“So, you’ll just have to violate yourself.”
The moment Li Hai uttered these words, Lang Yun-sheng’s ‘good brother’ immediately followed the fate of his limbs, instantly twisting off with a frenzied, crunching rotation.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
With the seal on his mouth removed, Lang Yun-sheng immediately howled and shrieked ceaselessly towards the sky.
But before Lang Yun-sheng could wail for long, his ‘good brother’ that had left him returned, piercing violently into his ‘place of the five grains and Reincarnation’ from bottom to top like a drill, and rapidly rotating as it furiously thrust inward.
Pfft!
Instantly, blood gushed out.
And Lang Yun-sheng immediately froze in mid-air, his face contorted, his eyes unfocused, seemingly in indescribable pain.
Thus, Li Hai stood with his arms crossed, silently watching Lang Yun-sheng being violently penetrated by himself, until he was completely impaled through the chest and abdomen by his ‘good brother’ and his skull burst open, only then did Li Hai slowly smile and let out a long breath, saying:
“Hoo~ So satisfying, so exhilarating!”
At this point, Lang Yun-sheng died in an extremely gruesome manner.
And Li Hai once again obtained a Strongman Shard.
Yes, it was the Shard that Lang Yun-sheng had inherently.
As for why he possessed a Shard, the System provided a clear answer to the puzzled Li Hai:
Luck.
“Damn it!”
Li Hai could only helplessly complain about this somewhat unreliable answer, “It’s really like playing a game, depending on the drop rate.”
…
Slowly descending among the ruins of the Wolf’s Nest, Li Hai’s gaze passed over the scattered remains of the Dao Essence, fixing on the nearly one hundred Child Corpse Puppets standing motionless due to lack of control, and he sighed softly:
“Lang Yun-sheng is dead, you are free. I… will send you to Reincarnation.”
With that, these hundred Child Puppets turned into dust and vanished into thin air.
Watching the salt ashes float and drift upwards, Li Hai vaguely seemed to hear a chorus of grateful voices, all childlike and innocent.
“Go, go, next life…”
He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky and murmuring, “…be reborn in a more peaceful place.”
After standing still for a while, Li Hai took out a palm-sized hand drum and a human skin book from his pocket.
Both items were recovered from Lang Yun-sheng’s corpse.
The hand drum was a Qimen Arts Magical Artifact, and the human skin book recorded the artifact’s name and usage, as well as many of Lang Yun-sheng’s personal secrets.
For example, who’s wife he had stolen, and who’s old cuckold had raised his son, and other boastful, filthy contents, as well as some information about his friendly Evil Path 術士 acquaintances.
Setting aside all the miscellaneous content, according to the book’s records, this hand drum, named the Jian Shou Drum, was indeed a mysterious artifact that could enlighten Spirit Monsters.
Its specific method of use, in summary, first involved using the drum to drain and absorb a considerable amount of Lifespan from children who had undergone corresponding sacrificial rituals: pickled children (salted), fiery children (burned), water children (drowned), grave children (buried alive), frosty children (frozen), and blood children (chopped by knives and axes), transforming their remaining Lifespan into drumsticks of various attributes.
And the specific use of these child drumsticks was precisely and closely related to the true function of the Jian Shou Drum.
To elaborate, one would simply choose a suitable dead object, then continuously strike the Jian Shou Drum with a drumstick. Then, each time a drumstick broke, another would be quickly replaced, until a song called “Song of Making Monsters” recorded in the human skin book was played. The chosen dead object would then transform from dead to a Spirit Monster.
It is worth mentioning that the book also briefly touched upon the ranks of Spirit Monsters.
From weakest to strongest, they were roughly… Gray, Yellow, Green, Red, and Black, these five ranks.
And according to the human skin book, the number of drumsticks consumed to enlighten different types of dead objects into Spirit Monsters also varied.
For example, a boat Spirit Monster like the Salt God required one hundred eighty to two hundred pickled child drumsticks, enlightening a vine monster required one hundred fifty to one hundred seventy grave child drumsticks, and finally, enlightening a Dao Essence required one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty blood child drumsticks.
And finally, any Spirit Monster enlightened by this drum would be absolutely loyal to the drummer or to another person designated by the drummer.
Therefore, in a sense, with this Jian Shou Drum and enough pickled child drumsticks, one could mass-produce various Spirit Monster servants, thereby rapidly developing a formidable force.
So, for any ambitious and inhumane overlord, this Jian Shou Drum was absolutely a Divine Artifact.
But Li Hai certainly did not think so.
In his opinion, this hand drum was simply a Demonic Weapon among Demonic Weapons.
Because each drumstick used to enlighten Spirit Monsters was the life of a child brutally killed in various ways.
“If the Qimen Arts System requires such inhumane acts to progress deeper in cultivation, then…”
Li Hai said coldly, “It would be better if it perished.”
Of course, these were just angry words.
Nothing is absolute; not all 術士 were so utterly inhumane and evil for no reason. There must have been many benevolent individuals, such as the Demon Slayer Commandants of the Demon Slayer Division who specialized in Talisman Daoist Magic, who belonged to this category.
But Li Hai could still imagine that brutal and vicious 術士 like Lang Yun-sheng were certainly spread throughout every corner of the vast world.
To advance further, they must have committed, and would continue to commit, many bloody crimes and tragedies.
Therefore, these Evil Path 術士… all deserved to die!
“Hmm, since I have nothing to do anyway.”
Li Hai took out the human skin book, flipped to the last few pages, “I’ll start with those… old ghost Lang’s friends recorded in this book.”
…
Seven days later—
One thousand three hundred li from the Wolf’s Nest, in a walled town named Hong Hua Town, a crowd gathered outside the mansion of the wealthy Master Ruan.
A group of local townspeople and passersby were gathered there, chattering and discussing.
Their faces were filled with curiosity and surprise, their eyes fixed on the wide-open gates of the Zhang residence. Some whispered to each other, their brows furrowed; others gesticulated wildly, their voices rising and falling; still others stooped, looking around for someone to ask, wanting to know what had happened inside the mansion.
“Old Li, what are you all doing gathered around? Did something happen at Master Ruan’s house?” a tall, weathered merchant loudly asked another chubby man.
“Shhh~ Keep your voice down.”
The fat man was startled by his loud voice, then complained, “Don’t you go provoking the people inside, or they’ll give you a whip.”
“Huh?” the tall merchant asked curiously, “What exactly happened? I don’t understand what you’re being so secretive about.”
“I told you not to shout over there.” The fat man shook his head helplessly, “Ah~ never mind, never mind, I’ll tell you.”
“Alright,” the merchant grinned, “You tell me, I’m listening.”
“Just now, a mighty strongman broke into the Zhang residence…”
The fat man had just said half a sentence when he suddenly asked, “Oh right, have you heard of… the name Bloody Twin-Whips Li Ren-tu?”
“Recently, uh… I’ve heard a little.”
The merchant frowned in thought, “I heard he’s a chivalrous hero who hates evil like fire, the kind who robs the rich to help the poor and eradicates evil to bring peace.”
“More than that.”
The fat man immediately corrected him, “He’s a Heavenly Killing Star descended to the mortal realm! He, alone, in Zhou Family Fortress and Niujiao Town, single-handedly wiped out thirty thousand Black Wolf Bandits.”