The colossal Thousand Army Ant Mountain was now situated in the center of the cavern.

It had already begun to endlessly produce Black Ants.

"If it ever truly leaves its Seal, I will come and kill it immediately."

"A Nation Destruction Level Demon cannot be allowed to walk the earth."

It was one thing for it to be inside a Dungeon, but if it ever got out...

’Those two words, Nation Destruction, would be more than just a title.’

"Yes, I know."

Lu Cang waved his hand, and a Sea of Fire and Dense Thorns materialized around the Ant Mountain, forming a complete circle.

As soon as any Black Ants hatched, they were instantly incinerated.

’For the foreseeable future, I can keep coming back here to harvest souls.’

"So, what’s the plan?" Chi Cheng asked with a grin, his hands laced behind his head.

"What are your plans, Brother Chi Cheng?"

Chi Cheng rolled up his sleeves. "We keep clearing Dungeons, of course!"

"On the way out just now, I took a look at the surrounding terrain. I’ve already memorized the locations of all the nearby Tier Four Dungeons."

Lu Cang laughed heartily. "Excellent."

With his soul supply worries resolved, he felt a great weight lift from his shoulders.

The two of them left through the cavern entrance. After they were out, Chi Cheng tossed a Black Steel Gate at the exit, then took out a Scroll and sealed the place up.

’Iz’s Scrolls are incredibly useful.’

Scrolls were items that allowed even those who couldn’t use Magic to cast spells.

As for a Scroll’s Power, it was dependent on the person who created it.

’Scrolls left behind by Izparut... you probably couldn’t buy them on the open market no matter how much you offered.’

Once the area was securely sealed, he and Chi Cheng went on to clear several dozen more Dungeons.

With the Thousand Army Ant Mountain as a reliable backup, Lu Cang could be far more extravagant with his Sacrifices. Before, he’d always worried about Sacrificing too many souls and running out.

Although this also meant more weak Demons, it was ultimately difficult to recoup the cost.

But now, whenever they encountered a Tier Four Dungeon, he would Sacrifice fifty thousand souls in one go.

’Let there be diminishing returns. The point is, I have souls to burn.’

As for Sacrificing one hundred thousand souls, Lu Cang tried it once and found the diminishing returns were too severe.

It only produced twelve Nation Destruction Level Demons. He had doubled the Sacrifice, but only gained two more Demons, which was a terrible trade-off.

’Coming out with Chi Cheng was definitely the right choice.’

’If I had to kill these Tier Four Nation Destruction Level Demons myself, I’d be exhausted to death.’

’But now, I have a Level 6 Warrior leading the way.’

’All I have to do is follow behind and pick up the loot.’

One person to find the Dungeons, one to farm the rewards.

A clear division of labor.

Before long, the two of them had cleared every single Tier Four Dungeon in the Distant Thousand Caves region.

They cleared a total of fifty-six Tier Four Dungeons.

The materials they gathered were worth over 120 million Gold Coins...

They split it fifty-fifty, sixty million each.

"Holy..."

Chi Cheng stared at his completely full Storage Space, at the literal mountains of materials piled up inside.

"We really struck it rich."

Usually, he could search for months and not even encounter a single Nation Destruction Level Demon.

Now, he was facing ten in a single trip.

In those remote, untrodden wilds, you might find wild Tier Four or Tier Five Demons, but even King Level ones were exceedingly rare.

To say nothing of Nation Destruction Level.

Although Nation Destruction Level Demons were a huge threat to humanity, they were also a rare and chance encounter.

Even finding a Tier Five Dungeon was normally difficult.

Afterward, Lu Cang went to some Tier Three Dungeons to experiment with some new ideas using souls.

Soul Sacrifice could also directly Enhance Demons.

However, the Enhanced Demon was not under his control, nor did the process directly increase its Tier or Grade.

The rewards weren’t any better, either.

It was like a simple Frenzy Skill, which seemed to have no practical use for now.

Aside from the Thousand Army Ant Mountain, he did encounter a few other War Moon-exclusive Demons, but none of them had the same special properties as the Ant Mountain.

After several experiments, the sun began to set.

If he had to say, this had been Chi Cheng’s most satisfying day of hunting ever.

It was just a shame it wasn’t the Harvest Moon!

If it were the Harvest Moon, wouldn’t the rewards have been several times greater?

Lu Cang shared Chi Cheng’s sentiment.

’Once you’ve experienced a Harvest Moon, you can never forget the feeling.’

Sitting on a hillside, the two looked at each other.

Chi Cheng: "Time to celebrate?"

Lu Cang: "Let’s go."

"But before we go, let me collect the souls first."

Chi Cheng led Lu Cang back to the Sealing Land.

Lu Cang opened the sealed gate.

A dense, dark swarm of ants surged toward them.

A Flame Wave instantly pushed inward, and the Sea of Fire clung to every inch of the entrance, burning its way deeper inside.

His soul count skyrocketed.

He had Sacrificed in fifty-six Tier Four Dungeons, consuming 2.8 million souls.

Now, in just a few moments, he had replenished them all.

「Souls: 10,000,000」

「Souls: 20,000,000」

「Souls: 30,000,000」

「Souls: 35,220,000」

...

In such a short time, it had already produced over thirty-five million Black Ants.

’This Thousand Army Ant Mountain... A Nation Destruction Demon truly lives up to its name.’

’If it were allowed to develop unchecked in the outside world for a while, a legion of hundreds of millions of ants really would appear, blanketing the land, impossible to exterminate, and capable of destroying an entire country.’

’It’s a pity that while these Black Ants are numerous, their quality is far too low.’

The strongest it could produce were only Tier Three Black Ants.

’Then again, if it could produce even High-Tier Black Ants, that would be terrifying.’

The difference in strength between a Tier Four Demon and a Tier Three Demon was immense.

"But... has the demon tide in this area gotten thinner again?"

Lu Cang said, looking around.

Chi Cheng also looked up at the sky.

"Yeah. It seems the Thousand Army Ant Mountain has this strange side effect."

Lu Cang: "Perhaps it’s a good thing."

’If the demon tide in a certain area becomes too dense, I could even place the Thousand Army Ant Mountain there and have it convert the tide into Low-Tier Black Ants.’

’It would also prevent the demon tide from coalescing into a powerful Demon.’

’What would you call that? Biological pest control?’

However, after the demon tide thinned out, the Thousand Army Ant Mountain’s production speed slowed considerably. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

But this was the wild, where the demon tide was like the air itself, replenishing quickly.

There was no need to worry too much.

Besides, as long as it was constantly producing Black Ants, the output wouldn’t slow down that much.

’In the next few days, harvesting a few hundred million souls should be a piece of cake.’

The souls of these "Black Ants"...

Their quality was graded as: an almost puppet-like Void Spirituality.

’This must be the lowest possible tier.’

Lu Cang tried igniting a "Spirit Burst" using only their inherent soul effect, without triggering his Noble Soul.

Nothing at all exploded in mid-air.

It was like a silent fart; it didn’t even make a sound.

In contrast, a one-soul Spirit Burst using his Noble Soul could directly snap the trunk of a giant tree.

In terms of pure Power, it was significantly stronger than a regular Tier Two Spell.

But a ten-soul burst was only five times as powerful as a one-soul burst.

A one-hundred-soul burst was about twenty-five times as powerful.

A one-thousand-soul burst was seventy-five times as powerful.

And a five-thousand-soul burst was only about one hundred fifty times as powerful.

Although more souls did mean more Power, the diminishing returns were plain to see. There were clearly still many intricacies to how souls could be used.

’If an ordinary Death Priest wanted to figure out these secrets...’

’...how many people would they have to kill for their experiments?’

...

He collected the souls and sealed the entrance.

’Tomorrow, I’ll come back for a new batch.’

After returning to the City in the Circle, he stretched his body.

’What a great harvest, indeed...’