36: Chapter 36 You are my student, you are my junior

The moment Charlie pointed at him and loudly chanted "God says," Zhang Mu felt his entire body being pulled by a strange, immense force.

He had never experienced being torn apart by five horses, but he felt that his current state was likely even worse.

Zhang Mu didn't know how to resist this power, so he subconsciously prepared to mobilize his Mental Energy and magic to counter it.

However, before he could even start, his body suddenly exploded into a mist of blood out of thin air, scattering in the air.

【Your character has died. Do you want to respawn immediately?】

【Available options — Respawn in place, Respawn in city (No city bound yet)】

Looking himself up and down, Zhang Mu discovered that his body had turned into a semi-transparent soul state. Judging by Charlie's smug, smiling expression, he realized that others could not see his current state.

Not in a rush to respawn, Zhang Mu's soul body rested its right hand on its chin. There was a sense of touch, and he pondered the True Word Spell that Charlie had used.

It looked pretty cool; could he manage to get his hands on it?

If he wanted to get it, where would he go? The Church headquarters?

This thing was likely heavily guarded, so there was probably no hope for now, but he could try in the future.

Putting this matter aside for now, Zhang Mu looked at the panel floating in front of him.

Perfect, he would take this opportunity to test what effect the respawn function had on his lung cancer.

【Respawn in place.】

...

While Zhang Mu was deep in thought, Charlie wasn't idle either.

He laughed first, a hearty laugh. Although he would spend the rest of his life in confinement, destroying such a talented mage with peerless potential—the thrill of taking someone else's precious, delicate porcelain and using all his strength to smash it to pieces—made him so happy that he didn't care about the punishment.

"This is the Church. Gods do not exist, but the Church possesses the power of the gods! Hahaha..."

He was fortunate that gods did not exist; otherwise, he would never have been qualified to use such a terrifying True Word Spell!

"Cough—" He hadn't laughed for long before Charlie coughed up blood.

As a monk of the lowest rank of Divine Officials, the cost of using the True Word Spell was undoubtedly high.

His sparse, jet-black short hair had turned snow-white, and the skin on his face, which had been relatively firm, was now covered in deep furrows.

The skin on his neck and hands, exposed outside his white robe, had also become like the bark of a withered tree, dry and wrinkled into clumps.

It was a painful consequence, and Charlie felt somewhat uncomfortable. To make himself feel better, he looked toward the center of the courtyard where Zhang Mu had been standing: "Arrogant genius mage, repent in the endless darkness of hell for your decision to offend the Church and to offend me!"

He turned around, preparing to return to his bedroom to rest and wait for a high-ranking Believer to come and check his memories.

"I think, even if I really went to hell, I wouldn't regret my decision today."

A calm tone rang out from behind him. Charlie's whole body stiffened, standing motionless like a statue.

After a long while, seemingly suspecting he was hallucinating, he slowly turned his head. It was very slow, taking a full minute before his line of sight swept across the courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard, Zhang Mu stood quietly, holding a wooden staff, his expression calm.

He showed a look of confusion, raised his right hand, and pinched his left arm. It didn't hurt.

Then he pinched his cheek; that didn't hurt either.

"Hehe." Charlie laughed. "It really is a hallucination; it must be because using the True Word Spell put too much pressure on my Mental Energy."

Muttering to himself, he turned and continued walking toward the bedroom.

Zhang Mu was speechless and called out to him: "Is there a possibility that it's because your skin has lost its sense of touch, which is why it doesn't hurt when you pinch it?"

"Such a realistic hallucination, hehe, but don't think you can fool me. Even the skin of a centenarian still has a sensitive sense of touch."

"Others age normally; can yours be the same?" Zhang Mu thought for a moment. "Try biting your tongue and see."

"I said, don't try to deceive me. I won't listen to the bewitchment of a hallucination. Oof..."

While his mouth said he didn't believe it, the distorted "I" from Charlie showed that he had tried it, and it hurt quite a bit; after all, his speech had become slurred.

Zhang Mu didn't speak either, waiting for him to accept reality. The courtyard, where a fierce battle had just taken place, suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a long while, Charlie, looking like a complete old man with white hair and a wrinkled face, turned around with a speed completely inconsistent with his current physical state, his finger trembling as he pointed at Zhang Mu.

"Why, why are you still alive? I witnessed you explode into a mist of blood... I understand, I understand! You are a heretic! A demon! The most evil and ugly monster in the world!"

Charlie twisted his face: "God says, you must die!"

He used the True Word Spell again, but this time, Zhang Mu remained completely unaffected, standing quietly.

Just speaking the words didn't constitute a True Word Spell. Using it once had already hollowed out Charlie's body; what he was saying now was just ordinary language, containing no power whatsoever.

"Alright, seeing that you have no tricks left, let's finish this quickly so I can go home and sleep."

Zhang Mu manifested an Ice Cone and thrust it forward.

Charlie still had some strength left, but he didn't try to dodge, instead using this last bit of energy to kneel heavily onto the stone floor in front of the bedroom door.

"Oh God!" he cried out, his expression more pious and sorrowful than ever before.

Once, he had mocked those poor people who, when suffering, did not doubt that the gods were false, but instead knelt and asked the gods why they were unwilling to eliminate their suffering and save them.

But at this moment, right now, Charlie, shrouded in silvery moonlight, was performing the very foolish act he had extremely mocked.

"Oh God!" Charlie's forehead smashed spider-web-like cracks into the stone slab. "Why are you unwilling to open your eyes? Look, look! He is a demon, a heretic!"

"Oh God! I beg you to open your eyes, grant your loyal Believer mercy and kindness, and cleanse the evil of the world!"

He propped up his upper body with his hands and let it fall heavily again. The cracks in the stone slab grew more numerous, spreading further and further outwards.

"God..." He called out to the god for the fourth time, but the sound vanished as soon as it began, because an Ice Cone had pierced through his head.

A transparent hole was pierced through his head. People die, and when people are dead, they naturally can no longer call out anything.

Zhang Mu didn't wait for him to finish his blathering, not because he was afraid that a god would actually be summoned.

Rather, he was afraid that Charlie would kowtow himself to death, and after spending all night on this, he wouldn't be able to personally finish off his mortal enemy, which would be a huge loss.

Standing there and pondering for a moment, Zhang Mu remembered that the Saul Continent had methods for extracting memories, and he wanted to prevent his white fireball from being exposed.

He slightly raised his staff, and three fireballs appeared, shooting straight at Charlie's kneeling corpse. When the continuous explosions ended, only severed limbs remained in front of the bedroom door.

Fearing it wasn't safe enough, he threw another white fireball at it. Seeing that not even ash remained, Zhang Mu stopped, satisfied.

If the Church could extract memories from air filled with ashes, then he would admit defeat.

"Done, time to go home." Clapping his hands together, Zhang Mu prepared to find a secluded spot to summon a portal.

"Zhang Mu!" "Junior!"

He turned his head in a daze. At the courtyard gate, Potter and Avril stood side by side.

Judging by their stunned expressions, as if they had seen a miracle, Zhang Mu estimated that they must have arrived when he was destroying the corpse.

They walked over slowly, only stopping when they were almost face-to-face.

The three of them looked at each other, silent for a long time.

Zhang Mu suddenly laughed: "Teacher, Senior Sister, it's just as you see... No. Mr. Potter, Ms. Avril, it's just as you see. Please be at ease; I put away my badge when I fought him, so he won't... Uh."

Before he could finish, Avril and Potter brought their right hands together into palm strikes and simultaneously chopped down on his head—very lightly, with the force of a massage.

"You are my student." "You are my junior."