Chapter 527: Legendary Power

"The sandworm's demon soul!"

Lei En exhaled, a smile appearing on his face.

This is the most powerful demon soul he has obtained, a Legendary High-rank, just a hair's breadth from Saint Rank; its soul power is incomprehensibly deep, exceeding that of ordinary Legendary High-rank monsters by at least tenfold!

Yet that is understandable; the extraordinary beings of Ai Lun E Si's world have strength proportional to their bodies.

The larger the physique, the stronger the power.

Although there are a few exceptions, most still follow this rule. The sandworm exceeds a hundred meters in length, seven to eight meters in diameter, and could weigh tens of thousands of tons; this insect, bordering on Saint Rank, may have a low‑quality demon soul, yet in the desert it is virtually invincible.

Had he not thought on the spot to decapitate it using the Void Spirit Gate, he has no idea how much effort it would take to kill it.

The Soul Eye probed into the Purple Source Soul Crystal, and the sandworm's demon soul writhed like a worm.

It has only eight Elements.

A Legendary High-rank demon soul possessing merely eight Elements is pitifully few; Lei En had already examined it with the Soul Eye before, so he was not surprised.

Yet the scarcity of Elements does not diminish the sandworm's terrifying strength.

Lei En instantly spotted the "Strength" Element, at Level Twelve; its rune is extremely intricate, emitting a crimson glow deep within the demon soul, dominating the other Elements.

Level‑12 Strength, a Legendary Element!

Strength is the most common basic Element; any slightly more robust extraordinary being possesses "Strength," yet it is also one of the hardest Elements to raise.

Lei En has poured countless soul power into Strength, merging several potent Strength demon souls, yet he is only at Level Ten Strength. Raising from Level Ten to Eleven requires about five hundred units of energy, a terribly poor cost‑benefit ratio, so he hasn't enhanced Strength for a long time and plans to boost it by fusing demon souls.

It is unsurprising that the sandworm's massive body wields Legendary Strength.

Moreover, its "Endurance" Element has also reached Level Ten.

Strength, Endurance, and Swiftness—these three basic Elements represent the three physical attributes of an extraordinary creature.

Swiftness enhances dexterity, reaction, and movement speed.

Endurance governs physical defense, magical resistance, and stamina recovery.

Strength and Endurance complement each other, and Swiftness can also be raised together with Endurance, but once Strength and Swiftness both reach Level Seven they conflict; only one can continue to be strengthened, making coexistence virtually impossible.

The sandworm's "Swiftness" is only Level Three, which is already remarkable for such a size. Yet its movement is rapid, relying not on Swiftness but on another Element, "Earth Traversal."

Earth Traversal is a rare, psychic‑type Element that lets it move at high speed across land and desert, comparable to flight.

Within the sandworm's demon soul are three Earth‑related Elements, all psychic type!

The second is Earth Bind, which shackles targets within its radius to the ground, preventing flight. The stronger the power, the larger the binding area.

Lei En saw this Element and broke out in cold sweat.

Fortunately he can open the Void Spirit Gate; if he summons a Fire Dragon to flee, the sandworm‑generated binding field would likely prevent any of them from taking off, resulting in heavy casualties.

Luckily, it never got the chance to use it.

Next is "Earth Pulse," a Super‑Exceptional Element!

Lei En's eyes lit up.

He had indirectly encountered this famed Super‑Exceptional Element a few years ago; it is even more renowned than his own "Iron Body." It is the advanced Element of the core Element "Earth Source" belonging to the exclusive extraordinary profession "Combat Nun" of the Earth Church.

Purely in terms of defense, Iron Body far outmatches Earth Pulse.

Yet Earth Pulse's overall effect is far more powerful than Iron Body!

Mastering Earth Pulse, as long as one's feet—or any body part—touch the ground, boosts Strength, eases fatigue, accelerates stamina recovery and self‑healing, makes the skin tougher, raises overall magical resistance, grants Earth Element affinity, provides extreme resistance to Earth spells, and grants a tactile sense that reads ground vibrations to track nearby targets.

One Element can equal the effect of seven or eight Elements.

The sandworm already has Level Ten Endurance; with Earth Pulse added, its defense, resistance, and recovery become so dreadful that even Level‑Seven spells struggle to harm it.

Moreover, it possesses another Super‑Exceptional Element, "Limb Severance Rebirth"; under a Holy Soul, an extraordinary being can hardly be killed.

The final one is the rare Element "Iron Stomach Stone Intestines."

This is Lei En's first sight of this Element; upon careful sensing he finds it can reinforce the consumption system, allowing the creature to digest almost any random matter it swallows, converting it into energy for the whole body, never starving, immune to poison, and possessing high elemental resistance.

The sandworm's "Iron Stomach Stone Intestines" has reached Level Nine, already advanced to a Super‑Exceptional Element.

"No wonder it can survive in the desert; it must have grown that big by eating sand—truly deserving the name 'sandworm'!"

Lei En exclaimed in awe; the vast world truly holds endless wonders.

The sandworm's eight Elements—five physical and three psychic—yet it knows no spells. When it opened its mouth before the Void Spirit Gate, it clearly intended to spew corrosive acid from its stomach, a biological instinct, not a spell.

"Phew!"

"If that mouthful of acid had been expelled, those last few Minotaurs would have died; with its volume, it could have flooded the Void Spirit Gate."

Lei En sealed away the sandworm's demon soul; it is Legendary High-rank, and he cannot fuse it yet.

There is another hidden risk.

After fusing the sandworm's Earth Pulse, he would gain Earth Element affinity; he already has three affinities, and few possess a fourth, which could cause a severe conflict and cause the fusion to fail.

Forget it; he'll figure something out later.

Lei En swooped down from the sandworm's head; at that moment the Extreme Warrior and the Minotaurs approached, staring at the corpse as tall as a small mountain, each with shocked faces and lingering fear.

Dejiko stepped forward, gratefully saying, "Lord, had it not been for you this time, I cannot imagine the consequences; how could we explain this to the tribe back home?"

"Chief, you are being too formal," Lei En replied with a modest smile. "We are comrades; hunting the Holy Beetle was my request, and the sandworm may have been lured together. I will not stand by while everyone perishes; no need for thanks."

"I understand," Dejila nodded heavily, turning to sort the Holy Beetle materials.

He, with a few Minotaurs, began to cut open the sandworm's skin, as hard and thick as a keratin layer; inside, the flesh was sour and foul, extremely disgusting and of no value, so they abandoned it.

"Lord, your magic sword," Dejiko returned the Song of Azure Sky.

Lei En took the Song of Azure Sky.

This magic sword had previously been given to Reslin; after Reslin rose to a Mid-stage Legendary Mage he no longer needed it. The Song of Azure Sky can boost a spell by one tier when cast, but only up to Tier Five, which for a Mid-stage Legendary Mage is a modest benefit.

Moreover, the Song of Azure Sky has a ten‑percent chance to double‑cast when used; this is usually advantageous, but for Reslin, who seeks precise casting, it adds uncertainty and can sometimes disrupt his casting rhythm.

So Reslin returned it and swapped it for the Arcane Torrent Staff.

Lei En usually wears it as a decorative piece on his waist when meeting distinguished guests or attending formal occasions; this time he happened to bring it along.

The team made brief preparations, then immediately left the sand centipede's corpse behind, resting two hours over a dozen li away before continuing on their way.

Dejike identified the direction and detoured far around the area where the sand worms dwelled.

Afterward, the group trekked through the desert for over ten days, finding several divine kingdom ruins, and finally gathered all fifty Mid-stage scarab demon souls that Lei En needed.

They encountered several dangers and attacks along the way.

Lei En strictly forbade the Extreme Warriors from opening fire, resolving everything with close combat. The tauren Sunwalkers also displayed formidable power of Holy Light, and the journey was alarming but never truly dangerous.

Once the scarab demon souls were collected, Dejike immediately changed direction, heading toward the Sun God's mausoleum.

His mausoleum was located in the deepest part of the desert.

Two days later, the kodo beast team entered the central region of the Aolitas Desert. The air here was even hotter, with scarcely any sign of people and sparse vegetation. Even mantis folk and desert trolls could not survive here, and the tauren were nearly roasted into beef jerky.

The food and fresh water brought by the Sunstrider tribe were running low.

If not for the sufficient reserves in Lei En's Nebula Ring, the group might have struggled just to make it out of the desert.

At last, beneath the blazing setting sun, Dejike, walking at the very front, reined in his kodo beast, which had thinned by two sizes, and said in a low voice, "We have arrived."

Everyone's spirits lifted, and they all looked ahead.

What met their eyes was still an endless expanse of rolling sand dunes. The air was distorted to the point of blurriness, making it impossible to see very far at all. The shattered void overhead seemed as though it could collapse at any moment, instilling an extreme sense of oppression.

"Where is it?" The Extreme Warriors widened their eyes but could not make out anything.

Only Lei En noticed the anomaly.

To be precise, he had noticed anomalous data on his phone interface. The weather function showed that after entering this area, the energy density of the power of Holy Light in the air had risen by approximately one-fifth, which was clearly abnormal.

Dejike led the team onward, and the density of the power of Holy Light gradually rose, climbing higher and higher.

Finally, the team came to a stop.

"Another divine kingdom ruin?" Lei En raised an eyebrow. This ruin was far smaller than the ones they had visited before, covering only about a hundred square meters. A few crumbling walls lay on the ground, mostly concealed by the desert sand. If one did not walk right up to it, it would be very difficult to spot.

Dejike observed for a moment, then tossed out a sun crystal to confirm there were no scarabs here.

He walked into the ruin and, as though thoroughly familiar with the way, found a stone slab with only its corner edge exposed. He cleared away the sand covering it. The massive stone slab was carved with reliefs and ancient runes, the most prominent of which was a sun, its edges painted with rays of light.

The tauren chieftain pressed his palm against the sun and channeled the power of Holy Light into it.

Buzz!

The runes on the slab were activated, and it slowly slid backward, revealing a broad passageway leading deep underground.

This passageway was constructed entirely of massive stones, with steps extending downward level by level. Bright runes on the stone walls to either side provided illumination, but the end was nowhere in sight.

Lei En sensed a vast, magnificent aura emanating from the passageway.

This was divine power!

"My lord, we should go in now," Dejike said with some urgency. "Once the entrance is opened, my master's aura will leak out. If too much time passes, it may be detected by other deities, especially that one..."

The "that one" he spoke of referred to the Sun God Geweng.

Lei En nodded to indicate he understood.

Since the passageway could not accommodate kodo beasts, Dejike had the Legendary early-stage Sunwalker stay outside with a few tauren to tend to the kodo beasts, while everyone else went in.

After making the arrangements, he was the first to enter the passageway.

Then the tauren.

Last were Lei En and the Extreme Warriors.

Once everyone had entered, the stone slab behind them slammed shut with a rumble. The runes carved on the slab had the effect of sealing off auras, and even sound could not escape. Everything fell silent at once.

The air in the passageway was not stuffy or hot; instead, a gentle breeze brought a hint of coolness.

The group descended along the stone steps. Whether Extreme Warriors or tauren, they all weighed a great deal. Their heavy footsteps echoed far through the passageway, and the reverberations took over ten seconds to return, amplified many times over.

Lei En's Voice of All Things used the sound waves to detect an enormous underground space ahead.

Amid the thudding of footsteps, the team continued deeper.

After walking for nearly five minutes, Lei En estimated they had descended at least a thousand meters underground. At last, the team emerged from the passageway, and the view opened up before them.

An incomparably vast underground space came into view. Even with Lei En's eyesight, he could not take in its entirety at a single glance. Looking up at the dome, the height exceeded two hundred meters, and the four walls of the ceiling all bore marks of artificial excavation. This was clearly not something mortals could have built, but rather the work of a deity's mighty power.

The ground was mostly sand, but from the passageway exit, a straight avenue paved with heavy stone slabs extended, a hundred meters wide, like a plaza.

At the end of the broad stone road stood a magnificent mausoleum.

The moment Lei En saw the mausoleum, it reminded him of the pyramids from his previous life.

Its base was square, and the tower body had three faces, all built from massive stones, tier by tier. The spire at the very top was only twenty-some meters short of touching the dome. It was unknown how long ago this pyramid had been constructed, but at least ten thousand years, and yet it was perfectly preserved, with only minimal weathering.

"My master's mausoleum!"

Dejike dropped to one knee and began to pray, and the tauren all wore expressions of intense emotion.

Lei En pushed his Soul Eye to its limit, cautiously observing the pyramid in the distance. The power of Holy Light here was concentrated to an astonishing degree, nearly squeezing out all other elemental energies. A nameless unease surfaced in his heart.

The Willpower of Truth also issued a warning in his mind, though not a severe one.

This meant there was danger, but it could be avoided, and it was within his capacity to endure.

Lei En breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If it had been extremely dangerous, he would have turned around without a second word and would never have approached a mausoleum meant for a deity's resurrection.

Dejike finished his prayer, raised his head, and strode onto the stone road toward the pyramid.

The tauren followed without hesitation.

Through the primordial symbiosis, Lei En reminded the Extreme Warriors in his mind to stay alert and not to let their guard down, before he too stepped onto the stone road.

(End of this chapter)