Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter

Chapter 20: You Are My Faith (I)

---

Shang Ke wore a black robe, and he was holding a sword that was still dripping blood. Standing in front of him was a dead body, while a six to seven year old little girl was sitting not even ten meters from him. She was covered in blood, her expression dim, blankly looking at him with a pair of pure eyes.

f*ck! The person he transmigrated as this time wasn’t a serial killer, was he? This kind of bloody scene, this villainous appearance, it wasn’t his style at all!

Following this, he began to receive the world’s information from the System, along with the original’s memories.

This was a continent named “Turan.” Several hundred years ago, in the abyss of the marsh that took up the middle of the continent, a strange tree grew. It was able to give off a devil qi that could erode the soul. It then turned people into its apostles, urging them to slaughter and cause disasters. In this manner, it could absorb their spirits and release darkness.

The people of Turan thus started to call it the “Devil’s Tree.”

The only thing that could control the devil qi was the power of faith. The power of faith was not restricted to religion or God, and it also included love, affection, friendship, money, authority, and so on.

The power of faith’s main use was amplification, where the firmer one’s faith was, the higher the amplification of their power. The way that their faith was exhibited were also different, with different attributes. For example, two people whose faiths were in battle and power would have related faiths, but the directions they each go in were entirely different. The former might become a strong fighter, while the latter might become a politician.

Their shared similarity was that, as long as their faiths were strong enough, they could resist against the devil qi’s erosion.

However, people’s heart are complicated, and everyone has their own dark side. The moment that darkness has formed in one’s heart, it will begin to draw in devil qi. Small amounts of devil qi can be dispelled through willpower and faith, but for those with weak hearts and scheming natures, the devil qi will weaken and corrupt them. After that, they will gradually be reduced to being apostles for the Devil’s Tree.

After turning into apostles, the Devil’s Tree will become their faith. They will then be able to obtain the Devil’s Tree’s dark power, and bring disaster to the land.

The person who Shang Ke had taken over was a devil apostle, a very strong devil apostle. His name was “Osari,” someone who had entered the number one college, Light Ode College, as the top student and was a publically known genius. Many people had been paying attention to him, both good and bad.

His faith was in “being number one”. He had always liked to fight for number one ever since he was young, and was determined to become the number one fighter on the continuent, not losing to anyone. However, two years later, he received his first defeat since coming of age.

He met someone whose genius was evenly matched with his, and moreover, that person was younger than him by two years. The moment that he joined the school, Osari’s number one title was snatched, and his subsequent battles were few in victories and abundant in losses. The blow that hit him the hardest was their graduation battle, where the other completely dominated and defeated him. It was only then that he realized that the other had always hid his strength, and he lost without any dignity left.

Osari, whose faith was in “being number one,” could not accept the reality of defeat, and resentment grew in his heart. Afterwards, he traveled far away, and no news of him was ever heard again.

He did not know that the person who had defeated him was Prince Tylor of the imperial family, and that he had experienced inhuman training ever since he was young. No matter whether it was his training’s difficulty or his resources, everything surpassed Osari’s. If it was just talent, Osari would unconditionally win, but it was a pity that his willpower wasn’t strong enough, and his defeats had completely destroyed his faith. The so-called “being number one” did not mean being undefeated. Rather, it was so that he could continue striving to climb to the summit, until he could obtain an achievement that was solely his “number one.”

Everyone did not know that, after Osari left, he was never able to vent the unwillingness in his heart, and thus was eroded by the devil qi. In the end, he threw himself into the Devil’s Tree’s embrace and become an apostle.

By the time Shang Ke transmigrated, it was already Osari’s fifth year as an apostle. He had been a genius at fighting to begin with, and after his faith turned to the Devil’s Tree and he obtained the devil qi’s additional power, his strength increased even more. He had rampaged over Turan Continent with no one to stop him, committing slaughter everywhere. Everyone only knew that there was such an apostle, and no one knew that he was the genius Osari that had gone missing five years prior. His cruelty and power caused people to surrender in terror, and he was known as the “Slaughter Devil.”

He was really a great villain!

Shang Ke’s original instinct was completely correct, and it was currently the great villain’s turning point.

He had just killed a group of slave traders. Only that girl, one of their “goods,” remained.

If Shang Ke had not appeared, then Osari would have raised his sword and unhesitantly struck the child. At that moment, he would encounter the world’s main character, Kaiser, and his companions. The two sides would then start a fierce battle.

Osari would aggressively kill the main character’s companions until only Kaiser and that small girl were left alive.

From then on, “Slaughter Devil” Osari and the main character Kaiser would fight forever, and that girl would become one of Kaiser’s helping hands.

Shang Ke looked at the girl closely and finally remembered her name–Pupu. This girl’s intelligence wasn’t that high, but she had a very pure spirit and an exceptionally strong power of faith.

【Main mission: Seal the Devil’s Tree.】

Shang Ke was speechless. His current identity was the Devil’s Tree’s apostle. If he were to seal the Devil’s Tree, then he would lose his devil qi and become a useless person. Of course, he wouldn’t care if he turns into one, but the important part was his “Slaughter Devil” identity. Although not many people were capable of recognizing him, as a villain, his entire body was full of devil qi, could he really survive to the point of sealing the Devil’s Tree?

In addition, after exchanging souls, he no longer believed in the Devil’s Tree, so this meant that he could no longer obtain power from the devil qi. It was quite the opposite, and because of the conflict in faith, he will receive opposition from the devil qi. He will need to rely on his willpower to forcefully suppress the devil qi within his body, and bear the pain from the devil qi.

This world hadn’t even started yet, but Shang Ke could already foresee his miserable future.

System, is it really good to throw him, who has no defensive ability whatsoever, into this world? At least wait for him to learn some martial arts or magic!

Shang Ke no longer had time to delay, because Kaiser and his companions were going to appear from behind the corner of the rock mountain at any moment.

Looking at the dead bodies littered around him and the sword in his hand, prepared to kill someone, they likely wouldn’t say a word and simply attack him. He had no time to hide, so Shang Ke directly threw away the sword in his hand and rushed up to the little girl Pupu, and held her.

The moment after he did all of that, he saw seven people rush over. They all looked down at the dead bodies on the ground and the two embracing figures before all staring blankly.

“What happened?” A blond haired man in his forties looked vigilantly at Shang Ke.

Shang Ke asked softly in reply, “And who are you people?”

“My name is Gwyn, a teacher at Light Ode College. I am leading some students out for experience.” The few people did not rashly approach them, but rather, they carefully sized up the situation.

There were over twenty bodies on the ground, all badly damaged with not a single corpse in one piece. The way they died was terrifying, and it was clear that they had met a powerful attacker. There were only these two alive, one small and one large. The older one was dressed entirely in black and they couldn’t see his appearance, but judging by his voice, he should be quite young. The younger one was only six or seven.

The two were both stained with blood, and appeared especially towering among the pile of bodies.

When Shang Ke heard the other say Light Ode College, he thought to himself, Wasn’t this Osari’s alma mater?

Shang Ke explained to him, “These people were all slave traders. We were captured by them and moved here, but when the group was passing through here, we met a frightening man, and the moment he saw people he killed them. In the end, only the two of us were left.”

Pupu looked up at Shang Ke from his embrace, her face at a loss. She did not understand him at all. However, his embrace made her feel very much at ease, and it was completely different from the coldness from before.

She lightly leaned against his chest, then tilted her head to look at Gwyn and the others.

Shang Ke did not notice her action, but Gwyn and the others saw it. Perhaps they had some misgivings against Shang Ke, but with the little girl’s intimacy, they somewhat lowered their vigilance.

Gwyn brought one student with him to check the dead bodies while the others remained on guard. They quickly found some suspicious things that proved Shang Ke had not lied. Those people were slave trackers, and some of them were even famous wanted criminals.

Taking the chance when they were checking the bodies, Shang Ke also quietly sized them up.

It was a total of five men and two women. The blond man named Gwyn was the oldest, while the others were all only around twenty.

The first one Shang Ke took note of was the main character, Kaiser. His height was roughly 180cm tall and he had a head of silver hair, along with the corners of his lips slightly raised, exceptionally handsome. He stood casually on a pair of long legs, a pair of swords crossed behind his back. His somewhat lazy appearance, combined with that pair of ice-blue eyes, was exceptionally bright, like the depths of an endless sea.

Shang Ke felt that this man must be good with woman. Just look at that red-haired girl beside him, she stole three glances at him in one minute.

The red-haired girl’s face was delicate, her temperament charming. Her skintight attire perfectly outlined her impressive body.

Apart from them, there was also a seemingly cold brown-haired girl, a gloomy short and stout boy, a thin boy who was beaming, as well as another robust boy, whose height was over two meters. These people were all supposed to die in Osari’s hands, so Shang Ke did not know their names.

“What are your names?” After Gwyn finished checking, he slowly walked to Shang Ke’s side.

“Shang Ke, and she’s Pupu.” Shang Ke patted the girl in his embrace.

The girl raised her head and smiled when she heard him call her name.

Gwyn looked at her slightly bloody smiling face and felt that it was a bit strange, but he did not say anything and turned around to introduce Shang Ke to his students.

The red-haired girl was Vadula, and next were Amy, Doru, Youri, Fred, and the “main character” Kaiser.

Gwyn then asked, “Where are you two from? If it’s within the country’s borders, then we can send you two home.”

“There’s no need. We no longer have homes,” Shang Ke replied in a gloomy voice.

Gwyn paused for a moment, before immediately sighing and saying, “Then you can follow us for now. We are going to Watcher City, and we can decide what to do when we get there.”

“Thank you.” Shang Ke sincerely gave his thanks.

---

Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter