Chapter 438: Leave, For the Sake of Our Past Friendship

"Is this your reason for joining the Pain Divine Cult?"

Yang Dongqing's chest heaved violently. "That's right! So what if He's an evil god? As long as He can help me resurrect Jasmine, I am willing to worship an evil god!"

He suddenly let out a cold laugh. "I know why you're here. You want to stop me? Heh... makes sense. The world now sees me as a scourge, an evil god's running dog standing against the whole world.

But so what? I've never cared how any of you see me. The living hell you see right now, all this pain—I caused it! Surprised? I am no longer the person I once was..."

"There is too little pain."

Yang Dongqing's impassioned shouting cut off, his expression blanking for a moment.

"Do you know why Jasmine hasn't been resurrected yet? It's precisely because there isn't enough pain." Su Mu sighed softly, sounding almost disgusted by Yang Dongqing's incompetence.

"What did you say!?"

"I said the pain isn't enough. You need more of it. There are a million members of the Blood Clan in the entire Blood Moon Empire. After all this time, how many have you actually caught? The Undead King is still alive and well right now. At this rate, when will Jasmine ever be resurrected?

Have you had a change of heart? Do you actually love Jasmine or not?"

"..."

Su Mu's words filled his eyes with bewilderment. They were so absurd he couldn't have dreamt them up.

Seeing an old friend join an evil cult to bring disaster to the world—not stopping him was one thing. But to come over and interrogate him on why he had done so little evil?

"Why the hell are you really here?!" Yang Dongqing shouted.

Su Mu smiled faintly. "To help you, of course. Jasmine was a good girl. With so many wicked people living perfectly fine in this world, why should she be the only one who has to die?"

Yang Dongqing sneered. "Help me? With what exactly... Giant Demon Essence Blood!?"

His expression changed drastically. He stared in disbelief at the small glass bottle in Su Mu's hand. It contained crystal-clear, glowing blood, exuding a powerful aura that even the glass couldn't conceal.

"With this, you can advance to Gold King and then deal with the Undead King," Su Mu said with a smile.

Yang Dongqing stared hard at Su Mu, hesitation flickering in his eyes. "What scheme are you plotting? I don't believe you'd be this kind..."

Suddenly, as if realizing something, he sneered. "I get it. You want to trick me with this. You poisoned the essence blood, didn't you?

Su Mu, don't even think about deceiving me. I know you too well. Deception is your usual trick, but unfortunately, I am not the man I used to be.

I won't fall for your tricks so easily. You know you're no match for me, so you wanted to use this method to take me down."

Su Mu was mildly surprised. Was this really his image in Yang Dongqing's heart?

"Leave. For the sake of our past friendship, this time I..."

Yang Dongqing's voice stopped abruptly. A slender hand pressed gently onto his shoulder. In that instant, he felt an unimaginable, terrifying force. His entire body felt as if it were crushed beneath a massive mountain, leaving him completely unable to move a single inch.

A gentle voice rang out from behind him. "There should be a limit to how much you talk to yourself, shouldn't there?"

"You! How... how is this possible!?" Yang Dongqing was horrified. He tried to unleash his Pain Divine Power, but in the face of Su Mu's terrifying strength, it was completely suppressed.

He couldn't believe it. He was clearly no longer the man he once was. Not only had he advanced to the Gold Realm, but he had also gained the power of an evil god. He believed that no one in the world, aside from the Seven Kings, could defeat him.

He was the true number one below the Kings, and he even had the strength to put up a fight against the Seven Kings themselves.

In his eyes, the old Su Mu had indeed been mysterious and powerful, suppressing him at every turn. But that was in the past. The gap between him and Su Mu had long become like the distance between the clouds and the mud.

Yet now, after truly experiencing Su Mu's strength, he realized his judgment hadn't been wrong at all. The gap was indeed like the clouds and the mud—only... he was the mud.

"Let go of the Cult Leader!"

"Protect the Cult Leader!"

The crowd of black-robed figures was both shocked and enraged. Wielding their weapons, they charged straight at Su Mu.

Su Mu calmly watched the crowd. "Noisy."

A crystalline blue light flashed through his eyes behind the Tinted Glasses.

Hum!!

Invisible mental energy spread out like a tidal wave, instantly sweeping across the entire plaza. The black-robed figures, including several Gold tier experts, were struck directly by the impact. Their eyes rolled back, and they collapsed, instantly falling asleep.

In a flash, the entire plaza fell dead silent. A dense mass of people lay unconscious on the ground.

"How... how could this be..." Yang Dongqing muttered in horror. His eyes were unfocused, looking as though he were asking himself why, after all this time, he hadn't seemed to grow at all. Facing Su Mu, he was still just as powerless.

Su Mu seemed to see through Yang Dongqing's thoughts and smiled softly by his ear. "Wondering why you are so weak? It's simple. Because the pain isn't enough."

He gently placed the small glass bottle containing the Giant Demon Essence Blood into Yang Dongqing's stiff hand.

"Drink it, and you will gain even greater strength. Remember, Jasmine is still waiting for you. Don't disappoint her... Yang Dongqing."

Su Mu's low voice echoed through the deathly still plaza like the whisper of a demon.

When Yang Dongqing finally snapped out of his daze, Su Mu was gone, as if it had all been a dream.

He looked down at the essence blood in his hand. Its scorching hot aura constantly reminded him that what just happened was no dream.

Staring blankly at the small glass bottle for a long time, Yang Dongqing slowly uncorked it and brought it to his lips.

"Cult Leader! You can't drink that!" A Gold tier cultist woke up just then, struggling to prop up his body. "That man is an enemy, not a friend! Careful, it might be poisoned."

A self-deprecating smile surfaced on Yang Dongqing's face. "Poison? Do you think he would need to use poison if he wanted to kill me?"

With that, he downed the essence blood in one gulp.

As the essence blood slid down his throat, a scalding heat flooded through his limbs and bones. His skin began to turn bright red, and the muscles on his body rippled like water. His original aura of the Gold Realm climbed steadily higher.

The Pain Divine Power surged upward as well, shrouding Yang Dongqing like a massive shadow.

Yang Dongqing didn't know Su Mu's true goal, nor did he know why Su Mu was helping him. But of one thing he was certain: it was absolutely not out of any so-called friendship.

Su Mu wasn't that kind of person.

In Yang Dongqing's heart, Su Mu could be a mad gentleman, a venomous snake hidden in the jungle, or a deranged lunatic. The only thing he couldn't be was someone who selflessly helped others.

Su Mu was definitely scheming something, but... it didn't matter.

Yang Dongqing didn't care if he was being used. He only cared about Jasmine. Now that he had the Giant Demon Essence Blood, he could advance to a Gold King. He could defeat the Undead King and finally resurrect Jasmine. That was enough.