Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 59 - 35: Twin Divine Trees

Su Zhou wasted no time with words. He reached out and pressed his hand against Shao Qiming’s chest.

His Spiritual Power surged, pouring into the Cross fragment on his chest and awakening the Spiritual Energy dormant within.

Spiritual Power and Spiritual Energy.

If Spiritual Power was the universal Extraordinary Power that permeated the entire world, the entire Cosmos, then Spiritual Energy was a specialized and concentrated form of Spiritual Power with unique, personal characteristics.

Like ink dyeing water, Spiritual Energy could convert Attributeless Spiritual Power into a form similar to itself. It was, in essence, a unique energy converter exclusive to each individual—a tangible product of the spiritual law known as the ’True Spirit of All Realms’.

To put it in simpler terms, Spiritual Power is like True Qi, Spiritual Energy is like a Spirit Root, and a more concentrated True Spirit is a Golden Core or Nascent Soul.

And now, as Su Zhou’s Spiritual Power poured into the Cross fragment, it touched the Holy Artifact’s Spiritual Energy. A pure, holy white light flared up in an instant, sweeping over Shao Qiming’s entire body.

The light easily—one might even say, naturally—cleansed away all the hidden, stagnant energy!

POP. The stubborn black specks of Negative Spiritual Power vanished as if they were just an illusion. Before Shao Qiming could even react, Su Zhou withdrew his hand and looked at him with a smile.

"You... You did it?"

Shao Qiming was in disbelief.

"Of course."

Hearing Su Zhou’s firm reply, Shao Qiming took a deep breath—it really was much clearer! But just as he was about to joyfully take another satisfying breath, Su Zhou clapped him on the shoulder and shook his head. "Be careful. The Curse is gone, but your body has been tormented for nearly ten years. You’re in a recovery period now, so you still need to take it easy."

"The Centipede Egg Soup I sent over earlier was made from the eggs of the Evil Demon I killed. It helps recuperate the body and strengthens your immune system and Self-Healing Power. One bowl should be enough; I was worried your body was too weak to handle anything stronger."

"Oh, right. You can’t eat anything spicy for a while, or anything too greasy..."

While Su Zhou was nagging him with a list of instructions, Shao Qiming lowered his head and couldn’t help but laugh. "Why are you suddenly nagging like a mother hen?"

"Don’t worry. I just got carried away for a moment. Of course I know how to take care of my body."

"Ah, that’s good." Su Zhou nodded in satisfaction. "Aunt Wen’s problem is more complicated. I just estimated that the fragment of the True Cross would have to be held against her for a long time to perform the exorcism, which is very inconvenient... How about this: after I go back, I’ll bring a whole Holy Water Cross over tomorrow and we can try again."

Having completed the Awakening ritual and dispelled the remnants of the Curse, the two of them should have cleaned up the ritual site. But since all the ritual materials had been converted into Spiritual Energy and absorbed by Su Zhou, the entire basement was wiped spotlessly clean. After gathering the jumble of real and fake Kaidan objects, the two of them left.

Of course, the ritual had been surprisingly quick. Since Su Zhou’s excuse for leaving was to take a walk, they couldn’t go back so soon. So, they hailed a car, chose a Sichuan restaurant, and booked a private room for dinner.

They didn’t order much, just a serving of hot dry noodles, a large grilled fish, braised pork with preserved mustard greens, big plate chicken, lotus root and pork rib soup, stir-fried lotus root slices, fried lotus root sandwiches, and a portion of spicy crab. (Total: 6,175 Calories).

Oh, right, they also ordered two large servings of rice (2,768 Calories). The waiter asked several times if anyone else was joining them, and when they confirmed it was just the two of them, he looked at them as if they were Monsters.

But would a ruthless, high-capacity eating machine care about that? Having just reached the Awakening Tier, Su Zhou was planning to celebrate with a huge feast anyway.

Needless to say, the meal was delicious. The spicy crab was surprisingly good.

To avoid anyone noticing the unusual color of his eyes, Su Zhou, who was pretending to have his eyes squinted shut, specifically asked the owner about the crab. The owner said that the crabs they’d been getting recently were all getting bigger—God knows why, but as long as the customers were happy, so were they. It was worth noting that Shao Qiming ate more than usual this time, even finishing half the plate of stir-fried lotus root slices by himself. He really seemed to be feeling good.

Halfway through the meal, he even let out a long sigh and gazed up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought.

And as Su Zhou was stuffing his face...

Yara’s head popped out from his hair. It nibbled on the boy’s ear and complimented, "Your blood tastes better this time!" before asking with a grin, "Su Zhou, you now possess the power of a top-tier Transcendent in this world. I guarantee that before the Spiritual Energy Revival, anyone who could enter the Awakening Tier was a heaven-sent genius, born of Destiny. I believe everyone knows this."

"Whether you want to kill Evil People or secure a high-ranking position in the government, I doubt anyone would refuse your request... So, how do you plan to use this power?"

—Once you have the power to shatter the Order around you, what will you do?

The Snake Spirit asked softly, steeling itself for silence, as it was not an easy question to answer.

Yara waited patiently for a reply.

"Is there even a need to ask?"

But Su Zhou didn’t even pause to think. While effortlessly crushing and peeling the shell of a spicy crab with his bare hands, he answered casually, "Kill Evil People, of course!"

"...Er, is that it?"

Stunned by the swiftness of his answer, the Snake Spirit was a bit bewildered. It asked tentatively, "Isn’t there anything else? Like, ruling the world, becoming the world’s strongest Powerhouse, enjoying supreme power..."

"Yara, are you trying to tempt me into becoming a Demon King?" Su Zhou first shot the Snake Spirit a wary glance, then took a bite of crab meat, shoveled in a mouthful of rice, and said indistinctly, "Let me tell you, I might not be a saint, but I still have a conscience and principles! Most importantly, I’m not an idiot. Ruling the world, dealing with all that messy business day in and day out? How could that be as satisfying as delivering justice!"

As he spoke, he held out his hand. A purplish-blue Spiritual Light transformed into a Flame, and the heatless, evil-burning Demon Fire blazed, Enhancing the chopsticks in his hand into ironwood carved with coiling Dragon patterns, as if they had weathered a thousand years of hardship. With a single motion, Su Zhou crushed a crab claw with his chopsticks as easily as if it were a piece of tofu.

His voice was muffled by the food in his mouth, but his unwavering determination was impossible to ignore.

"Kill Evil People, kill Monsters, and keep killing until no one in this world dares to commit evil, until no one dares to call themselves wicked."

With that, he used the ironwood chopsticks, now enhanced with dragon patterns, to pick a piece of meat from the shattered crab claw and pop it into his mouth.

"...That’s not what a Hero would do. Those are just the words of a chuunibyou."

In response to Yara’s sigh, Su Zhou just gave it a strange look and went back to eating his fried lotus root sandwich. "I’m not trying to be a Hero. *CHOMP*. Besides, I know which people are better left to public Judgment and which ones are better off sent to meet their maker on the spot. Don’t worry, I have basic judgment... Of course, maybe my ideas are a bit naive and childish, but Yara, didn’t you say I have the greatest power in this world?"

"If that’s the case, then even if I can’t defeat planes, cannons, warships, and missiles right now, and even if I can’t remove the mountains in people’s hearts... I believe that in the future, I can make even these naive, childish, chuunibyou ideas a reality."

—To turn illusory ideals and unrealistic wishes into reality—that is the meaning of Extraordinary Power.

"...And then what?" This time, Yara’s sigh was genuine, yet it also felt amused. It shook its head and said with a smile, "After you’ve shaped this world to your liking, what will you do next? Don’t forget, our future isn’t limited to this tiny little planet."

"Then I’ll go kill in other worlds! I’ll make it so there’s no more injustice in any world, so that not a single innocent person has to suffer! Right, Qiming!"

Answering the Snake Spirit’s question without a care, Su Zhou turned his head to look at Shao Qiming, who had been watching the exchange between man and snake with a smile. Seeing his friend’s slightly caught-off-guard expression, he grinned brightly and cheerfully. "Those bastards who go around cursing people—I don’t care what world they’re from, I’ll grind every last one of them to dust and scatter their ashes! I’ll dump them all in the Nanjiang River!"

"I support you."

That was his friend’s crisp and direct reply. "Let them all feed the fish!"

If Su Zhou had been suppressing his true self before fully awakening his Extraordinary Power, then now, after his Awakening and gaining true Extraordinary Power, he was starting to reveal his real nature.

’...Just like a Demon King... Such profound killing intent.’

Even Yara couldn’t help but chuckle. "You know, a Divine Technique like ’Evil-Devouring Demon Lord’ really isn’t something just anyone can awaken..."

"Oh, right, Yara." The Snake Spirit’s words reminded Su Zhou of something. He blinked and asked mysteriously, "That Wood Centipede... the Evil Demon... who was its Source? Was it a Great Being like you?"

He was genuinely interested in these mysterious things, especially since he would be using the power of the ’Celestial God Scale’ to travel to the worlds behind these Monsters in the future.

The thought naturally piqued his interest even more.

"Who else could it be? It’s obviously one of the two Sources of the Divine Trees."

Yara, however, retreated back into the boy’s sideburns and replied nonchalantly, "The World Tree and the Tree of the Great Dao. Just as all Dragon Serpents originate from me, all legends of Divine Trees originate from Them. That includes the Tree of Discriminating Good and Evil in your home. It’s an offspring created by the ripples of Their information across the All Realms."

"There was too little of its aura for me to be sure which one it was, but it was definitely one of Those two."