Soul Slave Training

At that moment, another stream of unfamiliar information appeared in Zhao An's mind, making everything suddenly click.

At the same time, deep in his mind, a mysterious cluster of light came into view.

[Soul Pool]

Two figures were drifting within this Soul Pool.

Under Zhao An's conscious observation, the two figures, glowing with a faint light, became perfectly clear.

They were the two Red Names: the bouncer whose throat he had smashed with a punch, and the bald Xu San, who had just breathed his last.

He could vaguely hear the two ghostly figures let out anguished wails. It was as if they were enduring the most extreme torment in the Soul Pool, suffering beyond measure.

Those with Red Names were all evildoers who had committed wicked acts in this world.

When he killed them, their evil souls fell into the Soul Pool, where they were cleansed of themselves and became his Soul Slaves.

At that moment, the two evil souls were undergoing the cleansing process.

"Master An, please spare my daughter. I'll—I'll find a way to pay the protection money." The old man's legs were broken, and he couldn't get up. All he could do was cling desperately to one of Zhao An's legs and beg for his life.

In the past, Zhao An might have stomped on his hands and raped his daughter in front of him.

But the Zhao An of the past was already dead.

The Zhao An who stood here now was still as fierce as a tiger, but at least he wasn't completely deranged.

He pulled over a reasonably clean cloth and pressed it against the wound on his head.

With his other hand, he picked up Xu San's corpse from the ground.

"Today's business is over. Let go."

The old man squeezed his eyes shut. He'd already been ready to die when he begged for mercy, but he hadn't expected the King of Hell to be so accommodating today. He opened his eyes and looked up in surprise.

"Let go."

Zhao An's expression was blank. His lowered eyes still held a trace of bloodlust. There was no murderous glint in them, but the old man was still terrified when their eyes met, and immediately let go.

The old man remained uneasy, unsure what Zhao An was plotting.

"Dad!"

Only after Zhao An dragged Xu San's corpse out of the room did the girl dare move. She rushed over to help her father up.

"Go, hurry and see how your mother is!"

"Okay, okay..."

Outside, Zhao An casually tossed the corpse onto the road.

And the moment he stepped out of the low house, the white characters above the girl's head gradually turned transparent. A streak of white light separated from them and fell into Zhao An's hand, where it transformed into a pale fruit.

[Disaster Averted, Virtue Rewarded!]

Zhao An regarded the white fruit that had appeared in his hand, deep in thought.

"Brother Zhao, y-you beat Bald Xu to death?!" Li Gou'er stared at Xu San's corpse, tossed out like a broken sack, his face a mixture of shock and fear.

He wasn't afraid of Xu San. He was afraid of the Python Gang behind him, which probably wouldn't let this go.

No matter how low-ranking Xu San was, he was still a minor leader in the Python Gang. His death was no small matter.

"Is there a problem?" Zhao An glanced at him and asked calmly.

Li Gou'er's heart skipped a beat. For some reason, his big brother suddenly seemed like a stranger.

"Brother Zhao, are we still collecting protection money?" Zhao Chunzi scratched his head.

"What's the point of collecting it? Can't you see Brother Zhao's hurt? Getting him to a clinic is what matters." Li Gou'er snapped.

"Let's go to a clinic," Zhao An said.

This life might have been handed to him by chance, but now that he was alive, he didn't want to throw it away for nothing.

As for the two in front of him, they'd been the former Zhao An's right-hand men—two hooligan boys from the same village.

The two of them had helped Zhao An make a name for himself in the city.

Only after the three of them had disappeared from sight did the neighbors of Two Wells Alley dare come out. They spat on the corpses in the street, and those who still weren't satisfied even walked up and kicked them a couple of times, saying they'd gotten what they deserved.

Of course, they had no kind words for Zhao An either, despite his coming back from the dead. They only resented Heaven for not letting the two bullies kill each other.

"Poor Old Lin and his family. I wonder if they'll get through this."

"It'll be hard. I went to see them. Both of Old Lin's legs are ruined. They'd been able to count on Xiaoxiao finding a good family to marry into, but that's out of the question now. Sigh..."

"Don't talk nonsense. Xiaoxiao's fine. Zhao An killed Xu San and left before he could have his way with her."

"Her reputation's still been damaged. Even if she's untouched, once word gets around, she won't be able to land a good marriage."

"What a shame. Such a good girl, always kindhearted. It's just not fair..."

At the clinic, Zhao An sat on a wooden chair with his head tilted back. Only now did he have a moment to consider his current predicament.

Being a minor leader of the Tiger Head Gang was his identity now. It looked like it carried some weight, but in reality, all he could do was bully ordinary neighbors and oppress common folk with no backing.

In the bottom rung of society, he was the kind of villain everyone hated—even dogs snarled at him.

He had a little viciousness and some experience in brawling, but no real skills to speak of. Any proper young martial hero could use the banner of justice to grind experience off him, treating him like a minor monster to farm.

"This body ought to be capable of practicing martial arts. The previous owner was too absorbed in wine and women to make any use of it at all. What a waste." Zhao An's thoughts turned over in his mind.

But properly practicing martial arts was no easy feat. He wouldn't make a name for himself in just three or five days.

Without putting in several years, he probably wouldn't even learn the basics.

At this thought, he looked deep into his mind, toward the two souls drifting in the Soul Pool.

Xu San's soul was still screaming and struggling, as though it had been thrown into a pot of boiling oil and fried over and over, every second a torment.

The other hooligan's soul, however, had settled down. It had completed its cleansing.

[Soul Slave: Jiang Erniu]

[Servitude Period: One year]

[Trait One: Pure-Blooded Human (Can cultivate human techniques!)]

[Trait Two: Substitute Death (Any Soul Slave can passively die in the master's place when the master suffers a fatal injury!)]

A simple status panel showed that this soul had become his Soul Slave.

According to the information that had appeared in his mind, Soul Slaves seemed to have many uses, and different Soul Slaves offered different benefits.

But low-grade Soul Slaves couldn't unlock those uses.

And this Soul Slave could help him practice martial arts!

Inside the Soul Pool, he could clearly see the Soul Slave named Jiang Erniu intently honing a martial art.

It was the Black Tiger Blade Technique he had just fed him.

This blade technique was incomplete and unranked. It had been derived from the Fierce Tiger Blade Art, the signature technique of Zhou Hu, leader of the Tiger Head Gang.

Any gang leader who had contributed to the Tiger Head Gang had a chance to receive guidance from the gang leader and learn this Black Tiger Blade Technique.

Since the technique was unranked, it wasn't particularly intricate. It was easy to learn, required little thought or effort, and was simple and straightforward enough for anyone. It suited a brute like the former Zhao An perfectly.

Even so, the former Zhao An had still made a complete mess of it. He had brute strength to spare, but couldn't handle a blade properly. Most of the time, he preferred to settle things with his fists, just like he had earlier.

Time seemed to flow differently for a Soul Slave practicing martial arts, as though someone had pressed fast-forward. His progress was astonishingly quick, and before long, he was wielding the blade with a semblance of skill.

As long as Zhao An didn't tell him to stop, the Soul Slave kept refining the technique without tiring, perfecting it bit by bit until Zhao An claimed the results.

But Zhao An wasn't in a hurry to claim them. He planned to watch a little longer.

In the meantime, he looked at the small pale fruit beside the Soul Pool.

He had obtained it from the girl named Lin Xiaoxiao.

Those with Red Names were mostly people burdened by grave sins. When Zhao An killed one, he gained a Soul Slave.

Those with white names, on the other hand, were often kindhearted people who had accumulated Virtue. When Zhao An saved one, he could claim some of the Virtue they had amassed.

That Virtue formed into a Virtue Fruit. That was where this Little White Fruit came from.

Soul Slaves could help him cultivate martial arts, but the Virtue Fruit was even more useful.

According to the information poured into his mind, the Virtue Fruit he had obtained could grant a wish!