That Man Is Back!

His face red and his neck thick with strain, he shouted:

"I don't care why you came back, Su Ziyu! Let me tell you, this is Maple Leaf Bar! Boss Li—Boss Li won't allow you to cause trouble here!"

"Boss Li? You mean him?"

Su Ziyu put on a look of sudden realization and snapped his fingers. A balding middle-aged man hurried in, his forehead covered in cold sweat and his expression filled with terror.

"M-Milord, what are your orders...?"

Su Ziyu once again gathered shadow energy over his face, concealing his features as he said calmly:

"I have no problem handling a little private matter here, do I?"

The balding man—or rather, Boss Li—was so frightened that his calves trembled. Bowing and scraping, he said:

"N-No problem, no problem! Please, do as you please!"

Su Zihao was utterly dumbfounded by the sight. Struggling, he grabbed Boss Li's thigh and snarled viciously:

"Li Ming! I'm a gold member here, and you fucking dare stand by and watch me die?"

Boss Li looked at Su Ziyu, then at Su Zihao. The muscles on his face scrunched together in misery. Neither side was someone he could afford to offend, but he had no desire to witness that mysterious man's methods a second time. Better to stay alive a little longer. At worst, he could close down the bar and take his brothers outside the city to open up new land.

After weighing the pros and cons, Boss Li forcefully shook off Su Zihao's hand and shouted fiercely:

"Who the fuck do you think you are? You think having a little money makes you so great? I'm done serving you!"

After saying that, he looked at Su Ziyu. His fierce expression immediately turned as gentle as a lamb's, and he backed out with a fawning smile.

Su Zihao was stunned. What was going on? Boss Li, who used to grovel before him like a dog, had suddenly changed completely?

He actually dared to yell at him!

And all of this was because that man had returned!

Su Zihao looked at Su Ziyu with bloodshot eyes, spat, and said:

"Su Ziyu... you... what the hell did you do? How dare you come back?"

Seeing that Su Ziyu's expression remained calm, Su Zihao, who had been shouting for so long, finally calmed down a little.

He remembered the terror in Boss Li's eyes when he looked at Su Ziyu. He had clearly suffered some inhuman torment. Then he thought of the girl standing beside Su Ziyu—he had been completely unable to defeat her just now. It seemed as though he realized something. His pupils widened as he said in disbelief:

"The Grimoire! You've mastered the Grimoire of the Old Days?!"

As soon as that thought arose, Su Zihao's face grew even paler, and his body began trembling uncontrollably.

Su Ziyu smiled and said unhurriedly:

"Little brother, tell me, after all these years, why are you still the same? Hanging around bars, chasing women... I guessed you'd be here, and sure enough, I was right."

Su Zihao's face alternated between pale and green. After great difficulty, he forced out a few words:

"You... you... weren't you dead? You disappeared for so long, we all thought you were dead! Why did you come back? You think you can come back and settle scores just because you cultivated the Grimoire?"

After saying this, a trace of brutality surfaced in Su Zihao's eyes, along with flickering madness.

"Big brother, big brother, wouldn't it have been better if you had quietly built up your strength? Now that you've come back, aren't you afraid of dying?"

The Grimoire's ** finally made this spoiled young master calm down, turning him greedy and crazed.

Su Ziyu seemed to have anticipated that he would say such things. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he raised one hand and said:

"My dear little brother, if I didn't come back, how could I find you all... and take revenge?"

As soon as his words fell, Su Ziyu raised his hand and hurled it down. A dark spear tore through the air and pierced Su Zihao's shoulder, causing a burst of blood to bloom.

"Ah!"

Su Zihao screamed, his face becoming even paler, yet greed and madness surfaced in his eyes.

"The power of the Grimoire of the Old Days! Big brother, I didn't expect you to have truly mastered part of its power. The Grimoire... the Grimoire is mine! It's mine! Hahaha! Big brother, I'm so excited, I... I..."

"I... I'm going to kill you!"

Su Zihao went completely insane. His eyes turned red, and the skin on his face swelled as though soaked in water. Finally, it burst with a bang. Numerous octopus-like tentacles extended outward. Of his once-normal face, only two scarlet eyes remained; the rest bulged with flesh sprouts that transformed into long, thin tentacles.

The mutation occurring on Su Zihao's body was entirely beyond Su Ziyu's expectations. He had thought the other man would compete with him in spellcraft, but instead, he had started by transforming.

Under the All-Seeing True Eye, part of Su Zihao's Mental Body had turned black. This was a sign of contamination!

What exactly had happened within the family after he left...

Curiosity flashed through Su Ziyu's mind. In just a few seconds, Su Zihao's entire face had transformed into tentacles, like the roots of old trees whipping about wildly.

"Roar!"

Su Zihao charged forward. The tentacles on his face became long and sharp, shooting out one after another toward Su Ziyu's chest. Having anticipated this, Su Ziyu rose lightly and leaped aside, dodging them. At the same time, he conjured a long black spear and fiercely nailed those tentacles to the ground.

"Ah!"

Su Zihao strained to lift his head. The tentacles on his face snapped apart segment by segment, while the remaining portions rapidly grew back, becoming thicker and longer. His movements became more agile, and the skin on his arms and legs peeled away bit by bit. Flesh sprouts bulged, then burst open, extending tentacles one after another.

At this moment, Su Zihao looked just like an octopus monster covered in tentacles.

Even Su Ziyu felt a wave of nausea at the sight.

"Although I can't maintain this state for long, for the Grimoire, I will definitely kill you!"

Su Zihao opened his mouth, revealing it to be packed with slick tentacles twisting and writhing. His voice became strange and hoarse.

He no longer looked human at all, no different from the Ghoul Cult in the mental hospital.

Moreover, the spirituality radiating from him had already reached the intensity of the Awakening Ninth Stage!

"Seeing you become like this puts my mind at ease. It'll be much more convenient to deal with you now."

Rather than being frightened by Su Zihao's disgusting appearance, Su Ziyu smiled even more happily.

Su Zihao charged over, moving faster than before. He swept a whip kick at Su Ziyu's head and shouted at the same time:

"Brother, you're still as stubborn as ever, hahaha! The human body has its limits. Only by abandoning the human body can I gain even greater power. If I obtain the Grimoire as well, I will... I will advance to Morning Star!"

When he spoke the words Morning Star, Su Zihao's face overflowed with even more frenzied excitement. His tentacles danced wildly, and even his whip kick seemed to become a little faster.

The angle of the whip kick was exceptionally tricky, and it was not slow either. An ordinary Awakening-level Transcendent would certainly have been unable to dodge it. However, no matter how fast it was, as long as the gap in strength between the two sides was not too great, it looked like slow-motion playback through the All-Seeing True Eye.

A fierce wind howled toward him. Su Ziyu's head suddenly twisted as though his neck had broken, easily evading the strike. Then, with one hand pressed to the ground, he delivered a high kick directly into Su Zihao's abdomen, sending him flying into the ceiling.

This was the physical enhancement brought by [Void Distortion]. Su Ziyu possessed the same ability as Ruan Xiaoqi and could easily control his body, making movements that defied normal laws.

Among ordinary people, such skill was generally called superhuman...

With a bang, Su Zihao smashed a large hole in the ceiling. Su Ziyu then condensed two more black spears and threw them upward, piercing both of Su Zihao's shoulders. Netherworld Ghostfire clung to them, burning the tentacles on Su Zihao's body until they curled and shriveled.