Dark Blood Demon was stunned by that incident, and only later on did he discover that the energy was soul power. After devouring his grandfather's soul, he had attained one rank of soul power.

At the time, his first reaction was that this was a present left to him by his grandfather, and he was ecstatic to finally have soul power. He went to an elementary Soul Master academy and was accepted as he now possessed soul power, but he quickly discovered that all Soul Master cultivation methods, including the likes of meditation, were unsuitable for him. Thus, even after cultivating for half a year, his pitiful single rank of soul power didn't increase in the slightest, and as a result, he was expelled.

At the time, Dark Blood Demon suddenly recalled how he had obtained this one rank of soul power. Could it be that it had something to do with deceased individuals?

With that in mind, he went to a funeral parlor and lingered there for a while.

During that time, whenever a dead body arrived, he would approach it. Through his experimentation, he discovered that he couldn't sense anything those who had perished quite some time ago before being sent to the funeral parlor, but if it were a recently deceased body, then he would be able to absorb energy from it.

In less than a month, his soul power rose rapidly all the way to rank 10. However, he had no money and couldn't purchase a soul spirit.

He was at a loss for what to do and could only continue to go to the funeral parlor every day to devour souls.

After around another month, his body manifested a soul ring on its own, thereby giving his first soul skill: Soul Devouring!

This soul skill allowed him to devour souls more quickly, and his targets weren't just limited to dead people now. As long as he could find someone with a very frail body or a small child, he would be able to devour a part of their soul to make them very feeble.

This discovery gave him a new target.

At the time, Dark Blood Demon was only a neglected and abandoned child, and he was ecstatic to have obtained this soul skill, but completely failed to realize just how dangerous it was.

Thus, he began to experiment with his Soul Devouring soul skill, and in doing so, he discovered that not only could he devour the souls of weak humans, he could also do the same to other weaker living beings, such as small animals.

One day, an extremely ill patient perished after Dark Blood Demon used the Soul Devouring soul skill on them, and only then did Dark Blood Demon realize the problem with this soul skill. However, at that point, he was already completely hooked.

Spirit Devouring allowed him to progress rapidly in his soul power cultivation, and even his spiritual power was quickly being enhanced. In contrast with his past arduous yet futile cultivation, this was a completely different experience.

Thus, he gradually fell deeper and deeper into depravity. As he became more and more powerful, his first soul skill also became more and more effective and dangerous. Upon reaching rank 20 in soul power and attaining his second soul skill, his Devouring Spirit soul skill was already able to work on normal people. At that point, he had already well and truly become an Evil Soul Master.

In the beginning, he was still quite careful and cautious, but after a while, he began devouring souls in a completely blatant and brazen manner. In the past, he would only devour a part of someone's soul before moving onto another target, but later on, he began to devour his targets' souls until they passed away. He was like an addict, and there was no turning back for him.

Furthermore, he discovered that if he could devour a living person's soul until they died, then that would allow him to reap the greatest benefits. The more complete the soul that he devoured, the greater the benefits that he would derive.

After that, he began to notice that if the soul being devoured belonged to a Soul Master, then the effect would be even better, and the more powerful the Soul Master was, the greater the enhancements he would receive.

In a very short time, he had already become an extremely renowned figure among Evil Soul Masters, and at the same time, Soul Master organizations began to take notice of and target him.

Joining the Holy Spirit Cult was natural for him, and he progressed steadily up the ranks all the way to become one of the four heavenly monarchs.

Even among Evil Soul Masters, his rate of cultivation was very remarkable, and he also possessed fearsome combat prowess.

In particular, his spiritual power was particularly formidable, making him an extremely difficult opponent to face.

It was no exaggeration to say that the number of people Dark Blood Demon had killed was second only to Ghost Emperor in the Holy Spirit Cult; even Harosha hadn't claimed as many lives as he had. Regardless of whether it was humans or other life forms, as long as they had a soul, it would be devoured by him.

However, at the same time, he was in constant agony.

Each soul that he devoured would leave a trace of their consciousness in his mind, and this residual consciousness inflicted a lot of pain upon him, and this pain was unbearable.

In the beginning, it was still manageable, but as he devoured more and more souls, he began to experience mental issues similar to schizophrenia, and the residual consciousness of all of the souls he had devoured harbored intense animosity toward him, constantly torturing him and causing him to burn through his life force at an alarming rate.

Dark Blood Demon was actually only in his fifties, making him the youngest of the four heavenly monarchs, but his physical age exceeded even that of Ghost Emperor.

Furthermore, he knew that if he were to die, then the residual consciousness of all of his victims would inflict extremely severe backlash upon him, to the point that his soul would be torn to shreds.

Thus, he had always been searching for all types of ways to extend his own life. For example, one of his past targets had been the Golden Tree of Shrek Academy.

In the face of the Amorous Douluo, his eyes were glowing with yearning toward Zang Xin's soul.

If he wanted to repress all of the resentful wills in his body, then he had to devour a more powerful consciousness to further enhance his own spiritual power.

Ghost Emperor had analyzed his situation in the past, and his verdict was that the only way for Dark Blood Demon to free himself from his current state would be to reach the Divine Origin realm; only then would he be able to eradicate all of the residual consciousness.

However, this was certainly far easier said than done. Even Harosha and Ghost Emperor hadn't been able to reach the Divine Origin realm, let alone himself.

Thus, the only viable path for him was to continue to devour more and more powerful souls in order to elevate his own spiritual power to the Divine Origin realm before his demise.

Zang Xin wasn't a quasigod yet, but he was still a veteran Limit Douluo, and he was a perfect target.

If Dark Blood Demon could devour Zang Xin, then his powers would progress further.

In fact, there was a very good chance that devouring Limit Douluo would take him straight to the quasigod level, in which case he would be one major step closer to the Divine Origin realm.

Zang Xin harbored nothing but hatred toward Dark Blood Demon. As one of the most powerful beings of the Holy Spirit Cult, there was no doubt that Dark Blood Demon had committed countless heinous crimes against the world.

This battle was an unavoidable one for both of them, and it was the best chance for him to kill Dark Blood Demon.

Thus, as soon as their clash began, it quickly escalated into an all-out battle.

The giant Blood Demon behind Dark Blood Demon reared back, and a burst of tremendous suction force instantly erupted forth. Zang Xin's flesh began to crawl as his blood essence and soul threatened to leave his body.

Spirit Devouring was only Dark Blood Demon's first soul skill, but it was most definitely his most important soul skill, and it was integral to him both in battle and in cultivation. Even against extremely powerful opponents, this soul skill could weaken them to a certain extent.