“Damn, is he really going to morb?”

Zhang Dong looked up towards his enemy who was transforming into something else. It was some kind of strange cross between a human and bat monster with giant claws for hands and quite the ugly face. Before the change, the man called Valentine could be considered handsome but now he was just an ugly monster.

“Even if you saw through my traps, this is my domain, I am the Emperor here and everything has to bend to my will!”

The horn on his forehead started to expand while giving away a pulsating red light. Without needing to do much he could tell that all the vengeful spirits around the area were being sucked towards this area. Even the other vampiric tribe people were getting their energies sucked away. This demi-human was a soul sucker and he was clearly intending to absorb all of his tribe members to gain another boost in power.

“Do you actually think I’ll just sit here and let you power up?”

There was a big weak spot in this whole plan, which was Zhang Dong himself. Who in their right mind would just twiddle their thumbs and wait while their enemy reaches a higher power threshold? Even if he didn’t think that the vampire could reach anything above a certain point there was no reason to make a gamble.

Thus instead of just waiting here, Zhan Dong activated his own radiant aura to counter this blood spell. Without his soul core being there he could not absorb all of these souls himself anymore, instead, he could purify them. In some strange way, all these souls were somehow connected to this vampire lord, if he could alter this connection there was a big chance of him not being able to absorb them.

‘No, he won’t be able to absorb them even if he wanted to.’

After smiling he allowed his aura to spread in all directions. Various magical circles started appearing as he yet again combined his spiritual energy with mana. There was a spell used by clerics from the other world called ‘Turn Undead’. With a bit of ingenuity, he could emulate the effect while also forcing a bit of his holy dao into these souls. They would be purged of all malice and occult curses that were used to bind them to this vampire overlord.

His opponent had made the whole takeover a lot easier with this blunder. By stripping his people of their vital energies and trying to absorb them himself, the whole battle had ended almost instantly. The United Element Sect members watched with astonishment as all the red vampires dropped dead to the ground. Only a few of the stronger ones were able to resist their master's call but more than ninety percent of them were now down for the count.

“It does not matter what you do, this Valentine can not be stopped!... huh?”

The mastermind behind his people's demise started laughing as he thought that his victory was assured. Yet suddenly the souls that he had dominated started not replying to his calls. The moment they collided with Zhang Dong’s radiant spell they started being cleansed from all evil energies that they were altered by.

Without the need to adhere to the absorption spell they just started drifting away into the sky and quickly dissolving. With Zhang Dong’s aura being here they would not turn into decrepit souls either.

“No, what is this? I order you to stop, you will be bound to my will!”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

Zhang Dong was sure to block any attempts of this vampire lord to call the souls here. While they had been cleansed they could still be absorbed by him in this state. While the faint holy energies in them would make it harder they could still be corrupted by the evil energies that the vampires possessed.

“You will stay right here and take this boot.”

Before Valentine could fly towards the mass of souls he was kicked in the face by his opponent. This kick sent him right back down to the ground where he came from. Without the worry of his opponent powering up now, he could start the counterattack. His kicks and punches rained down and even if he tried, Valentine was just not fast nor powerful enough to resist.

“Y-you…”

The demi-human leader appeared far up in the sky with a body riddled with holes. The punches and kicks that he had to suffer through weren’t normal, each one of them was supplied with solar energy and the dao of the divine. Even when the monstrous vampire wanted to regenerate his body, he couldn’t.

Without any other option, he started to flee, the fortress was important but his life was more precious to him than anything else. Even though the Emperor would kill him as long as he hid away until the great hunt was over then perhaps he could survive as an outlaw. There was always an option to rebuild his lost tribe, as long as he was alive he could create more vampire beings.

“Where do you think you are going.”

“What? How can you be here…”

“Do you really think that I wouldn’t be able to see through your tricks and illusions? You escaped me once but your life ends here.”

Valentine’s monstrous eyes went wide after he heard a voice behind him. There was not even enough time for him to turn around before something cleaved his body into two perfect halves. These sides started to slowly part, the holy energy of the sword being used to perform the slice made reform impossible.

“Disappear.”

Zhang Dong shouted while sticking his hand out. From this palm a wide burst of energy escaped, it covered the parting monster's whole body and quickly disintegrated it into fine particles. Perhaps if Valentine was facing another master he might have been able to escape with his soul but to his surprise even it was being burned away by this attack. There was nothing remaining, his body and soul had disintegrated into nothingness.

“Hm… Is he really dead?”

This enemy had been a pain in the behind before but he was almost certain that he had managed to destroy him this time around. Just as he had predicted the previous life-saving method could not be used again and his soul had been destroyed. All that was left was rounding up the remaining demi-humans and the victory would be assured.

“But to be on the safe side…”

During the fight he had attuned himself to Valentine’s soul signature after defeating him he could identify if any shards were left behind. This was a useful method of preserving oneself, masters sometimes used a fragment of their soul behind. Even though they would not be able to retain their might there was a chance of survival.

“Let’s see… hah… that fucker…”

If he wasn’t cautious he would have certainly let his enemy escape but after using a soul tracking spell he found something. A shard of Valentine’s soul was slowly escaping but he was not in any of the other demi-humans that were here.

‘Smart bastard, he probably wanted me to focus on the remaining vampires.”

“There you are…”

It didn’t take him long to home in on the new target, with a few quick bursts of speed he descended into the distance where a blac kbird was making its escape. Inside this bird, he could feel a tiny fraction of his enemy remaining.

“Got you, Valentine.”

“Gwack!”

The small creature could fit into his hand and was clearly the person that he was fighting with before.

“N-no please don’t kill me!”

“Oh, so you want to live? I bet all your tribe members wanted to live to but you killed them anyway.”

“N-no, you can’t kill me!”

“Hm…”

While he could easily just crush this small bird there was another option. The soul shard that remained still had all of Valentine’s memories and knowledge but none of his power. If left alone he would probably start off sucking away the souls of regular animals until going for human prey. This he could not allow but Valentine’s knowledge could come in handy, it was not time to kill him yet.

“Very well, I’ll decide your fate later, for now get in here and be quiet.”

A small birdcage popped out of his spatial ring into which he tossed the bird in. With it being so weak it would be unable to even get out if it. Then to make sure that his enemy didn’t have any more tricks he was tossed into the replica medallion. Inside there he could try to escape but he would not be able to leave the treasure that was attuned to his will.

‘Well then, let's wrap things up here…’

With the boss being taken care of only a few lackeys were left behind. Valentine had almost single-handedly helped him to minimize the damages to his sect. Perhaps if he used his people as more than disposable pawns he would have been able to cause long-lasting damage to his forces.

Thanks to him capturing the leader it was unnecessary to leave the rest of the monsters alive. It also seemed that without their leader around they were acting differently. Before they would toss themselves at their enemies to the last survivor but now on the other hand they were fleeing. Perhaps Valentine was mind-controlling all of them and with him being reduced to a shard they were finally free.

“Give chase, don’t allow any of those monsters to escape!”

He shouted out while tossing himself back into the battle. His energies were mostly drained but he had enough in his tank to take care of these lesser demi-human leaders. On the other side of the conflict, the battle was also reaching the apex. Lucius together with Argus were successful in slaying the tribe leader of the bone-covered demi-humans. Huo Qiang wasn’t as lucky as his enemy had managed to escape but all in all, it was a victory for their side.

Phase one of their plan was almost over, by defeating the demi-human tribe that was holding the fortress they were now able to move in. Various ships with sect workers started appearing from behind and moving in. Even though the enemies were routed they still needed to secure this location. Before anything else could move in through that bridge they needed to block it off.

The large castle that was left standing was ill-equipped for such a purpose. What they required was to bring over their own structures. Thanks to the technology from the secret ground he brought over this could now be tackled by his architects that were already waiting to disembark. The time to shift the tide of battle would begin with this victory and would soon spread the name of the United Element Sect through the whole Azure Dragon Empire.