The Blood Prince and the silver-haired Archon exchanged a few more words before the Blood Prince finally turned away. With a casual wave of his hand, the enormous sea of blood condensed and disappeared into his body. A crimson tear opened in space behind him.

"Until next time."

The silver-haired man nodded. "Don't be late."

The Blood Prince laughed and stepped through. The rift closed.

After that, things moved quickly. The remaining vampires withdrew first. The survivors disappeared through enormous crimson portals, leaving behind mountains of corpses.

The demonic army had already collapsed. Those who could escape fled. Those who couldn't were hunted down by the paladins. Soon, even the Celestial forces began departing.

One golden gate after another opened across the heavens. Thousands of paladins marched through in perfect formation, followed by the divine priestesses.

The Archons left last. Liam's attention immediately moved to Mia. She hadn't looked in their direction even once. She simply turned and followed the silver-haired man toward one of the enormous golden gates.

Alex's fingers tightened around Liam's hand. "Mia..." She stepped forward. Liam immediately pulled her back. Alex turned toward him, her eyes red. "Liam..." He shook his head.

Alex's body trembled. Mia was right there. After all this time, after searching without knowing whether her sister was even alive, Mia was standing right in front of her. And now she was leaving again.

But Liam tightened his grip on her hand. There were still too many powerful beings around them. One mistake and they wouldn't merely lose their chance to follow Mia. They would die.

"Wait," Liam mouthed silently. Alex closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she forced herself to remain still.

The golden gate swallowed Mia. Then the silver-haired man followed, after which the gate closed. Only one Archon remained now.

It was one of the armored men who had accompanied the silver-haired Archon. He hovered silently above the devastated battlefield, watching until the final paladin disappeared.

The guy then raised his hand. A strange object appeared in his palm.

Liam initially thought it was some kind of horn. But when the man brought it closer, he realized it was a conch. Its surface was pale gold, covered in tiny spiraling runes.

The Archon casually tossed it upward. The conch stopped in midair.

Wooooooom.

A deep sound spread across the battlefield. The next second every soul on the battlefield moved. Every lingering fragment of soul energy began flowing toward the conch.

Soul energy rose from the ground in enormous streams. What had previously been invisible to almost everyone now appeared like a vast ocean of translucent mist flowing upward.

Liam stared. His heart physically hurt. All of that... He had been forced to stop harvesting because of his bottleneck, but that didn't mean the souls were worthless. Far from it. This was an opportunity he might never see again.

Millions of cultivators had died here. Many of them had cultivated for centuries, for thousands of years. And now all of it was being sucked into that damned conch right in front of him.

Liam's fingers twitched. No. He couldn't. The Archon was standing right there. Siphoning a million souls beneath his nose would be the equivalent of announcing his presence. Even Liam wasn't that suicidal. But...

Did he really need a million?

His eyes slowly narrowed. Among the ocean of souls, two stood out like blazing suns. The demon general and the vampire general. Two leaders had died today and they had the most valuable souls among all. The quantity of soul energy contained within them was absurd, but that wasn't what interested Liam most.

Liam's heartbeat quickened. Both the demon and the vampire had clearly lived for thousands of years. More importantly, both had been important players in this war. One was a high-ranking demon. The other had apparently been important enough to negotiate directly with the Celestial Court and the Blood Prince.

Their memories could answer countless questions. The knowledge, memories and dao contained within these souls were invaluable. This could even provide him key leverage in his fight against the priestess.

This was very important. This moment could potentially define everything. Their future and lives might depend on what he did right now. Was this perhaps why the oracle had sent him here?

Liam stared at the conch. The streams of soul energy continued pouring into it. What if... His gaze shifted toward the Archon. The man appeared relaxed. He wasn't actively controlling individual souls. He had simply activated the artifact and allowed it to do the work.

Maybe he wasn't particularly sensitive to soul energy. That wasn't impossible. Being overwhelmingly powerful didn't mean being equally skilled in every Dao.

Liam's eyes gleamed. He could test it. He would tread the waters first. If the Archon reacted in the slightest, Liam would immediately let go. He allowed an impossibly thin strand of soul mist to mix with the soul energy already flowing toward the conch.

And...

The Archon didn't react. Instead, he walked over to the demon general's corpse and was examining it thoroughly.

There was no point in waiting anymore. Liam decided to go for it. He immediately locked onto the demon's soul. It towered among the others, dense black energy rolling around it. Several parts had already begun breaking apart, but the core remained intact.

Liam swallowed. That thing alone might be worth more than every soul he had collected in his entire lifetime. Don't get greedy. He reminded himself.

Liam wrapped the faintest strand of soul energy around the demon's soul. Then he tugged. The demon's soul shifted a little.

Liam immediately stopped. His eyes moved toward the Archon. The man did not react at all. He quickly tugged again, harder this time.

The demon's enormous soul drifted sideways, separating ever so slightly from the river of souls flowing toward the conch. The Archon remained completely oblivious.

Liam's lips slowly curled upward. He continued pulling, and the demon's soul moved toward him. He did not dare rush the process.

The conch was exerting a constant pull on every soul across the battlefield, and Liam had no idea whether the artifact itself could detect interference.

He carefully matched its rhythm, allowing the demon's soul to drift toward the conch whenever the suction strengthened before tugging it sideways whenever the pull weakened.

To anyone watching, the movement would hopefully look like nothing more than another soul being swept around by the chaotic currents covering the battlefield.

The distance between them gradually shrank.

Liam kept most of his attention on the Archon. The man had crouched beside the demon general's corpse and seemed far more interested in the remains than the souls flowing overhead.

He turned over several pieces of shattered armor before eventually reaching into the ruined chest and pulling out a dark crystal covered in cracks. After examining it for a few seconds, he stored it away and continued searching.

Perfect. Liam pulled harder. The demon's soul slipped farther from the main current, and the moment it entered the outer edge of Liam's mist, the pressure from the conch weakened considerably.

Liam immediately wrapped several additional strands of soul energy around it and dragged it deeper inside.

The entire process had taken less than a minute, but sweat had already gathered across his forehead. Liam waited several seconds, watching the Archon for any indication that something had changed.

Nothing. The man continued rummaging through the corpse. Only then did Liam finally allow himself to relax slightly.

His gaze shifted toward the massive demonic soul floating beside him, and excitement surged through him. He had actually done it. He had stolen the soul of a monster who had stood toe-to-toe with an Archon, right beneath another Archon's nose.

Liam took a deep breath. He was not done yet. There was still one more soul. Trying to grab another soul while handling a monstrous soul like this was essentially suicidal, but it had to be done. This was his chance. He needed to push himself right here and right now. Otherwise, everything might change.

The more he saw, the more he was sure. This was it. This was the fateful encounter that could change all of their future. He had to get it done right here and now.

His attention moved toward the vampire general's soul, and his expression immediately changed. The vampire was much farther away, already caught within one of the strongest currents leading toward the conch. Worse, the soul had started breaking apart. Thin crimson strands were being peeled from its body and swallowed into the artifact.

Liam's eyes narrowed. If he waited much longer, there wouldn't be anything left worth stealing. He carefully extended his soul mist again.

This time, however, the moment his energy touched the vampire's soul, Liam felt something different. The demon's soul had been dense and violent, but ultimately passive. This one reacted. A pair of crimson eyes suddenly opened.

The vampire was dead. His consciousness should have been fragmented, especially after the Blood Prince had destroyed his body so thoroughly. Yet something was clearly still present inside the soul.

Before Liam could withdraw, the vampire suddenly grabbed the strand of soul energy wrapped around him. The consciousness remaining inside was far stronger than he had expected. The moment it latched onto his soul mist, crimson energy surged along the connection and slammed directly into his consciousness.

Could a soul attack? Perhaps it was a special type of skill.

Liam grunted as a sharp pain tore through his head. He immediately tried to sever the strand, but the vampire refused to let go. Instead, the crimson soul energy wrapped around it and pulled in the opposite direction, attempting to drag Liam's consciousness out of the mist.

Even dead, this bastard was troublesome.

Liam stopped trying to retreat. He strengthened the connection instead and wrapped several more strands around the vampire's soul, intending to overpower it before the situation could deteriorate.

The vampire reacted immediately. Crimson energy erupted from its body as it struggled against both Liam and the conch, causing the surrounding river of souls to churn violently.

The disturbance was small compared to the enormous amount of soul energy moving across the battlefield, but it was no longer natural.

The Archon stopped searching the demon's corpse.

Liam noticed immediately. His heart sank.

The armored man slowly raised his head and looked toward the conch. The pale golden artifact was still rotating in the sky, but several of the runes along its surface were flashing irregularly. Most of the souls continued pouring into it without resistance, yet one crimson soul had somehow stopped moving with the current.

The Archon's gaze followed the crimson soul.

Liam immediately released some of the pressure, hoping the vampire would be pulled forward again and the disturbance would disappear. Unfortunately, the vampire had other ideas. The moment Liam loosened his hold, it seized the opportunity and pushed back against him even harder.

The crimson soul twisted violently. The conch trembled.

Liam cursed inwardly. The damned vampire was going to expose both of them.

The Archon stood up. His relaxed demeanor disappeared as divine energy slowly gathered around him. He stared at the struggling vampire soul for several seconds before his eyes moved across the surrounding battlefield.

Liam immediately pulled every trace of his aura inward. The mist surrounding him and Alex became completely still, while the demon general's soul was forced deeper into his soul space, where not even the slightest trace of it could leak out.

Alex noticed the change and looked toward him. Liam didn't have time to explain. He squeezed her hand once, warning her not to move, and returned all of his concentration to the vampire. He needed to end this now.

However, it was already too late.

The Archon's head snapped toward them. "Who dares?" His voice rolled across the battlefield. Divine pressure descended immediately.

The earth groaned beneath it. Cracks spread across the already devastated ground, while countless weaker souls collapsed under the pressure and dissolved into raw energy. Even Liam's mist compressed around him, forcing him to pour more soul energy into maintaining the concealment.

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