Chapter 1 Cleansing Lost Souls

After purifying the wandering souls, Su Zhou frowned and turned his head to examine the corpses of the three men. "Their values are so twisted. These old-school cultivators really don't treat ordinary people as human beings... I completely understand why Zheng Guo, and even the whole world, must popularize universal cultivation."

Before the spiritual energy resurgence, cultivators were at most at the Awakening level, and compared to mortals with weapons, they didn't constitute an overwhelming advantage, so a certain degree of equality could still be guaranteed—but even so, there were existences like the Tang family who secretly caused trouble and didn't care about the lives of ordinary people.

After the spiritual energy resurgence, the upper limit of cultivators greatly increased, but the progress of weapons couldn't be rapidly improved, and the gap between cultivators and ordinary people further widened... What's more, ordinary people would improve, so how could cultivators not? They could also use modern weapons to improve themselves.

There has never been a reason why Dao techniques should be immutable and unimprovable, just like the pistol version of the Eight-Curse Soul-Splitting Nail in the hands of that priest. Compared to the original version, which required a large hammer, it has improved so much. If it were launched with a specially made anti-material sniper rifle, even Su Zhou, or even the Transcendent level, would suffer.

Transcendence is a part of productivity. Instead of concealing it and causing the public to naturally divide into classes, creating oppression and struggle, it's better to popularize it to everyone and increase productivity. In this way, at least on the surface, everyone has a bright future and belongs to the same spiritual energy class.

"Also at the Awakening level, the spiritual energy shield of the old leader of the Holy Serpent Prayer Society can withstand an RPG bombing, while the Tang family's spiritual energy shield can't even withstand one of my punches. The stone chips almost broke the shield. The difference is too great."

Su Zhou didn't think much about this, and stepped forward to sweep away the half-collapsed ruins of the Tang family's main residence, entering it.

Immediately, he discovered the many coffins in the main hall, fifteen in total.

"This... the coffins are full of corpses!"

Although it seemed like a waste of words, the coffins were of course filled with corpses—vampires are also corpses. But Su Zhou couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then sighed softly: "It seems that most of them starved to death, or even starved to death alive? The Tang family's high-level members gathered here to do this? To refine hungry ghosts?"

According to the Tang family's cultivators, they would go to other cities where beggars and vagrants gathered to find people to refine into evil spirits, which could also be regarded as rabbits not eating grass near their own burrows, but Su Zhou didn't expect that they would refine more than a dozen at a time: "How can you control evil spirits like this! An Awakening level cultivator can control more than five spirits of the same level, which is considered a good talent. The previous eleven were assisted by formations and spiritual artifacts."

"Now, fifteen hungry ghosts and evil spirits at once, they're probably going to be devoured on the spot, eating the entire Tang family up and down... And where did they get so many materials and money?"

Wild evil spirits and vengeful spirits can't be commanded by people. It takes spiritual energy and spiritual materials to refine them, so that these collections of resentment can obey orders. Refining fifteen hungry ghosts would require materials that the Tang family couldn't afford, otherwise, the number of evil spirits and Transcendent cultivators Su Zhou encountered this time would definitely double.

Unless, these hungry ghosts weren't for their own use, but were commissioned by someone to refine them.

"In any case, rest in peace." With doubts in his heart, Su Zhou didn't think much. He opened his hand, pressed one hand on the Blade of Annihilation at his waist, and borrowed a trace of the power of Yang Flame to explode. The fiery and vast spiritual energy began to forcibly transcend all the surrounding evil spirits.

In an instant, the fifteen coffins shook together, as if the corpses inside were struggling—but after a few seconds, along with black smoke dissipating, all the potential evil spirits twisted and melted under the power of Su Zhou and the Blade of Annihilation, turning into smoke.

——Whether it's Thunder magic or Yang Flame, both restrain vengeful spirits. Since Su Zhou chose Yang Flame, he wouldn't expose Thunder magic here again.

After purifying the evil spirits, Su Zhou turned around and left—killing one person in ten steps, revenge had ended, so the next thing was naturally to leave without a trace for a thousand miles.

As for the other five Tang family cultivators at the early Awakening level who were trembling in the corner of the main residence, acting like ostriches... they didn't have any resentment wrapped around them, so they shouldn't have killed anyone yet.

For these accomplices who hadn't committed great evil, Su Zhou was too lazy to take action. Anyway, the Zheng Guo officials who sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations would naturally search the Tang family, and these few cultivators would naturally have their own ending. Let the official do the troublesome things.

"Alas, these Tang family cultivators don't even have evil souls. They're clearly at the high Awakening level, but they're not even as good as demon generals... Not completely evil, and not strong enough. Everything is half-baked."

After complaining a few words, Su Zhou walked out of the courtyard gate, and he immediately felt refreshed, even unable to help but hum a little tune—it was really satisfying to avenge his friend!

He heard that some people would be pretentious and say that there's no pleasure in taking revenge on weaklings, but that's really nonsense! It's the happiest to bully weaklings. When Su Zhou plays games, especially games like Ruin Guardians, Hero Federation, and Kings' Glory, he hopes that the opponents are all weaklings. One game is just too enjoyable!

"When I get back, I'll have to ask Qi Ming to treat me to a five-star meal. I must freeload mercilessly! But, it seems like I'm always freeloading?"

Just as Su Zhou was about to leave Tang Village, Yala's quiet voice sounded from the hood above her head: "Are you really not going to kill those five people to silence them? They might tell the authorities your information."

"What I say, I do. If there are consequences, I will bear them myself."

Su Zhou smiled and raised his hand, shaking his finger: "What do you think I'm doing wearing a whole set of height-enhancing equipment and bringing two weapons for? It's to let them report this misleading information!"

"What is said must be done, I said, I will only punish the ringleaders. Of course, only for those who I don't think are so bad. If I encounter heinous cultivators in the Tang family this time, even if they have nothing to do with Qi Ming and Aunt Wen's curse, I will still break my promise and immediately take action."

"After all, I am the Devourer of Evil, who judges freely, hahaha!"

With a clear mind and a hearty laugh, Su Zhou leaped across hundreds of meters, striding home, and Yala couldn't help but chuckle: "The way you say that sounds like a demon."

"What are you talking about? I'm the contractor of you, the 'Great Devil', how could I not be a demon?"

Su Zhou's voice dissipated in the ice, wind, and snow.

Not long after, siren sounds rang out in Heng City.

However, before the Heng City constables and official cultivators arrived at Tang Village.

Along with the unnatural flow and gathering of snowflakes in the air, under the shade of a tree, a figure made of ice crystals and shadows intertwined, silently condensed and took shape, looking at the devastated small garden.

"This is really unexpected... The Tang family was actually destroyed. Tsk, I've said it before, the more you do shady things, the more careful you have to be. Did they get discovered by the authorities?"

After observing for a while, the snowflake shadow's tone carried a hint of uncontrollable surprise, even shock: "Wait, not the Zheng Guo officials. That's right, if they were to take action, they would at least have to wait until this wave of 'spiritual energy celestial phenomenon change' is over... A private feud? But where did they provoke such a near-Transcendent cultivator? I don't even recognize them?!"

Obviously, in this day and age, a near-Transcendent cultivator is as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, and the shadow is very familiar with the aura of those beings.

Sniffing the scent, the shadow calmed down and nodded slightly: "Pure physical explosiveness? This kind of power is at least more than twenty tons. The nature of the spiritual energy is hidden very well, but I still smell a trace of extremely Yang power leaning towards the metal element... Is it a spiritual martial arts ascetic cultivator who cultivates 'Boy's Skill'? Looking at these traces, there must be at least thirty or forty years of exquisite cultivation. It's absolutely impossible to have this kind of physical power without spending so much time polishing the body."

"Pure spiritual martial arts cultivation, to be able to reach this level, is it the inheritance of the 'Only Martial Liu Clan' of Tian Du, or the Buddhist inheritance of 'Indestructible Vajra' or 'Dragon Elephant Prajna'?"

He speculated a lot in his mind, but couldn't find any similar examples, and the shadow couldn't help but shake his head: "Forget it, it has nothing to do with us anyway, it's just a little troublesome."

"Without the Tang family of Xiang Di, it will be difficult to find a better spirit controller to refine hungry ghosts for a while. The headquarters' 'Celestial God Factor' experiment will have to be delayed again."

"Interesting, interesting, although I don't know who it is, this guy who suddenly popped out is really worth paying attention to... But curiosity killed the cat, before the plan is over, it's better not to provoke this kind of suddenly emerging powerful figure."

The last paragraph was almost inaudible. The ice crystal black shadow laughed, and then instantly dissipated, leaving only some snowflakes scattered in the wind.

Not long after, police cars came whistling, bringing the Heng City local constables who were waiting in full battle array, and official cultivators arrived.

"Traces of a high-intensity cultivator fight were discovered, and three high-level Awakening cultivators died... Notify the higher-ups that a near-Transcendent folk cultivator has appeared in Xiang Dong!"

The leading official cultivator was a middle-aged soldier who was decisive in his words and actions, with black hair standing upright like a hedgehog.

The soldier had a stern face, a burly figure, and a unique temperament of the military. After getting out of the car, he immediately strode into the Tang family's residence, and a team of fully armed constables with guns and shields followed him to guard, seemingly ready to shoot at any time.

"The Spiritual Witch Tang family... This is their ancestral land for nurturing spirits. It was directly broken by someone with murderous aura, and all eleven Awakening-level spirits were reduced to ashes. The spirit that was in the process of being awakened was directly purified."

Seeing the devastated scene, with the mansion half-collapsed by the two stone lions, the soldier's pupils shrank slightly: "Such great power? Could it be a pure spiritual martial arts cultivator? But most of the spiritual martial arts cultivators in the south have already been absorbed by the military. Only the northwest and the surrounding areas of the capital have some folk spiritual martial arts inheritances... But it's impossible for them to cultivate such a strong cultivator."

"Hmm... Metal element extreme Yang spiritual energy, is it Vajra Body or Pure Yang Skill? Or the White Tiger martial arts of the northwest?"

After approaching the investigation and perceiving a trace of the aura left by the Blade of Annihilation, he quickly made the same judgment as the frost shadow. The middle-aged soldier strode forward, looking at the corpses of the Tang family's three Awakening cultivators, and looked up at the many coffins in the mansion, a look of anger arose: "I didn't expect that the Tang family was secretly harming people and refining souls on the surface?! Fifteen hungry ghost corpses, when did they kill so many people and accumulate so many spiritual materials—what are they planning to do? Are they rebelling?!"

Not to mention the obvious capital crime of murder, fifteen evil ghost corpses, plus the Tang family's original eleven Awakening-level evil spirits and their own eight Awakening cultivators, the Tang family could come up with thirty-four Awakening levels, including three high-level Awakening... This has exceeded the strength of the official cultivators stationed in Heng City. If they launched an attack, it would be necessary to send additional armed constables, or cultivators from relevant departments to support!

"A major malignant cultivator crime, without leaving any traces, is certainly due to the celestial phenomenon change, but there must also be relevant secret methods to cover up the aura... But to be honest, this is obviously revenge. Did the Tang family provoke a friend of the suspect?"

After defining the nature of the incident, he frowned and picked up the phone, retreated to the rear, and contacted his superiors for intelligence communication, and also let relevant criminal investigators step forward to explore other clues.

At this time, the appearance of a near-Transcendent cultivator is a major event that is enough to directly reach the Holy Seat!

About an hour later, the collection of clues came to a temporary end, and the relevant profile of the suspect appeared in the report.

[Tang Village Malignant Cultivator Murder Case]

[Based on the shoe size and weight estimate, the suspect is about 1.9 to 2 meters tall, fluctuating 5 centimeters, weighs more than 210 kilograms, has a strong figure, and extremely developed muscles. It is highly likely that he is a spiritual martial arts cultivator, and the cultivation time is likely to exceed thirty years.]

[The suspect's spiritual attribute is biased towards extreme Yang metal element, has extremely strong material destruction ability, and his cultivation is at the peak of the Awakening level]

[The suspect's attack is direct and powerful, a fatal blow, and he left directly after purifying the evil spirit, without silencing the remaining five Tang family Awakening cultivators]

[Psychological profiling indicates a male cultivator in his forties or fifties, proficient in human vital points and striking techniques, possibly a relevant combat professional, often goes to the gym, and his personality should be direct, taciturn, has a certain amount of militarized training experience and a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder]

The psychological portrait is of a tall man with short black hair, a neat beard, a stern and deep face, and deep eyes. He has a burly and strong figure and a indifferent temperament.

And at this moment, Su Zhou, who is 178 in height, weighs 120, and looks like an ordinary student on the surface, has already returned home humming a little tune.

This argumentative obsessive-compulsive disorder patient is now in the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife and spiritual plant fruits brought back from the Divine Wood World in one hand, and happily opening his phone in the other, preparing to draw a wave of mobile games while taking advantage of the good opportunity of successful revenge.

"Ancient Ark, Azure Rainbow Fantasy!"

"Two ten-draws!"

Ding-ling-ling——The wonderful out-of-stock sound effect sounded. Su Zhou, who originally thought it was another blue and white, couldn't help but widen his eyes and looked at the phone with a shocked and happy expression: "Heaven! Four Rainbows! Three Six Stars! My luck is as bright as a rainbow!"

"Does doing good deeds and acting chivalrously give you luck? Then I really have to do more of this kind of thing!"

Whether it was because his luck was too bad before, and now things have turned around, or because good people are really rewarded, Su Zhou was very happy.

He put his phone back in his pocket, and then prepared to start cooking a long-lost meal under Yala's guidance to celebrate the double happiness.

As for the ingredients, of course, they were the spiritual plants from the Divine Wood World!