Scavenging Spoils of War

Sigdrifa had already assumed her strongest form. Nearly three meters tall, her muscles were perfectly proportioned, giving her the power and beauty of an ancient Greek sculpture. With a Spirit Matter Spear in hand, she weaved through the Scorpion Monsters.

"Hold back these monsters. Do not let them come within half a step of Master."

Sigdrifa spoke in a deep voice. Her Spirit Matter Spear lashed out with incomparable agility, sending a Scorpion Monster flying high into the air. Without even looking back, she thrust her spear through its mouthparts. Dark energy exploded within the Scorpion Monster's body, killing it instantly.

The moment the Scorpion Monster died, a sharp glint flashed through Sigdrifa's eyes. Her Pack Leader Skill activated, spawning two Leader Grade Ghost Warriors.

With Quasi King Rank strength, Sigdrifa was undoubtedly the leader of Bai Xiaowen's Summoned Creature Legion. Even Abaddon fell short of her.

The Summoned Creature Legion fought fearlessly and bravely, holding back the monsters attempting to approach the Great Rift and disturb Bai Xiaowen at the perimeter.

Fortunately, the ones daring to come over at this point were all low-level monsters with poor intelligence and limited strength. In terms of templates, they fell somewhere between Leader Grade and Lord Grade. Their Deification Talents made them stronger than ordinary leaders, while also making them unafraid of the rank Suppression of Divine Descendant Creatures. That was their greatest trait.

As for the more intelligent and powerful creatures, they were intimidated by Okandis's suspended head and instead did not dare approach.

Of course, even these low-level Scorpion Monsters could not be underestimated. Several enormous ones tangled with Sigdrifa, preventing her individual combat strength from being fully unleashed. Relying on their numerical advantage, they brought the battle into a stalemate.

At that moment, Bai Xiaowen finally completed his breakthrough in the latter half of the Grand Duke's Art of War, successfully advancing to Level 17.

A wave of powerful energy rippled outward, and the entire Summoned Creature Legion seemed as though it had been pumped full of stimulants. Their strength surged!

Sigdrifa felt it most intensely. She now fully possessed the strength to challenge a King Rank expert alone. Her attack speed, Movement Speed, and Spirit Power Value all received comprehensive enhancements.

The Spirit Matter Spear stabbed and cleaved, and before long, several Scorpion Monsters fell beneath Sigdrifa's hands.

The other Summoned Creatures also broke through in their respective battles. One Scorpion Monster after another collapsed.

"So this was the change brought by the Grand Duke's Art of War after entering the High-Tier Evolutionary realm?"

Bai Xiaowen opened his eyes and looked at the battle. He had not activated any skills. Yet merely from the energy wave spreading out after his breakthrough, the Summoned Creature Legion had grown noticeably stronger, as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

It was not merely because Sigdrifa and the others had risen to Level 17 along with him.

It was because, after becoming a high-tier Domination System Lord, Bai Xiaowen's bonuses to the Summoned Creature Legion had become even more powerful.

Every one of these Summoned Creatures bore the imprint of Bai Xiaowen's True Yuan Power. By the terms of ancient Huaxia battlefields, these Summoned Creatures were like Bai Xiaowen's Personal Guards.

Accordingly, after Bai Xiaowen broke through to the high tier, the Summoned Creature Legion also received far more powerful enhancements. Their overall strength had originally increased by around 20%, but now it had risen by at least 40%.

If Bai Xiaowen activated Dominion Skills such as Banner Sacrifice, the Summoned Creature Legion's combat power would experience another surge. Doubling their strength would not be an exaggeration.

Bai Xiaowen felt that he had still underestimated the Grand Duke's Art of War.

If the Classic of Supreme Emptiness stood at the pinnacle among King Rank manuals, then the Grand Duke's Art of War was undoubtedly at the very pinnacle among Lord Grade manuals.

Bai Xiaowen did not linger. He had already spent quite some time on Aqi Luo Star. No matter what, he had to hurry and explore, gather intelligence, avoid any possible disasters, and continuously advance toward the Inner Star Region.

Seated upon the Silver Throne, Bai Xiaowen pointed out with his fingers one after another.

Each finger released the most ordinary Lightning Strike.

What had once been an ordinary Lightning Strike Thaumaturgy produced miraculous results in the hands of Bai Xiaowen, who now possessed a massive total of 5,600 points of True Yuan Power. The power of each strike had doubled, already approaching the might of his Origin Thunder before setting out.

Every strike landed with Precision upon the Scorpion Monsters' heads, even their vital mouthparts. Even when they were not killed on the spot, they temporarily lost their ability to fight and were then slaughtered by the Summoned Creatures as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

The Spiritual Power Bai Xiaowen consumed was also replenished rapidly, leaving him unafraid of expenditure. This was because the Original Spiritual Energy here had not yet been fully absorbed by Bai Xiaowen. He was temporarily in an environment rich with spiritual energy, allowing the Silver Throne's doubled recovery effect to be fully utilized.

Thus, taking advantage of this Treasure Land with its inexhaustible energy source, Bai Xiaowen used his strongest long-range Spellcaster form in order to end the battle quickly.

The battle did not last long.

Though their intelligence was low, these Scorpion Monsters were ultimately creatures that feared death. After realizing that none of the Original Spiritual Energy would belong to them, they chose to flee one after another. Corpses were scattered across the ground.

Abaddon and Butcher excitedly used the corpses on the ground to develop a new undead army.

Sigdrifa's ability to create Ghost Warriors only worked right after an enemy died, when negative energy was abundant. She had already created several Leader Grade Ghosts during the battle, so she did not join in the commotion. Instead, she came before Bai Xiaowen.

"Congratulations on your successful breakthrough, Master." Sigdrifa withdrew her nearly three-meter combat form and turned into a well-proportioned beauty around 1.8 meters tall.

"Mm. Have you finished dealing with Okandis's corpse?"

"Yes, Master. We seized some Spoils of War. Please inspect them." Sigdrifa respectfully presented several items before Bai Xiaowen. Naturally, she had arranged them according to her own assessment of their importance.

The first item was a damaged silver oval sphere. It seemed to possess life and was still beating faintly.

Bai Xiaowen swept it with the Eye of Evolution.

[Broken Holy Spirit Heart: Divine Bloodline Grade material. Used as an energy core for manufacturing powerful combat weapons. Can supply power to higher-level Planet Teleportation Gates.]

The second item was a long, narrow, sharp fragment.

[Fifth Fragment of the Sword of Heavenly Punishment: Gather all eight fragments of the Sword of Heavenly Punishment to synthesize the Artifact, Sword of Heavenly Punishment.]

To be honest, Bai Xiaowen was somewhat disappointed. As a God-Born, the most valuable Spoils of War left behind by Okandis after his death were actually these two damaged items. They offered no immediate increase in combat power at all.

There were also precious materials such as Angel Holy Blood. In Sigdrifa's view, however, they were not as valuable as the first two items, so they had been piled together with the other things as miscellaneous goods.

Bai Xiaowen did not overlook them, examining them one by one.

"Eh, this thing is..."

Bai Xiaowen held up a Bronze Disc in his hand. The energy fluctuations contained within this disc were very weak, roughly equivalent to the energy intensity of gold-grade equipment. It was easy to overlook at a glance.

However, Bai Xiaowen spotted a row of symbols on the Bronze Disc that should not have been there. They shared the same origin as the Boundary Stele of Aqi Luo Star and the writing in the Black Book.

God's Script!