Cursed Black Soul! Rootless Tendrils

As the visualization continued, a shadow gradually fell over Ruan Xiaoqi's spirit body. It danced with claws and fangs like a demon, vaguely taking the shape of a human figure. Only two eyes and a mouth could be made out on its face; its eye sockets were deeply sunken, and together with its mouth formed three openings in a triangular arrangement. Its features were twisted, and it radiated a thick evil aura.

Su Ziyu vaguely remembered that face. When he had peeked into Ruan Xiaoqi's past before, he had seen it—it belonged to the old witch who had performed the evil sacrificial ritual!

He had not expected the old witch to have left behind another contingency...

Su Ziyu observed for a while longer, then immediately frowned.

"This isn't a contingency! It's been activated! She's trying to usurp Ruan Xiaoqi's spirit body!"

Su Ziyu instantly understood. The old witch had used some kind of technique to hide within Ruan Xiaoqi's spirit body. Her concealment had been exceptionally clever, and now that Ruan Xiaoqi was advancing to Morning Star, she was trying to seize her spirit body.

If the old witch succeeded, Ruan Xiaoqi would likely become a puppet under her control. Just thinking about it made Su Ziyu shudder.

"Hiss..."

Ruan Xiaoqi's delicate brows furrowed. Her collagen-filled face scrunched up as she revealed a pained expression.

The phantom image of the Coldplain Purple Spider painting in her arms emerged as well, its anchor points taking shape one by one. Ruan Xiaoqi had begun her advancement!

The old witch's spirit body opened its claws. Her body suddenly extended several jointed limbs like a spider, stabbing toward Ruan Xiaoqi's spirit body like thrown spears.

Boom!

Bang!

Crash...

The Spirit Scissors conjured by Su Ziyu blocked those blade-like limbs. The old witch's head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees as she hung upside down and stared at Su Ziyu. A slit split open where her eyes should have been, forming a pair of compound eyes!

"Brat! You ruined my plans!"

The old witch roared in an utterly hoarse voice. Her pitch-black spirit body suddenly swelled as she emerged from the top of Ruan Xiaoqi's head. Half of her remained in Ruan Xiaoqi's body while her upper half was exposed to the air. Her mouth split all the way to her ears, and she spewed out a tangled mass like she was blowing bubbles.

Netherworld Ghostfire shot out at the same time, wrapping around the tangled web and letting out a sizzling sound.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several more clumps of webbing spewed forth. The Netherworld Ghostfire seemed to come alive, swelling larger as it enveloped the extra webs. The flames on its surface twisted into one expression after another, releasing ear-piercing shrieks.

"Old hag, couldn't you just live properly as a human? Why did you have to turn yourself into this neither-human-nor-ghost mess?"

Su Ziyu shook his head. The Spirit Scissors hovered above the old witch's head like a sword of Damocles, ready to fall at any moment.

The old witch's expression became exceedingly ugly. She shrieked:

"Mortal! Don't ruin my plans! The Spider God will never forgive you!"

Su Ziyu merely smiled without answering. He stepped forward, pressed one hand against her forehead, and said with a smile:

"Since you miss the Spider God so dearly, I'll let you experience his divine might for free."

His ordinary-looking palm pressed down. The old witch initially tried to dodge, but the Spirit Scissors suddenly pierced her chest, leaving her no choice but to watch helplessly as that hand pressed against her forehead.

The instant they touched, hazy, illusory white spider silk seemed to fly out, vanishing in a flash.

The old witch's hollow gaze immediately turned vacant, while her compound eyes filled with extreme terror.

"Ah! The Spider God's power! How... how do you have it?!"

The old witch wailed. Starting from her forehead, an unusual darkness spread downward. It was unlike ordinary black; it was darkness that seemed capable of swallowing light itself. The surrounding light vanished bit by bit, dyeing her already pitch-black body an even deeper black.

"Ah! No!"

The old witch's body twisted little by little, and countless eyes grew across her spirit body. Tufts of soft black hair sprouted from the eyeballs. It was as though some force had suddenly taken over her body and caused it to mutate.

In the end, her body twisted into a rope-like knot, covered in eyeballs. Every one of them had neither eyelashes nor pupils, and they let out heartrending shrieks.

The old witch's spirit body gradually expanded like a balloon, covered all over with eyeballs.

The old witch could only watch in panic as her body swelled. She desperately tried to return to Ruan Xiaoqi's body, but the Spirit Scissors pierced straight through her throat.

Finally, with a bang, the old witch's body exploded. Her twisted form began to dissipate bit by bit, while her unwilling voice seemed to linger in the air:

"No! You'll suffer retribution! The Spider God watches over me forever! I curse you!"

"..."

Su Ziyu merely watched the dissipating spirituality in silence and said calmly:

"Extract materials!"

Soon, a streak of white light flew into his hand.

Without rushing to inspect it, Su Ziyu first checked on Ruan Xiaoqi's condition. Seeing that her spirit body was normal and her Mental Body was completely pure, he finally relaxed. He sat down on a sofa and entered the System Space to take stock of his gains.

[Rootless Tendrils (Three-Star): Su Mingyi's family sacrificed themselves to an evil god. They gained the favor of a certain organization and received the evil god's gaze, becoming contaminated as a result. This is a form of parasitism inflicted upon humans by some great being. Although it can briefly increase one's strength, the Mental Body will slowly be eroded and contaminated!]

[Cursed Black Soul (Four-Star): Originating from an old witch's ritual. As a believer of the Spider God, she wished to obtain a youthful body again in her frail old age. Thus, she began researching black magic. At the cost of one hundred infants, she opened the gate of sacrifice, found a Hundred-Poison Body, and accepted the Spider God's gift. In the end, the old witch even used herself as a sacrifice, successfully shrinking into a spirit body contained within a vessel, drifting aimlessly as she searched for a chance at rebirth!]

"[Rootless Tendrils] was the material contributed by Su Mingyi's family. It must be those octopus-tentacle-like things that came out of their bodies, right? Hmm, I got ten of them. Three-star materials—not bad. [Cursed Black Soul] came from that old witch. It's a four-star material that can be used in the next edit to give a monster a new soul."

Su Ziyu nodded in satisfaction. This journey of revenge had come to an end. Not only did he feel refreshed, but he had also gained quite a few good things.

More importantly, Su Ziyu had completed his advancement and obtained the visualization image of the Primordial Demon God.

"Hmm, I still need to be wary of that organization called the Old Gods Cult. Judging from the diary Su Jingtian left behind, that organization seems to be trying to recover the 'Grimoire of the Old Days'... I wonder what connection they have to the Grimoire."

Su Ziyu was in an excellent mood as he stretched lazily.

When he looked back, he found that Ruan Xiaoqi's visualization was about to end as well.

Moreover, after the curse left by that old witch had been cleared away, Ruan Xiaoqi's complexion had become even rosier.