Chapter 38 - 38: I'm Not a Demon

"Yes, we are now in Anhui territory. If we head out to the official road and walk for a few dozen miles, we'll reach the Huai River..." Listening to the man's nervous recounting, Zhu Haomiao immediately had a concept of his location, nodding happily. The charm of an Earth-like Illusion Realm is that the geography is largely similar to reality, easily understood with a word. S~eaʀᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Thank you. As a return, I'll let you die a little quicker." Casually picking up a piece of wood with faint traces of gold lacquer from the ground, it seemed to be a Magic Artifact once held by the Vajra in the temple, but now it's rotted to just a stub. Seeing the boy approach slowly with the wooden stick, the husband fearfully shielded his wife, kowtowing and begging bitterly. "Please, young master, spare us. We shouldn't have disturbed you. We'll leave now, please spare our lives!" However, Zhu Haomiao only scoffed with a playfully sarcastic shake of his head. "No, I can't. After all, I'm an emotionless assassin!" Whoosh~ The hefty wooden stick swept down with a powerful gust, aiming precisely for the top of the skull, but swung through empty air. The seemingly weak and feeble man moved like a ghost several meters horizontally, using hands and feet, glaring at Zhu Haomiao like a beast, his grinning mouth stretched to the ears, revealing sinister black tusks. "How did you find out?" "Too smelly." Looking at the man, Zhu Haomiao swung the stick behind him without turning, precisely hitting the pregnant woman's temple as she lunged from behind, deforming her skull on impact. "Awoooo!!!" The temple caved in, the pregnant woman let out a chilling and piercing scream, writhing and rolling on the ground, making such a racket that Zhu Haomiao impatiently glanced back. "Noisy." Boom! Lifting a foot, he kicked fiercely at the pregnant woman's bulging stomach, the violent force sent her flying back, slamming hard against the wall. With nowhere for the enormous pressure in her abdomen to escape, fragments of severed limbs mixed with putrid slime vomited and spewed from her mouth, forming a nauseating puddle of bloody slurry on the ground. Seeing those half-digested limbs and viscera, Zhu Haomiao frowned with disgust. There were clearly some that resembled a child's hands and feet... This was no pregnant woman; it was clearly a gluttonous Ghost Woman bloated to the brim! "I changed my mind. I can't let you die too swiftly." Shwish~ Just as Zhu Haomiao's attention was focused on the Ghost Woman, a shrill slicing sound came from behind. The man's nails had transformed into one by one black daggers, with a faint stench reaching for the back of the boy's head. Still not turning around, Zhu Haomiao grabbed backward, catching the incoming wrist with precision, and a blood-like glow exploded in his eyes, invisible to the naked eye. [Anger]! The power of the spirit permeated reality, Zhu Haomiao's muscles instantly swelled, rampaging power surged within, and with a brute force fling, he swung the man like a rag, drawing a full arc across the air, slamming him hard onto the ground. Boom! Dust filled the dilapidated temple, and before it settled, Zhu Haomiao, with waist and horse united, concentrated all his strength to swing the ghost creature in his hand again. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ... Seemingly to vent [Anger], Zhu Haomiao pounded the ghost creature back and forth on the ground like swatting a fly, leaving pools of putrid black blood amidst the sinister sound of bones cracking. But to the Ghost Woman watching on the side, the scene was so terrifyingly gruesome — what she thought was delicious food turned out to be more savage and ferocious than herself! Who is the real Evil Spirit here?! Endless terror filled her soul, and as the boy slaughtered his kin, the Ghost Woman frantically scrambled toward the temple's exit on all fours. At that moment, she only felt that the seemingly harmless boy appeared more like a monster than them! Meanwhile, just as the boy was enjoying himself, he suddenly felt a lightness in his hand. Looking at the withered twisted broken arm in his palm, he smirked disdainfully. The body strength was too weak, just a bit above a mortal. But with another glance at the ground, with the ghost creature battered beyond human shape, fragmented into a mess, yet still writhing and struggling, Zhu Haomiao had to admit, this thing had quite the tenacious life force, like a cockroach. Whoo~ Exhaling a breath of cloudy air, Zhu Haomiao suppressed the rampant surging power, looking at the Ghost Woman struggling to crawl outside. Having emptied its stomach contents, it appeared noticeably more agile, staggering and tumbling toward the temple entrance. "Where are you running to? I am no Demon..." Mumbling with a tut, Zhu Haomiao took a brisk step to catch up, grabbing its ankle amidst its terrified and desperate screams. "Give it here!" "Awooooo!!!" The Ghost Woman clawed desperately at the ground, her sharp black nails futilely digging out ten deep grooves, but she couldn't stop the boy from dragging her step by step back into the temple. "Quiet down, stop screaming!" "Awooooo!!!" Good words went unheeded, Zhu Haomiao frowning irritably, jabbed a stick into its mouth, grasped the end with both hands, and rammed down viciously! Sshh~ Under the immense force, the blunt head of the stick robustly pinned it alive to the ground. "Uh... muu..." The world instantly fell silent, leaving only the futile and desperate struggle of the Ghost Woman to pull the stick out of her mouth. Watching its ridiculous actions, Zhu Haomiao finally took a moment to settle his mind, sensing the stirrings of the [Book of Black]. With a raised hand, the ancient and mysterious [Book of Black] shifted from imaginary to real in his palm, its pages spread open, the pages of [Greed] and [Gluttony] flickered uncertainly like breathing. Instinctively glancing at the two gravely injured and dying ghost creatures, Zhu Haomiao had an epiphany, following the guidance of his spirituality and instinct, wielding Authority. "Gluttony." Dark, deep, like a whisper from the depths of the earth penetrating the soul, invoking that elusive chain of sinful cause and effect. The once barely alive Ghost Woman suddenly arched her body as if electrocuted, issuing muffled and unclear suppressed howls from her chest. "Awoo..." Soon, something seemed to be forcing its way out from between her chest and abdomen, a fist-sized bulge pressing against her skin. The horrifying bulge squirmed and finally pierced the skin, exposing a serpent-like eyeless creature. Like a newborn hatchling, the ravenous creature bit into the Ghost Woman, greedily devouring her flesh. With each bite, the creature's body grew larger, while its tail remained rooted in the Ghost Woman's chest and abdomen, linking it to the host like a umbilical cord!