Chapter 13 Awakening

The moment the light flared, all songs and shouts fell silent, replaced by Su Zhou's heavy heartbeat.

*Thump—*

A single beat, like a giant drum being struck, or a command, causing ripples to spread across the calm surface of the mercury mirror.

Spiritual power, whipped up by a gale, surged and churned like ocean waves.

*Thump—*

An even clearer, heavier heartbeat shook the entire basement, even the old house, trembling slightly. The vast wave of spiritual energy surged like a tsunami.

Within a radius of several miles, all mosquitoes fell from the sky, and all animals and birds trembled, afraid to move.

*Thump—*

With the third heartbeat, Su Zhou opened his eyes, now revealing reptilian pupils.

He exhaled a long breath, his voice like a dragon's roar, and then, with his own spiritual power, he connected to the array beneath his feet.

[First Node · Dragon Serpent]

The four azure jade beads, soaked in mercury, shattered and melted on all sides of the array. They evaporated along with one-third of the mercury, transforming into silvery-azure dragon-shaped luminous mist.

These illusory dragon shadows spiraled and flew around the boy's body, finally plunging into Su Zhou's flesh and bones with a long cry, optimizing his half-dragon blood, half-mortal body from the most minute structures, constructing the most complete transcendence.

—Dragon Serpent Might, achieved—

[Second Node · Circulation]

In Su Zhou's hand, the demonic crystal pressed against his forehead disintegrated into dust. It, along with one-third of the mercury, the silver base, and the sapphire, transformed into wind, dancing and rotating in the air, like a perfect circle.

Then, the majestic and pure spiritual energy circle was dyed cyan-purple by the boy's own spiritual energy, and then transformed into a sacred emblem, sinking into Su Zhou's chest. It connected all the internal organs throughout the boy's body, forming an extraordinary cycle, echoing the entire world, and even larger cycles, drawing power.

—Heaven-Human Cycle, achieved—

[Third Node · Immortality]

After the demonic crystal shattered, not all of it transformed into spiritual energy. A trace of an incomparably distant and vast azure divine thought still remained. Upon realizing that its carrier in this world had disappeared, the existence of this divine thought began to blur, as if trying to leave this world—but a small red snake appeared in front of this divine thought, and with a light flick of its tail, shattered it.

"Since you've come, make yourself at home. Stay."

Accompanied by Yala's voice, the azure divine thought began to collapse and transform, turning into red light. The last third of the mercury, pure golden runes, and white crystal rose together, merging with the red light, igniting a flame like the sun, except this flame was colorless, as if all colors converged.

It carried a gentle warmth, as if it could create everything.

The flame sank into Su Zhou's forehead, silently, without any anomaly.

—True Spirit Immortality, achieved—

And at this moment, under Su Zhou's gaze, the snake spirit turned its head, made eye contact with the boy, smiled gently, and then disappeared.

A moment later, it reappeared, but with a page of papyrus hanging from its mouth. The edges of this page were burning with colorless flames, and golden words were floating on it.

"Su Zhou, read it."

Yala's calm voice sounded, but Su Zhou's attention was not on this page... Where did Yala disappear to just now? Where did this page come from?

But he never dwelled on such meaningless questions for too long. Su Zhou concentrated and looked at the page of papyrus.

The words on the paper were divine runes. Although he didn't know what those symbols were, he could instinctively know what they meant. At the same time, the snake spirit's voice, as if transmitted from a distant realm, rang in his ears.

"This is the supreme cultivation method of my lineage, [Sacred Geometry]. A transcendent method sufficient to cultivate from mortal to celestial god."

"No matter what kind of Heaven-Human Supreme Art, or what kind of Divine Spirit Righteous Art, whether it can cultivate into the Heavenly Dragon 'Eightfold Naga Heavenly Dragon Body,' or the 'Candle Dragon Dharma Body' that can illuminate the darkness of Heaven and Earth, none can compare."

"And what you are currently gazing at is its first stage: the Sacred Triangle."

The Sacred Triangle: the most solid structure, the most economical use of materials, the most stable foundation.

Using three unique talents as base points, construct the most stable structure, and use this as a foundation to forge the Sacred Tetrahedron (regular tetrahedron), and then awaken successfully—this is the foundation of the supreme cultivation method [Sacred Geometry]!

"So that's how it is." Gazing at the divine runes before him, Su Zhou finally understood why Yala had insisted that he acquire a demonic crystal in order to achieve perfect advancement.

If he only had the Dragon Serpent Jade Beads, he could only gather the spiritual energy within, connect to the part of the Yinglong (Horned Dragon) bloodline hidden within his body, and cultivate the special physique of 'Dragon Serpent Might.'

Even if he added the purest leyline spiritual energy, or awakened in the deepest part of a blessed cave abode, he could only barely achieve a Heaven-Human body capable of communicating with the great source of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, the 'Heaven-Human Cycle.'

Only the 'demonic,' or rather, the 'divine thought' from a direct descendant of another great existence, was a supreme material that was difficult to find but easiest to obtain in this era!

Only this could allow one to forge a third special soul body belonging to the soul with a mortal body, and achieve the foundation of the Sacred Triangle!

"[Sacred Geometry] is not the strongest method of attack."

Following the method displayed in the papyrus to regulate the internal spiritual energy circulation, Su Zhou quickly understood the essence of this cultivation method. He realized in his heart: "Body strengthening, spiritual energy induction strengthening, and true soul strengthening... This is a comprehensive strengthening of my essence. The three special traits also correspond to the powerful talents of the body, spiritual energy, and soul, respectively."

"Perhaps this cultivation method cannot control wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, or create flames and frost, and is lacking in special attacks, but in terms of vitality, development potential, and resilience to danger, it is overwhelmingly 'strong'! It is truly one of the most stable cultivation methods in the truest sense!"

The moment he understood this, countless spiritual energy triangles formed Su Zhou's internal spiritual energy circulation network. They were incredibly complex, but layered upon layer, supporting each other, leaping his body and soul's tolerance dozens of times in an instant!

Vaguely, Su Zhou could see that above the Sacred Triangle that served as the foundation, there were still nine levels... and he could only barely see the next level, a 'pentagram' shrouded in mist, not knowing whether it was positive or negative.

"Su Zhou, with your original talent, the 'divine power' you should have awakened in the future should be the Yinglong's control over earth, clouds, rain, and summoning wind—this is the ability granted to you by your ancestral bloodline."

At this moment, Yala's voice sounded, pulling Su Zhou's spirit back.

Without knowing when, the papyrus had already been put away, and the small red snake returned to the boy's ear, its tone leisurely: "However, you have obtained my inheritance."

"So, don't worry about your bloodline. Your future achievements are destined to be higher than all of your ancestors!"

"Awaken the divine power that is most suitable for you!"

—Three nodes form a surface, and then awaken the 'divine power' at the apex, achieving the Sacred Tetrahedron—

In the basement, the light of the array had completely dissipated. Whether it was gold, silver mercury, or gemstones and crystals, all had shattered in the previous ritual, transforming into a source of spiritual energy, sinking into Su Zhou's body.

Shao Qiming nervously watched his best friend standing in the darkness, only able to hear the long breaths and heavy heartbeats coming, proving that his current situation was all well.

And at this time, Su Zhou was communicating with his own spiritual nature.

—The divine power most suitable for me? Meaning, the ability I want the most?

Strange tales, mysteries, the supernatural... I want to come into contact with an extraordinary world, possess extraordinary power, and be able to make extraordinary choices.

This is what he had been pursuing for the past ten years... But these are actually just tools, tools that I want to use to achieve my wishes.

"What is it that I truly want?"

Su Zhou closed his eyes and asked himself, asked his heart, the cyan-purple spiritual nature located at the center of a Sacred Triangle.

Then, in his heart, appeared the silhouettes of his father, his grandfather, his ancestors, struggling throughout their lives.

Before the boy's eyes appeared the man in the Shan State forests, having his soul sucked away by the members of the Coven.

Before his eyes appeared the innocent ordinary people who were captured by the centipede tree and used as fertilizer.

He recalled the countless times he had heard, and witnessed, the unfair things that happened in the world, those that made him angry, annoyed, resentful, and unwilling to accept.

Su Zhou saw all the souls who had died because of the evil thoughts of others, from the past to the future... and felt anger, resentment, and disgust for it.

—On the opposite side of the innocent, always stands the relative perpetrator—

And Su Zhou always wanted to stand in front of the innocent.

Sometimes it was to protect those behind him, sometimes it was just to face those in front of him, and sometimes, it was simply to 'rebel' for the sake of 'rebellion,' to 'confront' for the sake of 'confrontation,' almost like a big contrarian.

But this stance was always consistent.

—'Guardian,' 'Judgment,' 'Just Verdict'... No—

This was a wish that he yearned for, but also felt constrained by... Although this belief was one that he recognized and was willing to fight for, its essence was not what pleased him.

After a long period of thinking, finally, Su Zhou understood.

"What I want is to stop the spread of evil and push forward everything that is stagnant."

"What I want is for good people to be able to hold their heads high, while evildoers have nowhere to hide."

"I don't deliberately do good, nor do I pursue justice. I am simply the enemy of evil, seeking retribution and vengeance, vanquishing evil and killing enemies, that's all!"

At the moment of enlightenment, the base points that made up the Sacred Triangle began to erupt with light. Three spiritual lights transformed into pillars of light that reached the sky and the earth, converging into the cyan-purple spiritual nature, forming a complete 'regular tetrahedron,' and then collapsing and contracting!

Su Zhou felt all the spiritual power in his body boil in an instant, and then contract into a core point!

His heart beat, the heavy sound repeating three times.

He opened his eyes, spiritual light exploded, and his ability awakened, his divine power was born!

Its name is, [Evil-Devouring Demon Lord]!