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

Chapter 196 He is not human!

"Roar!"

More than a dozen vengeful ghosts pounced on Li Zhan's body, but the next moment, a dazzling sword light shone, annihilating all the surrounding souls.

Ancient and intricate inscriptions appeared on Li Zhan's longsword, giving its blade a terrifying destructive energy. The moment the vengeful ghost came into contact with it, its soul began to crumble and annihilate.

"Is this a method specifically designed to deal with soul-type creatures? [Spellsword (A)] truly lives up to its reputation as a class with multiple combat styles."

"On the other hand, awakened individuals at the King rank generally don't have any weaknesses, and they all have more or less means to deal with different types of enemies."

Looking at the dozen or so fierce ghosts that were killed with a single, casual sword strike, a look of heartache flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes.

However, instead of making the ghosts retreat, he drove them to launch an even more ferocious attack, using their own souls to deplete Li Zhan's energy.

Chu Xiu also hoped to win every battle with minimal losses, but this was undoubtedly a naive fantasy. When encountering a powerful enemy, it was impossible to win without paying a price.

In reality, it's common for demonic cultivators who follow the path of the supreme demon lord to kill millions of ghosts in a single battle.

Fortunately, the soul cores of all the ghosts are collected in the Hundred Soul Banner, which means that even if the soul body outside is shattered, it can be re-condensed as long as there is enough flesh and blood to replenish it, greatly reducing the cost of recovery.

"Then what's next"

"Let's see who can hold out longer!"

A fierce glint appeared in Chu Xiu's eyes, revealing a rare ruthlessness.

Driven by his will, a massive number of ghosts surged toward Li Zhan without regard for their own losses!

"Go away!"

With a furious roar, Li Zhan unleashed a sword light as bright as incandescent light, which rose into the arena. Terrifying energy fluctuations formed storms of destructive power around him, and the ghosts caught in the blast were instantly shredded without any chance of resistance.

However, Chu Xiu's ghosts were not those mindless, corrupt creatures that blindly rushed forward to their deaths. Thousands of fierce ghosts dispersed to form a reasonable formation, with each ghost maintaining a considerable distance from the others, in order to minimize the destructive effect of Li Zhan's large-scale spells.

One after another, the ghosts at close range relentlessly attacked Li Zhan, forcing him to constantly expend energy to maintain the battle.

Meanwhile, the distant ghosts used ranged spells to wear them down. Although these spells were only low-level Yin Wind Blade and Soul-Taking Technique, their power was still considerable when stacked in large quantities.

"No, we can't keep going like this!"

Li Zhan dodged the incoming spell, cleaved a fierce ghost beside him with a single sword strike, and made a swift decision.

Although he was a King-level Awakener, he couldn't withstand the sustained battle of thousands of well-coordinated ferocious creatures.

Furthermore, the longer it drags on, the more variables there will be.

He swayed slightly, preparing to use his high mobility to evade the ghost's entanglement.

However, just as he dodged the combined claw attack of the five fierce ghosts and was about to break through, a long knife and a sharp spear suddenly stabbed at him from the side at the same time!

However, two ghost generals had been lying in ambush nearby, ready to strike at any moment!
Both attacks were extremely fast; even before making contact with Li Zhan, one could feel the astonishing power they contained.

Left with no other choice, Li Zhan could only parry with his sword, but this slowed down his breakout momentum, and he was trapped back into the encirclement by the nearby vengeful spirits.

And he soon discovered that the two ghost generals had no intention of pursuing him at all; after forcing him back, they simply returned to their original positions.

Not only those two, but all ten of Chu Xiu's ghost generals did not pursue Li Zhan! They simply waited like rabbits running into a tree stump, firmly blocking all his escape routes and not giving him the slightest chance to get close to Chu Xiu!
This made his heart sink.

Undeterred, Li Zhan tried several more times to bypass the ghosts and kill Chu Xiu directly, but was stopped each time by the combined forces of ten ghost generals.

Under the influence of the General's Order and Blood Fiend, the constitution of each Ghost General exceeded four thousand, with the strongest reaching five thousand!
This immense power caused Li Zhan to display an expression of disbelief every time they clashed.

Meanwhile, under the constant harassment of a group of vengeful ghosts, the energy within Li Zhan's body rapidly decreased!
"How did this kid manage to have so many summoned creatures?"

After cleaving three more attacking ghosts in two with a single sword strike, even someone as knowledgeable as Li Zhan couldn't help but show a look of existential doubt.

Only after truly engaging in combat did he realize that Chu Xiu's summoned creatures were not simply a matter of quantity, but rather that each one was an elite of extremely high rank!

Especially with Chu Xiu's numerous buffs, even if each of the ghosts were taken out individually, their attributes would be incredibly high.

And what's most outrageous is that these ghosts can cooperate with each other, and even have combined attack methods that gather energy!

This made him increasingly alarmed as he fought, and for the first time, the thought arose in his mind that he might return empty-handed this time.

This was unacceptable to him.

Although Li Zhan has mediocre talent, he is actually extremely ambitious and has an almost obsessive pursuit of strength.

He could accept marrying into the Zhang family as a dependent, just to obtain more upgrade resources; he could also accept cooperating with the vicious and ruthless calamity, and even go so far as to assassinate government officials, just to obtain the greatest benefit.

But what he couldn't accept was that all his efforts and decades of continuous training had resulted in him being inferior to a high school student who had only been awakened for two months!
Having weathered the years and fought countless battles, how could I, a seasoned King-rank, possibly fail to defeat a Fierce-rank?
With a fierce glint in his eyes, Li Zhan let out a low shout. The giant shadow wolf that had been guarding him not far away suddenly exploded into countless sticky, black tentacles, which stretched wildly in all directions!

The nearby ghosts were unable to dodge in time and their souls were pierced directly. Even a ghost general was sent flying more than ten meters away by the force of the tentacles.

Li Zhan himself remained completely hidden in the shadows.

The next moment, the tentacles expanded again, spreading outwards like a pool of sewage, forming a large dark area covering more than 100 meters in the blink of an eye.

Before the ghost generals responsible for intercepting could react, Li Zhan's figure burst out of the dark domain, quickly passing the ten ghost generals who were guarding him, and rushed to Chu Xiu's side!
At this moment, Chu Xiu was completely hidden under the protection of the Iron-Clad Corpse, and his figure could not be seen at all. Only the Iron-Clad Corpse, whose outer shell continued to harden and grow, was visible.

"This kid's defensive summon is also a high-level general! No, in fact, its base attributes even surpass those of other summons, reaching the king level! Especially with the buff, it has reached the high-level king level!"

"Especially since it's a defensively specialized type, my full-force sword strike just now only managed to leave a wound a meter deep!"

Li Zhan's mind raced.

Although he didn't charge up his sword beforehand in pursuit of speed, he certainly didn't hold back at all, fully demonstrating the strength of a seasoned King-level expert.

Even when facing the weakest enemy, Li Zhan is used to going all out.

However, this incredibly powerful sword strike failed to break through the Iron-Clad Corpse's defenses, and it was still quite a distance from Chu Xiu, who was directly injured.

"I don't have time to waste; I must finish this quickly."

"I never expected that I would be forced to use my trump card by a junior of the Fierce Rank."

A hint of heartache flashed in Li Zhan's eyes, but he did not hesitate at all. With a low shout, he took out a rune and affixed it to his left arm. Instantly, the arm, which resembled a demon's arm, emitted intense spiritual light, and this spiritual light was rapidly flowing into the demonic sword in his other hand!

The next instant, the demonic sword, imbued with all its energy, slashed heavily towards the iron-clad corpse!
The rune used by Li Zhan was an extremely powerful King-rank [Legendary] item, a trump card bestowed upon him by the extraterrestrial demon he served after he became a Supreme Path cultivator.

The effect is that it can instantly charge the energy level to 3,000 in a single charge, comprehensively increasing the power of all skills.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly low energy level of 3,000. The power of this item lies in its ability to convert energy into damage with almost no loss for any skill below the King rank.

This is extremely terrifying. You must know that the King-level has an extremely high energy utilization rate. The same amount of energy can exert more than ten times the power of the Mortal-level.

Furthermore, this charging process has no side effects and works extremely quickly, undoubtedly achieving decisive results in battle, truly deserving of its King-rank [Legendary] status. In fact, its correct use should be to suddenly boost skill power when fighting against fellow King-rank Awakened, achieving a surprise effect. If used properly, it's even possible to instantly kill the enemy.

Using it now to directly attack Chu Xiu's tortoise-shell defense would be a huge waste.

But when he thought of Chu Xiu's amazing talent, the heartache on Li Zhan's face turned into greed.

Chu Xiu's summoned creature shocked him, but beyond the shock, he was overjoyed!
"The more terrifying this guy's talent is, the greater my gains will be!"

"Such a monstrous army of summoned creatures, even if their class talents are reduced by one level after using the stripping item, must still be extremely astonishing!"

The stronger Chu Xiu became, the happier he was!

Li Zhan was fully confident that no matter how strong Chu Xiu's summoned creatures were, they couldn't possibly block his sword strike!
With his mind made up, Li Zhan slammed his demonic sword heavily into the iron-clad corpse!

Instantly, an extremely dense wave of destruction spread outwards from the point of impact, and the iron-clad corpse's outer shell, which was many times harder than alloy, was directly annihilated by the extreme energy!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The iron-clad corpse's hard armor crumbled layer by layer, and the terrifying shockwave was like a small nuclear bomb detonating, shattering the nearby rocks and shaking the ground beneath its feet!

"really!"

Li Zhan revealed a victor's smile.

Although it came at a great cost, as long as he could capture Chu Xiu, he would have made a huge profit.

The only thing to do now is to control the energy of the demonic sword and strike Chu Xiu so badly that he loses the ability to resist.

Under his gaze, the hardened outer shell, with a radius of five meters, was rapidly fused together, creating a large hole that was about to reach the core.

However, just as Li Zhan reduced his energy output to avoid killing Chu Xiu directly, his expression suddenly changed drastically as if he had discovered something!
He felt the magic sword in his hand suddenly become lighter after penetrating the hardened outer shell to a certain extent!
The center of that hardened outer shell was actually hollow!
"boom!"

Li Zhan increased his energy output and cleaved a trench in the outer shell with a single sword strike. He then discovered with an extremely grim expression that a passage had been dug out of the rock beneath the hemispherical shell at some point. The hard shell that remained in place was just a decoy, and Chu Xiu was not inside at all!
"But how is that possible?!"

This place is more than ten kilometers underground, and the rock is extremely hard. No matter how careful you are, digging a tunnel will still make a lot of noise.

Even if Li Zhan was fighting in the distance, with his super-strong perception as a king-level being, it was impossible for him to be completely unaware. Not to mention, most of his mind was focused on this side.

Li Zhan quickly realized something was wrong.

The passage underneath doesn't look like it was dug out; it looks like it was dissolved by some kind of strong acid!

This discovery completely stunned him.

A strong acid that can dissolve a channel in a short time?
Even a King-level [Pharmacist (B)] would find this difficult to achieve!

Before he could think it through, suddenly a large number of bone spikes pierced through the rocks around Li Zhan and shot out!

Li Zhan was still in shock when he was suddenly attacked. Although he reacted quickly to block the attack, there were too many bone spikes sticking out from the ground, more than a dozen of them. He was still accidentally cut on his right arm.

The next second, a piercing pain came from his right arm. Li Zhan looked down and saw that the dark green toxin was spreading rapidly from the cut area, causing the flesh to rot wherever it went.

At the same time, three enormous creatures leaped out, each four meters tall, with long limbs, ferocious faces, extremely long, dark green venomous claws at the front of their drooping arms, and six bone spurs growing from their tails.

Li Zhan felt a chill run down his spine after only a slight sensation.

These three creatures, which I've never seen before, are all at the rank 9 of the General level! And their rank is ridiculously high. If we were to use the size criteria for abyssal creatures, they would definitely be elites! Moreover, they are the best of the elites, extremely close to being a leader!

With Chu Xiu's buff, they definitely have the combat power of a high-level king-rank abyssal creature, and surprisingly, three of them appeared at once!
This left Li Zhan feeling icy cold inside, his face filled with disbelief.

That kid named Chu Xiu is already this strong, yet he still has a trump card up his sleeve?
Just then, a figure appeared at the bottom of the passage. Li Zhan looked down and met Chu Xiu's calm eyes.

His right arm, which he had severed, had not yet been repaired; only a small section of bone had regenerated. Despite being severely injured, Chu Xiu's eyes showed no fear, but rather anticipation and excitement.

It's like a hunter, quietly watching his prey that has fallen into the trap and is still struggling to survive.

At this moment, for the first time, Li Zhan felt a sense of fear.

It wasn't because of the infected wound or the surrounded situation, but because he couldn't see the enemy in front of him!

For some reason, he thought of the helplessness and despair he felt when facing the final boss in the King-level Trial.

Even though his opponent's basic attributes were similar to his, their endless and seemingly limitless methods completely destroyed his fighting spirit. In the end, to save his life, he was forced to join the extreme path.

Later, Li Zhan learned that the final boss of that battle was actually an incarnation of an extraterrestrial demon. Its true form was a high-level being capable of traversing different levels of the abyss, which was why it possessed such abnormal abilities.

But isn't the Dark Night King before us just a fierce-level awakened being?

"No, that's not right!"

"There's absolutely no way a Ferocious-rank expert could be this strong! Let alone a Ferocious-rank expert, even a General-rank genius couldn't reach this level!"

"This guy is definitely not human!"

Li Zhan seemed to finally realize something, and turned and ran without the slightest hesitation!
Chu Xiu, of course, would not let him leave so easily. All the demons surrounded him and launched a frenzied attack on Li Zhan.

Unfortunately, although Chu Xiu's monster army was strong, if a senior King-level Awakened was determined to escape, he couldn't stop him.

Not to mention, Li Zhan also received the blessing of the extraterrestrial demons.

After withstanding several more attacks and its condition rapidly deteriorated, it finally managed to break out of the encirclement.

Watching his disheveled retreating figure, Chu Xiu clicked his tongue softly.

"As expected of a seasoned King-level expert, even his escape was so decisive."

However, thinking about the fearful look that guy had given him just now, Chu Xiu felt a little strange.

Suddenly, he had a guess.

"This guy, could he be mistaking me for some kind of substitute or reincarnation of a higher being?" he thought with amusement.

Shaking his head, Chu Xiu stopped thinking about it and instead looked at the shattered souls scattered all over the ground along Li Zhan's escape route.

In this battle, Chu Xiu directly lost more than six hundred vengeful ghosts.

Although the soul cores of these vengeful ghosts are still intact, a large amount of flesh and blood is still needed to fully restore them.

Chu Xiu didn't care what Li Zhan thought of him.

What he cares about is whether he can get the reward he deserves after paying such a high price.

With a murderous glint in his eyes, Chu Xiu didn't hesitate any longer. He moved and chased after Li Zhan in the direction he had fled.

(End of this chapter)