“Sploosh!”

Afra’s cold body fell from Lawton’s hands and hit the Nether River with a loud splash.

Purple blood floated at Lawton’s sharp fingertip like diamonds.

Afra’s blood slowly seeped through the pulp of his finger and into his bloodline.

Lawton let out a happy sigh as the devilish glow in his eyes grew brighter.

After absorbing Afra’s bloodline, Lawton’s understanding of the power of dead souls had grown considerably.

He was growing more and more certain that he would ascend to rank ten after consuming all the hearts of those Lords of the Abyss.

Once he had ascended to rank ten, he would fully transform into giant Abyss Devil just like Qin Lie.

When that happened, not even his father, the Yellow Springs Monarch would be able to kill him!

“A fight between us will only benefit another,” Lawton advised while moving slowly to the other end of the Nether River.

He stared uncertainly between Daley and Qin Lie.

Daley was hesitating as well. He knew that now was probably not the best time to fight Lawton.

“Now this is a bit boring.”

Qin Lie said while floating above the Nether River and staring coldly at Lawton and Daley.

“Splash!”

The water of the Nether River gushed into the air and transformed into a pitch black wall right behind Lawton.

Hateful faces and piercing screams could be seen and heard from the wall.

“Uuuu! Woo wooo!”

These phantoms and wraiths borrowed Qin Lie’s bloodline power to cry and unleash waves of soul attacks.

“You’re not the only one who’s an expert in the power of dead souls.”

Lawton frowned before firing a beam of light from his mouth. The beam seemed to be dissolving the phantoms and wraiths trapped inside the wall.

Daley turned around to stare at Qin Lie coldly. “You’ve gone too far!”

The thousand-meter tall Qin Lie chuckled before speaking in a booming voice, “Lawton is correct. The Yellow Spring Monarch’s truths of dead souls inside your bloodline is the power I’m seeking. I’m the one who was killing your brothers and sisters even before the Yellow Springs Monarch had put a knife to your neck, and the reason we met earlier was because I sensed your bloodline auras and was planning to kill you.”

While saying that, he made a swinging motion at Daley with his giant claw.

He abruptly realized that the amount of power he could use was practically limitless now that his mind was clear!

“Zzzt!”

Sharp energy burst out of his fingertips while he was swinging his hand. They looked like they could tear apart even the air around Daley.

“Roar!”

Daley roared and summoned his hundred-meter tall dead soul giants again, attempting to merge his bloodline power with the dead souls.

“This shallow power may be effective against other Lords of the Abyss, but… not me.”

Soul ripples abruptly appeared from Qin Lie’s palm before a suction force was generated.

Daley’s dead souls were sucked into the whirlpool before they even managed to display their ferocity.

An instant later, all of the dead souls Daley had summoned to his side had vanished completely.

“Shred!”

Daley spun like a top as Qin Lie sent his entire body flying with a slap.

Blood sprayed out of Daley’s body. It was clear that Qin Lie’s attack had crushed his bones.

Surprisingly, the heavily injured Daley was falling straight toward Lawton.

Pleasantly surprised, Lawton immediately summoned his purple bone thorn and stabbed Daley in the heart without thinking.

Daley couldn’t muster any resistance at all. Lawton’s bone thorn easily penetrated his body.

Paying no heed to Qin Lie’s cold gaze whatsoever, Lawton had flown toward Daley, killed him using the same method he had killed Afra, and plunged both his hands into Daley’s heart.

He started absorbing Daley’s dead soul bloodline greedily.

Floating high above the air, Qin Lie watched the scene coolly and indifferently. He did nothing to stop Lawton’s actions.

A while later, Lawton had absorbed all of Daley’s dead soul power and threw his body carelessly into the Nether River. He licked the corner of his lips like a cruel and bloodthirsty madman and said, “I will definitely be able to ascend to rank ten with Afra and Daley’s bloodlines and the hearts of the Lords of the Abyss.”

“Zzzt!”

Purple lightning suddenly covered Qin Lie’s giant body before he started shrinking.

A dozen or so seconds later, Qin Lie had turned from a giant Lord of the Abyss back to a normal high rank Abyss Devil, regaining his former appearance.

There was a difference, however. He was no longer in his devilized form, and his hair and pupils were purple in color.

Then, he started flying toward Lawton.

Lawton shot a cautious look at Qin Lie and backed away slightly. However, he quickly regained control of himself and asked in a calm tone, “You killed Afra and Daley to help me absorb their bloodline. What in the hell are you planning?”

Lawton was no fool, he could see that Qin Lie had tossed heavily injured Afra and Daley down his direction.

He guessed that Qin Lie had done this on purpose.

The reason he had stopped Daley and Afra from attacking Qin Lie earlier was because he knew that they were no match for Qin Lie.

Although all three of them had crossed over the Nether River to digest the five hearts they obtained, Lawton hadn’t forgotten to pay attention to Qin Lie’s movements.

That was why he knew that Qin Lie had killed at least a dozen or so Lords of the Abyss while they were busy, and that he was now much, much stronger than the dead Dabinett.

Dabinett was known as the strongest Lord of the Abyss before Qin Lie had killed him.

That was why he had tried to stop Afra and Lawton from getting greedy. It was because Qin Lie had become far beyond their reach.

Knowing his strength, Lawton knew that Qin Lie could both kill Daley and Afra if he really wanted to.

The fact that they were only heavily injured and they were thrown towards his direction were proof that Qin Lie had done it on purpose.

“You’re smarter, more ruthless and less merciful than they were. That is why I allowed you to live.”

After Qin Lie had turned back to himself, he stopped about five meters away from Lawton.

Shooting Lawton a look of admiration, he said, “Afra and Daley are my gift to you. You can use this opportunity to ascend to rank ten while the God Race is still invading. Once you’ve succeeded, you will become the thorn in the Yellow Springs Monarch’s side, and he will do everything in his power to kill you.”

“When that happens, he’ll be too busy to deal with you, am I right?” Lawton asked in a heavy tone.

“You, me, the dead Afra and Daley are all his targets,” said Qin Lie with a grin.

Any being who possessed the secrets of dead souls would be targeted by the Yellow Springs Monarch. He knew this much.

Since the God Race had launched a large-scale invasion against Yellow Springs Purgatory, the Yellow Springs Monarch must be so busy he couldn’t afford to deal with them right now.

The instant the Yellow Springs Monarch managed to buy some time for himself, he would kill Lawton, Afra, Daley, and him one by one.

If Lawton, Afra, or Daley were still at rank nine, if they weren’t able to ascend to rank ten immediately, they wouldn’t be the Yellow Springs Monarch’s first priority.

This meant that the Yellow Springs Monarch would try to kill him first.

The Yellow Springs Monarch would only panic when Lawton, Afra, or Daley had ascended to rank ten and become a Great Lord of the Abyss.

After all, all three of them were his direct descendants. They had the power to threaten his status and become the monarch of this purgatory!

He would never allow this to happen.

“That’s right. We are all his targets, but you are just an outsider. There’s no way you’ll linger in this purgatory for long.” Lawton caught up to Qin Lie’s meaning. “If any one of us ascends to rank ten and become a Great Lord of the Abyss, we would have the ability to overthrow him. Moreover, our bloodline is the purest of them all because our bloodline is descended directly from him. If he was gravely injured by the God Race and unable to recover in a short time, the rest of the Great Lords of Yellow Springs Purgatory might just push one of us to become the new monarch for the sake of this level’s stability. They would need a leader to rally them against the God Race.”

Qin Lie chuckled and said, “I heard that he’s wounded already.”

“That he is,” said Lawton with bright eyes.

“I hope you’ll live.” Qin Lie gave him a deep look before adding, “I hope you’ll succeed in replacing him.”

“I will do my best for my own sake,” declared Lawton solemnly.

“You should know that I’m the one who gave you all this. Justly so, I can kill you right now if I really want to.” Qin Lie suddenly changed the subject.

“What do you want?” Lawton frowned when he heard this.

“I want you to give me one of your eyes,” Qin Lie said seriously.