Chapter 147: Chapter 43: The 5-Pole Wielding Divine Thunder True Skill
[Evil Soul of the Innate Thunder Spirit·Great National Master]
[A Celestial Soul cultivated by using a Secret Ceremony to absorb Banyan Undying Tree Essence, already mostly transformed into an Immortal Spirit.]
[A non-human soul entangled with countless Curses and threads of Cause and Effect.]
[Consume directly to drastically increase Spiritual Sensing Power, drastically increase Spiritual Energy Affinity, and drastically increase Soul Strength.]
[Undergo Spiritual Refining to become a ’Celestial Thunder Qilin’ Attaching Spirit, which can be applied to all equipment and items.]
[Forge using a special technique to create the Soul Weapon, ’Celestial Sword: Soul Slaying Thunder Control’.]
[Harmonize using a special technique and consume to receive the inheritance of the ’Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique’.]
[Ten years, thirty years, fifty years, seventy years, ninety years, one hundred and ten years. The youth with the bearing of an Immortal grew old and decrepit, yet the Spiritual Energy Revival never came.]
[If Heaven and Earth will not grant it, then I shall take it from them. Life itself is but a cycle of taking and being taken from.]
[Washed away by two hundred years of Time, it, which had stolen the future of tens of millions, had long forgotten the initial pity and resentment that set it upon its path.]
The National Preceptor’s Soul was the color of Cyan Jade, like the aurora borealis, or the color of a Thunderbolt.
At the edge of the Soul, pure black Demonic Qi flickered. It was the Curses, grievances, and Cause and Effect of the countless beings who had died directly or indirectly at his hands, so dense it was nearly tangible.
This was the first time Su Zhou had ever seen an Evil Soul of such immense evil. The various Evil Souls he had obtained before were merely those of Evil Demons and Demon Generals. It was already considered good if they could be used to improve his physical attributes and for Enchantment; he hadn’t gotten a single Soul Weapon, let alone any inheritances or skills. But the National Preceptor’s Evil Soul was different. Even if consumed directly, the boost to his Attributes was ’drastic’.
’The number of people who died because of him exceeds ten million. Even with the Demon Emperor, the Demon Dynasty, and the entire Demon Army sharing the blame, this is an unprecedented level of evil. Even the instigators of the world wars back home were no worse than this.’
His entire body was like a desiccated corpse. Su Zhou, who had barely recovered some mobility through cellular autophagy, held the National Preceptor’s Evil Soul in his hand.
Even though he was currently sitting above a Molten Rock Pool in an extremely perilous situation, he couldn’t help but marvel at the power contained within this Evil Soul for a moment. ’If an ordinary person’s Spiritual Energy Affinity is between 1 and 10, a normal Cultivator’s is between 20 and 30, and a genius’s is around 100, then mine is 1,000.’
’And the National Preceptor’s Evil Soul, without any processing, just by consuming it, can add about 70, or even more, to one’s Spiritual Energy Affinity. That’s enough to turn an ordinary person into a genius in an instant!’
For an ordinary person, this method of strengthening their foundation would be far more useful than an Attaching Spirit or a Soul Weapon. An inheritance wouldn’t necessarily be much better either, as an inheritance itself requires a solid foundation to be utilized and is something to consider only in the later stages.
But with Su Zhou’s Talent, even a ’drastic increase’ was merely icing on the cake. Therefore, this option was the first to be eliminated.
The Attaching Spirit, on the other hand, was indeed very useful. Although the Spirit Iron Cross Spear hadn’t been of much use in the fight against the National Preceptor this time, it had at least forced him to maintain a magnetic field defense to ensure his safety. Trading a spear thrust for a technique wasn’t useless.
However, according to the analysis from Su Zhou’s Evil-Devouring Demon Lord Divine Techniques, the Celestial Thunder Qilin Attaching Spirit was nothing more than a small lightning generator. After all, despite having the bearing of an Immortal, the National Preceptor was limited by the Spiritual Energy Revival and hadn’t even reached the Innate Realm. His Energy Level was simply not that high. In terms of destructive power, it might not even be as effective as the Red Land Demon Poison.
As for defense, it seemed to be the bane of metal weapons, but that was all. It wasn’t special or cool enough.
’A Soul Weapon, Celestial Sword: Soul Slaying Thunder Control... Hmm. A so-called Soul Weapon is a Spirit Body Weapon condensed from Spiritual Power. Compared to physical destructive force, its ability to destroy Spiritual Essence beings and its inherent Extraordinary Power are more outstanding. And this Spiritual Weapon can easily slay a Soul Body and summon Celestial Thunder in the right weather conditions. I don’t need to know how to do it myself; I just need to channel Spiritual Power into it to use it.’
To be honest, Su Zhou was quite tempted by this. The Cross Spear was certainly useful, but if he charged too deep into enemy lines, he would still need to fight with his bare hands once enemies got close. Having a light and nimble Soul Weapon for close-quarters combat would be very convenient. Moreover, it came with a Thunder Attribute that could paralyze enemies, and during critical weather, it could even summon Celestial Thunder to strike. Its uses were truly abundant.
But of course, none of this was as eye-catching as the final option: the ’inheritance’.
’As expected of an ’inheritance’ that can only be condensed from an Extremely Evil Person, an evildoer capable of influencing the world!’
[Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique]
According to the Evil Soul’s description, and the few bits of information Grandmaster Han had seemed to hint at, the National Preceptor was likely the former Leader and Sect Leader of the Celestial Extreme Four Symbols Sect, a major Dao Vein Sect in the Divine Wood World. He had betrayed the Sect, taking a Sect Spiritual Weapon with him, to assist the Demon Emperor... What he cultivated was naturally the ’Celestial Thunder Qilin Technique,’ exclusive to the Sect Leader’s lineage. This was evident from the name of the Attaching Spirit being ’Celestial Thunder Qilin’.
In addition, besides being proficient in Thunder Techniques, the National Preceptor was also skilled in Composite Daoist Skills. His Fog Water Thunder Dragon, a combination of the ’Black Tortoise Water Control Technique’ and ’Thunder Technique’, had at one point forced Su Zhou to flee. In his two hundred years of Cultivation, he certainly hadn’t practiced only a single path. With his talent and the resources of the entire Demon Dynasty, his own Cultivation was surely not limited to just the ’Celestial Thunder Qilin Technique’.
The essence of his life’s achievements, and even the Secret Technique of absorbing Divine Wood Innate Qi to transform himself into an ’Innate Thunder Spirit’, were likely all contained within this ’Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique’.
And the so-called special harmonization technique was actually very simple.
According to Yara’s lazy explanation, it was just a matter of ensuring one’s Heart Lake was clear, so as not to have one’s mentality affected by the sudden fusion with the Evil Soul’s inheritance. One could choose to sit in meditation, drink a bottle of Calm Potion beforehand, or purify the grievances on the Evil Soul... The methods varied, but the result was the same. The most important thing was to ensure one’s own Soul remained dominant.
This was not a difficult task for Su Zhou.
Of course, now was not the time to consume the Evil Soul.
Su Zhou stored the National Preceptor’s Evil Soul in his Soul Space. His spine having finally healed, he slowly got up and began to climb the wall of the volcano.
The Divine Weapon Foundry was a complete mess. Su Zhou and the National Preceptor’s brawl had left large amounts of torn flesh and spattered tissue everywhere, all of which had been evaporated by the high heat, turning into blackish-brown bloodstains stuck to the ground. The Master Artisans who had originally been here had long since gone to the front lines to provide support, and the Grand Master, as the last line of defense, had managed to hold off the National Preceptor for a while, holding on until Su Zhou arrived.
The Blade of Annihilation itself was undamaged. As an Extraordinary Level Extraordinary Weapon, anyone without the realm of a Grandmaster would likely find it difficult to even approach. Even the National Preceptor, after being severely injured, could only try to affect it indirectly by detonating the True Qi Furnace; he lacked the ability to influence it directly.
Glancing at the Divine Weapon, Su Zhou was in no mood for sentiment. He staggered to the entrance of the foundry camp and saw the charred, dying body of the Grand Master.
The Grand Master was still conscious, desperately holding on to his last breath. Upon seeing Su Zhou, he seemed to know who had been victorious and revealed a smile, as if about to pass away peacefully.
"Fuck! Peaceful my ass! You fucking idiot! I fought that National Preceptor so damn hard, and you’re still going to die? Doesn’t that make this victory completely pointless?!"
Su Zhou was aghast at the sight. In gaming terms, it was like the friendly-reputation weapon artisan he had worked so hard to grind rep with was about to die due to a plot point—how could he let that happen?! The Grand Master had taken good care of him and was a good person. He had even planned to ask him to forge a set of convenient armor after the Divine Weapon was completed.
Death ends all; he couldn’t just let him die so casually!
So he quickly heaved the Grand Master onto his back and ran to the area around his tent. He urgently mixed the remaining Holy Water with some Wood Spirit Liquid extracted from a Demon General’s tamed beast to stabilize the Grand Master’s injuries. Back in his tent, Su Zhou drank five liters of water and ate a good amount of his own rations of chocolate and the Rebel Army’s jerky. His once shriveled body gradually inflated like a balloon, regaining some semblance of a human form.
Afterward, feeling a bit of his strength return, Su Zhou had no time to deal with anything else. He gritted his teeth, picked up his spear again—his Spirit Iron Long Spear—and, carrying the remaining half-bottle of Holy Water, sprinted toward the city wall.
「Meanwhile, at the city wall.」
The Divine Wood Guard and the City Guard Martial Artists were at a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy losses. After fighting for a long time in the low-temperature environment, even the Divine Wood’s Beloved couldn’t hold out. At this point, the vast majority of the heavily injured, frozen-stiff Divine Wood Guard had been dragged to the rear by their relatively unscathed comrades. Fewer than twenty were left who could still truly fight. With their numbers so diminished, it became difficult to scale the city wall.
The Martial Artists’ side was in a similar state. There were only two Grandmasters who were immune to heat and cold, and one was an old man while the other had injured both his arms; neither were the type who could press the advantage. The two sides were now just shooting arrows at each other from a distance, the battle no longer as fierce as before.
In other words, once both sides knew that their decisive combatants had gone to a decisive location to fight, neither had the heart to fight to the death anymore. If the National Preceptor won, it would be quicker for the Castle Guardian Martial Artists to just kill themselves. If Su Zhou won, the Divine Wood Guard should be scattering and fleeing for their lives right now.
Then, the Divine Wood Guard, whose minds were already in turmoil, suddenly noticed that the City Guard Martial Artists on the wall, who had been firing arrows from afar and occasionally loosing a bolt from a Bed Crossbow, had abruptly stopped their attack and fallen into a deep silence.
’What, did they all freeze to death?’
This sudden anomaly made the heart of a surviving Divine Wood Guard squad leader clench. It didn’t know whether it should seize the opportunity to lead a charge or take a break as well. But an instant later, its heart sank like a stone in water.
Because what followed were cheers from the enemy—weary, but absolutely heartfelt!
Why would a side in the middle of a battle cheer? Of course, it was because they believed the tide had turned and victory was at hand... What kind of news could possibly make them so excited and overjoyed?
The Divine Wood Guard squad leader had already guessed what it was, but it didn’t dare to dwell on the thought. It just slowly began to back away, and around it, the other Divine Wood Guard were also slowly retreating.
And amidst everyone’s cheers, a figure slowly walked to the very front of the city wall. He carried a Cross Spear and held a Magic Sword in his hand. The figure swung the Magic Sword, and Thunder Light flashed upon it. Everyone present could see clearly that it was the personal sword the National Preceptor had carried.
Then, he plunged the Magic Sword directly into a crenel on the city wall, then, gathering his Spiritual Power, declared to the entire battlefield.
"—I, Su Zhou, have slain the Demon Dynasty State Preceptor at Taibai Volcano!"
—In the first year of the New Calendar, winter, the first month, at Taibai Mountain. The Kunlun Abnormal Person, Su Zhou, along with the Sect Master of Wind Riding, Li Daoran, and Vice-Commander Weilie, battled the Demon Army at a mountain pass and utterly defeated them.
Of the hundreds of enemies, not one returned. The Demon Dynasty State Preceptor was beheaded at the volcano’s lake of fire, and no corpse remained.
Thus, the Northern Territory was pacified, and the Divine Weapon was forged.
