Chapter 253 – [Demon Mountain’s Blessing], Who’s Next?

Xie Jun rushed forward in a gallop, grabbing the female team member whose half of hair had been accidentally knocked away by Lu Yuan’s punch.

Grinding his teeth, he slapped her hard on her severely sunken-in face on one side, which was swollen like a pig’s head on the other.

An adrenaline injection went in while she was slowly regaining consciousness, and Xie Jun quickly retreated with another team member.

The three of them retreated beyond the death energy crystalline wall.

They watched as the massive black death energy mushroom cloud slowly rose within the crystalline wall and exploded with a thunderous roar.

The terrifying shockwave shook the entire crystalline wall, causing countless fine cracks to appear.

It was horrifying.

Xie Jun and his two companions looked at each other in terror.

Under such frightening death energy scouring, if they had stayed where they were, they would have instantly woken up in the cloned body freezing chambers.

This was the pressure on the outskirts, what about the center of the death energy explosion?

“That person is definitely dead!”

Another Golden Bear team member said despondently, “Even a level SS Flying Bear couldn’t survive an attack from four emissary-level enemies. Let’s go, Old Xie…”

Xie Jun nodded slightly with a complex expression.

At this moment, the intelligent brain’s evil energy monitoring function had returned to normal, clearly detecting four strong evil energy waves of level SS or above within the black death energy crystalline wall.

Two of them even reached SS+.

Just as his companion said, even a similarly ranked Flying Bear couldn’t survive in such circumstances.

For some reason.

Xie Jun felt a strange sense of relief.

“Although the death of the extraordinarily powerful mysterious Golden Bear colleague was disappointing, at least he no longer had to worry about whether that person was… him.

Xie Jun took a deep breath and was about to leave with the remaining two companions.

Just as he turned around, he heard a strange wave behind him.

“Crack, crack”

Accompanied by the sound of something collapsing.

Xie Jun abruptly turned back.

The sound came from within the death energy crystalline wall.

The thick death energy crystalline wall blocked the view, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

A flicker of light flashed quickly in Xie Jun’s eyes, and suddenly, an inexplicable determination settled in.

“Let’s go.”

He called to his companions, and the three of them moved quickly to the gap in the crystalline wall they had just escaped from.

Through the human-sized gap, Xie Jun and his two companions saw—

The battle group inside, where the death energy was slowly dispersing.

Four emissaries, neither fully crows nor humans, stood in a quadrilateral position.

In their center, unknown when it had appeared, was a ten-meter-tall black pyramid, covered in magical runes, shaped like a small mountain.

At this moment, the black pyramid was cracking and collapsing…

Large chunks of black rock fell.

Before long, from within the collapsing black pyramid, a figure over five meters tall, strong and towering like a giant, was fully revealed.

This giant was wearing a set of dark blue protective suits exclusive to Golden Bears, which were almost stretched into a thin layer of gauze but still stubbornly fit this mountain-like massive figure.

Xie Jun and his two companions’ pupils contracted instantly, their brains seemingly struck hard by something.

“Buzz—”

Their minds were left spinning with a single thought — it was him! He survived! How could he possibly not be dead?!

…

“Whoosh—”

Lu Yuan exhaled a long breath of impure air, a sense of relief mixed with gratitude surfacing in his mind.

In the [Elephant Deity Emissary Stance (Extraordinary)] panel he had already activated, a skill was now shining brilliantly.

lv1 [Demon Mountain’s Blessing]!

As the name suggests, this skill summoned the power of an ancient demon mountain to provide him with an indestructible shield.

Lu Yuan had always considered himself a “non-luck player,” but reality proved that even the unlucky have their moments.

In the [Elephant Deity Emissary Stance (Extraordinary)] panel, he had casually unlocked a skill, which immediately proved useful.

If not for this skill, under the sudden attack of four emissary-level Crowmen, even his elephant deity emissary body might have been breached.

The massive black pyramid collapsed with a rumbling sound, like a lord shedding armor, revealing Lu Yuan’s majestic form.

With his height increased to over five meters, the four Crow Deity emissaries, each with an average height of over two meters, looked like children in the eyes of an adult in front of him.

“Swish!”

One of the crow deity emissaries was the first to launch an attack.

This emissary-level Crowman, with a stout and burly frame and a head mutated to resemble a crow, suddenly appeared above Lu Yuan’s head as if he had teleported.

Its arms, replaced by two large black scythes, swung down viciously at Lu Yuan’s head. The edges of the scythes flashed with a sinister sharpness.

Lu Yuan watched as the air in front of him was smoothly cut open. His eyes flickered slightly.

He swiftly raised his arm and struck a devastating blow at the attacker’s chest.

The terrifying force of hundreds of tons slammed in, only to feel like it hit light, soft cotton.

The attacker paused, then dispersed like smoke.

“Hmm?!”

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow, just as he was about to pursue.

“Whoosh—”

A sharp wind whistled by his ears.

He quickly looked up to see a massive black scythe, over ten meters long and several meters wide, formed entirely of condensed death energy, swinging diagonally toward him.

He hastily sidestepped.

The enormous black scythe narrowly missed his body.

It landed on the ground, slicing through it like soft tofu, leaving a deep, dark chasm.

As he dodged the death energy giant scythe’s attack, several burning black fireballs came rushing toward him.

Lu Yuan punched forward.

He deliberately struck into the air, sending out rippling distortions of transparent shockwaves.

The black fireballs were dispersed, but some stray flames splashed onto his body, even the Elephant Deity Emissary Stance couldn’t fully withstand them.

A small patch of flesh was burned and corroded, sending a slight sting that sharpened Lu Yuan’s focus.

At that moment, the fourth emissary-level Crowman joined the fray with an attack…

In just a few quick exchanges, Lu Yuan appeared slightly disheveled.

The pure Elephant Deity Emissary Stance temporarily elevated his physical attributes to the emissary level.

But facing the onslaught from four emissary-level opponents, he was finding it difficult to keep up.

“Interesting…”

Lu Yuan calmed himself slightly, then gently moved his body.

His massive, towering frame made sounds akin to grinding rocks.

His dark, deep red eyes quietly turned into pure silver.

The thought of relying solely on brute strength was completely dismissed as he quietly activated lv2 [Undefeated Instinct].

His originally imposing and heavy aura now carried a touch of the serene coldness of a winter lake.

“Crack, crack, crack—”

Huge swathes of death energy began to converge, forming black patterns across his five-meter-tall form, and the crystalline underworld garment quickly extended over him.

The moment lv4 [Underworld Garment] was fully attached…

“Boom!”

Lu Yuan suddenly stomped his foot hard.

From his center, the ground beneath him rippled outward like water.

His enormous body, now seemingly clad in heavy armor, abruptly vanished.

In the next second, he appeared as if by teleportation in front of the emissary-level Crowman with scythe-like arms.

Seeing Lu Yuan’s sudden appearance, the Crowman’s dark eye sockets flickered with scarlet light.

It raised its arms, crossing the two black scythes, and slashed them fiercely at Lu Yuan.

Faced with the scythes that could easily leave clear cuts in the air, Lu Yuan’s expression remained unchanged. His right hand suddenly opened wide.

His hand, as large as an average person’s torso, easily enveloped the two black scythes.

The blades clashed against his underworld garment-covered palm, sending out a shower of sparks and emitting a piercing screech reminiscent of cutting metal.

The noise stopped abruptly.

Lu Yuan clenched his hand, holding the two black scythes tightly and lifting the emissary-level Crowman off the ground.

Swinging his right arm, the air seemed to echo with the roar of an elephant.

“Boom—”

Lu Yuan swung fiercely, using the Crowman as a weapon and smashing it into another nearby Crowman. The two figures collided and were sent flying with a loud crash.

“Swish—”

Scythes and fireballs followed in quick succession.

They came at Lu Yuan from all directions, ready to engulf him.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Yuan activated lv1 [Demon Mountain’s Blessing] again.

“Rumble, rumble!”

The ground beneath his feet quickly collapsed, while dark stone walls rose rapidly around him.

Black death-energy scythes and fireballs bombarded the black stone walls heavily.

“Bang!”

Countless black stones shattered, and a figure like an ancient mammoth burst out fiercely from within.

His foot crushed a large section of the ground as he appeared unstoppably before an emissary-level Crowman.

A lifelike phantom of an elephant-headed human briefly appeared behind him, then rapidly shrank and converged on his enormous, barrel-sized black fist.

“Ultimate Exertion!”

His already thick arm swelled even larger as the power funneled into his fist, causing the surrounding air to distort and collapse sharply.

“Boom!”

This punch, delivered with no flourish, struck directly on the Crowman’s body.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

The Crowman’s form was fixed in place before it could utter a sound—a “bang” resounded, and it exploded into a large cloud of black sand.

Lu Yuan opened his fist, his rough fingers stirring the black sand, and grabbed a thumb-sized black bead.

He added it to the bead he had obtained earlier.

Then, he casually tossed both into his mouth, chewing them with a loud crunch like eating broad beans.

Expressionless, he turned around, and swathes of death energy gushed out from him.

The underworld garment that covered his entire body quickly thickened and the patterns grew, seeming to evolve to a higher level under the nourishment of the death energy.

A pulse throbbed in his forehead, yet his eyes remained emotionless.

His silver eyes scanned the remaining three emissary-level Crowmen, and he cracked a cold, white smile.

“Who’s next?”

…

“Pant—pant—”

Xie Jun and the others stood outside the crystalline wall, watching the battle from afar.

Although their bodies remained still, their breathing grew increasingly rapid.

They watched as the over five-meter-tall figure rampaged among the four emissary-level Crowmen, charging and colliding without rhyme or reason, and swiftly killing one with overwhelming force.

The strength and techniques he displayed were beyond their imagination and understanding.

“What kind of strength system is this? Pure martial artist? Evil martial arts?”

“Is this Golden Bear Level? Even a regular Fei Xiong Level can’t do this, right?”

Xie Jun and his companions were filled with question marks and exclamations, feeling parched and dry-mouthed.

Logic told them that this was undoubtedly the best chance to escape the dangerous situation, but the ongoing battle seemed to have a strange, compelling power that glued their feet to the ground, making them want to keep watching.

Suddenly, at that moment.

A peculiar wave of energy emerged from a distance.

Swept by this wave, Xie Jun and his companions felt as if they were suddenly awakened from a deep dream. They abruptly raised their heads.

Before they could figure out where the wave came from, they saw…

“Crack, crack-“

The enormous crystalline wall of black death energy in front of them suddenly developed large cracks.

Then, inexplicably…

It collapsed with a thunderous boom, disintegrating into countless amounts of death energy.