Chapter 804 Crimson Lightning Flash
Elders, young ones, men, women, children…. He had slaughtered them all until there were none left regardless of their level or age.
“Say, Lilith…. Am I making a mistake in doing this?”
Standing amidst the sea of blue flames, Bai Zemin waited for Lilith’s reply.
Her sweet voice was accompanied by a hug that Bai Zemin felt very clearly even with his plate armor protecting him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested the front of her body on his back as she replied to his earlier question in all honesty.
“Zemin, I want you to remember something…. There is no right or wrong, therefore there is no right or wrong… there are only different points of view. We living beings behave according to our interests. You are willing to do anything for your loved ones and that makes you kind in their eyes, however, in the eyes of those who are harmed by your actions in some way or another you will be seen as evil and cruel.”
Bai Zemin said nothing, he knew she was not yet finished.
Indeed, Lilith continued, “In the eyes of the demon race, what you did here is something cruel and heartless…. But to mankind what you did is ripping out a tumor from the root. Maybe not everyone you killed today would become a threat in the future, however, wouldn’t it be far worse to let them live and take the risk that in the distant future one of them will become strong enough to threaten the safety of someone important to you?”
Bai Zemin sighed. After several seconds, the screaming and wailing finally stopped and he said in a low voice, “The reason I did what I did is because I don’t want a demon knocking on Seraphina’s door tomorrow seeking revenge…. Regardless of whether my actions are right or wrong in the eyes of others, I did what I had to do to protect myself and the people who showed me kindness.”
Bai Zemin stretched his left hand forward and the blue flames quickly began to gather there. Meanwhile, the glow of the flame illuminated his face dimly and he continued using the same tone of voice: “Just like with the asura race, what I did today might not be forgiven…. But I do not seek forgiveness from anyone. If in the future a demon strong enough to hunt me down and kill me appears, then I will accept it.”
At the end of the day, it was the fist of the strongest that decided who was right. Bai Zemin was aware that among all the demons he had just killed there would definitely be good demons just as among the good humans there were bad humans. Unfortunately, he was just another soul evolver in the crowd and did not have the ability to distinguish between those who were a threat and those who were not.
The important thing was to accept yourself with your own faults even after admitting them. At the end of the day, if you couldn’t even accept yourself with your flaws then you might as well never expect acceptance from anyone.
“I’d rather make a mistake by killing millions than make a mistake by letting those millions live and in the future one of them hurting someone important to me.”
Swoos.h.!.+
All the blue flames gathered into a small, deep blue flame that hovered above Bai Zemin’s palm. When the sea of flames disappeared, all that remained in sight were burnt gra.s.ses and houses that were razed to the ground by the power of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame.
Bai Zemin carefully advanced through the demon territory while collecting all the Soul Stones he found along the way.
Approximately ten minutes later, Bai Zemin stopped in front of what appeared to be a cave dug into a mountain and out of caution he took off the Gales Earring before replacing it with the Mystic Earring; it wasn’t as if he had come to this place to have a conversation anyway.
After walking for 2 or 3 minutes, Bai Zemin discovered that this cave seemed to be used as a sacrificial hall or something similar. Not only was there a wide open room with a square stone table in the center and stone chairs on all four sides of the table but deeper inside Bai Zemin found a pile of bones of all sizes and a large pool of blood with red lightning crackling around it.
“Mmm… That thing looks pretty creepy, doesn’t it?” Bai Zemin muttered as he used his free hand to scratch his head.
In the center of the pool of blood was a square of land approximately 40 centimeters long and 40 centimeters wide. However, the most striking thing was that exactly in the center of the small square of earth was a deep red plant.
The plant was not very large, probably only 20 to 30 centimeters tall at most. Furthermore, this plant had no fruit but instead there were tiny seeds hanging on the red leaves and it was precisely those tiny seeds that released the lightning flashes that crackled all over the pool.
“That plant is a treasure.” Lilith nodded and said with a happy smile. “Looks like the demons were killing all sorts of creatures to feed it, but now it will be your spoils of war.”
Bai Zemin looked at the surroundings and didn’t dare to casually dart forward. Instead, he pulled out took a Rank 1 sword from his storage ring and threw it ahead.
The sword was struck by several flashes of lightning but made it safely into the small square of earth and the tip stuck into the ground. A few seconds later, however, the durability of the weapon was consumed by the fierce lightning and soon it turned into a pile of broken metal.
“You… what are you doing?” Lilith asked dumbfounded.
“Mm?” Bai Zemin looked at her as if she were dumb and said in confusion, “I’m trying to think of a way to get there safely, Watson.”
Lilith looked back at him and sneered, “Why don’t you control the blood in the pool to bring the plant to you, Sherlock?”
“…” Bai Zemin coughed feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed and no longer dared to look at Lilith, much to the delight of the latter who proudly puffed out her chest and raised her head while glaring at him.
… ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴄᴏᴍ
After taking out the odd-shaped plant from the pool of blood, Bai Zemin took out part of the upper chest cavity of a large-sized mutant beast and filled it halfway with blood from the pool. Then, he put the soil with the plant there and rested the skeleton with the plant on the stone table.
[Crimson Thunder Anise (Rank 3 Plant): A plant that grows in dark s.p.a.ces and feeds on blood. It has the skill to absorb lightning to speed up the growth process. Effect: By consuming the seed powder with other foods, the consumer will receive the privilege of evolving a Lightning-type skill below the Third Order]
Bai Zemin clicked his tongue several times as he proudly said, “Looks like the beautiful Miss Luck has finally sided with this daddy again.”
“If you like Miss Luck so much then why don’t you better go with her?” Lilith muttered with pretend jealousy.
Bai Zemin gave her a sidelong glance and said quietly, “Whatever you say, Karen.”
“… I don’t know who Karen is, but for some reason I feel like you’re not praising me.”
“… You are imagining things, Karen.”
Bai Zemin was really grateful to Lilith. He understood that she was trying to gently tease him to ease his heavy mood a bit because of what he did earlier. After all, Bai Zemin had taken even the records of young children who regardless of race were little kids no matter what.
“With this, I can evolve my skill Lightning Movement without having to consume large resources.” Bai Zemin sighed gratefully and took out a rotisserie skewer from his storage ring along with a large piece of Second Order mutant beast meat.
Lilith watched as Bai Zemin used the Endless Blue Lotus Flame to cook the meat and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Mm? What are you laughing about?”
“No, it’s nothing… I was just laughing as I imagined the faces those Higher Existences would make if they knew you were using such a precious treasure as that divine flame you formed a Soul Contract with to cook some meat.”
Bai Zemin stared at her for a moment before stopping his previous movements. Under Lilith’s puzzled eyes, he brought out pots, rice, fish, vegetables, utensils, dishes, sauces, and a bunch of other things that he put down on the table.
Seeing Bai Zemin even using rocks that were in the cave to build a makes.h.i.+ft oven, Lilith finally couldn’t help but ask him what he was doing.
“Come to think of it, you and I have never enjoyed a meal together as a couple, have we?” replied Bai Zemin as he began to remove the scales and spines from the fish. “Although we had dinner at my family’s house a while back, we have never really enjoyed a meal together as lovers.”
Bai Zemin was new to these things, so he only now realized a small but important detail like this.
Lilith’s expression froze and a trace of shame flashed in her eyes as she said softly, “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”
Lilith was also new to these things, after all, Bai Zemin was her first partner just as she was his.
“You don’t need to apologize… After all, you don’t need feeding as much as I do.” Bai Zemin said with a faint smile.
She was a Higher Existence while Bai Zemin was just another Lower Existence in the crowd. Although the two were close and there seemed to be no visible differences externally, the organism of the two was completely different internally not to mention the quality and power of the soul.
Bai Zemin added, “Lilith, I hope you can enjoy the little things in life more. Before you didn’t sleep at all since you don’t really need it but now you sleep by my side every night…. I hope someday I will be able to make it so that you can eat next to me every meal of the day.”
“Even if in the future I become a Higher Existence I will not forget these little details, I hope you will accompany me in those moments.” Said Bai Zemin as he began to cut the vegetables slowly. “As eternal beings, we must learn to enjoy the seemingly insignificant moments to avoid being overwhelmed by the pa.s.sage of time.”
Lilith looked at him with wide eyes and a flash of surprise shone in her ruby eyes.
“… I wonder how many Higher Existences would be happier if they could hear your words.” Lilith said before starting to help Bai Zemin with the cooking.
“Oh? You know how to cook?”
“Little boy, this young miss had her moments when she needed to eat daily to avoid losing energy.”
“Young miss? What young miss? All I see is a 100 year old granny.”
“You!”
“Don’t be angry, my naughty little succubus. Didn’t you ever hear the phrase about the riper the fruit the better it tastes?”
…
As they chatted with each other, the meal soon began to take shape. About an hour later, the two were sitting at the table enjoying everything from red meat and white meat to vegetables.
Even the smell of blood inside the cave and the gruesome looking pool was not enough to stop the couple from enjoying themselves to the fullest.
“When our kids ask me how their father won me over I’ll tell them he took me out to eat in a dank cave with the smell of blood and a pool piled high with skeletons.”
“An unforgettable meal no matter how you look at it, isn’t it?”
“… You’re quite optimistic, you little rascal.”
Bai Zemin didn’t forget to add the powder inside the small seeds of the plant called Crimson Thunder Anise. The plant was full of seeds, therefore, what he had consumed was only 1/10 of the total.
As he chatted with Lilith, several green letters flashed in his retina and his movements stopped.
“Oh, this thing finally kicked in.”
He felt the rune of the Lightning Movement skill starting to change and its previous silver color was replaced by a bright golden color. However, the most striking thing was that the blue colored lightning flash in the center of the rune had been replaced by two bright red lightning flashes.
———————
[Because you do not possess two lightning-like skills, the power within the Crimson Thunder Anise is absorbed by the skill Second Order Lightning Movement.]
[Lightning Movement has undergone a mutation due to the blood-type energy contained by the Crimson Thunder Anise.]
[Second Order Lightning Movement —-> Third Order Crimson Lightning Flash.]
———————
[Crimson Lightning Flash (Third Order active skill) level 1: This skill pa.s.sively increases the user’s resistance and affinity to lightning by 10%.
First activation: After consuming 120 Mana points it increases Agility by +250 points for 20 minutes and the user can use 100 Stamina points to ignore the 30 minute cooldown of the skill.
Second activation (Lightning Clone): Consumes 40 Stamina points to create a lightning clone that will possess 30% of the user’s overall power. A maximum of 10 clones can be created with a duration of 60 seconds each.
Third activation…
———————
Bai Zemin’s eyes remained focused on a single point, attracting Lilith’s attention who looked at him as if asking for answers.
After a few seconds, he looked at her and said with a smile as if nothing strange had happened, “Mm. Looks like I found an answer to something that had been bothering me for a while.”
“What are you talking about?” She asked him feeling puzzled.
Bai Zemin put a piece of mutant beast meat into his mouth but not before dipping it in some soy sauce and said with his mouth full of food, “Now I know what I have to do after taking over the Earth.”
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