Chapter 18: Chapter 18: You Are Coach Su?
"It’s your turn," Su Xing said coldly.
Besides Su Xing, only the Assistant Priest and Liu Shiyu remained in the room. Everyone else had been hacked into mincemeat by Su Xing.
GULP...
The Assistant Priest swallowed hard.
He’d never imagined the masked man’s strength would be so far beyond his own. As he watched Su Xing approach step by step, he realized he couldn’t hold back any longer. His life depended on it.
’The power bestowed by Him...’
’It’s precious, but I have no choice.’
A vicious glint flared in the Assistant Priest’s eyes. A bead suspended within his Dantian suddenly shattered. A pure black energy instantly flooded his Dantian as a grotesque, cackling laugh echoed.
"Rest assured."
"Since you forced me to use His Divine Power."
"I will be sure to hold a grand ’dirty funeral’ for you!"
As the black energy surged, a bizarre aura emanated from the Assistant Priest. A cold wind gusted behind him, and his shadow on the floor began to boil, covered in a mass of tiny bubbles.
’This aura...’
Su Xing was unfazed by this sudden surge of power. In an instant, he had already gauged his opponent’s strength to be roughly on par with Shen Ruyun.
Previously, such an aura might have significantly weakened his combat prowess. But now, Su Xing only felt a thrill of excitement.
He licked his lips, held the wooden staff horizontally, and pointed its bloodstained tip toward the Assistant Priest, muttering:
"Perfect. Let me see what’s different now that my Sword Breathing has broken through to the next level."
Half of the Assistant Priest’s shadow flowed like a black stream across the ground. It finally reached Su Xing’s shadow and coiled around it.
Su Xing found he suddenly couldn’t move.
He glanced down to find his shadow held in a tight embrace by the other’s. He felt the same constricting pressure on his own body.
’What Sequence is this?’
Su Xing recalled what Shen Ruyun had said.
’Sequencers are a strange lot, and their bizarre Sequences are truly incredible.’
’If I get the chance, I need to learn about the various Sequences. Otherwise, I’ll be at a huge disadvantage in a fight.’
’But...’
’...it’s just a Black Shadow.’
’Can it really hold me?’
The Assistant Priest showed no mercy. His arm, completely enveloped by darkness, transformed into a jet-black Shadow Blade.
His speed exploded.
In the blink of an eye, he was upon Su Xing.
Su Xing could even see the tiny black bubbles constantly forming on the Shadow Blade, flowing over the priest’s arm like water.
"Die!"
"You can’t complain about dying to a Tier Two Sequencer!"
VMM!
A sword’s cry suddenly rang out.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK! A sound like shattering shackles echoed from Su Xing’s body. But it did nothing to slow the speed of his strike!
The sword-hum rose, and white lines of light converged.
White energy coated the wooden staff as it swung in an upward diagonal slash.
The Assistant Priest’s body seemed to freeze. The slash hadn’t touched him, merely cleaving the air before him.
But he still felt it.
An unparalleled cutting force surged within his body.
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Dozens of cracks inexplicably appeared across his upper body, one after another, a dense web that was horrifying to behold.
The Assistant Priest’s torso, like a toppled stone monument, slowly tilted and then slammed onto the ground, becoming a pool of bloody pulp. The rest of him, like a toy made of building blocks, disintegrated, chunks of flesh scattering across the floor.
As if delayed, only after his body had completely disintegrated into chunks of meat did a dense web of white lines flash into existence in the surrounding air. A quick count revealed over thirty of them.
This was the extent of Su Xing’s current power. He had more than doubled his output, from a dozen lines to over thirty. Most importantly, Su Xing had finally confirmed he was capable of killing a Tier Two Sequencer.
THUD!
Liu Shiyu, who had been watching from the sidelines, felt her legs give way. She collapsed to the ground, a boneless heap of terror, completely unable to stand.
"Sir... please don’t kill me... I’ll do anything you ask. I... I just wanted to gain Extraordinary power. I’ve never hurt anyone."
Liu Shiyu managed to lift her head, her face a mask of pity aimed at Su Xing. Covered in dust and grime, she looked nothing like her former self.
"Heh, Student Liu, you certainly hid yourself well."
Su Xing walked over to the boneless heap that was Liu Shiyu and spoke with a playful tone.
This time, Su Xing didn’t disguise his voice. He spoke normally, his tone as smooth as it was when he taught her class.
"Co... Coach Su?!"
Liu Shiyu recognized his voice instantly. She began to tremble uncontrollably, forcing her head up to stare in shock at the Sun Wukong mask on Su Xing’s face.
’What is happening?!’
’Coach Su... Isn’t Coach Su an ordinary person?’
’Wasn’t he under control?! This... this person who came in and went on an unstoppable rampage, who killed all the believers, then the peak Tier One, and then the Assistant Priest... How could that be Su Xing!’
The revelation stunned her into a stupor. She stared blankly at Su Xing, unsure of what to say or how to react. Her head swam, and she almost fainted before Su Xing’s calm voice roused her.
"Your Spiritual Sect... why are you so intent on holding these ’dirty funerals’ everywhere?"
Su Xing’s tone was as light and casual as if he were chatting with a friend. But to Liu Shiyu, it was a whisper from Hell. Terrified that a moment’s hesitation would get her turned into mincemeat, she scrambled to answer.
"Um... it’s like this. In the Spiritual Sect, contributions are calculated by the quantity and quality of ’dirty funerals.’ The more you contribute, the higher your position in the sect, the easier it is to get close to Him, and the more blessings you receive."
"Heh, so that’s why you’ve been targeting my younger brother?"
"Because his ’quality’ is high enough?"
Su Xing’s voice turned cold. Liu Shiyu clamped her mouth shut, not daring to utter another word. Then, she heard him speak again.
"Two last questions."
"How does ’He’ bestow blessings?"
"And what are His plans?"
"Don’t ki—"
Su Xing cut her off before she could finish. "I never said I was going to kill you. Just answer honestly. You know how much I like obedient students."
"Um... I really don’t know what His plans are. I only know that He grants a basic, permanent blessing to those with a position. The power from that blessing can last a long time—months, or even years. He also gives temporary blessings to members who perform meritorious deeds, but those usually only last a few hours."
"The strength of the blessings depends on the person’s position and the merit of their deeds."
"As for how He bestows the blessings... I don’t know that either. I just know that the recipients suddenly find themselves with brand-new powers."
Liu Shiyu finished her explanation, her heart pounding. When she saw Su Xing nod, she quickly added:
"You said you wouldn’t kill me."
"Heh heh. I said I like obedient students. You’ve been in my class. Students who make mistakes have to face the Wooden Sword. I only have a wooden staff on me, but you’ll just have to make do."
With that,
Su Xing brought the staff down directly on Liu Shiyu’s head.
CRACK!
With a crisp crack of bone, Liu Shiyu’s head was sent flying from the force of the blow, impacting the wall like a smashed tomato.
Having finished,
Su Xing was about to leave.
But a black mist suddenly floated out from the Assistant Priest’s Dantian and shot toward the window. Su Xing reacted instantly, sending a white line of light slashing after it.
But the black mist was like an illusion.
It simply parted around the white line, completely unharmed, before vanishing into thin air.
...
「In an ordinary residential building.」
A slovenly man, his white shirt dotted with several greyish-black stains, seemed to sense something. His eyes snapped open. With a light wave of his right hand, the soul of the dead Assistant Priest materialized before him.
"Li Kong, what happened?"
