I Can Strengthen Infinitely

Chapter 495: Chapter 297: The Show Begins

A flood of souls surged in, their upper bodies in a decrepit state of decay, while their lower halves were only a mass of gray-black mist. Their faces bore malevolent grins, and their eyes were empty yet profound.

Wang Mazi invoked the ’Nether Strike Cone’ technique he learned from the Celestial Evil Profound Scripture, and immediately a gray-black spike shot out from his hand, targeting one of the souls.

Under normal circumstances, when the Celestial Evil Sect intended to kill them, using the sect’s methods to counterattack could be restrictive. However, before cultivating the Celestial Evil Profound Scripture, Wang Mazi was just an ordinary person with no other means to counter the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella.

There was no choice but to use the enemy’s tactics to break the enemy’s killer moves.

But Wang Mazi and others grossly underestimated the deep schemes of Xuanyang Monarch. He dispatched his subordinates to recruit people from this remote land as disciples and taught them the Celestial Evil Profound Scripture precisely to cultivate them into qualified souls worthy of being collected by the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella.

Under the Celestial Evil Curse and cultivating the Celestial Evil Profound Scripture, Wang Mazi and others were unaware that this was a method designed specifically for soul cultivation.

Seeing these sheep ready for slaughter dare to fight back, a smirk appeared instantly on Xuanyang Monarch’s face.

He smeared his fingers across his face, and suddenly a vertical pupil opened at his forehead, bursting forth with a brilliant light that illuminated the entire scene.

Everyone present, including Wang Mazi, suddenly felt a tightening within themselves. The power they cultivated using the Celestial Evil Curse uncontrollably flooded out of their bodies, as if a dam with a breach was releasing its reservoir’s waters with abandon.

"Ah! Impossible!"

"How could this be!"

Wang Mazi was terrified, instantly realizing that he and the others had likely been tricked long ago. In front of the Celestial Evil Sect, they could only be passively constrained.

Without the Inner Strength cultivated from the Celestial Evil Profound Scripture, these people instantly returned to being ordinary. How could they match those souls?

Each was directly enveloped and swallowed by a mass of souls. As they died, their souls floated out from their bodies, dragged into the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella by the spirits.

With ghostly howls and wails of grievance, it was truly a scene of devastation.

As all the ’cattle and sheep’ died, Xuanyang Monarch extended a hand, and the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella immediately merged and slowly floated back to his hand.

"Ten Thousand Souls are complete; it’s time to proceed to the final step of refinement." Xuanyang Monarch said.

Just as Bai Ningxuan had said, that Divine Killing Treasure Acupoint in the deep mountains near Chengshan City was discovered by Xuanyang Monarch’s ancestors. Originally just a Divine Killing Acupoint, his ancestors concluded it would eventually become a Divine Killing Treasure Acupoint in a few generations. They placed a sealing array over it to prevent discovery by other strong practitioners. By Xuanyang Monarch’s generation, the time was ripe, so he personally refined an avatar, undertaking a long journey to this extreme land just to extract the True Spirit from the Divine Killing Treasure Acupoint.

Xuanyang Monarch made meticulous preparations to obtain this critical item.

With the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella complete, his clawed right arm tightly gripped the umbrella’s stem. A gray flame erupted from his mutated arm, fully enveloping the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella.

It was the Samadhi True Flame!

However, the Samadhi True Flame is produced from the fusion of Primordial Essence, Primordial Qi, and Primordial Spirit. The Primordial Essence is within the abdomen, Primordial Qi within the lungs, and Primordial Spirit within the mind. Therefore, the Samadhi True Flame rises from below, finally expelled through the mouth and nose, unable to emerge elsewhere.

As the Samadhi True Flame continuously refined it, the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella changed drastically, becoming more solid. The surface displayed moving ghostly shadows, indicating its remarkable quality.

Flame Ghost Venerable emerged from the passage Xuanyang Monarch had just walked through, understanding the situation immediately upon seeing it.

Even with the Samadhi True Flame, refining the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella wasn’t easy. It required time to gradually consolidate the souls inside. Given the situation, it seemed it wouldn’t be completed for several days.

Flame Ghost Venerable approached, using his palm to ignite his innate flame — a unique power of their Ghost Race — to assist.

With Flame Ghost Venerable’s innate flame, the time needed to refine the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella was significantly shortened by at least a day.

The two worked together to refine the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella.

Seeing this, the Celestial Evil Sect members guarded the entrances to prevent anyone from disturbing Xuanyang Monarch and Flame Ghost Venerable.

...

Jin Zihua made his way towards Chengshan City, indiscriminately killing those he encountered along the way to collect their souls.

The souls of ordinary people were too fragile to enter the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella. If one were like Xuanyang Monarch, slowly cultivating disciples to extract their souls, or capturing the souls of martial heroes, the time spent would be too long.

Jin Zihua, however, had no need for such trouble. He possessed an artifact named the ’Soul Feeding Dish.’ Once souls were admitted into it, they could be nourished to a strength qualifying for entry into the Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella.

Thus, Jin Zihua could leisurely advance towards the location of the Divine Killing Treasure Acupoint, expecting that by the time he arrived, his Ten Thousand Souls Umbrella would be fully realized.