Chapter 199: Bountiful Harvest

Transformed into the God of Thunder, Zhao Hongzhong crumbled under the onslaught of the ghost generals in less than a second.

Spears wreathed in ghostly wind and Netherfire pierced through his body, and his powerful divine soul was rapidly consumed. Agonized howls tore from Zhao Hongzhong’s throat.

As for the other corpse kings who had charged with him in an attempt to break the formation and behead Lu Yan, they fared even worse. Despite their peerless divine abilities, they were helpless before the ghost generals’ charge. The iron hooves from the Underworld trampled their decaying flesh, and their shattered souls were easily harvested.

Writhing in the torment of soul erosion, Zhao Hongzhong cried out:

“I surrender! I surrender!”

But the ghost generals were unmoved. Until Lu Yan issued a new command, Zhao Hongzhong’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

As the final traces of lightning extinguished from his body, his nearly shattered Golden Core soul was forcibly ripped from his flesh. The dark steeds of the ghost generals trampled over his corpse, crushing it into pulp.

With only a single charge under the might of the Underworld army’s formation, six early Golden Core stage cultivators perished.

In the Demon version of the world, these six would be considered the equivalent of six Abyssal Realm beings.

Back when the original Abyss God had hunted Lu Yan, a single Abyssal Realm existence had forced him into a desperate flight across heaven and earth. Facing six such beings, Lu Yan wouldn’t have stood a chance—any one of them could have crushed him with a single hand.

But in this Apocalypse version, where energy levels were suppressed and cultivation limited to early Golden Core, Lu Yan could continue refining his Soul Banner using the endless hordes of zombies.

That disparity in resources and limitations forged the current situation.

With all six early Golden Core experts fallen, the alliance between the transcendents and the zombies completely collapsed.

One powerful transcendent after another fled in panic, abandoning the battlefield while the million-strong zombie horde was left behind to cover their retreat from the Underworld army’s pursuit.

Lu Yan smiled faintly. Come and go as you please? The world doesn’t work that way.

“It’s your turn.”

With his words, a figure robed in dark garments adorned with golden and silver patterns stepped out from the spatial rift leading to the Soul Continent—none other than the Abyss God.

“Ghost God Formation!”

The decree rang out among the Underworld army, and in an instant, the six thousand ghost soldiers and six hundred ghost generals began shifting formation.

The Ghost God Formation was an evolved design, based on the second-tier Spirit-Gathering Array recorded in Lu Yan’s 《Array Mysteries》 and inspired by the cyber version’s Heavenly Computation Center.

Over the past month, the Giant Spirit God had used the Spirit-Gathering Array as a foundation, incorporating the computational structure of the Heavenly Computation Center. Drawing on the full soul-computational power of the Underworld, they successfully developed this third-tier Ghost God Formation.

Because the ghost soldiers and generals originated from the same source, the formation could channel all their Yin energy, cultivation, and soul computation into a single ghost god.

The only limitation was that the third-tier Ghost God Formation could not break through the cultivation stage limit—it could, at most, elevate someone from early to peak Golden Core.

But even that was more than enough to crush anything in the Apocalypse version.

As the Ghost God Formation solidified, vast Yin energy and soul power descended. The Abyss God’s early Golden Core cultivation surged to peak Golden Core almost instantly.

Uncontrolled Yin energy leaked from his body, manifesting spatial rifts in all directions under his dominion over space.

His eyes, swirling with time and space, scanned the world. Ten kilometers away, invisible spatial barriers rose, turning the entire battlefield into a massive prison.

The first to reach the edge of the battlefield was Gu Yan—the man who had chosen to flee the moment things turned sour.

His ability was speed, one of the most common abilities in the apocalypse.

But after the world’s fall, he had undergone several fortuitous encounters, elevating his speed to an unprecedented level.

In the entire Apocalypse version, few could raise their speed ability above Tier 5. Gu Yan was the only one who had used it to reach the ninth transcendent tier.

His extreme speed rendered him undefeated in battle. Even among other Tier 9s, no one could catch him. This nurtured his arrogance.

When he first heard of the Underworld army, he scoffed, convinced they couldn’t possibly match his speed.

To him, this encirclement of Lu Yan by the various factions was a game—if it succeeded, great; if not, he had every confidence in his ability to retreat.

The moment the six hundred ghost generals appeared, Gu Yan sensed something was wrong and was ready to flee.

When Zhao Hongzhong and the corpse kings were slain, he was the first to bolt, causing the formation of the transcendents to crumble and leading to the deaths of several Tier 7s.

But Gu Yan didn’t care. In his eyes, they were all doomed to die anyway. Now, at least, they were helping him delay the Underworld army.

He blazed across the battlefield like lightning.

Looking back at the army, a mocking sneer curled on his lips.

“Idiots.”

As his voice rang out, his figure exceeded the speed of sound, streaking toward the horizon.

But in the next second, the scenery around him changed abruptly. He found himself back at the center of the battlefield, facing a dark-robed figure standing proudly in the distance.

Gu Yan’s heart seized. He accelerated again—but a pale hand emerged from the void, clamping tightly around his throat.

His charge came to an abrupt halt, and the sheer force nearly snapped his own neck.

He instinctively stabbed at the hand with his longsword—only to watch as space devoured it. The sword then reappeared behind him, piercing straight through his chest.

His eyes bulged in disbelief.

He had clearly escaped the battlefield—how had he returned to the center? And this foe… was beyond comprehension.

“What… impossible!”

A hoarse whisper escaped his throat.

Meanwhile, space fluctuated again, and many transcendents who had fled were forcefully dragged back into the heart of the battlefield.

They attempted to counterattack with their powers, but all ranged abilities were quietly consumed by space.

These swallowed attacks would then emerge from random directions, striking their own allies and plunging the battlefield into chaos.

With their formation shattered and caught off guard by the strange spatial phenomena, the transcendents had no hope of resisting.

One by one, Tier 9 souls were torn out by soul-hooks. Those with power comparable to Foundation Establishment fell quickly to the encircling slaughter.

In less than half an hour, with the last Tier 9 transcendent’s soul forcibly extracted, the battle was over.

Of the six thousand ghost soldiers, fewer than a thousand perished—most of whom were killed during the initial clash with the Tier 9s.

The ghost generals fared even better—only eleven were lost in total.

And the spoils were terrifying.

Excluding the souls that had been completely erased in battle, Lu Yan had reaped nine Golden Core souls and eighty-seven Foundation Establishment souls.

As for wandering zombie souls, because the battlefield was too intense to use the soul-hooks efficiently, he had only harvested about 400,000.

But those were secondary. Lu Yan didn’t particularly care for a few hundred thousand zombie souls.

What mattered most were those Foundation Establishment and Golden Core souls, crucial for creating powerful ghost gods and generals.

The Underworld Legion had moved past the stage of mass recruitment. It was now time to pursue higher quality.

And the ghost generals’ performance on the battlefield had proven Lu Yan’s vision correct once again.

Aside from these valuable resources, Lu Yan had also obtained something else.

He turned to look at the slowly approaching Abyss God.

Pinned beneath the Abyss God’s hand, a pale-faced man was trapped by space itself. His elegant formal wear had been reduced to rags, and his spirit was withered, clearly suffering severe soul damage.

There was no doubt—this was the Shadow Corpse King, whom Lu Yan had briefly encountered back at the underground fortress.

The Shadow Corpse King glared at the Abyss God, eyes filled with hatred and venom.

If not for the Abyss God sealing the battlefield, his shadow-based concealment ability would have ensured his escape in the dark. Now caught in a deathtrap, his hatred toward the Abyss God was overwhelming.

But when he turned his gaze from the Abyss God to Lu Yan, all that hatred turned into raw, uncontainable fear.

In terms of strength, Lu Yan was far weaker than the Abyss God.

But the terrifying and unpredictable methods he displayed left the Shadow Corpse King with no will to resist.

Lu Yan stared down at the wretched corpse king. This was his first time encountering a corpse king capable of intelligent conversation—a sign of the Shadow Corpse King’s uniqueness.

But in the end, the Apocalypse version’s suppression meant that no matter how exceptional he was, he was still just an early-stage Golden Core—easily crushed by Lu Yan.

He spoke coldly:

“Why did you join the transcendents in this ambush?”

The Shadow Corpse King hesitated for a moment, but fear compelled him to speak:

“Because of you—”

Before he could finish, Lu Yan cut him off.

Eyes sharp and focused, dark mists of ghost energy swirled around him like a demon god descending upon the world. The suffocating aura made the Shadow Corpse King’s soul tremble.

“I want the truth. You get one chance.”

At last, the Shadow Corpse King succumbed to fear, lowering his once-proud head.

“Three months ago, several corpse kings and I suddenly had the same thought…”

“Do everything in our power—kill the Underworld Envoy!”

(End of Chapter)