Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 364 - 361: Killing Wolf, Second Disciple

Chapter 364: Chapter 361: Killing Wolf, Second Disciple

All the men in Gao Manor, young and old, a hundred or so in number, came together to fill the deep pit. It was quickly smoothed over.

And they left no discernible grave behind.

With just a few days of wind and sun, this place would soon look no different from any other, with no trace of sin to be found.

Moreover, in these times, death was commonplace; a few more bodies scarcely made a difference. Even if they encountered an exceptionally upright official, it would still result in a case of the people not reporting and the officials not investigating.

What worried the villagers most was actually... the family buried in the ground themselves.

Under normal circumstances, unless one had a peculiar life chart, harbored great hatred, injustice, or revenge, or had arranged some Magic or ritual before dying,

most people would lose most of their spiritual wisdom after transforming into ghosts.

Even if they did not enter the Underworld, they would merely act according to their past habits—singing if they sang, drinking if they drank, playing chess if they played chess... until they faded away.

They were generally harmless to others.

But this family was different; they held great hatred, had great injustices, and sought revenge, which naturally made the likelihood of them becoming fierce ghosts extremely high!

One could not be too careful.

"Lai! Is everything ready?"

The old village chief of Gao Manor, his face cold and stern, turned his head to look at a short man behind him with an ugly row of sores on his scalp.

Lai quickly nodded and bowed, handing over a white cloth bundle he had been carrying to the village chief.

"Rest assured, Chief, I used a bag of wheat borrowed from Fourth Gao’s house and exchanged it with the Divine Woman from the neighboring village for this Suppressing Item.

When placed in the grave, I guarantee it will prevent their family from ever rising again!"

The chief unwrapped the bundle, revealing an infant-sized, pitch-black figurine emanating a thick, ominous aura.

Then he personally took action and buried it directly above the family.

"Cleverness led to your misfortune; your family deserved this calamity! Do not think about rising again; suppressed by this item, you won’t even be able to become ghosts!"

Preparation: A brick from a century-old toilet was dismantled, seven rusted coffin nails from Burial Mound, and a liang of flying soil that blew into the house during a gale.

A liang of pot-bottom ash collected from at least a hundred households, a bowl of face-washing water from a blind man, mixed into mud and molded into this human-shaped clay figurine, then fired into shape.

On the head and limbs of the clay figurine, the life charts of the entire family of five were painted using Vermillion.

A Suppressing Item was created with extremely potent repressive properties.

Without waiting for the seventh day when spirits return, even before dawn tomorrow, they would all experience soul scattering, leaving not even a hint of their True Spirit.

Having committed wrongdoings, the fear was of ghosts knocking at the door.

In this Divine Deceit World, even mortals knew the principle of thoroughly eliminating the roots of a problem; their actions being utterly ruthless and venomous.

Bang!

However, the moment the village chief shoveled the Suppressing Item into the ground,

in the realm beyond their sight, a terribly terrifying surge of dark red Debt streamed forth, gathering into a cloud above their heads.

Not just these men who took direct action, but every man, woman, and child in the village, surviving off the grain stored by Fourth Gao’s family, including infants in swaddling, no one was exempt.

The principle enforced by the Debt: To avoid involvement, one must first not benefit!

Having collectively reaped the benefits of their kinsman’s wrongdoing, naturally, they must also collectively bear the consequences.

Furthermore,

even professionals like Old Master Wang and members of the Imperial Dragon Guard, after committing murder, dared not allow their enemies’ souls to scatter.

Rather, they would prefer to expend more effort, asking the Cao Gang from San Tu River to help clean up, even going as far to create a million-level industry post-event.

This is because Life and Death Reincarnation can be seen as a way for this realm’s Heavenly Dao to strengthen itself.

As True Spirits struggle through the mortal world, whether good or bad, upon death, they travel to the Underworld, unloading their life’s accumulation there, enhancing the power of the Underworld, and then re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

This cycle on repeat has made the heavenly department, the fortress of this realm’s Heavenly Dao, stronger and stronger.

Therefore, destroying True Spirits and causing Soul Scattering incurs the heaviest Debt and is not something any Cultivator dares to bear unless absolutely necessary.

Only such malicious and reckless mortals would dare to so unscrupulously use Evil Techniques to commit sins.

As the relieved villagers gradually dispersed in groups of threes and fives,

the family in the pit were enveloped in Purgatory.

Already dead, but temporarily unable to leave their bodies after their ghost transformation, Fourth Gao’s husband and wife, eldest son, and second son were the first to suffer.

Threads of scarlet malevolent energy emanated from the Suppressing clay figurine, piercing their soul bodies bit by bit, causing them to disintegrate gradually amidst mournful wails.

But even so,

they always gathered around the teenager who had just breathed his last, similarly starting to be eroded by the malevolent Qi.

Helping him temporarily fend off the terrifying Suppressing Item, allowing him to "live" just a moment longer.

"Father! Mother! Eldest brother! Second brother!"

After death, the teenager who had regained consciousness as a fierce ghost, found himself as helpless as when he was alive, watching everything unfold before him.

Wanting to weep bitterly, he discovered that even his tears had thoroughly dried up.

The only thing he could hear was his father’s faint words, just like when he was alive:

"Succeeding Saint, Third son, you must live!"

This third son in the family was named Gao Jisheng, styled Jinzhi.

Fourth Gao initially hoped he would learn from the virtues and knowledge of the saints in the books, to improve a little every day, and ultimately become a true gentleman.

But in the face of today’s disaster, which arose out of "goodeness," his name became incredibly ironic!

Had it not been for "meddling," perhaps the Gao family of five could have continued to live quietly.

Watching his beloved parents and brothers about to gradually fade away before his eyes.

The hatred for those of the same sect slowly filled the simple boy’s chest, nearly shattering all his teeth from clenching.

"Hate! Hate! Hate!..."

However.

Gao Jisheng failed to notice.

Under the drive of this strong hatred, black fur gradually sprouted from the pores of his ghost body, and his mouth elongated into a fanged, wolfish snout.

In just a few breaths, he had completely lost his human form and transformed into a giant black wolf with blood-red eyes.

Subconsciously, he stretched out a claw to encircle his parents and older brother, who were left with only a sliver of their True Spirits, against his chest.

Using his own body to block the surging evil energy.

"Awooo—!"

Like suddenly falling into boiling oil, Gao Jisheng couldn’t help but let out a wolf-like, piercing wail.

It even shook the air outside the tomb, clear and distinct to the people of Gao Manor.

Unfortunately, even though this boy, changed by unknown forces, had resistance far surpassing his parents and brother, he still could not break free from suppression.

No matter how he struggled, the suppressing item above his head remained as immovable as a mountain.

Just when he was about to despair completely.

A cool, water-like moonlight suddenly arrived from the horizon.

Crack!

The item that had crushed him like a mountain exploded into dust under the moonlight, and the abnormal power dissipated entirely.

The somewhat muddled consciousness of Gao Jisheng suddenly felt lighter, and he finally escaped from the corpse and returned under the night sky.

A moonlit mirror immediately illuminated above his head, displaying his deepest obsessions to Wang Yuan and Huang Wu, who had arrived together.

Stirred by a memory familiar from the boy’s recollection, Huang Wu subconsciously clung tightly to Wang Yuan’s arm.

The most unbearable to gaze upon in this world aren’t those creatures born to devour humans but the hearts of their own kind!

The Wang Family of Daling is like this, and the Gao Clan here is the same.

No one willingly admits their own foolishness or acknowledges the wisdom of others.

When disaster finally arrives, the foolish won’t thank or admire those whistleblowers who had warned them.

They will despise them even more, or even hate them, then blame all their failures on them, wishing only to get rid of them swiftly!"

Wang Yuan looked down at the twinkling lights of the village below the slope, his face grave as water.

Only when he turned to look at the wolf-like boy did he finally relax slightly.

"Gao Jisheng, is it? This is indeed a rare phenomenon in the world, even rarer than the ’Six Beasts Strange Formation’... the ’Killing Wolf Formation’!"

The ’Killing Wolf Formation,’ also known in the Ziwei Life Plate, is dominated by the three stars Po Jun, Greedy Wolf, and Killing Wolf in the Life Palace, collectively called the Killing Wolf.

It represents turmoil and change.

As the saying goes: The tree wants calm but the wind will not cease; those with the Killing Wolf formation are destined for a life of wandering, rising and falling greatly, yet also with the potential to become a heroic figure.

In the thousands of years of history of Red County Shenzhou, many unparalleled and decisive warriors have emerged under the ’Killing Wolf Formation.’

They were born to respond to turbulent times and often achieved feats beyond the reach of ordinary people.

As a piece supporting the Heavenly Dao, Wang Yuan had always been passively chasing turmoil.

But those with the ’Killing Wolf’ life chart are chased by turmoil, unable to find peace all their lives.

Also, the three stars in the Life Palace create three different types of ’Killing Wolf Formations,’ bound to oppose each other.

Even if they could kill each other, they could gain the other’s life star’s power, greatly advancing their realm.

This Gao Jisheng is exactly the one dominated by ’Killing Wolf’!

The Killing Star: A star of isolation and execution, also a star of success and failure, governing slaughter and bearing the authority over life and death, destined to be accompanied by bloody storms throughout his life.

But if he cultivates successfully and enters the ’Nine Soldiers,’ he could almost directly secure a Divine Position in the Heavenly Department as the ’Killing Star Lord’!

At this moment, completely unaware of his uniqueness, Gao Jisheng, holding four dim light points, cried out with a whimper:

"Dad, were we really wrong? Was the Saint wrong too? Does being kind to others only lead to a bad end?"

His blood-red eyes intermittently clear and cloudy, with an unstable aura around him.

At this moment, he clearly stood at a crossroads in his life, one side marked by murder inherent in Weirdness, and the other continuing to be human.

Wang Yuan, fully aware of Gao Jisheng’s condition, approached unconcernedly and patted his shoulder, saying softly:

"Kindness is never wrong!

The mistake lies in not having the means to protect this kindness!

Only when you wield the power of a thunderbolt can you show the heart of a Bodhisattva!"

"When a beam of light shines into an iron tower, the filth inside is revealed; thus, the light is sinning.

But, if that light never dissipates, it is redemption!

Gao Jisheng, do you want to become such a light?

I...I’ll teach you!"

The boy’s body suddenly trembled, the wolf part swiftly receding, reverting to the simple, dark-skinned boy. He looked up at Wang Yuan in front of him.

His eyes gradually lit up with an indescribable brilliance.

With a "thump," he knelt down and choked out:

"Master—!"