Chapter 9: Nine Bulls and Two Tigers

At the stroke of midnight, the time arrived, and someone came walking over with a rustling sound.

Eleven treasure hunters, who had been torn into fragments by the Dead Nether Spirits, appeared before Luo Zhou.

They touched Luo Zhou one by one, and as they did, they seemed to shed a heavy burden, slowly transforming back into the appearance of the treasure hunters they were before they died.

Luo Zhou looked at them and lit three sticks of incense!

The liberated treasure hunters looked at Luo Zhou, expressing their gratitude, thanking him, bowing, and paying their respects.

"Everyone, congratulations on regaining your freedom. Go now, return to the cycle of reincarnation, and begin a new life!"

The many treasure hunters slowly dispersed, returning to the cycle of reincarnation!

Luo Zhou let out a long breath and waited silently. His ability, "Reward Good and Punish Evil," quietly activated!

"Luo Zhou, sensing a plea for help from the Dead Nether, a spirit is doing evil. Punish it!"

"Punishment of evil: Slaying the Man-Eating Crocodile Dragon. Good deed, reward it!"

"Reward Good and Punish Evil complete. Reward!"

In a trance, Luo Zhou felt essence, energy, and spirit slowly entering his body.

Slaying the Crocodile Dragon, just like slaying a Demon Borer, provided such rewards.

However, it was not absolute; if he hadn't found the Dead Nether Spirits before slaying the Crocodile Dragon, there would be no such reward.

So far, Luo Zhou had killed five Crocodile Dragons, but only three had yielded the "Punish Evil" reward.

As the essence and energy entered his body, Luo Zhou’s physique silently evolved once more.

He gained nine more strands of True Qi, all of them Water-Tide True Qi, which flowed into his Dantian.

This was the Crocodile Dragon's True Qi, but since the creature had no cultivation method and relied entirely on life instinct to accumulate it, the amount of True Qi was extremely small.

Currently, in Luo Zhou’s Dantian, there were twenty-seven strands of Geomagnetic Qi, twenty strands of Water-Tide Qi, three strands of Heavy-Dust Qi, and one strand of Three-Eye Qi.

As for the "Spirit," the Crocodile Dragon’s experiences—aside from some instincts for controlling water and silently stalking prey—were otherwise meaningless.

Early in the morning, Luo Zhou woke up.

This day was different from the past. It was the third day of the sixth lunar month; tonight, a household would surely be broken into and wiped out by the Third-Day Demon.

Upon waking, his first sensation was as if someone were reminding him: thirty days left!

And four more Demon Borers...

After tidying up, he headed to the Dao Academy.

Today, Luo Zhou was in high spirits; it was time for another harvest.

Whenever he had the chance, he would treat everyone in the academy to porridge, all for one purpose: to invite his classmates to play "hero" games with him.

The other party would pretend to be a villain bullying a classmate, and he would uphold justice.

It looked like a game, but in reality, he was using his classmates to complete "Reward Good and Punish Evil" to obtain their spiritualities.

In this way, Luo Zhou had already obtained twelve spiritualities: Dragon-Slaying Stab, Sharp-Insight Eye, Flash of Inspiration, Water-Avoidance Technique, Water-Control Technique, Chain-Dash, Rapid Recovery, Light Technique, Clairaudience, Evil-Suppression, Pounce, and Insect-Control.

To be honest, the most useful one was still the Dragon-Slaying Stab; the others were basically auxiliary spiritualities.

Chain-Dash, Rapid Recovery, and Clairaudience had all been stacked repeatedly, which was how the ability evolved.

There was no help for it; the true Immortal Sprout students with powerful spiritualities were basically all in Class One, and the students in Class Three were mostly at this level.

But that didn't matter; the Ascension Ceremony, held once every five years, was still a year and a half away. He could take his time.

In addition to those, he had obtained three powerful spiritualities—Four-Ox Strength, Thought-Hand, and Vortex-Guard—through genuine "Reward Good and Punish Evil."

A core requirement for activating "Reward Good and Punish Evil" through hero games was having Zuo Sanguang play the victim.

The plea for help for "Reward Good and Punish Evil" had to be a cry from the heart; otherwise, it was meaningless.

Aside from Zuo Sanguang, Luo Zhou had tried many times with other classmates, but none of them worked—including himself; he couldn't emit a cry from the heart.

Zuo Sanguang needed to rest for two or three days after each cooperation before he could emit another spiritual plea for help.

Every time, Luo Zhou would secretly give him Spirit Fragments as extra compensation.

Arriving at the Dao Academy, he began his day of cultivation.

The classmates in the class were very happy to see Luo Zhou arrive, as they knew a bowl of Spirit Grain Porridge was guaranteed today.

Zuo Sanguang was in high spirits, chatting and laughing with Luo Zhou. Having recovered over the last two or three days, he was ready again today.

Aside from the five classmates who didn't play with Luo Zhou, he had basically "milked" the spiritualities of everyone else in the class.

In truth, there were only three wealthy students, one who was aloof, and one who was the former school bully, Zhang Quan. Zhang Quan had awakened the talent "Bull Strength" and liked to bully his classmates.

The one bullied the most was Zuo Sanguang, who hadn't awakened any spirituality at the time and was bullied by Zhang Quan every day.

It just so happened that Luo Zhou had just awakened and heard Zuo Sanguang’s spiritual plea for help, so he stepped in to teach Zhang Quan a lesson.

At first, he could only secretly kick him, which counted as "Punish Evil," but he hadn't expected to obtain Zhang Quan's talent, "Bull Strength."

Later, after repeated confrontations with Zhang Quan, punching him also counted as "Punish Evil," earning him one ox of strength.

Luo Zhou had accumulated Four-Ox Strength, and after that, he easily crushed Zhang Quan.

During this process, Zuo Sanguang also awakened "Flash of Inspiration" and entered the Immortal Sprout Hall.

From then on, Zhang Quan never dared to bully Zuo Sanguang again, though he also never drank Luo Zhou’s Spirit Grain Porridge.

He couldn't beat Luo Zhou, so whenever Luo Zhou came, he would stay far away.

*Eh?* Where was Zhang Quan?

Luo Zhou realized he didn't see Zhang Quan’s shadow.

As if sensing what Luo Zhou was looking for, Zuo Sanguang said

"Zhang Quan? He was just here. Did he run off when he saw you coming?"

"Can't let him get away. Chase!"

Luo Zhou and Zuo Sanguang went out to look for Zhang Quan.

"Over there!"

Zuo Sanguang’s spiritual sensing was particularly strong; he sensed Zhang Quan’s trail.

Luo Zhou immediately gave chase. *Don't let him get away, today's Five-Ox Strength!*

Seeing Luo Zhou, Zhang Quan turned and ran.

The two chased and fled, rushing out of the Dao Academy and into the outside area.

Outside the academy were many uneven alleys with a complex, intricate layout.

They began their pursuit.

As he chased, Luo Zhou suddenly lost sight of Zhang Quan and didn't know where he had gone.

He wasn't anxious; he activated his ability, "Clairaudience," and listened intently.

Then he shouted, "Found you!"

He activated the "Pounce" ability—which allowed for free leaps within three zhang—and immediately jumped onto the alley wall.

He used the "Chain-Dash" ability to run rapidly.

"Chain-Dash" was obtained from Senior Brother Cui Jian’s "Dash"; after "milking" it three times, it had become "Chain-Dash."

He passed through three alleys in succession, suddenly leaped down, and landed right in front of the running Zhang Quan.

"Hahaha, Zhang Quan, where are you going now?"

"What's wrong? Not fighting me today? Where did your ability go? Why are you running? Can you even get away?"

At this moment, Luo Zhou looked more like the villain bullying a classmate!

Zhang Quan was suddenly blocked by Luo Zhou, his expression changing drastically—anger, hatred, unwillingness...

He muttered to himself

"I’ve been avoiding you so much!"

"Whenever you came, I hid. I avoided you so much, I ran away like this, and you still chased me..."

Gradually, his tone turned to sadness and pain...

"So, this is what it feels like to be bullied."

"So, the classmates I used to catch, the ones who couldn't escape—this is how painful it was for them."

At this moment, the former school bully remembered how he used to bully others and understood the feelings of the classmates he had tormented!

He wasn't completely rotten; he still had empathy!

Suddenly, he burst into loud sobs.

The loud crying startled Luo Zhou, causing him to step back. *Why is he crying?*

*Did I go too far this time?*

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Zhang Quan lunged at Luo Zhou, sobbing.

Luo Zhou reached out; his Four-Ox Strength completely crushed Zhang Quan’s Bull Strength, pinning him down firmly.

Zhang Quan closed his eyes, waiting to be beaten!

In the last two fights, he had been brutally beaten by Luo Zhou.

But unexpectedly, Luo Zhou let go of Zhang Quan, stepped back a few paces, and bowed to him.

"I'm sorry, classmate Zhang Quan."

"You used to bully people all the time, and I couldn't stand it, so I taught you a lesson every time, hoping you wouldn't bully classmates in the future."

"I feel that you are different now than you were before."

"This time, it wasn't you bullying someone; it was me chasing you. I was the one bullying you."

"When you do something wrong, you must correct it, so I sincerely apologize to you."

"From today on, as long as you don't bully classmates, I will never lay a hand on you again."

After saying this, he bowed again.

Then he turned and left, leaving Zhang Quan standing there in a daze.

As Luo Zhou left, Zuo Sanguang came running over, only to be blocked by Zhang Quan.

Zuo Sanguang looked left and right, couldn't find Luo Zhou, and turned to run.

But unexpectedly, Zhang Quan bowed to him

"Classmate Zuo, I was ignorant before and bullied you for no reason."

"Today, I understood the pain of being bullied. I was wrong, and I sincerely apologize to you!"

This left Zuo Sanguang completely stunned.

Luo Zhou returned to the classroom and found an excuse to treat everyone to porridge.

Naturally, the Senior Brother ran the errand to buy the porridge. Suddenly, Zhang Quan appeared and said, "Give me a bowl too!"

Then he bowed to all the classmates in the room

"In the past, I was ignorant and bullied everyone for no reason. Now, I sincerely apologize to you all!"

Seeing Zhang Quan’s sincere apology, the classmates looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Luo Zhou applauded, and Senior Brother Cui Jian followed suit. Then, applause broke out in the classroom.

Not far away, in the Dean’s office, Dao Academy Dean Zhao Bochen nodded slightly, feeling very gratified.

After school, Luo Zhou went home. The Spirit Porridge had been eaten, and the hero game had been played.

Meng Junzheng had played the villain, and Zuo Sanguang, naturally the victim, had cooperated by emitting a spiritual cry for help.

Back home, he refined two more Dragon-Slaying Stabs and hid them inside his staff.

In his Dantian, there were six strands of Geomagnetic Qi left, twenty strands of Water-Tide Qi, three strands of Heavy-Dust Qi, and one strand of Three-Eye Qi.

The next time he refined a Dragon-Slaying Stab, he would have to use Water-Tide Qi.

At midnight, the ability "Reward Good and Punish Evil" quietly activated!

"Luo Zhou, sensing a spirit doing evil. Punish it!"

"Helping a classmate, punishing a bully—punishing evil, this is a good deed!"

"Reward Good and Punish Evil complete. Reward!"

This was Meng Junzheng’s "Sharp-Insight Eye," obtained from the game, used to increase the power of his own Sharp-Insight Eye.

By repeatedly stacking traits in this way, reaching a certain level would inevitably trigger an evolution or mutation of the ability.

The reward ended, but unexpectedly, in a trance, Luo Zhou seemed to hear countless people cheering!

"Luo Zhou, you corrected Zhang Quan’s evil habits and cleansed his soul. From now on, Zhang Quan has changed his destiny and embarked on a different life. This is a Great Good!"

"Great Good! Major reward!"

Luo Zhou was stunned. In the past, no matter what good deeds he did or if he killed Demon Borers, it was just "Good," and there had never been a "Great Good."

And there hadn't been a trigger of a spiritual cry for help?

In a trance, Luo Zhou felt a power descend from the sky and pour into his body.

His whole body shook, and in his daze, he felt countless shouts appearing in his mind!

In the darkness, Luo Zhou saw a wild bull.

The bull roared, bellowed, and charged with all its might!

Luo Zhou felt his physical body undergo a mutation, giving birth to strength.

"Body..."

"Ox, strength..."

Then another wild bull appeared, and another!

"Reward Good!"

"Awarded Nine-Ox Strength. Collect two tigers, and you may obtain the divine ability 'Nine Oxen and Two Tigers'!"