Hiss~

    A streak of exquisitely beautiful blood emerged from Muriel Frankel''s fair, slender neck. On the brink of death, a hint of relief flashed through her eyes, and her pupils rapidly dilated and unfocused.

    [Jealousy] +100, [Sloth] +200, [Pride] +300

    Absorbing the unseen sin looming around, Zhu Haomiao looked up into the distance and waved toward the woods.

    "Come over."

    The Manager, who thought he was well-hidden, emerged from the trees, approaching the young man with a sycophantic yet reverent demeanor.

    "Your Excellency, your divine power is truly invincible!"

    Listening to the Manager''s heartfelt flattery, Zhu Haomiao chuckled and shook his head, giving orders without hesitation.

    "I have a task for you."

    "Yes!"

    Hearing the command, the Manager instinctively puffed out his chest and snapped his legs together.

    "I will be guarding the high ground ahead until tomorrow. Gather your personnel to clean up the battlefield. Decapitate all the Lords... uh, the pirates, and send the heads up to the high ground."

    Saying this, Zhu Haomiao tore off the armor on Muriel Frankel and took a resplendent golden bald eagle badge from her chest.

    "Also, check every corpse for a badge like this on their chest; if there''s one, bring it over."

    After carefully observing the badge in the young man''s hand and memorizing its appearance, the Manager nodded vigorously.

    "Right, leave the heads on these exotic-looking young corpses intact; keep them whole. Later, see if anyone claims them. If not, dig a pit and bury them."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Alright, go on."

    After dismissing the group of soldiers, Zhu Haomiao sheathed his sword and turned towards the nearby strategic point, gently adjusting his breath.

    After prolonged battle and traveling, his [Qi] attribute, which was as high as 58 points, was almost depleted.

    Fortunately, his [Essence] attribute was also over 50 points, allowing him to recover fully after a day or two of rest.

    If necessary, he could even unleash the [Lust] authority to quickly return to peak condition.

    However, that would overdraw the [Essence] attribute and consume a lot of nutrition, so natural recovery was preferred if it wasn''t necessary.

    Thoughts swirled in his mind as Zhu Haomiao unhurriedly returned to the strategic point, gazing at the flattened mountaintop leveled by his sword and the battlefield strewn with corpses, sighing compassionately.

    Sigh~

    The slaughter of war is truly terrifying!

    Luckily, I am the aggressor!

    Smacking his lips, the young man returned to the flattened mountaintop, found a clean spot to sit cross-legged, and placed the long sword on his knees.

    Though unlikely, there''s still a chance someone might come roller-skating; he needed to make haste to recover his state.

    Swoosh~

    Taking a deep breath, the inner breath of his five viscera and six bowels began to circulate faster.

    With the [Big Toad Qi] of the Great Perfection Realm gradually activated, between his inhalations and exhalations, a deafening toad croak surged from within his organs.

    Ribbit~

    Ribbit~

    Ribbit~

    Not far from the mountain foot, a group of Qing soldiers decapitating heads heard the faint, timeless toad croak and looked up in confusion.

    "What is that sound? It sounds like a toad croaking."

    "It''s summer; isn''t it normal for these things to be around? Hurry up with the decapitations; they have to be delivered before dark!"

    "Hey, why do you think that lord wants these heads?"

    "Who knows? Surely not to eat them?" sea??h thё novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "I heard there''s some evil magic that uses heads as offerings..."

    Hearing the subordinates'' curious chatter, the Manager frowned.

    "Don''t pry into things above your pay grade! You dare gossip like this, don''t you value your life?"

    Rebuked by the officer, the soldiers laughed apologetically and scattered, like hardworking bees searching for bodies on the battlefield.

    On the other side, after pushing the [Big Toad Qi] to restore some inner breath, Zhu Haomiao stopped his cultivation and looked at the harvest from the [Book of Black].

    [Gluttony]: LV.5→LV.6

    [Body] +7

    [Strength] +3

    [Essence] +3

    [Sloth]: LV.5→LV.6

    [Essence] +6

    [Qi] +4

    [God] +3

    [Pride]: LV.5→LV.6

    [God] +7

    [Dexterity] +6

    The three Original Sins advanced one level each, while, most notably, [Jealousy] jumped two levels!

    [Jealousy]: LV.5→LV.7

    [Dexterity] +14

    [God] +9

    [Strength] +11

    Looking at the substantial values settling behind the Six-dimensional Attributes, Zhu Haomiao sighed contentedly.

    Though [Greed] and [Lust] hadn''t leveled up yet, the "experience" was piled up just enough, nearly reaching the tipping point.

    Only the level of [anger] was too high, with some distance to the next phase.

    As expected...

    One does not grow rich without windfalls, nor do horses grow fat without nocturnal feeding!

    This was an incredible gain!

    With a smirk, Zhu Haomiao assessed the rewards and continued to meditate to gather energy. The day passed quickly, and when he opened his eyes again, not far away was a near two-meter-high heap of human heads.

    "Lord, we gathered all the heads we could find here, and here are the badges you requested."

    Seeing the young man awaken, the Manager, who had been waiting nearby, quickly approached and respectfully presented a small burlap sack.

    Opening the sack to glimpse the golden badges from various countries inside, Zhu Haomiao nodded with satisfaction and tapped him on the shoulder.

    "Thank you for your hard work."

    Overwhelmed by the unexpected praise, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, the Manager smiled obsequiously.

    "It is my humble duty."

    The young man nodded with a smile, stood up directly, and walked over to the heap of human heads.

    Looking at the locust army, each with unclosed eyes, Zhu Haomiao''s lips curled up without a hint of a smile, and a malignant, twisted blood-red light surged in his eyes.

    Woo woo woo~

    A mysterious cold wind stirred in the mountains, piercingly cold air crept through the openings in clothes, making the Manager''s skin crawl with goosebumps from a distance.

    Staring at the back of the young man dressed in black, the Manager felt inexplicably that the heap of human heads seemed to come alive, each face distorted, writhing and emitting haunting cries unheard by human ears.

    In a daze, the serene mountaintop appeared particularly "lively," as if countless spectral wails were circulating.

    Yet, upon closer listening, only the howling of the wind could be heard.

    A chill surged from his coccyx straight up to the top of the skull; the Manager swallowed with difficulty, moving his gaze from the young man who had his back turned away, bowing his head, and no longer dared to stare.

    On the other side, the brutal bloody ritual quietly concluded, and the unseen sinful aura manifested from the void, flowing into Zhu Haomiao like a torrent.

    [anger] +795

    Swoosh~

    Slowly exhaling, the blood-red light swirling in Zhu Haomiao''s eyes gradually subsided, returning to clarity.

    Regrettably, there was still a gap before [anger] advanced...

    Calculating the time, the period for occupying the strategic point had already sufficed. Presumably, the allied Transcendent team taking over was on their way, and Zhu Haomiao turned to instruct the Manager.

    "You all go down to the mountain base and reconstruct the defensive positions."

    "Ah... Oh! Understood!"

    Seeing the Manager take two seconds to respond, dragging his exhausted body to salute and depart, Zhu Haomiao gently reassured.

    "Reinforcements to relieve you will arrive soon, just hold on a few more days."