Chapter 423 – Spirit Devouring Species

“A defective Mech that’s almost no better than scrap, yet it can wield such a level of combat power…”

Anders murmured softly, “If time permitted, I’d love to wait until you’ve fully matured to savor you. It would certainly be a hundred times more delicious then…”

As Anders spoke, he held his short gun and walked forward slowly.

At this moment, the Silver Vine Mech underwent another transformation, with golden patterns emerging on the surface of the silver vines making up its body.

The entire Silver Vine Mech began to grow, expanding layer by layer outward.

In no time, its size had increased to roughly twice that of the Spirit Sovereign.

The Mech, now interwoven with golden and silver hues, looked more majestic and regal. The short gun in Anders’ hand elongated significantly, its tip bending and arching like a golden snake’s head.

A more formidable and terrifying aura began to propagate around him, as pale golden vortices quietly appeared, and the powerful qi energy ominously targeted the Spirit Sovereign.

“It’s ready.”

Anders, now in the Mech’s second stage, looked at Yuwen Tong and calmly stated, “The prelude is over; it’s time to end everything.”

Faced with the more dreadful Anders, Yuwen Tong’s expression remained calm.

The one-armed Spirit Sovereign reached up to grasp the Moon Wheel hovering above, readying for a new wave of attacks.

Strange ripples emanated from the Spirit Sovereign’s body, rapidly channeling into the spinning Moon Wheel.

Faint purple light leaked from beneath the moon-white body.

When this strength reached its pinnacle…

Inside the core of the Spirit Sovereign, Yuwen Tong whispered softly.

“You’re bluffing!”

And with that.

“Boom!”

A surge of purple light, accompanied by unusual ripples, burst forth from the Spirit Sovereign.

The intensity of the light made Anders instinctively squint and raise a hand to shield his eyes.

Once Anders recovered from the momentary disorientation caused by the glare.

He lowered his hand, his expression momentarily caught in surprise and astonishment.

The world before his eyes had mysteriously transformed.

The hazy sky and the murky water region of black and red had all vanished.

In their place was a vast, pitch-black void.

In the depths of this void, a colossal eyeball, the size of a planet, was swirling around, emitting an eerie purple light.

Beneath this gigantic purple eye, the Spirit Sovereign Mech stood silently, holding the Moon Wheel with one hand.

It gazed coldly down at Anders from on high.

“Everything should indeed come to an end… but those words should be mine.”

As the words faded, the enormous planet-like eye suddenly halted its rotation, its deep, mysterious pupil firmly locking onto Anders.

A pillar of purple light enveloped him, freezing everything within it, including time itself.

Yuwen Tong, controlling the Spirit Sovereign, began to step through the void toward Anders.

The light from the Moon Wheel in her hand grew more intense, surpassing any strength shown before.

Feeling the unprecedented murderous intent surging from the Moon Wheel, the shock on Anders’ face, trapped within the purple light pillar, gradually faded, replaced by a slowly rising smile at the corners of his mouth.

He chuckled softly.

In the next moment, the frozen purple light around him shattered silently like crystal.

…

“Boom!”

A massive blood pill spun rapidly, stirring a torrent of qi and blood to form a gigantic blood sphere on its outer layer.

Like twisted little snakes, strands of black raced from all directions, launching wave after wave of attacks at the blood sphere.

Throughout this, thunderous sounds erupted within the chest cavity, as the Five Viscera emitted intense light, continuously aiding the qi and blood in shredding the black aura.

Meanwhile, in his Consciousness Space, Lu Yuan was finally able to witness the true form of this mysterious life form.

Essentially, it was just a writhing mass of blackness.

In front of Lu Yuan, it constantly shifted shapes, eventually transforming into a humanoid figure.

Completely black in color, with a faint silver sheen on its surface, as if coated with something.

This black humanoid immediately launched an attack on Lu Yuan.

There was nothing unusual about its methods, just sheer speed and ferocity as it lunged at him with great force.

Lu Yuan remained expressionless as he casually threw a punch. Even before the black humanoid could get close, Lu Yuan struck it squarely in the head, causing it to explode with a thunderous noise.

Yet in the next instant, it reappeared, relentless and undeterred, continuing its assault on Lu Yuan.

Combat on the mental plane was extremely perilous, with the outcome heavily dependent on the strength of the opponents’ mental power.

This mysterious life form’s mental power wasn’t particularly strong, only at the level of the ninth stage, not reaching the tenth.

Moreover, this was Lu Yuan’s “home ground,” so all the attacks this entity launched seemed futile and laughable to him.

But gradually… Lu Yuan began to notice something amiss.

“Bam!”

As their fists clashed, the completely black humanoid suddenly sprouted eight arms. As it attacked Lu Yuan, it emitted faint trumpeting sounds akin to an elephant’s cry.

Lu Yuan effortlessly dismantled its eight arms, shattering them to pieces, yet a subtle trace of surprise flickered in his eyes.

“This thing is stealing my skills?!”

“No, it’s not just mimicking my skills…”

“It’s also drawing on the power of my mental strength itself!”

Lu Yuan expanded his mental power, carefully observing the black humanoid before him.

He soon discovered that this entity, within his Consciousness Space, was constantly absorbing the power present there.

This power included his mental strength and even parts of his memory.

Unbeknownst to him, his mental power had subtly weakened a bit, and he hadn’t even realized it.

“Right now, handling it seems easy, but with this shift in power dynamics, I’m growing weaker while it’s becoming stronger.

It can even infiltrate my deeper consciousness, reading and copying my memories…”

As Lu Yuan shattered the black humanoid once more, his eyes flickered with realization. “Having this thing invade me is like dealing with a computer virus…

Even beings stronger than it can slowly be worn down without specific countermeasures and eventually be entirely consumed…”

Lu Yuan even noticed that during the exchanges, every time he defeated the black humanoid, a portion of the strength from his own mental power-formed consciousness entity was absorbed.

He was aware of this, yet unable to prevent it. To avoid being rapidly devoured, he was forced to counterattack repeatedly, thereby “passively” being consumed.

In essence, if he didn’t fight back, he would quickly perish.

If he did fight back, he faced a slow death.

No matter how he approached the situation, it seemed that being consumed and obliterated was the inevitable outcome-a truly unsolvable dilemma.

“Hiss-“

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, realizing this, and when the black humanoid launched its next attack, he refrained from striking.

Instead, he moved to deliberately avoid any contact with his opponent.

Within his Consciousness Space, it wasn’t particularly difficult to elude the black humanoid.

However, this merely slowed down the depletion of his mental power and memory, without fundamentally solving the problem.

“Haha-“

After several futile attempts to touch Lu Yuan, the black humanoid ceased its attacks and let out an eerie laugh.

Lu Yuan glared coldly at it, watching as facial features slowly emerged on its black visage.

They were strikingly handsome, identical to his own.

“Just realizing something’s wrong?”

Apart from its black skin, the consciousness entity, now identical in appearance to Lu Yuan, sneered as it spoke, “This is only the beginning…

Soon enough, your body, your consciousness, your memories… everything about you will be wholly inherited by me, becoming nourishment to strengthen myself.

The process won’t be long, so relish every budding moment of despair.”

Lu Yuan stared at it impassively.

This creature even began intentionally imitating Lu Yuan’s mannerisms and habitual gestures, treating it as a sort of time-passing game.

With each repetition, it resembled Lu Yuan more and more, occasionally glancing at him as if aiming to disgust him.

“What are you, exactly?”

After watching the black humanoid’s “performance” for a while, Lu Yuan asked calmly.

“What are we?”

The black humanoid paused, grinning in a manner nearly identical to Lu Yuan’s own expression.

“We are the greatest race in the universe…”

The black humanoid spread its arms wide, its face reflecting an unparalleled arrogance and pride.

It lifted its head, its gaze seemingly looking down upon Lu Yuan.

“We are the Lord of All Spirits, the sole masters of the Starry Sky, the supreme race destined to rule this universe!”

“So, speaking of supreme beings, wasn’t one of your kind just eaten by a bird I own?” Lu Yuan replied calmly.

“Uh…”

The black humanoid paused, a flicker of embarrassment and frustration crossing its features.

“Silence!”

It growled at Lu Yuan, speaking coldly, “The true strength of our race lies in our limitless soul potential, a supreme attribute coveted even by the true god.

How could a lower life form like you comprehend this?

You’re merely lucky to have a mythic life by your side and to have encountered us at our weakest moment…

But that luck is about to run out…”

The black humanoid sneered.

As if retaliating against Lu Yuan’s earlier taunt, its form began to shift again.

This time, it assumed different appearances.

Chen Wu Hao, Yang Nan… one by one, faces of supernova members from the Xia State familiar to Lu Yuan emerged on the black humanoid, vividly lifelike.

Regardless of the face, they all wore the same sinister, wicked grin.

The creature shouted at Lu Yuan, “Familiar, aren’t they? These people. They are all part of me now, fused into one. You’re next.”

“And not just you-your family, your friends, everyone you hold dear… they’ll all become my sustenance. It’s a sort of reunion, isn’t it? Ha ha ha…”

Lu Yuan watched the maniacally laughing black humanoid, his face showing no emotion.

In an instant, Lu Yuan’s form abruptly vanished.

“Boom!”

He reappeared, having taken the place of the black humanoid.

The black humanoid, shifting through familiar faces known to Lu Yuan, was abruptly smashed to pieces by his attack.

Before it could reform, Lu Yuan struck once more.

“Boom!”

The furious boxing power surged into the black humanoid, causing it to swell rapidly like a balloon.

It expanded to its limit and then shattered.

Again and again, Lu Yuan executed the black humanoid in various brutal ways, dozens of times.

Feeling the murderous intent and restlessness in his chest calm slightly, Lu Yuan dismissed his consciousness entity, withdrawing from his own Consciousness Space, and chose to ignore the creature for now.

His awareness returned to his body, and he began to focus on how to resolve this issue.

“If there’s no solution at the consciousness level, then the only option is to seek a breakthrough at the physical level,” Lu Yuan mused.

If he could destroy the physical form of this unknown life form, its consciousness entity would be akin to a rootless tree or a source-less stream, and its erosion at the level of mental power would naturally cease to attack.

However, its physical characteristics were just as bizarre and formidable as its mental ones, constantly cunning and aggressive.

Although his grandmaster body had resisted its erosion for quite some time, it had little effect.

This creature’s body could grow stronger by continuously absorbing his flesh essence, and after much entanglement, it seemed to grow even more powerful.

“To annihilate it on a cellular and genetic level, I’d need to rely on mental power. But right now, I can’t use my mental power…”

Lu Yuan frowned, contemplating his greatest asset, the shattering power of his ultimate skill.

The problem was that his understanding and mastery of this ultimate skill were still quite superficial, not yet capable of disintegrating an opponent’s life genes.

“My skill points aren’t enough; otherwise, temporarily leveling up could perhaps achieve that…”

“[Heart Fire Return to Origin]!”

Lu Yuan attempted to switch to the [Fire Chaser: Azure Flame (Legendary)] professional panel.

With the support of [Heart Fire Return to Origin], the power of the azure flame was elevated to a level close to an ultimate skill.

The flame’s power, inherited from the Phoenix, had a noticeable restraining effect on the black slime body of the unknown life form.

But it only slightly slowed the creature’s momentum, failing to annihilate it completely.

As he watched the rapidly spinning blood pill manipulating his blood and qi to form a “solid barrier,” Lu Yuan’s eyes glinted thoughtfully.

A sudden thought flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind.

“Let it in and see what happens!”

Rather than slowly being worn down like a frog in heating water, it might be better to drop his defenses and engage in a direct, all-out battle.

While he still had enough strength, perhaps he could find a weakness in his opponent?

Resolving to act, Lu Yuan didn’t hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he released the surging energy surrounding the blood pill.

As the “walls” constructed by his blood and qi dissipated, the twisted black snakes lurking within his flesh surged toward the blood pill like a pack of sharks scenting blood.

“Boom!”

A thunderous rumble erupted within Lu Yuan’s chest. The Five Viscera radiated brilliance, yet it was helpless against the encroaching blackness.

Countless writhing black snake-like structures encircled the blood pill, the core of Lu Yuan’s being, wrapping it tightly layer by layer.

Lu Yuan felt an inexplicable suffocation, his body falling into a strange rigidity.

Once the blood pill was tangled, the flow of his blood and qi became sluggish, and the system managing the energy circulation throughout his body also stalled.

Lu Yuan could even feel that the connection between him and the blood pill seemed to weaken continuously.

He looked to be gradually losing control over his own body.

Having completely opened his defenses, instead of seeing the dawn of hope he anticipated, he found the process of being devoured hastened.

“[The Gathering of Three Flowers at the Apex]!”

Lu Yuan roared inwardly.

The blood pill, enshrouded by layers of black, viscous material, suddenly unleashed a terrifying power dozens of times greater than before, releasing a massive surge of strength.

The energy of blood and qi exploded instantly, increasing by several orders of magnitude.

The suddenly intensified power forcibly repelled the black substance wrapped around the blood pill. Within the thick, black liquid, a semi-transparent pill glowing with a radiant gold light slowly rose.

“Annihilate!”

Lu Yuan’s consciousness turned icy.

The blood pill, under the influence of [The Gathering of Three Flowers at the Apex], ignited with a golden flame of blood and qi.

The crimson-gold flame sizzled, burning away the thick black substance.

This golden flame swept through Lu Yuan’s body, rapidly reducing the blackness entrenched in his flesh.

It seemed on the verge of being completely eradicated.

Suddenly, a cold, mocking laughter echoed in the depths of Lu Yuan’s mind.

“So naive…”

“Do you really think that will work?”

As the laughter faded, the black substance that had just been burned away suddenly began to rapidly regenerate from the depths of Lu Yuan’s flesh and marrow.

Like muddy wastewater seeping from underground, it surged back, covering Lu Yuan’s body once again in less than half a breath.

“All your struggles… will only hasten your own demise… hiss hiss…”

The laughter of the black humanoid echoed around Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan watched as his body, more thoroughly overtaken by black than before, and the Mastery-level blood pill, inch by inch, were covered in thick blackness once more. His heart sank.

“Is there really… no solution at all?”

Lu Yuan closed his eyes, thinking of trying to call for the cuckoo bird to help solve the problem within his body.

It was then…

Beside the Mastery-level blood pill, which was being covered by a layer of crimson golden light, a vortex silently appeared.

Simultaneously, a message appeared from the professional panel in front of Lu Yuan’s eyes:

[Congratulations on acquiring new profession advancement material-Spirit Devouring Species (Legendary Level).]

[Would you like to use it to unlock higher tier profession simulation?]

“Uh…”

Lu Yuan stared at the message, momentarily stunned.

He glanced at the gray vortex that was slowly drawing the twisted black snakes and viscous black material towards its edges.

Blinking his eyes.

In the next second, he decisively blurted out.

“Use, unlock!”

Once the command was given, the gray vortex quickly doubled in size.

The pull emanating from the vortex became significantly stronger, as if granted some kind of permission, it began to greedily “devour” the viscous black substance…