Refine in an Instant, Rise!

"Shasha!"

One after another, enormous dark-purple ants walked past Jiang Xiu, orderly and heading in the same direction, as though they hadn't noticed him at all.

"This is the Ant Emperor Clan, ranked seventy-sixth among the Abyssal races. So does that mean I'm in the Abyss Plane right now?"

Jiang Xiu took a deep breath. Relying on his formidable mental fortitude, he suppressed the negative emotions inside him and carefully observed the ants passing before his eyes.

"Jiang Xiu, remember this site: Taiwan Novel Network. A great reading experience, twkān.com, with extra thoughtful service."

In an instant, Jiang Xiu recognized them. The very same clan had emerged from the Abyssal Tide and destroyed Snow City.

"And now, I've become a shadow?"

Jiang Xiu lowered his head and looked at his hands, which were pitch-black. Wasn't this the very shadow that had disappeared from him?

His blood-red eyes narrowed, rippling faintly. Jiang Xiu surveyed his surroundings, then sensed the shadow he had become. A realization gradually dawned on him.

"So that's how it is. Fierce Wolf Douluo guessed part of it right. Because of the Shadow Monarch's unique nature, when the Abyssal Tide descended, it did indeed trigger the protective response. But my shadow didn't merge with him. For some reason, it came to the Abyss Plane along with the Abyssal Tide."

With that thought, Jiang Xiu felt no fear at all. Instead, a hint of excitement surfaced in his eyes.

The Shadow Monarch's most important ability was to extract the shadows of the dead and turn them into his most loyal Shadow Soldiers. And looking across the entire plane, what could be more suitable than Abyssal Creatures?

Abyssal Creatures came in a vast variety, and their numbers were downright explosive. They were practically a natural shadow-making ground for him!

"Although these Abyssal Creatures have no consciousness of their own, they do have shadows. I just don't know whether I can extract them successfully."

Jiang Xiu watched the Ant Emperor Clan passing beside him. Under the light, he could clearly see shadows appearing across the dark, scorched earth. They were faint, but they were there.

"Why not give it a try?"

A thought crossed his mind. Jiang Xiu waved a hand in front of an Abyss Ant. Its long antennae twitched, and it tilted its head to look at him before continuing on its way.

Seeing this, Jiang Xiu's expression revealed a trace of understanding. He had more or less guessed why these Ant Emperor Clan Abyss Ants were ignoring him.

These were merely the lowest-ranking Abyss Ants in the Ant Emperor Clan. Their minds held but one thought: devour the life force before them. And right now, he was only a shadow, without a shred of vitality.

In their eyes, he was inedible and useless.

In the Abyss Plane, not every Abyssal Creature lacked consciousness. The kings of the various clans all possessed cultivation at least equal to that of a Titled Douluo, and they had minds of their own. The Spirit Emperor Clan, ranked second in the Abyss Plane, was even renowned for its intelligence.

But clearly, these Abyss Ants before Jiang Xiu were cannon fodder unworthy of intelligence.

"Let's give it a try, then."

An action-oriented man, Jiang Xiu swept his gaze across the endless army of Abyss Ants, quickly settling on a small, scrawny one. He transformed into a black shadow and moved toward it.

Even among cannon fodder, the Abyss Ants varied in strength. Jiang Xiu observed the swarm before him: the weakest had energy fluctuations at the Soul Master level, while the strongest were almost as powerful as the Soul Elders he had encountered.

The Douluo Plane had survived one Abyssal Tide after another. Looking at it this way, that really was no easy feat.

"Little ant, let me see how strong your shadow is."

With a kindly smile, Jiang Xiu soon reached the Abyss Ant. A dark gleam flashed in his hand, and a sharp black dagger appeared.

Although he was now a shadow, he could still wield the Shadow Monarch's power. Turning some of his shadow into a weapon was child's play.

The Abyss Ant stared at the shadow that had suddenly appeared before it and froze for a moment. But in the next instant, a cold glint flashed, and a sharp dagger plunged into its most vulnerable eye.

"Pfft!"

Black liquid spilled out.

"Don't be nervous. Take a deep breath. The dizziness is normal."

Jiang Xiu gripped the dagger tightly and drove it farther into the Abyss Ant's eye, soothing it gently with a kind voice even as he put more force into his hand.

Though the Abyss Ants lacked intelligence, they weren't stupid. It knew that this dark, shadowy fellow was attacking it, and instantly began to struggle.

The Abyss Ant Clan had both strong offense and defense, but the eyes were their weakness. Under Jiang Xiu's fatal blow, it struggled for only a moment before collapsing and falling into an eternal sleep.

"Ah, to be young. You can drop off to sleep just like that."

Jiang Xiu sighed, flicked the black liquid from his dagger, and held his right hand above the Abyss Ant's corpse. He was about to activate the Shadow Monarch's Extraction ability.

"Bzz!"

But just then, an unexpected change occurred. A wisp of black light floated out of the dead Abyss Ant's corpse and darted into the distance the moment it appeared.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Jiang Xiu reacted swiftly. The instant it appeared, he activated the Extraction skill and snatched it out of the air with a sweep of his hand. At once, the power of extraction and refinement enveloped it.

"Rise!"

Jiang Xiu's blood-red eyes narrowed. Boundless authority emanated from his impassive face as a voice like a monarch's rang out.

In just a few short breaths, a pitch-black shadow rose from the Abyss Ant's corpse.

Its eyes were blood-red, its whole body dark. It looked exactly like the Abyss Ant that had just died.

"Click, click!"

The moment it appeared, the shadow bowed low, its sharp mouthparts rubbing together as it repeatedly conveyed one message to Jiang Xiu:

Loyalty!

Every shadow extracted by the Shadow Monarch was absolutely loyal to Jiang Xiu. Even if he ordered this Abyss Ant to drop dead right there, it would carry out the command without the slightest hesitation.

"It worked! Looks like my plan is viable!"

Watching the Abyss Ant shadow obey his every command, Jiang Xiu's lips curled slightly into a smile.

After all, what had worried him most wasn't whether he could kill the Abyss Ant, but whether he could successfully extract its shadow.

Jiang Xiu knew that Abyssal Creatures didn't truly die when they perished. Instead, they became their original essence and returned to the Abyss Plane, where they were reforged.

That was why the Abyss Plane could launch endless attacks on Douluo Continent, while the powerful warriors of Douluo Continent were truly dead once they fell in battle.

And the most incomprehensible part was that whatever strength these Abyssal Creatures had before dying, they retained that same strength when they reappeared after being reforged.

This was also why the military had valued Tang Wulin so highly after he joined the Blood God Legion and revealed that the Golden Dragon Spear could devour Abyssal energy. It was a means of weakening the Abyss Plane once and for all!

At that moment, as Jiang Xiu looked at the savage, terrifying Abyss Ants before him, he suddenly found them all rather pleasant to behold.

"Heh heh heh... cough, cough."