Chapter Forty-Four: The Seed of the Demon

“I won’t say much more.” Lin Fan spoke in a deep voice, “You’ve all witnessed the enemy we faced this time.”

“To be honest…”

“This Jiang Chen was rather unlucky… If he had awakened under normal circumstances, his power would be a thousand times what we saw today. After all, he is the Corpse King Jiang Chen.”

“But in the future, the enemies you’ll face will be even stronger, even more unfathomable!”

As Lin Fan spoke, his gaze grew complicated.

This unexpected awakening of the Corpse King had been both a blessing and a curse. In Lin Fan’s memory, Jiang Chen had caused the greatest losses to the Grand Xia among all the supernatural threats.

At his peak, the Corpse King possessed power rivaling that of a tenth-tier god of strength, coupled with a decayed physique that was nearly indestructible.

Most crucially,

His Yin energy could spread endlessly, infecting humans and turning them into zombies, who then became new sources of contagion.

Over a single night, hundreds of thousands of citizens of Grand Xia were transformed into zombies.

As their numbers grew, Jiang Chen’s power would continue to increase.

Theoretically, he was a being capable of limitless growth.

The speed of the infection was simply staggering… By the time the military realized what was happening, Jiang Chen had already caused an entire city to fall.

In the end, Grand Xia was forced to make a difficult decision, paying a terrible price to finally eradicate the Corpse King.

At that moment—

“Lin Fan…” Situhong, who had just awakened, dragged her severely injured body over, her face twisted with pain and her gaze conflicted. “Just now…”

“I’m sorry!”

Situhong spoke through clenched teeth.

“Why are you apologizing to me?” Lin Fan smiled.

“I lost control in the heat of the moment. I know the sacrifice of those soldiers wasn’t your fault… It’s just…” Situhong’s expression was complex.

Now that she’d calmed down, she knew she’d been out of line.

Without Lin Fan, and without the first squad of the God-Slaying Army he’d trained,

More would have died!

Perhaps everyone involved in the construction of the Iron Wall would have become zombies.

He had saved everyone present, slain the Corpse King, and was the commander of the coming war.

And yet, in her rage, she had drawn her blade against Lin Fan!

“But… they just…” Situhong’s eyes were sorrowful. Then she drew a deep breath and looked at Lin Fan with a blank expression. “Attempting to assassinate a commanding officer is tantamount to treason. You should execute me!”

Lin Fan looked at Situhong with helplessness.

After a moment of silence, Lin Fan rubbed his cheek and said, “Don’t joke. How could I bear to kill a future God of War? A future Guardian of Grand Xia?”

Situhong was stunned. “You mean…”

“You should be able to feel it—a power within you,” Lin Fan said. “You have set foot on the path to godhood.”

“The path to godhood—a road leading to divinity.”

“Once you complete it, your very existence will ascend.”

Lin Fan patted Situhong’s shoulder. “If you truly feel remorse, and never want to experience such despair again… I’ll allow you to join the God-Slaying Army.”

Situhong looked at the young man before her.

Join the God-Slaying Army…

“I am willing!” Situhong clenched her fist and spoke with determination.

“Good. I’ll teach you the God-Slaying Demon-Bane Technique, but you’re different from them. You haven’t trained in ancient martial arts, and it’s too late to start now. Your meridians aren’t open, so… your training will be slower, and much more painful.” Lin Fan looked at Situhong.

“Can it be worse than watching my comrades die before my eyes?” Situhong’s voice was unwavering. “Teach me!”

“Alright.” Lin Fan nodded. “But you must also take responsibility for teaching this technique to the soldiers under you, so that the entire military begins to train.”

Situhong nodded without hesitation.

She never wanted to see her comrades die again!

She had witnessed their deaths with her own eyes—and seen Lin Fan and his squad display power beyond mortal limits.

She was determined to spread this technique throughout the military!

Lin Fan rose slowly and walked over to the Corpse King’s severed head.

By now, Chen Yan and his science team had surrounded it. A group of researchers, all in white lab coats, were carefully examining the bloodied head.

In truth, the sight of this gruesome head left the scientists pale-faced!

Yet in their eyes there was no fear, only excitement as they meticulously recorded every detail!

Because they understood—

Researching this head might help Grand Xia avoid catastrophic losses in the future!

Seeing Lin Fan approach, Chen Yan hurried over with his notebook and reported, “The biological tissue is being sent to the lab for analysis. So far, we know the head is eighty-seven centimeters long, thirty-two centimeters in diameter, and weighs one ton and twenty-five kilograms. The brain is similar to a human’s, capable of thought… But here’s the strange part: the death occurred at least one hundred fifty thousand years ago, and the tissues have decayed. By all rights, it should be dead, and yet the cells retain some activity…”

Lin Fan nodded. “That’s because there’s something inside.”

Under the astonished gazes of all present, Lin Fan drew a short blade from his waist and sliced fiercely into the clouded eye!

A loud crack!

The entire eyeball was pierced!

Not just the eye—the grayish blood spurted as Lin Fan’s blade stabbed through the eyeball into the brain!

Then, Lin Fan sheathed his blade, plunged his hands into the rotting flesh, and began to search.

All the researchers felt a wave of nausea.

The scene was so bloody, so visceral!

Only Old Chen watched with gleaming eyes, unwilling to miss a moment, rapidly jotting notes: “Cutting open the most fragile part of the eyeball, searching the frontal lobe…”

“Found it!” Lin Fan’s hands seemed to grip something, and he pulled with force!

A splatter of grayish brain matter burst forth, and Lin Fan dragged from the Corpse King’s brain a fist-sized, faintly red-black stone!

The moment the stone appeared, everyone held their breath, and the air itself seemed to freeze.

A wicked aura surged forth!

Wickedness is a vague concept,

But in this moment, gazing at the stone, everyone felt a violent, evil, rampant power stirring within it.

The black stone was veined with red lines like blood vessels, which writhed and pulsed!

“What is this…” Chen Yan asked, trembling as he adjusted his glasses.

“The Corpse King’s Heart,” Lin Fan examined the stone. “A kind of Demon Seed.”

“Demon Seed?” Chen Yan kept taking notes.

“The Demon Seed is the foundation of a demon. Just as a Divine Core is to a god—possessing a Demon Seed grants the power of a demon, transforming one into a demon.”

“With a Divine Core, one becomes a true god.”

Chen Yan’s hand shook as he gripped his pen!

This stone could turn a human into a demon, granting demonic power!

Lin Fan held the stone and walked before the first squad of the God-Slaying Army, speaking solemnly, “Now, I need to know.”

“Is there anyone among you willing to become a demon and inherit the power of the Corpse King Jiang Chen?”