Squelch!
Su Ziyu drove two dark spears into his opponent's body, briefly restraining the monster that had summoned a pillar of light to wipe everything out.
The Void Shadow Beast also emerged from the shadows behind the bookshelf, thrusting a pair of scissors even larger than before into the heart in Su Jingtian's chest, then viciously twisting them.
With the Lethal Strike buff, Su Jingtian let out a howl and finally came to a complete stop.
The Void Shadow Beast moved like a phantom, as though every part of its body had hidden away, leaving only a single crimson eye gathering light.
The light absorbed the surrounding darkness, gradually condensing into a dim white ray before the Void Shadow Beast.
Whoosh!
The beam blasted forth!
[God-Slaying Flash!]
This was the Void Shadow Beast's most powerful attack skill, gathering the power of shadows at a single point and bringing it to the pinnacle!
The black beam completely pierced through Su Jingtian. Part of it burst out from behind him and shot into the sky like a meteor falling from the heavens. Su Jingtian's black gemstone-like heart shattered with a crack, and his body turned to black ash as it gradually dispersed.
The arms growing from his eye sockets slowly withered. The eyeballs in their palms burst one after another, while the arms protruding from all over his body withered and snapped. The eyeballs melted away as if oozing pus, and the monster's life force faded bit by bit.
Su Jingtian, Su Ziyu's second granduncle, had always been exceptionally harsh toward Su Ziyu. Even when Su Ziyu's grandfather had still been alive, he had often suffered Su Jingtian's exclusion. In the end, Su Mingyi's family had all been jealous of Grandfather—jealous of the Grimoire, jealous that they could study its power.
But that had been a rule set down by their ancestors. Aside from Su Ziyu's branch of the family, which could study the Grimoire, the other branches could only learn ordinary spells. There had been precedents of people becoming powerful through ordinary spells as well; they simply wanted to take shortcuts.
Su Jingtian slowly turned his head. Amid the madness in his expression, there was now a trace of sorrow. He seemed to recognize Su Ziyu. His lips trembled, and his voice was extremely faint.
"Ziyu... you... came back..."
At the brink of death, Su Jingtian had finally regained a little of his sanity. His voice came in fits and starts, like a candle guttering in the wind, as though he might collapse at any moment.
"I'm... I'm sorry..."
"B-beware the Old Days... curse..."
Su Jingtian unexpectedly revealed the kind of smile only an elder would show. He smiled kindly and pointed in a direction with a withered finger.
"In the drawer... there's... what you need..."
He seemed to have exhausted all his strength. His other hand tried to rise, but no matter what he did, it could not move. He could only gasp out the words.
"The family... depends on you... f-forgive me..."
As soon as his words fell, Su Jingtian's body dispersed inch by inch, leaving not even a corpse behind.
All Su Ziyu had left in his hand was a ragged scrap of black robe. He gripped it tightly and looked out the window.
The sky was still bright, yet the air had gained an inexplicable bleakness.
Su Jingtian was dead. Su Ziyu had thought he was an utterly vile old man. Who would have expected him to say such things at the moment of his death?
As the saying went, "A man's words are kind when death approaches."
After standing there in a daze for several minutes, Su Ziyu came back to himself. He sat on the mottled floor and looked around the study.
The battle had utterly destroyed the room's former neatness. The bookshelves were damaged, the books ruined, and many old tomes lay scattered everywhere. The walls had peeled away badly, while several large holes had appeared in the ceiling.
The family had to be hiding secrets he did not know about. Why had Grandfather died? Why had Su Jingtian's family mutated and joined a cult?
There were still many mysteries left unresolved, waiting for Su Ziyu to uncover them.
After succeeding in his revenge, he desperately wanted to lie down and sleep. But he knew he could not. He could feel that he had been drawn into something far larger and more complicated.
Five minutes later, Su Ziyu opened his eyes again. The exhaustion in them had vanished. He patted the dust off his pants and stood up.
The desk's legs had all broken during the fight, leaving only the tabletop and several books on it.
Su Ziyu searched through them for a long time before finally finding the yellowed book from earlier and several unknown ancient tomes. Then, from a battered drawer, he found a notebook with a black cover.
"Whew..."
Carrying those items, Su Ziyu went outside, found a table at random, and sat down. He opened the black-covered notebook first.
To his surprise, it was a diary!
Su Jingtian's diary.
He flipped through it casually, and several entries caught his attention.
Federation Calendar, June 12th, 1031. Clear.
Damn it, where exactly had Big Brother hidden the method for advancing to Morning Star? Why hadn't I found it after turning the entire study upside down?! I was already seventy-two this year. If I waited any longer, I would have no hope of advancing...
That brat Su Ziyu had vanished who knew where. Maybe the Grimoire in his hands recorded the method of advancement. Hmph, giving the Grimoire to that little brat was simply a waste...
...However, an organization calling itself the Old God Cult came today. They actually said they would give me an opportunity to advance to Morning Star. How ridiculous. I decided not to meet them for now. They were clearly a bunch of lunatics.
Federation Calendar, June 12th, 1031. Clear.
Damn it, my physical condition had been getting worse and worse. I had no choice but to meet him. Heh, this was a little interesting—he was actually a priest and looked quite mature. Well, that wasn't the important part. He taught me a method for advancing to Morning Star. It was simply astonishing!
Could you imagine how I felt at that time?! It was impossible to describe with words. The thing I had pursued so desperately was apparently so worthless in their eyes.
I hadn't told the children about this yet. I didn't want them to worry too much.
I was about to begin my secluded training...
Federation Calendar, July 2nd, 1031. Overcast.
The method he taught did have some effect. I could feel myself gradually breaking through that bottleneck. But what puzzled me was, what was that organization's purpose? I asked them, and that priest said they wanted to reclaim the Grimoire. All I needed to do was bring back that little bastard Su Ziyu. There were no additional conditions. That was how it seemed, but why did I feel that something was wrong?
During this time, Mingyi and my youngest grandson also received gifts from that organization. Perhaps it wasn't a bad thing. I could feel their strength growing stronger...
Federation Calendar, November 12th, 1032. Clear.
No, something was wrong. I had been having nightmares every day lately. Was that really a method for advancing to Morning Star? I had begun to doubt it, but the ritual had already started. I had no choice but to try. Damn it, I could feel that Mingyi and the others were becoming more and more abnormal as well...
Federation Calendar, December 21st, 1032. Clear.
Damn it, I felt like I had been contaminated. I couldn't escape. My spirituality was being drained away bit by bit. I wanted to stop Mingyi and my youngest grandson, but they actually obeyed that organization and locked me in the study. No, the people from that organization were all lunatics. Damn it, I only had a sliver of sanity left to write these words. (There were scribbled marks, and the writing was completely illegible.) No, these things weren't suitable for writing here. This was only my guess...
...My condition was truly getting worse and worse...
The diary ended abruptly there. From what followed, it was clear that Su Jingtian had completely gone mad.
And the people from that organization had also controlled Su Mingyi's family, so their contamination had all been caused by that mysterious organization?
That so-called organization was the Old God Cult... What was its purpose?
And what role had the priest who taught Su Jingtian how to advance to Morning Star played in all of this?
Su Ziyu pinched his chin as thoughts raced through his mind.
After getting nowhere no matter how hard he thought, Su Ziyu opened the yellowed book.
It was filled with symbols and writing. After activating the All-Seeing True Eye, reading it was not difficult.
Before you continue