SWNOVELXO Ch. 18
Chapter 18: Explosive Kill! Evil Lotus Acquired
The scene suddenly fell silent.
Everyone was full of doubt.
Why could Gu Fan act so arrogantly?
Han Qian, who had merged with the Evil Lotus, was now infinitely close to the Spirit Sea Realm!
The Annihilation Evil Lotus, such a rare entity, was different from the cultivation realms of human cultivators.
Its main body was a rare treasure in the world. Even to merely form and break through to the Spirit Sea Realm required an astronomical amount of resources.
But once successfully formed, it would be practically invincible among those in the same realm.
Killing human cultivators across realms was not even a difficult feat!
So although the Evil Lotus didn’t appear to have reached the Spirit Sea Realm, it already possessed the combat power of a Spirit Sea cultivator!
And in the eyes of everyone, Gu Fan was nothing more than a cultivator in the Qi Gathering Realm.
Even if he was at the ninth level of Qi Gathering, he was still just courting death!
Han Qian himself hadn’t expected Gu Fan to dare speak to him like that.
He chuckled slightly, finding it a bit amusing.
Then, all the lotus roots shot out instantly, stabbing toward Gu Fan.
With a thunderous boom, the roots violently struck the ground.
Gu Fan’s figure had vanished from his original position without anyone noticing.
The next moment, Han Qian heard a mocking laugh coming from behind.
"That’s it?"
Gu Fan’s figure appeared behind the purple Evil Lotus.
Immediately, everyone felt an extremely violent surge of spiritual energy forming!
"Take one punch from me!"
In an instant, the entire backyard collapsed, and the ground trembled.
Gu Fan threw a punch.
It seemed slow, but Han Qian, despite controlling the Evil Lotus, was too late to dodge.
Thus, the main body of the Evil Lotus was struck head-on and torn apart by the immense force.
In a flash, all roots, except for the lotus core, were completely destroyed!
Han Qian was utterly horrified!
What the hell was this strength?!
Since when did low-level cultivators possess such terrifying physical power?!
Before he could think further—
Gu Fan delivered another punch!
The Evil Lotus core was struck again.
This time, all roots underground were completely severed!
"Impossible! How can you be this strong?!"
Gu Fan grinned.
"That’s already strong? Then how about this punch?"
With that, Gu Fan unleashed his full momentum!
Soaring black flames erupted!
Killing aura, a stench of blood, evil energy—various demonic auras burst out continuously.
The spectators were terrified to their core.
This wasn’t a person! More like an evil ghost!
Such terrifying bloody killing intent—how much slaughter must it have taken to form it?!
They would believe it even if told it came from tens of thousands!
One must know, Luoyang City only had just over ten thousand people total.
"Spirit Sea Realm! He’s actually in the Spirit Sea Realm!"
Han Qian’s mental state collapsed on the spot!
No way?!
Since when did cultivators have so much free time?!
An inner sect cultivator in the Spirit Sea Realm, actually taking on an immortal contribution investigation task in a remote small city?
This was like using a cannon to kill mosquitoes!
Gu Fan, however, had no time to care about their thoughts.
Another punch was thrown at the Evil Lotus core!
At this moment, Han Qian no longer cared about immortality or dominating the world.
He only knew that if he didn’t dodge this punch, he might not know what would happen to the Evil Lotus, but he would definitely die!
So the moment the punch landed, Han Qian’s soul fled instantly, escaping into the distance.
Gu Fan’s eyes lit up, and with a muffled grunt, he forcibly withdrew his fist.
Then, he reached out and grabbed the Evil Lotus core directly into his hand.
"Trying to run?"
The Soul Puppet leapt into the air, chasing after Han Qian.
In less than a moment—
With a loud crash, the Soul Puppet landed in the backyard, gripping a struggling soul tightly in its hand.
It was Han Qian!
Gu Fan approached, speaking in a low voice with anticipation.
"This is my first time devouring a soul that left the body willingly. I wonder how it tastes."
He’s going to eat him?
Han Qian was terrified upon hearing this!
He imagined himself being slowly eaten by Gu Fan.
A chill ran through Han Qian’s whole body, and a fear from deep within his soul drowned him!
"No! Master Gu! I’m willing to become your servant, please spare my life!"
Gu Fan didn’t bother replying.
He directly activated the Soul Devouring Technique and bit down on Han Qian’s soul’s head!
"Aah!! Gu Fan, you will die a horrible death!"
Han Qian’s screams terrified the many withered corpses nearby who were on the brink of death.
Even though they were about to die, they couldn’t help but feel fear rising from within!
They saw Gu Fan open his mouth wide, continuously stuffing Han Qian’s soul into his stomach!
Accompanied by the sounds of screaming and wailing—
The scene was savage and horrifying!
Moments later, Gu Fan burped.
Leisurely, he looked toward the group of withered corpses.
"Even though you’re out of blood and qi, your souls are still intact. Can’t let it go to waste..."
"No, no, no! Gu Fan! We’re already going to die! Why do you have to be so ruthless!"
"Someone kill me now! Please kill me now!"
The crowd wailed in despair!
They were furious that Han Qian had left them barely alive!
Gu Fan didn’t respond.
He simply activated the Soul Devouring Technique and began devouring them one by one.
When it was Shi Xuan’s turn, he didn’t beg or curse.
He simply sneered and said:
"I already sent a message. The news of you slaughtering the entire Luoyang City to cultivate demonic techniques will soon reach the Shangqing Sect. Prepare to face the righteous cultivators’ pursuit!"
Shi Xuan let out a few miserable laughs.
"I’m doomed anyway. I won’t let you have it easy alone!"
Gu Fan’s expression darkened, and he swallowed Shi Xuan’s soul in one bite.
"Shangqing Sect... looks like Shi Xuan had connections with them long ago!"
Gu Fan frowned, disgusted by being schemed against in the end.
The key issue was that once this rumor spread, he really had no way to refute it.
His entire body emanated killing aura—it perfectly matched the tale of Luoyang City’s slaughter.
How else could he explain it... say he was killing zombies?
After a while, Gu Fan stopped brooding. Whatever comes, he would deal with it.
At worst, he would stay in the sect for a while.
Once his cultivation soared, he’d roam free again!
Thinking this through, Gu Fan began to tour Luoyang City.
He confirmed that all the people had been drained into withered corpses.
Then he swept through every family, big and small, in the entire city, plundering their assets!
Since there were no people left, leaving the goods behind would be a waste.
He reaped a tremendous haul!
Including the City Lord’s mansion, he obtained more than thirty spirit stones!
Added to the ones he took from Feng Hua, Gu Fan now had over a hundred spirit stones!
After thoroughly looting the Han residence, he also obtained detailed information about the Annihilation Evil Lotus.
This Annihilation Evil Lotus was discovered by Han Qian during an expedition.
Due to his limited strength, he sought help from the City Lord.
Then, using insider information, he tricked the City Lord Shi Xuan into starting the immortality plan.
Han Qian, having realized his wife was the ideal vessel, orchestrated a scheme to catch Shi Xuan’s attention.
What happened afterward was mostly known to Gu Fan.
The only surprising part—Shi Xuan never intended to bring everyone into the Evil Lotus for immortality!
Even if Han Qian hadn’t acted, Shi Xuan would likely have killed everyone eventually and enjoyed it alone!
In the end, Gu Fan obtained the cultivation method for the Evil Lotus, along with the soul-splitting technique Han Qian used.
The Evil Lotus truly lived up to the name "Annihilation."
Its cultivation method was extremely cruel.
It rooted in a pool of all beings’ blood and was nourished by their flesh.
There were two ways for cultivators to benefit from cultivating the Evil Lotus!
One was to abandon the physical body and merge the soul into the lotus, becoming part of it.
This granted a massive power boost and freedom from the limits of lifespan!
The second was soul-splitting and binding.
After that, the Evil Lotus functioned as a cultivation proxy.
As long as the Evil Lotus grew stronger, the master would receive constant feedback and power increases.
In other words, as long as the Evil Lotus had sufficient flesh and blood, one could lie down and still become stronger!
Even if the master died unexpectedly, they could revive through the Evil Lotus!
It was basically like having a cheat item that resurrected you!
After learning all this, Gu Fan’s eyes lit up, and excitement surged in his heart.
This was practically a cheat tailor-made for him!
Flesh and blood were hard to come by in the cultivation world.
But in the zombie world?
They were endless!
So many zombies to devour at will!
As many as he wanted—billions across the world!
Plus, with the five-times faster time flow between the two realms—
The Evil Lotus’s growth would skyrocket!
And Gu Fan himself would grow stronger alongside it!