After resting for some time, the gold cloaked warrior Casia and Elder Klive led their respective subordinates out of Black Water City, following the symbols left behind by the Church in pursuit of the Corpse Wizard King Rodriguez. Yang Ling instructed his men to commence the reconstruction of the devastated area and overhauled the defenses of the Black Water City in order to prevent something similar from happening in the future.

First, he sent over a batch of Pear Blossom Crossbows from the Wissen Castle. As long as the arrows are coated with the poison Alice had concocted and a hundred people were shooting at the same time, even a sage level expert had to take a few steps back.

Second, he planted Man-eating Vines at the critical areas of the city, then released a bunch of Vampire Bats and Horned Bee Beasts. Even though they could not take the initiative and attack an enemy that was some distance away, they could effectively protect the crucial areas and attack strangers who had entered a specific radius.

This way, he could at least protect the elites such as the Fox Elder and Ox Chief to some extent. He could prevent them from being assassinated, causing the soldiers in the city to be left without a leader.

Finally, he built a large number of scout’s quarters near the Black Water City and sent many soldiers out to patrol the area, in case the Corpse Wizard King returned. This was also a precaution against the retaliation of the Church.

Even though Casia and Elder Klive had guaranteed that they would restrain the Church and ensured that they would not take any action after they have completely killed the Corpse Wizard King, Yang Ling made preparations for the worst case scenario as a preventative measure. He notified the entire Magical Beast Territory to be on high alert, and sent people to monitor the movements of the Church within his territory.

“It would be even safer if I can set up a Magical Teleportation Formation at the various areas, unfortunately…”

After toiling for some time and instructing his men to take action, Yang Ling stood quietly on the wall of the Black Water City. He felt a wave of emotions as he looked at the Ladak Mountain Range spanning thousands of miles.

Through their relentless efforts, the Magical Beast Territory no longer lacked premium weapons or loyal, brave warriors, however, they did not have enough sage level fighters. Simply flooding the enemy with their numbers advantage was not enough to deal with an elite faction in the Taillun Continent like the Church. He had to have enough experts defending his land to act as a deterrent.

He could recruit low-level warriors and Spellcasters, but money was not enough to attract these sage level fighters. Even though he could gradually nurture a team of loyal followers by promising to impart high level Battle Energy and spells, or beast taming techniques or Wizard Power, this approach was too slow. He might as well head into the forest to tame more high-level Magical Beasts.

Breaking through to the level of Soul Wizard as soon as possible and taming a large amount of high-level Magical Beasts, or even Level Surpassing Magical Beasts, would naturally act as a deterrent to the factions who were eyeing the Magical Beast Territory with animosity!

After considering the direction the development of his territory was going to take, seeing the sky getting darker, Yang Ling turned and headed toward a secret room, instructing his soldiers to bring in the captives one by one. After the fierce attacks, he had captured a total of two hundred knights and over fifty Spellcasters. It would be immensely beneficial to his cultivation if he could quickly absorb their soul energy.

“Move, move quickly!”

After receiving the order, two Bullman warriors dragged a Spellcaster into the room, then forced him to kneel in front of Yang Ling.

This was a young Spellcaster, his face pale, perhaps due to blood loss, or extreme fear. He was dressed in an exquisite white magical robe, the Church’s cross embroidered on his collar. He had a sparkling crystal pendant hanging down his neck.

The Church was highly influential in many territories. Many kings had to be conferred by the Pope before they successfully ascended the throne. Thus, many of the great nobles or rich merchants would send their children to the Church before getting them to return to take on positions as officials or earls after they received some sort of status.

Other than the knights and Spellcasters who had been born into noble families, there were also those who were elites who were born as commoners. However, not many of them would spend a large amount of crystal coins on a decorative crystal pendant. It was clear that the young Spellcaster before him was of noble blood.

“Your Lordship, spare me, I didn’t do anything, spare me…” After being dragged out by the two Bullmen, the young man instinctively felt that something was off. He pleaded for mercy as he looked at Yang Ling and his ice-cold expression, “Your Lordship, my father is Earl Anna from the Delar Empire. We have a giant crystal mine back home. I can give you a lot of crystal coins as long as you spare me, as many as you want!”

Toria was extremely remorseful. He had wanted to gain experience and be promoted to the rank of Spellcaster by following the team out this time, then return home to inherit his father’s title of Earl. He did not expect to encounter the nemesis that was Yang Ling, the entire group powerless before him. He could still feel his scalp crawl as he remembered the horde of ferocious Magical Beasts.

After signaling for the two Bullman warriors to leave, Yang Ling let out a cold smile as he looked at Toria pleading for his life, “I’m sorry, I am not interested in crystal coins. What I want is your soul!”

Soul?

Could His Lordship be a fabled evil demon that have taken a human form and infiltrated the Tailun Continent?

Hearing Yang Ling say this, Toria shifted backward with all his might in fear, instinctively sensing an unprecedented threat. Within the Church that had thousands of years of history, there were many ancient rumors that have been spread through the generations. Amongst those rumors was the legend of evil demons that could take on a human form and consumed the blood and souls of humans.

“Hehe, actually, the Church is the biggest demon. If you have to blame something, blame it on the fact that you joined the Church!”

After summoning the Giant Man-eating Vine and instructing it to drag Toria toward him, Yang Ling pressed his hand on Toria’s head and recited the Wizard Mantra, tampering with his soul.

According to the explanation on the stele, every living creature has a soul, the difference lying in the strength of their soul. Using the high-level Soul Tampering Technique, he could not only erase the soul of his enemies, he could also use the energy in their souls for himself!

“Sir spare me, spare me…”

Feeling an ice-cold sensation seep into his brain, Toria pleaded loudly for his life, his body trembling, his face extremely pale. He soon lost control over his bowels, urinating in his pants.

Hmph, useless lad!

Taking a whiff of the odor coming from Toria’s lower body, Yang Ling shook his head, then increased his speed. Soon, Toria lost consciousness, a black gas spouting out of his head. After twirling around Yang Ling for a moment, the black gas entered Yang Ling’s body through his head.

Ice-cold, coupled with the numbness from an electric shock…

Yang Ling felt energized after absorbing Toria’s Soul Energy, his mental energy increasing rapidly. He then started concentrating on his training, his rate of improvement as fast as that of a rocket.

Tsk tsk, it’s no wonder that the Corpse Wizard King would consume the souls of humans wherever it went!

Yang Ling had an epiphany as he remembered the rapid recovery of the Corpse Wizard King Rodriguez’s abilities. He took a deep breath, then ordered the Bullman warriors outside the door to drag the idiot-like Toria out before dragging the next captive in. The Church had harmed even newborn babies, burning even a child alive. Since that was the case, he did not mind turning these heretics into lunatics or idiots. It was an eye for an eye!

Following that, Yang Ling mercilessly absorbed the Soul Energy of the captives, not sparing any of the Church’s knights or Spellcasters. Comparatively speaking, the Soul Energy of the knights were far weaker than that of a Spellcaster of a similar level. Absorbing the Soul Energy of a Spellcaster provided him with much more energy than if he absorbed the Soul Energy of several knights.

After spending six hours and tampering with the soul of a good number of captives, Yang Ling felt that his mental energy had increased five-fold, the radius of his senses getting larger and larger. He could easily sense the movements within a dozen mile radius in the Black Water City even without the patrolling Horned Bee Beasts.

At the same time, the pulses of the Wizard Core was getting stronger and stronger, pumping around a magnificent Wizard Power that circulated within his body on an obscure path. Faintly, Yang Ling could sense that he was merely a step away from reaching mid-level Divine Wizard. His abilities had improved drastically.

“Hmph, kneel down!”

After continuously tampering with the souls of a dozen knights, the Bullman warriors brought in a female Spellcaster who was less than twenty years old, shouting as they kicked her knees, causing her to kneel before Yang Ling.

“You devil, desecrating a user of Divine Spells, God will punish you!”

Looking at Yang Ling sitting cross-legged on the ground motionless and his ice-cold expression, the female Spellcaster was furious. Even though she did not know why the other party had brought her in, it was clear that nothing good will come out of this.

User of Divine Spells?

Opening his eyes to look at the female Spellcaster before him, Yang Ling’s eyes could not help but sparkle, even though he had seen many beautiful ladies in the past.

A long, white robe was draped over her fair, tender skin. Unlike an ordinary Spellcaster from the Church, there were stars embroidered beside the cross on her collar. Her loose robes could not hide her curvaceous figure, instead, it left more to the imagination; Her breasts were not large, but were exceptionally perky, as if two unripe fruits…

How unfortunate, she’s beautiful, but she chose to side with evil!

Looking at the young, beautiful female Spellcaster, Yang Ling shook his head, then pressed his hand onto her head. He had wanted to quickly tamper her soul, but unexpectedly, was unable to succeed even after repeated tries. There was a milky-white energy in her brain, closely protecting her soul.

Could this be the so-called Divine Power of Light?

In his doubt, Yang Ling maintained a neutral emotion, his massive mental energy welling out as he examined the milky-white energy in the female Spellcaster’s head closely.

It was rumored that the users of Divine Spells from the Church could use the divinity of deities to cast top-notch holy techniques like the Great Prophecy Technique. Because of the harsh requirements, there were not many people in the Church that could use Divine Spells. It was a rare opportunity encountering such a lab rat, and Yang Ling would not miss the chance to research her closely.