Chapter 189: Slaying the Corpse King

Within the boundless ghostly mist, the Space Corpse King could clearly sense hundreds of Yin Soldiers weaving through the fog, constantly harvesting the wandering souls of the zombies.

The Soul-Hooking Chains easily traversed hundreds of meters, and before them, ordinary zombies lasted less than a second before their souls were stripped away, leaving behind only scattered white bones.

Even zombies at the Early or Mid Qi Refining Realm, possessing some supernatural strength, were no match for the scaled formation of Yin Soldiers. The moment the chains wrapped around them, they were instantly subdued and dragged into the depths of the dense ghostly mist.

In this chaotic slaughter targeting zombies, only Corpse Kings at the Foundation Establishment Realm had the ability to resist. However, the dense ghostly mist seemed to contain the mysteries of a formation. Once a Foundation Establishment Corpse King charged in, it would be trapped by the ever-shifting fog, unable to even touch the Soul-Hooking Yin Soldiers.

And in the unseen depths of the mist, Lu Yan was controlling the Soul Banner in his hand. Every second, hundreds of wandering souls were being fed into the banner.

Within the inner world of the Soul Banner, the Giant Spirit God and the Guardian Gods were tasked with refining the captured souls.

Originally, the banner’s soul-refining speed had been quite slow. When Lu Yan had slaughtered one hundred thousand zombies, he had only managed to condense eight hundred Yin Souls, mainly due to the limitations of the refining speed.

But after the Ghost Gods and Guardian Gods completed the transformation into a Ghost God Computer, everything changed.

Lu Yan relinquished control, allowing the Giant Spirit God and Guardian Gods to assist in refining. One after another, fierce ghost souls rapidly took shape and were sent before the Blood God.

Now at the peak of Foundation Establishment, the Blood God’s blood-colored hair fluttered wildly. Each glowing strand imbued with soul-code etched sharp patterns into the ghostly bodies, carving them with Ling-energy script and completing their transformation into Yin Soldiers.

The moment they were ready, these new Yin Soldiers surged out of the Soul Banner and resumed their slaughter of zombies, providing endless resources for the Soul Banner.

Although Lu Yan was merely directing the Yin Soldiers to kill, the Space Corpse King standing at the center of the city couldn’t shake a deep sense of fear.

The boundless ghost mist felt like a chaotic beast, ever devouring life. If left unchecked, it would bring a disaster beyond what he could endure.

The inky mist flowed through ruined streets like a cold river. The Corpse King’s decaying figure flickered within the haze, emanating twisted pressure as silver spatial runes swirled around his body, rending reality with countless fissures.

“Die!”

A barrage of spatial rifts descended upon the Yin Soldiers, aiming to shred them completely.

Yet the Yin Soldiers darted like fish through the mist, cloaked in darkness. Every time spatial cracks tore through, they would either vanish into the rubble or dive a hundred meters beneath the earth. The hollow sockets of the Corpse King flickered with warped spirals, tearing open space again and again—only to grasp wisps of lingering Yin energy.

What the Space Corpse King didn’t know was that the Giant Spirit God had long analyzed his attack patterns during their protracted pursuit. Before the ghost mist had even enveloped the city, the Giant Spirit God had embedded pre-compiled evasion programs into every Yin Soldier.

Each move the Corpse King made—every ripple of spatial fluctuation—was read and predicted by hundreds of hidden Yin Soldiers, allowing them to dodge with precision.

If this had been the original Space Dao-wielding Nether Abyss expert from the Demon Version, he would’ve noticed the Giant Spirit God’s manipulation the moment the Yin Soldiers began dodging—and swiftly changed his approach.

But in the Apocalypse Version, he was merely a Corpse King with spatial powers at the Early Foundation Establishment Realm.

That level of power made him nearly invincible in this version. No one could challenge him, let alone teach him combat experience.

No matter how strong or how intelligent, his lack of heaven and earth souls and inexperience in true combat meant he couldn’t perceive the true reason behind the Yin Soldiers’ evasion.

Ruined skyscrapers crumbled beneath the Corpse King’s spatial currents. Silver shards shimmered like mirrors through the wreckage.

Some Yin Soldiers burrowed underground, others melted into walls, and the spatial strikes only shredded trails of mist. The Corpse King’s decaying fingers shimmered with silver brilliance, but they could never pin down those smoky, shifting figures.

The ghost mist thickened, as though mocking this so-called master of space. The Yin Soldiers roamed freely within, using the city ruins as cover—harvesting zombie souls while playing an eerie game of hide-and-seek with the powerful Corpse King.

This battle lasted for half a day. Even with the Giant Spirit God’s preemptive calculations, the Corpse King’s immense power still crushed hundreds of Yin Soldiers.

But then he noticed something strange.

The Yin Soldiers he had just destroyed began appearing again across the city—and stronger than before, their cultivation rising from Mid to Late Qi Refining.

It was all thanks to the Soul Banner.

The Yin Soldiers had long been bound to it. Their soul lights remained within the banner. Unless someone used an overwhelming Divine Ability to annihilate them completely, as long as soul energy was provided, they could be resurrected with ease.

Lu Yan was massacring zombies across the ruined city—he lacked nothing but wandering souls.

With over a hundred thousand souls harvested, not even the combined refining efforts of the Giant Spirit God and Guardian Gods could keep up. The excess had to be used to rebuild Yin Soldier soul bodies and boost their cultivation.

Through battle-fed evolution, the Yin Soldiers not only grew in number but also in strength. Most had already reached the Late Qi Refining Realm.

A sweep of the mental network revealed that over four hundred thousand zombies had originally filled this ruined city—including three Foundation Establishment-level Corpse Kings.

In just half a day, only half remained. One of the Foundation Establishment Corpse Kings was already dead.

Had the remaining zombies not begun scattering and fleeing in all directions, complicating the hunt, and had the Space Corpse King not interfered, the city would’ve been cleansed by now.

The Corpse King finally felt a chill of fear.

No longer chasing elusive Yin Soldiers, he dove directly into the ghost mist to hunt down Lu Yan.

For all their power, the Late Qi Refining Yin Soldiers couldn’t stop him. The Corpse King barreled into a cluster of ruined buildings—and finally sensed Lu Yan’s aura.

There, veiled in the fog, Lu Yan was still refining endless wandering souls, churning out wave after wave of new Yin Soldiers.

The Space Corpse King had forgotten his original mission. Now, all he wanted was to kill Lu Yan and erase the terror that gripped him.

His decaying hand spread wide, countless spatial runes cascading like a storm, forming a deadly suppression force.

Lu Yan was caught in the middle.

Rotten death qi and twisted space surged around him, threatening to pulverize him. The Corpse King’s hollow gaze flared with madness. Death and space intertwined into a terrifying tide, shaking the entire ruined city.

But at that moment of life and death, Lu Yan’s lips curled into a chilling smile.

In a flash, three brilliant divine lights erupted from the ghost mist, slicing through the darkness like heavenly swords.

Three Ghost Gods stepped forth, their forms cloaked in shadow, commanding the mist into physical form.

A thousand Yin Soldiers emerged from the void, forming a mysterious grand array with their chilling presence. Each soldier became a node, reigniting the Nine Nether Infernal Fire Formation.

With nether wind and infernal flames, the grand formation transformed the entire ruined city into a blazing furnace, aiming to annihilate the Space Corpse King.

For the first time, the Corpse King sensed mortal danger. He immediately abandoned suppressing Lu Yan and began phasing into space to flee.

But would Lu Yan allow that?

This entire trap had been crafted using himself as bait—all to prevent the Corpse King from sensing the threat and escaping early.

If he got away, no one, not even a Nascent Soul True Lord, could catch him.

This was Lu Yan’s only shot.

“Seal!”

With a thunderous shout, the Mysterious Womb Gate roared open in the void. After half a day of restoration, the purple portal had regained a height of two meters.

The origin of all paths clashed with spatial force. From that deep portal flowed an ancient aura—as though it led to the very beginning of the world. All spatial laws broke into chaos.

Silver spatial shards were obliterated one by one, and within two hundred meters, space itself was sealed. For the first time, the arrogant Corpse King’s aura began to falter.

The next second, infernal fire and nether wind surged into a dragon-like tornado that swallowed the Corpse King whole.

That massive storm of flame shredded his supernatural powers. The spatial runes carved on his flesh were torn apart within the array, and his brittle body was sliced to pieces by the relentless force.

With space suppressed and his body trapped within the formation, the Space Corpse King’s demise was only a matter of time.

Within the chaos of the formation, a thousand Soul-Hooking Chains pierced through the flaming vortex and latched onto his very soul.

A thousand Yin Soldiers pulled as one, forcibly extracting the powerful soul of the Early Foundation Establishment Corpse King from his decaying body.

As his soul was torn free, the rotted remains turned to bone and were consumed by the infernal firestorm.

The Nine Nether Formation slowly dissipated, the chains wrapping his soul into a massive orb.

Lu Yan stepped forward and raised the Soul Banner in his hand.

There was no doubt—the Space Corpse King had been the strongest enemy Lu Yan had ever faced.

Even after falling from the Nether Abyss Realm to Early Foundation Establishment, his tyrannical spatial abilities allowed him to crush all in his path. If not for the Mysterious Womb Gate capable of suppressing all laws, Lu Yan might never have slain him.

“Such a powerful soul should become the Primary Soul, to help my Soul Banner ascend to a true Magical Artifact!”

(End of Chapter)