Chapter 1 Good Heavens, It Really Is You

I pondered in secret. It really was that organization.

Ever since I escaped from the Congregation of the Holy Serpent's sacrificial ceremony two years ago, I'd been wondering if this old and mysterious organization might retaliate against us survivors, and I'd been secretly on guard for possible attackers.

However, they hadn't done anything so far.

Although I had considered that their elites were wiped out and the remaining members didn't know the specific identities of the survivors, given Su Zhou's activity and the in-depth investigations into Su Zhou's background by various major powers, it should only be a matter of time before the Holy Serpent Congregation learned of this, or even already realized it. And I would certainly be exposed as a result.

As for why they would come to me...

The Congregation of the Holy Serpent probably sensed the extraordinary relationship between the Great Existence, Yala, and Su Zhou. After all, the Great Existence they worshiped was right above my friend's head, so they wanted to test the waters?

And not many people knew about the relationship between the Great Existence and Su Zhou. I just happened to know.

Of course, the Congregation might not know that I knew. The reason they came to me like this was probably because they valued the fact that I was also present at the time and might know relevant details.

I guess they wouldn't have thought that Su Zhou would actually tell me about this kind of thing. But what they didn't expect even more was that I was the one who recited the invocation, allowing Yala to use her power and save Su Zhou's life.

Theoretically, I was the first human in this world to communicate with Yala's true form. If it were any other mysterious organization or religion, I could be the first pope. Of course, Su Zhou would be the Covenant Keeper, a being of the Son of God rank.

Thinking only took a moment. In reality, 014 didn't waste any words, but rather sincerely explained their purpose in general terms.

The narration was convoluted and extremely complex, mixed with many verbal probes and hints. According to 014, he was an ordinary core member of the Congregation—whoever believed that was a fool; this person was definitely a high-level figure—and their purpose was to establish a relationship with Su Zhou, who might… no, definitely possessed the 'Blood of Immortality'.

"If possible, it wouldn't even be impossible for Su Zhou to become the leader of our organization, even if it's just a nominal leader."

014's tone was respectful. His words were sincere. I immediately felt that his tone sounded as if he had been beaten up by Su Zhou. But I had never heard of such a thing. It was really strange, since he would brag to me on WeChat every time he beat some noteworthy enemy.

And then, he continued, "However, we also know that this is impossible, so we have shifted our target to you."

To sum up, 014 meant that the Holy Serpent Congregation had lost most of its elites, but still retained considerable power. But for some reason, they could no longer contact the Great Existence they worshiped.

And according to ancient books, the only possibility for such a thing to occur was that the 'Holy Favor' had been transferred from them, the holders of the *Holy Serpent Scripture*, to Su Zhou, the holder of the Blood of Immortality, causing them to lose the connection to communicate with the Great Existence in the void.

In order to continue to maintain contact, they had to get involved with Su Zhou. Su Zhou's fan club, in a sense, was Su Zhou's organization. In other words, in terms of mysticism and causality, Su Zhou's fan club was equivalent to the original Holy Serpent Congregation. Although it sounded absurd, it wasn't without reason, especially since I really knew how close the relationship between Su Zhou and Yala was. These people had really stumbled upon the truth.

In short, as long as 014 became the highest manager of the fan club, then he would be equivalent to regaining the channel to communicate with the Great Existence of the Holy Serpent through Su Zhou's causality. This was also why he wanted to hypnotize me before, to make me willingly work hard in my cultivation and hand over the authority.

Although the process was quite tortuous, I didn't hear any loopholes in it. After all, I really lacked knowledge in this area. There was nothing embarrassing about admitting it.

"Why should I agree?"

In the end, I said, deliberately adding a hint of anger to my tone, "You have to know, I almost became a blood sacrifice for your organization—and you just tried to hypnotize me."

"An apology is weak, I am willing to offer sincerity."

014's tone was sincere. "Since you have already discovered my purpose, then let's change the method. Mr. Shao, would you be willing to join our Holy Serpent Congregation?"

"Although we are indeed much weaker than we were at our peak, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. Our resources are enough to supply you to quickly advance to the high-level Transcendent stage and catch up with your friend."

"Right now, you are just attached to Su Zhou... Don't you want to quickly catch up with your friend and become his assistant? We can give you a way to improve quickly. Although we can't say you'll catch up with Su Zhou, we can at least greatly reduce the gap between you."

From the beginning, 014 had been repeatedly hinting in his words that they felt that I, as Su Zhou's friend, had been left behind by my old friend, and therefore would feel anxious and eager to catch up with him quickly.

Even, to feel a hint of jealousy.

This was indeed a very reasonable guess. A slightly normal person would indeed have this kind of thought—a good friend who used to play together equally suddenly soared into the sky, while they remained on the ground. The other party's constant support, while giving them benefits, made them an appendage of the other party in terms of status, and the identities were no longer equal.

The jealousy and anxiety caused by this contrast were human weaknesses that were extremely difficult to avoid.

However, if I were to be jealous, I would have been jealous when Su Zhou was jumping around in front of me while I could only take a few steps before gasping for breath. And at that time, Su Zhou would carry me or help me push my wheelchair, so I stopped being jealous of him a long time ago.

014's purpose had not changed. He now planned to provide resources to support my cultivation, and hand over the authority of the highest administrator to him. And they only needed this causality, and the fan club management would still do its best. This was equivalent to spending a considerable amount of resources to buy a channel to communicate with the Great Existence, and I didn't have to pay anything. It was a win-win situation.

For Su Zhou, all of this was irrelevant. He wouldn't care about the fan group. For Yala, it was naturally the same. Anyway, it was Her main body in the void that was responding to the call. For me, I could get resources and didn't have to manage anything. It was simply a blood profit. For the Congregation, paying to buy causality was at least profitable.

So, when I expressed the idea of 'whatever', I could see the obvious astonishment on 014's face.

"How could this be?" he said in disbelief. "Don't you feel anxious? Especially since Su Zhou has recently shown the tyranny and ferocity hidden in the 'Blood of Immortality', which can be seen from the video of him eating the *Gui Che* raw that's circulating online. It's difficult for him to suppress that subversion and desire for destruction that originates from the Great Existence, from Chaos, and we, the Congregation, have a way to curb this desire!"

"Aren't you afraid that one day, Su Zhou will really abandon you, his former friends, and walk the path of Chaos alone… or even become a demon king who subverts the order of this world?"

He originally thought that after he made the advantages and disadvantages clear, I would probably soften my attitude a bit, or at least consider reaching a certain cooperative relationship with the Congregation. Even if we didn't cooperate, they could at least create a small nail in my heart. If it didn't work, they could find an opportunity to continue communicating and bewitching me next time. He never expected that my thoughts would be so simple and decisive.

Mainly, they had made a mistake from the very beginning—they had completely misunderstood Su Zhou's nature.

"You're completely wrong."

I shook my head and sighed to 014, "Su Zhou is so kind and gentle, even soft-hearted and tender. Where is he tyrannical and ferocious?"

014: "?"

I noticed 014's bewildered expression and couldn't help but shake my head. The world always has great misunderstandings about Su Zhou. I didn't expect 014, as a member of an old and mysterious organization, to be no exception.

So I could only patiently and thoroughly explain, "Think about it, Su Zhou didn't even eat the *Gui Che* raw in front of its children, or eat its children in front of the *Gui Che*. He didn't beat the *Gui Che* half to death, put it on a rack to roast, brush it with oil, brush it with chili peppers, and sprinkle it with cumin and pepper—how can this be called tyrannical and ferocious?"

"Ending the *Gui Che*'s life in one bite, so gentle, so soft-hearted, giving that kind of beast a quick death. I often sigh with regret, feeling that Su Zhou has too much compassion for all things in the world after gaining power."

014: "??"

At this time, I fell into memories. "Thinking back, Su Zhou has always been so gentle. When he encountered human traffickers as a child, he only thought about knocking them unconscious and sending them to the police. It was only after I reminded him of the pain that human traffickers' actions would bring to so many families, and how ugly human nature is, that he suddenly realized and broke their hands and feet."

"And there was that middle-aged man we encountered on the way, who abused a young girl to death, and also tried to abuse us during his escape. If I hadn't reminded Su Zhou that we were acting in self-defense, he probably would have held back and only broken the other party's legs, instead of beating him into a high paraplegic, so that he would never have the opportunity to continue to harm children."

Sighing, I said regretfully, "Come to think of it, if Su Zhou had really killed him at that time, perhaps it would have attracted the attention of the country's Transcendent authorities. In that case, fate would have changed. I don't know if it would have been good or bad."

"I didn't have the strength when I was a child, so I could only ask my friend to help me. Thinking about it carefully, I am already much better than I was back then. Now, why should I be anxious because my friend has surpassed me?"

014: "Wait, you..."

This guy, 014, looked at me with a look as if he were seeing something terrible. And I naturally knew what he wanted to say.

Everyone often says that one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black. However, many people can't tell who is the ink and who is the water that is stained black, and even reverse the relationship between the two.

Of course, it is also possible that both sides are ink... Who knows.

Anyway, no one can expect a person who is born weak to be mentally healthy and positive, right?

"I am Shao Qiming."

In response to 014's shock, I nodded and smiled. "And what's wrong with my friend Su Zhou becoming a demon king? Let's not talk about how he's not cut out for it. If he really becomes one, then I can be his prime minister. After all, this demon king is always too gentle and needs me to advise him."

"And, the time is almost up." I lowered my head and looked at my watch, saying.

"What time?" 014 subconsciously asked, but then, his face immediately turned pale.

=========

"What time?"

Through the Serpent Possession technique, Crocell, the new leader of the Holy Serpent Congregation who was controlling a clone body, subconsciously asked Shao Qiming. But then, he immediately thought of something.

"Damn it, I've been stalling for time!"

Originally, Crocell's plan was indeed to use various methods, hints, or even bewitchment, to make Shao Qiming, Su Zhou's rare friend, give up the management of Su Zhou's fan club, so that he could accept and obtain the causality related to Su Zhou.

Originally, it would be best to directly use Su Zhou's body tissue or blood, but after being directly detected by the other party during the last time in the Kunlun Secret Realm, and even almost tracing the Serpent Possession technique to find his main body, Crocell completely abandoned all plans directly related to Su Zhou and started with his relatives and friends.

Parents, although seemingly simple, are actually unwise. Even goodwill will bring about evil results. Crocell didn't want the Holy Serpent Congregation to start a full-scale war with Su Zhou, but rather to seek a secret cooperation. So it's best not to attack such sensitive people... In that case, the members of Su Zhou's team, as well as his friends, would be good choices.

And Shao Qiming, this gentle and wealthy young master, Su Zhou's friend from childhood, was the best target.

Crocell originally thought that he could start from several aspects, secretly, or through resource transactions, to arouse Shao Qiming's competitive spirit and make him concentrate on his cultivation. In that case, relying on the connections in mysticism, he would be able to regain the channel to communicate with the Great Existence. Moreover, in this way, he would also be able to consolidate his position as the leader of the Holy Serpent Congregation.

However, he never expected that Shao Qiming, this seemingly refined and approachable ordinary person, was essentially a guy comparable to Su Zhou, or even more depraved!

-- Misjudging the personality of the bewitched, a miscalculation of miscalculations!

And just as he realized that something was wrong and tried to directly disconnect the Serpent Possession technique, Shao Qiming had already made his move.

Having eaten two Wisdom Fruits, and with a good innate talent, Shao Qiming has already broken through to the Transcendent stage some time ago. And he specializes in wood-attribute and light-attribute spiritual energy. He also specializes in cultivating the soul, nourishing his spirit with wood qi and yang qi, which is a characteristic of the cultivation method that Su Zhou gave him.

It could be seen that as Shao Qiming slightly raised his hand, bent his fingers, and made a secret mudra, and a faint cyan divine light lit up in his eyes, the body of 014, a Serpent Possession clone possessing some high-level Transcendent power, was frozen in his soul by a spiritual power that surpassed that of an ordinary Transcendent stage. His soul time was temporarily frozen.

This was a secret method that Shao Qiming had been accumulating since the beginning of arriving at the teahouse. He was always cautious. In addition to this secret method, he also had several reactive defensive magic items in his arms, and even a communication magic circle that could directly notify Su Zhou. And this magic circle had already been quietly activated by him at the moment when 014 showed a surprised expression.

In the next second, with a burst of lightning, the window was cut out by a thick spiritual power. Su Zhou, who almost never entered through the front door, arrived in the elegant seat of this teahouse.

"Next time you encounter this kind of suspicious thing, you can just call me over."

He complained to his friend, casually picked up a cup of tea from the table, took a sip, and frowned slightly. Su Zhou then took out a can of sugar from somewhere and added two spoonfuls to it. "Although I know that you can't get information out of him with me here, I can just torture him severely and force him to confess."

Leave the bitter things for the enemy to drink.

Hot tea with sugar, God knows how strange it tastes, but Su Zhou likes this taste.

"You can also search the soul." Shao Qiming shrugged in response. "Moreover, he is very vigilant. If you wanted to come, he wouldn't use this body, but would hire someone else to meet offline. I'm trying to dispel his vigilance."

Without saying much, the two had a tacit understanding that didn't require too much communication. Su Zhou looked at 014, who was completely shrouded in his spiritual power and had completely sealed all of the other party's spiritual qi, so that even the Serpent Possession technique couldn't be cut off. He showed a friendly and kind smile. "Friend, tell me, who exactly are you?"

"Moreover, I smell a familiar scent on you."

-- To be severely tortured, forced to confess, and soul-searched by these two people?

"No need to force me, I'll confess."

After quickly breaking free from Shao Qiming's mental secret technique, Crocell only took 0.01 seconds to think before making a decision. He simply and neatly knelt on the ground, and then raised his hands to surrender faster than a Frenchman. "Don't worry—I'll tell you everything."