Chapter 310 – Panel Stacking, Grandmaster Ming King!

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered as he looked at the paintings etched into the stones.

He believed that the three-headed, six-armed elephant man depicted in the paintings was likely the one who cursed him in the elephant deity dreamscape.

This figure held a high position within the elephant man tribe.

If the four-armed elephant men were the leaders of individual cairn tribes, then this figure… must be the king of all elephant men.

“I was cursed by the elephant man king…”

“Because I killed the emissary it sent to retrieve the key to the secret realm.”

“It did not want the secret realm to be opened, for fear of disturbing the slumbering members of its tribe…”

Thoughts churned in Lu Yuan’s mind as he considered how the elephant men appeared to have “died” in a peculiar manner, as if performing a grand collective sacrificial ritual.

The object of their worship was obvious-it had to be the elephant deity.

But why had they “perished”?

Was it because they lost their connection to the elephant deity and sought to regain it through this method?

“Over an incredibly long period, the strength within the elephant men dwindled, their souls and consciousness faded, and their flesh gradually turned to stone.

Their king, the three-headed, six-armed elephant man, because of his immense power, had not entirely succumbed even now.

He continued waiting, hoping for the day their believed elephant deity would descend once more…”

Lu Yuan roughly pieced together an ancient truth.

However, considering the existence of so many ancient elephant deity creatures within the secret realm, his theory seemed somewhat flawed.

“Why hadn’t those ancient evil deity creatures in the secret realm, who were tainted and assimilated by the elephant deity’s power, died off? Why hadn’t they turned to stone but retained their flesh?

Perhaps the truth behind the elephant man tribe’s demise wasn’t as simple as I thought…”

Lu Yuan continued to examine the stone paintings.

There were no more valuable clues.

The descent of the three-headed, six-armed elephant man king was an event of great honor for this cairn tribe, prompting them to record it on the stones.

Lu Yuan jumped off the cairn, following the heat emanating from the elephant deity curse on his chest, and continued onward.

There were many elephant man tribes scattered across the black plain, with huge cairns located far apart from each other.

Lu Yuan had been running for quite some time before he finally found the third cairn.

Like the previous two, this one was also surrounded by kneeling elephant men.

This time, Lu Yuan didn’t rush in immediately. His eyes flashed as he quietly activated the [Elephant Deity: Ming King Stance (Extraordinary)] panel.

“Boom!”

The immense power inherited from the demon mountain surged within him, erupting like a flood or a volcano.

His body began to swell instantly, the perfect grandmaster body rapidly reconstructed, growing wildly in an archaic and primeval manner.

“Crack, crack, crack-“

Continuous bone-cracking sounds.

Lu Yuan’s original height of 1.9 meters quickly broke through to 3 meters, then 5 meters, then 7 meters…

Large bulges grew from the back of his neck and under his ribs. The bulges soon burst open, revealing a new head and two enormous, muscular arms.

“Boom-“

A terrifying aura, like a flood, radiated outward from Lu Yuan, forming a massive, visible shockwave.

Nine meters!

Compared to when he first unlocked the “Ming King Stance,” the power of this stance had increased several times over.

“67% of the experience bar didn’t go to waste…”

Lu Yuan felt his current state. His bones and flesh, blood and marrow surged with an indescribable, terrifying Strength, as if he could flip the ground before him with a single push.

“When I first unlocked the Ming King Stance, it already had stable SSS combat power. Now that the experience is up to 67%, the combat power is probably SSS+…”

Lu Yuan speculated.

Switching to the [Elephant Deity] professional panel, Lu Yuan’s grandmaster body underwent modification. The blood sphere on his chest disappeared, transforming into a faint blood-red ring tattoo at the center of his chest.

There were also more faint bloodlines on his elephant deity form, making him look noticeably different from regular four-armed elephant men.

This aspect was somewhat similar to his [Demon] form, only not as extravagant.

Upon activating his elephant man form, perhaps affected by his aura, the kneeling elephant men in front of the cairn began to wake up before he even approached.

“Roar-“

Ancient trumpet-like roars echoed across the plain as dozens of enormous figures charged towards Lu Yuan.

“Even attacking their own kind?!”

Lu Yuan muttered in a gruff voice. He stomped the ground, creating an exaggerated pit, and lunged forward, tearing through the air with a thunderous momentum.

Ordinary elephant men were no more than seven meters tall. Compared to Lu Yuan, who had grown to nine meters in height, they seemed like underdeveloped “bean sprouts.”

Lu Yuan’s arms suddenly reached forward, gripping the heads of two nearby elephant men, one with each hand. He then smashed their heads together with a fierce force…

“Boom!”

The two elephant men collided heavily, their heads exploding from the impact.

“It’s definitely easier now…”

Lu Yuan casually shook off the stone fragments from his fingers. His four arms swirled like windmills around his body, swatting away several approaching elephant men.

He charged into the midst of the elephant men like an unstoppable juggernaut.

“Whirr-“

Suddenly, a small mountain-like mass descended from above, accompanied by thunderous roaring sounds.

Lu Yuan looked up, the eyes of both his heads gleaming.

In the next second, the blood-red ring on his chest lit up, and a vast amount of black energy erupted from his pores.

“Divine Elephant: Domain Break!”

Lu Yuan thrust his four fists forward. The black energy coalesced around his fists in an instant, then exploded outward.

“Boom!”

His four enormous fists struck the chest of a descending four-armed elephant man with no finesse.

The elephant man didn’t have time to make a sound before its massive body shattered into countless pieces, scattering into the sky.

“[Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] panel skills still work!”

Lu Yuan looked at his hands, observing the tangible black energy flowing between his fingers.

Qi!

On a whim, he had tried to activate a skill from the [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] panel and discovered it actually worked.

Though the blood sphere in his body had recessed, it was still there in essence.

“Why has the Grandmaster’s Qi changed like this…?”

The originally platinum Qi had become pure black. It must be due to the different structures of the elephant deity body and Lu Yuan’s original grandmaster body, leading to a significant change in the form of Qi produced.

“Does this mean I’m the only elephant man in the world who knows martial arts?!”

Lu Yuan’s eyes gleamed as he looked down at the death energy-filled elephant men rushing towards him, unable to suppress his laughter. “Have any of you ever seen… a Grandmaster Ming King?!”

Unfortunately, none of the elephant men responded to his words; they just kept charging at him mindlessly.

“What a bunch of uncultured…”

Lu Yuan shook his head and leaped forward.

Moments later, surrounded by fragments of stones, Lu Yuan sat cross-legged under the cairn, holding a pile of blackened elephant man hearts.

His four arms hung naturally, his towering and imposing body resembling a small, mighty mountain.

“… Using [Grandmaster skills] with the Ming King’s Body affects the control and precision of my Strength compared to my [Grandmaster body], but the destructive power is several times greater. My combat power is skyrocketing. However, it also consumes more of the blood sphere…”

“Is this some form of profession fusion?

No, to be precise, it should be panel stacking!”

The combination of different profession skills created unexpectedly dazzling results for Lu Yuan.

He had tried this before and found that it significantly boosted his combat power.

Now that several of his professions had been significantly enhanced, the combined Effect was undergoing a qualitative transformation.

“In the [Grandmaster Ming King Stance], I could probably easily overpower third-stage Yin Muqing…”

Lu Yuan thought idly, then crushed each elephant man heart before him, absorbing the remaining elephant deity power from within.

He watched the progress bar on the [Elephant Deity: Ming King Stance (Extraordinary)] panel increase.

68%…

69%…

As the progress bar grew, Lu Yuan could also feel his internal Strength increasing.

Lu Yuan felt like the potential of the elephant deity body was truly limitless.

If a normal human body is like a cup of water, when it’s full, you need to break and reassemble the entire cup to add even a little more water. This is why a martial artist constantly needs to break through human limits. The elephant deity body, however, doesn’t have this concern.

Its starting point is more like a large vat; water can be poured in with ease, without any burden.

“Indeed, as long as you’re not human… getting stronger is quite simple…”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh.

The elephant man tribe is a race born from ordinary humans modified by elephant deity power. They are two completely different forms of life.

Perhaps a part of the Mark of the elephant deity is ingrained in their genes, greatly enhancing their potential.

As Lu Yuan pondered this, he watched the progress bar increase.

Initially, it filled up smoothly, but when it hit 79%-suddenly… it stalled!

Lu Yuan quickly absorbed the remaining elephant man hearts, including one from a double-headed four-armed elephant man. A substantial amount of elephant deity power was absorbed into his body, but the progress bar remained stuck at 79%.

“What’s going on?”

Lu Yuan frowned and carefully inspected his body.

He eventually found several small, slightly raised bumps under his ribs and around his neck.

He seemed to have identified the reason for the stall.

“Am I showing signs of evolving from double-headed four-armed to three heads and six arms? Preparing to advance from an elephant man leader to an elephant man king?!”

Lu Yuan blinked, a sudden realization dawning upon him.

He had originally thought the three heads and six arms form would unlock at the next stage, not expecting it to be a part of the Ming King Stance.

“It appears that three heads and six arms is the final form of the Ming King; the double-headed four-armed form was just the beginning…”

Lu Yuan stood up from the ground, leaped onto the nearby cairn, and reviewed all the drawings on the stones.

Unfortunately, there were no new insights to be found.

His fusion progress for the [Student] and [Ancient Language Expert] panels also seemed stuck at over 60%.

Not wasting any time, Lu Yuan headed straight for the next grinding spot.

Because the main reason for switching to the elephant deity panel was to conserve the blood sphere, Lu Yuan refrained from using Qi-based skills for the time being.

However, skills like [Grandmaster Exertion] and [Grandmaster Instinct] didn’t consume much energy at all.

The Grandmaster’s exertion techniques and combat consciousness, combined with the terrifying physique of the Ming King Stance, allowed Lu Yuan to grind through enemies much faster than in his usual Grandmaster state.

Not to mention ordinary elephant men, even double-headed four-armed leader-level elephant men were easily defeated by him.

The Grandmaster Ming King was truly overpowering.

It’s the difference between smashing people with a Guan Dao and using a Guan Dao to execute intricate blade techniques. The gap in combat effectiveness was incomparable.

After grinding through three cairns in succession, Lu Yuan’s [elephant deity] panel was still stuck at 79%.

The bumps under his ribs and around his neck were growing larger, suggesting a breakthrough was imminent.

Not only that, but he also discovered a new series of drawings in one of the elephant man tribes’ cairns.

This series of drawings…

Depicted the birth of an elephant man king.

…