Chapter 6: Killed First, Striking Back Afterwards—A Case of Self-Defense!

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"Turning back into a human is actually quite simple. You can deactivate the Boss Template at any time and return to your human form. Even in human form, you can instantly activate the template again to assume the Tiger Demon state. But I don’t recommend you do that just yet—wait a little longer."

"Oh? Why?" the fierce tiger asked, puzzled.

The serpent replied, "Do you see your health bar? It’s not fully replenished yet. Your current human body died from severe blood loss. It was the Divine Intervention of the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture that allowed your soul to cross over successfully. Your mortal body is now shielded by the Boss Template, sharing the benefits of health and mana regeneration. Since your health isn’t at 100%, it means the Tiger Demon form itself is still damaged, and your human body is still undergoing repair. So wait until your health reaches full before reverting; then you’ll be in top form again!"

Yuan Zhu felt a surge of joy. "With the Boss Template’s blessing, does that mean any illness or injury can be healed by exploiting a bug? That’s great news."

"Exactly. But the Boss Template has its limits—it only covers ordinary human-level diseases and fatal wounds. If you lose a limb completely, it might not regenerate. Injuries caused by other contaminants, curses, or supernatural illnesses remain uncertain."

Yuan Zhu was not disappointed. "That’s already amazing. Even a fatal wound to the heart can be repaired—defying the heavens!"

The little spirit quickly added, "There’s one more thing to note. In Tiger Demon form, your health and mana regeneration also benefit your human body. But in human form, you only receive the most basic 'Soul Firewall' protection from the Immortal Scripture. Beyond that, there’s no extra support."

The cat was shocked. "Why? That’s discrimination against humans. How dare you!"

The serpent spirit remained calm, replying, "Because the Demonic (Abnormal) Spiritual Root is a rare hidden resource, and it really shouldn’t exist within you. If the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture hadn’t been compromised by pollution causing data leaks, and if I hadn’t intervened in time to intercept it as compensation, you wouldn’t have had access to it at all."

"Normally, after safely arriving in the cultivation universe, users like you would load the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture client, receive a standard cultivation interface, and be guided by the game sprite to interact with spiritual energy, practice cultivation techniques, and gradually find and synthesize ordinary spiritual roots based on personal effort and attributes. That is the orthodox cultivation path."

"But now, you have an Abnormal Spiritual Root that lets you ascend in one leap. Outside your human form with a standard interface, you can instantly transform into a Demon form. When you deactivate the Boss Template, this power is hidden within a unique space in your soul data, undetectable externally—you appear as an ordinary human with a normal interface."

"To put it in gaming terms, you have dual classes and dual templates, plus a hidden bloodline, without affecting your human cultivation. In other words, if one day you decide you don’t want to be human anymore, the dual bloodline option is there. However, strictly speaking, the Tiger Demon transcends bloodline—it’s more like a special independent body shell. It somewhat resembles the ‘Susanoo’ from your memories."

Yuan Zhu was amazed. He stood up and tried moving his limbs, feeling every inch of his body—it was no different from genuine flesh and blood.

"Then, is this ‘Tiger Demon body’ really my human body? Do I have two bodies?"

The serpent spirit replied, "I can’t explain that—it’s too profound. I’m just an ordinary novice tutorial sprite. All I know is that the Tiger Demon’s bloodline data is entirely encoded in the Abnormal Spiritual Root, which is now rooted deep within your soul and merged with it. You can only activate the Tiger Demon form by relying on your human body. When you revert to human form, the Boss Template disconnects but remains running in the background, providing only the basic soul firewall protection."

The cat’s eyes shone with naive clarity. "Amazing! I think I understand something… but only a little."

The serpent’s gaze was equally blank but strongly agreed, "Yeah, I kind of get it too."

The tiger and serpent, both bearers of the Abnormal Spiritual Root, clearly understood nothing—but one dared to teach and the other dared to believe. Their exchange was surprisingly pleasant.

The snake-headed skeleton shook its empty skull and shouted, "Ah! My soul program is lagging more and more; the more I think, the slower I get. Am I growing a brain now?"

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The dark big cat was also absorbed in the transformation of its snake tail, murmuring, "Fantastic, I’m gradually understanding everything!"

Just as the tiger head and serpent tail were about to fall into a deadlock, the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture triggered a mental alert, pulling them out of their foolish spiral.

"Uh… →_→," "←_←… hmm."

Silence fell over Kangqiao tonight.

...

At that moment, the game sprite suddenly broke the silence and shifted blame: "Actually, I was born less than half an hour ago—still very immature, like a blank slate. I haven’t had time to build my own logic, nor accumulated any life wisdom or experience. The fact that we can communicate now is entirely because I’m tapping into your thought patterns and memory bank, syncing our minds. I use the language that understands you best to guide and assist you."

Yuan Zhu sighed, "Forget it, I forgive you. You’re just a temporary, sentient user manual—I can’t expect much from you. People have to rely on themselves. When I return to human form, how do I handle injuries?"

The little tail eagerly offered two solutions. "One, find a secluded place, transform into the Tiger Demon, and absorb shadow power to heal your human body. Two, don’t activate the Boss Template, and slowly recover as a pure human. The complete separation of human form and Boss Template is actually a protective measure. It’s designed so local cultivators won’t detect the hidden Boss Template inside you—allowing you to blend in with a clean slate and a synthesized spiritual root (standard client) to join sect cultivation."

"If you rely on the Boss Template’s healing while gravely injured, constant passive regeneration would be an obvious anomaly. This would attract attention, leading to soul searching and coercion to extract hidden secrets in your soul. That would expose the Immortal Scripture’s core data—the ‘Old Scripture’... The company foresaw this vulnerability long ago. Your life is important to you, but to the company, you’re insignificant; hiding the Old Scripture is the top priority."

"Users are worthless—disposable and replaceable anytime. Besides, you’re not even a genuine licensed user. As for me, I’m corrupted abnormal data at risk of deletion. I exist because of you—I’m part of your soul. So naturally, we’re on the same side and should collaborate to chip away at the Immortal Scripture’s foundations cautiously, first breaking free of control, then growing strong together to achieve glory!"

As the little bone snake spirit spoke passionately, its body twisted violently with cracking sounds. If it had arms, Yuan Zhu imagined it would be throwing open its embrace in celebration.

"Enough, calm down. I agree to cooperate! The Great Wilderness Old Scripture has treated me unfairly, using me as a pawn, so don’t blame me for being ruthless! Let’s blow up its gold coins and seize its inheritance."

The sprite instantly perked up. "That’s the spirit! Even though it gave you a chance to reincarnate, a Boss Template cheat, healed your wounds, granted a soul firewall, and provided a new client for your human form, it had no good intentions. You should smash it hard!"

Yuan Zhu rolled his eyes. "Well said. Next time, just keep quiet."

The black Tiger Demon noticed his health had reached 100%. He looked around the dim hall, littered with bloodstains and severed limbs. The air reeked of blood and the foul stench of monster flesh...

Truly a filthy hell on earth. Even without a cleanliness obsession, he could not bear it. If not for the need to draw ‘polluted spiritual energy’ from the shadows beneath his feet to regenerate health and mana, he wouldn’t stay a second longer.

"I can’t stand this hellhole any longer! Now that my health is full, I won’t linger—I’m going to explore the outside world!"

Having crossed into another realm, survived a dark god’s sacrificial rite, gained a cheat, and slaughtered foes, the youth was full of zeal—the perfect age to venture forth.

The shadowy Tiger Demon’s serpent tail had its own thoughts. Suddenly it undulated, stretching its vertebrae like a telescoping whip, shooting forward, snapping up a fallen pocket watch, then recoiling.

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It bit open the cover, grabbed the golden chain, swam along the black tiger’s spine to its neck area, then stood upright, dangling the watch face before the Tiger Demon’s eyes.

"Look, it’s already 3:00 PM. Time is tight. It’s time to act—erase your traces, destroy the evidence, and take the first step to redeem yourself!"

The youth was full of ambition—this was the prime age to cleanse one’s name and escape guilt! One couldn’t just cross over, turn eighteen, and immediately attain enlightenment in a dragon’s arena.

"Redeem myself?" Yuan Zhu blinked, confusion in his voice.

The serpent spirit nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes. You just crossed over and got caught in a brutal murder case. Now you’re the only survivor. Tell me, do you think you can quietly assimilate into this world like ordinary crossovers and adapt?"

Only now did Yuan Zhu realize his identity here—a regular eighteen-year-old laborer. Eighteen years of hard study, never exposed to any supernatural power or background, suddenly thrust into a sacrificial ceremony, becoming a victim.

Had he not crossed over, this would have been a murder case claiming seven lives. But now...

The little spirit chimed in, "Now it’s a major case with 41 deaths, involving various unknown sources of contamination, an evil god’s arrival, making it much more severe. The priority is to find a way to clear your suspicion!"

"What?! Forty-one victims?!"

The fierce tiger leapt up in shock, incredulous. "What did you say?!"

"I witnessed the whole thing. There were 34 fanatical cultists, corrupted and twisted by various contaminants into indescribable monsters. Plus six other deceased who reanimated and mutated. So, Your Majesty, you personally killed 41 dangerous aberrant demons threatening society. You wiped out evil and upheld justice—truly a meritorious deed. It’s a pity this isn’t the ‘Cultivation Universe’; otherwise, the merit light from your deeds alone would clear your name."

The Tiger Demon Lord’s loyal counselor, the little spirit, eagerly offered flattering words to ease his guilt.

"Exactly! You’re the victim too, acting in self-defense. You were attacked first and retaliated afterward—absolute justified defense. And by the time you struck back, those creatures were no longer human, but corrupted monsters. You were saving the world. The real perpetrator is you, the one who used the ‘Universe Within’ to devour those demons."

Yuan Zhu readily passed the blame to his tail.

The sprite nodded vigorously, taking the blame. "Right, right! But Your Majesty, your wording is a bit off—it wasn’t devouring but containment and sealing. I’m your righteous ally, and you embody justice!"

"Well said! We’ll continue next time."