Monsters Die When Killed

’It was strange, though. How did my long spear get so badly damaged?’

"Want. Other. Plants!"

At that moment, the Wisdom Tree Essence Soul presented its own small request—it felt that while Su Zhou’s Personal Space was all well and good, the lack of other plants and trees to accentuate its uniqueness made things rather boring.

In response, Su Zhou gave a perfunctory reply, "Ah, okay, no problem. Mm, I’ll plant other things for you."

After placating the Wisdom Tree, Su Zhou began to carefully examine the Blade of Annihilation in his hand.

In terms of raw power, his condensed True Body Breath was now his most powerful attack. However, the Blade of Annihilation was still an irreplaceable part of his arsenal. Whether mixed into his Breath as an Armor-Piercing Steel Cone or controlled with Celestial Thunder Sword as a harassing Floating Cannon, the Blade of Annihilation complemented him perfectly.

What’s more, it seemed to be growing even stronger.

Su Zhou could see faint traces of bloody light flickering on the Blade of Annihilation’s black body, which was forged from Earth Core Flame Iron. It was the radiance of Divine Blood, and it released a pure Evil Qi. Even an ordinary Cultivator wielding this blade would exude a dangerous and terrifying aura.

Moreover, layered over the bloody light, Su Zhou’s Spiritual Vision could faintly make out another layer of faint radiance, as well as a black, resentful energy.

’How should I put this? This resentful energy is a bit like the black Curse that clings to Evil Souls... But that radiance isn’t a Curse. It’s the complete opposite.’

’Could this be Desire Power?’

Remembering how the Blade of Annihilation had been worshipped by the million residents of Naisel City for a long time, a guess flashed through Su Zhou’s mind. ’The Curse on an Evil Soul is, in essence, the curses and resentment from others whose fates were affected by the owner of that Evil Soul. Take the Water God, for example. While it possessed the Desire Power of the Water People, the Curses from the vast number of Earth People it killed also clung to it.’

’It’s precisely these Curses that cause my Divine Technique, Evil-Devouring Demon Lord, to judge them as Evil People. I’ve definitely affected the fates of some people as well, so it’s only natural for resentful energy to have condensed on this blade.’

Conversely, this Desire Power—the opposite of a Curse—was probably a form of power in its own right. Su Zhou had a vague feeling that since his Divine Technique, Evil-Devouring Demon Lord, could react to the Curses of evil, it could probably also react to the opposing Desire Power. Whether or not that theory could become reality would depend on his future training.

The Blade of Annihilation, now host to a great deal of Desire Power, had yet to fully reveal its might, and Su Zhou was very much looking forward to seeing it.

Finally, there were the Evil Souls.

The Evil Souls of the Water God and the other Water People had greatly increased Su Zhou’s affinity for the Water Attribute, elevating his Water Assistance to a whole new level. Now, when Su Zhou showered, he didn’t even need to scrub his own back; the water current itself would knead his shoulders with just the right amount of force to relax his muscles. The same went for washing dishes—he just had to turn on the faucet and add some soap, and the water would automatically wash, scrub, and drain everything!

Of course, the same principle applied to doing laundry, but Su Zhou hadn’t tested that yet. He figured the results wouldn’t be much different, though.

’Even my Wind Attribute, the weakest of my four Attributes, can accelerate iron sand to high supersonic speeds at full power. It could easily slice through tank armor and destroy buildings.’

Surveying his full range of abilities, Su Zhou was filled with a sense of satisfaction. ’At my current level, I’m practically invincible on Earth! As for other Cultivators of the same tier, even those with an Immortal God Inheritance, it would take several of them just to fight me on equal footing!’

Having tallied his gains, stowed the Wisdom Tree in his personal space, and finished shaping his True Body, Su Zhou could now be said to have perfectly achieved his original goals.

He took out the Celestial God Seal—the decrepit pocket watch that had made Yara tremble instinctively. Su Zhou could see that atop the cyan seal representing the Divine Wood World, another gray seal was now shining.

It was the seal representing the Silent Lord, representing the Reincarnation World Tartadis.

’The Divine Wood World... I wonder how Zhou Buyi and the others are doing now.’

Gazing at the shining light on the Celestial God Seal, Su Zhou felt a pang of nostalgia. ’Now that I’ve advanced to the Commander Tier, I should find some time to go back and see how the Divine Wood World has developed.’

Of course, not right now.

For now, Su Zhou planned to go home and have a long-overdue dinner with his parents.

’As expected, nothing beats a home-cooked meal.’

「Meanwhile.」

No, not exactly at the same time.

More accurately, it was the very instant Su Zhou used the Celestial God Scale to open the connection between the Tartadis World and the Earth World.

May 20, 2014. European Union. 12:37 PM.

In the Sisla District, inside a small to medium-sized game studio that had recently been making a name for itself.

This game studio, called 11 Bits, specialized in creating dark, oppressive atmospheres and portraying realistic human nature under various circumstances. In recent years, they had produced only a few small-scale but exceptionally well-crafted games. These included the sci-fi strategy game ’Alien Star·Earth Battlefield’ and the war survival game ’My War,’ both of which received widespread acclaim. ’My War,’ in particular, was considered by many gamers to be a true work of art that struck deep into the human heart.

Recently, however, the 11 Bits studio had hit a snag, partly due to the impact of the Spiritual Energy Revival. Several of their programmers had awakened decent Cultivation Talents, and a few had even gained Superpowers. Consequently, they were recruited by the Harmony Bureau, Europe’s official organization for Transcendents.

If you could earn a government salary, enjoy the benefits of a Transcendent, and sunbathe comfortably on the Nordic Coast, why would you keep working overtime in a small office in the Sisla District? Of course, there were a few producers who genuinely loved making games and wanted to continue even after awakening Superpowers, but they were ultimately in the minority.

In truth, the gaming industry was far from the only one affected. In the two years since the Spiritual Energy Revival, numerous Spiritual Qi-related industries had sprung up alongside the world’s established industrial systems. But before these new industries could bring benefits to all of humanity, they created one universal problem for every nation: a talent shortage. An extreme talent shortage.

The Spiritual Qi-related sectors were short on people, and the traditional sectors were also short on people as their talent was siphoned away. But despite the shortage, they had to grit their teeth and push forward, at least to get the basic infrastructure in place. Otherwise, they would fall behind the times and be unable to keep up with other nations.

For this very reason, countries all over the world were pushing to automate their industries, using intelligent machines and programs to replace low-end labor. After all, the most fundamental roles in the Spiritual Qi economy still required a large number of people and could not be replaced by machines.

Viewed from a macro perspective, this massive industrial transformation was like a gigantic vortex, pulling all of humanity into its current.

Of course, on an individual level, it was simply a major headache.

The game producer at 11 Bits had been racking his brain, wondering where on earth he could recruit new employees to fill the vacancies and develop a new game. But today, inspiration suddenly struck. He instinctively rubbed his increasingly sparse scalp. "Eureka!"

He cried out, his eyes shining. "I’ve got it! Yes, this is it!"

In that instant, it felt as if an entire world’s worth of inspiration was flooding into his mind, filling him with a spiritual radiance. "This is it! This is what I have to make!"

"What should I call it... This world... The Age of Death? No, that’s a little too hopeless." With that thought, he stood up and began pacing around his office. "How about... Frostpunk? No, that’s not right, either. The place isn’t even cold..."

"Yes, that’s it! I’ll call it... the Elemental Era!"

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