The Flames Of War.

Jin Tian felt great at the moment because he finally regained his mental faculties. Both he and DIO completely fused, becoming one entity. He now had full control of 'The World' and it was a bit easier to suppress the Spirit Of Vengeance because of this. All in all, this experience was nothing but beneficial for him.

Looking around at the dead beasts laying around him, a primal instinct started to rise within as he slowly rubbed the large scar on his neck. His fangs started to grow involuntarily and his long black fingernails, basically claws, followed suit as the strong scent of blood assaulted his nose.

'Blood, the one thing I need to finally shed the weakness that followed me into this world; the issue of this damned scar. But, before that....'

Jin Tian used 'The World' to retrieve Qing Ying's corpse as he still had some use for it. Her skull was still crushed and her brain matter leaked out on his fingers while he touched her neck. Normally, that would've caused him to wince back a tiny bit from the scene but this time around, he felt like he was in his natural environment.

Both DIO and Jin Tian had been constantly surrounded by death in their past lives but Jin Tian still had some morals so scenes like this would usually make his stomach turn.

Now that he essentially became a new person, this was something that invited him.

'It's sick to think that I would actually enjoy seeing this type of death but, who am I to go against my natural instincts?'

Jin Tian quickly dug two of his fingers into the remains of her neck and inserted some vampiric essence into her blood vessels. A few seconds later, her head started to heal, and her body slowly regained its functions.

"Arghh...aghhhh..."

Incomprehensible sounds came out of her mouth as it was being healed. It reminded Jin Tian of those generic zombie sounds he would hear in scary movies back on earth.

Jin Tian picked up a random dead beast and threw it to her so she can consume it to speed up the healing process. A few minutes later, Qing Ying was completely healed one could clearly see she was a zombie from her darkened skin. As soon as her senses returned, she dropped down on one knee and said with the utmost reverence in her voice, "Master. What is your command?'

Jin Tian enjoyed this feeling of absolute control over someone. It felt...exhilarating. Of course, this was a product of him being fused with the psychotic vampire, DIO.

"Qing Ying, go back to the House Of White Dragon so they can see that you became a zombie. Make sure you kill or turn whoever you can to cause even more of a panic. As long as they see you, they would have no reason to launch any type of investigation into us."

"Yes, Master. Your will is my command."

SHWINGGG!

Qing Ying disappeared in a flash of flowery sword light, heading towards her mission in earnest. 'I wonder if she'll return? It would be quite a surprise if she even makes it to the sect alive. Some random self-righteous cultivator could kill her on the way. But if that happens, whoever did it would have the wrath of an entire sect falling upon them. Heh, a good plan, Jin. Now, for my feast...'

The mighty sun hung high in the cloudy sky as noon was just arriving. It was currently autumn on the Rich-Lush Continent. Shedding trees were abundant across the land and brown leaves blew wildly in the wind. But nowhere was as barren as the Blackcorpse mountains. The place sported an extremely heavy evil aura, but on this day, that aura had increased drastically.

A few hours passed since Qing Ying left and Jin Tian was still standing on the mountain.

THUD!

He threw the body of a silverback devilwolf in the sixth phase of the energy arts level to the ground as he had just finished draining its blood. The dead beasts around Jin Tian were, of course, all demonlings. In most demonlings, they were demon cores that could be used for forging weapons or armor. It could also be absorbed but the general population just sold them as absorbing them was nothing but a death sentence; for most except Jin Tian.

The Sun Titan Art was an energy art that could turn any type of energy into solar energy. Demon cores needed to be purified before being absorbed or one would experience cultivation deviation. In that case, Jin Tian's energy art was the perfect one for the task.

He used 'The World' to heap all the cores together but before he started cultivating with them, he couldn't help but marvel at the new state of his body. The scar on his neck was gone and his power was climbing rapidly. Absorbing the blood of all those demonlings was much more beneficial than absorbing the blood of normal humans from his past life.

If he had to make an estimate, the blood of one hundred humans was as beneficial as the blood of one demonling.

'That wretched scar is finally healed and this body is now fully mine! My power has gone far beyond what it was at my prime on earth. It also seems like I've gained some memories of the energy arts these beasts cultivated. That probably means it's transmitted through their blood. Interesting...'

Jin Tian had stopped at eight thousand extraordinary meridians and twelve thousand regular meridians since the last time he cultivated. It was the current limit of his body but it wasn't a problem for him as he had enough.

Each one of them was strengthened drastically from absorbing the blood of the demonlings.

A magical membrane filled with the symbols of each of the demonlings has formed under his skin, increasing his durability several times over. He was sure that even if he stood still and allowed Qing Ying to stab him, her sword would just break from the impact. Of course, the ones that benefited the most were his physical strength and speed.

'I'm finally steadily on my way to the epitome of strength. I'll need as much as I can if I'm going to cleanse this world. I swear to myself that I'll never repeat the same mistakes in- Hm? Why is Ren Shi coming here?'

Jin Tian looked back to see Ren Shi rushing up the mountain in earnest. The excitement was visible on his face when he saw Jin Tian. As soon as he got close to Jin Tian, he dropped down on his knees and dropped his head.

"Master Jin!"

Judging from his expression, Jin Tian could tell something big was happening. Although he hated being disturbed, he hurriedly responded, "Speak."

"Master Jin, a few hundred men from the bandit clan that brought you here have come for an explanation because of the three bandits you killed. Normally, they shouldn't have attacked because I'm stronger than their leader, the self-proclaimed 'King Of Bandits', Quan Chi. But this time, it seems they've gained some backing from a troublesome force, the State Of Yun."

Jin Tian was surprised as he didn't expect some enemies to just show up on his doorstep but...he didn't mind the intrusion. There was one problem though, who was the State Of Yun?

Seeing the visible confusion on Jin Tian's face, Ren Shi continued, "The State Of Yun was called Yundale-By-The-Sea only two days ago, Master Jin. They split themselves from the Sage Ancestor Dynasty and Yun Zhonglong, the ex-city magistrate has now proclaimed himself to be a king. That's why they're called the State Of Yun."

Understanding flashed in Jin Tians' eyes, but he was still confused about why they would help the bandit clan.

"Master Jin, since becoming a state, they allied with the Seafolk and now they want to swallow up all the powers around them. The closest three being Zhaoluforth, the Bandit Clan, and us. The first two were already taken over so we're the only ones left. This whole 'explanation' is just an excuse to destroy us."

When Jin Tian heard this, a mysterious smirk appeared on his face. It seemed like the heavens had blessed him with a golden opportunity. His true energy shot up immediately and covered him in a golden aura. He immediately walked past Ren Shi and tapped him on his shoulders as he did so, signaling him to follow.

"Ren Shi, it seems like some fresh blood has just rolled on to our doorsteps. What do you think we should do about this welcome intrusion?"

"We kill them, Master Jin. Although, we will incur massive losses from the servants as they will be the first ones caught in the crossfire. Even our base might be destroyed."

"Heh, there's a perfectly good city named Zhaoluforth isn't there? We will simply remove the current residents."

A cold, vicious smile appeared on Ren Shi's face as he heard this.

"Your wish is my command, Master Jin."