Hell Plague Fly!

When the familiar final syllable left Cheng Sheng's mouth, an eerie silence fell over the old classroom.

Outside the window, the wind and rain still raged amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, but not a sound could be heard, as though a thick, invisible pane of glass stood between them.

Cheng Sheng stopped chanting and narrowed his eyes at the array.

Soon, a bizarre change occurred-the entire concrete floor inside the array suddenly turned soft and viscous, like a swamp.

At the center of the array, the bodies of the nose-ring man and his companion began to sink slowly against their will.

The bizarre change was evidently beyond their comprehension. Their eyes widened, but their severe injuries left them unable to move, so only their eyeballs darted about...

"Ah-!"

Perhaps extreme fear and the desire to survive had unleashed a potential neither man had ever shown before. At one point, the burly man with the knuckle-dusters suddenly sat bolt upright, raised both hands and flailed wildly at the air, his mouth wide open in a roar...

Cheng Sheng's eyes flickered, but before he could take a step, the burly man who had sat up was "pulled" back down.

The blackish-gray sludge covering his entire body seemed to be alive, constantly dragging him deeper underground...

Until both men disappeared completely from Cheng Sheng's sight.

The concrete floor at the center of the array became hard and level again, as though nothing had happened.

"It's over..."

Cheng Sheng let out a breath and relaxed.

Next, it was time to collect his "payment."

He waited where he stood for a little while, and soon felt the wounds on his face and back inexplicably begin to itch.

He reached up and scratched, and something stuck to his hand. He looked down and saw large pieces of hardened scab.

"My wounds healed?"

In just a few seconds, the enormous gash on Cheng Sheng's face, cut by the triangular bee stinger, had vanished completely.

He felt his injured cheek. It was smooth and soft, without a trace of the wound. The wound on his back was the same.

"That's pretty good."

After the fierce battle, the "weakness and exhaustion" in his body and mind had disappeared as well.

This sacrifice had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, carried out in a hurry. Cheng Sheng had not considered what he might gain from it, or what he wanted to gain.

It was also his first human sacrifice, so everything he would receive in return this time was unknown to him.

After his injuries healed, the Primordial Mark in his mind stirred.

"A tiny amount of soul fragments?"

Cheng Sheng was comparing this sacrifice with the Evil Spirit he had devoured last time, trying to determine which had caused his Primordial Mark to grow more, when a mass of information was suddenly forced into his head.

"Hm?!"

Cheng Sheng grunted and raised a hand to press the spot between his brows, which had suddenly begun to swell.

But the swelling sensation vanished as quickly as it had come, soon melting away like a snowball.

Once Cheng Sheng had fully absorbed the contents, his expression slowly grew peculiar.

"After all those sacrifices, I've finally gotten something good..."

Cheng Sheng considered the information contained in his head, his slender brows furrowing slightly.

"But what exactly is this supposed to be..."

"Bang!!"

A tremendous crash suddenly came from outside the classroom.

It sounded as though a door on the second or third floor had been blown violently shut by the wind.

Cheng Sheng looked up at the ceiling, where a cobweb-covered fan hung motionless.

He shook his head and decided not to linger. After tidying up a little, he quickly left the classroom and disappeared into the torrential rain...

The next day, at the Black Killing Boxing Gym.

A youth drenched in blood stepped out of a huge bathing tub.

His entire body, including his cheeks and even his hair, was soaked in thick blood.

Because he had bathed for so long, some of the blood had congealed, clinging to him in dark reddish-black strands and lumps. It was quite revolting to look at.

The youth, however, seemed long accustomed to it. He walked quietly over to the spring, picked up a water scoop from the ground, and slowly washed himself scoop by scoop...

"You seem a little different today."

Songpa had appeared beside the youth at some unknown point and spoken.

The youth stopped what he was doing and looked up at him.

Songpa met the youth's eyes and froze for a moment.

The youth was covered in dark red blood, with only his eyes white.

His gaze was calm, but something seemed to be hidden beneath it, bearing traces of repression and transformation.

The two looked at each other. A moment later, Songpa said, "Starting tomorrow, you can stop taking blood baths for the time being..."

Songpa paused, then continued, "I'll give you a few days off. Go out and take a walk."

"Thank you, senior brother."

The youth spoke in a low voice.

Songpa's expression softened slightly, and he turned to leave.

"Even though you're on break, don't neglect your secret art cultivation. Mastering it sooner will do you good..."

"Phew..."

As soon as Songpa left, Cheng Sheng tossed the scoop aside and plopped down on the ground beside the spring.

"Have I passed the killing intent hurdle?"

Cheng Sheng touched his cheek. It was slick, with a layer of bloody grime still left on it.

Killing someone really does make a difference. Songpa noticed, but he probably didn't expect that I actually killed people last night. He might just think the blood baths have cultivated my murderousness, and that it's even gone a little too far, so he's worried something might go wrong with me psychologically...

Whatever the case, it was a good thing. Cheng Sheng could finally stop putting himself through this disgusting ordeal-the reek of blood had practically soaked into him, and no amount of soap or body wash could get rid of it.

With no one around, Cheng Sheng simply lay flat over the flowing spring and let the icy water wash over his body.

As though vacationing on a beach, he pillowed his head on his hands and gazed at the sky beneath the rubber trees, silently thinking about what had happened the night before.

[Hell Plague Fly]!

That was what he had obtained from last night's sacrifice.

Cheng Sheng did not know how to describe it. Calling it a spell did not seem quite accurate; it was closer to some kind of special summoning ritual, or rather... a breeding formula!

The contents that had been stuffed into his head and then recorded on the first page of the Black Book showed that, as long as Cheng Sheng followed the instructions step by step, he could summon from the hell of the Abyss... a fly?!

"Even if it's a fly, it's still a fly from hell..."

Cheng Sheng muttered to himself.

He felt no aversion to the summoning process, with its thoroughly cultish style. Being able to obtain a "summoning-type spell" before the second page of the Black Book opened and he advanced from Forbidden Apprentice to a full-fledged Demon Summoner was already quite a pleasant surprise.

It didn't matter whether it was powerful. The important thing was that this ability belonged to the supernatural!

It counts as supernatural, right? It should, right? It should. It definitely does!

"I happen to have the next few days off. I'll get started right away."

Cheng Sheng sprang up from the ground in a kip-up, as though some kind of vitality had been injected into him.

But soon, he could not help furrowing his brows again.

"I need to deal with Zhou Wenye as soon as possible too."

Cheng Sheng got to his feet, vigorously scrubbing the bloody grime from his body as he thought, Who knows where Zhou Wenye lives?

He certainly could not let last night's events go just like that.

As long as Zhou Wenye remained alive, he would be a hidden danger. Cheng Sheng planned to find out the details of Zhou Wenye's home first, then look for an opportunity and find a way to "root him out" completely!