Chapter 48: To Have Power

Chapter 48: To Have Power

48

To Have Power

I

Lan Yue stood silently in front of them, unmoving. A couple of steps away from her were Hao Zhen and Tian Jin.

Hao Zhen had his back against a tree as he leaned against it. Usually, Lan Yue didnt take long to finish communicating with the surrounding vegetation and settling on a direction, but sometimeswhen she found out about nearby monstersshed take a while longer.

Hao Zhen pressed his back against the tree and extended his arms above his head. As he stretched himself, he felt some of his joints pop.

Tian Jin was standing beside him, his gaze distant as he absentmindedly rubbed his masters ring. A week had passed since the conversation in which Tian Jin revealed to them how the ring had acted up when the inner elder working with Du Qing appeared. Ever since that day, the other boy seemed to have unwittingly developed the habit of fiddling with the mysterious gray circular band.

Hao Zhen had already asked Tian Jin what that was about. It turned out he had been unaware he was doing it, but even after he knew, he didnt stop, claiming that maybe thatd provoke some kind of reaction from the deceptively mundane-looking accessory.

Shifting his attention back to Lan Yue, he saw that the girl had yet to move. He stood up straighter. Usually, when Lan Yue took that long

There are four monsters nearby, Lan Yue suddenly said as she fully turned back toward them. Hao Zhen and Tian Jin perked up. One at the first level, the other three at the second level. She then pointed out the direction each monster was in and roughly how distant they were from them.

Two of the monsters were aloneboth of them at the second levelwhereas the remaining second-level one was together with the sole first-level creature.

Ill take one of the lone second-level ones, Hao Zhen promptly said.

Lan Yue nodded, turning to Tian Jin, who shrugged. I dont mind either way.

Ill be taking the pair, then, Lan Yue decided, to which Tian Jin simply nodded.

No more words were exchanged, and they split up, setting off in the different directions Lan Yue had pointed out. Hao Zhen took off running. It wasnt as if he was pressed for time or in a hurry. It was just that the sooner he found the monster, the sooner he could start experimenting.

Over the last week, he had proved himself by killing a couple of second-level monsters on his own, so now, whenever Lan Yue detected multiple monsters nearby, theyd split up and hunt alone. Depending on the distance between their targets, however, his teammates would often arrive before Hao Zhen was done with his target. They only split up when their targets were close enough that theyd be able to reach each other in under a minute if something happened. On top of that, once his teammates did get to their targets, the ensuing fightif it could even be called thatwould be over in a matter of moments.

Tian Jin and Lan Yue had already been able to quickly dispatch second-level monsters when they were second-level redsouls. Now that they were both at the third level of the Red Spiritual Realm, they could kill second-level red-grade monsters with brutal and effortless efficiency.

Hao Zhen looked down at the downed creature, and he found himself frowning despite himself. Something sharp and dark bubbled up inside him. A part of him felt uncomfortable because of what he was doing, if not upset.

Even if you were to use Ethereal String Puppetry the conventional waygiving the target commands or seizing their skeletal musclesthe skill was already rather questionable, in his opinion.

But this?

Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes at the pathetic state the creature at his feet was in. A creature that would usually require multiple second-level redsouls to take down. A creature whose mind he had effectively just broken.

What he had just donewhat he was doingwas nothing short of warped.

Vile.

Hao Zhen shivered, feeling as if freezing water had just been poured over his head. He closed his eyes, then pushed the thoughts plaguing his mindand the feelings they boreto the back of his head. He didnt have the luxury to ponder the morality of his actions. Ethereal String Puppetry was the only power he had, and despite the bad taste it sometimes left in his mouth He didnt regret assimilating. Nor did he regret what he was doing right nowor what he had done already, or what he would do in the future.

This wasnt the kind of power he could be proud of. But it was power, and it was his.

And to survive in this world, he'd need all the power he could get.

Lets see Hao Zhen murmured to himself, opening his eyes again, his previous revulsion at his own actions dulled to only a distant echo.

There were literally thousands of ways he could kill the monster before him. It ranged from simply taking out one of his swords and stabbing it, to deactivating the nerves that controlled its vital organs. Now that it had given up all resistance, he was no longer inhibited from using his spiritual skill in a way that could kill it on the spot. With just a thought, he could seize and deactivate the nerves that controlled its heart or its lungs. If he wanted to, he could even cause total organ failure.

But there was no point in doing any of that. The purpose of his experiments was to explore the full capabilities of Ethereal String Puppetry. Maybe he had already figured out everything the skill could do, but What if he hadnt?

Ethereal String Puppetry could already do a lot of thingsif not too many thingsbut he couldnt really do anything too sophisticated or complex. Through seizing, he was limited to provoking simple, crude effects in his target, as the skill didnt give him an intuitive understanding of how the targets body interpreted signals. It wasnt like commanding, which simply allowed him to effectively tell the target what he wanted it to do.

If only he could use commanding on nerves, then all of his

Hao Zhen froze. His heart skipped a beat.

Commanding. On nerves.

Trembling a little, anticipation coursing through him, Hao Zhen tapped into the Ethereal String.