Volume 1 Volume 7 Chapter 78

Volume 7 Chapter 78: The Eerie Treasure Hunt (9)

Compared to the fierce battle like a violent clash between Xuan and the two strong fighters from the Shura Clan, the fight between Chou and the other two slightly weaker Shura Clan fighters seemed more interesting.

Half a year after the battle in the East Sea, Xu Qingfan had a long talk with Chou, focusing mainly on how to use Chou’s extraordinary powers.

In Xu Qingfan’s view, Chou and the demon Zhong Ling from back then seemed similar at first glance, but in reality, they were fundamentally different.

There are three main differences.

First of all, Chou has intelligence, while Zhong Ling only acts on instinct. Secondly, Zhong Ling has the "Purgatory Staff" as his support, giving him endless energy and allowing his injuries to heal quickly, while Chou does not have this and is much weaker in comparison. Lastly, Chou never considered that most of the beings he devoured were East Sea Demon Monsters, while Zhong Ling mostly consumed Southern Wasteland demon beasts.

Although both are consuming demon beasts to grow stronger, the differences are enormous. After devouring a being, both Chou and Zhong Ling gain an eye from that being and obtain its traits and abilities.

Southern Wasteland demon beasts mainly possess the attributes of metal, earth, fire, and wood. Therefore, after consuming many Southern Wasteland demon beasts, Zhong Ling gains strong attack power from metal and fire, sturdy defense from earth, and healing ability from wood. With the "Purgatory Staff" supporting him, he becomes a terrifying demon, with incredible attack power and nearly impossible to defeat.

On the other hand, East Sea Demon Monsters primarily have water and wind attributes, with some having ice, poison, and illusion. After Chou devours countless East Sea Demon Monsters, his powers are mainly focused on water, wind, ice, and poison. Without the "Purgatory Staff" to support him, he fundamentally differs from Zhong Ling and cannot resist attacks the same way Zhong Ling does. He lacks the same level of attack, defense, and recovery power, and his devouring abilities are also much weaker.

However, in the battle against East Sea Demon Monsters, Chou adopts a tactic similar to Zhong Ling’s from back then, absorbing attacks with his body and using his strong devouring ability to eliminate and assimilate his opponent after being severely wounded. This means that while Chou can cleanly devour his opponents, he also suffers heavy injuries, and most of the energy he absorbs is wasted on healing himself.

In Xu Qingfan’s view, this tactic is completely wasting resources.

What advantages does Chou have compared to Zhong Ling from back then? Wisdom is one aspect, but another is that Chou has devoured countless East Sea Demon Monsters over the years, gaining various abilities in water, wind, ice, poison, and illusions.

Compared to metal and earth attributes, these abilities are much weaker in attack power. Compared to earth and wood attributes, they lack the magical and powerful recovery and defense abilities. But water can control an opponent’s speed, wind can change an opponent’s direction, ice can bind an opponent, poison can weaken an opponent’s life and power, and well-placed illusions can cause opponents to make mistakes.

In summary, compared to Zhong Ling, Chou’s abilities now have greatly diminished attack and defense capabilities, yet he possesses far greater control than Zhong Ling ever had.

Adding to this, Chou had an intelligence that Zhong Ling did not have, making Chou’s choice of methods in battle very clear.

While protecting himself, he controlled and tormented his opponent, weakening them, and finally, after his opponent was exhausted from endless control, he would devour them.

It was slower, but more effective and safe.

At that time, Chou was somewhat skeptical of Xu Qingfan’s words; he thought that only a straightforward and hard attack like his was more in line with his powers and traits, and also more effective.

But Xu Qingfan was his master, the one who created him, and most importantly, Xu Qingfan was stronger than him. So he did not dare to ignore Xu Qingfan’s orders. In the following days, he began to try to follow Xu Qingfan’s requirements, initially not engaging his opponent immediately, but keeping a distance, constantly controlling and weakening them, and then slowly striking.

Gradually, Chou found that he enjoyed this fighting style. He liked the feeling of being in control in battle, and he loved the thrill of tormenting his opponent, often excited by their expressions of anger, anxiety, helplessness, despair, and powerlessness.

A person with a twisted mind must have their own psychological abnormalities, as can be seen from Chou.

The cultivation world has always had examples of the weak defeating the strong. In these cases, apart from those strong underestimating their opponent and the weak fighting desperately, all the examples of weak winners have one thing in common: they have strong control.

With strong control, you can wear down your opponent’s advantages, reduce their power to a minimum, making them anxious, while amplifying your own advantages, increasing your strength to its highest level—striking the enemy at their weakest point. It may seem like the weak defeat the strong, but in fact, those "weak" people with strong control often do so with great ease.

It can be said that as long as you have three to four powerful control abilities, you can fight one against two, one against three, or even challenge someone stronger than you—it is not impossible.

However, since ancient times, there have been very few people who can become control-type cultivators. First, control abilities are very hard to train, and having only one or two is not enough to completely control an opponent. Second, control-type cultivators need far more patience than normal people, as well as great observation skills and quick reactions, allowing them to sense their opponent’s next move and use the right abilities at the same time.

It can be said that a control-type cultivator appears only once in tens of thousands of cultivators, making them extremely rare.

But for Chou, none of this was a problem. After devouring countless East Sea Demon Monsters, he had more than a hundred control abilities. He might not have that much patience, but he loved the thrill of controlling his opponent. Besides having sharp observation skills, Chou also possessed a rare instinct for combat, reacting quickly and having rich battle experience.

It can be said that once Chou fully mastered this fighting style, his power could more than double, making him one of the strongest control-type warriors in the world.

Earlier, in order to provoke a conflict between the Shura Clan and the Zhong family, when he ambushed those three powerful Shura Clan warriors, he was able to defeat two of them in a short time with direct attacks, but he also suffered significant injuries and had not fully recovered yet.

This strengthened Chou’s determination to fight according to Xu Qingfan’s advice from now on.

The power of control-type cultivators can be seen in Chou’s fierce battle with these two Shura Clan warriors at this moment.

…

As the two powerful members of the Shura Clan charged toward Chou, a rare smile appeared on Chou’s face, but it was a smile that was cold and cruel.

Unusually, Chou took a step back instead of confronting the two strong Shura Clan fighters directly; instead, he kept his distance from them.

At the same time, several eyes on Chou suddenly glowed with a mysterious light, and immediately, a fog covered the area around him for hundreds of miles, completely hiding his figure; even his presence was faint and hard to notice beyond the fog.

This was no ordinary mist; it was the life-saving ability of the Earth-level high demon beast "Mirage Turtle"—the Mirage Aura! Within it, the senses could not be used, directions were unrecognizable, and nothing could be seen. In order to perfect this Mirage Aura, Chou had devoured no fewer than a hundred "Mirage Turtles" over the past few days, putting the Eastern Sea’s "Mirage Turtle" family at risk of extinction.

At the same time, while Chou was hidden within the Mirage Aura, several other eyes on him shone brightly, and some colorful mist mixed silently into the white Mirage Aura.

This colorful mist was Chou’s poisonous ability, containing various lethal gases from countless sea snakes of the Eastern Sea, merging with the Mirage Aura; these poisonous gases could easily confuse a cultivator’s mind or, in severe cases, cause a powerful fighter to turn into a puddle of ooze in an instant.

The Shura Clan had a strong resistance to poison, but staying in such poisonous gas for a long time was not a good thing.

However, the two Shura Clan members were completely unaware of the danger of the Mirage Aura, and they charged straight into it. But once they entered, they were both shocked to find themselves completely lost in direction and position, while Chou, who was within the Mirage Aura, vanished without a trace.

For a moment, even these two brave and battle-loving Shura Clan members became cautious, huddling together, carefully observing their surroundings, searching for Chou’s true position.

"Over there!"

Suddenly, as if the wind was moving the mist, Chou’s figure hidden in the fog suddenly appeared in front of one skilled warrior from the Shura Clan.

With a loud shout from this Shura Clan warrior, he charged toward the place where Chou was.

Another Shura Clan warrior was slightly taken aback but quickly followed the first warrior. However, in that brief moment, the distance between the two Shura Clan warriors unexpectedly widened.

Just then, over a dozen sword tails suddenly appeared behind the Shura Clan warrior who had fallen slightly behind. Caught off guard, he let out a painful grunt as thirteen blood holes appeared on his body, and as the sword tails retracted, one clean sweep severed half of his arm from his body.

When this Shura Clan expert turned to look for Chou, who had ambushed him, he discovered that Chou had vanished once more, hidden among layers of Mirage Aura. Anger blazed in the expert’s eyes as he snorted coldly. With a wave of his hand, his severed limb returned to him, and the broken part began to heal slowly.

Meanwhile, on the other side, another Shura Clan warrior ended up with nothing. The Chou he saw was merely a false image, incredibly lifelike, but due to the Mirage Aura blocking his awareness, he was unable to perceive it.

"Mirage," the signature talent of the earth-level middle-class demon beast "Mermaid." When Chou developed this ability to its peak, the Mermaid lineage had vanished from the surrounding miles of the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands.

Thus, for the next half hour, it was a complete torment for the two Shura Clan warriors. Chou, using the concealment of Mirage Aura, continuously launched surprise attacks on the two who should have been his equals, either deceiving them with illusions or directly assaulting them with his real body. The two Shura Clan warriors were caught off guard, suffering many injuries within that half hour. Although they quickly returned to normal, each time they healed, it drained their energy, and their strength decreased.

At the same time, as the two Shura Clan masters inhaled countless poison gases with their breaths, their bodies gradually felt numb, and their reactions became a bit slow.

Although the two Shura Clan members took the opportunity to counterattack during a few of Chou’s surprise attacks and managed to inflict some minor injuries on him, it was not enough to harm him seriously.

Thinking about how their strength was still above Chou’s, even though their power had decreased for a time after their battle with Xuan and their revival, they were furious that, in a two-against-one situation, they were in such a tough spot. They couldn’t help but feel angry and restless, shouting continuously in the endless Mirage Aura.

However, these two Shura Clan masters were seasoned warriors; after a moment of roaring out their anger, they both surprisingly calmed down. They knew they couldn’t continue like this. Although their combined strength was still above Chou’s, one of them, a tall and thin Shura Clan master, had a flash of brilliance in his eyes, and his body began to slowly expand, causing strange and powerful waves to ravage the world around them.

In the next moment, something unexpected happened!