Before the battle had started, Long Chen had given a mission to gather any powerful souls of fallen experts.

That was because the armor and weapons that Guo Ran had forged didn’t have item-spirits. They couldn’t count as true Ancestral items. That was why the Dragonblood warriors had had their lives stolen under the attacks of their opponent’s Ancestral items.

Almost all the warriors had died to the rank nine Celestial’s Ancestral item. The Magical Beasts might have been powerful, but they had at most been capable of heavily injuring the Dragonblood warriors.

Those heavy injuries were instantly healed by the spirit trees’ life blessing, so the majority of the fallen warriors had been slain by that rank nine Celestial from the ancient family alliance. In the end, his body had been torn into pieces by the Dragonblood warriors.

If the Dragonblood warriors’ armor and weapons had had item-spirits, they would have become true Ancestral items. Then perhaps they would have managed to keep their legend of zero casualties.

However, there weren’t so many ifs in this world. There was only the cruel reality.

Meng Qi nodded. “I gathered many powerful souls. Most are from eleventh rank Magical Beasts, and some are from the Corrupt path, ancient races, and ancient family alliance.”

Meng Qi took out a dark red pearl. This was a soul item: the Soul Locking Pearl.

During the battle, Meng Qi’s Spiritual Strength had been spread throughout the battlefield. There were now millions of powerful souls sealed within it.

For the Magical Beasts, only those above the tenth rank had souls that wouldn’t instantly dissipate. As for humans, Soul Transformation experts were able to keep a complete soul upon dying.

The fighting had been exceptionally fierce. Many powerful attacks had contained a powerful soul-killing aspect to them, which meant that only one in dozens of viable souls had managed to survive.

From that, it could be seen how grand that battle had been. Calculating like this, the number of experts at the Soul Transformation realm and above had numbered in the tens of millions.

Furthermore, those tens of millions of deaths had come from the Dark Forest, Corrupt path, ancient races, and ancient family alliance. That was because the Forest of Life’s spirit beasts and warriors all had their souls return to the Forest of Life when they died.

“Pick out fifteen thousand of the strongest souls and have them devour the other souls. Then they can be used to create Ancestral item-spirits,” said Long Chen.

To inject spirituality into an item like this after the forging process required the souls be very powerful. The stronger the souls were, the better. So like raising poison insects, he would have them slaughter each other until only the strongest remained.

This method was very cruel and was commonly used by the Corrupt path. A large reason the Corrupt path was so powerful was because they used such evil cultivation techniques.

However, Long Chen didn’t feel any guilt about this. He was still full of hatred and pain. He had to strengthen the Dragonblood Legion.

“Alright.” Meng Qi nodded.

“You don’t need to look after me. I really am fine. Meng Qi, how did you end up struck with such an immense backlash?” Seeing their worried expressions, Long Chen comforted them and changed the subject.

“The Three-head Nine-eye Illusion Spirit Beast’s power is too terrifying. I only used the slightest bit of it, but it immediately caused a spiritual backlash and snatched away my sight. It was similar to a kind of curse. Fortunately, the Life God Tree removed it for me, or with my current power, I would be forced to stay blind,” said Meng Qi with some faint fear.

To unleash a huge, terrifying attack, Meng Qi had tapped into the Three-head Nine-eye Illusion Spirit Beast’s energy. She had just used the slightest bit and it had caused such a backlash. If she had used a bit more, she might have lost her life.

“Is it really so terrifying?” Long Chen, Chu Yao, and Tang Wan-er were startled to hear this. It was clearly just a skeleton that had died who knew how many years ago. But it still possessed such power?

“The Three-head Nine-eye Illusion Spirit Beast is an ancient species, and a king amongst soul beasts. Although it’s already dead, its crystal core and nine eyes are still intact. They aren’t the slightest bit damaged, so a significant amount of its energy was preserved. Although it’s less than half, it’s still not something I can currently use. Furthermore, I still haven’t pinpointed the source of its soul and cannot control it. I can only borrow the slightest bit of its energy. And so… I almost made a huge mistake,” sighed Meng Qi. The Three-head Nine-eye Illusion Spirit Beast was truly worthy of being a legendary existence.

“However, as long as I spend a bit more time, I should be able to pinpoint the source of its soul. Then I’ll be able to control it,” said Meng Qi confidently.

“Alright, then just study it closely. You can give us a pleasant surprise when the time comes. However, first handle the matter of the souls. That’s very important to the lives of the Dragonblood warriors,” said Long Chen.

Meng Qi nodded. This matter was very simple for her, and she quickly set it up.

After finishing Meng Qi’s matter, Long Chen took out a fist-sized ball. Inside was the sealed Undying Willow.

Long Chen still felt some fear toward it. It was too terrifying, possessing a practically undying body.

This little sphere was just the size of a fist, but the Undying Willow had created a huge space inside it, as if it was a spatial ring.

Within this space was a seed. It looked like a walnut that was tightly sealed.

The black soil’s devouring energy was being blocked by the seed’s outer layer and was unable to harm its core.

Although it was just the size of a fist, it was as heavy as a mountain. There were also countless runic chains sealing the outside. There was no way for the Undying Willow to escape.

“Chu Yao, the Undying Willow is sealed inside. You can use this to slowly absorb its energy. Refine it, and you will be in control of the Undying Willow’s power. You’ll be in possession of both great defensive and offensive prowess in the future,” said Long Chen, handing the sphere over to Chu Yao.

Chu Yao received it, excited. Long Chen was correct. Once she refined it, she would be able to peer into the Undying race’s mysteries, wildly increasing her combat power. Her offensive might would sharply increase.

“Wan-er, sorry, but I don’t have a decent gift for you.” Long Chen was a bit embarrassed to have given Meng Qi and Chu Yao such priceless treasures but left Tang Wan-er empty-handed.

Tang Wan-er shook her head. “I don’t need a gift. I just want you to be happy.”

Tang Wan-er’s eyes reddened. Although she did her best to suppress it, she couldn’t hold back some tears.

Seeing Long Chen in his current state had been heartbreaking. He was normally a laughing scoundrel and an unrivaled hero on the battlefield. Yet just now, he had appeared haggard and lonely.

“Alright, don’t cry. That matter has already passed. Our brothers will always stay by our side. They will see our glory, so what we have to do is live happily so that they can rest in peace.” Long Chen smiled and wiped away her tears.

Tang Wan-er might be a bit petty and liked to fight, but when it came to big matters, she never caused any trouble for Long Chen. She treated him sincerely, and her expression of emotions was the most direct amongst the women.

“Alright, if you don’t want me to cry, tell me if you had an affair with Leng Yueyan.” Tang Wan-er wiped away her tears and looked at Long Chen seriously.

Long Chen’s expression became odd. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “If you change the subject so quickly, you might cause the cart to flip.”

“Don’t act dumb. Speak, what happened between you and Leng Yueyan? In particular, did anything intimate happen between you?” Tang Wan-er stared closely into Long Chen’s eyes, seeming to want to determine if he was lying or not.

Meng Qi and Chu Yao laughed. Tang Wan-er’s expression looked both serious and mischievous. Long Chen didn’t have any way to handle her.

Long Chen bitterly smiled. “It’s not so exaggerated. You should know, she’s always wanted to kill me.”

Helplessly, Long Chen explained all of what had happened between him and Leng Yueyan.

“Leng Yueyan’s is the number one figure of the Corrupt path’s junior generation. No one can contend with her, and she’s both unrivaled in power and viciousness. But curiously, she doesn’t kill experts from the Righteous path. It seems she always kills people from her own Corrupt path,” said Chu Yao.

“Perhaps this is the hellflower that kills those closest to it. Those closer to Leng Yueyan are closer to reincarnation,” said Long Chen, also without comprehending.

Leng Yueyan was a mystery. Sometimes, he felt like she had a split personality, as if there were two souls within her. Even now, he didn’t know what she was thinking.

Anyone who tried to communicate with her would have to be prepared to go reincarnate at any moment. Her character was unfathomable.

“She really is terrifying. She even almost killed Sha Guangyan. He had to sacrifice an arm to get away,” said Meng Qi with some admiration.

Because she had been blind at that time, she had used her soul to cover the battlefield. She was the one who had witnessed Leng Yueyan’s fighting the closest.

Each time Leng Yueyan had attacked, she had launched a vicious killing blow to directly reap her opponent’s life. Sha Guangyan hadn’t had any chance to fight back at all. In the end, even his strongest defense had been broken. He had left behind an arm as he miserably fled.

Long Chen also couldn’t help sighing. In truth, on the outskirts of the Ancient Battlefield, he had had mercy on her, but hadn’t she also had mercy on him?

If she had really wanted to kill Long Chen and used her full power from the start, he might have died already. That meant Leng Yueyan hadn’t really wanted to kill him. But then what was her goal?

Neither Long Chen nor the Corrupt path understood Leng Yueyan. No one knew what she was thinking. Leng Yueyan rarely spoke. She usually communicated with her bone sword, and those who she communicated with usually died.

However, Leng Yueyan’s words to him made Long Chen feel some distress: if I one day die, will you feel sad?

“Long Chen, Leng Yueyan is hiding immense pain inside. Although she’s powerful, merciless, and kills decisively, when she saved me, I touched her hand. My wood spiritual energy allowed me to sense the helplessness and indecision in her heart,” said Chu Yao after pondering for a moment.

“Helplessness and indecision…?” Tang Wan-er was gobsmacked. Even such a terrifying killing goddess felt such emotions?

“What level of expert is Leng Yueyan?” asked Long Chen. He had too many questions when it came to Leng Yueyan.