Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Book 2: Chapter 18: Devouring the primordial spirit

“What’s this? The mighty Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon feels fear as well? Could it be?” Murong Lin inquired, a small smile playing on his lips.

The ‘Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s’ complexion had slightly recovered by this point. He gazed at Murong Lin and slowly responded, “Certainly, even I experience fear. I am, after all, an inferior Primordial Spirit in terms of strength. Now that you’ve ruined the array, what are your intentions? Will you uphold your earlier words?”

Earlier, Murong Lin had proposed a deal—an agreement in which the ‘Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’ would surrender the cultivation methods and skills stored in his memories, along with the treasures he had secretly hidden. In return, Murong Lin promised to capture some primordial spirits for the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon to devour, thereby augmenting his strength.

Murong Lin affirmed with a nod, “Of course…”

A glimmer of joy flickered in the eyes of the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon upon hearing Murong Lin’s confirmation. However, just as he prepared himself to do something, Murong Lin extended his hand.

Before the joy could fade from the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s expression, Murong Lin’s hand seized him.

Under the control of the ‘Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness, and formlessness’, the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon found himself utterly helpless, incapable even of self-destruction.

“Of course, I was lying,” Murong Lin stated with a humourless expression.

Activating his spiritual powers, Murong Lin’s primordial spirit swiftly devoured the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s primordial spirit through the physical connection of their arms.

Agony contorted the expression of the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s primordial spirit clone, and his holographic form began to fade away.

The ‘Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness, and formlessness’ from the human figure in Murong Lin’s spiritual sea enveloped the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s primordial spirit, consuming him.

Every piece of knowledge stored within the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s memories was being devoured. Though not as potent as the Soul-Snatching Array, the eerie power of the ‘Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness, and formlessness’ proved more than sufficient for Murong Lin to instantly seize what he desired.

Now bereft of the opportunity to self-destruct, the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon could offer no resistance. He glared viciously at Murong Lin, cursing, “You will suffer a terrible death! I curse you to the depths of hell! My original body will search for you to the ends of the world and kill you once he awakens!”

Murong Lin turned a deaf ear to the curses and shattered the remnants of the primordial spirit that had lost its value to him, saying, “To think that you’re so terrible at cursing even at the Tribulation realm.”

After adjusting himself, Murong Lin began the meticulous task of storing the items scattered on the ground in his ring of holding.

This encounter within the hidden realm was undoubtedly the greatest stroke of fortune he had experienced so far.

An uncontrollable smile graced his face as he surveyed the ring of holding, now brimming with spiritual stones, spiritual crystals, and chests of spiritual items. Among them were even several Barren grade spiritual items.

Yet, the most invaluable treasure within was the collection of cultivation methods and skills gleaned from the ‘Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’s’ memories.

This primordial spirit had been crafted when the original body reached the Tribulation realm and was discreetly stowed away as a failsafe for potential revival in case of death. Little did the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon anticipate that his primordial spirit would meet its demise at the hands of Murong Lin in this hidden realm.

Now, the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of spiritual skills and cultivation methods had all become Murong Lin’s spoils. Among them were dozens of lower Barren grade cultivation methods and spiritual skills. Coupled with the spiritual knowledge acquired by the Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon through a lifetime of pillaging and annihilation, Murong Lin amassed a wealth of tens of thousands of scriptures in an instant.

Of course, what brought Murong Lin the most joy and surprise was the 《Heavenly Demon Dao Epitome》. It was a cultivation method of the higher Vast grade, consisting of nine volumes, each at the higher Vast grade.

One volume detailed the recipe for the ‘Heavenly Demon Soldier Pellets’, the 《Heavenly Demon·Soldier Pellet》, and the other was the 《Heavenly Demon·Clone》 that recorded the process of splitting one’s primordial spirit.

Aside from these, there was the Weapon Volume, Soul Devourment Volume, Shadowless Volume, Soul Sealing Volume, and more.

There wasn’t any part of its memories that detailed how exactly the ‘Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’ had come into possession of such a cultivation method, leading Murong Lin to believe that a more powerful individual might be involved.

This discovery not only brought joy and surprise to Murong Lin, but it also prompted him to instantly assimilate this higher Vast grade cultivation method and all other Barren and Vast grade cultivation methods into the 《Lifelessness Law》.

However, as the number and quality of cultivation methods and spiritual skills he obtained this time far surpassed the previous, Murong Lin used an entire night to completely devour them.

With this, the 《Lifelessness Law》 had completely become a cultivation method of the higher Vast grade. Under its influence, Murong Lin instantly created a number of ultimate techniques.

He commanded, “Anti, show me my system window!”

Undefeatable Villan SystemMaster: Murong Lin

Villan score: 890

Age: 19

Cultivation: Eighth layer of the Cognizance realm

Innate talent: Bloody Poisonous Insect Acupoint, Little villain halo, ‘Wrathful, selfish’

Cultivation method: 《Lifelessness Law》 (Mortal form: Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness and formlessness)

Skills: 《Heaven and Earth Blade Art》(Blade Intent: Emotionless), 《Heart-Hurting Arrow》, 《Bloody Demon Cloning》……

Equipment: Nameless Paring Knife

Spirit familiar: Bloody Poisonous Insect, Blood Bat Locust (Swarm)

Servants: 108 levels of the Qing Yi Tower (Incomplete)

Inventory: Some resources within the storage ring, Fragment of ‘Great villain halo’*5, Blessed Enigma Cauldron, Mysterious map (Zhou Fan), Mysterious ring (Long Chen)

Earlier, to ensure that Ling Yu and the rest would completely place their trust in him, Murong Lin had even gone so far as to acquired the ‘Trust Talisman’ that cost him 10 villain points from the system shop.

Only after using the Trust Talisman to ensure their unwavering trust did he dare to take his place in the middle of the array. After all, if even one person harboured doubt, it could pose a serious threat to Murong Lin, despite the protection of his Bloody Poisonous Insect.

Murong Lin extended his arm, summoning back the Bloody Poisonous Insect he had concealed earlier outside the secret passage. The insect, now at the peak of the Cognizance realm, circled Murong Lin with evident excitement.

The 《Bloody Demon Cloning》 in his skills was a combination of Murong Lin’s ‘Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness, and formlessness,’ the Bloody Poisonous Insect, and the 《Heavenly Demon·Clone》.

This was a spiritual skill he had yet to use.

With this ability, Murong Lin could instantly resurrect himself through the Bloody Poisonous Insect upon death without any reduction in strength. Moreover, the Bloody Poisonous Insect would not die instantly from exhaustion, as it too would possess clones.

These clones typically remained concealed within the insect’s body, and unless the Bloody Poisonous Insect perished, Murong Lin could use them for instant revival, bypassing the need for blood relatives.

Having thoroughly surveyed his surroundings, Murong Lin concluded that he had stripped this entire place of anything valuable.

He walked out of the palace, traversing through the hidden passage to the outside. Watching the Blood Bat Locusts still dancing in the skies, a small smile graced his lips, “I should be out of this forest soon. There will be a swamp ahead, with nothing of value there.

However, there lies a great fortuitous encounter in the snowy valley in the north. There should be a great fortuitous encounter tailor-made for all seekers, and there would most likely be a protagonist there. I shall head there first.”

Murong Lin never forgot the mission the system had given him: to hunt protagonists.

He would naturally never let go of either Bai Xiao Mo or Xiao Dong. Now that there was a fortuitous encounter hidden in the snowy valley not too far away from him, the encounter with these protagonists seemed imminent.

Having finalized his plans, Murong Lin hastened his journey towards the north.

At the same time, if nothing were to go wrong, no one would find out what exactly transpired in the location beneath the cemetery for the next few centuries.

At this moment, within a mysterious void, a human figure sat within space itself, seemingly in a deep sleep.

Four infinite lines were connected to his body, and no one knew where the ends of these lines lay.

Suddenly, one of the lines snapped. The brows of the sleeping figure furrowed slightly, but he did not rouse.

He remained in his deep slumber, with each breath, countless figures of heavenly demons circled his back.

He was the ‘Ancient Dao Heavenly Demon’, the fugitive great demon who had eluded capture for a millennium.

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