He slaughtered madly; in the blink of an eye, the lives taken by his hand numbered nearly a thousand. Though his killing was rushed, he deliberately spared the old, the weak, and the women, focusing his attacks solely on the armored military soldiers!

"Ghost Art!"

As Ye Chen butchered, he circulated this mysterious cultivation method. His body acted like a massive vortex, drawing wisps of ashen-gray death energy that rose from the bodies of those he killed, automatically flowing into him.

"Refine!"

"Refine!"

Ye Chen furiously refined the essence within his core, executing the cruel technique of killing to temper the soul right on the spot! In his previous life, he survived for ten years, often engaging in such acts, but only when provoked; he never initiated mass slaughter.

As the carnage began, numerous fighters and tanks in the vicinity scrambled to retreat in utter panic.

Not long after, a thread of ghostly energy surged within Ye Chen’s body!

"The physical quality of these people is too weak. It takes the souls of ten Level 100 powerhouses dying together to condense a single point of Ghost Qi. If there were Level 1000 experts, a single life would be worth a point of Ghost Qi!"

Ye Chen muttered inwardly, his hand showing no mercy. In a short time, he had slain over a thousand souls. Having survived a decade in the apocalypse, his resolve was forged into iron; even if the entire world perished, it wouldn't matter as much as a single strand of his hair.

At this critical juncture, using these souls as sustenance was utterly heretical and vicious in peaceful times. Yet, his mind was now perfectly clear, having seen through life and death. He subscribed to no doctrine, acting purely according to his nature: he killed when he wished to kill, and spared when he did not.

He would not be constrained by worldly opinions or ethics.

This, truly, was the law of the jungle.

In just a few blinks, the Ghost Qi within Ye Chen began to replenish rapidly.

"One point, ten points, fifty points..."

The Ghost Qi soared. Soon, he encountered two Superman-level powerhouses, both Ant-Men. In a direct confrontation, Ye Chen's current physique would demand evasion. However, as the Ghost Qi replenished, his figure flickered, plunging him into Ghost God Mode, allowing him to pass straight through them and charge toward the ordinary soldiers.

With the Ghost Qi restored somewhat...

"Ghost Sword!" Ye Chen jabbed a finger; one hundred points of internal Ghost Qi condensed into a hundred diamond-shaped slivers, piercing through the enemies' armor and skin, seeping into their very flesh.

These ordinary humans possessed no Ghost Treasures and had absolutely no defense against Ghost Qi. No matter how strong their defense, once the ghost swords penetrated the heart and solidified from ethereal to tangible form, they instantly ruptured the organ!

This made the speed of the slaughter even more ferocious!

In mere breaths, Ye Chen had culled several thousand lives, most of whom were Level 100 powerhouses, with only a dozen squad leaders being Level 1000. In total, he refined over 300 points of Ghost Qi!

"Not enough!"

"Kill!"

A predatory light flared in Ye Chen’s eyes. Many soldiers, seeing him rush toward them, were paralyzed with terror, slain before they even had a chance to resist.

Before long, Samshit pursued him. Upon witnessing Ye Chen's rampant slaughter of ordinary people, Samshit was enraged, but his expression instantly tightened, shifting with dismay. "What is this? His Ghost Qi is actually increasing!"

From a distance, barrages of bullets poured from fighter jets toward Ye Chen, impacting him with no discernible effect.

With his physique reaching the Ten Thousand level, Ye Chen's rate of slaughter was astonishing. These Level 100 powerhouses were like paper dolls before him, collapsing instantly with a single touch.

One minute later, the blood staining Ye Chen’s hands amounted to tens of thousands. His internal Ghost Qi was fully replenished, rising from 1,600 points to 3,200 points!

He broke through to the sixth stage of the Ghost God Realm!

The breakthrough in the Ghost God Realm did not cause any physical evolution in Ye Chen. In this realm, as long as the Ghost Qi was sufficient, one could directly reach the peak without any barriers.

Conversely, when an Energy Master breaks through, interruption can easily cause energy deviation, leading to neurological collapse.

Sensing the Ghost Qi within him, the bloodthirsty red light in Ye Chen's eyes slowly receded. He turned, his gaze cold, fixing upon Samshit nearby, regarding him like a lamb awaiting the butcher’s knife.

Samshit felt the immense power radiating from Ye Chen, inwardly startled. Looking down at the streets flowing with a river of blood, a thought struck him: "No! He is slaughtering ordinary people to recover his Ghost Qi! How is that possible? Can killing people increase Ghost Qi?"

With this realization, he glanced down at the panicked armies below, and a fierce avarice flared in his eyes, like a starving man gazing upon a feast!

"Nine Palaces!"

Ye Chen lifted a finger, and his entire body’s Ghost Qi churned. A towering palace slowly materialized from the ground beneath him, resembling the terrifying, gloomy palace of Yama from the Nine Hells—grand and magnificent, with ornate eaves and terraces.

"Guardian!"

A twenty-zhang-tall Guardian, bearing the head of a dragon and the body of a serpent, coalesced from the Nine Palaces and roared as it charged toward Samshit.

Samshit felt the beast, far more potent than anything before, and hesitated slightly. A cold sneer touched his lips; he thought, You think only you can kill? Can I not?

He did not meet the charge head-on. Without a word, he turned and dove straight into the panicked ranks of the army below.

Thwack!

Samshit swept through the army like a sharp blade, carving a straight, blood-red line, instantly taking several thousand lives!

"Ah..." ...Alliance Leader!!!...

"How could he..."

Everyone watched in disbelief. The Alliance Leader they usually revered was now slaughtering them as if possessed.

"Hm?" Samshit frowned and stopped, sensing his surroundings, only to realize his Ghost Qi had not increased at all.

"What gives? Could it be that his Ghost Qi doesn't grow from killing? Impossible! He wouldn't do something so pointless. My base city still has five million troops—how many can he kill? He must get the Ghost Qi from killing!"

Thoughts raced through Samshit’s mind. "Could there be some special method required?"

As he pondered, the Nine Palaces Guardian swept in, swinging its flaming black trident down upon his head. Given Samshit’s size, he was minuscule compared to the trident, like an ant before the Guardian.

"This is bad!" Samshit whirled around and bolted at full speed.

Ye Chen stood atop the Nine Palaces. With a thought, the palace—coalesced from Ghost Qi and adorned with countless esoteric runes—shifted, giving chase to Samshit.

As he moved, Ye Chen circulated the Ghost Art, drawing in the dissipating death energy from the thousands of corpses Samshit had just created, absorbing and forcibly refining them.

These wisps of death energy carried faint traces of resistance. If Ye Chen had wished, he could have known the identity, life history, and experiences of every soul before its death, for death energy was akin to the soul, containing brainwaves, memory carriers, consciousness, and more.

For an ordinary practitioner, even with the secret methods of the Ghost Art, refining would take two or three days per point of Ghost Qi. However, Ye Chen's body and Ghost Qi possessed an inherent devouring power, brutally tearing everything apart and forcing refinement instantly.

This made his process hundreds of times faster than anyone else's.

"Die!" Ye Chen’s gaze was icy as he raised a hand. The Nine Palaces Guardian, pursuing Samshit from behind, flashed red in its eyes and began to rapidly swell, then exploded!

BOOM!!

A massive shockwave expanded outwards, leveling countless high-rise buildings. Everyone within the vicinity was thrown bodily away; though their bodies were unmarked, the central processing unit of their brains went instantly extinct.

Samshit turned in terror to look—

Innumerable white lights expanded before his eyes, growing brighter, larger, enveloping his entire being...

Centered on the Nine Palaces Guardian, the entire ground violently trembled, as if struck by a magnitude twelve earthquake. After a moment, the shockwave slowly receded, and the dust began to settle...

Whoosh!

A dark shadow shot out from the devastation, fleeing toward the ground below.

Ye Chen paused briefly. His eyesight was incredibly keen; he immediately recognized the figure as Samshit. A flicker of confusion crossed his mind. The power of that self-detonation should have been enough to wipe out over 3,000 points of Samshit’s Ghost Qi—and by his current reserves, he should have been instantly vaporized.

How did he survive?

After a momentary pause, Ye Chen quickly regained composure and pursued, pondering that Samshit must possess some kind of life-saving artifact.

"Damn it..." Samshit’s mouth was streaked with blood. Feeling his internal Ghost Qi reduced from 1,800 points to a mere 1,000, his resentment intensified. "If I hadn't had a Pseudo-Demigod Talisman for protection, that strike would have killed me. Bastard!"

He looked toward the mysterious oval spaceship buried in the earth and sped toward it.

Just as he was about to enter, a sound of tearing air rushed toward him. Ye Chen appeared, his expression cold—his dark hair whipping backward as he held his Divine Sword in pursuit.

Samshit’s heart sank slowly.

"Die!"

Ye Chen's eyes were frigid. He unleashed a single sword strike, rapidly condensing the remaining 2,000-plus points of Ghost Qi in his body into countless small palms, which surged out to engulf Samshit.

"You force my hand!!!" Samshit roared savagely, madly crying, "Die with me!!!" His body abruptly swelled, reaching the brink of self-detonation.

Ye Chen snorted coldly, pinched his fingers, and the Xuanyuan Divine Sword in his hand suddenly radiated a soft, milky-white light, forming a protective sphere that enveloped Samshit.

"Sleep..."

"Sleep..."

Ye Chen’s voice was like an incantation, drifting into Samshit’s ears.

Under the cover of the light barrier, Samshit felt a wave of confusion wash over him. He perceived the sound of myriad Buddhas chanting and the hymns of all the gods, a sense of profound peace. The killing intent within him receded like the tide, leaving behind only bewilderment.

Seeing this, Ye Chen swiftly channeled his internal Ghost Qi to form a massive skeleton, which lunged to devour Samshit!

"Devour!"

Ye Chen’s eyes were sharp as blades. With his physique breaking through to the Ten Thousand level, he had not only awakened Ghost God Mode but could also integrate a third type of gene. Moreover, his innate talent had truly awakened its first form, allowing him to condense a Devouring Form of even greater might!

Samshit offered no resistance as he was swallowed by the black skull. The moment he was drawn in, a piercing, agonizing scream erupted from within the black skull!

This scream pierced the clouds, audible throughout the entire base city. Countless people felt their scalps prickle and their bodies tremble involuntarily.

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