The four Soul Devourers launched their full-force spiritual attack. Dark, wispy threads of parasitic energy shot out from their outstretched hands, aiming to shred Lei Ze's spiritual core and absorb his very essence.
Kūn Zhān, inhabiting Lei Ze's body, only smiled—a frightening, inhuman twist of the mouth. He didn't move. He let the threads make contact. The instant the devouring energy touched the skin of his host, the suppressed Demonic Energy within Lei Ze's spiritual sea exploded outward like an oil slick meeting a flame.
A violent torrent of pure black Qi erupted from Lei Ze's pores, consuming the Devourers' parasitic threads whole. Kūn Zhān's fighting style, even through a borrowed body, was one of overwhelming dominance. He was fighting four powerful cultivators, yet he treated the encounter with bored disdain.
He didn't need to conjure complex techniques. He simply focused the vast, chaotic power he commanded. He raised a hand, and the heavy black Qi compressed, forming a dense, physical-looking shield around him that instantly shattered the devourers' attack.
"Such weak souls," Kūn Zhān scoffed, taking a leisurely step forward.
Two Devourers, startled by the sheer ease with which their attack was nullified, tried to flank him. Kūn Zhān was faster. He swung his fist in a wide arc. A terrifying ripple of black energy sliced through the air, hitting one Devourer in the chest. The cultivator didn't just fall; his body instantly withered, turning brittle and ash-like before collapsing.
The remaining three were momentarily stunned. They responded in concert, combining their spiritual power into a focused beam of soul-devouring light, a technique guaranteed to paralyze even high-level experts.
The beam struck Lei Ze dead center. Kūn Zhān grunted, a genuine sound of pain and surprise escaping him. This body, though strong, was still only Mid-Golden Core, not the Demon King's immortal vessel. A wave of exhaustion immediately flooded the host body, and the Devourers pressed their advantage, trying to rip control from the weakened entity.
"Insolent pests!" Kūn Zhān roared, the pain only feeding his power.
With incredible, desperate effort, he slammed his palms together. The black Qi that had protected him twisted into four lethal, coiling tendrils. These tendrils shot out with the speed of lightning, wrapping around the Devourers' necks.
The Devourers screamed, not of pain, but of violation, as the tendrils began to siphon their life force and their souls directly into Lei Ze's core.
"A taste of my true power," Kūn Zhān hissed, his eyes blazing with dark euphoria.
In less than three breaths, the Devourers were nothing but dried husks, their energy devoured. Kūn Zhān released the tendrils, and the four empty robes collapsed onto the scorching ground, turning to dust. The fight was over, fought with terrifying efficiency and absolute brutality, leaving the host body reeling but intact.
Kūn Zhān settled back down onto his feet, the pain from the combined Devourer attack already fading as the stolen energy rushed in. He stared intently at a small, unassuming cave nestled near the base of the colossal volcano.
"This is where they concealed you. My precious friend, I am coming back for you."
He flew sharply toward the cave. Instead of entering the narrow opening, he slammed his fist into the ground just beside it. The earth cracked instantly, the power of the strike shattering the cave's protective rock façade outward with explosive force.
Revealed before him, stuck into the caked rock, was the Bloodfire Halberd, glowing menacingly.
The weapon driven into the bedrock was a Halberd—a fusion of spear and axe built for kingly slaughter. Cast in dark, predatory gold, its shaft was etched with primordial demonic runes that pulsed with inner malice. The grip was wrapped in segmented, overlapping gold scales, intimidating to the touch, and seemed to be the source of a deep, resonating hum, the sound of a million ancient souls screaming in unison. The true terror lay in the flanking crescent blades; horned and sharp, they glowed with the color of fresh, spilled blood. A heavy tassel of crimson hair or solidified blood threads was tied beneath the ornate guard, swaying with an unnatural, hungry life.
Kūn Zhān smiled, a wide, triumphant expression of pure demonic joy. "Hello, my good friend." He reached out, gripping the remaining rock around the Halberd, and shattered it completely.
The instant his borrowed hand touched the Halberd, the weapon reacted violently. It rejected Kūn Zhān's spectral control, sensing the body was not his original host.
The powerful psychic control broke. Kūn Zhān's essence was violently pushed back into the sealed, Demonic Energy corner of the spiritual sea, leaving Lei Ze utterly disoriented.
Lei Ze stumbled, his head throbbing intensely. He could not remember anything—the fight, the Devourers, the dark path. He only saw the terrifying, glowing weapon lying on the ground. Driven by curiosity and a feeling of irresistible familiarity, he reached down and touched it.
Lei Ze's concentration was utterly consumed by the Bloodfire Halberd. The sheer, overwhelming force radiating off the golden artifact was exponentially heavier than the mangled corpses of the Soul Devourers around him. Yet, it pulsed in perfect harmony with the cold, hungry power deep within his Dantian. The demonic whispers of Kūn Zhān ceased to be mere sound; they had become an undeniable blueprint to supreme authority.
He raised the monstrous polearm using nothing but raw, adrenaline-fueled might.
The second the Halberd was liberated, the heavy tassel of solid, crimson threads lashed upwards, seemingly sniffing the air. Lei Ze's fingers instinctively tightened over the hilt's segmented, overlapping gold scales.
This was no gentle welcome. A vicious jolt, akin to being struck by thousands of volts, slammed into his arm. Before he could even register the shock, the Halberd made its absolute demand. An icy, scorching spiritual pressure locked onto his right palm. The archaic, dark gold runes meticulously engraved on the Halberd's shaft suddenly burst with light, violently imprinting their exact pattern onto his skin.
The agony was indescribable, a feeling akin to having liquid metal poured directly onto his sensory nerves. A thick, perfectly symmetrical dark gold demonic symbol, a flawless mirror of the Halberd's most malignant marking, seared itself into the core of his palm.
The Halberd drank his suffering. A single, dark bead of blood oozed from the fresh, angry tattoo and was instantaneously swallowed by the gold scales. The Bloodfire exploded forth, but rather than blazing outward, it surged deep into Lei Ze's body.
It was not a fire of destruction, but of consecration. The volatile, chaotic energy of the Demon Seed in his Dantian immediately found stability, instantly multiplying its strength a hundredfold, thanks to the weapon's ancient, focused malice. His perception violently shifted. The low, seductive whisper of Kūn Zhān roared into a deafening decree:
"My power now belongs to you, little vessel. Prepare yourself, it is time to truly consume."
The Halberd settled in his grip, feeling as innate as his own skeletal structure. The enormous physical mass dissolved, replaced by a disturbing, weightless equilibrium. He was no longer just Lei Ze, the prodigy who fell from grace; he had become the sworn wielder of the Bloodfire Halberd, his body permanently consecrated by the Demon King's authority. He lifted the weapon, and the crimson crescent blades gave off a low, contented purr, hungry for their next inevitable feast.
Lei Ze raised the terrifying weapon high above his head. The Bloodfire Halberd pulsed once, and a wave of concentrated Demonic Qi, now stabilized and exponentially increased, surged through his meridians. The energy instantly shattered the barriers of his cultivation, pushing him with painful, blinding speed past the Mid-Golden Core Stage and straight into the Late-Golden Core Stage. The Pagoda remained silent, overshadowed and overruled by the Halberd's absolute decree.