Monarch of Darkness

There was only sixteen pictographic diagrams in the Heavenly art of magical beasts but there was profound truth of heaven hidden within these sixteen diagrams. Old man Brasylx also imprinted short visuals of each techniques which could be used as references for these techniques.

Each of these sixteen magical beasts represented the sixteen core species of magical beasts. Each of them had different types of techniques but each of them were the best techniques when it came to physical combat. Evan looked at the name of the techniques which he could use in Meridian opening realm. They were,

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'The majestic pouncing of a earth bear'

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'The meandering movement of the green python'

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'The soaring wings of the sky eagle'

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The techniques for the Profound transformation realm was-

'The recklessness of a barbarian mammoth'

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'The shadow claw of the sky wolf'

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'The majestic leaping of the cloud leopard'

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Evan merely glanced at the remaining pictograms which were meant for much higher cultivation realms but didn't delve deeper into them. He would know when he reach the further cultivation realms in future.

"Brat, practice these techniques sequencewise. Don't try to be greedy and pick any one of your liking from middle", old man Brasylx added further.

"I know already. I am leaving", Evan replied. He walked toward the teleportation portal. When he was about to walk into the portal, he heard the voice of old man Brasylx again.

"Before reaching the Profound transformation realm, let me know. You will get a good surprise again".

Evan appeared at the exact place of Redwood forest from where he left to ancestoral land of his Hendrickson family last time. The last line of old man Brasylx was a pleasant surprise for him. He knew it would be another extraordinary chance for his further cultivation journey. He was given a chance to cultivate a supreme element before reaching the Meridian opening realm and now he would have another chance again. "As the overlord of devils, the actual ancestoral land of my Hendrickson family is truely resourceful", Evan thought to himself.

Redwood forest was as dense as before. Evan walked forward and his gaze fell upon the place where he got attacked by a Nascent soul realm expert. That place was full of green shrubs now. The passing of time had already patched the scar left behind by that Nascent soul stage expert.

He thought about his next course of action. He would go back to Sylvia clan but it didn't mean he had forgotten about his goal. He was on track on his cultivation level but he had yet to attempt anything to raise his own grand army. Going against entire God race and their human supporters would require a massive army which could go against the entire army of starfields. Such a feat couldn't be acheived instanly. It could only be achieved through a step by step approach.

To raise a loyal army, one must polish their will with countless battles and slaughters. When it came to loyalty, no other race was a better option if one exclude the magical beasts. Magical beasts were fierce in nature but once you gain their allegiance, they turned into must devout followers. Evan's main target for his grand army was precisely the magical beasts. Using his royal devil soul to get powerful magical beasts was a proven effective method for him and this time Evan was planning to use this method again.

Inspite of going back to the outer circle of the Redwood forest, Evan walked forward in the inner circle. Inner circle of Redwood forest was full of danger and there was no human activity in this region.

Evan spread his soul conciousness and carefully moved forward. He walked past some common magical beasts without alerting them. His soul sense was already strong and no magical beast under Nascent soul realm could evade his soul sense.

Time slowly went past. Evan was already walking for two hours in the Redwood forest. In this period, no magical beasts had picked his interest. He was planning to raise a grand army but it didn't mean that he had to subdue any magical beasts he had come across. He was scanning his surrounding in his entire path with his powerful soul conciousness. No magical beast could evade his powerful soul conciousness. Compared to his previous soul conciousness when he was in Northpeak Imperial academy, his soul sense had increased four times thanks to his increase in cultivation. His soul consciousness now could cover a much broader area compared to before.

Evan came across a group of Shadow rats this time. He was just going to ignore them but his eyes lit up in interest when his soul conciousness came across a certain Shadow rat. Compared to other Shadow rats, this rat had a more powerful soul fluctuation. Evan scanned it's physical body and his interest increased in this particular Shadow rat. Other shadow rats were pitch black in colour which was the general appearance of shadow rats in common but this particular Shadow rat had golden stripes in its pitch black body. The golden lines were very faint in appearance but it couldn't evade Evan's sharp eyes.

Among the myriad races, Magical beasts were the most brutal race. Devils were rumoured as the most brutal race but Evan didn't believe the rumour. His devil race may be ruthless and bloodthirsty but they didn't kill their bretherns wantonly. One devil kill another devil only if there were disagreement but magical beasts were completely opposite. They slaughter each other because they considered other magical beasts as food. They only show restraint when it came to magical beasts of their kind. Evan looked at the shadow rats and instanly deduced their intention. They were out to search for suitable prey.

Evan looked at the most powerful Shadow rat among the group. It was a magical beast of early profound transformation realm. He thanked his luck. If it was a magical beast of more higher realm, he would have faced problem in executing his planning. His targeted magical beast, the golden striped shadow rat was only at middle stage of Meridian opening realm but one couldn't take a memeber from a herd of Magical beasts without a fight. This time he choose the most effective method for such kind of situation. He didn't have to fight the entire bunch of Shadow rats but only have to subdue the leader of the group.

He spread his soul conciousness and his soul conciousness targeted the soul of the leader of the Shadow rats. A small strand of his own soul separated by him and he pushed it at the soul of the targeted Shadow rat. He didn't feel any resistance. A connection formed between him and the leader of Shadow rats within few seconds.