I Am the God

Xian Wu lay flat on the ground with his head tilted to the side, watching Xiao Ning'er leave.

Her clothes were disheveled, and she staggered as she walked. Her slightly yellowish hair spilled over her fragrant shoulders, as if she had just fought someone for three hundred rounds.

"What a little demoness—she'll be the death of me~" A bitter smile appeared on Xian Wu's face.

That one treatment had drained all his Soul Force.

His twenty-two points of Soul Force had been squeezed dry, without a single drop left.

He felt completely drained...

But the thought of getting a Bronze Demonic Spirit after healing Xiao Ning'er—and becoming a Bronze Spirit Master once he got one—still thrilled Xian Wu.

By then, his Soul Force capacity would be 999. In the beginner martial arts class, he could suck dry anyone he wanted. If Shen Yue dared to show off in front of him again, he'd turn him into a dried corpse in seconds.

It was worth mentioning that after absorbing and refining a Bronze Demonic Spirit, one couldn't summon it to possess them, but could use its combat skills.

If he absorbed a Horned Sheep Demonic Spirit, for example, he would be able to use its Berserk combat skill once he finished refining it.

He had no Soul Force left at the moment, so it would take twenty-two shichen, or forty-four hours, to recover naturally.

Under normal circumstances, Spirit Masters cultivated their Soul Force's maximum capacity, not their Soul Force itself.

Once their Soul Force was depleted, it recovered automatically. Circulating their cultivation method made it recover faster, until it reached its maximum capacity.

Xian Wu's situation was a little unusual. His current Soul Force capacity was 99, but his maximum Soul Force was only 22, so he could recover no more than 22 Soul Force naturally.

As long as he absorbed more Soul Force from other beings, his maximum Soul Force would increase, up to 99.

The problem before him was how to recover his depleted Soul Force in a short time.

Cultivating was out of the question. If he dared to practice the Seven Star Divine Curse, his body would dare to explode right in front of him.

The only option was to absorb Soul Force from other beings.

"Who should I suck dry?" Xian Wu started eyeing a few of his good buddies. "Lu Piao? His Soul Force was just drained, so he probably hasn't recovered yet. Du Ze? His Soul Force is pretty high. Maybe..."

He was a fair man. He couldn't just suck Lu Piao dry and leave everyone else alone. That would be far too unfair to Lu Piao.

Xian Wu licked his lips and sat up.

As he gazed at the blazing campfire, an idea suddenly came to him.

At its root, Soul Force was a form of energy.

If the Chaos Spirit Devouring Art could absorb Soul Force, could it absorb other forms of energy, too?

Wind energy, kinetic energy, heat energy, light energy, radiation energy, and so on.

Wanting to give it a try, Xian Wu sat beside the campfire and slowly reached his right hand toward the scarlet flames.

"Chaos Spirit Devouring Art!"

As soon as Xian Wu spoke, an invisible vortex formed in the palm of his right hand.

Drawn by the vortex, the flames began to surge toward his palm.

"It doesn't even feel hot?" He watched the fire lick the skin of his palm, but felt no burning sensation at all.

"This works!" Xian Wu felt as if he'd discovered a whole new world.

As the Chaos Spirit Devouring Art devoured the flames, the campfire burned brighter and brighter, until every piece of firewood had turned to ash. Only then did it stop.

After adding more firewood and relighting it with a fire starter, Xian Wu didn't immediately begin devouring the flames.

He took out a Primary Soul Crystal and slowly infused it with Soul Force to test the results.

The campfire had given him six points of Soul Force!

"Not bad, not bad. Tastes great." Xian Wu gave a thumbs-up.

He had a question now.

Did heat energy count as Soul Force from another being? In other words, could absorbing heat energy increase his maximum Soul Force?

With that question in mind, Xian Wu used the Chaos Spirit Devouring Art on the campfire again.

Once the absorption began, he no longer had to foolishly hold his hand out toward the fire.

The Chaos Spirit Devouring Art would circulate on its own and absorb energy automatically. What's more, its absorption speed increased exponentially.

With his hands free, Xian Wu began frantically adding firewood to the campfire.

The flames lunged at him like a ferocious tiger. Soon, he was wreathed in fire, like a god of fire descending to earth.

The flames were fierce, but they couldn't hurt Xian Wu at all. They didn't even singe his clothes.

All the fire's energy was absorbed when it came within a centimeter of Xian Wu.

After burning through Xiao Ning'er's firewood, Xian Wu carried over the firewood from his own campsite.

A trail of fire blazed through the Stone Forest, forming a spectacular fire dragon.

However, Xian Wu didn't add the firewood from his campsite to the fire. He was afraid he might get stuffed too full and explode.

Once the fire had burned out and all its energy had been absorbed, Xian Wu took out his Soul Crystal and tested himself again.

Exactly twenty-two points of Soul Force. Not one more, not one less.

"Absorbing energy that isn't Soul Force can't increase my maximum Soul Force?" Xian Wu wasn't sure.

He kept adding firewood, burning it, and absorbing the energy.

After using up the firewood from his campsite, Xian Wu tested himself again.

"Still 22?" Now he understood the truth.

Absorbing energy that wasn't Soul Force could only restore his Soul Force quickly. It couldn't increase his maximum Soul Force.

If that was the case, where had all the excess energy gone? It had clearly entered his body, too.

"That doesn't obey the law of conservation of energy!"

Just as Xian Wu was puzzled, he suddenly noticed some strange writing appear on the back of his Left Hand: "-521Bkj".

"What does this string of characters mean?" Xian Wu was baffled.

After examining it briefly, he decided the number probably recorded energy.

"kj" probably meant kilojoules.

Why was the energy negative?

Was he in debt?

"Right!" Xian Wu slapped his forehead, suddenly understanding. "This energy must be what he owed when he used the Demon Left Hand to break down things. Breaking chemical bonds absorbs energy, while forming chemical bonds releases energy."

Since crossing into this world, he had broken down countless things.

He'd assumed he could break things down freely, with no strings attached. He hadn't expected to owe energy.

"That's pretty damn scientific." Xian Wu couldn't help commenting.

The next morning, he got up bright and early.

To get rid of the ugly tattoo, he used the Chaos Spirit Devouring Art on the rising sun.

He'd experimented the night before. Absorbing energy that wasn't Soul Force wouldn't increase his maximum Soul Force.

Rays of sunlight shone down on Xian Wu. He looked like the God of Dawn bathing in sunlight—well, the husband of the Goddess of Dawn.

"Hahaha... I am the god... Hahahahahaha..."

Xian Wu stood on the rockery with his hands on his hips, howling at the sky as dazzling golden light radiated from his body.

"God, my ass!"

"Why are you yelling so early in the morning? Spring's already over!"

"You finished yelling 'god,' and now you're yelling 'lunatic.' Are you going to let us sleep or not?"

A chorus of curses came from the dormitory.

Xian Wu sheepishly rubbed his nose, hopped down from the rockery, and headed for the cafeteria.

The golden light appeared and vanished just as quickly. Since the Chaos Spirit Devouring Art absorbed energy at an exponential rate, it didn't take long to erase the tattoo on the back of his hand.

Once the energy reached zero, the characters "0kj" remained for about three seconds, then disappeared on their own.