Fatal Strike

He Zhao pondered for a moment, then drove a blade into his heart with a backhand stroke. He chose suicide to leave the Simulation Scenario. It was only a few Simulation Coins lost; he did not care.

He mainly intended to conduct a small experiment to verify the conjecture in his mind.

After the Bone Dagger pierced his body, a great amount of blood from throughout his body surged into his heart, then was all absorbed by the Sacrificial Vessel.

At once, a flush of red stained the pale dagger.

[Congratulations, you survived for 13 hours. Your sudden willingness to bare your throat for slaughter was truly baffling. I really want to pry open your skull and see what exactly is inside.]

[Grade: Grade G.]

[Enemies killed: Demon Eater (1), Pig Woman (indirect death).]

[Reward: 2 Simulation Coins (grade), 70 Simulation Coins (enemies killed).]

[My Wallet: 562 Simulation Coins.]

[Would you like to replay your simulated life?]

"After the Sacrificial Vessel pierced the heart, the life force of the entire body rapidly drained away, and the blood flowed backward before being brutally absorbed. Moreover, the body seemed to be suppressed by some strange power. Only by using Spirit Power could I gain the slightest breathing room."

He Zhao closed his eyes and slowly described the Bone Dagger's effects.

"Unfortunately, I still have too little Spirit Power. Even all of it put together can only slightly restore some sensation. It is not that Spirit Power cannot compare to that strange suppression, but that the quantity is too small to shake any more of it."

In comparison, his Spirit Power was about the size of a bottle cap, while that strange suppressive force was as much as a bottle of soda—one of those large two-liter bottles.

[Life After Life, Endless Joy!]

[.]

[Have a pleasant game!]

Upon entering the Spirit Realm again, He Zhao proficiently dealt with the Demon Eater and ran straight toward the center of town.

After the previous experiment, he discovered that he did not need the Child of the Night. The boosts from Severe Injury and Combat were enough to snatch the Sacrificial Vessel from the Fierce Ghost.

The reason he had waited for nightfall then was merely to make absolutely sure and go all out.

Repeating the same method, he dodged the numerous dense Blood-Colored Footprints. Once he reached the Fierce Ghost's side, he stabbed himself into Severe Injury with a single thrust.

"Hand it over!"

Then, every Blood-Colored Footprint within his sight abruptly vanished.

He Zhao walked forward for some distance, then turned back to look. Several bloody footprints remained on the ground.

"Interesting."

He watched as he walked. Before long, footprints filled the center of town.

"Heh heh."

Pig Woman had come knocking!

Slap.

A huge sole covered the Blood-Colored Footprints he had just left behind.

Without hesitation, He Zhao drove the blade into his heart.

"Pfft—"

The sudden severe blow to his heart shook his mind and left him dazed. In his haze, he saw Pig Woman's entire body tremble. Then she plunged headfirst to the ground, leaving behind only faint panting.

"Heh heh. Heh. Heh heh."

An enormous life force wrapped around his heart, slowing the loss of his life. Combined with the Death Resistance talent, the draining and healing bizarrely reached a certain balance, preventing him from dying as he had last time.

"Pfft!"

After seeing Pig Woman die completely, He Zhao pulled out the Sacrificial Vessel. On the blade's tip, he saw a deep crimson stain. It occupied roughly one-tenth of the entire dagger, and a vague Sensing told him that once the blood-red color completely covered the dagger, he would encounter the greatest terror of his life.

"So this is how the blood patterns on Cheap Master's Sacrificial Vessel came about? Sacrificial Vessels are impossible to guard against in their strangeness, yet their cost is equally enormous."

After using it only once to kill Pig Woman, he had lost roughly one-tenth of the blood in his body!

For an ordinary person to lose so much blood, even going into shock on the spot would be considered mild.

What was more, He Zhao's heart had also suffered a severe blow.

"One use, one dead person. But I am an Aberration."

Although Ruthless He Zhao still fell within the bounds of humanity, with several talents stacking together, he was absolutely no normal person. Calling him an Aberration was not an exaggeration.

After resting for quite a while, his heart finally felt much better.

Death Resistance was incredibly broken, and the Bone Dagger was equally broken. At the very least, it had not sucked him dry to the marrow. Instead, it left him some of the life force plundered from Pig Woman, causing him to recover quickly.

Even so, he could not fight within the next three days. Otherwise, his wounds risked splitting open at any moment.

"Fatal Strike—worth it!"

He Zhao looked at the Sacrificial Vessel in his hand. The only regret in his heart was how to remove the blood-red stain covering one-tenth of the Bone Dagger.

He did not believe the Unusual Scholars lacked a solution. Otherwise, Hetu Dao would not have held such enormous influence in Wancheng. During his days within that lineage, even Secret Blood Warriors had to treat him with utmost respect, despite Someone surnamed He being merely a Lesser Mystic at the time, without even a single Sacrificial Vessel.

"Perhaps I can ask Cheap Master."

As soon as the words fell, He Zhao easily used the Bone Dagger to cut open Pig Woman's chest, exposing a heart roughly the size of two people.

He took out the small bowl he carried with him from his sleeve. With the ruthless attitude of a Skin Skinner scraping the ground three feet deep, he finally barely gathered a small bowlful.

"The blood throughout her body vanished strangely. Her muscles and bones have decayed. Apart from her still-tough skin, every other organ is frighteningly fragile."

Was this the power of a Sacrificial Vessel?

Strange and terrifying!

Holding the bowl of blood, he returned to the center of town, found a relatively concealed spot, and sat cross-legged.

His bare upper body was covered in smears of blood.

He Zhao drew an ordinary dagger, gripped it with both hands, and thrust it into the left side of his chest.

"Hmph!!"

A muffled groan escaped him. Pig Woman's Heart Blood was even hotter than the Demon Eater's, a torrent of heat like molten lava flooding into his heart.

Burning, scorching.

The ancient tortures were no more than this!

A great amount of blood was devoured by Pig Woman's Heart Blood. Everywhere it passed, his meridians were left in complete ruin, burned to charcoal in an instant.

Time trickled away bit by bit, and He Zhao's entire body was no longer as fair and tender as before.

At the spot, there was nothing but a charred humanoid object.

Dry, decayed, and so brittle that the lightest touch would turn it into a pile of fragments.

Perhaps due to the suppression of the Spirit Realm, He Zhao did not explode and die.

However, a new accident arose.

His hazy consciousness sensed that streams of Spirit Power, painstakingly cultivated, were being devoured by Pig Woman's Heart Blood circulating through his body.

The Aberration's blood destroyed everything ahead, while Spirit Power followed close behind, repairing the scorched and ruptured pathways.

The two bizarrely reached a strange state between life and destruction.

He Zhao was certain that his Spirit Power absolutely could not have such an effect. It had to be the Heart Blood, or some other unknown cause, that produced this result.

"Roar—"

A ferocious roar that existed only in the depths of his mind rang out. He Zhao suddenly opened his eyes.

"Crack!"

The black shell shattered, revealing powerful muscles.

He slowly rose to his feet, adapting to the violent power endlessly surging through his body.

"I seem to have grown taller."

This body from his previous life had been, at most, around one meter seventy-five. Yet judging by the difference in his perspective now, he was at least around two meters fifty.

"How am I supposed to explain this?"

After disappearing for an afternoon, a frail youth suddenly became a two-and-a-half-meter giant. Even if every inch of his body were a mouth, he could not explain it clearly.

"Boom—"

At that moment, a sudden change erupted.

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