Control Shadow, a Good Start

"This time he's really dead..."

Cheng Sheng waited for a long time, but the man did not "come back to life". He squatted down and touched him with his hand, and found that the other man's body had begun to get cold.

"Only one resurrection?"

Cheng Sheng frowned.

"The ability to command little ghosts is quite common. In the folk tales about Curse in Nantu, there is already talk of using little ghosts to cast spells."

But this ability to die and resurrect is just too abnormal; is it a standard feature of a sorcerer?

Cheng Sheng shook his head.

This was his first encounter with a true sorcerer, and he had many questions in his mind, but no one could answer them for him at the moment.

After confirming that the man was indeed dead, Cheng Sheng began searching his body, trying to find answers to some questions.

The man's pants were torn to shreds, and he had nothing in his pockets except a few used train tickets.

The satchel at his waist was bulging, Cheng Sheng emptied its contents out, "whoosh—"

--A wallet, a bone whistle, a string of bone bells, a small black wooden box, a ceramic jar covered with red runes, and an old notebook that looked quite vintage.

Cheng Sheng picked up the wallet, glanced at it, and read out the name on the ID card inside.

"Wang Shan..."

Cheng Sheng put down his wallet and his gaze fell on the bone bell and bone whistle beside him.

Cheng Sheng had seen men use both of these items before, so they should be... magical artifacts used exclusively by sorcerers.

The bone bell exuded a strong Spiritual Qi, and the little devils that Cheng Sheng had forcibly pushed away Cheng Sheng were now mostly huddled inside.

Cheng Sheng had no intention of "eating" these little devils; the one he had "eaten raw" before was disgusting enough.

That brat had been raised by the man for a very, very long time, and the impurities within him were outrageously numerous. Even now, Cheng Sheng's mind was still constantly replaying bloody, cruel, and dark images...

Cheng Sheng put down the bone bell, picked up the bone whistle and blew on it, but no sound came out. He pursed his lips and picked up the small black wooden box next to him.

Upon opening it, we found it contained some ashes and a few small finger bones.

--This fits his stereotype of Curse.

The earthenware jar covered in red symbols was empty. Cheng Sheng flipped through the last remaining notebook, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"This seems to be... a legacy notebook left behind by some sorcerer?"

nice one.

Just for this alone, all this effort today wasn't in vain.

Cheng Sheng quickly put away his notes, then grabbed one of the man's legs and dragged the corpse toward the old classroom where the sacrificial array had already been drawn.

Taking advantage of the fact that the man had only recently died, and his soul might not yet have left his body, they sacrificed themselves directly to the Abyss.

Even if it's less effective than a living sacrifice, it's still better than nothing.

Five minutes later, Cheng Sheng, having finished offering the middle-aged man's corpse and the bone bell filled with Evil Spirit and imps as a sacrifice, stood quietly in the empty old classroom, taking stock of his gains from the ritual.

It was much better than he had expected; perhaps the souls of the deceased sorcerers had indeed been sacrificed as well.

His Primordial Mark was once again greatly nourished and swelled; nearly a third of the grayish-white mark seed had turned black iron-colored.

In addition, he received a minor spell as a gift from the demon.

"D'Kvn.."

Following the guidance of the magical principles that seemed to be ingrained in his blood, Cheng Sheng slowly uttered a few short, hoarse syllables.

The Primordial Mark in his mind flashed, and a large amount of spiritual power flowed out. In the next instant, the shadow under Cheng Sheng's feet began to writhe strangely as if it were alive.

It went up along his ankles, eventually slowly enveloping his entire body.

[Control Shadow]!

Cheng Sheng raised his hand and examined himself.

Under the effect of this spell, his entire body seemed to be covered by a layer of black veil. It did not affect his movement or vision, but from an outsider's perspective, he should have completely blended into the shadows of the classroom.

With a thought, a black tentacle shot out from beneath his feet, rapidly extending along the ground, grabbing the leg of a nearby desk, and pulling hard—

"Splash!"

The desk overturned with a crash.

Cheng Sheng tried it a few more times, and only when he felt that his mental energy was being depleted did he remove the spell.

"Its binding ability is average, but it's not bad for intimidating people; it might even be useful in certain crucial moments..."

"Its ability to conceal itself is excellent; whether combined with martial arts techniques or Hell Plague Fly and Abyss Imp, it can achieve a surprise effect..."

Cheng Sheng gave his evaluation of the newly acquired spell.

The ability to [Control Shadow] is linked to the strength of his mental power and the number of times he has made sacrifices.

The core of a warlock's power lies in manipulating demons, but the composition of each warlock's strength is actually quite different, depending on their growth trajectory, each ritual, personal encounters, and their "affinity" with the Abyss.

To put it simply, it's about how the sorcerers of the Heritage Church opened the gates of the Abyss and established a trading channel with the Abyss and demons. But what you can actually "borrow" from the Abyss and demons depends entirely on your own abilities.

This also means that, even among warlocks, the difference in ability and strength between you and others can be enormous.

"Shadow is a fairly powerful attribute ability on the Abyss side, and I'm quite lucky to have 'drawn' it at this stage. It's a pretty good start..."

Compared to [Hell Plague Fly] and [Summon Imp], [Control Shadow] undoubtedly has far greater potential.

The first two are the real tricks to fool ghosts; it seems the demons they communicated with this time were quite generous.

It's also possible that... the sacrificial value of the Jiangshi group was much higher than Cheng Sheng imagined.

After the ritual was completed, Cheng Sheng left the old campus with the remaining belongings of the middle-aged man.

The school gates were wide open. Jia Wa stood at the entrance smoking, while a group of Red Ba Gang members were pulling and tugging at two security guards from the No. 3 Middle School. They had probably been attracted by the earlier AK gunshots.

Upon seeing Cheng Sheng emerge, Jia Wa's eyes lit up, and he immediately stubbed out his cigarette and rushed to greet him.

"Let's investigate based on this identity and address..."

Cheng Sheng casually tossed "Wang Shan's" wallet to Jia Wa and indifferently instructed, "Notify me immediately if you have any leads."

"Yes."

Jia Wa took the wallet, nodded respectfully, and then waved his hand. The Red Ba Gang underlings behind him quickly entered the scene and began to clean up the "battlefield" inside the teaching building.

Three days later.

Black Killing Dojo.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud of fists and feet colliding, two figures, one thin and one muscular, suddenly separated in the courtyard.

"Junior brother, that's quite strong."

Nalong, dressed in combat gear, rubbed his wrist and looked at Cheng Sheng with undisguised admiration, praising, "Your progress is too fast! No wonder you're an even more freakish genius than Sha Lie Brother Sha Lie!"

Cheng Sheng smiled, about to say a few words of modesty, when a cold voice came from under the eaves in the distance.

"Alright."

Upon hearing the voice, Nalong immediately dropped his flippant expression and solemnly bowed with his palms together in the direction from which the voice came.

"That concludes today's assessment. Come back at the same time next month."

Su Tai said something to Cheng Sheng indifferently, then looked away, leaving behind the words "Songpa, come with me for a moment," before getting up and leaving.

Cheng Sheng watched Su Tai's departing figure, narrowed his eyes, and said nothing. Instead, Nalong took the initiative to come up and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him, saying, "That's just how Master is; he never praises people easily."

You'll get used to it.

Cheng Sheng nodded, chatted with Nalong for a few more minutes, politely declined his invitation to have dinner at his elephant farm, and after Nalong left, he went alone to the water vat in the corner of the courtyard to scoop water for washing.

His feeling was right.

In Su Tai's mind, all the core disciples of the Black Killing Style combined couldn't compare to a single finger of Sha Lie.