Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

Hearing the Demon Lord’s words, Wen Yu thought for a moment, then gently nodded and walked forward.

The muddy blood mixed with submerged corpses, like a swamp, made walking difficult—not just physically but psychologically too. To be honest, Wen Yu had never seen so many corpses!

The disgusting stench hit him in the face, along with the sensation of occasionally stepping on some unknown part of a Demon Fiend’s innards. This slimy feeling was definitely unpleasant...

This psychological reaction naturally fed into his actions, and with the Netherworld’s aid, Wen Yu’s body slowly began to ascend.

Until Wen Yu stood before Tang Haofei.

...

Tang Haofei looked strange, seemingly frozen, his eyes red and vacant. His clothes were torn to shreds, yet his body bore no injuries. The murderous and fierce aura emanating from him was even distorting the space around him.

Wen Yu felt as if the air around him had solidified, an invisible pressure descending upon him.

”Gulp...”

Wen Yu swallowed hard.

”Tang Haofei? Old Tang?”

Wen Yu waved his right hand in front of Tang Haofei and watched as Tang Haofei remained unresponsive.

Was he stunned? Or had he been hit by some strange enemy skill during the battle?

Until those blood-red eyes moved slightly, and the crimson gaze locked onto Wen Yu.

Wen Yu felt the pressure increase. At this distance, with Tang Haofei’s current physique, Wen Yu truly worried that Tang Haofei might suddenly snap and twist his head off...

...

Fortunately, the worst did not occur.

The vacant eyes slowly focused, the eerie red glow dissipating, leaving only a web of bloodshot threads.

Tang Haofei slowly tilted his neck, the sound of joints grinding making one’s teeth ache.

”You’re back.”

A deep and hoarse voice sounded, and Wen Yu nodded before asking, ”What happened to you?”

”Cough, cough...”

Tang Haofei coughed heavily twice, then bent over slowly, sitting heavily atop a pile of corpses, exhaling deeply. At that moment, Wen Yu suddenly realized that although Tang Haofei’s aura was still fierce, an undeniable fatigue was etched on his face.

”Too many resurrections... too many killings of people and demons... I need a break...”

The almost unabashed fatigue left Wen Yu silent—it could be the battle frenzy, or the sudden surge in strength that threw Tang Haofei’s mindset off balance, or perhaps a combination of the Challenger’s trials and the Life-and-Death Battle Execution had unknown side effects.

Who knows...

Simple thoughts fell from Wen Yu’s mind as he looked at the weary Tang Haofei in front of him. Wen Yu slowly descended, ignoring the terrible environment around him, sat down next to Tang Haofei.

Casually lighting two cigarettes, he handed one to Old Tang, the thick smoke spreading. Wen Yu glanced at the terrifying ”slaughterhouse” before him. ”Tell me, it seems something extraordinary happened.”

”Nothing extraordinary!”

Wen Yu’s words made Tang Haofei smile wryly, his expression relaxed a lot.

Then, a simple ”slaughter” process was relayed from Tang Haofei.

...

When Wen Yu was teleported away by the Almighty Demon Vine, only Tang Haofei was left to face Wu Long alone.

The outcome—Tang Haofei was thrashed by Wu Long...

Tang Haofei, who had already resurrected twice, still lacked the strength to defeat Wu Long!

Though the Challenger’s trial issued an alert, the disparity in strength was apparent—the result of their ”fair duel” was clear—Tang Haofei died, Wu Long lightly injured...

Then, the ”unfair duel” began.

After Tang Haofei resurrected a third time, he could keep up with Wu Long’s teleportation-like speed, even surpassing Wu Long in attack capabilities, resulting in Wu Long fleeing with Tang Haofei in hot pursuit.

”Did you catch him?”

Tang Haofei shook his head, then nodded.

”At first no, but later...”

Eventually, the absolute dominator of this area, the Demon Tribe, reacted, plunging the entire occupied Demon Tribe area into chaos.

”A whole bunch of Level 7 demon spawns appeared, some of Limit Breakthrough Level too... Um, I killed several hundred of them, all while chasing Wu Long and dealing with the demons that caught up, chasing for about half a day. With more demons appearing and some stronger ones too, I was surrounded and died once again...”

”The fourth time?”

Tang Haofei nodded: ”By then, my state was off. My mind was filled with thoughts of kill, kill, kill. I thought, these demons were annoying like flies, and with you absent and surrounded by enemies, I might as well just kill them all!”

”Then, I followed Wu Long here...”

”That thing!”

Tang Haofei pointed to a distant, broken, pillar-like structure resembling a towering column.

”Probably a strategic weapon of the Demon Tribe; I didn’t react and it blasted me, and I died once more.”

After saying this, Tang Haofei paused, opened his palm, and signaled a five with his fingers.

”After the fifth resurrection, my consciousness was muddled, only knowing to kill, kill, kill, with no other thoughts in my mind... By the time I opened my eyes, this place had turned into what you see now.”

Afterwards, both Wen Yu and Tang Haofei fell silent.

After a while, Tang Haofei’s hoarse voice echoed softly.

”I’ve concluded that the solitude between life and death, and the transformative power after resurrection, all muddled my head. It seems that reviving five times in a short span is my limit...”

Wen Yu extinguished his cigarette, then patted Tang Haofei’s shoulder.

”You’ve worked hard, and thank you. I owe you, feel free to ask for anything...”

Hearing this, Tang Haofei grinned—a smile that came from the heart.

Casually, he held up four fingers.

”Four times, eh? You’re going to be busy...”

...

However, the real situation wasn’t as Tang Haofei described...

Tang Haofei couldn’t perceive it, and Wen Yu from not too long ago couldn’t either.

But now, having converted regular perception into soul perception, Wen Yu could vaguely sense something off about Tang Haofei’s state—his soul was in a state of unprecedented weakness...

This wasn’t a weakness of power—Tang Haofei’s Soul Body still matched his physical qualities, even exceeding the strength of Wen Yu’s current Soul Body, but this strength couldn’t hide the extremely bizarre sense of weakness.

Both strong...

And weak...

This state was something Wen Yu couldn’t understand.

”Challenger’s trial and Life-and-Death Battle Execution?”

A familiar spiritual fluctuation flashed through Wen Yu’s mind as he glanced at the distant Demon Lord, silently nodding.

”You know?”

”Heh heh.”

The Demon Lord let out an eerie laugh.

”Of course, I know.”

”So now... does he still have any soul feeling...”

The Demon Lord was silent for a moment, then after a while, a haunting voice reached Wen Yu’s ears.

”This is called...”

”The price of power!”