"Don’t get the wrong idea. I have no intention of avenging him."

Gu Zheng continued, "If you do kill him, you might have a use for this Heaven-Covering Leaf."

WHOOSH~

With a flick of his wrist, Gu Zheng sent a Heaven-Covering Leaf sailing toward Zuo Lingfeng, enveloped in his Divine Wondrous power.

Zuo Lingfeng raised a hand and caught it.

"A Heaven-Covering Leaf lets you ignore Domain rules and can also block Divinations. Each leaf is good for one use."

Gu Zheng explained, "If the King of Baoshan uses Divination and Deduction to find Zhong Tiande’s killer, this leaf can conceal you once."

The Substitute Death Paperman’s ability was on par with, if not superior to, the Heaven-Covering Leaf’s.

Gu Zheng had plenty of Heaven-Covering Leaves, so giving one away was a good way to befriend Zuo Lingfeng.

People who genuinely helped the common folk were a rare sight.

"...Thanks."

Zuo Lingfeng clutched the Heaven-Covering Leaf, fell silent for a moment, and offered his quiet thanks.

With that said, he turned and strode away.

’So he’s really going to kill Zhong Tiande!’

’What kind of grudge could it be?’

Gu Zheng chuckled to himself.

The Substitute Death Paperman, a Marvel, could be used by anyone. All it took was a drop of Essence Blood.

Carrying it was like having an extra life.

Gu Zheng immediately dripped a drop of his Essence Blood onto the paperman, and it was absorbed.

Visibly, the paperman turned translucent, clung to Gu Zheng, and then vanished.

Gu Zheng took a couple of steps. He felt no discomfort; it was as if the paperman didn’t exist.

Only with a faint sense could he perceive it attached to the surface of his body.

Substitute Death Paperman.

Thunder Storage.

’With these two together, I have even less to fear from the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends!’

...

SWOOSH~

With a tap of his toes, Gu Zheng flew off in search of the aura of Demon Fiends.

Two streets away, a border area came into view.

Atop a pile of rubble, Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends were descending from a tall, pitch-black mountain, advancing with a CRACK, CRACK.

SWISH!

A line of blade light sliced out.

PFFT~ PFFT~

"BANG!"

The front row of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends—all at the first-tier Iron Bone level—had their skulls shattered on the spot, their skeletons collapsing to the ground.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +10]

[Demon Points +9]

...

"Again!"

Gu Zheng, holding his saber, gestured to the other Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends.

"ROAR~"

"ROAR!"

The group of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends flew into a rage. As they roared, arcs of electricity shot from their bodies, pulling in the current from the air to form a beam of light that pierced the void, heading straight for Gu Zheng.

Gu Zheng rolled up his sleeve, exposing his arm, and held it up in front of him.

"CRACKLE~!"

Amidst the flashing electricity, the incoming beam of lightning sank into his arm and vanished in the blink of an eye.

His Thunder Storage ability had absorbed the lightning beams completely.

Through his internal Shadow-Vision, Gu Zheng could clearly sense a slight increase in his physique.

As for his Spirit, there was almost no change.

But he was now at the Union realm. As his physique grew, his Divine Wondrous power and Spirit would automatically increase along with it; the enhancement was just too small to notice.

"Again!"

Clapping his hands, Gu Zheng waved at the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends again and shouted, "Don’t hold back! You guys in the back, don’t just watch! Discharge your electricity all at once!"

"ROAR!!"

The group of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends roared in shock and anger.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

More than half of the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends unleashed arcs of electricity in unison, crossing a hundred meters to strike Gu Zheng.

"CRACKLE~"

FZZT! FZZT! FZZT!

With his arm held out, Gu Zheng was baptized by one lightning beam after another, absorbing them all.

He himself was motionless; only his arm stirred.

The aura from his growing physique began to change.

But the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends didn’t see this, nor could they sense it from a hundred meters away.

Seeing Gu Zheng withstand their lightning assault all by himself, the other Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends in the back quickly surged forward to replace the first wave and unleash their own lightning.

"CRACKLE~"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Arcs of electricity shot out, and the muffled sound of explosions echoed ceaselessly for a time.

Gu Zheng’s arms were nearly submerged in lightning, and his entire aura was pushed to its peak.

All the lightning passed through his arms, surged into his body, and converted into energy, helping his physique grow continuously.

This time, Gu Zheng could clearly sense his strength, Spirit, and Divine Wondrous power all increasing. Although it was slow, the feeling of getting stronger just by standing still was incredible.

Adding points resulted in an instant breakthrough; it was fast, but you didn’t feel much.

But improving through Thunder Storage allowed him to feel the process of becoming stronger the entire time.

"ROAR~"

"ROAR!!"

Gu Zheng stood motionless, not even staggering, and all the shooting arcs of electricity seemed to simply vanish.

From a hundred meters away, the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends finally reacted, realizing something was wrong.

The next moment, the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends stopped discharging electricity and charged toward Gu Zheng, brandishing various Bone Artifacts.

WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~

A scorching gust of wind, carrying the smell of burning, rushed toward him.

Gu Zheng lowered his arms. Watching the rapidly charging Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends, he sighed softly, "Well, this isn’t fun anymore."

SWISH~!

A line of blade light swept out, cutting horizontally and vertically.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

The skulls of the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends charging at the very front immediately shattered.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +9]

[Demon Points +7]

...

SWISH! SWISH~!

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

Another swath of blade light tore through the air and engulfed the second row of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends. This group was pitch-black, their Iron Bones gleaming.

But in the next second, their Iron Bones shattered, skeletons scattered to the ground, and their skulls cracked open.

Spirit Capturing!

Spirit Capturing!

Gu Zheng stood in place, killing and performing Spirit Capturing from a distance, acquiring Demon Points.

In just a few slashes, of the two hundred-plus charging Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends, only a dozen or so were left alive.

This dozen immediately turned and fled.

"Don’t run!"

Gu Zheng called out, chasing after them.

"ROAR~!"

Hearing his voice, the fleeing Iron Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends saw Gu Zheng chasing them and immediately ran even faster.

CRACKLE~

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Amidst flashes of electricity, the dozen or so Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends shot off, rushing back to the foot of the thousand-zhang-tall black mountain.

VROOOM~!

Gu Zheng burst forward, reaching the foot of the mountain in a single sprint.

"ROAR~!"

The dozen or so Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends shrieked in terror, flashed with electricity again, and ran for the mountain peak.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH~

"CRACKLE!"

The arcs of electricity flickered, blindingly bright.

"What a waste."

Chasing behind them, Gu Zheng shook his head as he watched the dissipating lightning.

WHOOSH!

He abruptly accelerated, catching up to the dozen fleeing Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends.

SWISH!

A Sword Gang swept past.

The skulls of the dozen Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends shattered into pieces, their internal Soul Fires extinguished.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +11]

[Demon Points +8]

...

"ROAR!!"

An enraged roar came from overhead.

From the mountain forest ahead, three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends, wreathed in arcs of crackling electricity, rushed before Gu Zheng.

WHOOSH!

BANG~

The appearing Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends attacked Gu Zheng, either swinging their Bone Artifacts or striking out with their bare bone palms.

SWISH!

Gu Zheng raised his hand and slashed with his saber.

"PFFT~"

"CRACK! CRACK!"

With two strange sounds, the three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends had their arms chopped off one after another, their bodies staggering.

"Come on, discharge your electricity!"

Gu Zheng took two steps back and beckoned to the three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends. "Attack me with your electricity."

"..."

"ROAR!!"

The three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends roared in shock and anger.

CRACKLE~

A series of electric arcs shot toward Gu Zheng.

Gu Zheng raised his arm, endured the baptism of lightning, and then absorbed and converted it to strengthen his physique.

"Again!"

"..." The three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends were dumbfounded, utterly stunned.

After coming to their senses, they decisively turned to flee. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Running again?"

Gu Zheng sighed and swung his saber, sending out three lines of blade light that tore through the air and caught up with the three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

After a series of strange sounds, the three Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends were reduced to fragments on the ground.

Their skulls and skeletons all turned to pieces.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +23]

[Demon Points +21]

...

He obtained all of their Bloodshed and Demon Essence through Absorption.

’I wanted to keep them around to discharge electricity, but they ran away.’

’If they run, there’s nothing to be done.’

After a moment of reflection, Gu Zheng continued up the mountain.

This pitch-black mountain had trees and flowers, but all the plants were black. Even the pistils and blades of grass were jet-black.

Wherever he went, there were no other colors.

A burnt smell hung in the air, like the aftereffect of countless lightning strikes.

The number of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends, however, was not very high.

Gu Zheng searched for a while but didn’t encounter any more.

Instead, he ran into several Demon Fiends that resembled sludge and had soft, liquid-like bodies.

These Demon Fiends, just like Gu Zheng, were able to absorb the stray arcs of electricity in the air!

Gu Zheng killed them, but the Demon Points he received were in the single digits.

’They’re electricity thieves!’

Gu Zheng shook his head and stopped heading up.

He could sense that there were quite a few Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends from the halfway point of the mountain and up, but they were all hiding.

Hiding from his approach!

This great mountain seemed to have some kind of connection with the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends.

The Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends could pinpoint Gu Zheng’s location.

As a result, wherever Gu Zheng searched, the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends would hide in advance.

Their method of hiding was also quite special: they burrowed into the ground and moved about underground!

While Gu Zheng flew over the surface, the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends moved beneath it.

Chasing them with this hiding method was a complete waste of effort.

Gu Zheng decisively turned and left.

After Gu Zheng left the mountain.

CRACK~ CRACK~

In a ravine above the halfway point of the mountain, Steel Bone Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends began to emerge from the ground.

"He’s gone."

"He’s finally gone. Are all humans this strong?"

"No, it’s just this one human who is strong. Even I, a Silver Bone, am no match for him."

"Aren’t you a coward?"

"Screw you! You’re the coward! That human is also a Silver Bone-level expert!"

"..."

A group of Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends gathered, discussing and arguing in their own language.

As Demon Fiends, being forced to hide from a single human was a complete and utter embarrassment.

...

Returning to Mu’en Prefecture City, Gu Zheng slowed his pace and searched the streets.

He had chased the Thunderous Bone Demon Fiends into hiding; they wouldn’t dare come down the mountain and enter the city again anytime soon.

’I should use this time to find the Rule Array as quickly as possible...’

THUD! THUD! THUD!

A series of heavy footsteps suddenly came from his left.

With a tap of his toes, Gu Zheng leaped into the air and landed on a rooftop.

SWISH~ SWISH~

Dashing across the rooftops for some distance, he saw a three-meter-tall stone statue of a person running rapidly down the street as if it were alive.

A reanimated statue could have been classified as a Marvel.

But this statue was flickering with a seven-colored light!

That’s right, the Rule Array Hub.

The Rule Array Hub that Gu Zheng had been looking for was actually running down the street!