Luo Zhou ran alongside his classmates, thinking as he went.
"I've killed the Devil of Geomagnetism, Gu Shanhe. That makes five evildoers punished so far. Four more!"
He couldn't help letting out a long sigh.
"There are only thirty-three days left!"
In his previous life, Luo Zhou had died on Earth. In a daze, he had crossed over and awakened in this world.
His soul had crossed over into a newborn, and he had lived another life from the beginning.
But the infant's tiny body couldn't contain an adult soul. He'd been a muddleheaded fool until the age of six, when he finally awakened completely and remembered his previous life.
In this life, both his parents had been members of the outer forces of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect. He also had two brothers, and his childhood home had been warm and happy.
Unfortunately, when Luo Zhou was ten, sea beasts attacked Ningze Prefecture, and both his parents died in battle.
To make a living, his eldest brother had gone to work as an apprentice at the Xinglong Merchant Association in the Liang Kingdom's imperial capital. It had been three years since Luo Zhou last saw him. His younger brother had been adopted by their fourth uncle and left the Liang Kingdom.
His parents had left behind some assets because they had died in the line of duty. As a true-blooded descendant of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect, Luo Zhou had easily enrolled at the Green Ridge City Heaven and Earth Dao Academy.
Luo Zhou had cultivated diligently at the academy for years. Sixty-seven days ago, he had finally awakened his innate spiritual nature.
And gained the ability to Reward Good and Punish Evil!
The students arrived at the academy without being late. They split up and headed for their respective classrooms.
After awakening his spiritual nature, Luo Zhou had joined Class Three of Xianya Hall.
Students who hadn't awakened could only go to Planting Hall, Construction Hall, Chef Hall, Breeding Hall, Opera Hall, Butchery Hall, and the like.
These halls prepared ordinary students for a future livelihood.
Only those who had awakened their spiritual nature could enter Xianya Hall, take part in the Ascension Conference, climb the Stairway to Heaven, and join the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect!
Luo Zhou entered Xianya Hall and took his seat.
The classroom buzzed with discussion.
"Did you hear? There's been a new announcement about a Woodworm Devil. They're calling him the Head-Exploding Devil!"
"How are more devils popping up? The original six Woodworm Devils have harmed countless people and still haven't been eliminated. Now there's another one?"
"Good people don't live long, but evil lasts a thousand years."
"The Rainy Night Devil strikes on rainy nights, so don't go out when it rains. The Full Moon Devil takes lives on the fifteenth night of the month.
"The Eye-Eating Devil specializes in women's eyes, and the 13th of the Month Devil wipes out a whole household on the third.
"The Yellow Earth Devil covers people's faces with yellow earth, and the Devil of Geomagnetism crushes young men into minced meat.
"Now there's another Head-Exploding Devil. They say he specializes in killing cultivators, blowing their heads apart and bursting through their eyes!"
The students chattered among themselves as Luo Zhou listened from the side.
News traveled fast!
He carefully checked his spiritual ability, Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil.
With this ability, he could obtain the awakened spiritual nature of his classmates.
From Zuo Sanguang, he had obtained Flash of Inspiration.
Flash of Inspiration had foretold that a hundred days later, he would encounter Green Ridge City's greatest Woodworm Devil—and die.
But Flash of Inspiration was vague; he hadn't seen what the enemy looked like.
From then on, he'd felt as if he were carrying a heavenly mandate.
He had to kill every Woodworm Devil in the city within a hundred days!
Through his Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil ability, Luo Zhou knew there were nine Woodworm Devils in the city. Six had been exposed for their crimes, each with a devil title.
The Rainy Night Devil, the Full Moon Devil, the Eye-Eating Devil, the 13th of the Month Devil, the Yellow Earth Devil, and the Devil of Geomagnetism!
They were all Qi Refining cultivators, while Luo Zhou was only at the fifth level of Body Tempering. Against them, he was no more than an ant.
Fortunately, from his classmate Wang Heyu, he had also gained the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thrust!
With diligent cultivation, he had mastered the technique. Dragon-Slaying Thrust could pierce through an eye and blow apart a head, allowing him to kill those of higher realms!
So, forty-six days ago, he had killed the Eye-Eating Devil, Qiu Jun; thirty-one days ago, the Yellow Earth Devil, Li Feng; eighteen days ago, the Woodworm cultivator Jiang Ziyou; eight days ago, the Woodworm cultivator Yu Jun; and today, the Devil of Geomagnetism, Gu Shanhe!
Jiang Ziyou and Yu Jun hadn't had devil titles.
Although they were Qi Refining cultivators, they had no unique traits in their true qi and had taken care to leave no traces when killing. The government constables hadn't noticed the pattern of serial killings and couldn't establish a case.
Thirty-three days left, and four more to go!
If time ran out, he would encounter the strongest Woodworm Devil.
Considering how the Devil of Geomagnetism, Gu Shanhe, had crushed people flat, he couldn't even imagine how terrifying the strongest devil would be.
He would die without a burial place!
So, under the heavenly mandate, he had to strike first and gain the upper hand. He would kill them all, and then he'd naturally be safe and able to survive!
Before long, the day's cultivation ended and the academy let out. Luo Zhou headed home.
He strolled through Green Ridge City, returning to Qingniwa Bridge.
The crime scene had been cleared. Gu Shanhe's family had taken away his body, and nothing here seemed out of the ordinary.
The Dead Spirit standing by the bridge had been the sixth boy Gu Shanhe murdered. With Gu Shanhe dead, the spirit was gone too.
After a Woodworm Devil killed someone, the victim turned into a Dead Spirit.
They were neither vengeful spirits nor ghosts nor dead souls. Only Luo Zhou could see them.
With Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil, he could sense the Dead Spirits' hatred and experience everything they had gone through.
Somehow, this let him learn all sorts of details about the Woodworm Devil responsible for their deaths. He could determine the ritual the devil had performed and prepare a countermeasure, ensuring he could kill it with a single strike.
Otherwise, with the cunning and cruelty of the Devil of Geomagnetism, Gu Shanhe, the Eye-Eating Devil, Qiu Jun, and the Yellow Earth Devil, Li Feng, how could Luo Zhou possibly have killed them?
Luo Zhou continued on, but after only a dozen or so zhang, he reached an intersection.
At the roadside, a woman reduced to countless pieces looked at him, wailing and crying out against her killer!
Luo Zhou let out a long sigh. There were nine great Woodworm Devils in the city. He had killed five, and four remained.
This was a woman killed by the Full Moon Devil.
The Full Moon Devil took a life at a crossroads on the fifteenth of every month!
But Luo Zhou couldn't do a thing to it now, because it wasn't human!
It was a great demon in hiding somewhere in Green Ridge City.
He had sensed the sixty-nine people it had eaten, yet he still couldn't find its true form or figure out how to fight it.
Besides the Full Moon Devil, there was the 13th of the Month Devil.
On the third of every month, the 13th of the Month Devil would break down a door and wipe out a household.
But for some reason, the Dead Spirits of those families were in complete disarray, leaving behind not a single clue.
He couldn't pin down the devil's true form, so he couldn't avenge the two hundred and thirty-one people from fifty-five households.
There was also a Woodworm cultivator who had shown no signs of being a devil and hadn't been convicted by the government constables.
To the north of the city was Caobang, one of Green Ridge City's five major gangs and an affiliated organization of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect.
Caobang handled the transport of grain by canal between Ningze Prefecture and the four other prefectures. Ten thousand people in Green Ridge City made a living working for them.
No one would ever have guessed that on the first of every month, they bought three pairs of young boys and girls from out of town, secretly cut out their hearts, and offered them in sacrifice.
The resentment of countless children filled Caobang's headquarters. Luo Zhou didn't even dare go near. The wailing and hatred of more than a thousand boys and girls had built up to a point he could barely endure.
Caobang had performed these sacrifices for a full fifteen years. The children were all bought from out of town, and afterward their bodies were destroyed without leaving a trace.
Thinking it over, the gang leader of Caobang, Liu Changlong, had inherited his position fifteen years ago.
He was a cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refining, already at great perfection and preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm!
Luo Zhou had no way to deal with him. Liu Changlong never came out to hunt Woodworm Devils, and he had countless guards. There was no way to get close enough to kill him.
The last was the Rainy Night Devil, which ate people whenever it rained!
This one wasn't human either. It was a giant Crocodile Dragon from the Jing'an Sea. On rainy nights, it transformed its body, shrank its size, and slipped into the city to devour people.
It had been eating its way through Green Ridge City for over a century, swallowing tens of thousands of people.
Tens of thousands had been swallowed without leaving a trace, becoming inexplicably missing persons.
For some reason, it had started leaving behind mangled corpses ten years ago. Only then had the government constables identified it as the Rainy Night Devil.
The four great Woodworm Devils were impossible to find and impossible to kill. Luo Zhou had no way to deal with them now!
He walked home.
His house stood in Ping'an Quarter, a small, secluded courtyard in the city.
It was the house his parents had left him.
He returned home, cooked, ate, cultivated, and rested. Before long, it was midnight.
Luo Zhou went into the courtyard and waited in silence.
Rustle, rustle. It sounded as if something were crawling closer.
Sixteen Dead Spirits, as thin as sheets of paper, crawled toward him and gathered in front of him.
The Dead Spirits gently touched Luo Zhou, as if passing something to him...
Once they were done, the Dead Spirits were finally set free. They slowly transformed into sixteen young men and women.
They were no longer scraps of flesh, twisted and smeared with blood. They had become youthful boys and girls.
Some were male and some female; some were mountain barbarians, some natives of the city, and some seafarers from other places.
They looked at Luo Zhou with gratitude, thanked him, bowed, and saluted.
Luo Zhou watched them and lit three sticks of incense!
"Your great vengeance has been avenged, and you have no more grievances. Go now, and enter the cycle of reincarnation!"
They slowly dispersed, entering the cycle of reincarnation!
Luo Zhou watched the incense burn, standing perfectly still. Gradually, his ability, Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil, quietly activated!
Luo Zhou, sensing a Dead Spirit's plea for help. An evil spirit has done wrong. Punish it! Punish evil: Kill the Woodworm Devil, the Devil of Geomagnetism, Gu Shanhe. Good deed: Reward him! Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil complete. Reward!
In a daze, Luo Zhou felt a power condense inside him and emerge!
A new book, a new beginning. Let's go again, let's fight again! I hope you'll enjoy it, and that it gets better and better!
Before you continue