After Halosa left Star Luo City, he arrived at a small island in the sea. The Netherworld Rebirth Domain opened again. "Go and create slaughter. I need a lot, a lot of death power."
Halosa smiled coldly. Sea Spirit Beasts? They are just Tang San's most loyal dogs, not worth pitying.
Halosa sat cross-legged in the center of the small island, surrounded by a gray mist, which was a dense aura of death. He closed his eyes, but his Spirit was connected to the vast ocean.
Twelve Undead Knights, like cold killing machines, sank into the deep blue seawater. They had no breath, no fear, only the command given by Halosa: Kill!
Soon, a bloody storm surged beneath the calm sea.
An Undead Knight swung his greatsword, and the gray sword light easily tore through the tough scales of a ten-thousand-year Sea Spirit Beast. Blood instantly dyed a patch of seawater red. Another knight's shield slammed heavily into the thick shell of a giant deep-sea turtle Spirit Beast. The terrifying force directly cracked the turtle's shell, and the Spirit Beast wailed as it sank to the bottom of the sea.
Wherever they went, whether it was swarms of low-level fish or powerful ten-thousand-year Sea Spirit Beasts, all became targets. Greatswords slashed down, shields smashed, and gray-blue flame eyes scanned the dark sea, harvesting lives accurately and efficiently.
With each kill, wisps of pure death energy emanated from the fallen Spirit Beasts. These energies did not dissipate; instead, they were drawn by the Netherworld Rebirth Domain, like iron filings attracted by a magnet, crossing space, and gathering in wisps into Halosa's body on the small island.
Halosa's Spirit Core, especially his first death Spirit Core, was like a dry sponge encountering sweet rain, greedily absorbing this energy. He could clearly feel the power within his Spirit Core slowly and steadily recovering and growing stronger.
The damage to his laws, caused by Bei Songhe and the others, was also gradually eroded and smoothed away by the cleansing of the dense death power.
Halosa was severely injured. No wonder the original work said that if it weren't for Pavilion Master, Heaven's Chosen Douluo, he could have reached the Quasi-God level fifty years earlier. It is estimated that half of that hidden century was spent healing.
"The efficiency is still not fast enough..." Halosa frowned slightly. Although the number of Sea Spirit Beasts was vast, the speed at which the Undead Knights hunted and the death power provided by individual Spirit Beasts were merely a drop in the bucket for a Limit Douluo like him.
The death Spirit Core absorbed energy, initially purifying it into death essence. Then, the death essence flowed into the second Spirit Core—the Netherworld Soul Spirit Core.
Here, the death essence was further refined and transformed, integrating into the Netherworld origin power contained within the core of the Spirit Core, finally forming a higher, purer "Netherworld Pure Essence."
The problem lay in this transformation process. The conversion rate was extremely low; a large amount of death essence was put in, but only a tiny amount of Netherworld Pure Essence could be produced. It was like extracting a few grams of gold from a basket of ore. To truly strengthen the Netherworld Soul Spirit Core and even condense his own demigod God Position, the amount of death power required was an astronomical figure.
He recalled the plan in the original work. Ghost Emperor, the Holy Spirit Church, and that little fox Qiangu Dongfeng colluded with the Abyssal Saint Monarch, attempting to sacrifice the entire Douluo Plane with blood. The massive death power generated by the instantaneous deaths of billions of living beings... that was an unimaginably vast amount of energy. If it could truly succeed, it might indeed satisfy his needs, and even help him assault the God-level.
But the merged memories made him realize clearly that it was a trap. In God King Tang San's script, the abyssal invasion was destined to fail, and the Holy Spirit Church was nothing more than cannon fodder. Participating in it would only lead to his own death.
How could Tang San allow a Son of the Plane, nurtured by the Douluo Plane itself, who was not under his control, to become a god with the help of the Abyss?
"Hmph, relying on others is not as good as relying on myself." Halosa suppressed the throbbing in his heart, tempted by the immense energy.
"If that old fellow Ghost Emperor comes to find me again, it's certainly impossible for him to trick me into joining the Holy Spirit Church with empty words."
He collected his thoughts and focused on the present. He took out a large amount of rare metals plundered from the Star Luo Tang Sect branch. These metals were piled up like mountains, gleaming with various lusters, and were top-grade materials for forging and repairing high-level Battle Armor and spirit tools.
Halosa circulated his spirit power, and pure death power, like gray flames, surged out, enveloping a portion of the rare metals. The metals began to soften and deform under the smelting of the death power. He manipulated these molten metal liquids, precisely directing them towards the Three-Word Battle Armor on his body, which was covered in cracks.
Sizzle, sizzle...
A sound like a red-hot branding iron being plunged into cold water rang out—that was the sound of metal repairing and fusing. The damaged Battle Armor plates, supplemented by the rare metals, had their cracks mend and disappear at a visible speed.
The dim Spirit patterns re-lit with a grayish-white glow. The entire process lasted for a long time. When Halosa stopped, the Battle Armor on his body, although still in the form of a Three-Word Battle Armor, had a smooth, new surface, completely free of cracks, and the aura it emitted was even more condensed and powerful than before.
"It's finally repaired." Halosa moved his body, feeling the powerful amplification that the Battle Armor brought him again.
He looked at the remaining half of the rare metals on the ground and nodded with satisfaction: "The Tang Sect is indeed wealthy; these reserves will last a long time."
Next, he took out his weapon—Netherworld Lament. That slender cross-shaped sword, with a translucent gray blade, as if made of solidified mist, now had a somewhat dim glow on its blade.
Halosa took out all the remaining rare metals and once again enveloped and melted them with his death spirit power. This time, he injected the melted metal essence, along with the extremely precious "Netherworld Pure Essence" refined from his own Spirit Core, into Netherworld Lament.
The sword body vibrated slightly, emitting a low hum. The gray sword light flickered like breathing. The metal essence was absorbed by the sword body, strengthening its basic material; while the Netherworld Pure Essence integrated into the sword's core, enhancing its original power and its compatibility with Halosa and the Netherworld laws.
When the last trace of metal essence and Netherworld Pure Essence was completely absorbed, Halosa gripped the hilt of Netherworld Lament.
Boom!
A gray sword intent, far more powerful and profound than before, soared into the sky, then instantly retracted into the blade. The sword body became more solidified, the gray seemed to have settled, exuding a restrained sense of danger. At the edge of the blade, space itself seemed to become unstable, subtly twisting.
"Peak demigod artifact... It's only missing the last sliver of opportunity to become a true divine artifact." Halosa felt the power contained within the sword, a glint flashing in his eyes. This harvest was immense; not only were his injuries mostly recovered, and his Battle Armor restored to its original state, but Netherworld Lament was also greatly enhanced.
He stood up and looked in the direction of the Star Luo Continent, his gaze seemingly piercing through space, landing somewhere unknown deep within that continent.
"Next, it's time to find the 'Dragon Valley'. The burial ground of the Dragon race... The death power there should be pure and vast enough to help me complete my final breakthrough." Halosa murmured to himself, his figure flickering, turning into a faint gray shadow, silently merging into the sea and sky, heading towards the depths of the Star Luo Continent.
The favor of the Plane's Will seemed to be quietly guiding him.
(PS: The original work did not explicitly state Halosa's Spirit. Here, I have set it as the Nether King Sword.)