Chapter 357 End of the Slaughter

A black vortex appeared, with thousands of black light bands bursting out and charging like crazy at the goddess's avatar. Some black light bands flew toward Shaoke's companions in the distance, trying to grab the living's flesh and blood to feast on.

Although the goddess's avatar stiffened momentarily, the twelve-pointed star magic array spun rapidly, shredding the light bands one by one. As they were torn apart, the light bands emitted mournful wails, causing several Eighth-order Practitioners in the distance to flee desperately. The wails severely impacted their minds, while Shaoke showed up tens of thousands of feet away. He hadn't escaped too far using a Spatial Tear, as he didn't trust that skull to take out the avatar of that Female Deity.

"Your souls will burn on the divine flame for ten thousand years," the Female Deity's avatar spoke for the first time, then swept her gaze over Shaoke and the others. Her eyes, glowing with milky white light, almost wrecked Shaoke's rock-solid Meditation space. One weaker warrior suddenly clutched his head, howled madly a few times, and then fell stiffly from the air, crashing heavily into a massive crevice before vanishing. Shaoke and the others understood that the warrior had lost his life in an instant.

The female deity glanced at Shaoke and the others, then her entire body abruptly contracted, only to suddenly expand, emitting a burst of milky white light. When this light illuminated the black bands formed from countless souls, the bands completely dissipated in the air. The re-forming black light bands also vanished entirely. Only then did Shaoke and the others breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Just as the milky white light faded, Shaoke used another skull to grab the black light bands chasing them and flew over to where the goddess's avatar had vanished. At that moment, a twelve-pointed star magic array appeared, and three figures emerged from it.

One was a warrior-like practitioner, another a mage in a weird robe, and the third a knight riding a Third Rank horned horse.

The three scanned Shaoke and the others, then looked at the milky white light cluster. Finally, the mage in the weird robe raised a hand, and a gray mist enveloped the light cluster. Before long, the light blob was gone, leaving behind a milky white crystal floating in its place. The folks far off sighed in relief when they saw these guys weren't gonna rob them.

After sizing up who these strangers were and where they stood, Shaoke and the others respectfully bowed to the three practitioners. They then retrieved their respective staffs for inspection.

"Too bad. Next time you run into a goddess's avatar, don't off her. Send me a message, and I'll come handle her myself," said the knight, his voice youthful. Since he bore no insignias, Shaoke couldn't determine his rank, but he felt the knight was at least an Eleventh-order practitioner or higher; otherwise, he wouldn't have claimed to face a Divine Avatar alone. Even the weakest divine avatar couldn't be hunted solo by Tenth Tier Professionals.

"Enough, you're always obsessed with toying with Female Deities. If she'd sensed your aura, would she have just poofed away?" said the mage in the weird robe, a woman with a crisp voice that easily reminded one of a young girl speaking. However, she wore a peculiar cloak, so Shaoke couldn't see her face at all.

The warrior pointed at the crystal, telling Shaoke to grab it. Then he grasped the air before him, tearing open a massive rift. "Quit arguing. Let's go find another god to mess with. I wonder why those things are appearing less and less frequently." With that, he shook his head and stepped into the rift alone. The other two continued their low-voiced argument before also entering the rift, leaving Shaoke and the other stunned Eighth-order Practitioners just floating there, not knowing what to say.

After they left, a warrior practitioner flew a short distance toward Shaoke and pointed in the direction the three had departed. "Those people are probably Thirteenth-order existences." Then his gaze shifted to the milky white crystal still floating nearby. He couldn't wait to get a piece of it, as such items were extremely useful to them at their current stage.

Shaoke ignored the warrior and carefully examined the crystal left by the divine avatar. It had a few stars floating within, and the crystal itself was the size of a human head. After some observation, Shaoke pulled out a small knife carved from ten-thousand-year-old jade and began cutting the crystal according to a specific ratio.

Once he was done divvying it up, he pocketed the biggest chunk in his ring, while the remaining pieces were distributed among the other six Eighth-order Practitioners.

"Everyone, let's find a safe place to absorb these items. Let's focus on our hunt, and I bet we'll get even more," Shaoke said, waving his staff like a boss.

The others quickly accepted Shaoke's suggestion. Since no buildings remained on the surface of the Luanyun Empire, they found a massive crevice—the same one where the fallen warrior had disappeared. Inside, they burned the warrior's corpse to ashes. As for the golden light cluster, none of them claimed it; they let it slowly dissipate in the air.

The crevice was enormous, likely formed from collisions between even higher-order beings. After digging several stone chambers inside, they took turns entering to absorb the divine source left by the Female Deity. Shaoke went first.

After thoroughly setting up defensive spells and wards inside the stone chamber, Shaoke took out the large divine source crystal and began absorbing it using an Arcane Secret. He rapidly formed complex hand gestures and chanted obscure incantations in a specific rhythm. Finally, two eight-pointed star beams shot from his eyes, enveloping the crystal. The crystal shrank rapidly and flew from his eyes into his Meditation space. After completing this step, Shaoke let out a long breath and proceeded to the next stage, as the final step determined the effectiveness of the absorption.

Once inside his Meditation space, the milky white divine source crystal emitted a unique wave of magical fluctuation. As the fluctuations spread, countless white specks flew from the crystal and dissipated. Shaoke quickly mixed a proportional amount of mental energy and magical power, enveloping the crystal to prevent further dissipation. Then he used his mental energy to guide the crystal slowly toward the altar atop the mountain peak. The divine source had to merge into the altar for him to fully absorb it using his special method, and this process didn't take too long.

As time passed, the milky white crystal's fluctuations grew stronger, causing the entire Meditation space to tremble. However, with his stable Meditation space and the assistance of silver light, Shaoke remained unfazed. He merely increased his control, striving to guide the crystal smoothly into the altar.

After about a magic hour, the divine source crystal finally settled into the altar under Shaoke's careful direction. The moment it landed, the entire Meditation space gave a sharp tremor before stabilizing. A beam of Arcane Fire descended from the Eight-pointed Star Magic Array floating in the air, igniting the altar. The divine source crystal slowly melted, releasing milky white light that merged into the altar. The light then transformed into streaks of white radiance, drifting within the altar.

With each circuit, the white light diminished slightly, while Shaoke's Yingluo Tree grew larger, the pool of mental energy expanded, and the overall mental energy and magical power in his Meditation space increased. Shaoke focused on preventing the Meditation space from expanding, intending to use the newfound energy to further stabilize and construct it.

As the divine source crystal fully dissipated, Shaoke absorbed some fragmented memories. However, he stored them in his spellbook using a special technique, planning to process them slowly later. These divine memories were extremely potent; mishandling them could lead to unpredictable consequences—at best, madness; at worst, the memories could completely take over his body, turning him into another avatar of that deity.

Leaving the divine source crystal to slowly melt into the altar, Shaoke withdrew from his Meditation space. He couldn't afford to stay idle for too long, as their team was not particularly powerful, and encountering danger could easily lead to unforeseen circumstances.

After removing the wards and magic arrays, Shaoke swapped positions with another practitioner guarding outside, allowing him to enter the chamber and absorb the divine source crystal. The practitioner excitedly entered the cave to begin absorption. Shaoke, along with the others, sat cross-legged on the ground outside, quietly meditating and sensing the subtle changes within his Meditation space. These changes, brought about by the divine source crystal, would enhance the vitality of the space, allowing magical plants to grow faster within it.