Chapter 54: Now the roles are reversed, and I'll show you what cruelty really means.

"You're right. As a reward, I'll have you executed by slow torture," Fang Xiu said with a slight smile.

He turned around, wearing a hooded cape that hid his entire body in shadow, his face indistinguishable.

This was to prevent Lin Ziyang from using his eye ability. He hadn't blinded Lin Ziyang's other eye because he wanted the other party to watch closely, to see how he would die a gruesome death.

He walked slowly toward Lin Ziyang, standing quietly behind him, giving the other party no chance to activate his ability.

"Fang Xiu! Let me go, you bastard! Let me go! I'll tell you, I'm a member of the Light Club. Our president is a second-tier spirit master, and I'm his most trusted member. If you dare to lay a finger on me, you're dead!"

"Shh."

Fang Xiu leaned down slightly and whispered into Lin Ziyang's ear, "I told you, your life has always been in my hands."

His calm words carried a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine.

Lin Ziyang struggled violently, the chains on his body clanging wildly, but he couldn't break free.

This was specifically designed by Lin Ziyang. He had killed Spirit Masters here before, so he had designed it to be incredibly sturdy, making it impossible for a Spirit Master to escape.

Now, all of this would send him on his way.

"What do you want to do! I have no grudge against you! I just heard that you're a new Spirit Master and wanted to come here to recruit you for the Light Club."

"Oh, you're wrong. Actually, we have a grudge."

"A grudge?" Lin Ziyang was taken aback. "This is our first meeting. How could we have a grudge?"

"It seems you've forgotten about your good-for-nothing cousin. I killed your cousin."

Lin Ziyang was startled, but quickly recovered and said, "My cousin wasn't a good person anyway. If you killed him, so be it."

"That won't do. A family should stay together. Since I killed your cousin, I must kill you too."

Madman! This is a madman!

Lin Ziyang had thought he was already crazy enough, but he never expected Fang Xiu to be even crazier.

He wanted to say something else, but Fang Xiu didn't give him the chance.

Fang Xiu placed both hands on Lin Ziyang's shoulders and gave them a hard slap.

"Now the roles are reversed. I'll show you what cruelty really means."

Swish!

A silver flash appeared.

"Ah!! Damn!!" Lin Ziyang let out a horrifying scream.

There was only a small cut on his chest.

The wound was short, less than three centimeters long, and not very deep, about one centimeter.

But even such a small wound made Lin Ziyang feel like he was about to faint from the pain.

He quickly looked down, thinking he had been disemboweled, only to discover the wound was so small.

"Bastard!! What the hell is on your knife! Why does it hurt so much, damn it!"

The reason Lin Ziyang was in such agony was because Fang Xiu had slightly activated his ability to inflict pain, and even a tiny bit of it had caused pain reaching level twelve.

Swish!

Another slash.

Lin Ziyang continued to scream in agony.

After over a hundred cuts, Lin Ziyang's voice had grown hoarse. The madness on his face had long since faded, leaving only fear—endless fear.

"Please, kill me! Kill me now!"

Fang Xiu stared at him calmly, his expression unchanged.

Who said that spiritual chaos is hard to cure? Look, it's already cured.

"I ask, you answer. What is the bronze candlestick used for?"

At this point, Lin Ziyang had been driven to the brink of collapse by the pain and hurriedly replied, "It can be used to defend against strange attacks. All you need to do is inject blood with spiritual energy into it to ignite it. Once ignited, within the range of the candlelight, it can defend against strange attacks.

However, the stronger the supernatural entity being defended against, the faster the blood burns."

Spiritual blood?

The blood of a Spirit Tamer?

Using burning blood to stay alive—that's quite a decent supernatural artifact.

"How much of your spirituality is activated?"

"Twenty percent! I'm only one percent away from advancing to a second-tier Spirit Tamer."

"Why did your spirituality go out of control?"

"The more spirituality you activate, the deeper the corruption of your mind."

"If that's the case, why continue to awaken spiritual energy?"

"Because the corruption of the mind is uncontrollable. It's like pouring a drop of ink into a basin of clear water; the ink will gradually spread until the water turns completely black. To avoid being completely corrupted, one must continuously increase the amount of clear water—that is, awaken spiritual energy—to unleash more mental power.

However, enlightening the spirit also means injecting more ink. Thus, the process of enlightening the spirit is like drinking poison to quench thirst. Once you have enlightened the spirit, if you ever stop, sooner or later, the ink will catch up with the water and completely pollute it.

Only by breaking through and continuously advancing can one survive.

I was unable to break through to the second stage, which is why my spiritual essence went out of control. This bronze candlestick was lent to me by our president, who wanted me to have enough confidence to break through to the second stage during the strange incident."

Lin Ziyang endured the pain and spoke quickly.

He truly did not want to feel the pain anymore and only wished for a swift death.

"Reveal all the information about the members of the Light Club, including their abilities and the extent to which their spiritual energy is activated."

"Alright, I'll tell you. I'll tell you now, but our club is relatively free, and many people deliberately hide their abilities, so I'm not entirely sure."

Half an hour later.

Fang Xiu had extracted all the information Lin Ziyang knew.

"I've told you everything I know. Please... please kill me quickly." " Lin Ziyang said, barely clinging to life.

"No rush. We've only done a few hundred cuts so far. We need at least a thousand, right?"

Swish!

"Ahhh!!! You're breaking your promise! You shameless scoundrel!"

"Don't get it twisted. I never said I'd let you go if you answered honestly."

Swish!

"Ah! I'll kill you! Kill you!"

After another few dozen cuts, Lin Ziyang's condition was clearly abnormal.

Though he still felt pain, his face grew increasingly distorted, and his screams became inhuman, resembling the growls of some wild beast.

At the same time, the blood vessels in his remaining eye were becoming increasingly numerous, almost connecting into a single mass, completely turning the eye red. His eyeball was protruding more and more, as if it were about to pop out of its socket.

However, Fang Xiu did not see any of this, as he had been facing away from Lin Ziyang the entire time to prevent being ambushed.

Swish, swish, swish...

After a few more strikes, Fang Xiu clearly sensed something was wrong.

Lin Ziyang's screams had ceased, and his body was convulsing violently, as if countless rats were scurrying beneath his skin.

And the direction those rats were heading was toward his head!

More accurately, toward the eyes on his head!

A violent and eerie spiritual fluctuation spread out from Lin Ziyang's body.

"Is this... spiritual energy completely out of control? Is it about to mutate?" A flash of excitement crossed Fang Xiu's eyes.

This was the first time he had witnessed the process of a spirit master mutating, and he believed it would help him better understand this world.

However, just to be safe.

Swish, swish, swish!

Fang Xiu directly severed Lin Ziyang's limbs.

As a result, after his limbs were severed, Lin Ziyang's previously proud head drooped lifelessly, motionless and silent.