Chapter 12: Knife or Candy—A Lesson in Mercy
"Since you are here, you should be buried here."
"I… I choose candy."
The owner of the barbecue shop trembled as he responded, his voice dry and weak. He had no idea what the candy meant—was it poison? Was it a trap? He didn't dare to guess. But one thing was certain: choosing the knife definitely spelled death.
"Choose candy?" Xiao Qiang's tone was calm, even amused. "A man with such deep thoughts must not be allowed to remain."
Before the shop owner could respond, Xiao Qiang picked up the blade he had earlier tossed toward him. With a swift motion, cold steel flashed, and the man's right ear was severed cleanly.
"Ah! No! No! I don't choose candy! I choose the knife! I choose the knife!" The owner screamed in pain, clutching the side of his face, blood pouring through his fingers. Fear overtook his pain. In the face of death, he changed his answer in desperation.
"You want to choose the knife now?" Xiao Qiang asked softly.
"Yes, yes! I choose the knife! Not the candy! Please, just spare my life!"
As the final word left his lips, Xiao Qiang's blade sliced down again. This time, four fingers on the man's left hand, sparing only the thumb, were severed.
"You actually chose the knife? Seems like you're full of murderous intent. As expected, someone like you can't be allowed to live."
"Ah! I won't choose! I don't want the candy or the knife! I won't choose anything!" The man shrieked, tears and snot mixing with blood as he begged for mercy.
Another flash of steel.
His right eye was destroyed.
"I gave you a choice, and you refused to make one. You're clearly rebellious. How could I let someone like you walk away?"
"Ah! I choose both! I choose candy and the knife—"
He froze.
The smiling face that stared at him didn't blink, didn't speak. It only watched him with mild amusement—as if it was picking which part to slice next.
In that moment of silence, realization dawned on the man.
"You think… you think I'm too greedy… and that means I must die, right?"
"You said it yourself," Xiao Qiang replied casually. "I didn't say anything, but since you've admitted it, I'll honor your conclusion."
"F**k you!"
…
Somewhere far from the city, in a remote place without a soul in sight, Xiao Qiang tossed a large, wriggling bag onto the ground.
"Even though you almost got me killed by helping Shrek's people," Xiao Qiang said with a sigh, "I'm a kind person."
"I always try to win people over with virtue. Now that you've been won over by my virtue, let's call it even, alright?"
He glanced around at the scenic grasslands and smiled. "Confucius once said: Since you've come here, you should go with the flow… which I interpret as: since you've come here, you should be buried here."
"Don't worry. Tang Wulin buried a dragon over a thousand days. I'll bury you in a thousand seconds. That way, you can also enjoy the dignity of a dragon's burial."
Xiao Qiang dug quickly, buried the squirming bag, stomped the ground several times until the soil was packed firm, and left.
Underground, the barbecue shop owner—who by all logic should have suffocated and died—was miraculously still alive.
Because he had been stuffed into a bag and driven by a strong survival instinct, he had struggled and compacted the earth around him alongside Xiao Qiang, unintentionally creating a small air pocket.
But even that was finite.
As the air thinned, panic took over again.
"Why! Why did it come to this!"
"I should have joined Shrek City, opened a barbecue stall, married a Shrek soul master, and reached the pinnacle of life!"
"Why did it turn out this way! Why was that Soul Emperor so weak! How can a single soul master kill a six-ring Soul Emperor instantly?!"
As the oxygen drained from the bag, his desperation twisted into something darker. Rage and resentment filled him, and a strange black mist began to curl around his body.
If an evil soul master had been present, they would have recognized it instantly: a mutation triggered by extreme resentment—the awakening of a martial soul with evil attributes.
It was the ultimate metamorphosis born from unwillingness to die.
When the mutation completed, his strength exploded. The critical moment had arrived. A blue-tinted hand burst from the soil, tearing through the earth.
He emerged—changed.
"Zombie Martial Soul… hahahaha! Is this the power of an awakened Martial Soul?"
Eyes wild with excitement and fury, Wang Xiaodong howled into the sky.
"Just wait, all of you! That damned Shrek soul master who set me up, and that lunatic who tortured me—I'll make you pay!"
"The old me failed and was tricked to death, but the new me? I'll rule everything from now on!"
"This is the real Zombie Martial Soul! This is the real Wang Xiaodong! The real—me!"
For the first time in his life, Wang Xiaodong felt like a god. Soul power surged through his veins. Confidence surged with it. He was finally free.
But a voice behind him shattered that illusion.
"Wang Xiaodong. Zombie Martial Soul. Good guy… You called me an evil soul master, but turns out you're the real deal."
Wang Xiaodong froze. That voice—no, it couldn't be!
He turned.
Standing behind him, still wearing the same calm expression as before, was none other than Xiao Qiang.
"You… why are you here?! Didn't you leave already?"
Having just awakened his martial spirit and broken through to level 10, Wang Xiaodong should have been brimming with arrogance. But the memory of Xiao Qiang killing a six-ring Soul Emperor in one strike still haunted him.
Xiao Qiang rubbed his chin.
"Yeah… I left earlier, but then I started thinking—I might've gone too far. You only almost got me killed. That's not quite a death sentence, is it? So I came back to dig you up."
"And then grind your bones and scatter your ashes?"
Xiao Qiang shook his head. "No, nothing so dramatic."
In truth, Xiao Qiang had realized something mid-journey: this world was far from ordinary. Rare occurrences like martial soul mutations might only happen one in ten thousand times, but even that meant someone, somewhere, had to draw the short straw.
He didn't want to be the fool who let a future enemy live, only to be stabbed in the back months or years later. There was no resurrection in this world—no do-overs. If he died, he died for good.
So he returned. Just in case.
"I'm telling you, my martial soul has awakened!" Wang Xiaodong shouted, trying to sound confident. "It's a top-grade spirit—zombie! You can't kill me now, even without a soul ring!"
"Oh," Xiao Qiang replied nonchalantly. "That doesn't matter."
With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a massive three-meter-long iron rod from his storage soul guide.
"Zi Bu Yu. Strange Strength Chaos." Xiao Qiang narrowed his eyes. "Put simply—if my strength is high enough… even ghosts can be killed."
Wang Xiaodong: "…"