Inhuman

When ordinary mortals mutated, their consciousness altered as well; they lost their sanity, becoming brutal and bloodthirsty, fearing only more powerful aberrant creatures. When Spirit Realm walkers underwent mutation, the stronger their mental power, the more reason they retained. Yet in the best-case scenario, one merely became a madman who could communicate; cruelty and bloodlust became instincts engraved into their very bones, rendering them exceptionally dangerous. Moreover, the higher one's rank, the more skills one retained after mutation. Usually, it depended on the respective ranks of the caster and the mutated target. If a higher-ranking entity mutated a lower-ranking one in an overwhelming display of superiority, then even within the demigod realm, the target would retain no more than two skills. After mutating, the President cursed, "Holy shit!" and dashed on all fours toward the distant Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures. He needed the protection of this bound item of his. However, in his mutated state, his connection to the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures had been severed, and his inventory could not be opened. He had to reach it in person to make physical contact. Only then could the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures "recognize" its master. Gunther Raine, who had transformed into the Siren Scylla, completely ignored the fleeing Void demigod. He turned his head and looked around, his golden pupils sweeping across the arena that resembled a small continent. He could no longer see the Void demigod. Among the demigods watching from outside the arena, except for Asura and the Lord of the Stars, all were searching for the Void demigod's figure. From their perspective, the moment the Siren Scylla called out the Void demigod's Spirit Realm ID, he had vanished uncannily. Lurker! The prerequisite skill for Void Stealth, and the core skill of the Transcendent stage. This was one of only two skills the President could currently use. Realizing the Void demigod's trick, the Siren Scylla immediately altered his form. Brown feathers swiftly sprouted across his body, his legs retracted into talons, his arms spread into wings, and thick plumage erupted from his rump, fanning out into a tail. In an instant, he turned into a giant eagle with a five-meter wingspan, soaring into the sky like a helicopter. The giant eagle rolled its amber eyes and spotted the mutated monster sprinting madly toward the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures. "Skreech!" The giant eagle let out a shrill screech and dove down, talons gleaming with a metallic sheen as they reached for the running monster. The mutated monster suddenly bared his fangs, bit off his own left forelimb, and flung it into the sky, speaking in human tongue: "Let's do some business..." The eagle talons clawing toward him shifted targets, grabbing the dripping forelimb and carrying it into the air; mid-flight, the talons clenched, tearing the forelimb to shreds. Seizing the opportunity, the "mutated monster" exerted every ounce of strength he had, finally limping to the base of the tree. He raised a claw and pressed it against the trunk. The mutated monster threw back his head, glared up at the soaring giant eagle, and ground his teeth: "Time to let you taste the power of a pay-to-win player..." His eyes were resolute, his tone solemn, hovering somewhere between a chant and a lament: "Great Myriad Realms Mall! Aside from the Hurricane Origin, I trade all my possessions to you in exchange for a mighty strike of my class!" The Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures was the key to communicating with the Myriad Realms Mall; its master did not need exchange tickets to trade with the mall. Of course, the principle of equivalent exchange remained unchanged. The only difference was that the "equivalence" for the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures' master could be accumulated, whereas for users of exchange tickets, equivalence required equal rank. The former was a unique perk reserved for the master of the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures, an entitlement that belonged to the Void demigod. The Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures gave a resonant hum, its branches shaking violently. From the void descended a beam of pure blue light, penetrating the arena barrier to illuminate the crown of the tree. Then, the items and materials hanging from the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures began to vanish one by one, from lowest grade to highest. Tears welled in the President's eyes. As the items on the tree vanished, a blinding blue light cast down from an infinite height. Absorbed by the Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures, the blue light channeled through the thick trunk and flooded into the mutated monster's body. Descending along with the blue light were two stamps: one printed with intricate patterns in deep-blue ink, the other painted with golden pigment. It was worth mentioning that the essence of a Myriad Realms Mall exchange ticket was simply a shopping voucher for the Myriad Realms Mall. The Myriad Realms Mall recognized your wealth and hoped you would continue patronizing it. The mutated monster's bones cracked and popped as his spine straightened once more, restoring him to an upright primate form. The scales receded into his flesh, the fangs shrank back into his gums, and his ferocious head gradually returned to a human appearance. Without rushing, he opened his inventory and, before he had completely regained human form, fished out a silver mask to put on. Having regained human form, President Void watched as the giant eagle descended and shifted forms once again, turning into a gleaming golden lion with a glowing mane, its body looking as though cast in solid gold. Among the Ten Sons of the Demon God, this form possessed the strongest defense. The President sneered. Stepping forward, he brought his right fingers together into a hand-blade and shouted, "Taste my Great Spatial Cleave!" Hearing the words "Great Spatial Cleave," the veteran demigods' expressions subtly shifted. Back during the battle for the Compass of Light, the Void demigod had relied on this very technique to slay gods and buddhas alike, single-handedly suppressing three demigods at once. Across the arena, a rift spanning several kilometers ripped through space, and spatial shards hung suspended midair like glass fragments. The Great Spatial Cleave failed to tear open the space sealed by the dungeon, but right along the rift, the golden lion split apart in a burst of blood, its organs and flesh scattering across the ground. The golden lion struggled to reconstruct itself, but failed; with the resurrection thwarted, its life force dissipated rapidly. The persistent spatial rift meant that the space he occupied had split apart; situated within this torn space, he naturally could not "heal." Before long, all signs of life in the golden lion vanished, and it died completely. In the next second, the dead flesh regained vitality again and began the arduous process of healing, yet the pieces still could not stitch together. The President stood in the distance. The power gained from the transaction had already dissipated; even spending his entire fortune had only bought him a single strike surpassing his rank. Coldly watching the scene and the enemy who had reduced him to utter poverty, he jeered: "Is that all you've got? The Three-Headed Cerberus can only revive you three times, and you've already burned through one." The golden lion's head lifted, looking up toward the infinite heights, as if awaiting something. When he revived for the second time, left with only his final life, the response from the unknown depths finally arrived. An illusory, turbid stream descended from the heavens, smearing across the exterior of the dungeon like mucus before rapidly permeating through, drop by drop, and raining down onto the golden lion. This illusory, filthy torrent quickly formed a pool of "mud" around the golden lion, which then began digesting and dissolving the lion's severed limbs and organs, assimilating them. Gurgle, gurgle... Invisible bubbles welled up within the muddy mire, growing denser and more violent by the second. In moments, an ugly, phantom mass of flesh pushed out. It grew continuously, reaching ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters before barely coming to a halt. Then, it took on a crude humanoid form, developing limbs and a roughly human head, with giant pythons sprouting from its scalp to serve as hair. The pythons exhaled deep-purple toxic fumes. Across its bloated torso grew pairs of cold, sinister eyes, alongside gaping vent-holes. Pale beams of light radiated from the eyes, while mud-like pus oozed from the vents. Its chest, waist, and abdomen sprouted the heads of wild boars, lions, hounds, giant serpents, rams... packed densely together, a sight that struck terror into the depths of one's soul. The Smoker! "Forced out his trump card..." The President immediately entered Void Stealth, evading the petrification beams that radiated constantly in all directions. Once formed, The Smoker slowly raised a hand, pulling a massive chunk of deep-purple flesh from its inventory. The flesh was still throbbing, as though possessing life of its own. It swallowed the flesh in a single gulp. Instantly, the illusory form gained physical substance. The giant pythons atop its head spewed dense purple smoke that gathered into rolling clouds, and the beast heads across its body roared in unison, deafening the ears. An aura surpassing that of a demigod descended overwhelmingly. Among the demigods watching the battle, whether orthodox or evil, all suffered varying degrees of mutation: scales sprouted, stunted limbs grew, eyes turned into animal pupils, and more. Even with the arena's restrictions blocking it, the presence of a higher-ranking entity still affected them. The evil demigods cared not at all about their mutations, some even grinning with delight; by contrast, the orthodox demigods abandoned their former composure, exchanging glances heavy with grim apprehension. Ling Tuo raised his head slightly, gazing across the distance at the Lord of the Stars, and said calmly: "Void's trump card works once, but it loses its magic the second time around. Sacrificing demigod-tier items in exchange for multiple administrator privileges is indeed enough to sweep away demigods of the same rank. "However, as long as an entity of higher rank bestows power, his tricks are reduced to mere parlor games. Father, I never intended to fight you for the solar origin single-handedly. "I threw the Spirit Realm into turmoil and devoured the Merit Roster precisely to worsen the Spirit Realm's glitches, allowing those entities to further erode the Spirit Realm and influence the dungeons—all for this very moment. "Father, for all your exhaustive calculations, did you foresee that those entities would already be capable of interfering with dungeons and bestowing their power?" Throwing the Spirit Realm into turmoil, having the Demon Seed sacrifice itself to open the path to the Sun dungeon, igniting the demigod war, while supreme entities circled outside the dungeon, ready to descend power in support at any moment... All of this had been planned long in advance. With the Sun suppressing the Taiyin, he had to make dual preparations. His ostensible plan was to secretly assist Yuanshi Tianzun in leveling up, stalling Void and the God of Beauty while accelerating the cleansing of the solar divine power blanketing the Merit Roster— putting on the posture of trying to take control of the Merit Roster to commune with the Sun. If he could buy enough time to control the Merit Roster, that would naturally be ideal, granting him a greater chance of victory. If it failed, the backup plan would be activated: the Demon Seed would open the Sun dungeon and initiate the demigod team battle. ... Fujia Bay Villa. Zhang Yuanqing appeared in the bedroom. His presence brought a scorching aura into the room, instantly igniting flammable items like the curtains, bedding, sheets, and sofa. Having just advanced to level 9, he was not yet able to restrain his power properly. Level 9 already... Zhang Yuanqing's brow furrowed slightly. Once the agony of consuming the Three Powers Pills faded, his mind gradually cleared, and only now did he realize something was wrong. It should have been impossible for him to reach level 9! Using the Three Powers Pills to exploit a loophole was meant to boost spiritual power—for instance, possessing 90% combat power while sitting at a mere 1% EXP. This trick could only elevate raw strength, not character level. Because the bestowal of skills upon leveling up was granted by the character card; according to the character card's database, his current EXP should only have been level 8 at 23%. "Could Xiahou Aotian's earlier analysis have been flawed? When actual combat strength breaks past the current level, does the character card level up by default?" Zhang Yuanqing murmured under his breath. He felt that was unlikely, yet he couldn't find a more reasonable explanation. Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door. Drawn by the smell of thick smoke, Guan Ya hurried over from next door to check. She pushed the door open, catching the gaze of Yuanshi Tianzun as he turned around. At first, Guan Ya looked astonished, seemingly shocked by Yuanshi Tianzun's appearance. Then she abruptly lowered her head, like a common woman who had accidentally caught sight of an emperor's countenance, tense and brimming with trepidation. She realized something was wrong with her reaction; she knew this was her boyfriend, the closest person to her in the world. Yet she simply did not dare to look up. "I've advanced to level 9 and haven't reined in my power yet. Step outside for now," Zhang Yuanqing said calmly, his tone like a monarch issuing an imperial decree. Guan Ya nodded instinctively and backed out of the room in flustered panic. Zhang Yuanqing's gaze swept over the raging flames. In the next second, the fire went out, leaving behind rolling plumes of smoke. With a gentle wave of his hand, a gust of wind rose abruptly, sweeping all the smoke out through the window. Zhang Yuanqing walked into the bathroom and stood before the mirror, examining himself. On his forehead, a golden-lacquered sun seemed solidified, no longer fading away. His skin had taken on a faint golden hue, shimmering under the bathroom lighting. His hair was still black, but upon closer inspection, faint golden light could be seen shimmering beneath the strands. His pupils were no longer light brown, but a brilliant gold. "I hardly look human anymore..." Zhang Yuanqing whispered. He knew this was the transformation brought about by a Day Wanderer specializing in the Sun upon reaching level 9 and grasping rules—just like the Taiyi Sect's First Elder, the Crimson Sun Executioner. Once he became a peak Dominator, the surrounding environment would also gradually change in response to his presence. For this reason, every peak Dominator and demigod was a solitary recluse. They dared not spend long periods with family; power capable of altering the environment would inevitably affect mortals. Most high-ranking figures secluded themselves in desolate, uninhabited places, only occasionally meeting their families, or else settling them nearby— such as within the same mountain. Zhang Yuanqing now understood a bit why his uncle never stayed at home, roaming around outside during the day, and slipping out to roam while his aunt was asleep at night. It was to prevent his family from mutating, or dying from mutation. He also understood why the ancestors of Spirit Realm clans all lived in solitary seclusion within their ancestral compounds. Zhang Yuanqing opened the faction panel, initiated the "Mohist Mechanism City" dungeon, and vanished from the bathroom. At the foot of towering mountain ranges, before the entrance to a dense forest. Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory and brought out a magnificent, golden crown hung with beaded curtains.