King of Creation
Chapter 197 - 194: The Secret of the War Soul Blood Flag

Chapter 197: Chapter 194: The Secret of the War Soul Blood Flag

"No, I don’t want to die. Please... don’t kill me...."

The last surviving Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner actually feared death and begged Ye Zhen for mercy, a rare sight that somewhat surprised him.

Such situations were uncommon. However, Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioners were human too, perhaps, sometimes they just didn’t have the chance to plead before they perished.

An idea struck him, just as Ye Zhen was about to relax his fingers on the bowstring, he suddenly tightened his grip.

"You don’t want to die... then you owe me a reason not to kill you."

Ye Zhen spoke softly but sternly, making the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner panic as if he were hearing a soul-reaping demon sound.

"I... all my... all my wealth, I give it to you... here, and a Low Grade Artifact I snatched..." The Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner completely panicked, as if he was ready to bare his heart to Ye Zhen in exchange for his life.

"Your wealth, huh!"

Ye Zhen scoffed, "The moment my finger loosens, you’re done for, and all your wealth becomes mine anyway. Do I need your permission to take it?"

"I... I..."

The Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner became anxious, yet he didn’t know what else to say.

"Since there’s no reason, then..."

Ye Zhen’s fingers on the bowstring began to relax slowly, and as they did, the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner was terrified—Ye Zhen’s fingers seemed to him like the slowly closing hand of death itself!

"No... no... no....."

Suddenly, the incoherent Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner’s eyes lit up, "Secret, a secret about the War Soul Blood Banner... a secret your Black Water Kingdom definitely doesn’t know!"

"A secret? Speak!"

"If I’m satisfied, I won’t kill you!"

"Don’t try to bargain, I dislike rambling, and since the War Soul Blood Banner is right before me, it’s better to finish this with one clean shot than to blather on!"

Ye Zhen’s words wisely shut the desperate Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner up.

"It’s not really a secret... uh, your Black Water Kingdom probably doesn’t know..." In his distress, the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner accidentally spoke too much.

"Speak!"

"Actually, the War Soul Blood Banner has ranks..."

"Ranks?"

"Yes, this is the experience we derived after capturing War Soul Blood Banners six times from your kingdom."

"Continue!"

Ye Zhen slightly lowered his Green Wing Divine Bow, allowing the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner to breathe a sigh of relief.

"The War Soul Blood Banner obtained directly from this Commander Hall, our tribe calls it a First-Level War Soul Blood Banner. Activated, it can enhance the combat power of all living beings within a certain range by twenty percent."

"After a Five Countries Conference, our tribe had an abundance of Demon Soul Blood Crystals left over, and tried putting some on the War Soul Blood Banner. It absorbed them like a bottomless pit, and the blood light on it thickened!"

"Ten years ago, our tribe captured another War Soul Blood Banner, and we had an excessive amount of Demon Soul Blood Crystals, up to several hundred thousand. Then, over a hundred thousand Demon Soul Blood Crystals were all absorbed by the War Soul Blood Banner.

Our tribe was shocked to discover that the power of the War Soul Blood Banner had doubled. Not only did its effective range increase, but the enhancement of combat power for beings within that range reached a terrifying forty percent!"

"Forty percent?"

This figure astonished Ye Zhen!

That explained the last piece of the puzzle from the battle at Yin Mountain Blood Gorge ten years ago.

Ten years ago, the thirty thousand-strong army at Yin Mountain Blood Gorge was wiped out overnight by the Southern Barbarian Tribe. Although tens of thousands of Demon Beasts aided them and the War Soul Blood Banner intensified their might, the feat was still astonishing.

With a forty percent increase in combat power under the enhancement of the Second-Level War Soul Blood Banner, this horrific accomplishment seemed reasonable then.

Two thousand four hundred kilograms of force versus two thousand kilograms isn’t much of an advantage. But if it’s two thousand eight hundred kilograms, that might straight up be a kill in one blow.

"Exactly, about a hundred thousand Demon Soul Blood Crystals can promote the War Soul Blood Banner to the second rank, increasing its power to forty percent. However, that’s as far as our tribe explored since we never had that many Demon Soul Blood Crystals for further experiment.

But, our elders speculated that a hundred thousand Demon Soul Blood Crystals could elevate the War Soul Blood Banner to the second rank, doubling its power, and perhaps if we put in even more Demon Soul Blood Crystals, it could reach the third or even fourth rank..."

Hiss!

Ye Zhen took a sharp breath, considering how dreadful the value and power of the War Soul Blood Banner would become if that were the case. It was almost unimaginable.

A Mid-grade Treasure only enhances spiritual power by forty percent. Just the second rank of the War Soul Blood Banner alone amounted to someone wielding a Mid-grade Treasure.

Everyone armed with a Mid-grade Treasure, what would that mean?

Moreover, what if it were enhanced to the third or even fourth rank?

Ye Zhen could hardly fathom that scenario.

"This secret... should satisfy you, right?"

Seeing that Ye Zhen had been silent for a long time, the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner cautiously asked.

"It’s decent!"

"I ask you, when collecting this War Soul Blood Banner, are there any taboos?"

"Yes, when collecting the War Soul Blood Banner, the Divine Soul will be hit by the Demon Souls inside, causing the collector to fall into a state of Divine Soul Shock. Depending on the strength of the Divine Soul, this state of shock can last from ten to a hundred breaths...."

Perhaps because Ye Zhen had affirmed his secret and saw a chance to survive, this Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner just blurted out the information in one breath. After speaking, he realized it was imprudent; if he had kept it to himself and used it to his advantage...

"It seems, my caution was not misplaced! If I had hastily collected the War Soul Blood Banner earlier, even just ten breaths of Divine Soul Shock would have been enough for me to be killed dozens of times...."

The expression of that Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner was entirely captured by Ye Zhen’s eyes.

"Can I... leave now?" the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner asked cautiously.

"Leave..."

Ye Zhen waved his hand, completely putting down the Qing Yii Divine Bow.

The Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner’s face showed unmistakable joy from his narrow escape from death, but he still carefully kept his eyes on Ye Zhen and slowly backed toward the teleportation passage, fearing Ye Zhen might change his mind!

Just when he was two meters from the teleportation passage, intending to turn and flee, the already prepared Cloud Winged Tiger pounced out like lightning. As the tiger’s roar sounded, the entire head of the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner was crushed by the Cloud Winged Tiger!

"I said I wouldn’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean the cub won’t...."

Ye Zhen found himself a clumsy excuse for breaking his promise.

At this time, allowing a Southern Barbarian Tribe Spirit Practitioner to escape would just be inviting trouble for Ye Zhen himself.

Ye Zhen estimated that for a Southern Barbarian Tribe Spirit Practitioner, possessing a set of Demon Soul Blood Crystals as commonly as a chiliarch would be an easy task.

This was also confirmed in the storage rings of the four Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioners.

Their other possessions were too many to count, but the remaining Demon Soul Blood Crystals on the four men totaled up to sixty thousand.

The ability of the Southern Barbarian Tribe Spirit Practitioners to acquire Demon Soul Blood Crystals, along with many demon servants, was evident. However, this also indirectly confirmed the truth of the secret mentioned by that Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioner just now.

If it weren’t for the purpose of upgrading the War Soul Blood Banner, they wouldn’t have collected such a vast number of Demon Soul Blood Crystals with so much effort.

Hastily arranging the scene and letting the Cloud Winged Tiger cub enjoy the delicious feast of beast corpses scattered around, Ye Zhen gazed at the War Soul Blood Banner hanging on the wall of the hall and suddenly felt conflicted.

Ten to a hundred breaths of Divine Soul Shock during the collection was a terrifying ordeal.

If he was unlucky, Ye Zhen could end up dead directly.

Normally, a Cloud Winged Tiger could intercept an attacker for ten breaths or even twenty or thirty breaths. However, against an entity like Human Bear Cha Hai, the tiger might not even hold for a single breath.

Ye Zhen estimated that as time went by, more and more martial artists would reach the ninth layer and enter the Commander Hall. How to safely collect the War Soul Blood Banner was a major issue.

Time passed, breath by breath, but there was no guarantee that the next breath wouldn’t bring a powerful challenger.

Suddenly, after pondering for a few breaths, Ye Zhen’s gaze turned fierce.

"Since I’m here, if I’m going to play. I’ll make it big and ruthless! I’ve taken down Luo Jingtian, the Six-Fingered Eagle Demon; why should I be afraid of anyone else?"

An idea to kill two birds with one stone surfaced in Ye Zhen’s mind.

The next moment, two Nine-Transition Rejuvenation Pills were swallowed down by Ye Zhen, and the majestic medicinal power immediately spread out, beginning to restore Ye Zhen’s Spiritual Power. There was no choice; having fired the Qing Yii Divine Bow nearly ten times just now, Ye Zhen’s Spiritual Power was depleted by eighty percent.

The main use of the Nine-Transition Rejuvenation Pill was to restore a martial artist’s Spiritual Power. However, they were very precious. Ye Zhen didn’t have any himself. The few bottles of Nine-Transition Rejuvenation Pills Ye Zhen had were found in the storage rings of Luo Jingtian, the Six-Fingered Eagle Demon, and Bu Changxuan.

As Spiritual Power quickly restored, Ye Zhen slowly closed his eyes, holding the half-drawn Qing Yii Divine Bow, ready to strike at any moment.

Whoosh!

A Blood Light suddenly lit up on one side of the Commander Hall.

The moment the Blood Light surged, Ye Zhen, like a tiger startled awake, suddenly drew the Qing Yii Divine Bow to its full extent.

Spiritual Power surged out frantically from his Dantian, and a Qing Yii Spirit Arrow instantly formed!

"Is someone there?"

The person who had entered the ninth layer of the Commander Hall was a disciple of the Phantom Divine Sect. As the Blood Light faded and he saw Ye Zhen, he was shocked!

"Whoosh!"

Almost simultaneously, the piercing scream of the Qing Yii Spirit Arrow tearing through the air resounded.

Bang!

The Spirit Light flashed past, and the Phantom Divine Sect disciple’s eyes slightly bulged—not even having time to react—his head exploded like a smashed watermelon!

The power of the Qing Yii Divine Bow was truly formidable!

Initially, Dahai had fired three rapid-fire arrows at Ye Zhen from three miles away; Ye Zhen couldn’t even dodge using his Body Skill and had to take them head-on! Not to mention the Commander Hall, which was no more than four or five hundred meters in length.

Moreover, it was a surprise attack!

"Xiaomao, go!"

With a light call from Ye Zhen, the Cloud Winged Tiger cub picked up the storage bracelet from the dead Phantom Divine Sect disciple. Ye Zhen didn’t even look at it. He stored it aside, holding the half-drawn Qing Yii Divine Bow, with his eyes slightly closed, fully concentrating on sensing the fluctuations around the entire Commander Hall.

Whoosh!

In less than five breaths, Blood Light lit up again from one side of the Commander Hall.

Ye Zhen’s eyes suddenly burst open, and the creaking sound of the Qing Yii Divine Bow being fully drawn echoed again! (To be continued. If you like this series, welcome to Qidian [qidian.com] to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)