317: A mountain of corpses as a sacrifice, the Flame Demon Legion, all members are at level two!

Mo Yan gazed at the Hellfire Balrog before him, which had just completed its evolution, growing a head taller and exuding an aura of sulfur and destruction.

Thoughts churned in his mind.

“One Rank 1 corpse converts to ten Abyssal Essence. One Balrog evolution requires five hundred points…”

With a thought, his Divine Thought sank into his Talent Space.

Since acquiring his Talent, he had intentionally or unintentionally hoarded a massive amount of various resources, which naturally included the corpses of the Vicious Beasts and monsters he had casually dealt with.

These items, piled in his Talent Space, were almost forgotten.

Now, it was time for them to serve their final purpose.

The next second, the sky of the Xumi Realm seemed to tear open.

Rumble—

It wasn’t thunder, but the dull roar of countless objects plummeting from high altitude and piling up!

On the open ground where the Balrog Altar was originally located, a small mountain, formed by the accumulation of various strangely shaped corpses, was rapidly rising at a visible speed!

There were the solidified red gelatinous substances of Scarlet Sun Slimess, the fragmented limbs of cave spiders, the shriveled corpses of goblins, and many more low-Rank monsters from dungeons that couldn't be named… The sheer number of these corpses was immense, and the mixed stench they emitted almost formed a visible grey current of Qi, rising into the sky.

The Little Fire Sprites, who were curiously peeking out from the Elf Spring, were startled by this smell, letting out a “wah” and retreating back into the spring.

Even Princess Xi’s burning flames flickered with disgust, sending a Divine Thought to Mo Yan: [Master… these defiled things…].

“Chirp!”

Little Immortal’s figure also appeared in mid-air, its head held high, and its colorful Nirvana flames rising, seemingly wanting to purify the mountain of corpses below directly.

“Calm down.”

Mo Yan’s voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every corner.

Little Immortal chirped unhappily but obediently retracted its flames.

Princess Xi also said nothing more.

They both saw that there was no hint of jest in Mo Yan’s eyes; instead, they held an indescribable fervor.

“Sixteen thousand three hundred and seventy-two.”

Mo Yan’s perception swept over the corpse mountain, yielding a precise number.

“It should… be enough.”

He stopped wasting words and issued a command to the Balrog Altar.

“Sacrifice, begin!”

Buzz—

The ferocious demon’s mouth in the center of the altar, like an ancient Vicious Beast awakening from slumber, suddenly opened!

An invisible, greedy suction burst forth from it!

Amidst the howling sound, the mountain of piled corpses transformed into a grey-black torrent, being frantically devoured by the demon’s mouth!

The fierce flames within the altar burned with unprecedented intensity, emitting a “sizzle sizzle” sound like steel being melted.

[Notification: Sacrifice successful! You have obtained [Abyssal Essence] x10 points!]

[Notification: Sacrifice successful! You have obtained [Abyssal Essence] x10 points!]

[Notification: Sacrifice successful!…].

A series of System notifications, like a waterfall, frantically scrolled across Mo Yan’s vision!

Below the altar, the stone trough that could originally only accommodate one Balrog for soaking was now filled with dark red, viscous liquid.

It even overflowed, forming a small pool of essence around the altar, constantly bubbling.

Ten minutes later, when the last sand worm corpse was swallowed by the demon’s mouth, the corpse mountain completely disappeared.

And the essence pool around the altar had expanded to nearly a hundred square meters, like a small Hellish blood lake!

[Notification: Sacrifice complete! You have obtained a total of [Abyssal Essence] x163720 points!]

One hundred and sixty thousand points of Abyssal Essence!

Enough to evolve all three hundred-plus Balrogs under his command, with plenty to spare!

Mo Yan’s gaze fell upon the three hundred and nineteen Abyssal Fire Demons standing quietly, awaiting orders.

He wasted no extra words, issuing the command with a single thought.

“All units, enter the pool, evolve!”

“Roar!”

This time, the Balrogs no longer suppressed themselves.

They let out a brutal roar, their voices converging, making the entire Xumi Realm hum!

Then, three hundred and nineteen burning figures, like dumplings dropping into a pot, stepped into the blood lake formed by Abyssal Essence!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—

The entire blood lake instantly boiled!

The essence liquid frantically enveloped the body of each Balrog, greedily drilling into their lava-formed bodies.

For a time, painful roars rose and fell!

After a long while, the roars in the blood lake gradually subsided.

The roaring stopped.

Three hundred and nineteen figures rose from the churning blood lake.

The original Abyssal Fire Demons had disappeared.

In their place was a terrifying army averaging over three meters tall, covered in dark red lava heavy armor, with nascent demonic wings on their backs, and wielding burning claws!

In their eyes, a deeper, more brutal Hellfire burned!

[Notification: Your unit [Abyssal Fire Demon] has successfully sacrificed and strengthened, undergoing a Bloodline mutation, and has evolved into [Hellfire Balrog] (Rank 2)!]

[Notification: Your unit [Abyssal Fire Demon]… has evolved into [Hellfire Balrog] (Rank 2)!]

…The next moment, three hundred and nineteen successful evolution notifications, like a data waterfall, washed over Mo Yan’s vision.

Three hundred and twenty Rank 2 units!

A demonic army composed entirely of Rank 2 units was born just like that.

“Very good.”

Mo Yan’s lips finally curved into a smile, but his eyes were as cold as an abyss.

He could feel how terrifying the power of this army was.

Rank 2 units were equivalent to the strength of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Three hundred and twenty fearless Rank 2 demons gathered together would be enough to flatten any territory of the same Rank!

More importantly, they didn’t occupy population!

Just then, Mo Yan’s lord panel popped up with a private chat interface.

He glanced at it; it was Xie Yufeng.

Calling at this time, it was most likely something had happened in H City.

Mo Yan connected the call.

“Alliance Leader, something’s happened,” Xie Yufeng’s voice came through, carrying a suppressed solemnity.

He didn’t beat around the bush, cutting straight to the point: “The top Geniuses from all over the country have basically arrived. The S-Rank area designated by the officials is almost full. But… some people aren’t following the rules.”

Mo Yan raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

“Near Cangming City, a natural lake island suddenly appeared. The Spiritual Qi concentration there is the highest in the entire development zone, and it was reserved by the officials as a future public Cultivate area.” Xie Yufeng paused, his tone a bit annoyed, “But a group of people who just arrived today directly occupied it.”

“They even put out word that it’s what the strong deserve, and others aren’t qualified to touch it.”

Xie Yufeng’s tone grew increasingly annoyed: “The leaders are three troublemakers. The most prominent one is Qin Hao from the Qin family in Q City. That guy is an SS-Rank technology lord. As soon as he arrived, he deployed hundreds of drones to surround the lake island, acting incredibly arrogant!”

Mo Yan’s eyes were calm: “Technology lord? Interesting. And who else?”

“There’s also Zhou Ye from W City, an S-Rank Blasting Mage, like a powder keg. Yesterday, he almost set the official reception area on fire over a small argument!”

“Finally, there’s a lone swordsman named Cheng Tian, who claims to be from Jian Ge. He’s an S-Rank Swordsman, ruthless and a man of few words, but his subordinates love to bully people with their swords!”

“All three of them come from top domestic powers. As soon as they arrived, they started forming factions and carving out territories.”

“They completely disregarded the H City officials and those of us who settled in early,” Xie Yufeng’s voice sank.

“They believe that the Holy Land just got lucky, and resources should be shared by whoever sees them, with the strongest getting the most.”