Chapter 67: Typical Sword-Pavilion Thinking

But personally causing the death of one’s parents—if that’s supposed to be the deepest despair—this still fell a little short.

As a core member of the Witch Association, the captain had naturally seen every kind of despair.

In terms of who had it worse, Jiang Keke’s life was far from the worst.

But despair isn’t a contest of who had a more tragic life; emotions arise from an individual’s personality and mindset.

When he first found Jiang Keke, the despair and pain this girl felt over her parents’ deaths had already nearly solidified into something tangible.

An excellent Magical Girl could also become the perfect witch.

The only odd thing was, why hadn’t her negative emotions polluted her Miracle Seed?

The heavy despair of a Magical Girl can also corrupt the seed.

In fact, he himself had later destroyed Keke’s Miracle Seed to guide her toward becoming a witch.

Those huge amounts of negative emotion ultimately vanished without a trace.

Insufficient polluted magic had caused the witch-birthing plan to fail.

Of course, the captain did not care too much.

According to the original plan, if they continued to develop steadily for three more years, three years would be enough to control Beihai in secret, find all raw witch cores, and then cultivate perfect witches.

Even without this initial raw core in Beihai, it wouldn’t matter.

However… three years. A full three years! Forget the Witch Association, even the Disaster Control Bureau wouldn’t get a chance to interfere!

During that time, chased and hounded by Azure Cloud Sect, the captain had long since forgotten that initial witch raw core.

Only recently did he discover that this raw core had once again become a Magical Girl.

He had thought he had ruined it—neither able to become a witch nor a Magical Girl.

Unexpectedly, it had regained its power.

So the captain adjusted his plan.

Jiang Keke’s talent was indisputable; simply losing her parents could erupt such terrifying negative emotions.

Once her Miracle Seed was polluted, she could reclaim her power on her own.

If he catalyzed it a bit more, he could birth the most terrifying witch.

The vines recorded all previous scenes, of course including the negative emotions Keke once possessed.

By using Disaster Beasts to continuously pollute and swell those feelings, then forcing those filthy, dreadful emotions back into Keke’s mind—

combined with the negative emotions she would produce after seeing the truth—

it was unimaginable what kind of monster would be born.

He poured the resources he had prepared for dozens of witches into this plan.

If he could spawn even one witch to match Shion, he wouldn’t have to worry about what other trump cards Shion had.

Ever since the Witch Association first contacted Shion, no one had seen Shion fight at full strength.

All her moves looked simple and ordinary, no tricks, just pure pinnacle-level destructive power that no one could sustain against.

Just because she didn’t show it didn’t mean she didn’t have it.

Relying on only an A-level Disaster Beast and a city full of white fog, the captain still wasn’t confident he could really take down Shion.

The unknown is always terrifying.

That’s why he had worked so hard to lure Keke here.

He watched, expectant and excited, as the vines formed a gigantic black ovum; the poisonous polluted magic grew more terrifying, making the captain’s heart race.

Yes, that feeling—similar to when getting close to Shion!

Immersed in his masterpiece and oblivious to the world, a sudden loud crash came from below the building.

The captain froze. They were on the ninth floor.

That sound had to be significant for him to hear it.

He walked to the edge and looked down. A blurry figure was below; with a single kick it smashed the surrounding vine Disaster Beasts, sending a streetlamp crashing into the third floor. Glass shattered and walls caved in with a roar.

That’s what caused the huge noise; the whole ninth floor shook and the captain felt the tremor.

Who got in here?

Wait—why are they even awake?

Besides Jiang Keke, no one in Beihai should be awake.

The tiny figure glanced up, then quickly locked on to him.

The captain’s chest gave a tight squeeze.

It felt like something ferocious and wild had locked onto him.

He watched the person lower their body.

Then, in the next second, they suddenly stomped the ground.

They flew up!

The ground where they had stood became a terrifying crater; spiderweb-like cracks spread across the road, tilting cars by the curb and sending them tumbling into the pit.

A massive shockwave instantly shattered the glass of the floors below!

The roaring wind hurt the captain’s eardrums!

Is that even human?

The captain was stunned for a moment by the impact.

But after the person flew up, they hovered for a while with nothing to support them, then crashed back down.

They smashed onto a small car, instantly crushing it to pulp and creating another crater; this time they probably ruptured water pipes below.

Water gushed out, car horns pierced the quiet of Beihai, and cracks around the pit spread toward the building.

The person who crawled out of the pit looked up again, as if lost in thought.

They walked to the curb and hugged a utility pole, then with a forceful tug uprooted it!

They swung the pole, smashing it toward the building!

The captain couldn’t sit still.

If this beast kept wrecking things, the building would be torn apart; if Keke was crushed before a witch could be born, word of it would send the Witch Association into ridicule.

He pushed open a window; vines spread from his body and formed a staircase connecting the ninth floor to the ground.

The captain sat on the vines and slid down, stopping three to five meters above where that monster had fallen. Seeing the other party about to swing again, he shouted:

“Stop!”

But the giant pole twisted strangely in mid-air!

It was hard to imagine such a thick pole turning so nimbly toward the captain!

In an instant, vines wrapped around the pole and crushed it!

Dust and rubble flew, obscuring vision. The captain quickly had vines cocoon him for protection.

When he finally saw who had been holding the pole, the captain’s mouth fell open.

Jiang Si?

As Keke’s brother, he had naturally paid attention. When Keke entered the Disaster Control Bureau, Yinluo had reported that Jiang Si’s physical constitution was somewhat exceptional.

They hadn’t thought much of it—family of Magical Girls often had enhanced physicality due to magic exposure; that was public information.

But Yinluo never said he was this ridiculous!

Now the captain understood why the Disaster Beast he sent to lure Jiang Si had gone silent.

His disguised vines weren’t particularly strong in combat.

He had been careless...

Before the captain could recover, Jiang Si, as if the fall hadn’t slowed him, kicked a nearby motorcycle with tremendous force. The bike shot up like a meteor!

It looked like he was kicking a soccer ball.

The captain instinctively dodged, then realized the motorcycle was flying straight toward the floor where the huge Disaster Beast perched!

For a moment he hesitated, but he didn’t take it seriously. A-level Disaster Beasts aren’t that easy to injure...

Boom!

The motorcycle smashed into the floor the Disaster Beast occupied; the whole floor shuddered, and the massive vine Disaster Beast actually began to topple downward!

“Damn it! What are you doing! Your sister’s in there!”

Jiang Si had just ripped a large tree out by the roots. Hearing the captain’s shout, he aimed the tree at the captain instead of the rooftop!

Using more vines, the captain shredded the trunk. Watching Jiang Si finally stop, the captain relaxed slightly.

Damn, who is this person?

He pulled vines to raise his position and looked at Jiang Si on the ground with a hint of feeling:

“Risking your life to search for your sister in a city this dangerous—nice. I used to have a brother like that.”

To the captain, Jiang Si had no reason to be running around this dangerous city. He must be here to find Keke; what else could it be?

He made the confident judgment of a leader who trusted his instincts.

Jiang Si was momentarily taken aback by being addressed, “Huh?”

When the captain’s expression soured, Jiang Si said, “Oh.”

He had come looking for Keke, true.

Although at first he had come for the rooftop A-level Disaster Beast.

If he could also get Keke back, that would be convenient.

“So Keke’s with you?”

Jiang Si scanned the other, noting the vines’ aura was almost identical to that of the beast above.

“Where is she? Dinner at home is getting cold and the door’s not locked. Tell her to come home early; if she’s late, I won’t open the door—she can climb through the window herself.”

Saying that, Jiang Si looked toward the floor the captain had been on earlier.

The sixth floor—jumpable.

Seeing Jiang Si’s casual attitude, the captain couldn’t help but be blunt: “I’ve got your sister!”

Jiang Si didn’t turn his head. “Then let her go.”

“Aren’t you worried about your sister?”

“She’s a Magical Girl. Do I need to worry?”

What’s with this brother-sister pair?

Yinluo hadn’t said they were like that—dependent on each other, distant on the surface but actually very close, caring for each other.

Worthless Yinluo—wasting my resources.

Where’s the caring? One hears her brother’s been captured and doesn’t even want to rescue him. The other thinks no need to worry because his sister’s a Magical Girl.

Do you even have humans in your family?

These two can still claim they’re close—no wonder you and your sister turned out the way you did, Yinluo!

The captain felt his Witch Association were all a bunch of trash.

He took a deep breath to calm himself.

“These vines are Disaster Beasts’ work?” Jiang Si looked at him without hurrying to attack. “How do you control Disaster Beasts?”

“If you join the Witch Association, I can teach you.”

“Teach me first, I’ll sign up after my college entrance exam.”

“You could say after you graduate from university.”

“That works too.”

“As if! ”

Unexpectedly Jiang Si’s expression turned cold. “This is my fate and opportunity—yours to hand over.”

The captain didn’t fully understand but guessed the meaning, his face darkening. “What arrogance.”

“I owe you because you escorted the opportunity to me. That’s why I’ll give you this chance.” Jiang Si pointed at him in a scolding manner, “Don’t take my courtesy for granted.”

The captain sneered. “Fine, fine. When your sister emerges from the cocoon and becomes the perfect witch, then we’ll see how arrogant you are!”

“The perfect witch?”

Jiang Si looked at him seriously. “Will she become stronger?”

“Not just stronger.” The captain saw Jiang Si was no longer so flippant and regained his own composure. “She will become the strongest—stronger than Shion, stronger than any witch or Magical Girl in the world!”

Jiang Si suddenly nodded. “Good. Thanks for your trouble about Keke.”

Helping Keke ascend would be a good thing—unfortunately it was the Witch Association doing it. They stole my opportunity; I must kill him, then in the next life be a good man and join Azure Cloud Sect to help him reach enlightenment and thank him for what he did.

“Oh.” The captain blinked. “It’s no trouble. Though it did take a lot of effort… Wait, shouldn’t you be worried about your sister?”

“This is her fate. Keke always frets about being too weak; if it makes her stronger, she’ll be happy.”

“No—you mean witchification. Witchification—being soaked in negative emotions, turning black and violent like a Disaster Beast. That’s dangerous witchification.”

“I believe Keke will surpass that.”

“What if she can’t?” The captain became indignant on Keke’s behalf. “If she falls completely, what then? You’ll lose your only sister and become alone!”

“I believe she’ll surpass it.”

The captain was so angry he laughed. The hand behind his back twitched; vines slipped underground.

“When Keke becomes a witch, she’ll be the first to kill you! You who don’t care for your family don’t deserve to live.”

Jiang Si nodded in agreement. “That would be perfect. Better for her to go after someone else first—less trouble for me…”

“Heh. When Witch Keke is born, I’ll be her true family.” The captain said ominously. “As her family, I will kill you right here.”

Vines burst from the earth.

Jiang Si could now confirm it.

The vines this man controlled indeed had the same aura as the giant vines above.

Not only can he control Disaster Beasts, he can also borrow their power?

Witch Association—how many surprises do you have that I, the sect master, don’t know...

When the vines suddenly coiled around his feet, Jiang Si merely stomped down hard.

The enormous shockwave crushed the underground vines to bits!

The captain’s pupils contracted.

He had spent so long burying the vines underground to ambush silently, to save time.

Being stomped to pieces was shocking, but more shocking was the clear feeling that the opponent was using polluted magic!

“Are you with the Witch Association too?” the captain blurted.

After all, only Witch Association people could use polluted magic so skillfully.

But he quickly realized that was impossible.

There would definitely be no other Witch Association members in Beihai. “How did you learn to control polluted magic? This is our secret technique!”

“Don’t worry, soon the entire Witch Association will be mine.”

In a single stride Jiang Si was already in front of him.

Countless vine tendrils lunged at Jiang Si from the captain’s feet and behind—fanging and clawing!

The youth did not dodge. He grabbed the captain by the hair.

Many tiny vine threads instantly pierced Jiang Si’s fingers, digging into his flesh.

He ignored them, pulling the captain’s head downward with force.

Then his right knee slammed up!

The fierce knee strike shattered the captain’s chin, yet the vines kept burrowing into Jiang Si relentlessly!

But Jiang Si’s knee pinned the captain’s jaw; his left hand held the hair to pin him, while his right arm rained blows down on the back of the captain’s head!

With the knee trapping the jaw, there was nowhere to avoid—the blow smashed the captain’s skull to pulp!

Jiang Si pressed on without pause. Setting down his right leg, he kicked again, sending the ruined-headed captain crashing into the opposite building.

Boom!

The already-cracked first-floor wall let out a tremendous sound and half-collapsed!

The building shook, dust and debris fell, and the glass shattered with a crystalline ring.

Looking at the tiny vine filaments that were burrowing into his skin like parasites, Jiang Si pulled at them twice and then gave up.

He glanced at the ninth floor where the captain had been and prepared to jump again.

Just as he was about to leap, countless tiny vines snaked around his feet and trapped him.

“You don’t really think you can win, do you?”

The captain crawled out of the rubble; the vines that had mangled his head curled and spread, filling and astonishingly making his head gradually heal. “What a pity. I admit you’re strong. If Dujuan hadn’t met Shion, she probably wouldn’t stand a chance against you. Your power almost rivals a Seedling.”

“But—”

The captain laughed wildly, then gripped his hand. Dense vine filaments immediately surged into Jiang Si’s body!

“All these vines are part of my power. They will parasitize and occupy your body, turning you into my hollow shell!”

Vast numbers of vines pushed inward, but Jiang Si remained expressionless as he stared at him.

The captain’s laughter faded into awkward smiles, then silence.

He had poured nearly all the nearby vine filaments in.

Yet Jiang Si remained unmoved. His body was like a black hole—no matter how many vine filaments entered, they vanished quickly.

When the last controllable vine was absorbed, Jiang Si turned his neck, narrowed his eyes, moved his arms, and in his every motion began to exude a far more terrifying power and aura!

“Anything else?”

Jiang Si asked.

“Bring more,” the captain said, turning and running for the ninth floor!