Malevolent Entity Aura

Bang.

The wooden table shattered into pieces, fragments shooting in all directions and striking the scholar, swordsman, woodcutter, and others inside the cramped earthen house.

They seemed utterly unaware, each of them still wearing a faint, eerie smile.

Zhao Zhi looked at Qian Yuan, whose face was pressed intimately against the ground, his facial bones crushed—yet not a drop of blood flowed out. A fierce glint flashed through Zhao Zhi's eyes as vast, surging inner force poured into Qian Yuan's head.

Puff.

Qian Yuan's head abruptly burst into a cloud of black mist, and his entire body vanished along with it.

So it really was a Malevolent Entity.

The moment Zhao Zhi first saw Qian Yuan, he had sensed that something was off. Qian Yuan's drenched body looked as though he had been caught in a torrential downpour. Yet his pale skin did not look chilled—it looked like that of a corpse.

What happened afterward grew even stranger.

Scholar, woodcutter, swordsman...

More and more people came in to shelter from the rain.

Liang Family Village was not large, but this was hardly its only house.

Those seeking shelter could have chosen other houses instead of continually cramming themselves into this tiny one.

[You have slain the Malevolent Entity Aura in this place. Merit +70.]

A stream of information flashed past Zhao Zhi's eyes.

The Merit was no small amount.

Qian Yuan had not felt particularly powerful to Zhao Zhi—he had not even measured up to a Postnatal Perfection martial artist. The only unusual thing about him had been his identity as a Malevolent Entity.

However.

Compared to the Malevolent Entity in Fairy Maiden Temple, the one he had just slain was called Malevolent Entity Aura.

Was it an incomplete Malevolent Entity?

Or was there some other reason?

Zhao Zhi slowly rose to his feet without reaching for the saber at his waist.

He knew.

These Malevolent Entities were almost immune to physical attacks. Blades and swords could pass through their bodies, yet could not truly kill them. Only martial artists of the Astral Condensation Realm, who could completely coat their weapons in astral force, could inflict fatal wounds upon such Malevolent Entities.

At his current strength, he could only mobilize his inner force and blast it directly into a Malevolent Entity's body to kill it.

Zhao Zhi slowly swept his gaze over the dozens of Malevolent Entity Auras around him, light gathering deep in his eyes.

The next instant.

Zhao Zhi's figure seemed to stretch strangely as he arrived before the scholar with the green jade pendant at his waist. He lightly placed a palm against the man's chest. Immediately afterward, vast inner force surged forth like floodwaters released from a dam.

Bang.

The scholar burst like a balloon, black mist scattering outward.

Zhao Zhi did not stop. Using Moon-Treading Step, he appeared before another scholar and brought his palm down upon the man's head, repeating the same method.

[You have slain the Malevolent Entity Aura in this place. Merit +80.]

[You have slain the Malevolent Entity Aura in this place. Merit +60.]

Two streams of information appeared before his eyes.

Clang.

At that moment, the swordsman suddenly launched an attack. A gleaming silver sword light flashed within the cramped space, stabbing straight toward Zhao Zhi's back.

Clang.

The sword struck Zhao Zhi, producing the sound of metal striking metal.

Zhao Zhi was completely unhurt. With his vast inner force circulating, Diamond Force could ward off simple wounds from blades and swords. Clearly, the swordsman's attack had not been particularly powerful.

With a sweep of his peripheral vision, Zhao Zhi moved like a spirit snake winding through the grass, slipping past the side of the sword. His five fingers curled into a claw, and in an instant, he seized the swordsman by the throat and savagely poured inner force into him.

Bang.

The swordsman turned into a cloud of black mist and gradually dissipated.

[You have slain the Malevolent Entity Aura in this place. Merit +80.]

To the current Zhao Zhi, the Malevolent Entity Auras in the cramped house were nothing but earthen chickens and pottery dogs, incapable of stirring even the slightest sense of urgency in him.

In less than ten breaths.

Zhao Zhi slaughtered every one of the dozens of Malevolent Entity Auras in the house, gaining nearly 2,000 Merit. This was simply an excellent place to farm Merit.

Zhao Zhi looked around the house now emptied of Malevolent Entity Auras, then looked at the Merit on the Merit Panel.

He could not let this opportunity slip away.

They were weak and numerous.

This was far better than fighting to the death.

After recovering a little inner force, he opened the door and strode outside.

Blazing sunlight shone down upon him, making his skin feel faintly scorched. There was not the slightest sign of a torrential downpour.

Zhao Zhi raised a hand to shield his eyes and slightly lifted his head, looking at the vast firmament and the dazzling Vast-Heaven Sun hanging above it. Then he looked around, a trace of gravity showing between his brows.

Broken walls and crumbling ruins—a desolate mountain village.

There was not the slightest trace of human activity. The withered village had long since been claimed by decay.

In the distance, the stone stele at the entrance to Liang Family Village had been broken into three pieces. One piece lay on the ground, weathered by wind and sun for so long that the character "Liang" atop it could no longer be seen clearly.

Zhao Zhi turned around and looked at the house he had just walked out of.

More than half of its earthen walls had collapsed. The wooden door had vanished without a trace, and the window lattice was old and deathly pale, with visible marks of termite damage.

His fine horse, however, was still perfectly well, tied to a broken doorpost without fussing or trying to run.

A ghostly maze?

The thought surfaced in Zhao Zhi's mind.

If it truly was a so-called ghostly maze, it should have been extremely powerful. Why had it fallen so easily, proving no match for Zhao Zhi at all?

He looked around once more. After a brief moment of thought, he mounted his horse and left.

This place was far too abnormal.

He did not know whether other powerful and inexplicable Malevolent Entities might appear, so he decided to get away as soon as possible.

He still knew far too little about Malevolent Entities.

Not long after Zhao Zhi left Liang Family Village, raindrops began to fall once more, pattering down. It rained again, and the rain grew heavier and heavier, turning the entire Liang Family Village into a world of wind and rain in the blink of an eye.

The damaged houses were completely restored amid the curtain of rain.

On the muddy path outside the entrance to Liang Family Village, two shadowy figures could vaguely be seen hurrying along, seemingly seeking shelter from the rain.

[Martial Arts: Modified True Martial Mountain-Suppressing Technique (Perfection), Giant Gate Palm (Perfection), Wild Wind Saber Technique (Perfection), Moon-Treading Step (Perfection), Diamond Force (Perfection)...]

[Merit: 1922]

Zhao Zhi looked at the Merit Panel before him, light gathering in his eyes.

Since upgrading the Little Spring Technique, it had taken him a long time to save up 1,000 Merit.

Now.

He had obtained nearly 2,000 Merit after spending only a short while in Liang Family Village.

With so much Merit, he could continue upgrading the Modified True Martial Mountain-Suppressing Technique.

With that thought.

Zhao Zhi poured Merit into the Modified True Martial Mountain-Suppressing Technique. One thousand Merit vanished in an instant.

[1000 Merit consumed. Modified True Martial Mountain-Suppressing Technique has transformed and upgraded into Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment.]

In that instant.

A vast amount of profound and peculiar information flooded Zhao Zhi's mind—the cultivation method of the martial art known as Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment.

Its fundamental modification had originally been the Modified True Martial Mountain-Suppressing Technique. Building upon an already fairly complete martial art, it had been elevated to the state of Perfection. Thus, Zhao Zhi quickly mastered this entirely new martial art.

The mysterious power stirring within his body followed the circulation route of Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment through one Greater Celestial Circuit after another, gradually transforming into an entirely new inner force.

Primordial Unity Inner Force.