As soon as Lu Ning finished speaking, the blade of the Crimson Sword split open.

Dozens of sharp tentacles spread and grew at an extremely rapid speed. In the process, they seemed to have their own life, quickly choosing a direction and selecting a target, piercing through one calamity beast and diseased person after another.

As the monsters were pierced by the tentacles, almost instantly their flesh and blood turned into a blood mist and were absorbed by the tentacles.

As the tentacles absorbed flesh and blood, Lu Ning clearly felt the power feedback from the Crimson Sword.

Although the speed of improvement is not as fast as Lu Ning's own sacrifice of flesh and blood, it is still more stable.

In just over ten minutes, a large number of calamity beasts and mutated beings were devoured, and Lu Ning's power broke through a certain limit.

Lu Ning felt as if he had undergone some kind of change. He was able to do things that he couldn't do before, or even things that he couldn't imagine before.

Lu Ning seemed to be deep in thought, then turned his gaze to a giant octopus monster in the distance that was more than ten meters tall.

That was a Saint-level monster, which had just emerged from the sea.

Lu Ning seemed to be deep in thought, a flash of blood-red light passing through his eyes.

The next moment, the flesh and blood of the Saint-level monster that had just burst out of the sea suddenly twisted and then exploded, turning into a blood-red flower.

The crimson light in Lu Ning's eyes dissipated. He had just used the power of flesh and blood to forcibly control the flesh and blood of this Saint-level monster, causing it to explode automatically.

The ability to so powerfully control the flesh and blood of a saint clearly indicates that one has reached the level of a demigod.

Lu Ning could even sense a wisp of divinity emanating from the Crimson Sword.

Lu Ning was very familiar with this divinity; it was the divine power of flesh and blood.

He had experienced this before when he absorbed the spiritual pollution source of the flesh and blood source, and he even carried a trace of the divinity of this flesh and blood power.

However, Lu Ning hasn't even reached the Saint level yet, and his divinity is extremely weak, so he naturally can't use it.

He used the divinity inherent in the Crimson Sword itself.

As a highly dangerous soul weapon, possessing divinity is a standard requirement.

Besides the divine power of the crimson sword, Lu Ning's physical body has now completely reached the demigod level.

In other words, he can fight against demigods using his physical strength combined with his powerful soul-reinforcing power.

Of course, his current demigod-level combat power is only about the same as that of the skeletal warriors, or even slightly weaker.

However, the Crimson Sword also has obvious advantages compared to the Skeleton Warriors.

On one hand, the power brought by the upgrade is Lu Ning's own. Although he can freely control the skeletal warriors, it is not as easy as using his own power.

In addition, the Crimson Sword has a very low cost.

Perhaps because the Crimson Sword can replenish itself by absorbing the flesh and blood of other creatures, Lu Ning only needs to use a portion of his mental energy to maintain the operation of the Crimson Sword.

If he uses the Crimson Sword to raise his power to the level of a demigod, he can probably fight for four or five hours straight.

It took longer than he had imagined.

Although they are slightly weaker in combat power, they have more time to fight. With one advantage and one disadvantage, it's actually about the same for Lu Ning.

and……

A glint of light flashed in Lu Ning's eyes.

A black crown of thorns appeared in his hand.

It is the crown of suffering.

He placed the Crown of Pain on his head, and the metal thorns pierced Lu Ning's scalp.

Lu Ning clearly felt a sharp pain.

The next moment, the stinging pain became more and more obvious, almost matching the pain Lu Ning had endured in his dream.

Lu Ning raised an eyebrow slightly, then immediately understood that the side effect of the Crown of Pain must be that the pain he could endure was much greater than before.

However, such pain was naturally within Lu Ning's tolerance range.

Lu Ning sacrificed his own flesh and blood once again, and the pain caused by the disintegration of his flesh and blood became extremely intense under the amplification of the Crown of Pain.

The next moment, Lu Ning's sacrificial flesh and blood regenerated. His lips twitched, and a ferocious smile appeared on his face: "That really fucking hurts..."

This pain has surpassed the pain I experienced in the dream dimension.

Lu Ning took a deep breath, and the next moment, he felt the powerful force coming from the Crown of Pain.

This power was amplified by the Crimson Sword and bestowed upon Lu Ning.

Lu Ning's power, which had barely reached the demigod level, experienced another explosive increase.

In just a few breaths, Lu Ning's strength surpassed that of the skeletal warrior.

And this improvement is continuing.

A moment later, Lu Ning felt that his strength had increased several times compared to before.

The immense power made Lu Ning feel as if he could destroy the earth's surface single-handedly.

Moreover, this does not seem to be an illusion.

If Lu Ning wanted to, and given enough time, he felt that with his terrifying physical strength, he truly had a chance to break through the land.

Is this the power of a demigod?

Even Lu Ning was momentarily filled with emotion.

However, even with the enhancement of two extremely dangerous soul artifacts, Lu Ning's mental fluctuations were still inferior to those of Yan Bing, Bai Yuan, and the ocean aggregate demigod in the distance.

It's easy to imagine that, even among demigods, their strengths are worlds apart.

If Lu Ning, who used the Crimson Sword, barely reached the threshold of demigod level, then Lu Ning, who used both the Crimson Sword and the Crown of Pain, should be considered a relatively powerful existence among low-level demigods.

As for Bing, he is a high-level demigod, and his strength naturally far surpasses that of Lu Ning.

Even Bai Yuan and that ocean aggregate demigod are probably only mid-level demigods.

However, Lu Ning did not feel disappointed.

Keep in mind that he is only at the ninth rank now, but by using two extremely dangerous soul artifacts with all his might without reservation, he has reached the strength of a low-rank demigod.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!