The plot wasn't supposed to go like this.
For a brief moment, Gao Cheng wanted to roar in furious protest—that wasn't how the scene was supposed to play out! The plot wasn't supposed to go like this! Why aren't you sticking to the plan?!
Ji Jue arrives, Ji Jue gets blasted to smithereens, Ji Jue dies.
Everyone has a good laugh and goes home happy.
What a perfect ending! What could possibly be wrong with that?!
Yet now, into a plot that had been smoothly and reasonably arranged, a scene-stealing prima donna had suddenly barged in, tearing up the script over the slightest disagreement and scribbling utter nonsense—until... in the blink of an eye, an old hen turned into a duck!
Earlier, the moment he received the spatial parameter anomaly warning from the Celestial Rail system, Ji Jue had leaned down without a second thought and pressed his hand against Little Niuma's chassis.
—*Deus Ex Machina*.
In an instant, the mechanisms buried beneath layers of intricate design were awakened and engaged.
Beneath the cumbersome car shell, the steel beast boldly tore free of its shackles. Immediately following that, it cast aside its usual weapons and claws, welcoming its ultimate transformation amidst an earth-shattering metamorphosis.
Shifting, evolving steel surged up in a riot, swallowing Ji Jue whole like a monstrous maw!
And the moment the White Harness carriage completed its teleportation, the dismemberment into ten thousand pieces that everyone anticipated failed to materialize. What manifested before their eyes was an eerie construct no one could have ever foreseen!
It was neither a frail craftsman nor the beastlike form Little Niuma once possessed.
The steel construct, which should have been a monster, merged with the craftsman into one. Yet after adopting a humanoid form, it seemed only more ferocious and terrifying.
No matter what it truly was, one thing was certain...
That was definitely no "mere craftsman"!
*Boom!*
The moment the sweet dream shattered, the iron palm and steel claws locked in a stalemate with Yue Chen shuddered violently, subtly deforming. Under endlessly mounting force, the steel construct smelted from countless alloys finally warped, fracturing with fissures.
Yet in the next second, the fissures rapidly sealed shut under the repair of Non-Offensive alchemy.
"Dream on!"
Yue Chen raised his other hand. The crushing weight of ten thousand jun of earth veins manifested, like mountains condensing into an iron hammer slamming down—yet what answered him was another raised steel claw.
The earth shook, and cracks spread beneath the armor's feet.
It held!
With the engine running rampantly, fiery light blazed fiercely in the armor's eyes. The metal face contoured by the blood rain seemed to wear a savage grin.
It stared straight at the enemy right before it.
Right after, the other two of its four arms deployed. One drew the anchor armor-piercing gun from the armament on its back, instantly aimed it at Yue Chen's face, and pulled the trigger—an iron rain of blazing light surged forth! The palm of the other hand unfolded, and Pan Ying shot out once more, a torrent of bloody light thrusting toward Yue Chen's abdomen!
Dodging behind Yue Chen, the Entropy user sprinted headlong, his jade axe slashing once more to sever kinetic energy, rendering the armor-piercing anchor shell powerless the instant it left the muzzle and turning it into a limp drill rod. At the same time, he raised his other palm, and frost rose from the ground, freezing the armor's legs to shackle its mobility.
And then, Pan Ying pierced straight through Yue Chen's body, emerging from his back.
Unfortunately, it failed to absorb any blood essence or life.
It was as if it had pierced a boulder, a dead object entirely devoid of blood essence—abyssal and vast, bottomless and borderless, falling into a boundless void where it could take no effect.
His Regeneration form manifested, covering the wound and thoroughly transmuting flesh and blood into inorganic iron-stone.
Now, the iron-stone contracted, locking the blade firmly in place.
At the same time, violent power erupted once more from that colossal frame—Yue Chen soundlessly parted his lips, and upon that emotionless face, an ecstatic, manic grin actually surfaced.
He threw his head back.
Throwing his entire weight in behind his shoulder and elbow, he slammed forward!
At such point-blank range, in the split second of their grapple, there was zero room to dodge.
A terrifying force sufficient to smash a humanoid tunnel straight through a mountain abruptly erupted, seeking to grind the entire suit of armor into dust.
Answering it was the searing plume of fire erupting from the armor's back.
Six propulsion engines ran in overdrive as dragon blood boiled.
An ear-piercing screech erupted. The armored behemoth's feet sank into the earth, and from within the frozen ice layer, dozens of wedge-like steel spikes shot out, anchoring it in place.
The moment before impact, meeting force with force, refusing to dodge or yield an inch toward the direction of his opponent's charge, he slammed forward first!
Like two iron mountains colliding, the earth tore apart, shockwaves rolled, eardrums were ravaged, and the rain of blood violently scattered in all directions.
Amid the expanding shockwaves, Yue Chen took a step back, looked up, and sneered.
While Ji Jue... had gone flying backward!
Tumbling uncontrollably like an artillery shell, his thrusters suddenly fired midair, bringing him to a crooked, stumbling landing.
The colossal armor was covered in cracks and warped all over, on the verge of being scrapped.
How could that be called a mere tackle? Ji Jue felt as if a whole mountain had jumped up and punched him square in the face!
Desolate Ruins was matter, eternal weight.
At this moment, under the terrifying might of the peak of Regeneration, the armor was gravely damaged!
Yet immediately after, a tooth-grinding screech of friction rang out again. Ignoring all external interference around it, it took another stride forward. Sparks flew as fractured steel rapidly knit together, twisted structures were hammered back into shape, and flowing silver light spread outward to restore everything, quickly returning it all to its original form.
As if completely unscathed!
Inside the armor, boiling dragon blood surged anew, flooding every structure and rapidly reinforcing the framework through the effects of Fluid Alchemy. Corruption alchemy violently siphoned the surrounding taint, causing pitch-black and crimson patterns to surface across the cracked outer composite armor, rendering it even more ferocious.
As for Ji Jue, he merely twitched his fingers with an expressionless face, triggering a control switch.
A stimulant drug shot into his carotid artery and rapidly dispersed through his body, dulling the agony and banishing the heavy darkness before his eyes, restoring clarity. Under the violent impact, the unabsorbed shockwaves had blasted into his body, yet very quickly, shattered limbs and ribs, as well as hemorrhaging internal organs, were forcibly restored to their proper positions.
Using himself as a tool, forcibly performing Deus Ex Machina, and then repairing himself like a machine—ignoring endless future repercussions just to sustain the present.
In mere moments, the armor and its pilot, who should have been severely crippled, returned to their original state.
Looking down upon all the shocked and furious faces, a raspy voice rang out from within the steel, laughing in mockery:
"Nothing special."
Having undergone round after round of testing and combat inside the Tower of Myriad Transformations, followed by endless simulated hours of revisions and refinements;
and then, with Isis's assistance, completing a design and construction far beyond expectations—in the end, this creative breakthrough born from Little Niuma was finally applied to Little Niuma's body right before the competition began!
Depleting the vast majority of materials from the Third Department of the Yacheng Security Bureau for modifications and processing, centered around the divine craftsmanship of dragon blood, the final product achieved was not merely a transport vehicle or a combat pet, but an outright machine of war.
Assault Niuma MK-IV!
The fury of dragon blood and the heaviness of Desolate Ruins manifested within the steel.
Its level of completion was high enough to cast off a dull, monotonous serial number and earn a unique designation and name—Desolate Ruins Armor: Dragon Mountain!
Now, Dragon Mountain roared, regaining its momentum in a heartbeat.
Drawing its blade with sheer ferocity, it charged forward once more!
After testing the waters and personally gauging its power output and defensive capabilities in real combat, Ji Jue no longer needed to waste time on trivialities. Linked and resonating under the blessing of the Sovereign Axis, all the weapons scattered across the surrounding area activated at once.
From beneath layers of mud, rock, and camouflage tarps, missile launchers slowly rose, spewing forth venomous flame and fiery light without the slightest hesitation.
And then, destruction rained from the sky!
Turning the blood-drenched battlefield into a sea of fire, napalm bombs mixed with heavy corruption taint burned fiercely. Doused in rainwater, far from showing any sign of extinguishing, they flared even more violently.
Inextinguishable flames of malice flowed in every direction. As the pervasive, spreading inferno surged, the sound of burning resembled wailing shrieks.
As though ignited from countless corpses.
And as hundreds of phlogiston bombs detonated in dense clusters, thousands of ripples cascaded through the air, and shrapnel sweeping across in crisscrossing barrages grew denser than the falling rain.
Turning everything in sight into hell!
In this hell, Dragon Mountain's engines redlined, snarling in delight like a demon.
Pan Ying slashed out, driving back the mutated, swelling Bashe, before spinning around to collide with Yue Chen once more. The blade cleaved down, then side-stepped into a violent retreat without hesitation, dodging the hyper-dense jet of energy that abruptly erupted from Yue Chen's palm.
The other hand discarded the emptied anchor armor-piercing gun and caught a submachine gun dropped by a speeding drone, spraying fire toward Gao Cheng and the Entropy user who were evading in the distance.
A firing rate exceeding a hundred rounds per second emptied the magazine in a flash. Faced with that deluge of bullets, the jade axe could not sever them all in time, forced into passive endurance.
An ice wall struggled to rise from the ground. After checking the onslaught for a split second, the two figures abruptly vanished from the spot, flashing to the far side of the battlefield.
"Wh-what do we do..."
The Entropy user's expression was panicked, his resolve shaken.
Gao Cheng's face was livid, his teeth clenched so tight he could not speak.
What to do? What the fuck do you think?! At a time like this, can't you say something actually fucking useful?
A plan they thought was a sure thing had suddenly become riddled with holes, their crushing advantage crumbling to pieces. They ban Ji Jue, and out jumps a Dragon Mountain armor; they ban Embers, and the bastard pulls out a Stagnant Rot more Profound than the fucking Profound itself; they ban his Sovereign Virtue buffs, only to discover the asshole was purely putting on an act—he's practically Great Sin certified...
Even if the people from the Evil Transmutation Cult came here and saw this, they'd probably roll their eyes back and give a thumbs-up: Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
Brother Ji Jue's stuff is just too pure!
Now, Gao Cheng's eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed the Entropy user tightly: "Can you still unleash the Stream of the Extreme Abyss's Wild Snow Frostburst?"
The Entropy Celestial Chosen froze for a moment, hesitating. But pinned under that gaze, he couldn't help but nod: "With preparation, I need at least three seconds..."
"Three seconds is enough."
Gao Cheng squeezed the words through his clenched teeth. On one hand, he scanned the surroundings to guard against the unseen White Stag's prying eyes; on the other, he roared an urgent shout over the channel formed by their blessed constructs, barking furiously: "Lü Yang, stop dragging your feet! Release all of the fish's blessings! At this point, do you still expect to walk away in one piece?!"
"—If he doesn't die today, we will!"
Chapter 371