Xie Qing looked at the huge villa and raised an eyebrow. He had been told that his wedding gift was here, but who would have thought it would be such a gift.
Now he was in a wealthy area of Britain; there were quite a few expensive cars and other things.
But, remembering his old apartment, Xie Qing realized that he would clearly need this gift.
Aria, who was behind him, only hummed. She wasn't happy about being dragged on such an adventure earlier in the morning.
"Wifey, how do this house?" Xie Qing asked with a cheerful smile.
"It'll do." Aria replied indifferently, but if you looked closely, there was a blush on her cheeks.
Xie Qing smiled and then entered through the gate. There was green grass around the villa, and beautiful flowers.
There were chairs and tables in the courtyard where one could drink tea or coffee. Everything looked quite elegant.
The house was big, but what surprised Xie Qing the most was how expensive the materials were. Somewhere he even discovered gold and diamond.
Though, remembering that money was nothing to Supernatural beings, he just shrugged it off.
There was a basement beneath the house, a training ground to be exact. It had everything he needed.
***
Xie Qing stretched and took a deep breath. He looked at the training doll, which could rival an adult vampire in strength.
He swung lightly and struck the doll. The screen showed the force of the blow - 60 points.
That was pretty weak, considering that the doll would break at a 500-point hit.
But Xie Qing didn't go all out either. He swung again, but now with more force.
Bam!
The puppet tilted slightly, but soon returned to its place. Xie Qing shifted his gaze to the screen and saw that his punch was 100 points.
"That punch might have only broken a few bones in the vampire, but he would have recovered quickly..."
Xie Qing smiled bitterly and shook his head. A doll with the characteristics of a vampire was specially designed to make training more difficult.
An adult vampire was considered a disaster level danger and could cause the extinction of the world. Assuming, of course, that no one would interfere with it.
Xie Qing smiled, then swung again. With each strike, he increased his strength by an order of magnitude.
And then, at the end, his strength peaked and he hit the doll. It flew back against the wall, but ten minutes later it was back in place.
There were small cracks in it, but they were insignificant. Xie Qing looked at the screen.
190 points.
Honestly, such a blow would clearly not be enough to even seriously injure a vampire. Considering the fact that they regenerate quickly, it's a real headache.
Xie Qing was not disappointed, however. On the contrary, he was excited. He had a goal and he would achieve it for sure!
And so, his training began.
***
A week had passed since training. Xie Qing's record has risen to 194 points. Although it seems small, it is actually quite a good result.
As for Xie Qing, he was now in the graveyard. Beside him stood Aria with her arms crossed.
"Are you sure you can kill them? They're tenacious." Asked Aria and tilted her head to the side.
"Quite sure. I can just devour them." Xie Qing smiled and shrugged.
Aria sighed when she saw his nonchalance, but said nothing. Xie Qing stepped forward.
Vshuu!
A strong wind rose in the cemetery as translucent human figures emerged from the coffins. Although some were so deformed that you could not call them human.
Xie Qing smiled broadly, and then spread his arms out to either side. The ghosts, on the other hand, went wild when they saw him smile.
When the ghost was about to touch Xie Qing, black smoke erupted from the latter's body and instantly engulfed the ghost, leaving only death cries.
The other ghosts, seeing this, became wary and retreated. Some of them even began to run away.
"Huh?! You can't run away, it's a violation of the rules!" Xie Qing smiled, and then appeared ahead of the fleeing ghost and quickly engulfed them in black smoke.
"Yeeeee!!!"
The ghost cried out pitifully before finally dying. Xie Qing smiled even wider as he felt his strength increase.
The other ghosts also began to run away. Seeing this, Xie Qing shook his head and sighed.
"Why isn't anyone following the rules? Now I'll have to kill you all earlier than planned..."
He stomped on the ground and then pushed off. Soon he caught up with the ghosts and released black smoke that engulfed all the ghosts.
"Eeee!!!"
"Uaaah!"
The ghosts made different sounds, but Xie Qing didn't care. What was more important to him was the feeling of satisfaction after his powers had risen to a number.
He sighed and white steam came out of his mouth. It was the memories of the ghosts he had absorbed.
Seeing the different fragments of the crimes, Xie Qing felt disgusted. Each of these ghosts had committed a sin.
Who are we kidding, though? Xie Qing absorbed them because they were weak. After he became the Guardian of the Abyss, his worldview changed.
The strong absorbs the weak. Such is the law of the Supernatural world.
And if Xie Qing shows weakness, he too will be swallowed. And he can't let that happen.
The strong absorbs the weak. Such is the law of the supernatural world.
And if Xie Qing shows weakness, he too will be absorbed. And he can't let that happen.
[Purge Ghosts Assignment Completed]
[Reward received: +60 to Strength, +70 to Dexterity, +0.08% progress in "Devouring" ability].
Xie Qing looked at the last point of the reward and nodded. It turns out that it is possible to increase the skill of an ability just by applying it. Although the improvements are not serious.
Aria looked at him with a complicated look. These ghosts are difficult for even angels to purge, as they are filled with cruelty and negative energy.
But Xie Qing was able to kill them so easily?
Although, after thinking a bit, Aria realized that his way was quite different.
After all, he wasn't cleansing them, he was killing them. Without a chance of reincarnation.
Aria felt a contradiction. She was glad that these people had been punished, but she still felt some guilt that Xie Qing had denied them the chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Seeing her look, Xie Qing shook his head. He walked over to her and stroked her head.
"What are you doing?" Aria blushed and waved away his stroking.
"Aria, you shouldn't feel sorry for them." Suddenly Xie Qing spoke. His gaze was serious.
"They r**ed women, killed their own kind, robbed..."
"They don't deserve to be reincarnated."
"They were also weak. And that's why they were swallowed up by someone stronger."
Xie Qing dropped these words and left the cemetery, leaving Aria to ponder. A few seconds later, Aria left the cemetery as well.
***
A month passed after the killing of the ghosts. Xie Qing went around the cemeteries several more times, repeating the process.
In the end, he became a little stronger.
For some reason, however, his rank did not increase.
[Name: Xie Qing
Age: 18 / ???
Race: Guardian of the Abyss
Overall Combat Power: C+
Points: 3900
[Open Shop]...]
His overall combat power was still at C+. Xie Qing frowned his eyebrows.
Knock.
Xie Qing was distracted by the knocking, which was caused by a mug of cocoa. When he looked up, he saw Aria.
"Thank you." Xie Qing smiled softly.
"Um..." Aria nodded embarrassedly and sat down next to him.
In fact, even after all this time, they still kept their distance. And especially Aria.
Thanks to the prenuptial agreement, Xie Qing and Aria had become closer, for they were to live their entire lives together. However, this did not eliminate the distance between them.
Xie Qing might have seemed like an experienced alpha male, but he only had one girlfriend, and their relationship was short-lived.
Xie Qing himself was introverted and spoke little. However, the fact that he could talk so casually with Aria was due to a quality of intelligence that helped him stay calm.
And now he was nervous. For a virgin like Xie Qing, life with a beauty was both heaven and hell.
Especially if that hottie was a martial artist...
Xie Qing sighed heavily, remembering the incident in the bathroom. Just like in the classic anime, he saw her half-naked. Because of that, he was beaten up.
Xie Qing shook his head. He picked up his phone and opened the InfaRct-gram app and started flipping through the ribbon.
It was a habit he had picked up from years of surfing the Internet. Suddenly his gaze stopped on a photo of a couple standing by the Eiffel Tower.
"That's right!" Suddenly Xie Qing jumped up, which got Aria's attention.
"W-what happened?" Aria looked at him puzzled.
Xie Qing smiled:
"We're going on a date!"