Into the Black Rain

Ten Thousand Souls Banner?

No, it is the Human Emperor Banner. At this moment, the spiritual energy in Ye Chuan's palm suddenly surged, and a golden-red halo exploded from his body, shooting straight toward the roof of the hall.

It is merely black rain. It cannot obscure my vision.

He raised his eyes to look at the black rain pouring down from the sky outside the main hall.

Human Emperor Banner, manifest!

Before his voice completely faded, the highly-enhanced Human Emperor Banner, radiating golden light, soared into the air.

Does the golden color look good?

I paid to upgrade it!

The banner fluttered loudly without any wind, and a supreme, world-dominating coercion instantly swept through the entire royal palace, and even the entire Hill Empire!

Today, I summon the holy attribute artifact, the Human Emperor Banner, to purify this filthy world.

As a passing cultivator of supreme benevolence, absolute goodness, and pure innocence, I shall sever your boundless evil!

Ye Chuan raised his hand and made a gripping motion in the air, and the Human Emperor Banner landed steadily in his grasp.

He channeled his power and swung it. The banner snapped open, and accompanied by the joint activation of countless skulls—no, wait, guardian spirits—countless rays of golden light burst forth!

The black rain that had been falling densely came to an abrupt halt the moment it was touched by the golden light.

Countless sticky, black-purple raindrops hovered in midair like frozen drops of ink. Under the scorching golden light, they emitted crisp sizzling sounds and instantly turned into wisps of black smoke before dissipating!

Open!

Open!

In just a few breaths, the black rain that had shrouded the Hill Empire for years was forcibly suppressed by this holy might!

The darkness in the sky receded like a tide. Those filthy auras condensed into rain melted away inch by inch in the pure, purifying golden light of the Human Emperor Banner.

Ye Chuan stood in the void. At this moment, his entire body radiated light, looking like a deity descending to the mortal realm.

Refine.

Seeing that the Human Emperor Banner had completely enveloped the black rain, he softly spat out a single word.

The golden light on the Human Emperor Banner surged again, transforming into countless fine golden threads that spread along the hall doors and window lattices. Like a giant net covering heaven and earth, it encompassed the entire Hill Empire.

In the ruins of the royal city, the surviving bandage monsters and sludge monsters had just begun to roar and attempt to flee when they were instantly entangled by the golden threads.

Those black-purple, corrupted bodies twitched violently in the golden light, letting out the most agonizing screams, but they could not hold on for even a single second.

The bandages carbonized inch by inch, the sludge melted instantly, and the skeletons of the bone monsters turned into flying ash. Even the filthy creatures hiding deep within the underground abyss were forcibly stripped of their origins and refined into nothingness as the golden light penetrated the earth.

[Absorbed corrupted soul, artifact boosts host's attributes by +1%]

[Absorbed corrupted soul, artifact boosts host's attributes by +0.9%]

[Absorbed corrupted soul, artifact boosts host's attributes by +0.8%]

...

Enter my Human Emperor Banner, work hard to reform and get out of prison... I mean, get out, and in the future you may re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, Ye Chuan said.

Wherever the golden threads passed, the foul stench dissipated, and all traces of eeriness were eradicated.

The entire process flowed smoothly like water, without the slightest delay.

When the last wisp of corrupted aura was refined, the golden light of the Human Emperor Banner gradually restrained itself, and the banner slowly drooped down.

Ye Chuan put away the Human Emperor Banner and sensed his own spiritual energy.

My power has recovered a little bit, but it's enough.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Chuan raised his hand and pressed it fiercely toward the horizon.

A majestically boundless golden spiritual energy shot straight into the clouds. Like a sharp sword capable of splitting heaven and earth, it pierced through the last trace of gloom lingering in the sky!

The sky, which had seen no daylight and had been shrouded in black rain for years, quickly regained its clarity under the washing of this spiritual energy.

The dark clouds churned and dissipated, the darkness completely retreated, and the long-lost sunlight pierced through the cloud layer, spilling onto every inch of the Hill Empire's land.

The sunlight shone on the ruined royal city, on the muddy ground, and on the collapsed palace ruins, driving away the cold and despair.

Those lands that had been eroded by the black rain actually revealed a faint trace of vitality under the nourishment of the sunlight and spiritual energy.

Ye Chuan looked up at the sky, his gaze calm.

The weather is nice.

Sure enough, it's much more comfortable looking at it like this.

His divine sense began to spread out, and Ye Chuan once again focused his attention on Tian Xiaotian, who looked like a bottomless pit. If the physical attacks from earlier had no effect, the current Ye Chuan now had the strength to completely end Gua's pain.

Using spatial jump to arrive below the bottomless pit again, the previously squirming realm of flesh and blood had long been purified by the golden light, leaving only an empty underground secret realm.

The giant monster that Tian Xiaotian had transformed into still stood in the center of the secret realm, covering her face with her hands. Her shoulders trembled violently, and suppressed, sorrowful cries echoed in the empty space.

Wuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu—

The corrupted aura on her body had already thinned out, but she was still bound by the residual original darkness. In those bloodshot eyes, only endless pain and struggle remained.

Hearing the footsteps, Tian Xiaotian suddenly raised her head, a flash of out-of-control madness in her eyes.

She roared, and the remaining black-purple corrupted power around her instantly condensed into an apocalyptic shockwave. Carrying the momentum of mutual destruction, it viciously lunged toward Ye Chuan!

What, you still want to fight?

Yet Ye Chuan stood in place, not even attempting to dodge.

Chaos energy swirled around him, and an invisible aura naturally spread outward.

The moment that black-purple shockwave touched this aura, it was like snow meeting the scorching sun—it instantly disintegrated and melted away.

Not only that, but the power also instantly swept over Tian Xiaotian's giant body.

Pfft— Tian Xiaotian let out a painful, muffled groan, and her giant body began to shatter inch by inch under the crushing weight of the holy aura.

The black-purple flesh continuously peeled off and melted, the bruised veins instantly snapped, and those remaining corrupted origins let out their final screams in the holy power before completely dying out.

The whole process was unbelievably fast. Before Tian Xiaotian even had a chance to resist, her giant body completely dissipated, leaving only a faint, white-glowing phantom of a soul floating in midair.

That phantom soul slowly condensed into a solid shape. It was exactly Tian Xiaotian's appearance, only her figure was illusory, her eyes were hollow, and undried tear stains still hung on her face.

She looked down at her illusory hands and froze for a moment. Then, with a thud, she fell to her knees before Ye Chuan. Her body trembled violently, and her voice was weak but carried the utmost pleading:

Boss... kill me... please... let me be free...

In her voice, there was no resentment, no anger, only endless exhaustion and despair.

Having been eroded by the corrupted origin for so long and having endured countless pains and struggles, she had long felt that life was worse than death.

Now that her body was purified and her soul could manifest, her only wish was complete liberation.

Ye Chuan looked at Tian Xiaotian in this state, hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed.

Gua, it's my fault.

This single sentence made Tian Xiaotian freeze. She looked up in disbelief, seemingly not understanding what Ye Chuan was talking about.

If it weren't for me giving you the Lone Star of Calamity constitution, you probably wouldn't have ended up without a single teammate. Ye Chuan also understood it all now.

The constitution Ye Chuan had given Tian Xiaotian.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing was that even though things had reached this point, Tian Xiaotian still had a hope of surviving. If it had been any other player, probably not even their soul would have been left behind.

As for the curse, it was that Xiaotian never had teammates who could stick with her to the very end.