Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

”It’s a matter of aura.”

The five simple words from the Almighty Demon Vine made Wen Yu’s mouth twitch.

I knew I wouldn’t be that lucky...

Wen Yu processed the meaning of the Almighty Demon Vine’s five terse words while complaining bitterly to himself.

The reasoning was simple. The forces currently in the Heavenly Palace were divided into three groups: Demon Fiends, dead souls from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, and professionists who had entered the Heavenly Palace later. These three factions were antagonistic towards each other, but there would always be an order of priority in their hostility. According to Wen Yu’s understanding, Demon Fiends focused on hunting the dead souls from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, and the dead souls from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes did the same.

Given the change in my aura, it only makes sense for these Demon Fiends to mark me as their primary target.

However, Wen Yu didn’t clearly understand what was happening on the higher levels. The general situation was indeed as he thought, but the details were slightly different.

The Dominator had steeled himself to make a great sacrifice. Coupled with the turmoil stirred up by the Almighty Immortal Emperor, the Dominator had now resolved to wipe out all the dead souls within the Universe of Immortals and Heroes. Under the Dominator’s command, the Demon Clan Puppets had their hunting targets set. Their first priority was the dead souls from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, and their second priority was the professionists. Professionists were still useful to the Dominator, so this order of priority was indeed not much different from what Wen Yu had imagined.

However, Wen Yu had forgotten about the Almighty Demon Vine. As the being that attracted the Dominator’s hatred the most, the Almighty Demon Vine’s hunting priority was arguably at the very top. At this moment, Wen Yu, as the host of the Almighty Demon Vine, suffered an undeserved calamity. Unfortunately, unless the Almighty Demon Vine told him, Wen Yu had no way of knowing this.

A confused Wen Yu gave himself a relatively ”reliable” explanation. He then ignored the Ancient Demon spawn, which the Cyclops had thoroughly chewed, took a deep breath, and was just about to continue forward when he caught sight of Tang Haofei standing nearby out of the corner of his eye.

An idea suddenly surfaced in Wen Yu’s mind.

”Old Tang, uh, you’re not busy, are you?”

”Hmm.”

Old Tang was still pondering the strange scene that had just occurred, so he didn’t immediately detect the ”malicious” undertone in Wen Yu’s words. He very decisively admitted the fact that he was idle.

”By the way, I just remembered something. Weren’t you curious about what I was doing just now?”

”Yes, I am.”

Hearing Wen Yu, Tang Haofei immediately straightened up, his ears perked.

”Well, it’s a long story. How about this: let’s head to the Fifth Layer of Tiangong, and I’ll explain it to you on the way.”

With a mysterious expression, Wen Yu slung his arm around Tang Haofei’s neck and forcefully pulled him along, saying as they walked, ”The whole thing started back when I was in M-city.”

Being able to rope Tang Haofei in as a bodyguard when things are looking bad for me is truly an excellent development.

As for how to split the loot if we get any... Considering I’ve become a living target, and an Ancient Demon spawn with 10,000 physique points has already appeared on the Fourth Floor of the Heavenly Palace, I’m really not sure I can manage on the Fifth Layer of Tiangong. It’s best to bring a super bodyguard to ensure my safety first. For everything else, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Wen Yu could somewhat understand the abnormal actions of the nearby Demon Fiends based on the Ancient Demon spawn’s recent behavior. Judging by my luck, the Ancient Demon spawn’s strange behavior probably isn’t an isolated incident.

But far away, where Wen Yu couldn’t see, countless massive, silver-glowing whirlpools had materialized out of thin air in various locations throughout the Heavenly Palace. From within them, Demon Fiends of all levels and races continuously poured out, rapidly encroaching upon every inch of soil in the Heavenly Palace Treasure Land.

Meanwhile, as the Soul Bead shattered completely, the Soul Marks within were continuously released. They eventually poured into the skeletal remains of the dead spirits from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes scattered throughout the Heavenly Palace. A frenzied, bizarre atmosphere gradually permeated the entire Heavenly Palace Treasure Land.

Although the cataclysm had just begun, the changes in the Heavenly Palace were already becoming apparent. The increasing number of Demon Fiends, the gradual return of willpower to the dead spirits from the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, and the escalating battles between these dead spirits and the Demon Fiends—all these signs heralded that a major, unpredictable event had befallen the entire Heavenly Palace Treasure Land!

The machinations of the Almighty Immortal Emperor, along with the interventions of the Demon Lord and the Dominator, undoubtedly made the already peculiar Heavenly Palace even more inscrutable.

「In a hidden location on the Third Layer of the Heavenly Palace.」

Wanping was curled up in a stone crevice, naked and covered in wounds. Even his consciousness was somewhat hazy.

Ever since escaping the brutal battle with Ye Nan, Wanping had been constantly on the run. At that time, Wanping’s thinking was no different from Akad’s deduction: with nothing to his name, not even a teleportation jade charm to escape the treasure land, his top priority was undoubtedly to kill someone, seize their teleportation jade charm, and quickly leave the Heavenly Palace Treasure Land.

But just as Wanping’s thoughts aligned with Akad’s assessment, Wanping’s second calamity promptly began.

With Wanping’s strength nearly equal to that of Ye Nan and the others, the importance of material reserves quickly became evident. Wen Yu had looted Wanping’s space ring, leaving him with absolutely nothing. In contrast, Ye Nan and his companions had abundant supplies, even counting the formerly wealthy Zhang Shaojie among them.