Chapter 334 – Whale Devouring, Legion's Ultimate Move

A Military Soul Legion reaching one thousand in number marks a critical threshold, signifying that the legion’s Military Soul has advanced from the “Nascent Stage” to the “Complete Stage.” The enhancement abilities provided by the Military Soul are significantly boosted, and compatible abilities are derived based on the legion’s characteristics.

The gap between a Complete Stage Military Soul Legion and a Nascent Stage legion is immense.

Among the Lords, it is widely said that a “Mortal Realm Lord” commanding a legion can contend with a Legendary Realm expert—this refers specifically to a Complete Stage Military Soul Legion. Any true Military Soul Legion has endured countless bloody and fiery battles, emerging from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, having fought their way to formidable prestige and renowned reputations.

They are the elite among elites, capable of intimidating numerous monsters and cutting through monster tides.

When dealing with massive monster tides or defending cities, such an elite legion can play an even greater role than a single Legendary Realm expert.

Of course, if such a Military Soul Legion is commanded by a Legendary Realm General, it can unleash a combined strength far greater than the sum of its parts.

Shen Linglong, despite being a newly advanced Legendary Realm expert, was able to easily slay a monster of the Legendary Realm precisely because of her illustrious and fearsome “Peerless Linglong Legion.”

In contrast to their power, for a Lord to cultivate such an elite legion requires immense financial resources, feeding the nascent Military Soul with incalculable amounts of auxiliary Materials.

“Engaging in combat training and investing corresponding resources can both enhance the nascent Military Soul.”

While Materials can be purchased with money, rare troop types are relatively hard to come by. Moreover, for a Lord to assemble a Military Soul Legion, they must gather one thousand rare troops of the same series with similar powers, which is even more challenging.

Most veteran Lords, even Great Lords, are stuck at this step.

They can only rely on connections to inquire about or purchase specific series of rare Remnant Souls, slowly completing their elite legions through years of accumulation.

If it were a top-tier Great Lord, they would have resources, troop types, and Generals at their disposal. They could even leverage their connections to send their legions to the most suitable Battlefields for training.Even so, it often takes two to three years for a legion to advance from having a nascent Military Soul to honing and elevating it to the Complete Stage.

The elite troops need to磨合, repeatedly resonating with the Military Soul to enhance its power, expand the legion’s scale, and step by step, walk to the top of the mountain.

During this process, even Lords with wealth and influence must patiently refine their troops, spending considerable time to improve the tacit understanding among the elites.

His Tianyuan Territory… was no exception.

However, his elites were just a tad more intelligent than those of other nascent legions.

Typically, in a nascent legion, aside from the commanding General, there are a dozen or so officers and junior commanders. These leaders, cultivated with emphasis by the Lord, have mostly undergone Awakening of self-awareness. They serve as crucial links within the legion, acting as nodes to consciously direct adjustments and take the lead, allowing the Military Soul to resonate more smoothly.

This is the role of the general.

But,The elite forces of Tianyuan Territory had all awakened their self-awareness. They could independently imitate various commanders, absorb experience, summarize shortcomings, and self-improve. They could exert subjective initiative, constantly communicating and practicing with comrades in daily life, further deepening their synergy.

Under such circumstances, the embryonic military soul of the ‘Undead Legion’ improved with astonishing speed.

In just half a year, the legion had incorporated 999 elite members, only one step away from a breakthrough.

And today was the day!

Boom—! Boom!!!

Inside the Secret Realm, the thousand-strong legion brandished their swords and gathered mist, unleashing a roar like collapsing mountains and raging seas, shattering the entire ground of the Secret Realm and displaying destructive power no less than that of the Legendary Realm.

“The Black Wasteland Secret Realm is quite practical—it can even serve as a Training Ground.”

Mu Yuan already had his own Training Ground, as well as the high-tier Miracle Building ‘Gladiator Arena.’ Training here didn’t offer the buffs from Miracle Buildings, but the Black Wasteland had one advantage: it was vast!

Big meant strong; big meant beautiful.

The undead could unleash their full potential. Though this somewhat damaged the Secret Realm’s environment, the Black Wasteland was inherently defined by decay, desolation, and ruin—a few extra ravages from the undead hardly mattered.

In the distance,

on a barren hill, Dolai sat cross-legged on the ground.

It was also cultivating here.

It wasn’t training its Domain. Instead, its mouth opened and closed like a frog’s, and in the next moment, with its super deep breath, the elemental particles of the surrounding world surged like rivers flowing into the sea, all inhaled in one gulp.

Even the dense black mist hovering over the Undead Legion in the distance trembled violently, as if battered by a gale-force wind, nearly unable to maintain its form.

The undead elites trained even more vigorously.

Dolai was developing a new skill, under the guidance of Lord Mu.

“Compared to others of the same tier, Dolai’s greatest advantage has always been its immense energy reserves, allowing it to unleash powerful attacks without worrying about consumption. But now, Legendary beings can also channel the power of the world to execute such attacks, so Dolai’s energy advantage has become less pronounced.”

To address this, Lord Mu proposed three suggestions:

Mu Yuan did not change Dolai’s combat style—it excelled at overwhelming opponents with sheer ‘quantity.’

This had always been its way, and so it would remain.

He then combined his own insights with Dolai’s strengths to propose an idea.

“You do have an advantage in manipulating the power of the world, but it’s not prominent enough.”

Dolai nodded, somewhat understanding.

“Not prominent enough means you don’t have a gap of several dozen times. If you had that level of disparity, you could have effortlessly seized complete control from the enemy during the Wolfhead Mountain battle, right?”

Hearing this, Dolai nodded in sudden realization—so true, boss.

“But elemental control and affinity can’t be drastically improved in a short time. So, let’s shift our approach. Instead of competing for control, we’ll simply Devour the world’s energy.”

This brought Dolai back to its most familiar territory.

This way, it only needed to focus all its Legendary-tier power on perception and guidance, leaving the rest to Devour.

Mu Yuan named this move ‘Whale Swallow.’

Since it was an improvement based on Devour and Space Devour, Dolai had already mostly mastered it.

But ‘Whale Swallow’ alone wasn’t enough. Dolai also needed to convert the Devoured world energy into a form it could wield as effortlessly as its own limbs.Thus, drawing inspiration from the strategic skill ‘Limitless Devour’ and the epic structure ‘Scepter of Heavenly Authority Nine Revolutions Furnace,’ Mu Yuan proposed the concept of ‘using the body as a furnace.’

By combining the two, Dolai could not only strip enemies of their control over the power of heaven and earth but also wield vast and indescribable cosmic energy.

Moreover, it could bypass processes like ‘gathering the power of heaven and earth’ and ‘accumulating strength,’ enabling it to unleash ultimate moves instantly, with no cooldown, and more.

Absolutely brilliant!

For now, the ‘Body Furnace’ concept remained just that—a concept.

After all, Mu Yuan wasn’t the Undead Emperor, so his expectations for Dolai weren’t too high: just master it within three months.

“Three months? Who needs three months!”

Dolai wanted to say three days would suffice, but its remaining rationality reminded it that three days really wouldn’t cut it.

So…

“How about two months and twenty-nine days!”

That way, it would still complete the task assigned by the Lord ahead of schedule, showcasing its heaven-defying comprehension ability.

Thinking this, Dolai redoubled its efforts in its Whale Swallow.

In the distance, the elite undead had no choice but to intensify their efforts, resonating with the Military Soul to resist Dolai’s influence.

With a simulated legendary enemy to disrupt, Dolai’s training efficiency increased by +1+1+1.

Faced with an adversary capable of affecting the Military Soul, the elite undead squeezed out 200% of their training speed.

This was double the training and quadruple the joy.

Lord Mu watched, deeply gratified.

Half an hour later,

“It’s time.”

“As long as we incorporate one last soldier and maintain the Military Soul, the embryonic form of the Undead Legion’s Military Soul will be truly complete.”

The undead ceased their movements, and a general glanced to the side.

There, over a hundred undead watched with eager eyes. They were also elites, each having awakened self-awareness, and they had trained and coordinated with the main force in daily drills.

Each of these undead possessed excellent abilities, but today, only one among them would earn an official position.

The candidate had long been decided.

Many undead watched with envy, their gazes fixed on the young one nearby.

“Darn it, I’m so jealous!”

“I want to join the legion too, to fight legends alongside the boss!”

“To be honest, why him? I was here first!”

“Go, Bone 996! Carry our hopes, our will, and fight on!!”

An undead waved a handkerchief, black mist transforming into scalding hot tears.

Perhaps this was the downside of all members having self-awareness—they were just too dramatic.

Bone 996 strode forward, merging into the embrace of the Undead Army. The next moment, Deadbone took command, reorganizing the formation and raising the Death Lament high to resonate with the Military Soul.

Hum—

Hum—

Hum—

The illusion of a greatsword plunged into a grave mound manifested above the legion. At first, the entire embryonic form was highly unstable, as the addition of a new soldier made the massive machinery of the Military Soul Legion run stiffly and haltingly.

Under such circumstances, the slightest misstep could cause the embryonic form to shatter, meaning the enhancement and breakthrough of the Military Soul’s embryonic form would end in failure.

But Deadbone and the elite undead were fully prepared.

The embryonic form rippled violently like water waves, stabilizing after more than ten seconds and becoming increasingly solid and real at a visible pace.

Black mist surged from all directions around the legion, as if spawning out of thin air, endless and boundless.The undead energy and dark elemental particles between heaven and earth swarmed and converged.

Gather! Gather! Gather!

A black storm surged, a black tide enveloped everything.

The sky completely darkened, every inch of space inside the Secret Realm filled with howling, unyielding gloomy winds.

Amid the roaring winds, Mu Yuan heard the long-awaited prompt in his ears.

「Prompt: Your Undead Legion has broken through its limits. The nascent Military Soul has been refined to completion and will awaken and derive a Military Soul ability that aligns with the legion.」

Above the legion, the small grave mound instantly transformed into a majestic, towering mountain akin to the Undead Holy Mountain.

The Greatsword stood like a pillar reaching the heavens. Black mist vaguely gathered into a humanoid form—majestic in stature, with a blurred face but wearing a crown—gripping the Greatsword with both hands and pulling it out.

Clang—

「Prompt: Undead Military Soul · Complete, has awakened the legion trait ‘Bones of Immortality.’」

「Prompt: Undead Military Soul · Complete, has awakened the legion skill ‘Tide of Barren Bones.’」

「Prompt: Undead Military Soul · Complete, has awakened the legion ultimate skill ‘Emperor’s Sword.’」

When a complete Military Soul is refined, it typically derives one trait and one legion skill.

The trait is equivalent to granting the legion’s elites an additional talent during combat.

「Bones of Immortality: The bone strength of the holder increases, allowing them to withstand more energy impact. Simultaneously, when facing a fatal attack, as long as bones remain in their body, they will not die and can rapidly recover.」

This talent is quite powerful.

Under Military Soul resonance, the soldiers can share life and distribute damage; typically, there is no risk of death in battle. However… he had heard that at higher levels of combat, some powerful beings wield forces capable of piercing through the protection of the Military Soul, allowing them to dismantle a Military Soul Legion one by one.

Bones of Immortality can play a significant role in the late stage. Even now, the seemingly minor ‘recovery ability’ alone is invaluable.

Military Soul resonance and damage distribution mean that during combat, all soldiers will sustain injuries, and their overall condition will inevitably decline gradually.

Bones of Immortality provides extraordinary recovery ability.

This, to some extent, prolongs the duration of Military Soul resonance. This trait extends to many effects.

It’s just…

“The prerequisite is having bones.”

“The traits and legion skills awakened by the Undead Legion lean towards the skeletal system, which isn’t very suitable for Specter-type elites.”

The Specter babies felt aggrieved.

But this isn’t a big issue. The main commander and over 77% of the elites of the entire legion are of the skeletal type. Now that the Military Soul has broken through, the Specter types can gradually be phased out… after all, Tianyuan Territory isn’t short of skeletal-type elites.

Ahem, of course, Specter-type elites aren’t being kicked out of the official roster. Mu Yuan plans to form a legion primarily composed of Specters.

With experience, they will undoubtedly be highly efficient in condensing a nascent Military Soul.

A complete Military Soul is not the limit for a Military Soul Legion; it’s only the beginning. In the future, the two legions might even hone deeply connected legion combination skills.

「Military Soul Ultimate Skill: When the legion’s momentum accumulates to a certain extent, the soldiers can unleash their final ripple through super-limited resonance. After the ultimate skill is executed, the Military Soul phantom will shatter, and the legion will be unable to resonate a Military Soul again for a period of time.」”The Emperor’s Sword: A strike that ignores space, shatters dimensions, and delivers ultimate death to the enemy. Those designated by the Emperor’s Sword cannot evade, cannot escape, and can scarcely muster the will to resist. They can only passively accept the death bestowed by the Emperor.”

This was an ultimate skill.

An extremely powerful finishing move in combat.

However, the conditions and costs for using this Legion Soul ultimate skill were rather demanding.

Mu Yuan studied it and found that building up the required momentum required at least half an hour of intense battle to barely accumulate enough. Even after gathering sufficient ‘momentum,’ if no fierce battles followed within a certain period, the accumulated momentum would rapidly dissipate.

Executing this ultimate skill was no easy feat. Once unleashed, if it failed to kill the enemy, he would be the one meeting his end.

“Of course, under such harsh conditions, the Emperor’s Sword unleashed would undoubtedly be absurdly powerful.””

“It seems that Legion Soul ultimate skills aren’t necessarily awakened simply by having a more condensed and complete Legion Soul. Typically, a complete-level legion must continue to improve, undergoing relentless trials of blood and fire while expanding in scale, before possibly awakening one.”

The Undead Legion had skipped the intermediate steps.

Mu Yuan had heard some basic information about this, but more detailed aspects—such as ‘techniques for accumulating momentum’ or ‘the abilities of other Legion Soul ultimate skills’—remained unknown to him.

This involved intelligence that was too high-level; he could hardly find anyone to consult about it.

Perhaps this was the burden of the exceptional.

(End of Chapter)