I Am Overlord c1-962
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The cannibal king's eyes turned bloodshot as he shouted, "Human, I will tear you apart alive!"
For the high and mighty cannibal king, Xiang Shaoyun was but a puny human. But it was this same puny human who had injured him, and that caused him to be furious. He flew toward Xiang Shaoyun and let loose a mighty roar from his mouth.
Cannibal's Roar!
This was a type of sound attack unique to the cannibals, and it did not target only one's ears. After the cannibal king roared, an apparition of a cannibal head formed from brutal energy and bit down at Xiang Shaoyun.
The attack came suddenly and arrived before Xiang Shaoyun in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, he was still stunned from the sudden soundwave attack, allowing the cannibal head to bite him. After biting him, the cannibal head dissolved and entered his body. The brutal energy released all his negative emotions and started messing with his mind.
Swish!
Once again, the Nether Dragon Soul Headband reacted. Strands of energy trailed out and devoured the invading brutal energy, saving Xiang Shaoyun from it. However, the cannibal king had arrived before him.
"Die!" shouted the cannibal king before slamming his bone club at Xiang Shaoyun's head.
Xiang Shaoyun did not look like he would be able to avoid the attack. If the club landed, his head would most likely be smashed apart.
"Nether Dragon Soul Headband, come out!" In his panic, Xiang Shaoyun released his Nether Dragon Soul Headband from his head.
Clank!
The bone club struck the Nether Dragon Soul Headband, causing a crisp sound to ring in the air. Not only had the Nether Dragon Soul Headband successfully blocked the attack, the impact from the collision had even jolted away the cannibal king. The cannibal king was greatly alarmed as he had not expected that Xiang Shaoyun would have such a treasure on him.
Xiang Shaoyun heaved a breath of relief before lifting his head and looking at the cannibal king. Killing intent surfaced in his eyes as he said, "That scared me shitless! How dare you scare me like that? Today, you die!"
He then withdrew the Nether Dragon Soul Headband before jabbing forward repeatedly, releasing numerous beams of finger energy toward the cannibal king. The Star Destroying Finger wouldn't be able to harm the cannibal king. He only used the attack to provoke the cannibal king into attacking him again.
Cannibals were simple-minded and had bad temper. Thus, when the cannibal king sensed Xiang Shaoyun's provocation, he attacked again. This time, he switched his target to Xiang Shaoyun's body.
"This is what I'm waiting for!" said Xiang Shaoyun with a cold snort.
Once again, he activated his innate purple lightning. At the same time, he pushed his concentration to the peak and entered a unique state where he seemed to have become one with the Purple Lightning Saber. Finally, he swung his saber, releasing a purple lightning bolt. It was still the same Lightning Slash From The Clear Sky, but this time, it was also powered by his saber intent.
Sphhlt!
The cannibal king's attack crumbled apart before Xiang Shaoyun's slash. At the same time, a bloody cut appeared on his belly. Blood gushed out without stop even as the lightning energy proceeded to wreak havoc in his body. Assailed by the intense pain, he wailed before flying away.
"Fleeing? You won't be able to flee!" said Xiang Shaoyun with a sneer. The white tiger wings unfurled from his back. With a flap, vicious gold energy rippled out and created a cloud of dust around him.
Instantly, Xiang Shaoyun shot toward the cannibal king. His speed of flight was fast enough for him to catch up with the cannibal king in the blink of an eye. The cannibal king was already seriously injured and could only fly slowly. Xiang Shaoyun being able to fly was something he had never expected. Looking at the approaching Xiang Shaoyun, he roared and started madly swinging his club at Xiang Shaoyun.
Flapping his wings, Xiang Shaoyun avoided the attacks and released another slash in human saber unity mode. After a few slashes, the cannibal king started falling from the sky, looking like he could no longer fight back. Xiang Shaoyun was about to deal the final blow when he suddenly stopped.
"Rather than killing you, I'm better off turning you into my helper," said Xiang Shaoyun.
Having made up his mind, he started chanting the Nether Dragon Soul Curse. Numerous ancient symbols started drifting through the air while the Nether Dragon Soul Headband showed itself once more. It turned into the shape of a dragon and wrapped itself around the cannibal king's head. The cannibal king was already seriously injured and was completely helpless. Thus, the Nether Dragon Soul Headband was able to lock itself around his head successfully.
"Roar! Roar!"
The cannibal king started roaring madly, but the more he struggled, the worse his injuries became. Although the cannibals had terrifying physical prowess, their souls were comparatively weaker. After his soul was attacked by Xiang Shaoyun's Nether Dragon Soul Curse, a brand was quickly left behind. Just like that, a Nether Dragon Soul Curse formed of Xiang Shaoyun's soul power was left in the cannibal king's head.
As for the original Nether Dragon Soul Curse, it was summoned back into Xiang Shaoyun's head while Xiang Shaoyun continued chanting the curse to complete the process of subduing the cannibal king.
Chapter 268: Harvesting the Spirit Crystal Mine
Each species would have things they were good and bad at. For the cannibals, they had powerful physical flesh and a brutal energy that made them incredibly strong. But their weakness was rather obvious as well. They were simple-minded, and their souls were innately weak. Because of that, it did not take Xiang Shaoyun long to gain full control of the cannibal king.
This control was completely different from the type of control he had exercised on Long Hui. The entirety of this cannibal king's soul and consciousness had been fully taken over by Xiang Shaoyun. After all, this cannibal king's soul was too weak and couldn't resist the Nether Dragon Soul Curse, resulting in his complete defeat.
And thus, both the soul and consciousness were fully under Xiang Shaoyun's control. Xiang Shaoyun then learned that the cannibal king's name was Xiong Bao. He had a rather high status among the cannibals as he was the son of their patriarch.
"Great, this will make things much easier." Xiang Shaoyun was overjoyed when he found out Xiong Bao's identity. He took out a spirit medicine and fed some of it to Xiong Bao before applying the rest to Xiong Bao's external wounds. He was not doing all this just to get a new puppet. Rather, he had something else he needed Xiong Bao for.
Soon, a day passed. Xiong Bao had recovered considerably. One had to admit that the cannibals really did have amazing physiques. Xiang Shaoyun no longer wasted any time and called Xiong Bao over before returning to the spirit crystal mine. Earlier when the cannibals had arrived, only Xiong Bao had gone after Xiang Shaoyun. The rest of the cannibals were still at the mine working.
"Go tell them to increase the mining speed," Xiang Shaoyun commanded through thought transmission.
The entirety of Xiong Bao's soul was already under Xiang Shaoyun's control. Thus, unlike Long Hui, he couldn't even think of resisting. He merely nodded obediently before heading toward the spirit crystal mine.
Xiang Shaoyun was still able to clearly sense Xiong Bao even with a large distance between them. He couldn't understand the cannibal language, but from Xiong Bao's soul undulations, he understood what was being said.
Xiong Bao was indeed doing as told.
"With free labor, I can now have a nice rest," muttered Xiang Shaoyun cheekily.
He then sat down and started meditating. In his Nether Soul Domain, the scenes of his battle with the cannibal king replayed repeatedly. After each battle, he would revise it to seek for his own insufficiencies. That was how he could further increase his combat experience, and it would help him greatly when he faced future opponents.
After fully analyzing his battle with the cannibal king, finding the weaknesses of the other cannibals he might encounter later would be easier as well. Soon, two days passed.
Under the hard work of the tens of cannibals, the spirit crystal mine was completely emptied.
With the mining done, Xiang Shaoyun ordered Xiong Bao to send all the cannibals away. The cannibals would never disobey Xiong Bao, and they all left obediently. Next, Xiang Shaoyun rushed into the cave. He was greeted with piles of pure spirit crystals; a feeling of intense joy surged out from him.
"Haha, great! Awesome!" Xiang Shaoyun roared with laughter and started stowing the spirit crystals.
His current astral cosmos sea was big enough to store all these spirit crystals. After stowing them all, he found that a large part of the astral cosmos sea had been filled. A rough assessment of his concluded that the spirit crystals had occupied at least a space of 30 square meters.
With the average size of a spirit crystal, about 500 spirit crystals would take the space of one square meter. With 30 square meters occupied, after taking into consideration the height as well, he now had about 150,000 mid-grade spirit crystals in his possession.
That was an extremely large sum of wealth, more than what ordinary organizations would possess. Any Kings would go mad stumbling on such riches, and even Emperors would covet something like this.
After all, spirit crystal mines were extremely rare. Most of them were already under control of those large organizations. It wouldn't be easy for anyone else to get one for themselves. Xiang Shaoyun had only entered the Land of Soul Springs, and he already had such a harvest. One ought to admit that he was truly a person of great fortune.
With so many spirit crystals, I can do a lot more things in the future, thought Xiang Shaoyun.
Xiang Shaoyun then told Xiong Bao to bring him toward the lair of the cannibals. Why? Because he was now sure that the earthstone heart was being kept at a place important to the cannibals. There, it was placed on an altar, treated as the cannibals' most precious treasure. It wouldn't be easy for Xiang Shaoyun to obtain the earthstone heart.
There are a lot of Kings among the cannibals. Moreover, that earthstone heart is being kept in their ancestral temple. With Xiong Bao's identity, he can get it for me. But there is an even stronger cannibal king guarding the temple. Xiong Bao will not be able to retrieve it easily. I need to think of something, pondered Xiang Shaoyun.
After the two traveled for about half a day, they arrived near the cannibals' lair. He could sense a large number of cannibals moving everywhere. Occasionally, some cannibals could be seen returning with the corpses of humans and demonic beasts, which would serve as their food.
If it wasn't for Xiang Shaoyun's ability to detect the cannibals long before they neared him, he would have stumbled upon them by now.
Just as he was about to look for a place to hide himself, he sensed a battle happening not far away. After a slight hesitation, he brought Xiong Bao toward where he heard the battle. Soon, he saw a human fighting a group of cannibals alone.
When Xiang Shaoyun focused, he found that the human was actually Liang Zhuangmin from Cloud Margin Pavilion. Liang Zhuangmin was once a super genius of the Cloud Margin Pavilion, and he was the previous owner of Xiang Shaoyun’s first-class estate. But after being stuck in the Transformation Realm for seven years, he was kicked off the first-class estate by the disappointed higher-ups. He was also the society master of the Free Society.
As he fought, brown energy swirled around his body. With the prowess he was displaying, he was definitely a War King. Currently, he was fighting the cannibals with his physical flesh as well. Like a mad beast, he fought the cannibals head-on and killed them off one by one.
How strong, Xiang Shaoyun cried out inwardly when he sensed how overbearing Liang Zhuangmin's strength was.
Liang Zhuangmin was not only strong in terms of combat prowess. He also had a powerful defense that was akin to an impenetrable bastion. No matter how many bone clubs slammed into him, his defense stood tall.
That was why Xiang Shaoyun was so shocked. He watched on silently as Liang Zhuangmin killed about a dozen cannibals without even breaking a sweat. But since this place was near the lair of the cannibals, the battle had attracted a cannibal king.
The cannibal king immediately clashed with Liang Zhuangmin upon arriving. An intense battle erupted, and even when facing the cannibal king, Liang Zhuangmin was still able to stand his ground, showcasing his valiant strength.
However, Liang Zhuangmin had no intention to drag the fight on. Thus, he fought while retreating, trying to leave this place instead. But the cannibal king kept pushing on. To make things worse, a second cannibal king had also arrived. The two cannibals worked together and surrounded Liang Zhuangmin.
Liang Zhuangmin instantly sank into a crisis.
Chapter 269: I'm a Nice Guy
Two cannibal kings had arrived, with one of them being a second-stage King. Even when facing two cannibal kings, Liang Zhuangmin was still able to protect himself, but his speed made it very hard for him to actually escape them.
"You really think you can eat me?" Liang Zhuangmin sneered and erupted with power. His body suddenly enlarged, his muscles becoming even more explosive. With his pair of axes, he started releasing overbearing axe energies at the two cannibal kings, forcing them to reduce the aggression of their attacks.
Even when faced with a disadvantage, cannibals would never escape. They kept Liang Zhuangmin surrounded, trying to take him down. As for Liang Zhuangmin, the longer the battle dragged on, the more valiant he seemed. His axe technique was extremely exquisite, allowing him to stand his ground against two cannibal kings at the same time.
If it wasn't for the advantage the two cannibal kings had due to their ability of flight, Liang Zhuangmin would have killed them by now. But it was not like Liang Zhuangmin was completely helpless against them. He suddenly revealed an opening and collapsed to the ground, causing one of the cannibal kings to dive down trying to finish him off.
Suddenly, Liang Zhuangmin swung his two axes at the incoming cannibal king. The cannibal king tried to block the attack, but he failed to endure the overbearing strength of the axes. Thus, two terrible cuts were left on his chest.
Liang Zhuangmin was able to pull off his plan successfully, but the cannibal king hit him with his final attack—the cannibal had roared before his death, sending out a wave of brutal energy that invaded Liang Zhuangmin's body and started corroding his mind.
On top of that, the other cannibal king had also resumed attacking Liang Zhuangmin, smashing his energy barrier apart in order to finish him off.
Liang Zhuangmin had astonishing willpower. Even as he resisted the brutal energy invasion, he still faced the other cannibal king tenaciously. Unfortunately, with the condition he was in, the prospects of him surviving was rather low.
"God damn it! Am I fated to die here?" roared Liang Zhuangmin in indignation.
The cannibal king's bone club struck him, sending him crashing toward a pile of rocks while coughing up blood without stop.
"Roar!"
The cannibal king roared before charging at Liang Zhuangmin again. He was planning to rip Liang Zhuangmin apart alive. During this moment of crisis, a silhouette appeared out of nowhere. Saber energy streaked through the air straight toward the cannibal king.
As a response, the cannibal king surrounded his body with barriers formed of multiple layers of brutal energy. Alas, that slash had an extraordinary might and was able to instantly slice through the barriers before landing squarely on the cannibal king's back. Accompanied by a wail, the cannibal king rolled to the side.
"Die!" The newcomer was none other than Xiang Shaoyun. With a roar, he continued swinging his saber, sending powerful saber intent attacks toward the cannibal king.
Here in the Land of Soul Springs, Xiang Shaoyun was unable to borrow the power of natural lightning for some reason. However, the innate purple lightning within him was enough for him to deal with this second-stage King Realm cannibal. He pressed on after the successful first hit with an unending wave of attacks, not giving the cannibal king any respite.
Although the cannibal king had been hit by the first slash, it did not mean that he was completely helpless now. On the contrary, he turned even more ferocious after sustaining the injury. He roared furiously, sending a wave of even more powerful brutal energy wrapping around Xiang Shaoyun's body.
Xiang Shaoyun completely ignored the brutal energy and pushed the power of his saber intent to the peak. Combined with the Lightning Slash From The Clear Sky, even facing this cannibal king head-on was possible for him. The two clashed repeatedly, and eventually, the injured cannibal king was forced into retreat. He flew into the sky in his attempt to avoid Xiang Shaoyun's attack.
Right this moment, Xiong Bao descended from the sky. When the cannibal king saw Xiong Bao, he quickly cried for help. Xiong Bao responded and quickly flew toward the cannibal king only to suddenly attack, smashing the head of the cannibal king apart. Even at his death, the second-stage King Realm cannibal still had no idea what had happened.
After killing the cannibal king, Xiong Bao vanished again. Xiang Shaoyun had no intention to fully reveal this card of his. As for the other cannibal king that was nearly dead due to Liang Zhuangmin's attack, he was finished off by Xiang Shaoyun.
After dealing with the two cannibal kings, Xiang Shaoyun went over toward the badly injured Liang Zhuangmin. Liang Zhuangmin was trying his best to control his mental state to no avail. His entire mind was flooded by the effect of the brutal energy. The moment Xiang Shaoyun approached, Liang Zhuangmin started howling and dragged his badly injured body forward, trying to attack Xiang Shaoyun. But due to the injuries he had sustained, his combat prowess had dropped significantly.
"Shut up already," said Xiang Shaoyun as he gripped Liang Zhuangmin's arm before activating the Nether Dragon Soul Headband to draw all the brutal energy out of Liang Zhuangmin.
The Nether Dragon Soul Headband did not disappoint, as it was still able to devour the brutal energy that was not in Xiang Shaoyun's body. After the brutal energy was cleared from Liang Zhuangmin, the clarity in his eyes returned as he looked at Xiang Shaoyun with gratitude on his face.