Chapter 1298: Chapter 1298:- 5 years to Meet

"Now, it’s time to absorb the remaining corrupted Mana inside these Mana hearts," Ren murmured while looking at the corpses lying before him.

However, there was one thing that Ren found rather unfortunate. Despite ordering his soldiers to collect the corpses of all the Seventh Order cultivators who had fallen during yesterday’s battle, they had only managed to recover three of them.

The corpse of Andris, one of the Thirteen National Treasures of the Celestial Dragon Empire, was nowhere to be found.

According to the soldiers who had searched the battlefield, there had been no trace of Andris’s body. Considering that Andris had been killed by Aditya, Ren suspected that his younger cousin had taken the corpse with him after their battle.

Although he did not know why Aditya would want to keep Andris’s corpse, he had no other explanation for its disappearance.

"What a shame. If that bastard Aditya hadn’t taken Andris’s corpse, I would have been able to absorb even more corrupted Mana." Ren muttered with a dissatisfied expression.

Although he had already gathered a considerable number of powerful cultivators’ corpses, losing the opportunity to absorb the remaining Mana from another Seventh Order cultivator was still a significant loss.

After all, there was an enormous difference between the Mana reserves of a Sixth Order cultivator and those of a Seventh Order cultivator. The higher a cultivator’s cultivation level, the greater the amount of Mana their heart could contain.

Seventh Order cultivators possessed such enormous Mana reserves that even after death, the residual Mana remaining inside their hearts could exceed what many lower-order cultivators possessed while they were still alive.

Of course, the amount of corrupted Mana remaining inside a dead cultivator’s heart depended on several factors, including how much Mana they had consumed before dying and how badly their heart had been damaged.

Nevertheless, the Mana hearts of Seventh Order cultivators were still far more valuable for cultivating the Abyssal Heart Devouring Art than those of Sixth Order cultivators.

This was precisely why Ren had specifically ordered his soldiers to recover the corpses of the fallen high-ranking cultivators. Ordinary soldiers and lower-order cultivators simply did not possess enough Mana to make absorbing their hearts worthwhile.

In comparison, the remaining corrupted Mana inside the hearts of these powerful cultivators could greatly accelerate his progress toward mastering the forbidden technique.

If he had managed to obtain Andris’s corpse as well, Ren would have possessed the Mana hearts of four Seventh Order cultivators instead of three. Considering how much corrupted Mana even a single Seventh Order Mana heart could provide, the difference was certainly not something he could easily ignore.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it now. With the final battle approaching, Ren did not have the time to search for Andris’s missing corpse. Furthermore, if Aditya truly had taken the body, recovering it would be practically impossible under the current circumstances.

"Whatever! Three Seventh Order Mana hearts, along with the hearts of these Sixth Order cultivators, should still be enough." Ren said to himself as he slowly approached the nearest corpse. Although he was disappointed about losing Andris’s Mana heart, he was not going to allow that small setback to interfere with his preparations.

His gaze moved across the lifeless bodies lying before him, and a faint, sinister smile gradually appeared on his face. To the Ren of the past, these fallen cultivators would have been valuable subordinates whose deaths represented a tremendous loss for the Empire.

However, to the Ren who stood there now, their corpses were nothing more than resources that could help him complete the final stage of his forbidden cultivation technique.

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Scene Change________

Three Hours Later,

The second battle between the Emperor Faction and the Anti-Emperor Faction had officially begun. As the morning sun continued rising above the horizon, the armies of both factions slowly marched toward the battlefield.

Unlike yesterday, when both sides had only deployed a portion of their forces, this time, neither faction had any intention of holding back. Both sides had brought their entire remaining armies, making it clear that they intended to settle everything in this final confrontation.

As a result, the total number of soldiers gathered from both factions had exceeded 1.5 million. From a distance, the two enormous armies looked like endless waves of soldiers slowly advancing toward one another.

The sound of countless footsteps, armor, and weapons filled the surroundings as the troops marched forward in organized formations. Although the battle had not officially started, everyone could already feel the tension in the air.

At the front of the Anti-Emperor Faction, Aditya was slowly flying toward the battlefield while remaining just a meter above the ground. His expression was calm as he looked toward the enormous army approaching from the opposite direction.

Behind him were Malakar Harrington, Boris, Athena, and the other important figures of the Anti-Emperor Faction. The rest of their forces followed closely behind them, maintaining their formations as they continued advancing.

On the opposite side, the Emperor Faction was doing the same thing. Emperor Ren and the remaining important figures of his faction were leading their troops toward the battlefield. Although the two armies were still separated by a considerable distance, both sides could already see the enormous number of soldiers approaching from the opposite direction.

However, just as Aditya and the others began observing the enemy army, something unexpected happened.

A strange and extremely sinister aura suddenly entered the range of their senses.

At first, Aditya thought that he had sensed something incorrectly. However, when he focused his attention on the Emperor Faction, he immediately realised that the dark aura was indeed coming from somewhere within the enemy’s ranks. What made him feel particularly uncomfortable was that this aura was completely different from the Mana signatures he was familiar with.

It was cold, gloomy, and filled with an extremely unpleasant feeling. Even though Aditya had encountered countless powerful enemies throughout his life, he could immediately tell that there was something seriously wrong with the source of this aura.

And he was not the only one who noticed it.

The other cultivators who possessed powerful sensory abilities also began sensing the same thing. Their expressions gradually changed as they tried to identify where the strange aura was coming from. Some of them even stopped talking to one another and turned their full attention toward the Emperor Faction.

However, the situation was even worse for the lower-order cultivators who were sensitive enough to detect the aura. Although they could not properly understand what they were sensing, the feeling alone was enough to make their bodies tense up.

To them, it felt as though an enormous black hole had suddenly appeared somewhere ahead of them. The aura gave them the terrifying impression that if they approached its source carelessly, they would be swallowed whole without leaving anything behind.

It was not simply the pressure that came from facing someone with a higher cultivation level. Rather, it was an unnatural feeling that made their instincts warn them to stay as far away from its source as possible.

"What the hell is that?" One of the cultivators near Aditya suddenly asked while looking toward the Emperor Faction. His expression had become extremely serious.

"I have encountered many powerful cultivators before, but I have never sensed an aura like this. Who could possibly be responsible for something so sinister?"

"More importantly, what kind of cultivation technique produces such a disgusting aura?" Another cultivator added. He had been trying to identify the source through his senses, but the unfamiliar nature of the Mana made it difficult for him to understand what he was dealing with.

Aditya did not immediately respond to their questions. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and continued looking toward the enemy army. Although his eyesight was far superior to that of an ordinary cultivator, the distance between the two factions was still too great for him to properly examine every important figure standing at the front of the Emperor Faction.

Just then, one of the soldiers approached him and respectfully handed him a small enchanted glass artifact. The artifact had several special runes engraved around its edges, allowing the person using it to observe objects and individuals from extremely long distances with much greater clarity.

"Your Majesty, please use this." The soldier respectfully said while offering the artefact with both hands. Aditya accepted it with a small nod before raising it toward his right eye and looking in the direction of the Emperor Faction.

Through the enchanted glass, the distant figures immediately became much clearer. Aditya slowly moved his gaze across the front of the enemy army, examining the remaining commanders and powerful cultivators standing beside their Emperor.

However, the moment his gaze landed on Ren, Aditya’s expression changed.

For the first time in more than five years, he was finally looking directly at his cousin brother. Although Aditya had already prepared himself for this reunion, he had never imagined that Ren would appear in such a terrible condition.

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