Instant Refinement, Stand Up!

"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"

Massive, dark-purple ants marched past Jiang Xiu in an orderly line, heading in a single direction as if they hadn't noticed him at all.

"This is the Ant Emperor clan, ranked seventy-sixth among the abyssal races. Does this mean I am currently in the Abyss Plane?"

Jiang Xiu took a deep breath, relying on his formidable mental fortitude to suppress his negative emotions as he carefully observed the ants passing before him.

In an instant, Jiang Xiu identified them; it was this very clan that had emerged from the Abyssal Tide and destroyed Snow City.

"And now, have I become a shadow?"

Jiang Xiu looked down at his hands, finding them pitch-black—they were none other than the shadow he had lost.

His blood-red eyes narrowed, ripples of thought stirring within them. As Jiang Xiu scanned his surroundings and sensed his current state, a realization gradually dawned upon him.

"So that's it. Fierce Wolf Douluo was partially right. Due to the unique nature of the Shadow Monarch, the protection mechanism was indeed triggered when the Abyssal Tide descended. However, my shadow didn't merge with it; instead, for some reason, it was swept along with the Abyssal Tide into this Abyss Plane."

At this thought, Jiang Xiu felt no fear; instead, a flicker of excitement surfaced in his eyes.

The most vital ability of the Shadow Monarch was to extract the shadows of the deceased and transform them into his most loyal shadow soldiers. And looking across this entire plane, could there be any candidates more suitable than the abyssal species?

The abyssal species were not only diverse in variety but explosive in number—they were his natural, inexhaustible source of shadows!

"Although these abyssal creatures lack individual consciousness, they do possess shadows. I just don't know if the extraction will succeed."

Jiang Xiu watched the Ant Emperor clan marching past. Under the light, he could clearly see shadows cast upon the dark, scorched earth. They were faint, but they were undeniably there.

"Why not give it a try?"

A thought flashed through his mind. Jiang Xiu reached out and waved his palm in front of one of the abyss ants. The creature's long antennae twitched, and it tilted its head to glance at Jiang Xiu before continuing on its way.

Seeing this, a look of understanding crossed Jiang Xiu's face. He had vaguely guessed why these Ant Emperor abyss ants were ignoring him.

These were merely the lowest-ranking abyss ants of the clan, their minds filled with only one instinct: to devour the life force before them. Since he was now nothing but a shadow, he possessed no life force at all.

To these abyss ants, he was simply inedible and useless.

In the Abyss Plane, not every creature lacked consciousness. The kings of each clan possessed cultivation at least equal to a Title Douluo and had their own thoughts. The Spirit Monarch clan, ranked second in the Abyss Plane, was even renowned for its wisdom.

But clearly, these abyss ants serving as cannon fodder were not entitled to such intelligence.

Might as well try. Being a man of action, Jiang Xiu's gaze swept across the vast army of abyss ants. He quickly locked onto a small, thin one and moved toward it as a streak of black shadow.

Even as cannon fodder, these abyss ants varied in strength. Observing the group, Jiang Xiu noted that the weakest possessed energy fluctuations on par with a Spirit Master, while the strongest were comparable to the Spirit Grandmasters he had encountered.

It was no wonder the Douluo Plane struggled to withstand the recurring Abyssal Tides.

"Little ant, come here and let me see if your shadow is strong."

With a kind smile, Jiang Xiu approached the abyss ant. A dark light flashed in his hand, and a sharp, dark dagger manifested.

Although he was currently a shadow, he could still channel the power of the Shadow Monarch; manifesting a weapon from a portion of his shadow was simple.

The abyss ant paused, startled by the sudden appearance of the black figure. But the next moment, a cold glint flashed, and the sharp dagger plunged into its most vulnerable spot—its eye.

"Squish!"

Black fluid oozed out.

"Don't be nervous, take a deep breath. Feeling dizzy is perfectly normal."

Jiang Xiu gripped the dagger tightly, pushing it deeper into the abyss ant's eye socket, offering gentle, kind words of comfort while his hand applied even more ruthless force.

Though the abyss ant lacked wisdom, it wasn't stupid. Realizing the dark entity before it was attacking, it began to struggle violently.

While the Ant Emperor clan possessed both offense and defense, their eyes were their fatal weakness. Under Jiang Xiu's lethal strike, the creature struggled for only a moment before collapsing into an eternal sleep.

"Youth is a wonderful thing; they just drop off to sleep."

Jiang Xiu sighed with emotion, flicked the black fluid from his dagger, and held his right hand over the corpse, preparing to activate the Shadow Monarch's extraction ability.

"Hum!"

At that very moment, an unexpected change occurred. A streak of black light drifted out from the dead abyss ant's body and immediately darted away.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Jiang Xiu was quick; the moment it appeared, he activated his extraction skill. With a wave of his hand, he snatched it out of the air, and in an instant, the power of extraction and refinement enveloped it.

"Rise!"

Jiang Xiu's blood-red eyes narrowed. His indifferent face radiated boundless majesty as a voice, like that of a monarch, resonated through the air.

Within a few breaths, a pitch-black shadow rose from the corpse of the abyss ant.

Its eyes were crimson, its body entirely dark, and its form was identical to the abyss ant that had just died.

"Click, click!"

The moment the shadow appeared, it knelt and bowed. Its sharp mandibles rubbed together, constantly conveying one message to Jiang Xiu:

Loyalty!

Any shadow extracted by the Shadow Monarch would possess absolute, one-hundred-percent loyalty to Jiang Xiu. Even if Jiang Xiu ordered this abyss ant to drop dead on the spot, it would execute the command without a moment's hesitation.

"It worked! It seems my plan is viable!"

Looking at the Abyss Ant shadows he could command with such ease, the corners of Jiang Xiu's mouth curled into a faint smile.

After all, what had worried him most before was not whether he could kill an Abyss Ant, but whether he could successfully extract its shadow.

Jiang Xiu knew clearly that Abyss creatures did not truly die when killed; instead, they would dissolve into their primal essence and return to the Abyss Plane to be reforged.

It was precisely for this reason that the Abyss Plane could launch endless assaults against the Douluo Continent, while the powerful warriors of the Douluo Continent stayed dead once they fell in battle.

What made it even more unsolvable was that these Abyss creatures would return with the exact same strength they possessed before they were reforged.

This was also the reason why Tang Wulin had been so highly valued by the military after joining the Blood God Legion and revealing that his Golden Dragon Spear could devour abyssal energy—it was a method that could thoroughly weaken the Abyss Plane!

At this moment, as Jiang Xiu looked at the hideous, terrifying Abyss Ants before him, he suddenly found them all looking quite pleasing to the eye.

"Heh heh heh... cough."