Chapter 240 – Ultimate Defense Mode

Lu Yuan checked his [Martial Artist] professional panel.

He discovered that all the skills related to body training had disappeared from the panel.

For instance, [Crane Stance], [Spirit Crane Body], and [Ten Thousand Refined Body].

Even the nine external martial arts techniques that had not yet reached mastery were all gone.

Lu Yuan’s gaze tightened slightly.

The cultivation techniques and skills on his [Martial Artist] panel had consumed a significant amount of his time and effort.

If the fused panel effects were unsatisfactory, it would be a massive loss.

“Let’s give it a try first.”

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered as he scanned the surroundings of the training room he was currently in.

After a moment’s thought, he closed his eyes, chose to activate [Imaginary Enemy], and entered the Consciousness Space.

…

With a shift in the scene, Lu Yuan found himself back in the quarry he had been standing in a few minutes ago.

Before him stood the five-meter-tall Elephant Deity Emissary.

The giant figure exuded an oppressive natural presence.

Lu Yuan remained calm and focused his attention on the newly unlocked panel.

“[Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] activate!”

This was the first time Lu Yuan encountered a professional panel that needed to be actively initiated.

The moment the panel activated, it radiated with a brilliant light.

“Crack, crack—”

Uncontrollably, Lu Yuan’s body began to swell.

His skin turned red, muscles bulged, heat waves emanated, and black hair grew.

In an instant, he entered the two-and-a-half-meter, third-rank ultimate transformation.

However.

The growth in his size continued.

Three meters.

Three and a half meters.

Four meters.

The expansion only stopped when he reached just over five meters tall.

“Grown taller again.”

At this moment, Lu Yuan’s entire body was a deep red, with muscles knotted like pythons, gnarled roots, or glowing red-hot iron blocks.

He emitted astonishing heat waves, distorting the air within a ten-meter radius.

His arms were as thick as water barrels, and his legs were like two vast water tanks.

He had transformed into a giant; a normal adult man, even if standing on tiptoe, would likely not reach his thigh.

Lu Yuan felt he had swelled to an extreme, as if he was about to explode!

The blood coursing through his veins felt like molten lava, making him seem as though he could ignite at any moment.

Suddenly, a lifelike elephant man phantom, dozens of meters tall, appeared behind him.

The phantom rapidly shrank and merged into his body.

“Boom!”

The boiling Strength within him cooled immediately upon the phantom’s integration, and the surrounding heat waves abruptly retracted.

The scarlet red skin quickly turned pitch black.

The entire process resembled the quenching of a cold weapon.

Lu Yuan’s Strength solidified and settled, enhancing the rigidity, hardness, and toughness of his five-meter-tall body.

An unprecedented feeling of weight and solidity welled up within him.

“Phew—”

Lu Yuan exhaled a deep breath, trying to move his body.

He felt that with a slight lift of his hand, he could stir up a storm on flat ground; with a stomp of his foot, he could easily shatter the earth beneath him.

There was nothing he couldn’t overturn.

There was no existence that could overthrow him.

Except…

“A bit clumsy, though.”

Lu Yuan moved a bit more, quickly getting accustomed to his new form.

He then looked up at the Elephant Deity Emissary standing opposite him, his rough features forming a fierce smile far from any semblance of elegance.

He extended a hand towards the Emissary, thumb pointing downward, and said softly, “The Demon Mountain you worship will eventually crumble beneath my feet. The Elephant Deity will kneel and kiss my feet.”

“Swish!”

The single eye on the forehead of the elephant man suddenly opened, as if triggered by some mechanism, spewing forth a surge of violent rage and flames.

The elephant man let out a low roar, stomping the ground hard and charging fiercely at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan grinned, meeting the charge without fear.

“Boom!”

The two colossal beings, each over five meters tall, collided heavily, like two small mountains crashing together.

Energy waves spread out, but Lu Yuan stood firm, an unprecedented exhilaration rising from within.

There was no sense of oppression, no struggle, no heaviness.

[Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] had granted him a body as resilient as that of a true emissary level member of the Elephant Deity Sect.

Finally, he could engage in a one-on-one, head-on battle with an emissary-level elephant man purely on the physical level!

This was something he couldn’t achieve before, even with ten cultivation techniques activated and his defense maxed out.

“Boom!”

Lu Yuan lifted his hand and threw a punch, sending the elephant man flying.

He didn’t use any special power techniques, yet the boxing power he unleashed easily surpassed the 300-ton limit of his previous Third Rank Transformation.

The over five-meter-tall elephant man was sent flying hundreds of meters away by Lu Yuan’s punch, crashing into and shattering a small mountain in the distance.

It clambered out of the ruins, shook its head, and with a roar of anger, charged at Lu Yuan again.

Lu Yuan didn’t dodge; he didn’t even counterattack.

He stood still, squinting his eyes, watching as the elephant man’s figure grew larger, eventually slamming into him with a fierce impact.

“Boom!”

It was as though he was hit by a cannonball.

Lu Yuan was sent flying uncontrollably.

Moments later, he stood up as if nothing had happened.

He looked down at his unmarked chest, the curve of his smile growing wider.

He charged again.

Lu Yuan and the elephant man clashed like two prehistoric mammoths, engaging in a raw, no-holds-barred fight.

There were no techniques involved.

It was purely a collision of flesh against flesh.

The battle continued until Lu Yuan almost fully grasped the limits of [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance].

“Level 2 [Undefeated Instinct], activate!”

A point of silver light blossomed in Lu Yuan’s pupils, with king-level consciousness taking over his body, driven by an undefeated instinct.

In his Third Rank Transformation state, he could easily dominate the elephant man.

Once his physical strength matched the emissary level of the elephant deity sect,

the battle instantly shifted to “easy mode.”

Within just a few breaths, the emissary-level elephant man was reduced to shattered rubble at Lu Yuan’s feet.

Amidst the wreckage, a vigorously pounding heart of the Demon Mountain rapidly dimmed.

Lu Yuan maintained his “Emissary Stance,” standing quietly in place, reflecting on the fruits of his recent battle.

“[Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] has nearly pushed me entirely into the Level SS category, and it’s not just any ordinary Level SS. Activating Level 2 [Undefeated Instinct] should elevate me to SS+, or even higher,” he thought.

This was a significant leap in power for Lu Yuan.

“But there’s still a gap compared to my ultimate trump card-the Perfect Form after First Limit Break [Demon].

The [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] might match [Demon] in strength and even surpass it in defense, but it falls short in agility and overall combat effectiveness. The [Demon] form remains my most powerful state. This could only be considered my ultimate defense mode.”

However, the [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] had one advantage that his [Demon] form could not rival.

The [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] had no time limit, allowing Lu Yuan to maintain it indefinitely.

“More skills can be unlocked in the future, and the defense and strength points could see even further improvement.”

Lu Yuan looked at the bare panel with yet-to-be-unlocked skills, feeling increasingly satisfied.

Having dealt with the Elephant Deity’s curse this time, it was now time to explore the Evil Deity’s secret realm.

The Evil Deity’s secret realm harbored too many unknowns and dangers. With the impeccable defense of the [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] as his backup, he felt much more secure.

“45%”

Lu Yuan studied the progress bar behind the [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance (Extraordinary)] panel, his eyes shimmering with curiosity.

He wondered what changes would occur once the progress bar reached its maximum.

He looked forward to it.

“Boom!”

A terrifying heatwave swept through the land, seemingly melting everything in its path.

Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, exiting the Consciousness Space.

Just moments ago, he had tested the defensive limits of the [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] by pitting himself against the “credit-seeker” Lan Chen as his imaginary enemy.

The result was clear: “The modification system is still impressive. It’s outrageous that Lan Chen’s dark blue exoskeleton armor hid several small nuclear bombs.”

Lu Yuan took a slow sip of plain water from a glass at his side, calming his nerves after the nuclear bomb face-off.

The [Elephant Deity: Emissary Stance] was indeed strong, but its drawbacks were equally apparent.

Even emissary-level elephant men couldn’t fly. On land, they were nearly unmatched.

But against an SS-level modification or new martial arts system powerhouse like Lan Chen, who had flight ability, the shortcomings became glaringly obvious. He could only take hits passively.

“Pure martial artists who reach Grandmaster level are considered SS-level, yet they still can’t fly. No wonder they have fallen from favor,” Lu Yuan thought softly as he placed the empty glass cup back down. Ultimately, his [Demon] form was his true reliance.

Improving the [Demon] form was straightforward enough—it was based on his four basic attributes.

Enhancing these four attributes effectively meant enhancing the [Demon] form.

Currently, Lu Yuan had 4 attribute points in reserve. He glanced at his attribute panel.

Strength: 21, Agility: 20, Constitution: 22, Intelligence: 22.

His Agility was a bit lacking.

So, he decided to allocate all 4 attribute points to Agility.

Agility increased from 20 to [22 (Limit Break 1)].

“Crrr-crr-crack—”

As the points were allocated, Lu Yuan’s body emitted a series of subtle popping sounds.

In the four basic attributes, Agility represented not just speed, but also neural reaction speed, coordination, and balance.

He was sitting in a comfortable armchair and could clearly feel his body undergoing various minute adjustments and reconstructions, inching toward a more “perfect” state.

Looking out the shuttle window, the passing scenery outside seemed to freeze frame by frame, slowing to an extreme degree.

As Lu Yuan gradually adapted to this change, the scenes before him slowly returned to normal.

With a mere thought, the intelligent butler robot aboard the shuttle came over and refilled his glass with plain water.

At this moment, he was on a shuttle heading to Xiabang.

Instinctively, he touched the Mark of the Elephant Deity’s curse on his right chest.

After killing the last elephant deity emissary, the Mark seemed to have temporarily settled down.

It had been several nights since he last dreamed of the three-headed, six-armed figure atop Demon Mountain.

It seemed that, at least for now, the curse would not resurface.

Of course, when it did start heating up again, the entity coming for Lu Yuan would likely be an even more ferocious onslaught.

“Getting a steady supply of high-quality experience delivered right to my door,”

Lu Yuan thought quietly as he put his hand down, “is actually quite good.”

“Beep, beep, beep-“

Lu Yuan’s communicator suddenly emitted a notification sound.

He pulled up the message and glanced at it, his eyes briefly flickering.

The message read: “Are you here yet? I’ll come pick you up.”

The sender was Zhou Ling.

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and quickly replied, “I’ll come directly to you.”

There was a momentary pause from Zhou Ling’s end before a reply came: “Okay.”

Shortly afterward, Zhou Ling sent a set of coordinates.

Lu Yuan entered the coordinates into the shuttle’s navigation system, closed his eyes, and re-entered the Consciousness Space to face his imaginary enemies.