Setting aside the matter of weapons for now, Su Zhou couldn't exactly go shopping on Taobao while riding his bike down the street. He did, however, have a rather old-fashioned and bold idea, which he planned to discuss with Shao Qiming once he got to his house.
To be clear, he definitely wasn't trying to get his friend to pay for it. He just wanted his brother to take a look and maybe chip in a little!
Pedaling hard the whole way, the ten kilometers didn't feel far at all, and he soon arrived at Shao Qiming's residential area.
The Huang Huse residential area, where Shao Qiming lived, was located between Yellow Lake and the Ganjiang River. It was a neighborhood of single-family villas along the river. While not extravagant, it was certainly very quiet and peaceful. Normally, Su Zhou would have had to register to enter, but he had a key card. Besides, the security guard recognized him and opened the gate to let him through.
"Brother Zhou, when are you coming back to the gym to show off your skills?"
The security guard at this high-end community was an acquaintance of Su Zhou's... well, Su Zhou didn't actually know him, but the guard knew Su Zhou. He even greeted him excitedly, "A few new guys have joined the circle recently. They've never seen you in action, so they're not convinced!"
"Next time, next time. I'll go when I have a chance."
At first, Su Zhou just gave a noncommittal reply, but after a moment's thought, he realized it was actually necessary. 'That's right. After getting the Body of Perfection, I haven't had a chance to test my body's current level... Before a fight, you must first know yourself. It seems I really do need to go to the gym and test my limits.'
"Uh, Yara, why do you keep staring at me?"
"...You really are Mr. Popular, aren't you? I never thought you'd be famous in the fitness circle too." With a strange expression, the Snake Spirit turned its head away from Su Zhou and said in a low voice, "Unexpected. Your charisma is quite high... It feels like you can't even leave the house without bumping into seven or eight people who know you."
"Of course." Su Zhou shrugged. "I'm handsome, strong, have a great personality, a witty sense of humor, and I enjoy helping others. It's only normal that everyone likes me. See? Didn't you ditch that Leader of the Continuous Prayer Meeting and choose me?"
"Are you trying to indirectly praise my excellent judgment in choosing people?"
Hearing this, Yara laughed. It replied, just as shamelessly, "But it is a fact. My eye for people is the best in all the realms. You don't have to be so roundabout about it."
"Isn't that right? We're a pretty good team!"
"Of course we are!"
As the two masters of confidence (one of them a snake) chatted, they arrived at their destination.
Standing before the three-story, single-family villa, which was surrounded by a wall of trees, Su Zhou rang the doorbell and waited for the door to open.
Even before that, as he approached the villa, Su Zhou's sharp hearing could faintly pick up the sound of a crosstalk performance from inside.
"—You know, these times we're living in, they're really something else." This was the voice of a middle-aged woman with a rather loud voice.
"Isn't that the truth." This was a softer, lower female voice.
"The price of groceries has been getting more and more expensive lately. Back in the day, how much did a bundle of bok choy cost? Now they slap a 'green food' label on it and—whoops!—the price doubles!"
"Green, organic food, that's a new concept."
"Right? Back in the day in Hongcheng, you could get fried noodles and a crock-pot soup from an old shop for less than five yuan. Now, holy cow, it's pushing ten yuan—doubled again!"
"These times we live in, I tell you! Hah!"
"Oh! The doorbell. That must be Azhou! That young man, so sturdy and honest! He eats more in one meal than your whole family!"
"That's right, I watched him grow up. He's really something!"
Then Su Zhou heard footsteps approaching. A moment later, the door opened. The person who opened it was the Shao family's caregiver, an auntie surnamed He. She had a powerful build—you could stand a man on her fist and race a horse on her shoulders—not unlike the women from Rost up north.
"Azhou, you're here!" As soon as Aunt Hex saw Su Zhou, she broke into a wide smile. "The food is all ready. I'll go heat it up!"
"Hi, Aunt Hex." Su Zhou greeted her politely as he stepped inside. "You're looking even fitter lately."
"Ah, you sweet-talker. But your Aunt Hex knows her own body. You go on and sit down for a bit. I'll go heat up the food."
'No, I meant 'fitter' in a different way.'
The young man gazed in admiration at her bulging trapezius and deltoid muscles.
Aunt Hex closed the door and turned toward the kitchen. Su Zhou could now hear the crosstalk from inside the house again. Shao Qiming's mother, Aunt Wen Yuefeng, loved listening to Jinmen crosstalk. It had gotten to the point where even the family's caregiver had picked up a Jinmen accent. Heaven help them, both Aunt Hex and the Shao family were southerners through and through, yet after listening to so many years of crosstalk, they all spoke with a northern twang.
"Azhou, you're here? Qiming, come down."
Through the wall, he could hear Wen Yuefeng's gentle greeting. Su Zhou replied spiritedly, "Hi, Aunt Wen!"
"My, so full of energy!"
Both Wen Yuefeng and her son, Shao Qiming, were not in the best of health. Shao Qiming had suffered from pneumonia as a child, which left him with lasting complications. Wen Yuefeng, on the other hand, had muscular atrophy in her legs. After giving birth to her daughter, Shao Shuangyue, she had been unable to walk and could only get around in a wheelchair, staying home to take care of the children.
'Mom and Dad once said that Aunt Wen used to be the most energetic and lively girl at the Academy. Her hobbies were hiking, picnicking, and telling stand-up comedy. She was the mascot and life of the party for the whole Academy.'
'But then, for some reason, her leg muscles suddenly atrophied. She couldn't walk anymore, couldn't enjoy any of her hobbies. All she could do was listen to crosstalk.'
The thought flashed through Su Zhou's mind, and his mood darkened. His own parents were always extremely busy with work, and Shao Qiming's father, Shao Nantian, was also a very busy man, flying all over the country and the world. It was Aunt Wen and Aunt Hex who had always taken care of them.
If he could, he desperately wanted to help Aunt Wen stand up again.
If hunting Evil Demons to gain Extraordinary Power could help the people around him, then Su Zhou would do it without a second thought. He didn't need any grand reason—he would do it simply because he 'wanted' to.
"Coming, coming, hold on a sec." Shao Qiming was on his way downstairs. It looked like he had just been working on an exam paper, as he was still casually holding a pen. When he saw Su Zhou, a genuine smile spread across his face. "I've been waiting for ages. You're finally here! Come on, let's go to my room first."
Su Zhou didn't answer right away. He closed his eyes, formed a hand seal, gave himself a mental suggestion, and then opened his eyes.
Instantly, he saw the world of 'Spirits'.
Before him, there weren't any Ghosts in Shao Qiming's house... After all, this place had just been a stretch of wasteland by the river before, and not many people lived here now. There were few resurgent ancient Ghosts, and not many newly formed ones either... Of course, that didn't mean there were none. Su Zhou could see a few white, leavened-bun-like shapes, so bloated their faces were indistinct, revealing only a vaguely humanoid form. They were crouched in the corner of the living room, trembling along with the clapper talk rhythm from the TV.
"Unlike Heroic Souls, Ghosts are gatherings of Spiritual Qi, the dregs of a human soul. They are phantoms of Spiritual Qi left behind in the Current Realm. The 'True Spirit'—the actual essence of a Human Soul—is long gone. All that remains are specks of lingering obsession."
The Snake Spirit muttered, either to itself or for the benefit of its Contractor. At the same time, Su Zhou looked up, gazing with confusion at the center of Shao Qiming's chest.
And he did see it: a black Dark Shadow was gathering inside his friend's body.
It was a black, vein-like specter. It had a core, congealed in Shao Qiming's body below his left lung and near his heart. Using this as its source and his blood vessels as channels, it was spreading throughout his entire body, slowly devouring Shao Qiming's Life Force... While he was young, it wasn't a major issue, but the moment his health started to decline, the consequences wouldn't be just the occasional cough and weakness he experienced now. It would be total organ failure, sudden death on the spot.
'Dammit!'
Cursing under his breath, Su Zhou kept his expression unchanged. He only seemed to freeze for a split second before joking with Shao Qiming as if nothing was wrong. "Let's go."
"Yeah."
After so many years, Shao Qiming could of course tell something was off with Su Zhou. He was puzzled, but he knew when the right time to talk was. Just then, along with the sound of a rolling wheelchair, a gentle female voice called out, "What's wrong, Azhou? Leaving so soon? You came back from a dangerous trip abroad and you won't even come say hi to your Aunt Wen?"
Malice.
Intense malice.
In that instant, Su Zhou's Spiritual Sense felt an unprecedented wave of malice.
Shao Qiming saw his friend whip his head around toward the corner of the hallway at a speed that made him wonder if he would snap his own neck. There, his mother was slowly pushing the wheels of her wheelchair, approaching with a smile.
She was a rather petite, gentle woman with waist-length hair. Her face was inevitably a bit gaunt due to her frail body, but you could see a strong resemblance to Shao Qiming—it was obvious they were mother and son.
Wen Yuefeng's eyes were full of life. Even though her legs were immobile and she had lost most of the hobbies she loved, her gaze was still filled with passion for the future.
"Why do you look so down?"
The woman in the wheelchair chuckled and joked, "Is it because you haven't eaten? You must be hungry. We already ate, but Sister Hex saved some food for you. You go chat with Qiming first. It'll be heated up in a jiffy, and I'll have her add another dish for you!"
"Okay, thank you, Aunt Wen."
Su Zhou gave a simple reply, his gaze growing heavy. His pupils focused, and he stared intently at what was before him.
He stared at Wen Yuefeng's legs.
They were a pair of withered, emaciated legs, all the muscles atrophied. Hidden beneath her long skirt, they looked like little more than a skeleton's—in the material world, that is.
However. In the world of Spiritual Essence, it was a different story.
There were wailing Ghosts.
In his Spiritual Vision, the brightly lit villa instantly dimmed the moment Wen Yuefeng appeared. The entire house transformed into a ghostly domain of phantoms. Dense swarms of black Dark Shadows wailed and cursed, their blurry outlines melting together, forging themselves into a twisted chain.
Su Zhou could sense that from within this chain, some loathsome presence cast a glance from the depths of darkness. Its chilling gaze was filled with malice and mockery... It was, in the truest sense, the stare of an 'Evil Spirit' from the Nether Prison.
And this chain, forged from an Evil Spirit and countless Dark Shadows, was wrapped around the legs of the woman in the wheelchair, rooted deep within her flesh and blood.
"What's wrong, Azhou?"
The woman in the wheelchair, Shao Qiming's mother, Wen Yuefeng, asked with some confusion, "Why are you spacing out?"
"...It's nothing."
Su Zhou slowly raised his head. He put on a perfectly normal smile and said calmly, "Don't worry, Aunt Wen."
"There won't be any problem."