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Nothing stays hidden forever. Just as the Holy Temple was confidently preparing to amass a large number of sixth-level cores to create a powerful army of Sword Heroes for the Temple, they were met with a joint demand from various empires to share the technology.

There was no helping it; after all, the Holy Temple had nearly unified the world several hundred years ago. With such technology in the hands of religious fanatics, which emperor could rest easy?

Naturally, the Holy Temple refused the demands of the various nations, leading them to classify sixth-level monster cores as critical military supplies and impose a trade embargo. Even the beastmen, acting on rumors, followed suit. Thus, by the time the human-beast war broke out, the Holy Temple had only created a few thousand Sword Heroes, completely failing to leverage the ability to alter the course of the war.

After the war, in order to reclaim lost territories, the Holy Temple began negotiations with various nations and finally reached an agreement half a year ago. In exchange for making this secret technique public, they received tens of thousands of sixth-level monster cores from various nations, thereby assembling an elite force capable of countering the beastmen. The major empires, having gained benefits and being able to watch the Holy Temple and the beastmen weaken each other, naturally welcomed this development and willingly contributed more than half of their stored sixth-level cores to bolster the Holy Temple's strength.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away in a beastmen-controlled fortress, the werewolf lord Chen Xuanfeng awaited the return of a warrior.

Finally, when the lithe figure with a bluish-gray complexion came into his view, the silver-haired werewolf smiled slightly.

"Finally back."

"Yes, Master."

"You've worked hard this time, but you've done very well. The entire underground world has moved in the direction we intended, and at least for the short term, they won't be a problem for us."

"It was all under your guidance, Master. Night Song merely followed your plan."

The one who returned was none other than the dark elf Night Song, who had stirred up a storm in the underground world. Once Chen Xuanfeng judged that his initial objectives had been achieved, he naturally issued instructions for Night Song to leave the dark elf city and return to the Western Continent. After all, in the face of the upcoming war, Night Song herself was a significant asset.

However, abandoning Night Song's vast underground influence would be a waste. Chen Xuanfeng was never one to leave empty-handed, so as Night Song departed, he utilized her authority and various means to issue a series of commands. The underground creatures, blindly obeying, awed by their matron's immense power, obediently followed Night Song's orders, completely unaware that the ultimate destination of those commands was the trap laid by the beastmen.

A month later, the Fontainebleau territory of the Beastmen Alliance gained a dark magic legion composed of three thousand dark elves, eye monsters, and mind flayers, as well as an assassination squad of four thousand dark elf assassins. Additionally, a monster slave army consisting of underground goblins, minotaurs, lizardmen, and other creatures reached a scale of twenty thousand. On the other hand, although the underground city controlled by Night Song was only a medium-sized city, the dark elves' millennia-old treasures were still staggeringly vast. Large ingots of mithril and adamantine, tons of gold and silver, and warehouses filled with gems added up to wealth comparable to the output of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of Fontainebleau territory over a dozen years. Beyond that, the dark elves' collections of magical weapons, divine artifacts, elven artworks, and historical relics were priceless and beyond estimation. Naturally, after the dark elf troops stationed in the underground city left, these treasures were scavenged by a group of "fortunate" adventurers, and soon after, they all became part of the Fontainebleau treasury.

The sheer scale of the haul exceeded Lord Chen Xuanfeng's expectations. Even the usually composed and dignified Lady Catherine was stunned for a while after personally witnessing the haul. Subsequently, the couple seriously discussed the feasibility of launching a full-scale campaign into the underground world to plunder the dark elves' wealth. Ultimately, considering the overall war situation on the Western Continent, they reluctantly, with heavy hearts, decided to set aside the battle plan for now. Yes, temporarily—both husband and wife firmly confirmed this point.

In terms of worldly value, Night Song's underground expedition yielded an incredibly rich harvest. On a higher level, there was an even more exciting gain for a peak powerhouse like Chen Xuanfeng.

A portion of dark divine power from the Spider Queen Lolth.

Although Chen Xuanfeng had previously obtained blessings from dozens of dark deities through the blood sacrifice of tens of thousands of light believers, including some of higher rank than the Spider Queen, those blessings, given for the purpose of borrowing power, could not be absorbed by Chen Xuanfeng. In the end, they almost entirely benefited the spirit of the "Tiger Soul Blade," and Chen Xuanfeng grasped none of their mysteries. Of course, even if he had the opportunity, he wouldn't dare to try, for while deities cannot directly descend, they can still project immense spiritual power through a complete spiritual imprint. If the imprint were completely absorbed and dispersed by the Tiger Soul, that would be one thing, but if Chen Xuanfeng dared to probe the divine realm with his own spirit, he would instantly be blasted into a mist of blood by the boundless divine might.

This time, however, was different. The divine imprint granted by the Spider Queen to her favored dark elf was far superior to what Chen Xuanfeng had obtained through sacrifice. Moreover, this imprint was altered by Chen Xuanfeng and the King of the Undead as soon as it was inscribed, making it a thousand times harder for the Spider Queen to project her power. Additionally, this dark goddess was somewhat unique among the dark deities; once she left the underground world, her power's sensitivity would drop another level. After further layers of weakening, Chen Xuanfeng was confident he could keep Lolth's wrath at bay and safely analyze the mysteries of divine power, making it a stepping stone for his advancement.

"Very well, Night Song. Rest for now. Once I've prepared the necessary items, we can begin the ritual. If successful, you will be able to absorb the Spider Queen's divine power, propelling your strength to unprecedented heights," Chen Xuanfeng said to the dark elf. Understanding divine power was one thing; absorbing it, another. Divine power was of the purest and strongest nature, and aside from divine weapons like the Tiger Soul, only beings with perfectly compatible physiques could absorb and utilize it. For instance, if Jin Luosha encountered the divine power of the Light God, she might have a chance to absorb it. Similarly, only dark elves, as the favored of the Spider Queen, had the compatible physique to absorb her power.