Enraged, Chui’s body started emitting heavy killing intent.
“You actually think you can mess with me with your cheap tricks? It looks like I need to make you understand your place in this world before taking my five star fruit.” He roared.
Zilan’s eyes turned emotionless as he glared at the approaching Chui.
“I’ve already given you what you wanted.” Stated Zilan calmly before suddenly snapping his fingers. “You should be feeling it soon.”
As soon as he finished that sentence, Chui’s body abruptly came to a stop. His eyes widened in shock as he stared in disbelief at the eerily calm Zilan.
“You…what have you done? What’s happening to me?” He bellowed.
Inside his body, Chui could feel a chilling sensation quickly envelope his innards. At first the cold was powerful but with his strong constitution it was still manageable however, an instant later an explosion akin to a small sun erupting forth with unimaginable power occurred.
A dark sinister energy that destroyed all of the obstacles it faced, quickly spread out, seeping into every single part of Chui’s body. From his stomach and intestines all the way to his meridians, veins and even his core.
Soon, the evil energy even began to move towards his mind.
“AHH!” cried Chui as he circulated the power of his cultivation in order to get rid of the invading tyrannical energy.
“Ho…half step soul-compression stage.”
The aura that burst forth from Chui’s body was very unexpected. For someone who was not even thirty to already have a foot through the door that is the soul-compression stage was something rarely heard of.
“The rules prohibit killing!” shouted a by-stander who was shocked by the heart wrenching screams being produced by Chui.
“I did not say I would kill him. Unfortunately for him, worse things than death not only exist but are practiced and refined into skills worthy of being called art forms.” Finished with his reply, red blood that shone with a splendor that could absolutely contend with any rare gem, trickled down from his lips all the way down his chin before dripping onto the floor.
Seeing the weird look Kifo was giving him, Zilan’s heart warmed as he wiped away the blood.
“You don’t need to worry, it’s just a minor backlash.”
“Let’s go!” He sighed as he turned to leave.
“NOOO…..You can’t leave! What have you done to me!? Capture him! Anyone, whoever, gets him to talk will be rewarded by the Horde!” cried Chui as he forcefully tried to suppress the evil moving within him.
If Zilan departed, his hope for both relief as well as revenge would also disappear.
*Ptat*
Snapping his fingers once again, Zilan emotionlessly stared at the now kneeling Chui.
“It’s a testament to your strong blood that you can still talk but even that is completely useless when faced with absolute despair. Let me speed up the process for you.”
A strange scene thus unfolded. For those looking at Chui, their hearts couldn’t help but shake and their bodies uncontrollably shivered. The more frightened of the bunch hurriedly took many steps back before calming down.
Chui’s body was currently releasing a thick white smoke which had ghostly images moving around that appeared to originate from the deepest levels of the Netherworld.
His facial features began to rapidly change. His already wide face grew quite substantially outwards, then his already sharp teeth not only lengthened but curved inwards like tusks, their colour also transformed from the normal healthy look to a scary charcoal black.
His lips curved into a maniacal smile. The eyes that he used to look around suddenly turned completely white shocking many. However, if one were to look closely they’d notice an extremely blurry trace of an inscription within them.
Fujo stared at the unrecognisable Chui, unable to understand what the hell was happening. He slowly turned towards Zilan only to see him extremely calm, at this moment he didn’t dare ask for an explanation.
His gaze then slowly drifted before landing on Kifo who unexpectedly was outright smiling. His happiness was unexplainable and even if Fujo were to question him, Kifo himself wouldn’t have an answer, he just felt good the more he looked at Chui’s miserable appearance. The energy he gave off was for some reason astonishingly comfortable to feel and to be around for Kifo.
Unbeknownst to them, a deep fear of this brother duo had now rooted itself in Fujo’s heart.
Just as he was thinking about this, another surprise that prompted him to yell in shock appeared.
A baleful suddenly aura erupted from Chui however, it was the strength of this aura that made many people’s scalps go numb and cold sweat to pour down their backs.
“S..S..Soul-Compression stage!!!” shouted Old Fang as he directly turned around and ran far away.
“What kind of monster is this?” shouted another as they began to flee.
Chui on the other hand as if unable to think for himself simply looked at Zilan, clueless as to what it should do.
“The crazy desires and thoughts that plague your mind will soon be tapped into and you will be completely possessed by the evil spirit. What you do has nothing to do with me, act as you will however, if there’s someone you wish to blame for your misfortune then it would be none other than the one who prompted you into seeking me out.”
“The power of the spirit directly pushed him through the bottleneck.” Noted Zilan.
As if understanding yet not understanding, the monstrosity that was Chui, surveyed the area with its gaze before suddenly stomping on the plump figure of a pale Mnono.
“You, no…How? Zilan!!! What evil is this? Stop him, if anything happens to me not just my Sumu Alliance but even his Horde will not let you go!!” shouted Mnono, his trembling hands pointing at the ready to pounce Chui.
“Didn’t I say, whatever he does has nothing to do with me!? If people still want to look for trouble with me then I’ll naturally welcome them.”
Yo..Y..You….Zil.._”
Before he could finish his sentence Chui suddenly released an ear piercing screech. Not only did it shake the area but accompanied along with it was a steep increase in the baleful aura surrounding him.
“His cultivation has risen again?!” Fujo took in a cold breath of air as the aura as well as the pressure of the forest combined together to make him and the people in the vicinity feel as if they were suffocating.
The confused look on Chui’s face quickly vanished. His body akin to a rocket launched itself towards Mnono.
The latter could barely make out a sound before a confused look appeared in his eyes.
“Why am I flying through the air? Why can’t I move? Eh? Why is the sky going red?” were his final thoughts as his head was separated from his body and his own blood splattered onto his face.
In an instant the same scene played out in the area as if on repeat.
Leave alone Mnono and Ker’s lackeys who were completely annihilated. Everyone in the area who had either encircled Zilan or were just enjoying the show, all of them were indiscriminately slaughtered upon contact with Chui.
The place that was supposed to be a test ground to find good seeds quickly turned into a bloody massacre. Those who came with hopes of joining the Association in order to be protected from persecution were cursing their fates. If they were outside, they would die and now even when they were inside they still found themselves in deaths warm embrace.
It was if fate had refused to open a window for them. However, others among them thought of it in another way. Believing that the window had indeed been opened but unknowingly that window was not one of life but rather a path to despair.
It was at this time that a snort came from an unknown location and following it a sharp wind unnoticeable to the naked eye.
A dazzling light came from that wind as it instantly pierced right through Chui’s heart.
Seeing this Zilan shook his head,
“You underestimate the curses of the Primordial Witches. Even if it is only the weakest of inscriptions, its origin lies with the laws of Death therefore to kill an evil spirit conjured with the power of a five star fruit as well as his own internal demons. Not easy!” he thought.
Just as Zilan had predicted Chui steadily stood up before grabbing hold of the thing embedded in his chest and pulling it in one go. Unexpectedly it was a crystal like sword that had a few inscriptions around it.
Chui, completely unconcerned with the hole through his heart, used the crystal sword in his hand to hack the people around him, turning them into minced meat.
“What? This is….” Elder White Snow’s enraged voice echoed throughout the forest before raising his hand and recalling his crystal sword.
He then took out a fist sized round orb and threw it towards Chui.
“Killing is forbidden! Those who break the rules will be shown no mercy. Everyone in that area, move away from the culprit.”
Zilan took one last glance at Chui, completely emotionless. It was like he was a completely different person, one with a heart of ice.
Fujo was at a complete loss for words. He was questioning everything around him however, the fact that he was seeing it, made it real and proved it to be fact.
As he was lost in his disbelief, he suddenly heard Zilan whisper three words to himself.
“Path of Blood.”
