Chapter 356: Path of Legend

Ascending to Legend is the lifelong pursuit of countless transcendants.

Legend means greater strength, higher status, and, most importantly, a longer lifespan. Because of the Blood Soul Curse, ordinary humans cannot live past seventy, and only by ascending to Legend can that limit be broken.

Any Legend can live up to three hundred years, a longevity unimaginable to ordinary people.

Transcendants begin to decline in body and soul after fifty, so they must reach the ninth‑level pinnacle before fifty to begin assaulting the Legend realm.

Success after fifty is almost impossible.

The older one is, the lower the probability.

However, the vast majority of transcendants remain at the Initial stage for life; less than ten percent can undergo a second Soul Transformation into Mid-stage, then stall below sixth level.

High‑stage transcendants are one in a hundred at most.

Transcendants who reach High stage after a third Soul Transformation usually possess outstanding talent; barring mishaps, mere time accumulation can bring them to ninth level, but most are already over fifty, making the hope of ascending to Legend very slim.

Lei En once saw a document in the library stating that roughly one Legend is born per twenty ninth‑level transcendants.

Thus the difficulty of ascending to Legend is evident.

Lei En has long understood the methods for ascending to Legend; generally there are two paths.

The first is to continue cultivation after hitting a bottleneck, relying on time to temper, gradually strengthening the soul, using quantitative change to trigger qualitative change, breaking through the bottleneck, entering soul ascension, and then performing the Soul Transformation ceremony as usual. Ascending to Legend is the fourth Soul Transformation, more perilous than the first, yet it remains the safest method and the path most Legends follow.

The drawback of this method is that it consumes a great deal of time.

Each transcendant's soul strength varies; some break the bottleneck in a few years, others may need a decade or more, or be stuck for a lifetime.

Lei En had previously contemplated this issue.

He can absorb souls to recharge; with the right opportunity, he certainly wouldn't need as long as other transcendants to break through—perhaps he could resolve it in an instant.

But judging from today's situation, the trick seems ineffective.

So many souls have been converted to electricity—well over 99%—meaning that absorbing even more souls is of no use.

Of course, it could also be that the absorbed souls are insufficient.

Lei En cannot be certain.

He also dares not try, as most of Ai Lun E Si's sentient beings are devotees of the gods; absorbing a few occasionally is harmless, but if the number grows and, as today, draws divine attention, luck will not always be on his side to evade divine punishment.

After this lesson, he will never again recklessly absorb souls.

Lei En does not want to be stuck at the bottleneck for too long, so he must consider the second method.

That is, start from the Element.

Take an already fused Element and purposefully strengthen it, advancing it to an Ultra‑Exceptional Element.

The qualitative change brought by Element advancement provides excellent guidance, moving the whole body with a single hair, capable of prompting the entire soul into ascension, aiding the bottleneck breakthrough, and thereby causing soul metamorphosis.

Several Extreme Warriors under Lei En have advanced to Legend this way.

However, the Makurage have no Blood Soul Curse, need no Soul Transformation ceremony, and face almost no danger; ascending to Legend is practically effortless.

Human transcendants do not have it so easy.

Transcendants must, during Element advancement, perform the Soul Transformation ceremony while forcibly merging a legendary demon soul that carries an Ultra‑Exceptional Element. If they are a Law Seal wizard, they would merge an Ultra‑grade Arcane Element, typically a five‑ring or six‑ring spell.

This ascent method is extremely difficult and highly risky.

Successful fusion makes one a Legend; failure yields consequences worse than the first three Soul Transformation failures, not only shortening lifespan but also weakening the soul for three to five years, causing a sharp drop in power.

Fortunately, Lei En has already lifted the Blood Soul Curse, so it should not be that dangerous.

He carefully observes his Soul World Tree.

Excluding those two Legendary Elements and eight Ultra‑Exceptional Elements, among the remaining Elements the one closest to advancement is the newly fused Long‑spear Great‑horn Beetle's "Destruction Critical".

Destruction Critical is a rare Element, already at second level.

Lei En expects to raise it to fifth level, which should allow it to advance to an Ultra‑Exceptional Element.

"I have no Blood Soul Curse; perhaps, like an Extreme Warrior, when the Element advances it will directly trigger soul metamorphosis, allowing ascent to Legend without forcibly merging a demon soul during the Soul Transformation ceremony."

Lei En strokes his chin, still uncertain.

The Blood Soul Curse, spanning nearly four thousand years and passed down through hundreds of generations, has, like biological evolution, fundamentally altered human soul traits.

Even if the curse is lifted, one cannot return to the former state; some traits persist.

After careful deliberation, he decides to choose the second ascent path.

However, a legendary demon soul must be prepared in advance.

When "Destruction Critical" advances to an Ultra‑Exceptional Element, if the soul only ascends without metamorphosis, then perform the Soul Transformation ceremony to forcibly merge the demon soul.

Without the Blood Soul Curse, Lei En expects his Soul Transformation ceremony to be simple, with a very high success rate.

"Destruction Critical still needs more practice."

He stands, takes out an iron ingot held in his left palm, clenches his right fist, delivers a light strike, simultaneously triggering Destruction Critical.

The force concentrates at a point, passes through the fist, and upon striking the ingot it pierces instantly, exploding inside.

Snap!

A muffled thud, the hard iron ingot shatters into rice‑grain fragments that scatter from his palm, its internal structure completely destroyed.

"What a powerful burst!"

Lei En marvels inwardly; his punch did not expend full strength yet dealt a devastating blow to the ingot.

He is still not proficient; once his level rises and he uses full force, the power will be unimaginable.

If he were to obtain Thunder God's Hammer, who in the world could withstand his full‑force hammer strike?

Lei En's heart swells with excitement.

He spent the entire night in his room practicing Destruction Critical, punching the air and producing a series of strange muffled sounds, resting only as dawn approached.

The next day, after the celebration, Malius sent people to clean the battlefield outside the city.

Lei En did not leave immediately; he stayed in Astat for several days, having Extreme Warriors periodically ride Flame Dragons on patrol, discovering a few scouts dispatched by the Drolak tribe, eliminating them, and cutting off the enemy's grasp of Astat's situation.

It seems they received a divine decree from the Black Emperor, causing the Drolak tribe to fall silent thereafter.

Even the newly subjugated Ka Ge Ba tribe, taking advantage of the Dolak people's weakened period after suffering heavy losses, raised their banners in rebellion and reclaimed their own lands.

This is a situation Lei En is pleased to see.

Ma Li Wu Si also knows his limits; his tribe's population is too small to occupy the Ka Ge Ba tribe's lands, let alone counterattack the Dolak people. However, this war has nearly wiped out the tribe's enemies, and for at least ten years no one on the plateau will dare to attack A Si Ta Te.

The Ma Ku La Ge people can use this to rest and recover, growing their tribal population.

Lei En then leads his men to depart.

More than twenty Flame Dragons carrying sixty Extreme Warriors, amid the Ma Ku La Ge people's send‑off, majestically flew out of A Si Ta Te and headed north.

The bronze galloping horses cannot perform long‑range aerial leaps, and had already left half a day early.

Lei En sat on the back of a Flame Dragon, recalling his conversation with Ma Li Wu Si before departing.

The chieftain finally could not hold back, broaching the subject of Lambo's Spear and whether some could be given to the tribe, only to be decisively refused by him.

Lambo's Spear cannot be handed to anyone other than Extreme Warriors.

Even Extreme Warriors will soon have to switch to Soul Spear weapons, sealing away Lambo's Spear from then on.

Ma Li Wu Si said nothing, but felt regret inside.

Nevertheless, Lei En did not close the matter; he hinted at the new Soul Spear, but with a condition: one must become his symbiont, i. e., only Extreme Warriors can wield it.

After reaching the Legend promotion, the number of symbionts should exceed one hundred.

Then another batch of Extreme Warriors can be recruited.

Ma Li Wu Si was very tempted, but did not answer immediately, saying he needed to consider it.

Lei En was not in a hurry; the Ma Ku La Ge people could not refuse such temptation, and he would eventually form an Extreme Warrior corps of several hundred.

Likewise, the expansion of the Spearwing Knights should begin.

Two hours later, a Flame Dragon swooped into the canyon base; Lei En had just landed when three hundred bronze galloping horses returned, leaping across the cliff wall outside the canyon, quickly flying in, landing on the main field amid a cloud of dust.

Lei En's gaze swept over the faces of the Spearwing Knights.

After this war, they had all grown considerably, each holding their heads high, eyes shining with confidence; they were now true Transcendents, no longer the slaves of a few months ago.

Lei En nodded in satisfaction.

The armed force, cultivated with so many resources, was now ready to make its official debut.

"Rest for half an hour."

He issued the command, broadcasting it to everyone's ears: "First company, replenish ammunition and return with me to Mo Du, officially begin guarding the castle and patrolling the Glamorgen Territory. Second company continue training, rotate after half a month."

The Spearwing Knights' eyes lit up, especially the one hundred fifty of the first company, whose excitement was hard to contain.

After months of training, they finally earned the Lord's approval.

Half an hour passed quickly; the first company's Spearwing Knights rode the bronze galloping horses into the teleport hall inside Jin Gang Fort.

Lei En opened the teleport gate and led his troops across.

In the castle's teleport hall, a squad of Dragonstone Mercenary Corps guarded; under their shocked gazes, wave after wave of Spearwing Knights poured out, quickly filling the entire hall.

When the teleport gate closed, a whole company of knights had just arrived.

While Lei En was away, the castle's overseer Ai Mi Li Si heard the commotion, rushed over, and saw one hundred fifty Transcendents riding bronze galloping horses, exiting the hall under the lead of Extreme Warriors, quickly spreading throughout the castle.

They assembled in cavalry units on the wide slope outside the castle.

The castle's servants watched curiously.

Ai Mi Li Si was both shocked and disappointed by the scene.

From her perspective, she could clearly see that the Spearwing Knights were far stronger than her own mercenaries; having seen these slaves, she could not imagine how they became Transcendents in just a few months—Lei En's mysterious methods were astonishing.

The disappointment was that Lei En had already cultivated his own knight corps, no longer needing to hire his mercenaries.

"Lord!"

Ai Mi Li Si followed Lei En into the study, hesitantly asking, "Are you going to terminate the cooperation with my mercenary corps?"

(End of chapter.)