Chapter 290

Hahaha, you're nothing but a stupid horse after all—how could you defy me, who wields shadow power?

Suo La laughed hysterically, casually grabbing a corpse and stuffing it into his serpentine maw, and the arm he had lost began visibly regenerating.

Moreover, possibly due to the successive battles and rage, his physique had become at least twice as strong as before, turning him into a true flesh-and-blood monster.

Feeling the unimaginable immense power within him and the seemingly endless battle vigor, he felt that his former body—gradually aging, only able to gain confidence from young girls—was nothing but a useless rotting sack of skin, long overdue to be discarded like today.

And now, he would personally seize everything he craved, one by one, starting with this damned traitor...

But just then, he suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold from beside him; turning his head, he saw a warhammer covered in frost coming straight at him.

"You dare strike my little Ke!"

Ke Li Si Ting's strength comes from her latent Pegasus bloodline, while Shuang Ju Ren's strength stems from her being a noble elemental giant; even though her bloodline rank rises with age, she now far surpasses ordinary races.

Suo La had no time to dodge; the savage force smashed his cheek, twisting his neck as well, and even ludicrously spun him around on his swollen body.

Shuang Ju Ren was entirely encased in ice armor, like a profound ice giant; moreover, in her fury a single hammer blow wasn't enough, she quickly readjusted her stance and immediately swung a second hammer!

However, as the biggest shadow devotee of Yangguang City, Suo La's strange heart was far stronger than An De Lu's, and it had been nourished for much longer.

Thus, as Shuang Ju Ren grew braver with each fight, intending to use a smooth little combo to turn the monster before her into ice shards...

"Have you smashed enough?"

Suddenly, Suo La's right arm, limp at a bizarre angle to the side, as if broken again by a chain of heavy hammers, transformed into a menacing cannonball, striking Shuang Ju Ren's chest before her force was spent and before she could launch a follow‑up, leaving her no time to block.

Although Shuang Ju Ren's assault was fierce, its effect paled compared to Suo La's deadly punch; her chest armor shattered instantly on contact, sending her crashing through several rows of chairs before she slammed into the wall behind her.

Suo La indeed knew nothing of combat, but he understood human hearts, as well as the trade‑offs and games of business.

Since he could achieve limitless regeneration by devouring flesh and blood, he could simply take a beating to create an opening, then unleash an unprecedented move to defeat the foe in one strike!

Anyway, as long as it didn't instantly endanger his life, no matter how strong the enemy, even giving their all would be no more than a harmless massage.

"Sigh, truly disappointing—you can't even take one punch? I was planning to throw another just to relieve my boredom."

After consecutively defeating the two chief warriors of the human squad, Suo La felt a bit smug, his expression a childlike smile whose charm rivaled Fan Ma Yong Ci Lang's.

Moreover, in his excitement he didn't forget to yank up a corpse to replenish his blood, but after gorging himself, he suddenly found the flesh in his mouth bland and uninteresting.

"Tsk, what a pity—everyone present either fled or died, and no one was left to witness my victory."

"You fat pig..."

However, while he was still muttering to himself, he was abruptly cut off by an extremely indistinct tirade—it was Ke Li Si Ting vigorously rubbing her cheeks with a tablecloth.

Although that pus liquid is highly corrosive, it isn't strong enough to instantly rob a level‑forty professional of combat ability; rather, because it ate away her facial skin, the current Ke Li Si Ting looks utterly ferocious.

But in a brawl, it's about whose fists are harder; a fierce face alone is useless. Now Suo La has long since left the realm of humanity, his surging qi and blood making him an opponent that even a gravely wounded Ke Li Si Ting cannot match.

Moreover, after barely enduring three playful punches from her opponent, the first thing to give way wasn't her—it was the Ma Mao she held!

With a crisp crack, the repeatedly reinforced Zhong Xing Mao Gan ultimately couldn't bear the load, snapped cleanly by Suo La's next hook punch.

And that fist, which had shattered the last obstacle, under Suo La's control surged forward and smashed hard into Ke Li Si Ting's chin.

"Uh..."

Ke Li Si Ting was KO'd again; her limp four hooves could no longer support her heavy body, and she collapsed on the spot.

But Suo La's expression suddenly shifted, and he adopted a tone of feigned concern,

"Hey hey, how can the mighty tax minister just collapse like that? Get up quickly!"

Then, with his own blood‑soaked large hand, he gripped Ke Li Si Ting's throat and forcibly lifted her upper body.

"Do you know, Ke Li Si Ting, that the wisest choice I've ever made in my life was to support you? Precisely because of your presence, my chamber of commerce has been able to thrive despite being squeezed between beastmen and mercenaries."

"But the worst decision I've ever made in my life was also to support you, for because of you I can never allow this city to have only my voice; I lie awake uneasy, forever fearing you might burst in and kill me!"

"Even including now!"

Suo La bellowed in anger, and the emotion that had just begun to calm turned hysterical again.

"Do you know!? In the ten edicts the divine lord sent me, six concern you—skin, flesh, bones, soul, viscera… They say every inch of you is perfect material for necromancy, and yet they can't wait to make you one of us."

"Let me think how to do this… ah, right!"

"If we strip your skin, burn it with eight strange oils to strengthen it, extract your organs and refine them with precious special spices, then coat your bones with a mixture of your flesh and that of at least three golden races, drawing soul‑binding forbidden sigils, you will be transformed into a unique necromantic pegasus, comparable to legendary beasts!"

"Damn, hearing that makes me feel like I'm a dish..."

Ke Li Si Ting's thoughts grew muddled; she rolled her throat, wanting to spit a mouthful of phlegm at the nauseating blabbermouth before her.

But her tongue, soon to be rotted by acid, couldn't even perform this simple, ridiculous taunt.

"Damn it, if I can't spit, I can't even curse anyone!"

However, before she could even utter the first syllable of her 'wu‑wu‑ah‑ah', Suo La's violent shake interrupted her spellcasting.

"But I won't agree!"

Suo La's eyes flashed with resentment and hatred, and a hint… of the sorrow he had once seen in Shuang's eyes.

"I've given so much; I even abandoned my human identity to become this hideous undead monstrosity, yet I'm merely a local leader who can't even enter the council. By what right? By what right! You, having done nothing, become the divine lord's favorite?"

"Even before I pledged to the Shadow Church I had to bow to you, and now that I'm like this, why must I still bow? After all this, haven't I become a monster for nothing?"

"So I will kill you! I will eat your flesh, drink your blood, crush your bones, and use the once‑in‑a‑lifetime talent of the Undead Colossus, 【Origin Absorption】, to seize your Pegasus bloodline and make it mine!"

Ke Li Si Ting's eyeballs twitched at those words, and she let out two more sounds.

"Uh‑uh..."

Suo La raised his hand and slapped her.

"Don't speak! I've long figured it out—here, heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know; if I eat you and then kill that woman over there, no one will know what happened, and only a bright, promising future will remain!"

"Uh‑uh‑uh..."

Seeing Ke Li Si Ting actually produce an even more urgent 'uh‑uh‑uh', Suo La backhanded her again.

"Assign blame? Impossible; they could never hold me responsible. In the current chaos of Yangguang City, it's perfectly normal for you to die by accident, and for me, forced to eat you to complete my evolution for the lord's task, is also quite normal—how could they possibly blame me for offering the whole city to them?"

But Ke Li Si Ting before him still insisted on making noise, her eyes not ceasing to look… at my back?

"What the heck?"

He hurriedly turned his head, but a spinning shield flying in struck him squarely…… embedded in his face.

"Damn it, I won't let you speak ill of my beloved little sheep!"

Ke Li Si Ting's heart leapt with joy; a hint of sweetness that he still cared for her welled up, but then she suddenly thought, even if it were that, it's a horse—how could it be a little sheep?

Suo La's heart jolted: on one hand, the shield stuck in his head was indeed cool; on the other, having encountered many Shadow Sect followers, he knew that to avoid investigation, believers active in the civilized world all called their chief god the 'Black Goat'!

... Later Ji Ming found out and couldn't help but sigh inwardly; he never expected that the nickname he'd casually made up would actually hit the mark, wondering if Old Yang Tou would really turn into a giant squid meat patty someday.

Ji Ming came back because, after going out for a round, he felt that even if the priests of the Sheng Guang Jiao Tang all slept with earplugs, they'd have to wake up given the current intensity.

So he turned back to the mercenaries' garrison, thinking to first wipe out the undead here, then join forces with the superior troops to launch a counteroffensive—after all, if these Deep Forest folks were in their right minds, they wouldn't treat this magical plague as 'evolution'.

Who would have thought that just as he came running back, he heard a huge bang of something heavy hitting the wall; he rushed toward the noise to the hall and saw a red skull, about eighty percent the size of Ke Li Si Ting's, being bullied by a hysterical Guang Tou Guai Shu Shu.

His first thought was—'Holy crap, the quality of this big potato's bitter tea seed is amazing, it's practically a miracle of materials science!'

His second thought was—'Holy crap, how did they smash that precious mural to pieces before I even saw it in full? This is an utter waste of heavenly bounty!'

As for the third thing, Ji Ming hadn't figured it out yet when he heard the bizarre giant claim to be some Shadow Sect follower, and every word out of its mouth was blasphemy against the gods.

I'm Old Yang Tou's best neighbor, after all—how can I tolerate them teasing an old person like that?

Naturally, he lashed out, intending to clean house for Him.

He did land the blow, but now he reached out to catch the rebounding shield, only to find his Deep Forest battle shield stuck in the skull of this low‑spec Hulk……

Holy shit, I spent a whole gold…… I mean, my respected and dear teacher painstakingly procured this precious shield from the Shen Lin Wang Guo through his own connections, selling it to me at a loss!

To avoid being forced into combat training by Lao Nv Shi on the grounds of 'not cherishing equipment' next time they meet, Ji Ming wrapped a Zhen E fu around his hand and charged at the ugly thing before him.

Of course, he still needed to utter something with a righteous pretext.

"Damn it, let go of that weak girl who weighs nine tonnes net, ten tonnes with armor, and has the mass of a light tank!"

Suo La was so frightened he let out a sudden shout.

"Ah, it's you!"

In his previous view, Ji Ming was hardly a threat at all—he thought Ji Ming was at most a clever little mascot of a divine doctor, and a bit of coaxing would make him a perfect partner.

But in recent times, every message the council sent him almost always stressed to be wary of Ji Ming, saying this thing was too terrifying for the Oddity Special Attack, to the point that even a basic attack was an AOE Da Zhao.

So Suo La didn't underestimate him this time, deciding to go all out against that white figure—and then, then he punched Ke Li Si Ting right in the face!

Ke Li Si Ting, just before passing out: "Ah???"

Having knocked out that potential variable, Suo La wrenched the shield free, tossed it aside, and roared, preparing to tear apart this clearly non‑combatant who nevertheless dared to attack—a god‑chosen.

But just as he shook out his arms, he saw in the opponent's eyes excitement and…… gratitude?

"Nice kid, you knocked out the sole witness, huh? You're done for!"

Having said that, Ji Ming, who had merely been jogging normally, suddenly accelerated, pushed off with a mighty leap, and launched himself into the air with a punch aimed at the fleshy giant.

"What?"

Suo La couldn't react at all; it felt as if his belly were being punched simultaneously by ten thousand giants, followed by a deep‑to‑the‑bone sensation that spread, utterly unlike the pain of injury.

"Ahhh!"

Of course it would hurt—Ji Ming's strike had directly burned out all the power of that talisman, and the ashes of its complete consumption drifted slowly down from his palm.

But the point of consumables is to burn; Sha Ge had drawn plenty of calming and Zhen E fu for points, so now was a perfect time to test their quality!

Staggering back, Suo La hadn't even steadied himself when he felt the same blow hit his back, then his chest, knees, upper arm muscles……

In short, wherever he was weak got struck, and even his biggest weakness was swept by a sudden burst of holy light, leaving him with nothing left to worry about.

Suo La was beaten to a miserable state, flailing about like he was shooing mosquitoes, completely unaware that Ji Ming had already retreated outside the battle circle at this moment.