An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 178 Three Hundred Thousand Living Souls

The moment the True Demon Blade fell, time and space seemed to stand still. Invisible chains sealed off the entire space, freezing the leaping figures in mid-air.

The next moment, a slash that seemed to cut through space itself emerged, and the pitch-black blade light instantly filled the entire cavern!
"Puff puff!"

All the corrupted awakened beings who attacked were sent flying backward by the shockwave generated by the blade's edge. Their bodies were covered with dense cracks, and even the colonel's skin was cut. The two corrupted awakened beings who charged at the front were instantly dismembered into pieces!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The corrupted awakened ones fell to the ground in a sorry state. When they raised their heads again, their eyes were filled with fear and disbelief as they looked at Chu Xiu!
Before they could react, Chu Xiu leaped high into the air again, his gaze cold, like a god looking down upon the world.

The next moment, amidst the horrified gazes of the corrupted awakened beings, the blade of light symbolizing death fell from the sky once more!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth was torn apart, and hundreds of crisscrossing ravines, each more than ten meters deep, appeared in the huge cavern. These ravines were filled with the scattered remains of decaying creatures.

With a casual swing of his sword, he killed two more corrupted awakened beings!

A surge of experience flowed into Chu Xiu's body, bringing a look of pleasure to his face. At this moment, Chu Xiu resembled a perverted killer enjoying the thrill of slaughter!

In contrast, the high-ranking corruptors wore expressions of fear! The colonel, in particular, displayed an extremely human-like look of shock and anger!
Through their pupils, Chu Xiu seemed to see the calamity manipulating them from behind. The other party probably never dreamed that Chu Xiu's strength could increase to such a level in such a short time!
From being suppressed in a head-on battle against a Corrupted Awakener at the beginning, and having to trade injuries for lives, to now killing Corrupted Awakeners as easily as slaughtering chickens and dogs!
Even calamities that have existed for countless years have never imagined that someone could possess such a terrifying speed of power increase! This turned what was originally a sure-fire decapitation operation into a one-sided massacre.

"Roar!"

The colonel let out a roar of unwilling anger, his figure blurred, and he rushed towards Chu Xiu again. The remaining six corrupted awakeners, although all of them were injured, still used their skills to attack Chu Xiu in the sky!

Blade strikes and sword auras converged into beams of energy, and even an elite corrupted sniper squad was deployed to the battlefield, launching attacks on Chu Xiu from all directions! This was to provide cover for the colonel, who was leading the core advance!

Clearly, even though the calamity beneath the earth had realized the terrifying power of Chu Xiu, it was unwilling to give up after paying such a heavy price.

It was gambling that Chu Xiu's terrifying strength couldn't last, that Chu Xiu would eventually run out of energy, and that the colonel could deliver a fatal blow to Chu Xiu once he got close!
However, when faced with the attack, Chu Xiu only flashed a mocking look in his eyes.

His body hovered in mid-air, making no attempt to dodge, and simply raised the demonic blade in his hand once more!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A barrage of attacks rained down on him, yet his body remained completely still!

Those anti-tank sniper rifles, enhanced by corrupted soldiers and capable of penetrating heavy armored vehicles, couldn't even pierce Chu Xiu's skin when they hit him! The incendiary armor-piercing rounds, each the size of an index finger, shattered into countless fragments the moment they touched Chu Xiu, like a thumb-sized biscuit being smashed by a heavy hammer!

Even attacks from corrupted awakened beings can only leave a few minor wounds on him, unable to cause any real damage. And these superficial injuries are completely healed in the blink of an eye by the healing ability of the [Heavenly Blood Vine]!
Do you even understand the true value of the fifth level of the [Golden Muscle and Nether Bone] technique?

With a constitution of nearly 2,500, plus 116 flesh defense, 464 bone defense, and significantly enhanced skin insulation, acid resistance, and shock absorption!

This made Chu Xiu's defensive capabilities reach an unbelievable level; attacks from below the King rank could hardly even hurt him! Even if they could penetrate his skin, they couldn't damage his bones at all!
So he ignored all the skills of the corrupted awakeners, and simply raised the True Demon Blade in his hand and slashed it heavily at the colonel who was charging towards him!
"boom!!!"

A massive wave of destructive energy swept out, and even a colonel with a physique of five thousand was sent flying backward by this astonishing power. Countless fine wounds appeared on his body again, and he could not get even a hair's breadth away from Chu Xiu!
He rolled on the ground, smashing through a large number of rocks before barely managing to stop himself. He let out another angry roar and charged at Chu Xiu once more.

Even Chu Xiu was amazed by his incredible physique and defensive capabilities.

It's been almost a week since I last saw him, and the colonel seems to have been enhanced again. It seems that the underground calamity, while digesting the [pollutants], also took a share of his spoils.

Even an ordinary King-level Awakened One might not be able to kill him.

"But unfortunately, you've met me."

Chu Xiu raised the demonic blade in his hand, and a large amount of blood light surged out from the Heavenly Blood Vine behind him. The Heavenly Blood Vine, which had absorbed the flesh and blood of nearly 300,000 corrupted creatures, burst out with surging life force and poured into the True Demonic Blade!

The next instant, Chu Xiu suddenly slashed down at the colonel who was charging towards him!

The True Demon Blade of Judgment is an extremely powerful and domineering inheritance. Its power is astonishing enough, and it can absorb lifespan to grow infinitely. Even in the Boundless Holy Dao Sect, only true disciples can cultivate it. Once mastered, it is almost invincible among those of the same level.

However, this powerful secret technique was forbidden by many elders of the Holy Sect from being practiced by their disciples.

This is because, in order for this evil art to exert its maximum power, it must consume life force; the more life force it absorbs, the greater its power.

Possessing a sharp weapon naturally breeds murderous intent, not to mention that this martial art itself can affect a person's mind.

This results in almost no demonic cultivators who practice this technique being able to resist the depletion of their lifespan. The vast majority of them become prematurely gray and withered due to the frequent use of this technique in battles with others.

There was even a Core Formation cultivator who once consumed a full three hundred years of his lifespan in one go!
Of course, its results were also quite astonishing. That one strike directly killed a cultivator in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, shocking the entire cultivation world.

However, that demonic cultivator soon died due to the exhaustion of his lifespan, and the spoils of war obtained from killing the enemy all benefited others, which led to another bloody storm.

Chu Xiu was not foolish enough to waste his lifespan, and the influence of the Judgment Demon Blade on him was completely offset by its immense merit.

Chu Xiu used the life energy extracted from the Heavenly Blood Vine.

However, lifespan is a very special existence. The crude life energy absorbed and refined by the Heavenly Blood Vine is naturally incomparable to it, and its enhancement to the True Demon Blade is pitifully small.

But the quantity was just too large!
After absorbing half of the energy from the Heavenly Blood Vine, which is the flesh and blood of nearly 150,000 corrupted creatures, the green light of the True Demon Blade was completely enveloped by a dazzling scarlet blood light, and the aura it emitted was many times more violent and ferocious than before!
As Chu Xiu raised his sword and swung it down, this violent energy, as if it had finally found an outlet, surged out without any reservation!
The entire cavern was instantly illuminated like an incandescent flame, as the extreme destructive energy engulfed everything.

Amidst a deafening roar, countless rocks shattered and vanished, turning into the most basic dust.

When the dust settled, a long, narrow oval crater, over fifty meters in diameter and seemingly bottomless, appeared in front of Chu Xiu.

The colonel lay motionless at the bottom of the pit, his body emitting white smoke. Beside him was scalding, flowing magma and a large number of decaying creatures, fused with the magma, burning in the flames.

Even though the moment Chu Xiu swung his sword, the corrupted awakened beings activated their strongest defensive skills, they were still unable to resist this earth-shattering strike and were annihilated by pure energy.

"Clap."

Chu Xiu descended from the sky, calmly gazing at the almost completely charred figure before him. The colonel was still alive; he stared intently at Chu Xiu, his eyes filled with resentment, hatred, and greed.

Chu Xiu knew that the colonel's original mind should have been completely lost, and what was looking at him now was the calamity from the underground.

"I don't like the look in your eyes."

"However, thank you for creating this body for me. I will make good use of it."

After saying this, the colonel's expression became even more ferocious.

However, just as Chu Xiu raised his knife, ready to finish him off, the colonel suddenly shouted:

"Wait a minute."

"I think we can have a good talk."

His vocal cords were almost completely burned, and his voice was extremely hoarse.

"Give me that high-ranking blood demon, and I'll exchange it for three [Legendary] items, how about it?"

"And these lowly flesh and blood, you can have as much as you want, I can satisfy your every whim."

Before he could finish speaking, Chu Xiu's demonic blade had already pierced the colonel's heart. His pupils dilated sharply, revealing an unprecedented malice in his eyes. He hissed as he raised his hand to grab Chu Xiu, but in the end, as if he had exhausted his last bit of strength, he fell down unwillingly, his eyes losing all their luster.

"Click."

Chu Xiu calmly pulled the knife out of the colonel's body.

"I'll get those legendary items myself."

In fact, he didn't mind cooperating with the calamity, as long as there were enough benefits. Chu Xiu had no moral burden.

However, he did not believe the casual promises of calamity, nor did he have the habit of treating others as fools.

The calamity beneath the earth so desperately craves Rasputin that its power will likely experience a tremendous leap once it obtains it, perhaps even overwhelming four king-level beings. In that case, Chu Xiu will have suffered a loss instead of gaining the upper hand.

Dealing with these ancient beings requires utmost caution. Chu Xiu did not consider himself a cunning person. Trying to gain benefits from these beings would likely result in him being devoured without a trace!
Instead of taking on these unnecessary risks, it's better to focus on earning what's rightfully yours.

Shaking his head, Chu Xiu stopped thinking about it and turned to look at the corpses that filled the entire cave, an uncontrollable smile appearing on his face.

He made a fortune by taking advantage of the information gap!
They killed a total of 300,000 corrupted creatures in one go, including many high-ranking creatures of the warrior rank or above!
Although most of the flesh and blood were absorbed by the [Heavenly Blood Vine], the remaining amount was still enough for the two corpses in the spirit flesh storage pouch to complete the refining process!

At the same time, with 300,000 living souls, who knows how many ghosts will be born! And how many levels will his ghosts be raised to!
Without further hesitation, Chu Xiu waved the Hundred Soul Banner, and all the ghosts returned to it. In the next instant, the Hundred Soul Banner rose with extremely dense demonic energy and began to refine these living souls!
Those of higher rank and better preserved were automatically transformed into ghosts under the dense demonic energy, while the rest became food for the ghosts!
Every moment, countless ghosts are born in the Soul Banner, and countless ghosts advance after devouring living souls!

Furthermore, Chu Xiu could feel that the Hundred Soul Banner in his hand had become more solid, and the soul staff, which was originally made of wood, had now become as translucent as jade!
Clearly, this demonic artifact has begun to evolve after absorbing a large number of souls!

This made Chu Xiu even more eager to see what changes would occur after all 300,000 living souls were refined!

On the other side, in the spirit flesh storage pouch, after absorbing the new flesh and blood, the two refined corpses, whose auras had been stagnant, began to surge again, moving towards their final complete form!
These 300,000 corrupted creatures are just the basic harvest.

More importantly, he also killed the colonel and ten corrupted awakened beings!
For low-level corrupted creatures, Chu Xiu could actually gain a lot by honestly following the Awakened team in their attacks, and it would be a safer and more secure approach.

Even if we can't kill 300,000, killing 100,000 or 200,000 is definitely not a problem.

However, the high-ranking corrupted creatures, the elite corrupted soldiers, and the even higher-ranking corrupted awakeners will definitely be snatched away by the four king-level and a host of general-level and ferocious-level beings.

These high-level corrupted creatures are the real reason for Chu Xiu's adventure!
Ordinary corrupted residents, although the best among them can reach the 9th level of the Mortal Rank or even the higher Warrior Rank, achieve this slowly through their own growth, and the abyssal power contained within them is pitifully small.

Just as in the world before the Abyss appeared, extraordinary beings could not level up by killing each other, the core of awakened beings' level advancement lies in the power of the Abyss that can transcend time and directly complete cause and effect.

Therefore, the experience and drop rate you can get from killing them may not be as good as that from ordinary 2nd or 3rd level mortal ghouls.

But high-level corrupted creatures are different. Those corrupted soldiers are creatures that were swallowed by the abyss along with the underground calamity. They contain much more abyssal power than corrupted residents. The abyssal power in the body of a corrupted awakener can even reach two-thirds of that of a similarly leveled abyssal creature!
These are Chu Xiu's goals!

And he succeeded.

"Ten general-level and one king-level, I wonder how many good things they can produce!"

Chu Xiu looked at the panel in front of him.

[Professional Experience +3107]

[Item Obtained: 38956 Causality Points]

[Acquired Equipment: Corrupted Thunder Spear (Perfect)]

[Equipment Acquired:]

[Item Obtained:]

[Item Obtained: Corrupted Miniature Nuclear Furnace (Legendary)]

[Level Up!]

[Current Level: Rank 9 (Fierce)]

(End of this chapter)