Punishment Mark and Grace Mark

Bai Xiaowen waved his hand again. This time, he summoned all of his Summoned Creatures. Twenty to thirty of them formed an array, and Dark Attribute Spirit Power rose above their heads.

Bai Xiaowen activated his True Yuan Power, condensing a Spirit Power Manifestation above the Summoned Creature Legion.

In terms of energy level, this Spirit Power Manifestation had already surpassed that of the Thousand-Man Undead Legion. Its energy strength exceeded High King Rank and was nearly at Divine Bloodline Grade.

Although the Summoned Creature Legion was far smaller in number than the Thousand-Man Undead Legion, its individual members were vastly stronger. Even the weakest Undead Bone Archers had elite templates, while the formidable Sigdrifa was infinitely close to King Rank.

The difficulty was that the Summoned Creature Legion's individual strengths were uneven, resulting in terrible instability in the Spirit Power Manifestation. Only because Bai Xiaowen possessed the Spirit Power Mastery specialization and could use his powerful control to balance every Summoned Creature's spirit power output could this Spirit Power Manifestation take shape. Any other Domination System Evolutionist Lord, even if given these Summoned Creatures, would not have been able to use a spirit power combined attack at all.

Bai Xiaowen struggled to control the Spirit Power Manifestation, condensing a black spirit power long spear and hurling it forth with a howl.

By then, Okandis was powerless to defend himself. All of his spirit power was being used to resist the Lightning Force from the Heavenly Origin Thunder that had penetrated his body. He could only watch helplessly as the black spirit power long spear, carrying nearly Divine Bloodline Grade power, pierced through his chest.

With a thunderous boom, the black spirit power long spear exploded inside Okandis's chest cavity.

The dark power attacked in tandem with the Heavenly Origin Thunder's Lightning Force, from within and without. Okandis could no longer suppress it and spat out a mouthful of silver blood. His source of energy, the Heart of an Angel, had already been annihilated by the dark energy.

"Damned human... you will be Devoured by the wrath of the God of Light!"

Okandis uttered his final curse, then collapsed and died.

As if confirming Okandis's words, a Sword-shaped Beam imprinted itself upon Bai Xiaowen's wrist, followed by a notification from the Spirit Realm Rules:

"You have obtained a Punishment Mark (God of Light)."

"You have obtained a Grace Mark (God of Shadows)... Warning! Due to an unknown reason, your Grace Mark (God of Shadows) has automatically become invalid."

"You may now expend Spiritual Power to inspect the Punishment Marks/Grace Marks on others."

"What is a Punishment Mark?" Bai Xiaowen immediately asked the Spirit Realm Rules.

"Insufficient data. Unable to confirm."

Bai Xiaowen frowned. By his understanding, a Punishment Mark should represent a god's anger—he had just killed an envoy of the God of Light, so it was only natural for the God of Light to be furious.

Conversely, a Grace Mark should represent a god's favor or reward. It seemed the God of Light and the God of Shadows were enemies, which was why such opposing information had appeared.

However, Bai Xiaowen had also offended the God of Shadows before and tricked three of His Chosen into dying. Perhaps that was why the God of Shadows' Grace Mark had failed to take hold?

It was just as well that the God of Shadows' Grace Mark had not taken hold. Bai Xiaowen did not want it either.

As for the Punishment Mark from the God of Light, Bai Xiaowen was not afraid. This was the Land of Origin, where a god's will would be weakened to its lowest point. Even after expending immense effort, a god could only barely communicate with one of His Chosen.

In other words, even if the God of Light was displeased with Bai Xiaowen, at most He could send a powerful Chosen to cause him trouble. It was impossible for Him to descend in person and inflict some divine punishment upon Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen let out a breath and quickly withdrew the Nine Suns Grand Formation.

"Sigdrifa, take the others and deal with Okandis's corpse. See whether he has any treasures on him. I need to cultivate for a while, so stay alert and keep watch for me."

Sigdrifa hurriedly acknowledged the order.

Bai Xiaowen rushed to the fractured ground. Dark-red magma flowed there alongside wisps of Original Spiritual Energy. Original Spiritual Energy was continuously evaporated by the heat waves and dispersed into the air.

More importantly, the death of Okandis, a Divine Descendant Creature, had stirred the Aqi Luo Star monsters lurking in the distance and too afraid to approach.

Sigdrifa was equally decisive. With one slash, she severed Okandis's head and mounted it atop a long spear, turning it into a terrifying totem. Using the head of a God-Born, she warned the Aqi Luo Star monsters not to seek their own deaths.

As a result, those powerful King Rank monsters with some intelligence restrained their impulses. The Scorpion Monsters that had appeared at the beginning, however, had little intelligence, and more than a dozen of them crawled out again.

Bai Xiaowen seized the opportunity to cultivate using the Original Spiritual Energy.

Logically speaking, cultivating the Classic of Supreme Emptiness would have yielded greater gains. However, he was now at the critical stage of advancing into a High-Tier Evolutionary, so he could only prioritize his first Profession Codex. Before the Grand Duke's Art of War reached the high tier, the Classic of Supreme Emptiness could not progress.

Of course, once Bai Xiaowen advanced to a High-Tier Evolutionary, he could temporarily set aside the Grand Duke's Art of War. At that point, it would not matter if his cultivation in the Classic of Supreme Emptiness surpassed that of his first Profession Codex.

Although the Black Book granted him a powerful boost to comprehension, Bai Xiaowen did not hesitate to use his final Divine Bloodline Grade Enlightenment Light Orb. Advancing from Level 16 to Level 17 was an extremely crucial and difficult breakthrough. Many Evolutionists remained stuck at Level 16 for years or even decades, unable to advance at all.

As long as he could break through, no price was too great.

Even so, Bai Xiaowen's cultivation process remained arduous. When he studied the latter half of the Grand Duke's Art of War, he felt as though he had suddenly leaped from high school into university, rising from elementary mathematics to advanced mathematics. It was deeply unfamiliar.

Fortunately, his powerful comprehension continued to work, allowing Bai Xiaowen to study onward without suffering any gaps in understanding.

After reading it once came a second time, then a third... Each reading brought new insights.

"Finally, I can break through."

After the third reading, Bai Xiaowen felt as though enlightenment had been poured directly into his mind, and his spiritual senses opened wide. His body seemed to transform into a miniature black hole, greedily Devouring the surrounding spiritual energy.

Wave after wave of Original Spiritual Energy poured crazily into Bai Xiaowen's body.

Whether in concentration or purity, Original Spiritual Energy far surpassed ordinary spiritual energy. Almost instantly, it filled Bai Xiaowen's dantian inner domain. Then, like a tamping machine expanding a cave, it continuously pushed and compacted his inner domain, making its internal space even broader.

Under inner vision, the spirit power crystal at the center of Bai Xiaowen's inner domain, resembling a Nascent Soul, did not grow any larger. However, the expansion of the dantian inner domain made it visibly more comfortable, and its sleeping posture became even more relaxed.

"So that's how it is. If I want the Classic of Supreme Emptiness to break through further and the Nascent Soul to continue growing and evolving, I first need to expand the inner domain's space. And to expand the inner domain, I need to cultivate the Grand Duke's Art of War to the high tier." Bai Xiaowen finally understood the principle behind this restriction.

Now, the inner domain was spacious enough for the spirit power crystal to grow.