Jiang Ming's shock was momentary. In the next instant, he clenched his fist fiercely, the spiral force twisting his muscles, mixing with Qi-Blood and Inner Strength, spreading outward.
The flames unexpectedly burst outward along with this spiral force.
The firelight flickered chaotically, and in an instant, a massive hole was blasted from the heavy door, with scorched wood splinters exploding and embedding into the walls and floor.
Jiang Ming's pupils slightly contracted, and through the opening, he saw the creature outside.
It was eyeless, noseless, and earless, with an oily, pitch-black body, except for the glaring white fangs on its face.
However, Jiang Ming's punch had just struck its face at that moment.
"Black Monkey..."
The Black Monkey, also known as the Shadow Ghost, was commonly referred to as the Black Charm Ghost by city dwellers.
It's one of the most common evil spirits found outdoors, frequently appearing in rural ghost stories, and villagers are most accustomed to encountering it.
Even the three-year-olds in Jiang Family Village knew that they must never go outside at night, or the Black Monkey would devour all your belongings.
Leaving behind only bones, intestines, and a mouth.
The remnants left by a Black Monkey would transform on the night of the full moon, driven by the resentment of the devoured, forming new Black Monkeys, consumed by endless hatred and jealousy, seeking to greedily devour their former kindred.
Turning them into the same ghostly creatures.
Facing such ghostly creatures for the first time, Jiang Ming was equally startled, as if the fear ingrained in his blood was about to spread into his heart.
In his ears, it was as if he heard countless screams and wails, piercing and filled with resentment.
However, the Red Gold Flame-breaking Palm was one of Li Jin's primary attack techniques. Acquiring this martial art, Jiang Ming gained not only pure Martial Arts Achievement but also a small fraction of Li Jin's decades of martial practice and battle experience.
Martial arts, a skill designed for killing.
His entire body stimulated by Qi-Blood, faint blood threads climbed into Jiang Ming's eyes, swiftly transforming his fear into a murderous intent.
A clean, swift leap closes the gap, followed by a light step, throat sealing, elbow striking, strangling the Black Monkey's neck and waist at bizarre angles.
However, the Black Monkey widened its mouth, seemingly oblivious to the fractures occurring within itself, greedily reaching out toward Jiang Ming.
They are an amalgamation of remnants and resentment, driven by a singular thought, to devour their former kin!
A large hand covered the upper half of the Black Monkey's face.
"Red Flame!"
Qi-Blood once again stimulated the surging flames, mighty force crashing downward.
Jiang Ming slammed the Black Monkey's upper half head onto the ground.
"Crack."
The sound of shattering echoed, the Black Monkey's head smashed into pieces, mixed with dirt, nauseatingly repulsive.
Yet in the next second, a gust of wind came from behind Jiang Ming, a dark shadow enveloping his entire body.
Here, there wasn't just one Black Monkey.
Yet the Black Monkeys were oblivious to the undying ferocity still lingering in Jiang Ming's eyes.
Jiang Ming's muscles twisted, upper and lower forces instantly converging into one, his foot stamping hard to the ground, the next second diving into the Black Monkey's embrace like a swallow returning to its nest.
"Broken Gold!" Jiang Ming roared inwardly, channeling all his strength to his palms, and pushed hard.
The Black Monkey's body bent like a broken chopstick, and then was thrown fiercely against the wall.
However, the Black Monkey's Life Force distinguished from normal creatures, even as such, the terrifying head still lay half on the ground, silently roaring at Jiang Ming.
Until a foot infused with Qi-Blood and flame crushed it.
"This is..."
Jiang Ming suddenly felt a surge in his heart, reached towards the two corpses, and quickly retrieved two irregularly shaped black beads.
At this moment, a prompt from the simulator arrived.
[Discovered absorbable Spirit Points 0.07, absorb?]
[Discovered absorbable Spirit Points 0.05, absorb?]
"Absorb."
The Spirit Points indeed have a connection with the real-world evil spirits.
But could these Black Monkeys, capable of effortlessly slaughtering mortals, only yield less than 0.1 Spirit Points?
Jiang Ming frowned slightly, yet upon consideration, it made sense. Black Monkeys were merely the lowest tier of evil spirits, even mortals were quite familiar with them, resulting in low Spirit Points.
And that Mountain God's gifts to mortals had nearly four Spirit Points, sufficiently proving the Mountain God's power far exceeded Jiang Ming's imagination.
"Moreover..."
Jiang Ming looked at his hands, Qi-Blood slightly aroused, heat emanated from his hands, faintly burning flames visible.
This wasn't the effect of the Red Flame Gold-Breaking Palm.
In Jiuzhou World, such phenomena didn't exist within mundane martial arts; Jiang Ming sensed that the hands' flames were crucial in inflicting damage to the Black Monkey.
"This must be the dependency Mortal Martial Artists rely upon to combat lower-grade evil spirits... spontaneously ignited flames..."
Jiang Ming finely felt the flames on his hands, appearing to use Qi-Blood as fuel, automatically appearing with the stimulation of Qi-Blood.
Seeming to be this world's characteristics or special rules.
"No!"
Jiang Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.
These flames were burning Qi-Blood, not just superficial energy, but the root of Qi-Blood, Life Force!
The brief battle consumed almost unnoticeable amounts of Life Force, but continuous use of Qi-Blood flames could lead to a Martial Artist's life burning out like a candle.
At this cost, comes the strength to combat evil spirits.
Jiang Ming shook off the flames from his hands.
His gaze swept the surroundings.
Now the night had fallen, the bright moonlight illuminated the buildings of the desolate but well-constructed village, a creepy chilly breeze blowing through.
Yet Jiang Ming's heart was devoid of fear.
Ultimately fear stemmed from insufficient firepower.
Throughout the entire battle, Jiang Ming just unleashed five moves, cleanly eliminating two Black Monkeys.
Yet his Qi-Blood still surged vigorously, Jiang Ming couldn't guarantee whether surrounding evil spirits might perceive and approach.
The nighttime outdoors was the most dangerous place, fortunately, Jiang Family Village was originally under the Mountain God's protection.
Now even with the Mountain God retreated, the great evil swallowing humans, Jiang Family Village was nonetheless the Mountain God's domain, protected by the Mountain God for hundreds of years; inertia ensures surrounding evil spirits won't easily invade Jiang Family Village.
Plus, the potential lingering aura of the Nameless great evil.
Similar to a beast marking its hunting territory, Jiang Family Village might be the safest spot within dozens of miles.
Only evil spirits like the Black Monkey, lacking spiritual wisdom, filled with greed and resentment would venture here.
"Wait until dawn then head to Evergreen City!" Jiang Ming resolved inwardly.
He looked at the familiar yet foreign village, stealthily sticking close to the walls while moving through.
The village was devoid of life, Jiang Ming roamed the entire village, confirming himself as the sole survivor.
"Damn evil spirits..." Jiang Ming took a deep breath, though not the original Jiang Ming, unnamable fury rose within him.
Jiang Family Village was sizable, self-sustained, with a smithy and a dwelling for the Hunter Team.
Carefully selecting, Jiang Ming took a pair of both long and short fairly decent iron knives from the smithy, then visited Uncle Wang the Hunter Captain's home, retrieving a bow and a quiver of arrows.
Uncle Wang had a close relationship with Jiang Ming's family, Jiang Ming had visited multiple times, even learning some archery skills, yet now it lay in silence.
Jiang Ming loaded the arrows, sighing faintly.
Then decisively turned to leave.
Jiang Ming understood he had left behind the serene civilized world of his former life, arriving in a world where human life was even less valued than the grass.