Chapter 2: Great Devour Technique

The magnificent scale of the castle was shocking, but soon, Hu Feng shook his head with regret.

The once glorious castle was in a mess. The tall watchtower was broken in half. The buildings used to summon Undead like Skeletons and Corpse Witches were severely damaged. Even the city walls in many places had collapsed into unrecognizable shapes. The entire castle had almost turned into ruins. The Undead crawling before him were loyal and respectful, but there were only a little over a hundred of them, and many were seriously injured. Some Skeleton Warriors were missing a few bones; the wind blew and their bodies creaked. If the wind were any stronger, their bones would fall apart. With such a small force, they couldn’t compare to the Lich Legion at its peak! Forget about fighting other castles; even meeting a team of wild monsters would be tough. They probably wouldn’t even be enough to fill the enemy’s teeth!

“Arnold, gather all the guards who can still fight!”

Looking at the few shabby Skeletons crawling before him, Hu Feng shook his head again, turned around, and climbed onto the broken watchtower. It was like a leaking house meeting heavy rain. The Lich Castle only had a group of weak, disabled soldiers left, and they just happened to encounter a powerful Twelfth Step Dark Knight. The situation was even worse than he had expected!

The Lich Castle was built inside a long, deep, and narrow canyon. It was remote and hidden. In the distance, there were mountain ranges and primeval forests stretching for thousands of miles. Climbing onto the watchtower and looking up, he saw a Dark Knight wearing black battle armor appear outside the castle at some point. Riding a tall Ghost Warhorse, he chopped the Undead guards who rushed up to intercept him into two pieces with a single swing of his blade, charging straight towards the castle gate. A dozen Skeleton Warriors had just rushed up, and in the blink of an eye, they all lay on the ground!

His momentum was like splitting bamboo!

In front of a Twelfth Step Dark Knight, Skeleton Warriors with only Second Step strength were simply no match!

“Lord, I will personally lead a few teams of guards to stop him!” Arnold, wearing the Asura War Armor, shouted loudly to ask for the mission, his Killing Intent awe-inspiring. Compared to ordinary Zombie Warriors, he was not only powerful but also possessed wisdom no less than that of a normal human. He was indeed worthy of being a small captain of the Zombie squad.

“No, pass the order down. All guards retreat gradually and lead the enemy inside!” Hu Feng’s expression was cold.

In a head-on fight, without elite weapons and superb coordination, just over a hundred low-level Undead were no match for a Dark Knight. After the terrifying shockwave, the remaining forces in the castle were pitifully few. If they fought to the death to intercept him, there would probably be nothing left! Rather than sacrificing the last living force in the castle for nothing, it was better to grit his teeth and take a gamble. He would simply lead this powerful Dark Knight inside and activate the Magic Array in the castle to suppress and kill him!

Fight with their backs to the river and burn the boats!

Hu Feng took a deep breath and stared fixedly at the approaching Dark Knight. Letting the Dark Knight in was like letting a wolf into the house. If successful, they could escape this disaster. If they unfortunately failed, the consequences would be unimaginable. But at this moment, this was already the best method. He could not just hand over the castle he had just obtained and relied on for survival.

“Yes!”

Arnold bowed and turned to leave quickly. Soon, all the Skeleton Warriors and Zombie Warriors withdrew into the castle. The murderous Dark Knight paused for a moment at the gate, looked up coldly at Hu Feng standing on the watchtower, and clamped his legs hard. The Ghost Warhorse under him rushed in with a ‘whoosh’. He chopped a Zombie Warrior into two pieces with one blade, quickly devoured the Soul Fire inside the latter’s body, let out a comfortable moan, and whipped his horse to charge forward. Just as he was about to pounce on a few other Zombie Warriors, the scenery before him suddenly changed, and he arrived in a desolate desert.

As soon as he stepped down, the quicksand quickly submerged the warhorse’s thighs. The more he struggled, the deeper he sank, unable to move an inch!

Phantom Quicksand!

Hu Feng took out one hundred Top-grade Crystals containing large amounts of Magic Power from the Dark Ring and directly smashed them into the castle’s Magic Array.

In an instant, the crystals burned ragingly, bursting out with a surging Magic Power that drove the huge Magic Array. Strands of black mist appeared in the sky above the castle, layer upon layer covering the powerful Dark Knight. It seeped into every pore of his body, eroding the Magic Power and Soul energy within him.

Crystals contained large amounts of Magic Power. They could speed up Cultivation and were also the energy source to drive the operation of a Magic Array. According to their quality, they could be divided into five levels: Common, Low, Middle, High, and Top-grade. A Low-grade Crystal was worth thousands of gold, and rare Top-grade Crystals were even harder to come by.

In order to break through to the Divine Domain Realm, the Lich King Ovisis had sucked dry the Magic Power contained in an entire underground Crystal Vein. The Crystals stored in the Dark Ring were also almost completely consumed, leaving only a little over a thousand pieces. This kind of Top-grade Crystal was extremely rare. Ordinary Crystal Veins could not produce them. Using one meant one less. But facing the fierce Dark Knight, Hu Feng did not hesitate at all and directly burned over a hundred of them!

Roar…

Sensing something was wrong, the Dark Knight’s expression changed. After a roar, instead of retreating, he advanced. His figure suddenly rose, and relying on his Divine Sense, he fiercely pounced towards Hu Feng standing on the watchtower. The man-high warrior blade was stained with blood, and black light rippled on it; one could only guess how many souls it had slaughtered. Seeing the situation was bad, Arnold immediately commanded a team of guards to rush up and intercept, but before they could even make a move, a black light suddenly flashed in the air, and dozens of heads appeared on the ground. Let alone the Skeleton Warriors without armor protection, even the Zombie Warriors who were good at close combat could not withstand a single blow. The heavy armor on their bodies was easily split open!

Double Critical Hit!

The powerful Dark Warrior became braver as he fought, bursting out with double the attack power, instantly killing all the Undead guards who intercepted him. He tapped his toes on the ground and shot up into the sky, stepping onto the watchtower in mid-air, and pounced straight at Hu Feng, who had no time to dodge. He was as fast as lightning, with a momentum like a rainbow. His cold eyes did not show a single ripple, like a Death God Scythe exuding a Death Aura. In an instant, Hu Feng felt difficulty breathing. His Divine Sense was locked tight by a bone-chilling aura, and heavy pressure pressed over him like a mountain collapsing! Just the pressure and the sky-high Killing Intent coming from the front were enough to make one almost unable to move!

Was this the true strength of a Twelfth Step Dark Knight?

Looking at the blade that was approaching from afar and appeared before his eyes almost instantly, Hu Feng’s pupils constricted. The pitch-black Dark Magic Pen moved like a dragon and phoenix dancing, subconsciously drawing mysterious Runes in the air. He raised his right hand and burned a full five hundred Top-grade Crystals. Just as the Dark Knight’s warrior blade was about to reach him, an invisible shockwave suddenly appeared in the air and viciously crashed into the Dark Knight’s head. In an instant, the ferocious Dark Knight let out a miserable scream, covered his head with both hands, and fell off the watchtower more than ten meters high, his head hurting as if it were about to split.

Undead Roar!

At the critical moment, Hu Feng almost instinctively used the Soul Summoning Banner behind him to launch a desperate counterattack. The Magic Crystal and Soul Crystal inside his body became even lighter in color, as if they had used up their last bit of energy, like a lamp running out of oil.

A full five hundred Top-grade Crystals! The surging Magic Power made the ancient Soul Summoning Banner become violent. The soul attack it erupted instantly reached a terrifying level. The surrounding air twisted and deformed, rippling out like waves. The rolling air waves directly tore several Skeleton Warriors standing nearby into pieces!

The treasure that suppressed the mountain was indeed extraordinary. The damaged and mottled Soul Summoning Banner, which looked ordinary, revealed a fierce and ferocious side!

Hu Feng himself only had the strength of a First Step Magic Apprentice. After inheriting the memories and Soul Imprint of the Lich King Ovisis, although he had initially comprehended the source of Magic, even if the speed of casting Magic was fast, he was far from being a match for a Twelfth Step Dark Knight. Fortunately, the damaged Soul Summoning Banner was not completely destroyed. After burning a large number of expensive Top-grade Crystals, with just one strike, the Soul Fire in the Dark Knight’s mind was almost scattered, and he was heavily injured!

Whoosh…

A cold wind blew past, and a strand of black hair finally fell from Hu Feng’s forehead, cut off by the intimidating Killing Intent of the Dark Knight’s warrior blade. A crystal clear bead of sweat slid down his high nose bridge and dripped from the tip of his nose!

A tenth of an instant!

From the Dark Knight launching a thunderous attack to Hu Feng’s desperate counterattack, it was unbelievably fast. It was only after instinctively heavily injuring the Dark Knight that Hu Feng came back to his senses. He was dripping with cold sweat all over. He took a deep breath and smelled the scent of death for the first time! If he had been just a moment slower, he would probably have been chopped in half!

“Ah…”

After a scream, the injured Dark Knight fell heavily to the ground and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He didn’t even pick up the warrior blade that fell to the ground. He looked in horror at the Soul Summoning Banner behind Hu Feng, turned around and ran wildly, wishing he could instantly get away from the terrifying Lich Castle. Unexpectedly, just as he turned around, a Skeleton Arrow suddenly shot out from the darkness, piercing his right leg knee with a ‘whoosh’. After a scream, his steps faltered, and he fell heavily to the ground again. Before he could struggle to get up, many guards fearlessly pounced on him.

At the critical moment, without Hu Feng giving an order, Arnold mobilized the most elite Skeleton Warriors and Zombie Warriors to surround and kill the heavily injured Dark Knight. After losing more than a dozen guards, they forcibly left deep wounds on the latter’s body! Usually, a Twelfth Step Dark Warrior wouldn’t even look at these low-level guards, but at this moment, he was covered in cuts and bruises by the dense blades.

“Your tendons and bones will become my flesh and blood; your soul will become the source of my power…”

Seeing that the heavily injured Dark Knight was still struggling on the verge of death, Hu Feng worked up his spirit and cast an ancient magic based on Ovisis’s memory.

The Dark Magic Pen drew a line in the air, and suddenly a huge phantom appeared in the mid-air behind him, like a fierce and ferocious ancient giant beast, or like an eternal and indestructible Abyss Demon God. It opened its big mouth, turning into a vortex-like bottomless hole, and swallowed the heavily injured Dark Knight whole. It devoured his flesh and blood, Magic Power, and Soul energy alive, and plundered his memories. Finally, it turned into a ray of red light and submerged into Hu Feng’s body.

Boom…

Suddenly, the Magic Crystal and Soul Crystal inside Hu Feng’s body, which were about to dissipate, became violent. His blood Qi rolled, and his muscles bulged high one by one, with blue veins popping out. The energy contained in the Dark Knight’s body poured in like a mountain collapsing, almost blowing his whole body up. The energy contained in the Magic Crystal and Soul Crystal increased nearly tenfold. The range of his Divine Sense induction expanded from a radius of ten meters to one hundred meters in an instant. With a momentum like splitting bamboo, he instantly broke through from Magic Apprentice First Step to Third Step, rising three levels in a row!

Great Devour Technique!

Hu Feng cast the ancient Great Devour Technique and directly refined the powerful Dark Knight. His Soul energy instantly skyrocketed, and the pressure on the Undead increased greatly accordingly. The aura of a superior emanating from the depths of his soul instantly made many Skeleton Warriors and Zombie Warriors prostrate themselves in unison.

“Killing and plundering are indeed the fastest shortcuts to Cultivation!”

Closing his eyes to feel the changes in his body, Hu Feng let out a long howl, still not fully satisfied, and quickly made up his mind. Next, he had to build an elite team as fast as possible to sweep the forces around the Lich Castle, plunder the wealth they had accumulated, and devour their Magic Power and Soul energy. Only in this way could he quickly gain a firm foothold in the dangerous Sunset Wasteland and speed up his Cultivation.

“When will I be able to become a true Demi-god Stronger, or even break through to the Divine Domain Peak?” Hu Feng stood on the towering watchtower, looking up at the mountain ranges stretching for thousands of miles in the distance, his Magic Power surging through his body. After witnessing the power of a Twelfth Step Dark Knight, he was even more full of expectation and pursuit for powerful strength!

The Soul Crystal and Magic Crystal inherited from the Lich King Ovisis gave him the potential to cultivate to a Demi-god Stronger, or even a Divine Domain Stronger, but invisibly, it also greatly increased the difficulty of Cultivation breakthroughs. The vast majority of the absorbed energy was absorbed by the extremely weak Magic Crystal and Soul Crystal. Swallowing the energy in a Twelfth Step Dark Knight’s body was enough to make a First Step Skeleton soar to the sky, evolving at least into a Sixth Step Skeleton King, whereas he had only broken through from Magic Apprentice First Step to Third Step.

A blade of grass does not need much energy to sprout and grow, but a small tree needs thousands or millions of times more energy to take root, sprout, and grow into a towering tree!

One step at a time. If he wanted to cultivate to the Divine Domain Peak one day, Hu Feng understood that he still had a long way to go!

Everything had just begun!