Chapter 196: Pure Soul Crystal! The Chance to Recruit Dian Wei!
Cao Ang was already on the verge of death.
Affected by the Fate Protection Formation, his health continued decreasing.
Even if he stopped being attacked entirely—
At most, he could only last another minute.
The top priority now was stabilizing the situation.
If they could trigger a hidden quest, that would naturally be even better.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge asked:
“What do you want? Just state your conditions directly!”
Ye Li ng added:
“The premise is that it cannot harm the territory’s interests, cannot disgrace the Calamity Army’s honor, and absolutely cannot betray our great Lord. Otherwise there’s no need to negotiate!”
Chira Wraith said:
“You don’t seem like a completely deranged fallen Corrupted being. You’re rely trapped within Old Wan City’s nightmare and unable to break free. Our Lord can help you escape your predicant!”
Little Bell also tried persuading him:
“That’s right! The leader of our territory’s Azure Dragon Guard, Zhou Cang, was once soone trapped in a nightmare for decades!
“After our Lord eliminated the Core Pollution Source, Demon Zhang Bao, he not only found ways to suppress Zhou Cang’s corruption, but also accepted him as a trusted subordinate and entrusted him with important responsibilities!”
Dawn said:
“With your abilities, if you joined the territory and contributed toward purifying the Old Wan City nightmare for us, I believe our Lord would definitely value and heavily employ you as well. Why not abandon darkness and join the light?!”
“Yeah!”
“Abandon darkness and join the light!”
“Our Lord is omnipotent!”
“There’s nothing he can’t do!”
“……”
Once the Calamity Army players realized Cao Ang was not a completely fallen Corrupted being—
Every single one of them imdiately began trying to recruit and persuade him.
After all—
Cao Ang’s abilities were obvious for all to see!
Even among Commander-class units—
He stood at the absolute top tier!
If such an existence could be brought into the territory and permanently beco part of their faction or an allied NPC faction—
It would greatly benefit both the territory’s overall strength and the developnt of the Calamity Army.
Not only would the territory’s foundations beco much stronger—
From a short- and mid-term perspective, it would also accelerate the purification of Old Wan City, allowing the Calamity Army to clear this map faster.
From a long-term perspective—
Players would gain another powerful expert to learn skills from and rely upon, further strengthening the Calamity Army.
It could be said—
If they successfully recruited a high-quality NPC—
The value involved might even exceed this mission itself!
After all—
Missions were rely one-ti deals.
Even if this mission disappeared, there would always be future missions!
As long as the territory’s core foundation remained stable—
The Calamity Army would always have opportunities to establish rit!
However—
Chances to recruit high-quality new NPCs were exceedingly rare.
“There is no need for you to waste your efforts. It is absolutely impossible for to join your territory.”
Cao Ang appeared entirely unmoved by the players’ persuasion.
“However, I do intend to help you obtain an opportunity to recruit soone a hundred tis greater than myself. Although the difficulty is extrely high, it is worth attempting.”
Everyone froze.
“What do you an? Soone a hundred tis greater than you? You can’t possibly an…”
Cao Ang gave an affirmative response.
“Naturally, I an General Dian Wei!”
Everyone was shocked upon hearing this.
Although they had not yet fought Dian Wei—
As the most terrifying and powerful existence on the entire new map—
If he could join the territory, it would naturally be an earth-shattering blessing!
“Is that even possible?”
“Dian Wei isn’t an ordinary Corrupted being!”
“He’s not an ordinary Pollution Source either!”
The players found Cao Ang’s words rather baffling.
Cao Ang said:
“It is true that General Dian Wei has already beco the source of Old Wan City’s nightmare. However, before fully transforming into a Corrupted being and becoming completely polluted, a portion of his soul and humanity was severed and sealed elsewhere.”
“You rely need to return this clean fragnt of soul back to the original body at the proper mont. That will allow him to temporarily regain his humanity. Then, with Divine Physician Zhang’s thods, there may be a sliver of hope for him to awaken from the endless Abyssal nightmare.”
Cao Ang’s health continued declining.
At most—
He could endure another ten to twenty seconds.
“Really?”
“You can actually do that?!”
“Where is this soul fragnt?!”
Cao Ang calmly answered:
“Inside my body!”
Everyone was astonished.
He continued:
“Your abilities have already earned my acknowledgnt. I shall now release the seal and entrust General Dian Wei’s Pure Soul to you. I hope you will not disappoint !”
As he spoke—
That familiar deep and resonant voice once again echoed beside his ears.
“Zixiu, stop!”
Cao Ang suddenly felt his consciousness blur.
A towering figure appeared before him.
This figure was extrely tall and abnormally muscular.
It was none other than Dian Wei.
More precisely—
It was Dian Wei’s remnant soul and vestiges of human will.
Dian Wei’s remnant soul said:
“Once you separate from yourself, you will inevitably fall into the Abyss!”
Cao Ang laughed freely.
“For over a hundred years, you’ve dragged back from madness countless tis. Now it’s finally my turn to pull General Dian Wei back!”
Dian Wei urgently replied:
“Absolutely not! Do not abandon yourself!”
Cao Ang said:
“There is no need for further words. My soul and will have already been worn away completely. If only one of us can remain, then naturally General Dian Wei possesses far greater value.”
“For these past hundred years, I have already regarded you as my elder brother. I also hope you can continue living in my place!”
Dian Wei shouted:
“Zixiu!”
Cao Ang’s life was about to completely end.
Using the last remnants of his will, he said:
“General Dian Wei… if by so fortune you truly manage to escape the Abyss in the end, please tell Father that Zixiu did not disgrace the Cao family!”
The entire process was extrely brief.
No one else could perceive it.
Cao Ang had already released the soul seal.
The players could only see Cao Ang’s body beginning to change.
From the already-mutated flesh—
Large quantities of strange tiny tentacles suddenly erged.
The Abyssal aura radiating from him beca even denser and more terrifying than before.
However—
Before the transformation could continue—
His health completely reached zero in the next instant.
Cao Ang exploded on the spot.
Only black blood and shattered fragnts remained behind—
Along with a green light orb floating in midair.
The players stared blankly, utterly confused by the situation.
“What just happened?”
“What happened to the hidden storyline?”
“What does this an?!”
“I don’t understand anything!”
“Wasn’t this guy trying to negotiate conditions? Why did he suddenly die?!”
Little Bell scratched her head in confusion and asked:
“Sister Wraith, Sister Dawn, what’s going on?”
Dawn replied:
“I didn’t understand it very clearly either!”
Chira Wraith said:
“That’s normal. Gas like this are always like that.”
An open-world or Soulslike-style ga usually presented its narrative very differently from linear single-player RPGs.
Many events simply happened abruptly—
And ended abruptly—
Without clearly presenting causes or consequences.
Players could only piece together the full story through collecting clues!
Finding the hidden information buried within.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge suggested:
“Let’s check the drops first. Maybe we’ll find clues from the loot.”
“Good point!”
“Such an insanely strong boss…”
“There’s definitely a huge amount of loot!”
The players hurried forward to collect Cao Ang’s drops.
【You collected the loot: Abyssal Essence 1.2 million, Abyssal Magic Crystals 9000, Phantom Chain Scythe 1, Shadow Leap Cloak 1, Death Curse Gem 30, Advanced Corrupted Gem 80, Pure Soul Crystal 1!】
As a Level 25 Commander—
The drops were extrely generous.
Two pieces of equipnt were even high-grade green quality items.
【Phantom Chain Scythe】Tier-Three Equipnt, Green High-Grade, Attack 124, Strength 25, Agility 25, Spirit 10, Attack Speed 25, attached skill “Phantom Scythe Harvest,” Durability 21/60!
【Shadow Leap Cloak】Tier-Three Equipnt, Green High-Grade, Independent Defense 20, Physical Damage Negation 30, Spell Damage Negation 100, Agility 20, Willpower 20, attached skill “Shadow Leap,” Durability 24/60!
Both pieces of equipnt possessed outstanding stats and attached skills.
【Phantom Scythe Harvest】Equipnt Skill. Consus 100 Mana to activate the Phantom Scythe effect, consuming 2 Mana per second thereafter. Enhances weapon attack power, greatly increases attack speed, massively increases attack range, and restores health and Mana upon every successful kill.
【Shadow Leap】Equipnt Skill. Consus 100 Mana to perform a Shadow Leap, ignoring ordinary obstacles and attacks. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
The forr was very similar to the Carnage Blade.
Both possessed lifesteal-like effects.
However—
The Phantom Chain Scythe was even stranger.
Its attack speed was extraordinarily fast.
The chains attached to the scythe seed capable of extending infinitely, granting both area attacks and long-range attack capabilities.
In every aspect—
It surpassed the Carnage Blade.
As for the latter—
It was a rapid movent skill.
This ability was practically equivalent to teleportation.
It could directly ignore obstacles and most attacks—
Making it vastly superior to movent techniques like Instant Shadow Step.
This skill alone gave the cloak trendous value.
Aside from the two pieces of equipnt—
The remaining loot was also extrely abundant.
There was no need to ntion the million-plus Essence and nearly ten thousand Magic Crystals.
Cao Ang had also dropped thirty Death Curse Gems.
Embedding such gems into armor could greatly increase curse resistance.
If used in weapon forging—
There was a chance of granting a weapon a skill similar to “Death Curse Slash.”
The players had already personally experienced the power of Death Curse Slash.
If they could forge similar abilities—
Even weakened versions—
Their damage output would still increase dramatically.
Because of this—
The value of these thirty gems was incredibly high.
Every major guild leader and high-level player was interested.
Aside from these conventional drops—
There was also one special item among the loot.
【Pure Soul Crystal】Tier-Three Special Item, Blue Upper-Grade Quality…… Description: A crystal condensed from a pure remnant soul. An exceedingly rare special material.
“What’s this?”
“It’s actually blue quality!”
Cao Ang was a Commander-class monster.
Under normal circumstances—
Blue-quality items simply should not drop from such enemies.
Thus—
The appearance of this item greatly captured the players’ attention.
Chira Wraith said:
“Could this Soul Crystal be the extraordinary material condensed from Dian Wei’s remnant soul and humanity?”
Dawn nodded.
“I think that’s very likely!”
Salted Fish Thrust said:
“So this is a hidden item. Its function is probably directly related to whether we can trigger the hidden quest to recruit Dian Wei!”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge nodded.
“This material is extrely important. Keep it stored safely. Once this mission ends, we’ll bring it back and ask the Lord about it!”
“Sounds good!”
“No matter what, this is a massive victory worth celebrating!”
“Alright, stop wasting ti! Hurry up and collect the loot! The Essence inside these drops is leaking rapidly—this isn’t a small amount!”
“AHHHH!”
“Right!”
“Everyone move quickly!”
Inside and outside Xinye City—
Loot was scattered everywhere.
These were all drops left behind throughout the battle.
By now—
Ten to twenty minutes had already passed.
Many drops had already suffered severe Essence leakage.
The players naturally felt heartbroken over this.
However—
In battles of this scale—
So loot becoming impossible to collect in ti and suffering losses was completely normal and unavoidable.
All they could do was minimize losses as much as possible.
…………
While the players busied themselves collecting loot—
Hang Yu was also calculating the profits from the third round.
During the third battle between the Calamity Army and Old Wan City’s vanguard force—
The total player deaths reached roughly four thousand.
In other words—
Each player died about twice on average.
Of course—
The actual distribution of deaths was not evenly spread.
So players who constantly charged at the front lines may already have died five tis total.
anwhile—
So players assigned to arrow towers who survived the final battle still only had two total deaths.
Regardless—
After deducting the reimbursent portions—
Hang Yu had accumulated approximately twelve million Essence through converting Calamity Army deaths!
Was this the full extent of the harvest?
Of course not!
This final battle had stretched from outside the defensive lines all the way into the interior.
The entire fight lasted nearly half an hour.
Because many loot drops could not be collected in ti—
The Essence within them had already begun leaking away.
Generally—
Unless absolutely necessary—
Hang Yu would not steal the players’ rightful loot.
This ti, when activating the Relic Treasure-Gathering Pearl—
He did not take the players’ rightful Essence.
He rely collected the portions about to leak away.
Even so—
He still expected to gain around six million Essence!
In other words—
This single battle had produced another eighteen million Essence for the territory!
At this point—
The harvest generated from this battle was already enormous.
The Essence energy gained thus far alone—
Was sufficient to satisfy the territory’s near-future training plans for both the Azure Dragon Guard and the Calamity Army.
Not to ntion—
The massive quantity of equipnt and Magic Crystal inco generated throughout the battle.
Although humanoid monsters might not drop materials as richly as wild monsters—
The combined value of all the equipnt and Magic Crystals remained extrely considerable!
However—
That still was not all!
Compared to these material rewards—
What Hang Yu cared about even more—
Was the Soul Crystal left behind by Cao Ang.
This type of “Pure Soul Crystal” was an extrely rare material.
Its creation was incredibly difficult.
And its applications were extrely broad!
Hang Yu possessed several “Pure Gold Talismans” purchased from the Land of Stars.
These consumables could temporarily reduce or isolate part of the influence from the Abyssal Will—
Allowing Abyssal Walkers on the verge of madness to temporarily regain sanity.
One function of the Pure Soul Crystal—
Was actually quite similar to the Pure Gold Talismans.
Combining Cao Ang’s final words—
Hang Yu could confirm the source of this Soul Crystal was Dian Wei.
In other words—
Before Dian Wei fully transford into a Corrupted being—
Soone, or perhaps so coincidental force, separated the uncontaminated portion of his soul!
Why had Cao Ang managed to remain sane throughout those endless years?
He definitely could not have achieved it alone!
It was precisely because this fragnt of Dian Wei’s humanity and will had been refined into a Pure Soul Crystal and placed upon Cao Ang.
Whenever Cao Ang approached complete collapse into the Abyss—
The crystal would activate and restore his sanity.
Right now—
Hang Yu was extrely curious.
Who exactly had done this?
Dian Wei had been dragged directly into the Abyss from a state of destined death.
Under such circumstances—
The protection of Fate Luck had already failed.
He most likely would have imdiately transford into a Corrupted being.
There simply should not have been enough ti for him to sever his own soul or save himself.
Moreover—
The Pure Soul Crystal had been placed upon Cao Ang.
No matter how one looked at it—
Saving Cao Ang had clearly been the greater priority.
So external force absolutely had to be involved.
The Abyssal nightmare centered around Wan City was neither particularly large nor small.
At this point—
Most major figures who could appear had already appeared.
So who exactly caused all this to happen?
There were too few clues.
No conclusion could yet be reached.
However—
One thing could now be confird.
Between Cao Ang and Dian Wei—
At most, only one could survive.
Theoretically—
Cao Ang possessed the initiative and could have chosen self-preservation.
As long as he obtained the Heart of Stars first—
He could break free from Old Wan City’s restrictions and regain freedom forever.
Yet—
He never did that.
Could it be because he sensed the Starsea’s overwhelming power and believed he had no chance of obtaining the Heart of Stars?
That possibility was very small.
After all—
Many things depended on personal effort.
The greatest possibility was—
Faced with the choice between the two—
Cao Ang chose to abandon himself.
He deliberately allowed the Pure Soul Crystal to fall into the Starsea’s hands—
In exchange for a faint sliver of survival for Dian Wei!
The details and hidden circumstances behind everything remained unknown.
Most likely—
The players would only uncover the truth through future exploration and storyline analysis.
However—
After obtaining Dian Wei’s Pure Soul Crystal—
Hang Yu suddenly realized that the final missing puzzle piece had appeared.
Sothing previously completely impossible—
Might now actually possess a slight chance of becoming reality!
Zhang Zhongjing had always been researching thods to cure Corrupted beings.
And he truly had already discovered a theoretically effective solution.
If Zhang Zhongjing gathered sufficient materials—
There might indeed be a chance to reverse an ordinary Corrupted being.
However—
From the very beginning, Zhang Zhongjing’s target had been Dian Wei.
That was simply wishful fantasy.
Hang Yu had never believed he would succeed.
Although Hang Yu also wanted to recruit a fierce general like Dian Wei—
Transforming Corrupted beings carried enormous risks, staggering costs, and trendous complications.
Rather than exhausting massive effort only to potentially lose everything—
It would honestly be easier to simply purify and eliminate him outright.
But now—
Things had changed.
Because of the material contributed by Cao Ang—
The situation finally possessed a genuine foundation for success.
Of course—
Although hope existed—
The process would not be easy.
More detailed preparation and planning were still required.
…………
Loot collection was complete!
Every player wore expressions of overwhelming joy!
“Holy shit!”
“Am I seeing things?!”
“The rewards this ti are insane!”
“……”
The Calamity Army’s luck this ti truly exploded beyond imagination.
First—
From the mission’s activation until now—
A total of one and a half hours had already passed.
This satisfied the minimum condition for completing the mission!
Although there had been twists and turns throughout the process—
Overall, everything had gone fairly smoothly!
At the very least—
The defensive line had not collapsed.
The arrow towers had not been destroyed.
Even the skeleton summoning forces had mostly survived intact.
The Calamity Army’s combat power had barely declined at all!
Such incredible rewards—
Were all thanks to Cao Ang!
If Cao Ang had not led the vanguard to Xinye ahead of the main force—
Then the mission’s starting ti would have been delayed!
If Cao Ang had not attacked with a smaller detachnt first—
But instead moved together with the main force—
The Calamity Army would never have been able to hold the line.
Even endlessly throwing lives at the enemy in waves—
They still could never have achieved such astonishing kill counts and battle results!
As for the rewards—
The players had already completed calculations.
Even excluding the final mission completion rewards—
Thus far, the players had collectively obtained:
1803 Tier-Three white-grade equipnt pieces,
9 Tier-Three green-quality equipnt pieces,
460 various gem materials,
approximately 71,400 Magic Crystals,
plus 21.5 million Essence.
The Essence alone exceeded twenty million!
And this was after nearly half had already been lost!
Just this amount of Essence alone—
Was enough for every participating player to receive an average allocation exceeding ten thousand points!
Such a brilliant victory—
Such outrageous battle achievents—
Naturally filled the entire Calamity Army with excitent and morale!
However—
The players did not beco careless.
Because they understood very clearly—
The true decisive battle had not yet arrived!
Ten-Mile Slope Sword God said:
“A re vanguard led by Cao Ang nearly completely breached Xinye and almost extinguished the Blessing Point we desperately protected. I imagine the main force led by Dian Wei will be even more terrifying. With our current strength, we’ll probably get steamrolled in one wave!”
Three-Thousand-Zhang Urination Against the Wind said:
“Yeah. The power gap feels way too huge. We probably can’t win the next battle at all. We might just get instantly crushed!”
Salted Fish Thrust said:
“Is it possible that the earlier battles only determined whether the mission could be completed at all, while the next battle’s performance is what actually determines the mission rating?”
“That’s possible!”
“But we already struggled this hard against Cao Ang!”
“Dian Wei’s level is definitely even higher than Cao Ang’s, and he’s probably an Abyssal Overlord too. How are we supposed to fight that?!”
“There’s no other option! I propose imdiately settling the contract Essence and funneling the Essence toward the top players so we can raise the big shots’ levels!”
“Agreed!”
“We need Tier-Three experts!”
“We should imdiately create a batch of Tier-Three elites!”
“……”
The players unanimously proposed distributing the accumulated Essence ahead of ti.
If the currently accumulated 21.5 million Essence were concentrated as much as possible into the hands of the top-tier players—
Then creating a batch of Tier-Three Calamity Army experts truly was possible.
These Tier-Three players would not only gain greatly enhanced attributes and skills—
They would also gain the ability to equip Tier-Three equipnt and use Tier-Three items.
This would significantly strengthen the Calamity Army.
Perhaps—
They might even survive slightly longer against Dian Wei!
This proposal received overwhelming support from the vast majority of players.
Although higher-level players lost more Essence upon death—
This mission allowed Essence debt systems.
No one would lose levels midway through the mission.
As for lower- and middle-tier players—
Although they would receive much less Essence as a result—
The sheer amount of equipnt, materials, and contribution points earned from this operation was already enough compensation.
Once they decided—
They imdiately began taking action.
……
anwhile—
Inside the fortress.
Zhang Xiu was also closely monitoring the front lines.
“City Lord!”
Han Ji arrived before Zhang Xiu.
“Cao Ang’s aura disappeared near Xinye City. The vanguard force he led appears to have already been defeated by the Starsea!”
“What?!”
The mont this news was heard—
Shock appeared across all the gathered officers.
Cao Ang had fought New Wan City many tis—
Winning and losing on both sides.
He was an extrely powerful and troubleso existence.
Although this ti he had only advanced with a small elite detachnt—
It still should have been a force impossible to ignore.
Yet unexpectedly—
They had failed to even cross Xinye’s defensive line.
However—
Because Abyssal troops generated thick Abyssal mist while moving—
And because the distance between the two sides remained great—
They still did not yet know the exact details of the battle.
Nevertheless—
One thing could already be confird.
This Starsea faction was truly formidable!
If they could not be eradicated quickly—
Their hidden threat might even surpass Old Wan City itself!
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