Once the mask was successfully bound to the Giant Earth King's shadow, that shadow gained a new identity: the Shadow General.
Regardless of which deceased shadow was bound to which artifact, all such bound shadows shared the same title—Shadow General.
When one wore an artifact that housed a bound Shadow General, the dark soldiers summoned forth from it would be called the Shadow Legion.
This was the manifestation of the dark attribute inherent in the Dark Shadow Martial Soul.
The stronger the spiritual power, the more dark soldiers could be summoned—the larger and mightier the Shadow Legion.
Even ordinary people without soul power could wield the power of a Shadow General if their spiritual strength was sufficient. However, those with weak spiritual power who wore such a mask risked being mentally overwhelmed and controlled by the Shadow General within, possibly losing their body entirely.
Currently, two Shadow Legions could be summoned: one modeled after Lü Buliang himself—the Ghost Shadow Legion; the other, the Scorpion Shadow Legion, modeled after the Giant Earth King.
If he were to bind the Pink Queen's shadow to an artifact, the resulting legion would be the Poison Shadow Legion. These dark soldiers would wield a poison that induced manic euphoria, driving victims mad until death.
Unfortunately, while the shadow domain could seal an unlimited number of deceased shadows, the number that could be bound was restricted by soul rings.
Three soul rings meant he could only bind three deceased shadows at once.
Unless he could someday overcome this soul ring limitation, he would be capped at nine bound shadows—nine Shadow Generals, and thus nine Shadow Legions.
With such limits, selecting which shadows to bind required careful consideration.
The stronger the original owner of a shadow, the stronger the resulting Shadow General.
Thus, when choosing the nine ultimate Shadow Generals, they had to be of extraordinary strength. In Douluo Continent, soul beasts with super bloodlines were ideal candidates.
Take, for example, the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger—a soul beast with six super attributes: evil, darkness, wind, lightning, time, and space. It was a perfect match for the Shadow Martial Soul.
Not only that—after absorbing its soul ring, its shadow could be sealed within the shadow domain, making it one of the nine ultimate Shadow Generals.
The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' corpses at the bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were also prime candidates.
As for the remaining six Shadow Generals, Lü Buliang planned to seal shadow beasts on the level of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear.
If he made one of those into a Shadow General, the resulting legion would be the Claw Shadow Legion—powerful in both offense and defense.
A healing-type soul beast like the Emerald Swan would produce the Healing Shadow Legion.
A devourer like the Soul-Eating Spider Emperor would give rise to the Devourer Shadow Legion.
And so on.
In the future, Lü Buliang didn't plan to bind these beasts' shadows to masks or other artifacts, but to his soul rings instead—this would allow him to inherit the powers of all nine Shadow Generals and summon all nine Shadow Legions at once.
However, wielding multiple Shadow Generals' powers simultaneously would demand immense spiritual strength and bodily endurance—otherwise, he risked losing control.
Recalling the original novel's world-building, Lü Buliang remembered that some soul masters didn't just develop soul skills, but even pioneered entirely new soul ring techniques.
For instance, the Clear Sky Clan had a technique called Ring Detonation, which forced a soul ring to unleash all its energy at once, resulting in strength far beyond the user's level.
Tang Hao's ability to fight across levels was largely thanks to this very technique.
There was also another soul ring technique known as Ring Fusion, which fused different types of soul power into one unified attribute to empower oneself or allies.
Lü Buliang mused: without a cheat-like cultivation system like Tang San's, if he wanted to carve out his own unique path, maybe he should begin by developing his soul rings too?
That was how the idea of fusing the nine Shadow Generals into his nine soul rings was born.
If he could fully integrate these nine soul rings with himself, it wouldn't just be a matter of merging attributes—it would be a fusion of nine actual Shadow Generals with his own being.
What sort of terrifying power would that produce? How overwhelming would the Shadow Legions he summoned become?
Lü Buliang imagined that if he could bind top-tier soul beasts like the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger and the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, his Shadow Legions would be strong enough to rival an ordinary Titled Douluo.
If he merged with those Shadow Generals, the resulting Shadow Legions would easily reach the level of Rank 96 or higher.
And if the soul ring limitation was lifted entirely, allowing him to bind an unlimited number of Shadow Generals and fuse with all of them—then his strength would be compounded to the point of near invincibility.
He even gave this soul ring technique a name: Shadow Secret Art: Invincible Ultra-Fusion Ring—Shadow Flash Nine Forms.
The moment he thought It, he vigorously shook his head. "That name's way too cringe."
After a pause, Lü Buliang let go of the fusion fantasy.
In reality, such grand visions were still far from his current strength. He was only a rank-37 Soul Elder—not yet strong enough to seal super bloodline soul beasts like the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger.
What he needed now was cultivation.
Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Sage, Soul Douluo, Titled Douluo.
With so many cultivation bottlenecks ahead, he'd need to reach at least the Soul Douluo level before even thinking of sealing a super soul beast into a ring.
Having bound the Giant Earth King's shadow to the black mask—now transformed into the Flame Mask—Lü Buliang set aside his long-term plans and decided to test what powers this fire-type elite soul beast would grant as a Shadow General.
The moment he donned the Flame Mask, sparks flared along its scorpion-tail-shaped, tawny edges, and it fused with his face.
Flames flickered across the mask, and the shadow beneath his feet deepened, as if a second layer of darkness had emerged.
At this moment, his shadow had merged with that of the Giant Earth King, perfectly inheriting all its techniques.
Unfortunately, the Giant Earth King only had one innate skill in its six-thousand-year lifespan: Magma Fissure Strike.
Lü Buliang gently brushed his fingers along his face. When they touched the edge of the mask, he felt fire—but without heat. Just an illusion.
He couldn't believe It—his face had really fused with a mask of flames. What did he even look like now? Was his face burning? Was he the next Flame Captain?
"Magma Fissure Strike—a signature fire-element soul technique of the Giant Earth King. My body contains extreme fire elemental energy. With that amplification, the strike's damage should become devastating."
As he pondered this, his gaze fell on the Pink Queen, still barely alive in a sea of flames. It was time to test the technique inherited from the Giant Earth King.
Shadow General Skill: Magma Fissure Strike—Activated.
A wave of scorching black energy erupted from Lü Buliang's body, forming a shockwave that blasted away the remaining Pink Maidens nearby, stunning them momentarily.
He slammed his right fist into the ground. The forest quaked, and a pillar of black magma exploded beneath the Pink Queen, engulfing her instantly in extreme black flames. Her body was reduced to ash.
Seeing their leader incinerated by the blast, the surviving Pink Maidens froze in terror. Their first instinct was to flee—but their shadows had been locked in place. They couldn't move.
Lü Buliang exhaled deeply. That strike had consumed his soul power—it was equivalent to activating a six-thousand-year fire-element soul technique. But with the extreme fire amplification, the skill's power had been enough to kill a typical ten-thousand-year soul beast.
Wearing a mask bound to the Giant Earth King's shadow was essentially the same as inheriting the beast's skills—akin to gaining a soul bone.
However, the Flame Mask offered something more—it allowed him to summon soldiers resembling the Giant Earth King using only his spiritual power and inner darkness.
His eyes scanned the surviving Pink Maidens—about twenty or so. He focused his mind and summoned the darkness from deep within.
Suddenly, dozens of head-sized shadows emerged from the ground around him.
Each morphed into a four-meter-tall, scorpion-like black creature. Their bodies burned with black flames, and their eyes glowed red.
These were the black Giant Earth Kings—the Scorpion Shadow Legion.
Every member of this Scorpion Legion, known as Scorpion Shadows, inherited 30% of the Giant Earth King's power.
With the original Giant Earth King being over six thousand years old, each summoned Scorpion Shadow held roughly two thousand years of cultivation. Though individually weaker than the Shadow General, they could be summoned endlessly, limited only by spiritual strength. In theory, one could summon millions.
All Shadow Legions derived their strength from the summoner's soul ring level.
Currently, Lü Buliang only had three rings, so his summoned legions could inherit just 30% of a Shadow General's strength.
If an ordinary person with no soul rings wore such a mask, the strength of the summoned legion would depend on the darkness within their heart. But most commoners lacked the spiritual power to resist being overtaken by a Shadow General.
This also clarified his future direction for acquiring soul bones—he needed a head soul bone that could greatly enhance spiritual power. If his mind could be strengthened without limit, so too could the size of his Shadow Legion.
Lü Buliang lifted the shadow restriction on the Pink Maidens. Regaining control over their bodies, they looked upon the burning Scorpion Legion and lost the will to fight.
The Pink Maidens had only one combat method—using excitement-inducing poison. Without their leader, they were hopeless and unorganized.
All of them turned and fled the moment they could, vanishing from view within seconds.
Lü Buliang was stunned—he had planned to use them to test his Scorpion Legion's power, which was why he'd released their shadows.
Who would have thought they'd run off as fast as agility-type soul beasts?
But the chaos from his battle with the Giant Earth King had drawn attention.
Ten soul beasts, all over ten thousand years old, were entering the shadow domain—headed straight for him.
"Perfect," Lü Buliang said. "Let's use you to test the true might of the Scorpion Legion."
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