WHOOSH—

Sacred flames gathered on the dagger.

"Holy Light Burning Flame·Invincible Stream—Sixth Form: Gathering Intent·Celestial Splitting Fall"

The dagger came down like a Heavy Sword!

A heavy light, carrying a searing flame, smashed down on the pulsating eggshell!

BOOM!

The instant it struck, a phantom-like soul was blasted out!

Lu Cang immediately stretched out his hand!

SWOOSH!

The soul, forced from its body, was instantly snatched away and absorbed into Lu Cang’s palm!

’It worked...’

’It actually works!’

’This Soul Devouring Dagger, combined with my Soul Dominator, really can just rip an enemy’s soul right out.’

’In the future, if I run into enemies I can’t handle normally, I can try this method to catch them off guard.’

’And it feels pretty easy to knock the soul out.’

’This Dagger isn’t as overpowered as the legends say.’

’It probably only knocks the soul out for three or four seconds, but that’s three or four seconds of being unable to move.’

’That’s definitely enough time to kill a physically weak and unprotected Reincarnator several times over.’

’But for a Demon, three or four seconds of being immobilized...’

’...might not be enough to deal a fatal blow. Demons are often far more durable than humans.’

After taking the soul, Lu Cang felt he could transform it into an Undead.

The eggshell before him, however, was still twitching.

It had become nothing more than an empty vessel.

"Did it work?"

Iz and Kumironi were both watching from the outside.

"Yes," Lu Cang said with a nod.

"I’m going to try performing the Sacrifice now."

Kumironi and Iz both nodded slightly. They could guess what Lu Cang was planning to do.

Lu Cang raised his hand.

Souls flew out from his body!

WHOOSH~

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH! One by one, souls poured into the Ritual on the ground, and the small room gradually filled with the light of souls.

Meanwhile, the giant egg continued to pulse.

His Final Sense didn’t give him any warnings of danger, which meant his actions wouldn’t bring him any harm.

Even without a soul, it still had basic nerve reactions.

THUMP—

THUMP—

THUMP!

Finally, after Sacrificing 10,000 souls...

CRACK!

A crack split open on the giant egg!

With a casual press of his hand, Iz caused layers of the ground to light up. In an instant, a thousand different Magic Arrays materialized around him as the center.

They stacked one upon another, completely enveloping the entire mountain.

CRACK—CRACKLE—CRACK CRACK CRACK—

The eggshell continued to shatter!

Finally, a lifeless, giant, purplish-black longworm, resembling a centipede, slithered out from the broken eggshell.

It was completely devoid of life.

SPLAT—

The longworm collapsed into a pool of black blood, motionless—nothing but a pile of dead flesh.

’This is the Source of Calamity?’

Lu Cang’s Perception swept over its body. "It’s not a Demon," he said.

’It’s a wild creature.’

’Sapient life, Demons, and wild creatures are the three different categories in this world.’

’Wild creatures have a Spirituality similar to, or perhaps even slightly higher than, Demons, but they don’t necessarily harbor hostility toward humans and can even be domesticated.’

’The World Doves used for sending messages, for example, are one such type.’

’Even some farmable livestock are classified as wild creatures...’

’Sapient life is basically the same as humans, possessing language, culture, and heritage, and capable of communication.’

’Demons... those are what we kill every day. The moment you see one, it’s a fight to the death.’

’Actually, I already knew it wasn’t a Demon when I probed its Secrets.’

’But just to be safe, I extracted its soul anyway.’

’The thing is called the Source of Calamity.’

’No matter how I think about it, there’s no way something like that is harmless. Believing the Source of Calamity isn’t dangerous is like believing members of the Death Church would perform good deeds and accumulate virtue.’

Iz’s Perception also swept over it. "Hmm... it does seem to be harmless now."

"This creature’s soul is dead. I suppose the only thing to do is take it back for the scholars to study."

’What a pity. If it were alive, we might have been able to test its abilities directly.’

But just as Iz was thinking this,

he saw that the old eggshell in the center of the area had vanished completely, replaced by another eggshell at the very center of the Ritual—one that was an eerie green.

This eggshell was suffused with the aura of Death.

Seeing this eggshell, the corner of Iz’s eye twitched slightly.

But Lu Cang had already raised his hand, and souls poured out once more!

WHOOSH!

The light of the Ritual flared again!

But this time, the light surged into the eerie green eggshell!

’It can do that?’

’This Rule of Death is unusually exquisite.’

The eggshell began to glow!

BANG—

It let out a resounding shatter, completely different from the previous one!

BOOM!

Immediately after, the eggshell exploded into pieces!

A slender, serpentine longworm coiled out into the cave!

Lu Cang spoke up, "Iz, I have it under my Control!"

"Yes, I know."

Iz could see that the longworm held no hostility whatsoever.

’So this is the Source of Calamity?’

The moment it appeared, Lu Cang felt a tide of Demons surging toward them.

With a single thought from Lu Cang—

SWOOSH! 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

the longworm immediately bored its way outside, instantly bursting from the cave and soaring high into the sky!

The Demon tide converged upon its body.

"The Demon tide is gathering, and Dungeons are beginning to form nearby as well," Iz suddenly said.

His Perception Range was far greater than Lu Cang’s.

"Is this creature the cause?"

Lu Cang was still familiarizing himself with the creature. "I’m not entirely sure yet, but probably," he replied.

The three of them immediately flew out of the cave, only to see dark clouds gradually rolling across the once-gloomy sky.

"Bloodline Talent—Source of Calamity: Attracts natural disasters such as Thunder, firestorms, and meteorites."

"Bloodline Talent—Source of Earthquakes: Triggers geological disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, and volcanic eruptions."

"Bloodline Talent—Source of Demon Calamity: Gathers Demon tides and forms passages to Nests."

Lu Cang carefully sensed the creature, gradually figuring out its Bloodline Talents...

’The Source of Calamity. It truly lives up to its name.’

Only then did Lu Cang answer with certainty, "It’s this thing."

"It has a natural bloodline that can create natural disasters, geological disasters, and Demon calamities..."

"Perhaps this is the creature known in legends as the Source of Calamity."

The "legends" part was something Lu Cang made up on the spot; he had never read about any such legend.

"However, I can control all these Bloodline Talents."

With a thought, Lu Cang made the giant longworm hovering in the sky suddenly stop.

The dark, rolling clouds that had been gathering dissipated, and the rumbling ground grew still.

The Demon tide stopped its surge and began to disperse.

Only the Dungeons that had already formed remained.

"What an interesting fellow."

Iz felt no fear toward the creature, only a deep curiosity.

"Can you really control it completely?"

Lu Cang nodded.

"If you can control it..."

Iz rubbed his chin.

"...doesn’t that mean we can use it to create Dungeons out of thin air?"

Lu Cang and Iz met each other’s gaze, and both broke into faint, mysterious smiles.

Only Kumironi was pressing a hand to his forehead. ’What have I let them unleash now?’

’My goodness...’

’This is actually the Source of Calamity! The Life Church records say it’s an evil creature that must be eliminated!’

’Should I stop them?’

’First, he becomes a Death Priest, and now he unleashes the Source of Calamity.’

Just as Kumironi was about to speak, Iz looked at him and said righteously, "Kumironi, power itself is not fearsome. What’s fearsome is its master."

"The real Source of Calamity is dead. What’s in Lu Cang’s hands now is just a soul that he has under perfect control."

"If we can make good use of this power, we might actually be able to save more lives."

Iz said earnestly, "I will keep an eye on Lu Cang."

"Besides, the creature itself isn’t that strong. The calamities it can cause are still weak compared to our own power."

Kumironi looked like he wanted to say something but held back.

He could only shake his head and say, "Alright... but you must not let it cause the wrong kinds of disasters. It can only be used to catalyze the formation of Dungeons."

"And once they’re catalyzed, you two must clear out every single Dungeon."

Before Lu Cang could answer, Iz was already nodding seriously. "Of course. Lu Cang and I will definitely use this power on the right path."

Lu Cang had originally wanted to explain himself.

’If Kumironi had insisted, I probably would have had to respect his wishes and destroy this Undead.’

’I didn’t expect Izparut to speak up for me before I even said a word.’

’It’s true what they say, a great scholar is always there to argue my case for me.’

’It seems Izparut is even more eager to play with this Source of Calamity than I am...’

Kumironi also looked at Lu Cang. "Lu Cang, this Source of Calamity won’t escape your Control, will it?"

Lu Cang: "It won’t."

Kumironi: "Absolutely not?"

Lu Cang replied with complete seriousness, "Absolutely not."

Lu Cang’s answer was utterly certain.

’If someone could actually break through my Divine Talent, then whether the Source of Calamity goes out of control would be the least of my worries.’