Chapter 599 - 48: Soul Burner

Faced with Su Zhou, who showed not a hint of fear and even let out a joyous laugh, the colossal Demon of Punishment stomped the ground, then leaped high into the air alongside the Silent to throw a punch at him.

A thunderous BOOM echoed as flashes of Spiritual Power, like lightning, lit up the sky. The Demon of Punishment, having just leaped up, came crashing back down like a meteor, snapping countless trees in the Black Forest. A pale Great Dragon—its back spewing violent Spirit Flames that formed wings of flowing light—followed close behind, stomping down toward the Demon of Punishment’s chest.

But the blow missed. The massive Demon vanished abruptly, reappearing behind the Silent. The Demon of Punishment was not Bornev’s True Body; it was a powerful entity, something akin to an External Incarnation, that he had forged from countless tormented Souls after advancing to the Commander Tier.

The Demon of Punishment and the Immortal Dragon faced off. The enormous Demon was like the very personification of all ugliness, its crimson flames flickering with the tortured faces of humans. In fact, one could see that the entire Demon of Punishment was composed of countless agonized human faces.

And the Silent was silent no more. He had finally grasped what he was looking for: the key to his victory.

"Powerhouses are beings that make others suffer, natural-born oppressors. Their mere existence is enough to make later Powerhouses, and the weak who follow, feel suffocated, to make them want to rise up and overthrow them—even if the original Powerhouse has done nothing at all."

Floating in the air, the red-haired Slav spoke calmly. "Or perhaps, it is precisely because they do nothing that suffering is allowed to spread."

"So, your suffering doesn’t lie within you. It lies within the world you are a part of."

"I’ve found it."

With that, the Silent raised his hand toward the bewildered Immortal White Dragon.

The Demon of Punishment mirrored the gesture, also raising its hand. In that instant, something impossibly vast and terrifying seemed to erupt from its crimson body and slam into Su Zhou.

It was not a Curse, nor was it a Blessing... It had nothing to do with Curses or Telekinesis. It was like a power of reenactment, one that pierced the body’s memory and forced all past pain and injuries to manifest once more.

And so, in the next instant, countless wounds abruptly appeared all over Su Zhou’s draconic form.

A slash appeared on his face, an arm fell off, and the scales covering his body instantly reached their limit and began to explode violently. Azure-purple Spiritual Blood gushed from wounds of all sizes across his body—some were cuts from blades, others were bite marks.

Even one of his eyes shattered. A massive wound tore open his abdomen, and his organs began to spill out.

Even though Su Zhou’s incredibly powerful Self-Healing Power began to work the very instant he was injured, the sheer number of wounds and the amount of damage appearing all at once were simply overwhelming. There were injuries caused by Thunder Techniques, by Wood Qi Talisman Stones, by the blast of a Water Technique from some enormous creature, by gnawing teeth, and by being pierced with a giant stinger.

As soon as one wound healed, another would appear in its place. It was as if every injury Su Zhou had ever sustained was manifesting all at once. His left arm was even severed completely, falling out of thin air to the ground.

One could see that the burning crimson flames on the massive Demon of Punishment had dimmed considerably, as if the pain it stored had been massively depleted in this one outpouring.

But the price was worth it. After all, their enemy was Su Zhou. For an ordinary Cultivator, this Secret Technique would have been an absolutely fatal attack—but only for an ordinary one.

"Is that all?"

Su Zhou’s expression didn’t even change as his body continued to tear itself apart, revealing all manner of horrific injuries.

He calmly stared straight ahead as his shattered eyeball regenerated. He spoke to the Silent and the Demon of Punishment, who were seemingly still channeling their attack. "Using the slight pain I’m feeling now to trigger a chain reaction of every injury my body has ever sustained... If I had any spiritual anguish, I imagine you could even induce a Heart Demon, couldn’t you?"

"As expected of Dusk. This technique that tricks the body into self-destructing is truly remarkable. If my Soul had any flaws, you could probably even make me relive the memories I least want to recall. Very impressive."

Noticing the shocked expression on the Silent’s face—the first he’d shown—Su Zhou even let out a dry laugh. "It’s certainly a tricky technique, but you’ve picked the completely wrong opponent."

As he spoke, he used his Spiritual Power to control his organs and blood. The wounds all over his body healed as if time were reversing. The spilled blood and organs flowed back into his abdomen like a film playing in reverse. He bent down, picked up his own left hand from the ground—severed by the memory of it being cut off in some forgotten battle—and pressed it back onto his shoulder.

Two seconds later, Su Zhou let go. The arm had already reattached itself. He laughed. "Heh, did you know that in a fight between the Undead, injuries like this are completely commonplace?"

"If we’re supposed to consider even this ’suffering,’ then what was the point of all our arduous Cultivation to become Transcendents in the first place?"

Intentionally stalling for time to finish recovering, Su Zhou began to answer the Silent’s earlier question.

’Life is merely a vessel for accumulating pain, destined to be shattered in the end.’

’Such a foolish notion was so wrong it was unbelievable.’