Monsters Die When Killed

August 8, 2014, 7:20 PM.

The weather in Hongzhou was unpredictable. It had been bright and sunny at noon, but by the afternoon, the sky had turned partly cloudy. Now, in the evening, it was completely overcast, the air thick with moisture.

Inside the Su Family home, a phone rang.

"I’m fine. Sigh, purifying that Demon took a while. You know how that thing self-destructs when it dies, right? I had to take it slow with the Purification to make sure no innocent bystanders got hurt."

"Yeah, no problem. Thanks for covering for me. I’ll definitely make it to the next get-together. Check the time and hurry over. We can grab dinner after this. It’ll probably start raining if we’re any later."

After hanging up with Shao Qiming, Su Zhou—who had returned home during the afternoon lull in foot traffic—found himself in a predicament as he stared at the fist-sized ball of black light before him.

’This Evil Soul looks so grimy. Not very appetizing.’

The spoils from killing the Dusk True Demon weren’t as plentiful as those from the Wood Centipede. According to Yara, this was because the True Demon hadn’t finished its transformation. For the greatest reward, he should have waited for it to devour a few more people, fully mature, and warp into its complete form before killing it. Doing so would have yielded an Evil Demon Crystal plus some Extraordinary Materials.

But Su Zhou couldn’t stand the monster, which smelled even worse than frog piss, and he certainly wasn’t going to let it kill people just for some Extraordinary Materials.

Because he had dispatched it so cleanly and decisively, he had only managed to harvest a single Evil Demon Crystal.

’Sigh... I may love the Spiritual Energy Revival, but these Evil Demons... I’ll just have to do my best to hunt them down.’

Pushing aside his pointless sentimentality, Su Zhou turned his attention back to his spoils.

Like the Wood Centipede’s, the essence of the Dusk True Demon’s Evil Demon Crystal contained a trace of a Great Being’s will. Yara had already stripped that will away and stored it in the "Celestial God Seal" as a backup traversal coordinate, along with the Wood Centipede’s aura.

Unlike the Divine Tree behind the Wood Centipede, this "Dusk" thing had no use other than total destruction. Using it casually, at least at Su Zhou’s level, would be suicidal.

The Dusk World behind it was what Yara called a "garbage heap"—not only was it devoid of anything meaningful, but it was also crawling with Dusk True Demons. It was a place best avoided.

Right now, the ruby-red Evil Demon Crystal was soaking in high-concentration Holy Water to purify the filth and resentment within. Yara, exhausted from extracting the Dusk Divine Thought, was now asleep, draped over a branch of the Wisdom Tree.

In a little while, Su Zhou would pour this Spiritual Liquid on the Wisdom Tree to make it bear fruit.

’Should I eat it, or use it for an Enchantment...’

As for the Evil Soul, Su Zhou was caught in a bout of indecisiveness, unsure whether to eat it or use it for an Enchantment.

According to the instinctual feedback from his Evil-Devouring Demon Lord Divine Technique, an Enchantment of the "Mad Spirit" would allow a weapon to inflict a minor mental shock upon hitting an enemy. If applied to armor, it would reflect a small mental shock back at an attacker.

If enchanted onto an accessory, it could resist a portion of incoming Mental Attacks.

All in all, since the Dusk True Demon’s soul rank was only between Spirit Awakening and Awakening, the effect wouldn’t be very potent.

Su Zhou estimated that the mental damage from a Mad Spirit Enchantment was about the same as the Exorcism Array, or maybe even a little weaker. If he absolutely had to use an Enchantment, the Dark Earth Vein Crystal from the Wood Centipede Nest was a much better alternative.

Most importantly, its special effect involved wisps of black gas and writhing, sludge-like tentacles, which was just plain ugly and clashed with Su Zhou’s own righteous aura.

If it didn’t look so unappetizing, Su Zhou would have eaten it already.

’Forget it. I’ll just eat it and see.’

Despite his look of disgust, after mulling it over, Su Zhou swallowed the ball of light in one gulp.

Souls don’t have a texture. With a single swallow, the black Evil Soul instantly disintegrated into countless Soul Fragments and dispersed throughout Su Zhou’s entire body.

A warm, pleasant sensation, like drinking a cup of coffee mixed with hot cocoa, suffused his organs. The warmth eventually gathered, flowed up his spine to his brain, and then sank into his Soul... He closed his eyes. A comfortable, relaxing clarity with a faint, bittersweet fragrance spread through his body, sweeping away all his mental fatigue.

"This feeling..."

As he let out a satisfied sigh, blue-violet patterns flickered faintly on both sides of his head. A pure Spiritual Power spread out, strengthening his Soul.

Su Zhou could feel that his Soul had grown a little stronger. Likewise, his Spiritual Energy and Spiritual Power had also increased slightly—an apparent chain reaction from his Soul’s Enhancement.

"So Evil Souls taste like drinks?"

Su Zhou melted into the couch with a look of blissful satisfaction. "If that’s the case, I wonder what other Evil Souls taste like... The black one was like a slightly bitter mocha. What about the other colors?"

’Wait, what if I run into one that tastes like white snake grass water... No, no! That’s too unlucky!’

He quickly squashed that possibility and turned his attention to the changes in his Soul Body.

Taste aside, on paper, eating the Dusk True Demon’s Evil Soul had increased Su Zhou’s mental resistance. In practice, this meant his Soul had become stronger and harder to affect with mental shocks.

If he were to face the Spirit Secret Technique that the Shan Country tour guide had used back then, it would probably have no effect on him now. At most, it would feel like being poked with a cotton ball.

This also went to show that the Dusk True Demons’ greatest strength lay in their Souls.

This was perfectly normal for the Dusk Series, which had no physical bodies and relied on possessing and warping other lifeforms to cause destruction.

’It’s about time to get down to business.’

After eating the Evil Soul, Su Zhou savored the feeling of his newfound strength for a moment before standing up. He looked at the Evil Demon Core soaking in translucent Holy Water inside a Purple Crystal Bottle.

The ruby-like, blood-colored Evil Demon Core had now almost completely dissolved in the high-concentration Holy Water. The contents of the bottle looked like red wine and exuded an aura that cleared the mind and soothed the Soul. (500ml Holy Water: 10 large calories, 9800 Essence Spiritual Power recovery, powerful divine Purification effect)

The Wood Centipede’s Evil Demon Core contained a large amount of high-purity Wood Element Spirit Energy. Since Wood fuels Fire, it corresponded perfectly to Su Zhou’s Spiritual Attribute. The Dusk True Demon’s Spiritual Qi, however, was purely yin and soul-aligned, without any particular attribute. Using it to water the similarly attributeless Wisdom Tree was a perfect match.

Picking up the bottle of reddish, somewhat viscous Spiritual Liquid, Su Zhou walked into his room and, without any hesitation, poured it onto the Wisdom Tree.

[Mmm~ Good!]

He could hear the Wisdom Tree’s pleased voice, along with an invigorating encouragement!

The blood-red Spiritual Liquid looked quite thick, but in reality, not a single drop was left behind. It all poured cleanly from the bottle onto the Wisdom Tree.

Whether it touched the leaves or the trunk, the Wisdom Tree absorbed the Spiritual Liquid as it rolled over, like water being poured on a desert that had been dry for millennia. Every trace of Spiritual Qi vanished in an instant. Then, wherever the liquid had passed, a pure white radiance bloomed like the first light of dawn, releasing a rich aura of life.

The moment all the Spiritual Liquid was absorbed, the Wisdom Tree Essence Soul connected to Su Zhou’s Soul became enveloped in a gentle layer of white light—holy, pure, and brilliant. Encircling Runes covered its surface, causing the tiny thing to sprout branches and grow larger over the next few seconds!

And as the sapling-like Essence Soul grew, wisps of white light gathered at the ends of its branches. Countless radiant patterns poured into the two budding fruits, gradually turning them into pure, solid forms!

A moment later, a new, slightly larger Wisdom Tree Essence Soul appeared in Su Zhou’s Soul Space. And in the real world, two crystalline, translucent "fruits" that seemed to be made of light now hung from the branches of the Wisdom Tree Pot Plant.

It was neither an apple nor a fig, but simply a fruit of light, constantly shifting and shimmering. Illusions flickered within the flowing light, as if reflecting countless future possibilities.

"Well, well, they’re ripe."

Just then, Yara, who was hanging from a branch of the Wisdom Tree, was awakened by the intense fluctuation of Spiritual Qi. It looked around and immediately understood. "These Basic Wisdom Fruits are growing quite nicely. Congratulations, Su Zhou. You can finally get rid of your greatest weakness."

"I’m not happy at all to be congratulated like that."

Feeling like he was being mocked indirectly, Su Zhou held out his hand and let the Snake Spirit slither back onto his body. He looked at the Wisdom Tree with its two hanging fruits, his heart filled with a pure and simple joy, like an old farmer seeing a bountiful harvest.

Sigh, the joys of a Transcendent are often just that simple, unadorned, and tedious.

’Two fruits. For Wisdom Fruits of this tier, one is enough for one person. Any more is useless.’

’The other one is for Qiming. After all, I really owe him for the Orbit materials, the Night Travel Clothes, and all that other miscellaneous stuff.’

’The college entrance exams are coming up. Even if I gave it to Mom and Dad, they’d probably just give it back to us... Anyway, as long as there’s enough Evil Demon blood, the fruits will keep growing. No need to worry about just this one.’

Planning this out in his mind, Su Zhou smiled faintly. He raised his hand, ready to pluck a fruit from the branch and eat it.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, Yara’s sharp cry interrupted Su Zhou’s movement. He instantly retracted his hand and looked at the Snake Spirit, startled and confused.

"Do you even know how to pick a Divine Wood Fruit? You’re just going to grab it with your bare hands?"

"Oh, right."

Yara shook its head with a look of "I’m so disappointed in you," making Su Zhou feel deeply ashamed. ’Never mind anything else, isn’t the Ginseng Fruit a perfect example? It would only fall when it touched metal. Reaching for it so rashly was truly thoughtless of me!’

Just as Su Zhou was about to ask what taboos and techniques were involved in picking a Wisdom Fruit, he saw Yara leap gracefully onto a branch of the Wisdom Tree, extend its tail, and twist the fruit off with a flick.

The Snake Spirit hung from the tree, its tail extended, holding the fruit that seemed to be made of pure light out to Su Zhou.

"...?"

Su Zhou blankly reached out and took the fruit, a gentle warmth like sunlight filling his hand. He looked down at the fruit, then looked up at Yara’s solemn expression, repeating this several times.

After a long moment, it dawned on him. With a twitch at the corner of his eye, he finally understood.

"Wait, you just wanted to do it again, to cosplay as yourself?!"

"What else?"