The Death of Xuan Shizi! First [Skill] Drop!

Does killing someone require hesitation?

If it were his first time... Fan Wu might have hesitated for a moment.

But this wasn't his first time.

Yes.

Fan Wu had killed people before.

He had killed people within the first year of transmigrating to this World of Gods and Anomalies.

It was when he was helping his swindler of a master escort some valuable goods and they were ambushed by bandits.

Those bandits were probably not from Prison Dragon County.

Because the locals of Prison Dragon County had already been thoroughly swindled by his swindler of a master.

And because they were unaware of the "fearsome reputation" of the Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery, they had dared to try and rob them.

Unfortunately for them.

They ran into Fan Wu, who possessed innate divine strength. Before long, they became corpses.

That was the first time Fan Wu had personally killed villains in his two lifetimes.

With that experience, Fan Wu had no psychological burden about killing again.

Nor would he hesitate.

Fan Wu did not use the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand. Under Xuan Shizi's terrified gaze, Fan Wu's palm clamped down on Xuan Shizi's neck like a vise, gripping it tightly.

Before Fan Wu's palm, Xuan Shizi's neck was as slender as a twig.

Xuan Shizi's face turned beet red, the feeling of suffocation already reaching his mind.

As Fan Wu's arm slowly lifted.

Xuan Shizi's feet left the ground.

His emaciated feet dangled uselessly. His hands, thin as old firewood, frantically grabbed onto Fan Wu's forearm, as if trying to pry his hand open.

But Fan Wu's arm was like welded steel, unmoving!

"Urk..."

Xuan Shizi's eyes bulged wide. He was being choked and lifted into the air.

A dull thud echoed from the back of his head.

Xuan Shizi felt his head hit the wall of the secret room.

And to his utter horror, he discovered that Fan Wu was continuously applying force towards the wall!

Under that immense strength, Xuan Shizi felt as if his head was about to merge with the wall.

His entire skull felt like it was splitting apart!

Crack--

This was the sound of the secret room wall cracking. A few small stones fell onto Xuan Shizi's back and then onto the ground.

Fine cracks had appeared on the secret room wall behind Xuan Shizi's head, and it was subtly caving inward.

Gush!!!

A sudden sound, like a watermelon bursting, erupted. Xuan Shizi's dangling legs gave a violent kick at this moment! Then they went limp and hung limply, suspended three feet off the ground.

His head was a bloody mess, his contorted face frozen in terror and despair.

Xuan Shizi's entire head had been embedded into the solid wall.

At first glance...

It looked like a human-shaped art piece, nailed to the secret room wall.

Fan Wu stared at the "artwork" before him, shaking the bloodstains from his palm.

He no longer needed to deliver a finishing blow.

Because the system had sent a notification.

[You have successfully killed "Evil Dao Xuan Shizi (Empowered by Great Venerable's Evil Power)". Congratulations on obtaining Free Attribute Points: 4 points!]

[You have dropped a skill that matches your own by 95% -- Star Constellation Sword Art Lv1 (0/10)!]

[Star Constellation Sword Art: You will master this skill with unparalleled proficiency! Upon upgrading the skill to Lv2, you can activate its effect -- permanently increase your 'Strength' attribute by 20%!]

"Killing someone can drop attribute points? Or is it that after this guy was possessed by that 'Great Venerable,' he transcended human limits and became a demon or ghost... which is why he could drop attribute points?"

"And it dropped a skill too? Star Constellation Sword Art... I remember seeing this before in Xuan Shizi's status information. It's just that this Xuan Shizi didn't get a chance to fight me with a sword."

Fan Wu muttered to himself, his voice filled with surprise.

Dropping a skill was definitely a huge profit. His [Skill] attribute finally wouldn't have a "None" displayed.

Just at this moment...

A massive amount of information regarding Star Constellation Sword Art began to flood into his mind.

He didn't even need to memorize the sword art; he mastered it directly!

What a lifesaver!

So convenient!

[Name: Fan Wu]
[HP: 89+]
[STR: 10+]
[SKILL: Star Constellation Sword Art Lv1 (0/10)]
[Free Attribute Points: 4]

Fan Wu glanced at his personal status panel. Under the [SKILL] attribute, a "Star Constellation Sword Art" had indeed appeared.

As for the "Lv1" after "Star Constellation Sword Art" and the bracketed content resembling an experience bar, Fan Wu wasn't particularly curious about them.

He already knew about these things when he activated the system.

Lv1 referred to the skill's level.

The brackets were indeed an experience bar; once the experience bar was filled, the skill would upgrade to Lv2!

Increasing the experience was simple: use Free Attribute Points to add to it.

He currently only had 4 Free Attribute Points, which wasn't enough to upgrade it to Lv2. He couldn't gain that 20% [STR] attribute bonus for now.

Moreover, his base [STR] attribute was already quite low. Even if he spent 10 Free Attribute Points to upgrade the skill, it would only grant him a meager 2 points of [STR] attribute increase.

In other words, when the [STR] attribute is too low, upgrading skills first is not advisable.

Once the [STR] attribute is higher, the 20% bonus from Lv2 can be maximized.

For now.

He'd just look at it.

Fan Wu turned around.

He looked behind him.

The giant tentacle, formed from a pile of tumors, had now turned into a pool of foul-smelling pus.

A grotesque statue.

still lay on the ground.

This statue was what Xuan Shizi had been holding earlier; this must be the "Great Venerable" Xuan Shizi mentioned.

"What a stitched-together monstrosity?" Fan Wu commented after examining the statue.

Disdainfully kicking it aside, Fan Wu began searching the underground chamber.

Xuan Shizi was able to build an underground chamber in a place where brothels gathered, and also imprison so many wandering spirits and vengeful ghosts related to the brothels.

To say he wasn't the mastermind behind the brothels... no one would believe it.

The other party must have controlled this place, rich in yin energy and resentment...

and been engaged in some unspeakable business!

"Controlling all the brothels in a county, no matter how indifferent one is to money, they can't possibly have absolutely nothing in their pockets." Fan Wu was already ransacking everything.

He was looking for anything valuable, after all, who wouldn't loot the corpse after killing a monster?

After searching around.

Fan Wu found a pile of strange talismans, some oddly shaped items that appeared to be magical implements, and a heavy, locked chest.

Fan Wu wasn't very familiar with talismans or magical implements.

He didn't know how to use them.

He was more interested in the chest.

Fan Wu's hand was tightly gripping the iron lock on the chest.

The next moment, his palm suddenly exerted force!

The terrifying grip made the iron lock emit a creaking sound of metal fatigue!

Snap--

The iron lock on the chest was twisted off with his bare hands!

Opening the chest.

Fan Wu couldn't look away.

Silver!

Gold!

Inside the chest before him were neatly stacked gold and silver ingots!

Silver ingots made up the majority.

Gold ingots were fewer.

This must be the treasure Xuan Shizi saved up? There were at least two thousand taels of silver, and quite a bit of gold too. If the gold were converted to silver, it would total over four thousand taels!

Huh?

This number…

Sounds familiar!

Fan Wu's expression turned a little strange because he remembered that the silver his swindler master left him was also around this amount, not much different.

So, the four thousand-plus taels of silver that the True Martial Great Emperor had "eaten" were indirectly "retrieved" by him from Xuan Shizi?

Fan Wu didn't take the magical implements and talismans from the secret chamber. He worried that carrying such things might turn them into some kind of tracking device.

Xuan Shizi clearly worshipped something strange.

Since that thing had followers, it meant there was definitely more than just Xuan Shizi.

Damn it!!!

Then he definitely couldn't take this crap with him!

Who knew if it would attract a crowd?