Aftermath of Battle
Dozens of saint-level zombie beasts encircled the two earth dragons of A'ertasha. The powerful auras of more than ten beasts fiercely struck the ground, devastating everything within a radius of three hundred feet. The earth sunk deeply, half a foot down.
"Saint level, truly formidable. Had I not possessed some powerful and unknown techniques on this continent, any one of them could have killed me," Ye Han said to himself as he witnessed the scene. Although he had defeated saint-level powerhouses several times, he knew they had not used their full strength and were restrained.
The defeat of Christian from the Kleres family was due to his carelessness, greed, and unfamiliarity with Ye Han's abilities, which gave Ye Han the chance to kill him in his own domain. His escapes from saint-level pursuers were because they didn't understand his evasion techniques. These techniques were not omnipotent. If a saint-level powerhouse completely locked the space around Ye Han, leaving no gaps, the evasion technique would fail.
In his mid-stage saint-level battle with Atimov, Ye Han won by overloading himself with powerful sword techniques without regard for the consequences, as Atimov did not use his domain. The several saint-level powerhouses he faced had not used their full strength or techniques, which is why Ye Han had survived until now. Otherwise, he would have been long dead, let alone facing the god-level powerhouses, who are many times stronger than saint-level ones.
"Strength, everything is based on strength," Ye Han sighed lightly, looking towards the battlefield.
A'ertasha knew that the magical beasts around were not afraid of its dragon aura. Even though A'ertasha was a late-stage saint-level dragon, among the zombie beasts were three that had once been at the same level, which made A'ertasha consider retreating.
The pride of a dragon exists only when they have an absolute advantage. Once facing death, they too would abandon their pride. This was common both in human society and among magical beasts. What use is pride without life?
With a roar, A'ertasha released an even more powerful aura, not hesitating to sweep its mighty dragon might towards the red dragon, Bes, and fiercely strike at a zombie beast in front of it with its huge claw.
As A'ertasha attacked, the battle began. The zombie beasts, with blood-red eyes and gradually rotting bodies, rushed forward. Lacking consciousness, they couldn't use their former attack methods, so they attacked A'ertasha and the other dragon with huge, powerful claws, making a piercing sound as they tore through the air.
"Thud, thud" – With successive attacks, the two earth dragons were heavily smashed into the ground by the equally strong zombie beasts, leaving deep, bone-visible wounds. Blood gushed out.
The pain caused the two dragons to roar in agony, thrashing their huge bodies. The zombie beasts in the air, stimulated by the blood, became even crazier, shooting towards the two dragons like bullets.
The fight was completely one-sided, more akin to a mob beating than a battle. The two earth dragons stood little chance against the frenzied attacks of over a dozen zombie beasts and were eventually devoured, leaving only blood, bones, and two saint-level magical cores behind.
All of this happened within less than half an hour. The two top-tier magical beasts, the dragons, met a tragic end, reduced to nothing but bones. Yet, Ye Han felt a kind of excitement. The killing, brutality, and bloodshed filled the zombies with a sense of pleasure.
After the zombie beasts devoured the two earth dragons, Ye Han quickly controlled the corpse poison within them, making them lie quietly on the ground. Once controlled by the corpse poison, even those with high strength couldn't resist, but this required the poison to fully infiltrate their souls.
The higher the strength, the stronger the soul. Thus, the corpse poison could usually only control creatures of similar strength. Although the saint-level magical beasts had intelligence not inferior to humans, they focused only on increasing their physical strength, neglecting their souls. This allowed Ye Han's corpse poison to invade their souls.
Ye Han and Ming slowly descended to the ground. Ye Han picked up two saint-level earth magical cores and stored them in his ring, as magical cores were crucial for him. His strength was at the peak of the ninth level, and although he could battle a mid-stage saint-level powerhouse without using his domain, the cost was enormous.
The powerful formations he remembered required vast amounts of energy, and on this continent, only magical cores could provide that. Therefore, Ye Han urgently needed magical cores, but only those of saint-level or ninth-level were useful to him.
After doing all this, Ye Han approached the zombie beasts, feeling more and more excited. With a wave of his right hand, the zombie beasts disappeared. Ming, standing aside, watched Ye Han without understanding.
Ye Han offered no
explanation and flew back into the air. As he spread his wings, a large amount of death energy swirled towards him. Ming on the ground also began to absorb it.
Quickly, both Ye Han and Ming completely absorbed the death qi in the air. Ye Han's guidance to Ming included everything about zombies, naturally including how to refine death qi, making it easy for Ming to do so. Since it was Ming's first time absorbing, he didn't take in too much, as absorbing too many souls too soon after becoming a zombie could easily lead to loss of self.
Ming roared, releasing all the unnecessary energy refined within his body. The release caused immense destruction within fifty feet, once again causing incalculable damage.
Ye Han, on the other hand, did not release his energy. He could now easily withstand the death qi emitted by tens of thousands of people or magical beasts, so he didn't need to release it every time he absorbed. He would wait until the energy within him reached his body's limit before releasing it.
The pain of releasing was something even zombies feared. Releasing all at once was far better than doing so after each absorption, enduring the pain only once.
Ye Han and Ming then flew back to the devastated city of Miyat. This time, only Ye Han absorbed the energy, while Ming did not, as he had not fully integrated the energy he had just absorbed and couldn't absorb again so soon.
Ye Han quickly finished absorbing. Together, he absorbed nearly the equivalent of a million people's worth of death qi and resentment, but this was still too little for a late-stage fourth-level zombie. The gap to reach the third level was so vast, it was uncertain how many lives would be needed to fill it.
Ye Han landed, reverted to his human form, and took out a set of clothes from his ring, also throwing one to Ming. Staying transformed for a long time consumed a lot of soul power.
"Stand still, don't move," Ye Han said indifferently to Ming. In the next moment, surrounded by soul power, they both vanished from the ruins of Miyat City.
Days turned to nights and nights to days. News of the catastrophe in Miyat City spread quickly across every corner of the continent. In less than half a year, two cities in the Fengshuang Empire where Ye Han appeared were destroyed, with very few survivors.
Emperor Cranford of the Fengshuang Empire, enraged, issued a continent-wide killing order, the first in two hundred years, and dispatched tens of thousands of troops from the empire to Miyat City, along with five thousand imperial guards.
These five thousand guards, all peak ninth-level swordsmen and magicians, were far superior in coordination and equipment to any family or clan, thanks to years of working together and the empire's full support. Additionally, seven mid-stage and three late-stage saint-level powerhouses were also on their way.
Such a formidable force was assembled just to kill Ye Han. Soon, the streets and alleys of Qingming Continent buzzed with talks about Fengshuang Empire and Ye Han.
Then came news that a large number of magical beasts in Miyat City were brutally killed, with seventh and eighth-level magical cores found everywhere. Mercenaries and mercenary groups from across the continent started heading towards Miyat.
The ruins of Miyat City once again became the focus of the entire continent. However, the families and powers who had always wanted to seize Ye Han's cultivation techniques remained silent this time.
The killing continued, but without Ye Han's participation. Over the unclaimed magical cores, mercenaries began a frenzied struggle. Every day people died, and every day new mercenaries arrived. The Fengshuang Empire continued its all-out search for Ye Han, but his whereabouts remained elusive.