11 Chapter 11 (1/2)

Dominating the Abyss Prison Realm would be exceedingly easy as it would be completely cut off from Glory City once Shen Yue masters the array. There would be no need to hide his identity or strength, as he planned to lock Nie Li out of the array controls. The only obstacle was the mysterious old man.

According to the book, the 'Mysterious Old Man' has an outward appearance that looks deceptively frail, with long grey hair and beard. Dressed in ragged clothes and thin as a rake, his eyes are empty as he staggers while walking, giving off an overwhelming killing intent. He is definitely above legend rank.

The Old Man was enigmatic, and he could only warn his men about it. Told to handle any seemingly feeble old men with respect and not to abuse anyone without reason. Shen Yue ordered his people to escape if they somehow provoked this crazy unknown expert.

With three hundred peak legend experts moving in five-man squads, Shen Yue advanced to the Ten Millennium Spatial Array hopefully without drawing attention to himself. He was of course dressed in a long cloak with the hood up just in case they were noticed.

The array was protected by an origin barrier originating from the Woodland Empire. Surrounding the shield of light was sixteen, six-meter tall dome-like towers, carved with intricate inscription patterns. It apparently needs twenty-three Stones of Light as the power core to transport people to the subsidiary realm known as the Abyss Prison Realm.

Nie Li was able to open up the barrier by inserting a bit of soul force into the correct pattern on each pillar. Shen Yue, on the other hand, just needed his Library of Heaven's Path to scan the array and find its flaws, operating method and history. After having Su Mei fly him around the formation barrier, his library compiled a book for him; the Library really was too overpowered.

Activating the pillars in the correct sequence, his soldiers gathered on the teleportation array once the barrier was down. Shen Yue did not neglect to investigate the flaws of the teleport array with his library, as only activated formations could be scanned. With a flash of light, they were in a dreary place that seemed to be forever stuck at dusk.

Shen Yue had briefed his men on the demon beasts that Nie Li had encountered on his way to the Silverwing Family. The thousands of Scarlet Ghosts, a creature resembling a red monkey, were eradicated with no quarter given. The blood crystals that a few of them had were retrieved.

The Netherlamp Behemoth was a massive slow-moving monstrosity with many tongues that shot out to capture its prey. Its saliva has a mild hallucinatory effect. It was quickly overwhelmed, and its tongues severed, Shen Yue gave orders to capture it alive.

Shen Yue was always curious why demon spirits were so rare. According to the books he read, the demon's spirit was found in its cerebrum, having a minuscule possibility of appearing. Barely one or two were found in tens of thousands of demon beasts killed. This baffled Shen Yue, as just like all humans have a soul, all demons must have a spirit!

After comprehensive research done on demon beasts captured by his people at the Heavenly Fate Plateau, he found the answer, and it was ridiculous that no one had worked it out before.

Maybe it was because he knew that in the novel, the demon beasts had their own faction, or that he was aware of the cause behind the dark age. However, he found it hard to believe that people, as greedy as they are, didn't try to find a way to increase the drop rate.

If all humans have a soul, the equivalent to a demons' spirit, why did they not appear when they were killed? Would one manifest if tens of thousands were killed? Not insane enough to prove his theory, he used his library and knowledge of souls to scan captured demon beasts to find an answer.

The Soul Separating technique that he had upgraded previously ended up being the solution. After being slightly altered, he now had a way to extract the demon spirits of any captured demon beast! Shen Yue was not spending hundreds of thousands merely for a silver ranked demon spirit, he just had his men acquire their own!

The entire market of demon spirit stones was bought out overnight, and Shen Yue now had a team at the plateau concentrating on solely making them. This world-altering discovery was kept exclusively in-house. It was made extremely clear that the harshest of penalties awaited any who leaked this technique, even implicating their families.

With the Netherlamp Behemoth's spirit now in a demon stone, they were free to keep moving towards the Silver Winged Family territory. Shen Yue had thought about it but decided not to reenact the little play he had performed at the Heavenly Fate Plateau. The Abyss Prison Realm Families had spent too long isolated and at war with each other to follow Shen Yue, a foreigner, just because he offered food and techniques.

Other than an alliance against the Silver Winged Family, the thirteen dominant Families fought for resources constantly and had at one time or another clashed with each other. That left only smashing them into obedience and enslaving them. Shen Yue was really on his way to becoming a dictator of a totalitarian regime.

Without any posturing or arrogant speeches, he had his soldiers swoop in and restrain all the hierarchy of the clan, dragging them to the throne room. He didn't forget to personally visit a certain slave chained to a pillar covered in wounds.

”Hey there, you look like you could do with some help.” Shen Yue said to the youth, Duan Jian. He just glared back at Shen Yue, not speaking. Being tortured since birth probably wiped out his sense of humour.

”What would it take for you to swear fealty to me?” Shen Yue asked.

”The head of that old bandit Sikong Yi!” Replied Duan Jian immediately.

”Are you sure? You will need to have a loyalty inscription mark, but I promise to make you a legend rank expert.”