King of Creation Chapter 2054 - 2039: Blood Skull (Second Update)

With just a single flicker of his figure, Ye Zhen and the Xuan Ji Avatar appeared outside the Inherited Secret Realm, right before the Demon Soul Army led by Hei Er, which was still encircling the Secret Realm.

Appearing together with Ye Zhen and the Xuan Ji Avatar were the more than seventeen thousand Demon Soul Elite who had previously been taken into the Inherited Secret Realm by Ye Zhen to fight, led by Hei Qi and Hei Jiu.

These more than seventeen thousand Demon Soul Elite, this time, were not brought over by Ye Zhen through storage in the Mirage Dragon Pearl Space.

Instead, with a single thought, the War Soul Blood Banner swept out, and directly transported these seventeen thousand-plus Demon Souls from tens of thousands of miles away to this place.

This was the true might of the War Soul Blood Banner.

Of course, the main reason was that they were within the Demon Soul Realm; once they left the Demon Soul Realm, the War Soul Blood Banner would no longer possess such power.

Most of its current effect came from the blessings and stimulation of various Secret Arts of Demon Souls.

"We pay our respects to the Grand Marshal! Congratulations to the Grand Marshal on returning victorious!"

At the instant they appeared, whether it was the Demon Soul Elite Ye Zhen had brought back or the two hundred thousand Demon Soul Army that Hei Er had kept outside as garrison, all of them knelt simultaneously, their thunderous shout shaking the heavens!

Ye Zhen and the Xuan Ji Avatar stood side by side, proudly overlooking the skies of the Demon Soul Realm, like the rulers of this world.

It should be said: they were precisely the rulers of the Demon Soul Realm!

Within this Demon Soul Realm, as long as there weren’t hundreds and thousands of Dao Realm experts charging in, then all of them were merely fodder on Ye Zhen’s chopping block!

"Hei Er, Hei Qi, Hei Jiu!" The Xuan Ji Avatar’s voice rang out suddenly, carrying a few degrees of majesty.

"Subordinates present!"

Hei Er, Hei Qi, and Hei Jiu stepped forward simultaneously and bowed in great salute!

"In this battle, Hei Er guarded the outside with proper measures, while Hei Qi and Hei Jiu slaughtered within. All have rendered great merit. However, this place was first discovered by Hei Qi, so Hei Qi shall bear the foremost merit!"

As he spoke, the War Soul Blood Banner gave a shake, and a dense stream of Blood Light fell into Hei Qi’s body. In an instant, Hei Qi’s aura began to soar madly.

In the space of a single heartbeat, Hei Qi’s Cultivation aura directly surged to the Peak of Ninth Stage Realm King Realm.

This was also the utmost limit to which the War Soul Blood Banner could raise their Cultivation.

As for the Dao Realm, that was not something the War Soul Blood Banner could elevate; they would need to comprehend it on their own in battle.

Moreover, these Demon Souls were originally condensed from War Soul killing intent. If they wished to break through, they could only do so amidst endless slaughter—only then was there a chance for advancement.

Seeing Hei Qi’s Cultivation instantly rise to the Peak of Ninth Stage Realm King Realm, both Hei Er and Hei Jiu revealed looks of envy.

However, the bestowal of reward was not yet over.

The Xuan Ji Avatar casually reached out and drew forth a corporeal body of a Late Stage of Realm King Realm Three-eyed Demon Clan member that had previously been collected during the battle.

His palm brushed across the lifeless flesh of this Three-eyed Demon Clan body; a faint green flame flashed and vanished. The corpse’s flesh and hair rapidly withered, then turned into ash at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the end, only a White Bone Skeleton remained, emitting a soft white Spirit Light.

Pinching a strange Magic Formula between his fingers, streams of Blood Light continuously shot out from the Xuan Ji Avatar’s fingertips and the War Soul Blood Banner, merging into this White Bone Skeleton.

Gradually, when a faint tinge of Blood Light suffused the entire body of the White Bone Skeleton, the Xuan Ji Avatar suddenly pointed at Hei Qi and barked, "Enter!"

A faint, indistinct power instantly bound Hei Qi, and in a flash carried him into that White Bone Skeleton suffused with subtle Blood Light.

"Fuse!"

"Spirit Calling!"

At the instant the word "Spirit" left his lips, a powerful suction erupted from within the Blood Light–emitting White Bone Skeleton, drawing Hei Qi into the skeletal frame.

As he was pulled in, there wasn’t the slightest panic in Hei Qi’s eyes.

To them, their Grand Marshal was the existence they trusted most.

As long as the Grand Marshal gave the order, even if it meant all of them going to their deaths, they would not hesitate in the slightest.

The fusion of Hei Qi and the White Bone Skeleton lasted for roughly a dozen breaths of time. At the instant Hei Qi and the White Bone Skeleton completely merged, two masses of blood-colored flames abruptly ignited within the two hollow sockets of the skull.

In that same instant, the White Bone Skeleton transformed into an intensely colored Blood Skull.

A mysterious aura began to emanate from this Blood Skull.

The Blood Skull fused with Hei Qi was like a newborn child, trying out its new body. It lifted a foot and stomped fiercely upon the ground beneath it; the tremendous force made the entire ground thunder.

The next moment, Hei Qi suddenly dropped to one knee, kowtowed toward Ye Zhen, and said, "This subordinate thanks the Grand Marshal for the grace of reconstructing my body!"

"This is what you deserve. Under my command, those who render merit must be rewarded," the Xuan Ji Avatar said faintly.

This scene left Hei Er and Hei Jiu with their eyes nearly bulging out, while the surrounding Realm King Realm Demon Soul elites were even more stirred to boiling blood.

If there were an opportunity at this moment, they would probably wish nothing more than to charge forward immediately, establish battle merit, and receive such a conferment of reward.

Demon Souls have no physical bodies; they exist like Spiritual Bodies.

Such Spiritual Bodies, in battle, are at a great disadvantage most of the time.

Because once the Spiritual Body is heavily wounded, it is the True Body that is damaged, and both Cultivation and Combat Power will plummet drastically.

A single serious injury can even cause their Cultivation to fall an entire Grand Realm.

Moreover, once they gain a physical body, they can unleash far more powerful Combat Power and act with far greater agility.

Also, for Demon Souls who are fundamentally Spiritual Bodies, although the physical form is important, at critical moments it can be discarded at any time, like having an extra layer of powerful protective armor—its significance is extraordinary.

While Hei Qi was unable to contain his delight, Ye Zhen casually produced a set of High Grade Demon Suppression Armor and a High Grade Demon Suppression Artifact–level spear. A surge of powerful Four-colored Primordial Spirit Light blasted out, instantly scouring away all remaining traces of Qi inside.

Then he tossed them to the Xuan Ji Avatar; these were spoils taken today from elite experts of various clans of the Demon Clan who had fallen in battle.

"These are your reward as well!"

"Many thanks for the treasures granted, Grand Marshal."

In the span of a single breath, Hei Qi branded them with his Divine Soul Imprint and donned them fully.

The blood-colored armor and spear, gripped in the hands of Hei Qi—now transformed into a Blood Skull wreathed in Blood Light—radiated a Killing Qi that made hearts tremble, carrying a unique and shocking might.

Hei Er and Hei Jiu watched, eyes burning with envy.

"Hei Er, Hei Jiu!"

With Ye Zhen’s low shout, Hei Er and Hei Jiu stepped out at the same time. Under their delighted gazes, two streaks of Blood Light entered their bodies; within the span of a single breath, their Cultivation soared to the Peak of Ninth Stage Realm King Realm.

Afterward, the Xuan Ji Avatar took out two more corpses of Demon Clan elites and repeated the process.

Half a Quarter-hour later, Hei Er and Hei Jiu likewise transformed into Blood Skulls whose forms differed little, half-kneeling majestically before Ye Zhen.

However, Ye Zhen’s rewards and punishments still followed principle.

Since Hei Qi was declared first in merit, then the reward to Hei Qi had to be the most generous.

In the end, Ye Zhen only granted Hei Er and Hei Jiu each one suitable High Grade Demon Suppression Artifact, while Hei Qi received two.

The conferring of rewards was far from over. Next, Ye Zhen ordered Hei Er, Hei Qi, and Hei Jiu to each list those under their command whose battle merits were outstanding, and rewarded them on the spot.

These outstanding meritorious ones numbered around a hundred, all Demon Souls of the Realm King Realm.

Without exception, Ye Zhen raised the Cultivation of this group of Demon Souls by four stages across the board, so that most of these Realm King Realm elite Demon Souls now stood between the Fourth Stage of Realm King Realm and the Seventh Stage of Realm King Realm.

At the same time, for these people, Ye Zhen also, without exception, selected Realm King Realm corpses he had collected and refined them into Skeletons, turning them all into Blood Skulls with far greater Combat Power.

It can be said that this batch of roughly one hundred Blood Skulls would become, for a considerable time to come, the core of cores, the elite of elites, of Ye Zhen’s Demon Soul Legion.

Each one could exert strength befitting their Cultivation, and under the blessing of the War Soul Blood Flag, could even unleash Combat Power at the Peak of Ninth Stage Realm King Realm.

The conferring of rewards still continued. For a portion of meritorious Demon Souls, Ye Zhen raised their Cultivation four stages in unison, but did not bestow them skeletal flesh bodies.

First, rewards could not be given out too promiscuously; second, the Xuan Ji Avatar had only just learned this Secret Technique of fusing Blood Skeleton Warriors from Yany Tu’s Ancient Demon God inheritance and was still not very adept with it. Besides that, each fusion of a Blood Skeleton Warrior consumed no small amount of power.

A little over one hundred Blood Skulls had already consumed nearly half of the Xuan Ji Avatar’s Primordial Spirit Power; only after he fully comprehends it in the future can he continue to fuse more Blood Skeleton Warriors.

Soon, the meritorious personnel selected by the three Corps Leaders, Hei Er, Hei Qi, and Hei Qi, had all been rewarded. Yet to Ye Zhen, the conferring of rewards was still not finished.

"In this battle, all who took part have rendered service. As long as there is merit, this Marshal will never stint on reward!"

With a low shout, countless strands of Blood Light suddenly erupted from the War Soul Blood Flag, and in an instant, they enveloped all two hundred thousand Demon Soul warriors present.

As for the expenditure, the War Soul Blood Flag had previously devoured to exhaustion the virtually limitless War Soul Blood Light in the blood pond beneath the Ancient Demon God inheritance; for now it possessed more than enough energy for Ye Zhen to squander!

The consumption before him did not even amount to one percent of what he had gained.

Even while covering nearly two hundred thousand Demon Soul warriors, with Ye Zhen’s Primordial Spirit Power he could still control the degree of elevation with extreme precision.

Among these Demon Souls, those whose elevation was greatest were the ones who had followed Ye Zhen into the Inherited Secret Realm and returned.

Their Cultivation rise was uniformly three stages.

Originally, among these seventeen thousand-odd Demon Souls, there were already more than seven thousand at the Realm King Realm. With Ye Zhen’s increase, all seventeen thousand-odd Demon Souls now had Cultivation auras elevated to the Realm King Realm.

Those who had already reached the Realm King Realm saw their strength further rise to the Middle Stage of Realm King Realm.

As for the two hundred thousand Demon Soul Army who had remained outside, the degree of elevation was generally similar, mostly a rise of two minor realms, their Cultivation once again raised across the board.

Over a thousand Demon Souls at the Late-stage Dark Palace Realm broke through in Cultivation to the Realm King Realm, while those who broke through to the Dark Palace Realm were even more numerous.

"We thank the Grand Marshal for his generous rewards!"

The two hundred thousand Demon Soul Army, their elevation complete, knelt in a vast dark mass; their mountain-shaking roar resounded, echoing through the void!