.

Nothing will be wasted.

The demonized are self-appreciating fuel...extraordinary materials.

Crops and wealth that can walk on their own.

"I see."

Su Zhou sighed, and he clenched the hand holding Earl Avend's spine, causing this Earl to let out a miserable scream: "Then why did you want to attack my child? Why have you started arresting demonized people on a large scale recently?"

"Clearly, the naturally dead late-stage demonization patients are enough to supply the source energy reactor of the mobile city. What are you planning to do with such actions?"

"Be, because...the Imperial Capital said that they wanted to activate a giant source energy reactor..."

With his spine being pinched by someone, this feeling was not only 'life being manipulated', but the completely collapsed Earl Avend almost pleaded: "You, you are so powerful, you should know, right?"

"The Holy Sun is about to go out, our world is about to fall into darkness, to survive...we can only rely on the source energy engine, an even larger source energy reactor!"

"The Imperial Capital is optimizing the design of the source energy reactor. His Majesty said that he needs a large number of high-quality demonized people as materials and firewood... We, we will send them over for Him..."

Speaking of this, Earl Avend raised his voice: "We are doing this to save the world!"

"It's just a little bit of demonized people, burning a little bit of the souls of the demonized..."

He seemed to want to say something else.

But all that was left for the Earl was 'Crack'.

His spine was crushed by Su Zhou, his head fell off, and then it was crushed with a foot, like a watermelon.

Earl Avend was dead.

"Save the world?"

Sneering, Su Zhou lowered his eyes.

He said lightly: "It's not your turn to save it."

Su Zhou raised his head and looked at the various districts that were in turmoil in the distance.

The various demonized people located in Avend had already noticed the instability of this period of time. They were also full of confusion and doubt, watching their friends and relatives mysteriously disappear, accumulating anger and hatred, waiting for the opportunity to vent.

Su Zhou's appearance broke the balance, causing the originally foolproof Avend City guard forces to act in a bewildered manner, and the frontline command completely collapsed. So the demonized, who had seized the opportunity, transformed into primitive rioters and began to attack other upper districts, and even the core city.

"I understand the reason for the demonized."

Su Zhou took a step, he stood on the wall of the Earl's mansion courtyard, overlooking all of this: "But the doubts are increasing - what is the Spirit Burning Technique? And why does he have the Undying Root of the World Tree?"

"The nobles of this world regard ordinary people as flesh peasants who can recharge their lives... When did this situation start?"

Thinking about all of this, Su Zhou shook his head.

He prepared to leave, return to the First Light Research Ship, and talk to 燧光 (Sui Guang) and 拂晓 (Fu Xiao) and others about this aspect, and see if there was any new information.

But just as Su Zhou was about to leave, he noticed that a dim light was emerging from Earl Avend's body.

"Evil Soul?" Raising his eyebrows, Su Zhou's tone was a little unbelievable: "It shouldn't be, his strength is only at the Extraordinary at best, he's not even close to a overlord, how could there be an evil soul!"

The mechanism of the evil soul depends on the soul, not Su Zhou's strength. In front of Su Zhou's Heavenly Soul position, without overlords or Heavenly Immortal stage people, evil souls cannot be condensed.

But soon, he discovered that the dim yellow light was not an evil soul.

"Wait?"

Even Yala floated out from Su Zhou's soul with some surprise, hovering on Su Zhou's shoulder, watching all of this.

She shook her head in surprise, puzzled: "This is..."

"This is, the soul fragment of a direct descendant of Twilight?"