Yi Chen threw back his head and howled, laughing like a madman. Streams of black energy burst from his body, forming a vast net that scooped up the black mist for more than ten kilometers around him. As though crushed by pressure, the black mist slowly gathered together.
A sinister, terrifying power filled the space. Countless clouds of black mist condensed into a black vortex roughly a hundred meters across. Along its edges, wisps of gray energy surged as though they had come alive, writhing like countless venomous snakes.
A low roar rang out. The vortex abruptly shrank to a tenth of its size, then exploded, turning into a gray flood that hurtled downward.
"Ah..." Yi Chen wailed hoarsely. Fine black lines covered his skin, and bright red liquid flowed from the corners of his eyes and his ears.
The thousands of figures surrounding Yi Chen went berserk at once. Their eyes turned scarlet, demonic markings appeared on their bodies, and they roared and bellowed as they lunged at him-
An elderly, bearded man dressed in green abruptly appeared beside Yi Chen. He slapped Yi Chen hard on the shoulder, injecting an immense surge of dark power into his body. Yi Chen groaned with relief and spat out a mouthful of filthy blood, pitch-black, sticky, and cold enough to chill him to the bone.
With a resounding clang, a layer of purple light suddenly emerged from Yi Chen's body. The old man stared in horror as a crystal-clear bone spear pierced the armguard by his fingers, nearly slicing off his entire arm. Yi Chen, meanwhile, remained completely unharmed, protected by a gentle purple glow.
Yi Chen stared blankly at his own body and murmured, "How did my flesh end up looking like this?"
An extremely faint black silhouette slowly floated out of his body, becoming a slender black dragon. After circling Yi Chen several times, it suddenly darted into the space between his brows with a hiss. A vast torrent of information poured into him, and his soul instantly grew thirty percent stronger. Dimly, Yi Chen could already sense a trace of soul flame. He knew this would only happen once his soul power reached the required level.
The old man was so frightened that he fell onto his backside on the beach, muttering to himself, "A monster. An absolute monster. Unbelievable... unbelievable..."
A cloud of gray mist appeared out of thin air before Yi Chen like a ghost. As though alive, it constantly devoured the surrounding dark power.
The cloud of gray mist spanned three hundred zhang. Wherever it passed, dark power streamed endlessly into it. Strange strains of music drifted faintly from within, and pale green halos spread from its depths, as though an enormous cocoon of green light hung suspended at its center.
Yi Chen froze for a moment. The power of this gray mist clearly belonged to a Fallen One, yet it was not the black energy of the low-level Fallen Ones he had slaughtered before. Then... this enemy must be a higher-ranking Fallen One.
"This thing..."
A sinister voice drifted out of the gray mist. "Blood food? Heh heh, not bad... very delicious blood food. A pity, a pity..."
Yi Chen smiled. He took one step forward, and his muscles immediately swelled. Rings of pale golden runes rose continuously from his body. Like a burning star, Yi Chen shone with golden brilliance, dazzling the eyes of countless onlookers.
He reached up and grabbed at the sky. An invisible force drew the dense black mist around him together. Streams of mist visible to the naked eye transformed into longswords, which shot toward the gray mist with shrill whistles as they cleaved the air.
Rumble... Tremendous explosions shook the heavens. The gray mist churned violently, scattering countless tiny wisps of smoke, but the cloud itself remained suspended there, steady and utterly unscathed.
A piercing cry rang out from within the haze. The gray mist surged violently, as though boiling. Yi Chen could clearly see something struggling deep inside it, seemingly trying to break free.
A blurry outline slowly emerged from the haze. It was a man wrapped entirely in hazy gray mist.
The man's appearance was exceedingly peculiar. Half his body was black, while the other half was pure white, giving him an unfathomably eerie look.
With a sharp crack, the gray mist around him tore apart like ripped silk, revealing a torso that was spotless as jade on one side and utterly jet-black on the other.
Stranger still, there was not a trace of muscle on either of the man's legs. It looked as though the owner of this body was an incomplete soul.
"Your shell is good, good... very good indeed... hahahaha... it's been so long since I last ate a fresh body."
Yi Chen frowned and asked, "Sir, who exactly are you? Please tell me."
The indistinct soul laughed coldly. "Oh, me? Hehe, of course. You call me the Holy Ancestor."
Yi Chen narrowed his eyes and studied him carefully.
The man's appearance was far too strange. Although he claimed to be an incomplete soul, his exquisite detail rivaled any work of art. Even sculptors could not produce anything of this caliber. His physique and features were unquestionably among the finest.
Amid a series of hisses, countless black threads rapidly seeped into the indistinct soul's body. That black sheen grew dimmer and scarcer, while the blurred soul gradually regained his original form.
That original half of his body slowly disappeared, replaced by an entirely silver head as large as a millstone. An enormous rock fell from the void and struck the head squarely.
The enormous head wobbled through several turns, effortlessly blocking the meteorite that had fallen from the sky. His mouth suddenly split into a ferocious grin, and he called out gleefully, "Such delectable flesh and blood. I'm going to eat you."
Yi Chen sighed. He had refined that fist-sized stone from an ordinary rock, merely intending to use it to train his strength.
A surge of black energy rushed out of the murky gray haze and swiftly coiled around the silver head.
Yi Chen's pupils contracted. He saw the silver head rapidly crumble and disintegrate, turning into fine strands of lightning that merged with the gray mist. Another booming voice shook the mist. "Mm, not enough. Still a little short... more!"
The gray mist churned wildly, and Yi Chen could hear the terrified screams of other Fallen Ones. He abruptly swept his hand, sending a powerful hurricane blasting past. Wherever it went, the surrounding dark power retreated swiftly, as though it had encountered its nemesis.