The gains this time had truly been enormous. It was no exaggeration to say he had ascended to heaven in a single step. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had more than lived up to its name as Ming Zhao's place of ascension.
Now that he possessed a preliminary level of peak combat strength, he could go anywhere across the vast Douluo Continent.
Shrek's pursuit?
Ming Zhao no longer gave it a second thought.
Let alone those ant-like Titled Douluo coming to make trouble for him-even if Xuan Zi and Mu En came in person, Ming Zhao could easily kill them and leave without a care.
"Shrek's doomsday is almost here!" A sinister smile appeared on his face.
Ming Zhao had never forgotten Shrek's pursuit of him over the past decade or so. He remembered every grudge with perfect clarity, and it was almost time to collect on those debts.
The feeling of being free from restraint and threats, like a bird soaring through the boundless sky or a fish leaping in the vast sea, filled Ming Zhao with exhilaration. After hiding for so many years like a rat scurrying across the street, it was time to let the ants of Douluo Continent feel what true nightmares and fear were!
Glancing down at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, which had come back to life, Ming Zhao thought for a moment, then waved his hand.
First, he drew the six Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones into his hand, packed them in boxes specially made for storing Soul Bones, and placed them in his Storage Soul Tool.
Then he landed and began picking some of the Immortal Herbs he had not devoured earlier.
By the time he formed his yin-yang complementary soul core, what he needed was pure, immense energy. He had deliberately left behind treasures like Immortal Herbs, which were high in quality but did not contain a particularly vast amount of energy.
There was the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, and the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, for example.
Every craft had its specialty, and every material had its use.
Things like these, which could improve "skill points" and "innate aptitude," would be a terrible waste of heaven's gifts if he simply dumped them onto his level's experience bar.
Although Ming Zhao had his hundred ghosts and did not think he needed subordinates or lackeys, nor any so-called love or partner, he had no use for these things even if he took them, and no one was worthy of him nurturing them.
But he could first feed someone up, then kill him or her. Wouldn't that improve the quality of the resulting ghost as well?
Take Zhang Lexuan: even if Ming Zhao later removed her from her position as Ghost Bride and let a more powerful ghost become the next Ghost Bride,
there would always be a place for Zhang Lexuan among the hundred ghosts under his command. In this era, not many people were more talented than Zhang Lexuan; there certainly couldn't be fifty of them.
The stronger and more talented a ghost was, the more of its abilities from life it could use, and the greater the combat strength Ming Zhao could unleash when he became an army of one.
Once he found an opportunity to offer up a few more cities in blood sacrifices, or simply wiped out places like Shrek, the Clear Sky Sect, and the Body Sect, and all hundred ghosts under his command became Titled Douluo, the entire Douluo Continent would have to bow its head to him.
After sweeping the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well clean once again and packing up every spiritual medicine and Immortal Herb to take with him, Ming Zhao had no further attachment to the place. He stepped into space and vanished.
All that remained was an empty pot, its soil laid bare over a vast area, without so much as half a precious medicinal plant left in it.
Ming Zhao did not care about Tang San's plan.
Nor did he care whether Huo Yuhao's failure to obtain the Lovesick Heartbreak Red would cause any problems for the dog-training plan.
He cared only about his own interests and would not back down because of someone else's arrangements. Everything useful to him would become his.
Ming Zhao had, however, left the seeds behind.
Even an evil cultivator had to think about sustainable development. If he harvested everything in one go and dug up the roots, how could the leeks keep growing?
As for whether the next crop of Immortal Herbs and spiritual medicines grown from the seeds he left behind would become someone else's opportunity, Ming Zhao did not care. As long as he remained the strongest, no matter how many opportunities others obtained, they would only become nourishment for him.
As long as he stood at the peak, he would forever be the Gu King who harvested everyone else.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm no longer dared to speak at all.
He had even shrunk his body in the Sea of Consciousness into a true godly maggot as thick as a finger, hiding in a corner of the Sea of Consciousness and doing his utmost to make himself inconspicuous.
Although he knew the gesture was completely useless-if Ming Zhao wanted to find him, he could pluck him out of the Sea of Consciousness whenever he wished.
It was only for his own peace of mind.
Watching Ming Zhao travel outside as leisurely as if he were strolling through a courtyard, using the power of space, only made the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm feel more keenly that his fate was in someone else's hands.
Good news: Ming Zhao was becoming more and more monstrous. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm couldn't think of a reason he would fail to become a god.
Bad news: Ming Zhao was becoming more and more monstrous. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm couldn't think of a reason he would let him live.
Would such a cruel and tyrannical Evil Soul Master really spare his life after becoming a god?
He regretted it a little.
Had he known this would happen, he might as well have sacrificed himself to that little fellow with poor talent. At least that fellow was weak and inexperienced, and could be influenced by him, unlike Ming Zhao, who could not be controlled.
"Bro has walked on thin ice all his life. Tell me, can Bro still make it to the other shore?" With complicated feelings, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sealed off his thoughts, no longer daring to spy on Ming Zhao's movements and actions.
Someone as overbearing as Ming Zhao could never tolerate an eye watching him in secret. Once his patience reached its limit, he would immediately gouge that eye out.
All the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could do was seal off his consciousness and refrain from spying on Ming Zhao, leaving everything to fate. Either he would die without being aware of it, or the next time he regained consciousness would be when Ming Zhao took him along to godhood.
Before completely sealing off his consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm also controlled his eight remaining seals to shatter and merge into Ming Zhao's Sea of Consciousness, helping increase its area and volume, as well as the age of his Soul Rings.
Apart from the Fire Dragon King's ninth Soul Ring, the other eight Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings of the Ghost Bride Martial Soul each gained another golden stripe, becoming two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast Soul Rings.
He retained only his purest spiritual origin, which was also the power he had supplied to Huo Yuhao in the original story to help him form his spiritual soul core.
Ming Zhao had yet to form his third Soul Core, and the vacant position in his Sea of Consciousness could only be used to form a spiritual soul core.
If Ming Zhao spared his life, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm would use the last of his origin to lend him a hand when he formed his third Soul Core. If not, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm would rather take the last of his origin to his grave.
This was Tian Meng's final act of defiance.
Ming Zhao had also noticed Tian Meng's actions. It was his Sea of Consciousness, and he could sense every movement within it.
As a surge of power emerged from his Sea of Consciousness, Ming Zhao stopped in the sky above the outskirts of Sunset Forest and closed his eyes, feeling his strength rise once more.
This sudden influx of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's origin had brought Ming Zhao close to breaking through to the level-ninety-five Super Douluo realm.
"That worm knows when to yield."