"Swish, swish, swish!"
One after another, enormous, dark purple ants walked past Jiang Xiu, moving in an orderly fashion towards one direction, seemingly oblivious to his presence.
"This is the Ant King race, ranked seventy-sixth among the Abyss races. So, I'm currently in the Abyss Plane?"
Jiang Xiu took a deep breath, suppressing his negative emotions with his strong willpower, and carefully observed the ants walking past him.
In just an instant, Jiang Xiu recognized them; it was this race that had emerged from the Abyss tide and destroyed Snow City.
"And now, I've become a shadow?"
Jiang Xiu looked down at his hands, finding them completely black—wasn't this the shadow he had vanished from?
His blood-red eyes narrowed, a ripple appearing on them. Jiang Xiu looked around, sensing his current shadow, and a sudden realization dawned on him.
"So that's how it is. Fierce Wolf Douluo guessed part of it correctly. Due to the unique nature of the Shadow King, it did trigger the protection mechanism when the Abyss Tide descended. However, my shadow did not merge with it. Instead, for some reason, it came to this Abyss Plane with the Abyss Tide."
Thinking of this, Jiang Xiu felt no fear at all; instead, a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
The Shadow King's most important ability is to extract the shadows of the dead and turn them into his most loyal shadow soldiers. And looking at the entire plane, is there anything more suitable than Abyss creatures?
Abyss creatures are not only diverse but also incredibly numerous, making them a natural shadow-making field for him!
"Although these Abyss creatures do not have their own consciousness, they do have shadows. I just don't know if we can successfully extract them."
Jiang Xiu looked at the Ant King Clan walking past him. He could clearly see that, under the reflection of the light, shadows appeared on the dark, scorched earth. Although they were somewhat faint, they were definitely there.
"Why not give it a try?"
A thought flashed through Jiang Xiu's mind. He waved his hand in front of an abyss ant. The ant's long antennae twitched, it glanced at Jiang Xiu, and then continued walking.
Seeing this, a look of understanding crossed Jiang Xiu's face. He had a vague idea of why these abyss ants of the Ant King Clan ignored him.
These were merely the lowest-ranking abyss ants in the Ant King Clan, their minds consumed by only one thought: to devour any life force before them. He was currently just a shadow, devoid of any vitality.
In the eyes of these abyss ants, he was inedible and useless.
In the Abyss Plane, not every abyss creature lacked consciousness. The kings of each clan possessed cultivation at least equivalent to a Title Douluo, and they all had their own thoughts. The Spirit Emperor Clan, ranked second in the Abyss Plane, was even renowned for its wisdom.
But clearly, these abyss ants before Jiang Xiu, used as cannon fodder, were unworthy of intelligence.
"Let's give it a try," Jiang Xiu, a man of action, instantly scanned the vast army of abyssal ants, quickly locking onto a small, slender one. He transformed into a black shadow and walked towards it.
Even as cannon fodder, these abyssal ants varied in strength. Jiang Xiu observed the group before him; the weakest possessed energy fluctuations at the Soul Master level, while the strongest was even comparable to the Soul Venerables he had seen.
The Douluo Continent's ability to withstand repeated abyssal tides was indeed remarkable.
"Little ant, let me see how strong your shadow is,"
Jiang Xiu said with a friendly smile, quickly arriving before the abyssal ant. A flash of dark light appeared in his hand, and a sharp, dark short sword materialized.
Although he was currently a shadow, he could still mobilize the power of the Shadow King, making it easy for him to use a portion of his shadow as a weapon.
The abyssal ant, seeing the sudden appearance of the black shadow, was slightly taken aback. But the next moment, a flash of cold light, and a sharp short sword pierced its most vulnerable eye.
"Pfft!"
Black liquid flowed out.
"Don't be nervous, take a deep breath, dizziness is normal."
Jiang Xiu gripped the short sword tightly, continuing to plunge it into the abyss ant's eye, kindly comforting it, but the force in his hand increased.
Although the abyss ant lacked intelligence, it wasn't stupid either; it knew this dark creature before it was attacking it and instantly struggled.
Although the abyss ant race was well-rounded in offense and defense, its weakness lay in its eyes. Under Jiang Xiu's fatal blow, it struggled for only a moment before collapsing into an eternal sleep.
"Youth is good, falling asleep instantly."
Jiang Xiu sighed, shaking off the black liquid clinging to the short sword, his right hand hovering over the abyss ant's corpse, preparing to activate the Shadow King's extraction ability.
"Buzz!"
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred; a wisp of black light floated out from the previously dead abyss ant's corpse, appearing and then instantly disappearing into the distance.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Jiang Xiu reacted swiftly, activating his extraction skill the instant the ant appeared. With a sweep of his hand, he grabbed it, instantly enveloping it in extraction and refinement power.
"Stand up!"
Jiang Xiu's bloodshot eyes narrowed, his indifferent face radiating boundless majesty, and a voice like that of a king resounded.
In just a few breaths, a pitch-black shadow rose from the corpse of the abyss ant.
Its eyes were bloodshot, its entire body dark, resembling the abyss ant that had just died.
"Smack smack!"
The moment the shadow appeared, it knelt down, its sharp mandibles rubbing together, constantly conveying one meaning to Jiang Xiu:
loyalty!
Any shadow extracted by the Shadow King would be 100% loyal to Jiang Xiu. Even if Jiang Xiu ordered the abyss ant to die immediately, it would carry it out without hesitation.
"Success! It seems my plan worked!"
Looking at the abyss ant shadow that he could easily command, a slight smile appeared on Jiang Xiu's lips.
After all, what worried him most wasn't whether he could kill the Abyss Ants, but whether he could successfully extract their shadows.
Jiang Xiu knew that Abyss creatures didn't truly die after death; instead, they would transform into their origin, return to the Abyss Plane, and be reborn.
This was why the Abyss Plane could endlessly attack Douluo Continent, and the powerful figures of Douluo Continent, once killed in battle, were truly dead.
And the most intractable thing was that these Abyss creatures retained the same strength they had before death, even after being reborn.
This was also why Tang Wulin was so highly regarded by the military after joining the Blood God Legion and demonstrating the Golden Dragon Spear's ability to absorb Abyss energy—it was a method that could thoroughly weaken the Abyss Plane!
At this moment, looking at the hideous and terrifying Abyss Ants before him, Jiang Xiu suddenly found them all to have become handsome and refined.
"Hehehe...cough cough."
(End of Chapter)