The howling wind had not yet died down, but the voices of Edward King and Miss White could no longer be heard.

The pitch-black night returned to silence.

The entire small town fell back into a deathly stillness. No one dared utter a single complaint about the damage to their homes or the fright suffered by Evelyn King.

Human lives, in the clash of such powerful beings, were as insignificant as ants.

Not worth mentioning.

This is what chaos is—a time when it’s better to be a dog in a prosperous age than a person in a troubled one. It’s not just empty words!

Ethan Brooks sat on the ground, legs spread, unmoving for a long while, still feeling his heart pounding wildly, his head spinning, white lights flashing before his eyes, colors swirling chaotically.

Only after a long, long time did the ringing in his ears finally fade, though he still felt a dull discomfort.

He opened his mouth wide, swallowed several times, and only then seemed to hear his eardrums pop back into place with a “pop,” gradually regaining his senses.

“This is just… too terrifying…”

Ethan Brooks took a deep breath: So this is what a peak cultivator in this world is like?

Such power—one move shakes the heavens and earth, as if the sky is collapsing and the ground is splitting…

Thinking of his own meager cultivation, Ethan Brooks felt all the more that… he was truly too weak.

“I still need to keep my head down and develop quietly…”

“I’m counting on you now…”

Ethan Brooks touched the empty string around his neck.

Then he looked up at his bedroom, which now had a panoramic skylight…

In the other room, Mr. Smith and Mr. Smith had their heads and upper bodies stuffed under the bed, their big butts trembling outside…

……

(2)

As soon as Ethan Brooks’s spiritual sense entered his sea of consciousness, he suddenly sensed a faint figure.

He looked over.

He saw a Daoist in green robes, hands behind his back, standing high in the air, gazing at him with deep eyes.

Ethan Brooks felt his mind shaken, as if he were instantly lost in the boundless starry sky…

After a moment, the Daoist smiled faintly and dissolved into starlight.

A single sentence, drifting and ethereal, as if it had traveled from millions of years ago, floated by.

“When the day comes that you soar to the heavens, strike a blade for me!”

Ethan Brooks felt a wave of confusion, and the “Transforming Spirit Sutra” in his mind began to turn its pages automatically.

The “Transforming Spirit Sutra.”

“…Heaven gives birth to all things, all beings are equal; cultivating immortality and attaining the Dao, there are paths for all; some are noble, some are humble; fate is clear, the great Dao is impartial; cultivate my method, enlighten all spirits; a thousand kinds of downfall, a single thread of eternal life. …”

Ethan Brooks carefully read the general preface of the “Transforming Spirit Sutra,” faintly gaining some insight.

“To enlighten all things with spirit? To grant all things a chance at eternal life? Just like humans? All beings are equal?”

“…I think I’m starting to understand.”

Ethan Brooks pondered for a long time.

“I wonder which senior comprehended this creation technique. It’s so mystical. The main idea of this ‘Transforming Spirit Sutra’ seems to be equality of all beings, that all have a chance to attain the Dao, a path to immortality… This seems a bit like Buddhist teachings?”

He continued reading.

“…Every flower and leaf has the potential to ascend; every blade of grass and tree has the chance to become a saint; mountains and rivers possess their own intelligence, and beasts are not without emotion; as living beings in this world, there is no distinction between noble and humble; all are children of creation, so how can there be high or low?”

“May I intercept a thread of creation, enlightening all spirits in the world; as long as the heart of the Dao remains, I will gather all spirits to attain the path.”

“The Sutra of Transforming Spirits, the beginning of the great Dao.”

“……”

Opening the “Transforming Spirit Sutra,” the first thing that caught his eye was this passage.

It seemed to be the founder of this technique explaining his own philosophy.

Ethan Brooks considered himself to have a solid literary foundation, so these statements were not difficult for him to understand.

Only the last sentence left him puzzled for a long time.

“Only by having nothing can there be something; only by knowing the small can one know the great. Of the nine levels of the Transforming Spirit Sutra, I have only reached the seventh; the method is passed from me, but the road lies beneath your feet…”

This passage seemed a bit confusing.

“Judging by this, the founder of this technique only created the first seven levels, and didn’t establish the later ones?”

“This is a bit like… a certain sect’s ultimate technique in an old master’s novel, where the founder, after completing the first six levels, still had many insights and speculations about the seventh, some accurate, some not.”

“But the creator of the ‘Transforming Spirit Sutra’ didn’t even discuss the later stages he hadn’t reached—just left a sentence saying that once you reach his peak, you have to create your own path? Isn’t that making me use myself as a test subject, groping my way forward?!”

“Damn, that’s a bit of a trap…”

Ethan Brooks felt his teeth itch, wanting to bite something to vent.

But for now, he had no choice but to practice the “Transforming Spirit Sutra.”

Because no matter what, this sutra was far superior to the assassin’s standard technique he was currently cultivating.

Besides, this was the golden finger he had hoped for over ten years…

Even in his previous life as a wage slave with no prospects, he would have crawled to the end. How much brighter is his future now!

That elder even said, when I reach the day I soar to the heavens, I should strike him with a blade.

He’s waiting.