Chapter 78: Chapter 14: Lords of the Evil Soldiers
Few knew of the calamity caused by the weapons.

Even within the royal families of the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms, very few were aware.

At least the Greater Yan Dynasty had no records of it.

Lin Yuan had learned about this extremely dark history from the ancient volumes of the Defying Divine Society.

The thirty-six Divine Weapons revived, began to harvest lives without limits—it was a dark period, almost like an apocalypse.

“I’m not sure either.”

Sikong Lun was also puzzled.

Although he didn’t understand as clearly as Lin Yuan.

But he knew that the current Defying Divine Society and wielders of the Evil Soldiers were far from being a match for the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms.

Even though the Defying Divine Society’s influence had grown significantly over the past fifty years with Lin Yuan’s covert support, making the royal families of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms extremely troubled.

But there was still a gap in their pinnacle combat power.

What could the Defying Divine Society use to confront the fully revived thirty-six Divine Weapons?

If they couldn’t, there was a high likelihood of repeating the ‘weapon calamity’ from three to four thousand years ago…

“Could it be…”

Lin Yuan’s expression shifted slightly.

Even Sikong Lun sensed something was amiss, so the Evil Soldier wielders must have thought of it too.

Even though the Evil Soldier wielders obeyed their respective Evil Soldiers, the Evil Soldiers weren’t fools and would weigh the pros and cons.

If a ‘weapon calamity’ occurred, it would mean a heavy loss for those Evil Soldiers, possibly even erasing their own consciousness.

Unless they had an irrefutable reason to wage a decisive battle.

Lin Yuan’s thoughts fluctuated, leading him to two possible reasons.

One was that the Evil Soldiers had acquired some means to boost their confidence, such as recovering other fragments of themselves, giving them the confidence to confront the real Divine Weapons.

The second was that the Evil Soldiers sensed that if they didn’t initiate a decisive battle now, they would never have another opportunity to do so.

Upon further contemplation, it was plausible that, in the upcoming times, the thirty-six Divine Weapons would undergo some kind of transformation.

Once this transformation was complete, there would no longer be any chance for many Evil Soldiers to survive.

“Transformation?”

Lin Yuan’s face turned contemplative.

Eight thousand years ago, the thirty-six Divine Weapons were already near fourth rank.

After eight thousand years of slumber, continuously harvesting the vital energies and souls of living beings,

Could these Divine Weapons possibly take that step and advance to the fourth rank?

It could only be this reason that made the Evil Soldiers disregard everything and wage a decisive battle.

Because they knew that if they waited for the thirty-six Divine Weapons to advance to the fourth rank, they would have no chance whatsoever.

Thus they would exert all their power to start a decisive battle.

The purpose of the battle, even if they couldn’t defeat the thirty-six Divine Weapons,

Was to halt or even fail their transformation.

“So be it.”

“Let’s go meet those Evil Soldier wielders then.”

Lin Yuan spoke slowly.

Whether it was the need for more fragments of Divine Weapons,

Or the earlier speculations, Lin Yuan found it necessary to meet those Evil Soldier wielders.

…

A month later, in the far south.

This place was a miasma-filled jungle, rarely visited by humans, where ordinary hunters would just glance from afar and dare not approach even slightly.

For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, countless people had died within this jungle, those miasmas, once inhaled, meant almost certain death.

Over the years, this jungle became a forbidden area for nearby hunters.

Yet beneath this jungle, stood the Qing Shi Grand Hall.

In the center of the grand hall, there were eighteen stone thrones.

At this moment, all eighteen stone thrones were occupied.

Their expressions were cold, their auras profound, seeming to connect to some great existence, far surpassing the Blood Refinement Martial Saint in every move.

These eighteen individuals were all wielders of Evil Soldiers.

Each had an Evil Soldier behind them, and even as mere fragments of Divine Weapons, their powers were beyond ordinary mortals to gauge.

“What background does that master of the Defying Divine Society have, for the Defying Divine Society to obey him so submissively?”

A man wearing a green robe spoke up.

Before this master of the Defying Divine Society appeared, the Defying Divine Society was utterly respectful to them as wielders of Evil Soldiers, as well as to all Evil Soldiers.

But now, everything had changed, the Defying Divine Society even dared to negotiate terms with them.

“It is said that this master of the Defying Divine Society possesses the power to suppress fragments of Divine Weapons, even rivaling the power of Divine Weapons himself,”

Another Evil Soldier spoke up.

“Nonsense.”

As soon as these words were uttered, several wielders of the Evil Soldiers displayed a mocking look.

Since ancient times, the power of Divine Weapons had been superior to all creatures, and the fragments of Divine Weapons were no exception.

Human strength… how could it possibly contend with the power of Divine Weapons?

This point was clearer to wielders of Evil Soldiers than to anyone else.

“Perhaps the individual behind the leader of the Defying Divine Society also stands with an Evil Soldier and is himself a user of an Evil Soldier?”

An Evil Soldier user spoke up.

This statement indeed garnered approval from most of the Evil Soldier users present.

“Regardless of that…”

Just then, the figure seated at the main seat spoke.

“When we meet the new leader of the Defying Divine Society, if he’s just like us, an Evil Soldier user, then let it be. We can discuss the matter of the decisive battle slowly, as the Evil Soldier behind him likely won’t refuse.”

“If he’s not…”

At this, a hint of cruelty crept into the voice of the figure in the main seat.

While Evil Soldier users are also of the Human Race, under the influence of the Evil Soldiers, they gradually begin to see others as mere ants.

“No problem.”

“Qingwu brother is right.”

“Let’s do as brother Qingwu says.”

…

The words of the figure in the main seat, Qingwu, were not refused by any Evil Soldier user present.

Even among Evil Soldier users, there are strengths and weaknesses.

The nature of an Evil Soldier is a fragment of a Divine Weapon, and the size of this fragment, which occupies a certain portion of the original Divine Weapon, naturally determines the power of the Evil Soldier.

Thus, there are five levels of Evil Soldier users.

An Evil Soldier with a completeness of thirty percent.

An Evil Soldier with a completeness of forty percent.

An Evil Soldier with a completeness of fifty percent.

An Evil Soldier with a completeness of sixty percent.

An Evil Soldier with a completeness of eighty percent.

The higher the completeness, the closer the power of the Evil Soldier to a genuine Divine Weapon.

And Qingwu’s Evil Soldier commands an astonishing ninety percent completeness.

This Evil Soldier’s true strength is thus extremely close to that of a real Divine Weapon, which is why in the presence of other Evil Soldier users, it has an exceptional status.

This time, the Evil Soldier users decided to initiate a decisive battle.

Not only because the thirty-six Divine Weapons were about to make their final step.

But also because Qingwu’s Evil Soldier, with its rare completeness of ninety percent, ensures them a measure of self-defense, even in a decisive battle against the thirty-six Divine Weapons.

After all, their purpose in initiating the decisive battle was not to defeat the thirty-six Divine Weapons but to interfere with them, preventing them from making their final step.

Once the battle begins, their primary focus would naturally be on preserving their own lives.

Suddenly.

The eighteen Evil Soldier users seated on the eighteen stone seats shifted slightly in their expressions.

They sensed an aura slowly making its way into the Qing Shi Grand Hall from the entrance.

“Is it the leader of the Defying Divine Society?”

“How bold of him to come here alone.”

The eighteen Evil Soldier users were slightly startled, a playful look emerging on their faces.

A moment later.

A young man appeared at the entrance of the Qing Shi Grand Hall.

“Are you the leader of the Defying Divine Society?”

The eighteen weapon wielders remained seated, showing no intention of standing to greet their guest.

Buzz!!!

The power of heaven and earth converged.

In the vague mix, a huge black hammer emerged from the air, smashing down towards Lin Yuan.

An Evil Soldier user could not restrain themselves and made a move to test Lin Yuan.

“Too disappointing,”

Lin Yuan sighed lightly.

Under the astonished gazes of the eighteen Evil Soldier users, he merely waved his hand and the black hammer’s shadow shattered.

Before the Evil Soldier users could even react,

“You Evil Soldier users are quite impolite.”

Lin Yuan took a step forward, appearing next to the eighteen stone seats.

He then stepped forward again, and Qingwu, who was seated in the main seat, exuding a serious demeanor with an Evil Soldier at ninety percent completeness, was pulled out by an invisible force, tossed aside like trash and smashed onto distant Qing Shi rocks.

“Still sitting?”

Lin Yuan glanced over the remaining seventeen Evil Soldier users.

As soon as his words fell,

The seventeen Evil Soldier users on the seventeen stone seats were all ‘forced’ to stand up.

During this, some Evil Soldier users tried to resist, even summoning the power of their Evil Soldiers, causing bursts of terrifying aura, but it was all suppressed within an inch around them.

The normally earth-shaking power of the Evil Soldiers was now like a docile kitty.

All the Evil Soldier users seated on the stone seats stood up.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan then slowly took his seat in the main seat.