However, after enduring so many trials and tribulations, his mental state had become extremely disciplined and steadfast. He bit down on the tip of his own tongue, using the resulting pain to make himself more alert before he turned back in a determined manner.

He had to report the situation that he'd just encountered to Blood One right away. That abyssal creature had definitely benefited him greatly, but it had also posed a relatively significant threat to him, and who knew if he would encounter abyssal creatures even more dangerous than that one if he were to continue onward? Safety had to be his number one priority.

Tang Wulin began to accelerate in his return journey, and it only took him less than a third of the time to get to the entrance of the abyssal passageway. After that, he returned to the Blood God Battalion.

He naturally heaved a sigh of relief following his return, and he inspected his own bodily condition to ensure that there were no issues before directing his attention to his own mind.

As expected, his mind had become slightly more powerful, and he was able to detect the elements around him with noticeably increased clarity. If he were to continue to cultivate at this rate, he firmly believed that it wouldn't take him long to reach the Spirit Domain realm.

After reaching the Spirit Domain realm, he could directly use his spiritual power in battle, and it would create a strong enough foundation for him to cultivate all the way to the Limit Douluo level. It was said that only true gods and an extremely small proportion of demigods managed to reach the Divine Origin realm.

To Tang Wulin, the Divine Origin realm was far too distant for him to think about. At the very least, among all of the Limit Douluos that he knew of, not even a single one of them had managed to reach the Divine Origin realm. This was also why they didn't dare to try to make the breakthrough to become godly beings.

"I'm back, Blood One. Do you have some free time right now? I have some observations that I'd like to discuss with you."

"Sure, come on over."

After contacting Blood One, Tang Wulin went straight to the hall of the Blood God Battalion, and not long after that, Blood One emerged from his room.

"What are your observations?" Blood One cut straight to the chase.

Tang Wulin gave him a recount of everything that had just happened.

Blood One's expression quickly changed in response, and he said, "Are you saying that your Golden Dragon Spear can even devour Possession Demons?"

"Possession Demon? Is that what that black shadow was?" Tang Wulin asked.

Blood One's expression was clearly uncharacteristically excited; did this mean that Possession Demons were quite powerful?

Blood One appraised him with a meaningful look, and only after a long while did he reply in a serious voice, "Perhaps you really were sent to us by the heavens to resolve the issue of the abyssal plane once and for all. This is fantastic news; you don't know what kind of disasters these Possession Demons have brought upon us ever since the abyssal plane descended on our world!"

Tang Wulin was rather perplexed. He could only sense that he seemed to have done something that was quite remarkable.

A hint of sorrow flashed through Blood One's eyes. "Possession Demons are found in the seventh layer of the abyssal plane, and they're one the most powerful types of abyssal creatures. They don't possess much combat prowess, and they exist in spiritual forms, but as their names suggest, they possess an innate possession ability that's absolutely disastrous for us. No one knows how Possession Demons came into existence, and due to the fact that they possess no life essence or energy and are extremely adept at concealing themselves, they're very difficult to spot. It's often the case that someone will only detect their existence after they've already been possessed."

Blood One paused momentarily before continuing, "Once someone is possessed by a Possession Demon, they'll be forcibly controlled by it, and no one can resist its control unless they possess Spirit Domain realm spiritual power or above. Even someone with Spirit Domain realm spiritual power will be greatly affected by these creatures, and they'll need to fight with all their might for a chance to break free. During this process, it'll be very difficult for one to move their body. During our first major battle against the abyssal plane over 6,000 years ago, we knew nothing about these Possession Demons, and several dozens of our most powerful beings were possessed.

"Even several of our Limit Douluos had been killed under what we had thought to be completely inexplicable circumstances during that battle. Close to half of the most elite Soul Masters on the entire continent perished during that battle, and only many years later did we gradually discover through our battles against the abyssal plane that these Possession Demons feared life force energy. As long as one carried an extremely rare type of life crystal with them, they would be immune from its possession ability.

"However, by that time, we had already lost countless powerful beings to those abhorrent creatures. Furthermore, the most terrifying trait of Possession Demons is that they can't be killed. They can infect and control all physical, spiritual, and energy attacks, and they're especially adept at taking over projected attacks, just like your golden dragon attacks. I truly didn't think that you'd be able to kill them; this is absolutely brilliant news!"

Tang Wulin was quite flabbergasted to hear this. From the sounds of it, these Possession Demons were even more powerful than Black Empresses! At the very least, Black Empresses and Demonic Enchantresses possessed physical bodies, so they could be defeated, but these Possession Demons were completely different. During his battle against that Possession Demon, he had been struck by a sense of powerlessness, as if none of his attacks were going to work.

Even his Bluesilver Emperor vines, which possessed immense life force energy, were only able to force back the creature, and it was only his Golden Dragon Spear that was able to kill it in the end.

Blood One continued, "Thankfully, even though Possession Demons are extremely fearsome, their numbers are very limited. Also, after many years of research, we've deduced that each Possession Demon can only use their possession ability three times in its life, so they won't just go around possessing anyone. Once possession is successfully completed, a Possession Demon will gradually completely control its host, transforming all of its host's abilities into their own abilities, and at the same time, they also possess some special abilities of their own.

"You're very lucky in that the Possession Demon you encountered most likely hasn't possessed anyone yet. If you had encountered one that had already possessed someone and taken their abilities, they would be a lot more powerful and very difficult to handle. Hence, formless Possession Demons are indeed quite terrifying, but Possession Demons with physical forms are even more fearsome!"

Tang Wulin drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. The innate ability of these Possession Demons was way too fearsome!

Blood One appraised Tang Wulin with an intense gaze. "There will never be a total of more than 36 Possession Demons at any time, and only after one of them dies will another one be born. However, we don't know what circumstances will result in death for them. At the very least, we've never managed to kill a single Possession Demon on the battlefield, so you've created history. On top of that, you killed a new Possession Demon that hasn't yet had a chance to possess anyone, which means that their numbers have been permanently lowered to 35. This is definitely a significant contribution, and I'll be reporting this to request a reward for you."

Tang Wulin looked down at his Blood God Bracelet. "But I don't seem to have earned any accolades for this."

A wry smile appeared on Blood One's face. "That's because no Possession Demon has ever been killed before, so it's naturally not in the system. However, we can add it specifically for you now. Of course, you were elevated to the major general rank very quickly, so you actually owe the legion a lot of accolades; that debt can be settled by the accolades you earned from killing this Possession Demon."

Tang Wulin's lips twitched upon hearing this. That sounded very shady! So the promotion that he had earned after defeating Blood Nine wasn't actually free!

In reality, this made sense. The former Blood Nine had already accumulated enough accolades to promote him to the senior colonel rank, so after he was defeated by Tang Wulin, he reverted back to that rank. If he had already earned enough accolades to earn a promotion to the major general rank, then even after being dethroned as Blood Nine by Tang Wulin, he would still be a major general.

Furthermore, an astronomical number of accolades was required for a senior colonel to be promoted to the major general rank.

"This is a very important matter that I have to inform the legion commander about. Don't venture into the abyssal passageway in the near future. The fact that you've killed a Possession Demon will most definitely have alerted the abyssal plane, so if you go again, I'll be accompanying you. However, now is not the time to make that trip; we still have to make more preparations, and you also need to improve."

Tang Wulin departed while Blood One looked on with an excited and contemplative gaze. He reflexively clenched his fists. He was seeing more and more hope from Tang Wulin, and he knew that Tang Wulin was the key to truly eradicating the threat of the abyssal plane.

It was going to take an extremely long time to achieve that goal, but at the very least, there was finally a ray of hope after several dozens of generations of arduous efforts from the members of the Blood God Legion.

If it were possible to leave this place behind, no one would want to stay in this godforsaken land of ice and snow!

Furthermore, the threat of the abyssal plane was a ticking time bomb that was going to explode sooner or later, so it had to be permanently addressed at some point.

During the next few days, Tang Wulin continued to compete every day, alternating between Soul Master battles and mecha battles. The rest of his time was spent in cultivation, and every day passed by in a routine yet busy manner for him.

Long Yuxue didn't come to find him again, and she didn't even come to visit him while he was forging, so he didn't know what her condition was like.