Corpses littered the valley that had undergone such a devastating upheaval. More horrifying still, most were no longer intact. Severed heads lay like balls trailing blood across the valley floor, contrasting sharply in size with the huge bloodstained rocks. Dismembered limbs lay like limp tree trunks, resting silently on the valley floor split by long, narrow ravines.
The scene of hellish carnage lay tranquil and bloody beneath the moonlight. Drawn by some force atop the valley cliff, the lingering soul energy of the newly dead spiraled from the invisible into the visible, drifting strand by strand into the blade and hilt of a sharp weapon gleaming dark brown.
Without any dazzling radiance, the Demon-Slaying Edge stood silently above Han Shuo's head, like a faithful believer who had guarded its master since time immemorial. Its dark brown blade reflected no sheen beneath the moonlight, yet the strands of drifting soul energy underwent a brilliant transformation when they encountered the baleful aura surrounding Han Shuo.
Pinpricks of starlike light sparkled within the blood-red baleful aura, shining with dazzling colors like tiny sprites dancing gracefully. After briefly blossoming with moving beauty, they all finally converged within the dull, dark brown Demon-Slaying Edge.
Nearly two thousand had died in this battle, and none had been weak, so their soul energy was naturally abundant. Sixty percent of that soul energy entered Han Shuo's body, while the remaining forty percent was being absorbed by the Demon-Slaying Edge. A single, fortuitously timed instance of eavesdropping by Han Shuo, the hidden hand behind the scenes, had inflicted severe losses on every faction in Sun Radiance Valley and left all their leaders anxious and guessing wildly. It had also brought about Han Shuo's breakthrough in the Bloodlust Realm and another surge in the Demon-Slaying Edge's ferocity.
Clouds of blood-red