With the fall of the rhinoceros king, the battlefield calmed considerably, especially when compared to the thunderous noises the battle had produced before.
Although, with the fall of their king, the Shadow Beasts did not flee in cowardice like normal beasts and instead continued fighting the shadow soldiers, for Aotian, everything became easier than before.
During the battle, he not only evaded and struck the rhinoceros king, but also made it direct its attacks against its own corrupted companions, and because of that, the pressure on the battlefield was much lighter on Aotian's side after the beast's fall.
As for the losses of shadow soldiers he suffered, looking at the field filled with corpses, Aotian did not feel the slightest sadness.
'Time to clean up…'
Aotian smiled in amusement and, after creating a mission to confirm safety, an elderly and shadowy man suddenly emerged from the depths of the black soil, right beside the rhinoceros king's corpse.
The old man's shadow, as if alive, stretched toward the shadow of the beast's body until the two overlapped.
That brief connection was enough to trigger something, and soon the beast's own shadow began to move on its own, as if it had come to life. Then, like a sinister black liquid, it slowly rose like tendrils, covering the entire body of the colossal rhinoceros.
Yes, that old man was none other than the divine incarnation of Mo Yexuan, who had only appeared now to reap the spoils.
Throughout the rest of the time, he had been several miles away from the battlefield, to avoid that incarnation being destroyed.
If all the shadows perished, he had more than enough material to create others there. But if the divine incarnation perished, it would not only cause severe damage to the ancestor's original body, but also remove the only piece Aotian could place in that small world at the moment.
That was why he was so cautious in all his actions, since this matter concerned the end of the world.
While reflecting on his choices, Aotian blinked curiously at the rhinoceros king's corpse, which was slowly being converted into a shadow soldier.
Narrowing the incarnation's eyes, he quickly noticed traces of purified impurities being emitted from the beast's body, which was a curious yet normal process that occurred when a Shadow Beast was transformed into one of his soldiers.
The shadows seemed to hate impurities, expelling them after purifying them while transforming the body.
But this time, the amount seemed excessive, pouring from the corpse as if it were endless, even resembling steam rising from boiling water—except it was black.
'So many impurities!' Aotian was slightly startled.
The rhinoceros king had an absurd amount of impurities in its body, far more than the other beasts he had seen before.
As the shadows consumed it and the impurities were released, he noticed that the rhinoceros king's body was becoming smaller and smaller, and even its aura was diminishing.
Curling his lips in helplessness, Aotian had already understood the whole story.
Looking at the now new rhinoceros king, which had shrunk its body to the size of a normal rhinoceros, and whose aura was now much weaker, staring back at him in a foolish and calm manner, he sighed inwardly.
The beast had basically fallen three minor stages, dropping directly from the peak of the intermediate stage of a sixth-level beast—around the sixth level of Void Refinement—to the peak of the initial stage, which would be the third level of that realm for human cultivators. In short, its drop in power was three levels within its realm.
Analyzing all the information he detected, Aotian reached a conclusion.
'So it wasn't that it didn't want to shrink its body, but that it had swallowed so many impurities to increase its power that, if it reduced its size, it wouldn't be able to maintain them.'
Sighing inwardly, he accepted that all his hard work had not yielded equivalent profit, although it was not entirely bad.
'Well, now I have two Void Refinement shadows, which is already a huge gain, even if both are only at the initial stage of that realm, so I won't complain.'
He comforted himself as he gently stroked the new rhinoceros king's horn, which comfortably closed its black eyes under the caress.
'It's kind of cute…' he unconsciously reflected, looking at the fierce creature, which seemed as if it had just been pulled out of a pool of black paint.
His gaze then turned to the flood dragon flying among the clouds, which was slowly recovering from its injuries.
That was the flood dragon he had created from the lake's skeleton, and now, after so long, it looked very different from the beginning… it was recovering.
The shadows now resembled black muscles all over its body, and it no longer resembled the skeletal shadow dragon it had been at the start. As time passed, the shadows on its body seemed to be growing thicker, and its power stronger—or rather, returning to its peak.
Aotian suspected that, before long, scales would grow on that black body, and then the creature would become indistinguishable from a real, living flood dragon.
As for the dragon's late appearance, he could actually have summoned it at any moment, since both the ancestor Mo Yexuan's incarnation and his real body shared the same shadow realm. The ability did not split, so both could, in fact, place a shadow there and the other retrieve it, without any hindrance.
However, there were two major weaknesses to this ability—or rather, to all avatars' abilities. The first was that they suffered reductions or bonuses depending on the user's realm, and the second was the distance limit.
This was a type of rule Aotian had long since grown accustomed to.
Thus, when the divine incarnation, which was in the Soul Formation realm, used a shadow that was in the Void Refinement realm, there was a tenfold reduction in the shadow's original strength.
That was why it was so dangerous to send the dragon earlier, since, in addition to being a full stage below the rhinoceros king, it also suffered that tenfold reduction, making it nothing more than a pile of bones that could be easily shattered by a single blow from the opponent.
Worse still, it would become the focus of the battle. After all, if a beast as powerful as the dragon appeared, the rhinoceros king's attention would immediately shift to it, and the former Shadow King would be pushed into the background instead of remaining the primary target.
Thus, Aotian chose to be cautious and win the battle using disposable soldiers rather than destroy his Ace to gain another. And now, the result was that he had two aces, in addition to enough material to triple his army.
A malicious smile slowly formed on Mo Yexuan's lips as he placed the rhinoceros and the dragon that had flown to his side back into his shadow.
He then raised his dark eyes toward the battlefield filled with craters and the corpses of Shadow Beasts, which exuded a foul and acrid stench, with amusement in them.
His steps guided him forward, and from his back, a bright ball of light ignited. His shadow, projected by that light source, suddenly stretched far in three distinct directions.
As he continued walking, his shadow covered thousands of bodies, which were slowly consumed by something black, until then… they moved.
There, just like that, the Shadow Beasts that had fallen rose once more to life, but now they were called shadow soldiers.
They did not roar, they did not cry, nor did they make any sound. They were like silent shadows that, as if suddenly finding a purpose, moved in unison right after awakening, migrating to various locations across the field and dragging corpses from all directions to pile them wherever Mo Yexuan passed, as if forming a great corridor of bodies.
And there, their king walked, awakening ever more servants for his undertaking.
…
While, on one side, everything was calming down, on the other a growing tension invaded the humans in the camp.
Since the beginning of the battle, it could be said that morale was at rock bottom, and grimaces were basically worn by everyone there, most of them expressions of helplessness, irritation, and, above all, fear.
The thunderous sounds coming from behind, from the battlefield where the sixth-level beast had appeared, practically announced the end of their hope.
And without hope, fear always wins.
Thus, soon after the battle began, the pair of holy son and daughter, Wang Mei and Kong Huang, watched in despair as 90% of the nearly one million cultivators abandoned the battlefield and fled without looking back.
The remaining 10% who stayed could only watch, with trembling hearts, those people leave, with some even casting malicious glances back at them, considering them fools for staying.
And indeed, those who remained—whether out of loyalty for having been saved or because they believed the future out there would not be much different—thought it was all over for them, especially when so many people left, since the remaining manpower would not be able to hold that frontier now that the shadow soldiers had departed.
But when 90% of the people left, struggling to cross the sea of beasts in a single direction, a shocking scene unfolded. The beasts that had been attacking toward the camp, as if they hated its very existence, suddenly simply turned around and left.
Their objective was clear: to pursue those people who had passed by them while fleeing.
Wang Mei, who saw all of this happen, sneered in her heart.
'Hmph! You left thinking you were smart, but you forgot that the reason so many beasts were attracted in the first place was because we were together, not because of the shadow soldiers. After all, from what the Shadow King told me and Kong Huang, his people do not attract Shadow Beasts.'
'You leave together like a disorganized mob, so it's only to be expected that the beasts won't let you go so easily. Heeh… now, without a place to fight without being invaded by impurities, how will you all survive such a trial?'
Thinking of this, her heart calmed considerably amid her anger. After all, when those people left, they did not forget to look at her with contempt, as if she were stupid, which deeply irritated her.
Thus, suddenly, the defense that had been somewhat stretched became much easier, with only a few Shadow Beasts remaining, which would not be such a big problem for them to deal with. And with many Shadow Soldiers still fighting alongside them, they at least had a small support in their hearts.
But the terrible sounds of explosions that echoed from the back of the camp, the tremors of the earth, and the slashes of light that caused fissures in the ground for miles made them battle with their hearts in their throats and trembling hands.
That monstrous aura was like a huge stone pressing down on them, and they could only focus on the beasts in front of them while waiting for their end, fighting until the last moment.
Yet time passed and passed, but despite the heaven-shaking battle continuing to resound from behind, the end never came.
This only served to make those who stayed behind—and who noticed that there had been almost no casualties among them due to the protection of the shadow soldiers and the decrease in the number of opponents—exchange doubtful looks.
Seven hours later, that doubt turned into disbelief, and disbelief into hope.
Many wanted to look back, but whether due to the dust of the battlefield, the powerful spiritual energy that shook the senses and hindered vision, or simply the fear of not having the strength to look forward once they witnessed that scene, no one dared to leave the formation and fly into the sky to snoop.
But one thing was certain: there was hope. For a fight to last that long meant there was a balance in the strength of both sides.
"This aura… I think the opposing beast is several times stronger than my master."
Kong Huang decapitated a beast as he commented somewhat anxiously, immediately afterward dodging the strike of another that arrived.
Although his speech was mature, his appearance as a cute little boy with blue hair and eyes, with a nervous face, left him completely out of sync with the cruel battlefield.
"Your master is the leader of the Azure Moon Sect, so he must have some trump cards that would allow him to defeat that beast."
Wang Mei replied thoughtfully as she flicked her fingers upward, causing a sharp pillar of earth to suddenly rise from the ground, piercing the head of a beast that tried to attack her from her blind spot, immediately ending its life.
"Maybe… but if it were your master, that beast wouldn't be a problem. It would take just a wave of the hands."
Kong Huang admitted uncertainly, adding something that made Wang Mei's movements stop for an instant before she resumed moving, seemingly unaffected, but she did not speak anymore.
Kong Huang felt a little embarrassed when he saw her lack of reaction and her vacant eyes, knowing he had said the wrong thing. Thus, he wanted to open his mouth to apologize.
But before he could utter a single word, his eyes suddenly widened, and his face turned pale with despair.
From the battlefield where the sixth-level beast was still battling the Shadow King, suddenly another aura of the same level emerged, only slightly weaker. But that was more than enough to end the balanced situation that existed there.
Not only did he have such a reaction, but everyone there did. Hopelessness now took their hearts more than ever, and many froze, some with weaker mentalities even accepting death, no longer defending themselves against the beasts attacking them.
Yet it was at that moment that several shadow soldiers stepped forward and protected them, with the swing of their swords and claws.
They then stared at them with their purely black, emotionless eyes.
"Why are you stopping fighting now that we've won?" one of them asked in a hoarse, heavy voice, with a cold gaze, before proceeding to kill more beasts.
But his voice did not reach just one person, but everyone there, who widened their eyes in disbelief upon hearing those words.
And when they felt the final rumble and the disappearance of the rhinoceros king's aura, everyone finally understood, causing disbelief and wild happiness to be expressed on their faces.
The beast that had arrived was not an enemy, but reinforcements.
Wang Mei and Kong Huang, amid the battle and the excited celebratory shouts of their companions, looked at each other incredulously, with only three words echoing in their minds.
They had won.