Chapter 1 Electric Light and Thunder Above the Gospel Church

Lightning flashed and thunder roared above the Gospel Church.

Inside a wooden cabin.

Mu Wanqiu's face was pale and her lips were dry.

Her whole body was ice-cold, like a piece of cold iron. Aunt Ai held her in her arms, but her consciousness continued to collapse. The black mist on her body gradually spread, permeating the air of the wooden house.

Aunt Ai's face was full of worry as she looked outside the wooden door.

Mr. Zuo Wu had gone to discuss matters with Virgil after entering the church.

She wondered what they were talking about.

...

...

"Two hundred thousand, huh..."

The holy crucifix above the church's vaulted ceiling cast mottled, gloomy shadows through the large window behind it.

Zuo Wu glanced at the closed wooden house, and asked expressionlessly, "Do you think these two bitches are worth two hundred thousand?"

Virgil looked calm. "I overheard your conversation... that woman might not be worth much, but she has what you want... what's it called, a sealed item."

"Five thousand for a sealed item."

Zuo Wu said blandly, "That's the price your church agreed upon with us."

"The remaining one hundred and fifty thousand is for the little girl." Virgil smiled. "I know the prices on the Deepscale underground black market... this little girl is about to undergo transcendent awakening, and her grade is likely to be B or higher. You buy her for one hundred and fifty thousand, and you can sell her for a million."

"Virgil, you're too greedy. Goods that aren't sold are worthless."

Zuo Wu's voice was low. "Don't think you can be unscrupulous just because you have 'Bishop Qu' backing you... besides, what makes you think you can negotiate with us?"

Flames ignited in his hair as he walked toward the bishop's platform.

"Mr. Zuo... may the light be with you."

Virgil leisurely tapped the desk. His right hand had been tucked into his pocket, and now the outline of a revolver slowly protruded against the hemp robe.

The muzzle was aimed at Zuo Wu, ten meters away.

He said calmly, "I have experience dealing with freaks like you... do you want to taste 'red silver bullets'? I might not be able to kill all of you, but I can guarantee I'll kill the first one who comes forward."

The seven people outside the bishop's platform all fell silent.

"Of course, I didn't just notify you. I also notified Bishop Qu, and he'll be arriving with the 'Lin Family's' garrison. You should know what level of transcendent the Bishop is. If you dare touch a hair on my head, he'll crush you all!"

"So..." Virgil said sternly, "Either complete the transaction within half an hour, or get out. I don't accept haggling. This is the will of the light!"

"Damn it!"

Veins bulged on Zuo Wu's forehead, but he didn't dare continue forward.

"I'm sorry, the war in North Continent is really coming to an end. After this deal, I'm going back to Upper City." Virgil changed his tone and said sincerely, "Everyone, this is our last cooperation. I hope you cherish this final opportunity."

The small door of the wooden house opened at that moment.

"Mr. Zuo! Little Qiu is dying..."

Aunt Ai looked anxious and saw the group of people standing strangely at the bishop's platform. "Mr. Zuo, Your Excellency Virgil, what's going on?"

"Coming right up."

Zuo Wu suppressed the anger in his heart. He took a deep breath, turned, and walked toward the wooden house, while telepathically communicating with Virgil on the bishop's platform, "We can accept the deal, but we need to inspect the goods first..."

"Inspect away, inspect as you please."

Virgil quickly stepped forward, lowered his voice, and said calmly, "But Mr. Zuo, you must remember that Bishop Qu will be here soon."

A look of rage flashed in Zuo Wu's eyes.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to slap Virgil to death.

On one hand, he wasn't sure who was faster, him or the bullet.

On the other hand, that legendary "Bishop Qu" was indeed someone he couldn't contend with...

As soon as he entered the wooden house.

Zuo Wu's previous anxiety immediately vanished.

He looked in shock at the black mist swirling around the room... This mist contained powerful transcendent source material. What level of transcendent talent was this? He had cultivated for nearly ten years, and the amount of source material he possessed was pitifully thin.

Grade B? No... this was very likely the legendary Grade A!

"Boss, what about the deal?"

A lackey tugged on Zuo Wu's sleeve.

Zuo Wu patted him on the shoulder and said coldly, "We're taking this deal. Go out and give Virgil the money... and while you're at it, find out when Bishop Qu will arrive, then pack up our things. We're preparing to run."

"Okay..."

The lackey nodded and silently turned to leave.

The deal was done... everyone received this signal.

A gaunt "Gospel Minister" came over. He was missing an eye, which was covered with white cloth. This was Old Seventh of the gang, nicknamed Blind Dog. This kind of low-life team made up of local riffraff, of course, had no culture to come up with good-sounding names, and didn't even have the guts to be called "One-Eyed Dragon". They hung around in the depths of Deepscale City, relying on the black market's most disreputable trafficking business, selling their conscience in exchange for profit.

Almost no transcendents needed to worry about money.

But in the chaotic War of the Scarlet, they were a rare exception.

"Boss Zuo, the same as always?"

Blind Dog asked in a low voice, "I'll put this woman to sleep... after we're done looting, take her outside the church and do her in?"

"Yeah."

Zuo Wu said calmly, "Don't do it in the house. Keep things clean."

"Boss Zuo, could I..."

Blind Dog looked at the beautiful woman who was holding the little girl, her back to him, his one eye gleaming with a strange light.

"Are you fucking crazy? Don't you want to live? The Qu guy is about to arrive. What are you thinking!"

"Once we get to Deepscale, what kind of woman can't you play with?"

Zuo Wu glared at him fiercely, quickly walked forward, and said loudly, "Ms. Ai, please let me do it... I have experience with things like transcendent awakening!"

He sat down in front of the bed, and his heart skipped a beat!

This black mist was actually surrounding him!

"My god..."

Having been in this business for so many years.

This was the first time he had seen such an astonishing "awakening phenomenon"...

The trafficking of transcendent-awakened infants in the hundred-mile radius of Deepscale City was actually being conducted under the control of the "Church of Light". Bishop Qu was the biggest mastermind. This kind of thing couldn't be brought into the light of day. In order to maintain the church's image of light, it naturally circulated in the underground black market. No one knew where those children were eventually sent, but Zuo Wu vaguely heard that Light City had a considerable number of "Sanctioner Legions", all of whom were fearless death-defying individuals from all over the world.

This transaction had existed before the war began.

It was just that at that time, the Scarlet Emperor didn't care... but later, the Lin Family's expeditionary army came to attack the Scarlet Emperor, and incidentally clean up injustice, and the Church then went underground.

Therefore, a "useless piece of trash" like Zuo Wu was qualified to get into this business.

Hearing Zuo Wu's exclamation, Aunt Ai asked worriedly, "Mr. Zuo... is Little Qiu alright?"

"She... is alright."

Zuo Wu chuckled softly and praised, "Her transcendent talent is probably very high."

As soon as these words came out.

Aunt Ai was stunned, as if recalling a certain night many years ago.

"..."

She gritted her teeth and asked seriously, "Is this an illness? Can you help cure her?"

Zuo Wu turned to let Blind Dog make his move.

But the moment he turned around, he froze.

A crystal-clear jade talisman was handed over by Aunt Ai.

"This is an 'object' left behind by the child's father. If you want to cure Little Qiu, holding it will make you feel much better. This might be the aura of misfortune,"

"...?"

Zuo Wu couldn't help but laugh.

He sized up this woman, his eyes filled with surprise. In all his years, this was the first time he had seen such a stupid woman.

He accepted the jade talisman and said blandly, "I heard Virgil say... you traveled around the borders of North Continent for six years to avoid the war."

"Yes..."

Aunt Ai looked somewhat dazed.

"I'm sorry, I really can't figure it out."

"Six years... how did you survive with your personality?"

Zuo Wu held the jade talisman and didn't sit sideways on the bed anymore. He stood up and asked seriously, "Because a kind and foolish person like you... won't survive more than three days in Deepscale City."

Aunt Ai's heart skipped a beat.

"Alright, you can make your move now."

Zuo Wu turned and walked towards the door of the wooden house, while raising his hand.

Blind Dog stepped forward and came in front of Ai Li.

His face still showed a hint of regret... There was one thing Zuo Wu said wrong. In Deepscale City, the only women you could play with for money were cheap prostitutes. A woman like this, full of charm and naive innocence, was really impossible to get even with money.

"Sizzle—"

A spray of fresh blood splattered out, splashing onto Zuo Wu's back.

His walking posture paused slightly.

Zuo Wu was silent for a second, his voice angry and low, "How many times have I told you... don't do it in the house! The blood splattered on my body!"

He suddenly turned his head.

The next moment.

Zuo Wu's expression was no longer anger, but shock.

In the narrow wooden house, black energy swirled.

A slender figure stood between Blind Dog and the woman, it was a little girl wrapped in black energy, lifted off the ground... the expression on the girl's face was neither sad nor happy, looking serious and focused.

She only did one very simple thing.

That was to stretch out two fingers.

These two fingers were like hooks, piercing Blind Dog's eyeballs, then grabbing the eye sockets and continuing to scoop downwards.

Fresh blood splattered all over the room...

This scene shocked everyone in the room.

Among the crowd, the only one who was still relatively calm was the "naive" Aunt Ai.

Blind Dog wanted to roar in pain and resentment, but the thick black energy was like a tightened ribbon, tightly wrapping around his neck.

He opened his mouth wide, but could only make painful "hoarse" sounds!

The black mist carried Mu Wanqiu slowly down. She seemed to be playing a trivial game, her two fingers stubbornly staying in Blind Dog's eye sockets... so the latter went from standing to kneeling, and finally Mu Wanqiu pulled her hand away fiercely.

Due to inertia.

Blind Dog heavily kowtowed on the ground—

And then he didn't get up.

"Grade A... this is definitely Grade A!"

Although Zuo Wu's body was trembling violently, a smile could not help but appear on his face.

He had been practicing for so many years, and he was actually afraid of a newly awakened little girl.

But... at this moment, an emotion overwhelmed his fear and completely occupied his brain.

That emotion was greed.

A Grade A transcendent had not been seen in the Deepscale black market for many years... Ten million, no, the value of this kind of goods could not be measured by vulgar things like money!

"Do it! Everyone do it!!"

Zuo Wu roared and threw out two balls of flame, setting the entire wooden house on fire. However, even without him speaking, the little girl wrapped in black energy took the initiative to attack!

"Swish swish swish!"

Mu Wanqiu, under the cover of black mist, had a cold expression, looking at everyone in the room as if they were ants.

She darted left and right in an instant.

A chilling roar came from the black mist, as if a real life was living inside—

Three seconds, maybe less!

One spray of blood after another spurted out in the room. This scene was eerie, bloody, and terrifying. This girl was like the "King of Hell's" illegitimate daughter. She completely dominated the lives of the creatures in the black mist.

"Damn it... where's my gun, where's my gun!"

After Zuo Wu threw out the flames, he quickly retreated. Greed occupied his brain, but reason told him that he had to use the best weapons to deal with this little girl. His transcendent ability, which was only good for watching acrobatics, was of no use at all.

So he trembled as he tried to draw his gun. After so many years of struggle, he still had some savings... the most valuable thing he had on his body was the red silver bullets loaded in the magazine.

As long as he was hit by this thing, even a transcendent of "Bishop Qu's" level would be seriously injured!

The door was behind him, but he didn't run, because this was the last chance to "capture alive" this monster. If he left this narrow room, with this monster's terrifying movement speed, he would probably be very difficult to hit!

The black mist almost completely covered the entire wooden house.

The flames were raging.

In the darkness... the girl suddenly stopped moving.

She tilted her head and looked in Zuo Wu's direction, the coldness in her eyes turning into curiosity.

"Calm down..."

"Calm down..."

Zuo Wu took a deep breath.

He had already grasped the pistol at his waist. The moment the gun fired, the wooden door behind him shattered, and two palms pierced through the wooden planks, aimed at his neck on the left and right, and suddenly twisted.

"Bang!"

The gunshot exploded, and because of the last moment's influence, the red silver bullet went astray.

His neck was broken.

Zuo Wu collapsed softly...

Then the wooden door, in a near-broken state, was politely and slowly pushed open.

The little girl wrapped in black mist was still holding the posture of tilting her head and staring.

What she was staring at was never Zuo Wu.

But the guy behind the door.

"Nice to meet you."

The little girl's eyes were a little dazed.

In her vision, the guy who opened the door was wrapped in ominous black mist, just like herself.

Gu Shen squatted down and looked at the little girl wrapped in black mist.

"Swish!"

After the two approached, Mu Wanqiu, who had awakened the Judge, followed her talent and instinct, and threw a dozen punches at Gu Shen's head in an instant.

"Rumble rumble!"

The fist wind stirred up by these dozen punches directly smashed countless holes in the church's stone wall a few meters away...

However, the black mist dissipated.

Gu Shen was still squatting, his posture didn't seem to have changed at all, as if he hadn't moved at all, but in reality, every punch had landed accurately, but he was faster than Mu Wanqiu, and much faster.

"As expected of the Judge..."

Gu Shen smiled, and he said seriously, "If I was hit, it should hurt quite a bit, right?"

At the last moment.

He chose to intervene in this dream.

Gu Shen looked around. The wooden house was full of blood, and the flames were raging, but the most important woman was still alive. Aunt Ai had protected herself well, and had hidden in the corner as soon as the battle broke out.

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief.

He stretched out a palm and pressed it on Mu Wanqiu's head. This was a very safe distance.

Due to the length of his arm, Mu Wanqiu, at this time, could not hit him no matter how hard she punched.

He looked at the little guy with his fangs and claws and a fierce face, and said with a啧啧 sound, "To be honest... you look a little cuter now than when you grow up."

...

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(ps: Sorry everyone, I may not be able to finish this chapter today, but I updated 17,000 words today, and I will continue to maintain this level of explosion tomorrow.)