Did killing someone require hesitation?
If it had been his first time... Fan Wu might have hesitated for a moment.
But this wasn't his first time.
Yes.
Fan Wu had killed before.
During his first year after crossing into the World of Gods and Anomalies, he had already killed someone.
Back then, while helping that swindler of a master escort some valuable goods, he had encountered bandits blocking the road.
Those bandits probably hadn't been locals from Prison Dragon County.
The locals of Prison Dragon County had long since been fooled into submission by his swindler of a master.
And because they didn't know the "prestige" of Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery, they had dared to rob him.
Unfortunately.
They had run into Fan Wu, who possessed innate divine strength, and before long, they had become several corpses.
That had been the first time in both of Fan Wu's lives that he had personally slain an evildoer.
With that experience under his belt, Fan Wu felt no psychological burden about killing again.
Nor would he hesitate.
Fan Wu didn't use the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand. Under Xuan Shizi's terrified gaze, one of Fan Wu's palms clamped around Xuan Shizi's neck like a pair of iron pincers.
Compared to Fan Wu's palm, Xuan Shizi's neck was as thin as a tree branch.
Xuan Shizi's face flushed red as blood, and the sensation of suffocation surged into his mind.
As Fan Wu slowly raised his arm.
Xuan Shizi's feet left the ground.
His withered feet swung about unconsciously, while his two hands, thin as old firewood, hurriedly latched onto Fan Wu's forearm, as if trying to pry Fan Wu's hand open.
But Fan Wu's arm was like welded steel, standing utterly unmoved!
"Urgh..."
Xuan Shizi's eyes were already bulging wide. He was being strangled and lifted into the air.
A dull thud came from the back of his head.
Xuan Shizi felt as if the back of his head had struck the wall of the secret chamber.
And to his utter horror, he discovered that Fan Wu was continuously exerting force toward the wall!
Under that immense strength, Xuan Shizi felt as if his head were about to fuse with the wall.
His entire skull throbbed as though it were splitting apart!
Crack--
It was the sound of the secret chamber wall splitting. A few bits of rubble fell onto Xuan Shizi's back before dropping to the floor.
The wall behind Xuan Shizi's head was now covered in fine cracks, and it had begun to cave inward.
Pffft!!!
The sudden sound was like a watermelon bursting. Xuan Shizi's dangling legs kicked violently at that instant! Then they went limp and drooped down, hanging three feet above the ground.
His head had become a bloody mess, while terror and despair were frozen onto his twisted face.
Xuan Shizi's entire head had been embedded in the solid wall.
At first glance...
It looked like a human-shaped work of art nailed to the wall of the secret chamber.
Fan Wu gazed at the "work of art" before him and shook the blood from his palm.
There was no need to deliver another blow.
Because the system notification had arrived.
[You successfully killed "Evil Dao Xuan Shizi (infused with the Great Venerable's evil power)." Congratulations, you obtained Free Attribute Points: 4!] [You obtained a skill with a 95% compatibility rate with yourself—Star Constellation Sword Art lv1 (0/10)!] [Star Constellation Sword Art: You will master this skill with unparalleled proficiency! After the skill reaches lv2, its effect will activate—permanently increasing your "Strength" attribute by 20%!]
"Killing people can drop attribute points too? Or is it because after being possessed by that so-called 'Great Venerable,' this guy has already broken free of the human category and become some kind of monster... which is why he can drop attribute points?"
"It even dropped a skill? Star Constellation Sword Art... I remember seeing this thing in Xuan Shizi's attributes before. It's just that this Xuan Shizi never got the chance to use a sword against me."
Fan Wu's murmured voice carried a hint of astonishment.
Getting a skill was definitely a huge gain. His [Skill] attribute finally no longer had to bear the word "None."
Just then...
A vast amount of information about Star Constellation Sword Art began flooding into his mind.
He didn't even need to memorize the sword art. He had mastered it directly!
Good grief!
How convenient!
[Name: Fan Wu] [Life: 89+] [Strength: 10+] [Skill: Star Constellation Sword Art lv1 (0/10)] [Free Attribute Points: 4]
Fan Wu glanced at his personal attribute panel. Sure enough, Star Constellation Sword Art had appeared under the [Skill] attribute.
As for the lv1 after Star Constellation Sword Art, and the thing resembling an experience bar inside the parentheses, Fan Wu wasn't curious about them.
He had already learned what those things were when he first activated the system.
lv1 referred to the skill's level.
The parentheses really were an experience bar. Once the bar was filled, the skill would level up to lv2!
Earning experience was simple too: he only needed to spend Free Attribute Points on it.
He currently had only 4 Free Attribute Points, which wasn't enough to raise it to lv2. For the time being, he had no way to obtain that 20% boost to his [Strength] attribute.
Besides, his base [Strength] attribute was pitifully low. Even if he spent 10 Free Attribute Points to upgrade the skill, it would only grant him a measly increase of 2 points in [Strength].
In other words, when the [Strength] attribute was too low, upgrading the skill first was inadvisable.
Only once his [Strength] attribute was somewhat higher would lv2's 20% increase be able to display its maximum effect.
For now.
He would just take a look.
Fan Wu turned around.
He looked behind him.
The gigantic tentacle formed from piles of tumors had now become a pool of foul-smelling pus.
A strange statue.
It was still lying on the ground.
This statue had just been held in Xuan Shizi's arms. It should be the "Great Venerable" Xuan Shizi had mentioned.
"What kind of stitched-together ugly freak is this?" Fan Wu appraised the statue and gave this verdict.
With a look of disgust, Fan Wu kicked it aside and began searching through the underground secret chamber.
Xuan Shizi had been able to build an underground secret chamber in a district packed with brothels, and he had even been able to imprison so many wandering souls and vengeful ghosts associated with the brothels.
If anyone claimed he wasn't the power behind the brothels... probably no one would believe them.
He had certainly been controlling this place, so rich in yin energy and resentment...
And conducting some unknown, shady dealings!
"Even if someone controlled all the brothels in an entire county, no matter how indifferent he was to money, it was impossible for him not to have a single coin in his pockets." Fan Wu had already begun rummaging through the boxes and cabinets.
He was looking for anything valuable. After all, who would kill a monster without looting the corpse?
After searching here and there.
Fan Wu found a pile of strange talismans, several bizarre-looking objects that seemed to be magical artifacts, and a very heavy chest with a lock.
Fan Wu didn't know much about talismans or magical artifacts.
He didn't know how to use them either.
He was more interested in the chest.
One of Fan Wu's hands was currently gripping the iron lock on the chest tightly.
The next moment, his palm suddenly exerted force!
His terrifying grip strength made the iron lock twist with the sound of metal fatigue!
Snap--
The iron lock on the chest was actually twisted off with his bare hand!
Fan Wu opened the chest.
His eyes almost couldn't move away.
Silver!
Gold!
Inside the chest before him, gold ingots and silver ingots were stacked in neat rows!
The silver ingots made up the majority.
There were fewer gold ingots.
These should be the treasures Xuan Shizi had accumulated, right? There were at least two thousand taels of silver inside, along with quite a bit of gold. If the gold were exchanged for silver as well, the total would probably exceed four thousand taels of silver!
Hmm?
That number...
It sounded familiar!
Fan Wu's expression grew slightly strange because he remembered that the silver his swindler of a master had left him seemed to amount to the same figure. The difference between the two wasn't very large.
Could it be that the more than four thousand taels of silver "devoured" by the True Martial Great Emperor had somehow been "withdrawn" by him from Xuan Shizi?
Fan Wu didn't take the magical artifacts or talismans from the secret chamber. If he carried such things on his person, he worried they might become some kind of tracking device.
Xuan Shizi had clearly worshiped some strange entity.
Since that entity had believers, that meant Xuan Shizi was certainly not its only believer.
Damn!!!
Then he absolutely couldn't carry this junk around with him!
Who knew whether it would attract a whole crowd?
Before you continue