"This is... a nuclear bomb!"
Lu Changsheng finally confirmed it.
This was indeed a nuclear bomb!
In truth, Lu Changsheng had learned that although this world followed the path of technology—and had decent technology at that, with the internet, all kinds of electrical appliances, satellites, and the like—it uniquely lacked nuclear weapons.
A crucial link seemed to be missing.
Or perhaps its tech tree simply had not unlocked atomic fission.
Yet now, a nuclear bomb had appeared.
It had to be the secret weapon developed by the Yanlong Federation.
Furthermore, Lu Changsheng had taken the brunt of the strike directly above him.
He was only a few hundred meters from ground zero.
This meant he was facing a nuclear detonation head-on!
*Boom!*
In that instant of the nuclear detonation, the temperature abruptly soared past a terrifying ten thousand degrees!
However, it lasted for only a fleeting moment, and only at the very core.
Soon, the heat dropped to around five thousand degrees, accompanied by a shockwave, before falling further to over two thousand degrees.
The main threats a nuclear bomb posed to the human body were extreme heat, shockwaves, and radiation.
The most lethal were truly the heat and the shockwave.
As for the radiation, Lu Changsheng's quaternary growth physique should be able to withstand it.
Yet the extreme heat and shockwave had to be weathered immediately with his physical body!
*Hum.*
The moment the bomb went off, Lu Changsheng swelled to over ten meters tall.
Though growing beyond ten meters might cause him to absorb more damage, it was also his form with the strongest defense.
The power of this nuclear bomb undoubtedly reached the Dao Foundation level.
Perhaps even the peak of the Dao Foundation!
Lu Changsheng did not dare be the slightest bit careless.
"Come on, then."
Standing ten meters tall, Lu Changsheng met the nuclear blast head-on.
He would withstand a nuclear bomb with his flesh and blood!
In the next breath, the terrifying heat, flames, and shockwave engulfed him entirely.
Around Yudu, countless people stared dumbfounded at the colossal fireball hanging in the air.
With a disturbance this massive, how could anyone remain unaware?
"What... what is that?"
"An earthquake? A hurricane? Or... a wildfire?"
"Stop kidding yourself! Didn't you see that wave of missile strikes just now? This has to be the secret weapon the Yanlong Federation developed..."
"Look at the news! A flash bulletin from the Yanlong Federation—they've claimed responsibility for striking the Yulong Kingdom and are urging the kingdom to surrender immediately!"
"The Yanlong Federation possesses a weapon capable of ending the world. Yudu is finished, and the Yulong Kingdom is finished too..."
Many citizens of the Yulong Kingdom fell into despair, their hearts turning to ashes.
Courage?
Numbers?
What good were they against an apocalyptic weapon like this?
In fact, not just the Yulong Kingdom, but the entire world was shaken.
Such an earthshaking event, such a terrifyingly powerful weapon—now laid bare before the eyes of the world.
Recording equipment everywhere captured it with utter clarity.
Almost the entirety of Yudu had been reduced to ruins.
And this was only a single weapon.
A single weapon had wiped out Yudu.
What if there were ten? A hundred?
Such a horrifying weapon was now in the hands of the Yanlong Federation.
What did that mean?
Other nations knew all too well.
The Yanlong Federation could threaten the entire world!
Perhaps the whole globe would be dragged into war by them.
"Quick, investigate! Find out what that weapon is, now!"
"What is the intelligence department even doing? The Yanlong Federation secretly built such a horrifying weapon, and our intelligence never noticed? Where are the reports?"
"We must immediately determine what kind of weapon this is! If the Yanlong Federation has it, we must have it too!"
"To think the Yanlong Federation achieved a successful test so quickly, and even deployed it on Yudu! How many died from this? Where does our own research stand?"
"This must be the weapon developed from atomic fission that the expert panel reported on. When those experts described the dreadful energy atomic fission could unleash, I dismissed it. But seeing Yudu's devastation... if anything, they understated it. This weapon is far too terrifying..."
In an instant, intelligence agencies across numerous nations sprang into action, desperate to uncover every shred of information about this weapon.
Of course, many nations were secretly researching atomic fission.
They knew about nuclear weapons.
Yet the Yanlong Federation had unquestionably advanced the fastest.
They had even deployed the weapon in live combat, whereas the others were still conducting tests.
Now that the blast had passed, Yudu had been reduced to an expanse of rubble.
Once the commotion subsided slightly, the members of the Limit Martial Arts Hall crawled out from the air-raid shelter.
Gazing at the devastation all around, Senior Sister Xiang was deeply shaken.
"What... what kind of weapon is this?"
"Wait, where is the Sect Master? Where is he?"
"Quick, go find the Sect Master..."
Her voice turned frantic and trembled.
She was terrified.
Even if Lu Yuan was invulnerable to blades and spears, could catch bullets bare-handed, endure explosions with his flesh, and even smash a ten-thousand-ton warship with a single punch... could human strength really contend with what lay before them?
This was plainly a natural catastrophe, an apocalyptic weapon.
How could a body of flesh and blood withstand it?
"Calm down!"
"Senior Sister Xiang, please calm down!"
The others held her back.
Under these circumstances, how could they not understand? Lu Yuan was almost certainly dead.
Even as the pioneer who had ushered in the era of evolvers, he seemed insignificant and powerless before such a world-ending weapon.
Against power like that, Lu Yuan had likely been turned to ash in an instant.
*Rumble...*
Suddenly, a building collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The crowd hastily retreated to an open area.
Surrounded by devastation, the members of the Limit Martial Arts Hall were at a loss.
"Save people!" Senior Sister Xiang regained her composure.
In a situation like this, their priority had to be rescuing anyone who might have survived.
Yet Senior Sister Xiang herself walked step by step toward ground zero.
Even though she suspected not even Lu Yuan's bones remained, she still wanted to see for herself.
She clung to the hope of a miracle.
She drew closer to the center of the blast.
Yet the closer she came, the more her heart sank in dread.
The closer to ground zero, the clearer the horrifying might of this world-ending weapon became.
The ground had turned to scorched earth.
Cars were blown to pieces.
Countless objects had been vaporized outright.
In such conditions, how could Lu Yuan possibly have survived?
Yet as she drew nearer still, Senior Sister Xiang abruptly froze.
Her eyes widened, fixed straight ahead.
Before her stood a ten-meter-tall figure.
The silhouette stood motionless in place, completely blackened like charcoal.
From afar, it resembled a scorched statue.
Yet Senior Sister Xiang knew very well: this was the very core of the blast.
Even a real statue would have been pulverized long ago; how could it remain intact?
"Could it be... the Sect Master?"
Senior Sister Xiang approached step by step.
She reached out and touched the ten-meter-tall frame.
The texture was rough, as if it truly had been turned to coal.
*Crack.*
Suddenly, the charred shell moved.
Fissures appeared across the blackened crust, spreading and multiplying.
The cracks steadily broke apart, revealing fair skin beneath.
"This is..."
Realization seemed to strike Senior Sister Xiang, and she snapped her head up.
As the charred crust flaked away, the blackened face revealed its true features.
"Sect Master! It really is you!"
"You're alive?"
Senior Sister Xiang was beside herself with joy.
Lu Yuan hadn't died!
This was nothing short of miraculous!
Lu Yuan looked down at Senior Sister Xiang.
He quickly controlled his frame, shrinking back down to his normal size.
With a slight shake of his body, the blackened char cascaded to the ground.
"That really was a close call," Lu Changsheng said with a smile as he looked at her. "The power of a nuclear bomb is truly formidable. If I hadn't achieved quaternary growth, granting me both monstrous defense and terrifying regenerative power, I really might have died..."
He had been right at ground zero.
The instant heat of thousands to tens of thousands of degrees had nearly reduced his body to ash.
Yet a quaternary growth physique—comparable to the Dao Foundation—had allowed him to endure it.
Moreover, his tremendous regenerative power had swiftly repaired his injuries.
Lu Changsheng had essentially taken the full brunt of a nuclear detonation head-on.
And even that bomb had failed to kill him.
"Sect Master, I thought you..."
Lu Changsheng shook his head. "Nothing in this world can kill me. Let's go. We're heading out."
With that, Lu Changsheng led Senior Sister Xiang outward, step by step.
Outside, the members of the Limit Martial Arts Hall were scattering to rescue people.
Yet whom could they possibly save?
The hall was extremely close to ground zero. Anyone who hadn't made it into an air-raid shelter was essentially dead.
No one had survived.
Just as they were discussing whether to search further outward, troops from the Yulong Kingdom arrived, accompanied by several high-ranking officials and what seemed to be news reporters.
They did not know the horrors of radiation. Having luckily survived in underground shelters, they had emerged as soon as the blast ended.
Their first stop was the Limit Martial Arts Hall.
"Where is Mr. Lu?"
"How is Mr. Lu?" a senior official of the Yulong Kingdom immediately asked.
Lu Yuan was of paramount importance to the kingdom, especially now.
The Yanlong Federation wielded an apocalyptic weapon. Without Lu Yuan, how could the Yulong Kingdom hope to stand against them?
At his question, the members of the Limit Martial Arts Hall bowed their heads, their expressions somber. One of them spoke slowly, word by word: "The Sect Master went to assess the missile strikes, so he didn't enter the shelter. He stayed outside. He was only a few hundred meters from the center of the blast... I'm afraid nothing of him remains..."
As soon as the words were spoken, the faces of the Yulong Kingdom officials drained of color.
"What?"
"Mr. Lu is... dead?"
"Only a few hundred meters from ground zero? According to every calculation, within several kilometers of the blast, no one caught outside a shelter could possibly survive..."
The senior official felt his mind buzz.
Catastrophe had struck!
If Yudu was bombed, the Yulong Kingdom still had a sliver of hope. But if Lu Yuan was dead, the kingdom was utterly doomed.
As strong as Lu Yuan was—invulnerable to weapons, able to withstand bombs, and capable of punching through a ten-thousand-ton warship—no one could withstand a weapon that heralded the end of the world.
*Tap, tap, tap.*
Right then, clear footsteps echoed into everyone's ears.
*Swish.*
Heads snapped up toward the ruins ahead.
Those ruins were ground zero, and the footsteps were coming straight from that direction.
Yet how could anyone still be alive there?
Soon, two figures came into view.
One was "Ms. Xiang." Anyone familiar with the Limit Martial Arts Hall knew she managed nearly all of its affairs.
As for the other...
"Lu Yuan!"
"It's Mr. Lu!"
"Mr. Lu isn't dead! But how is that possible?"
"That was ground zero! Temperatures soared past thousands, even tens of thousands of degrees in an instant, not to mention the horrifying shockwave..."
Shock!
Everyone was overwhelmed with disbelief.
"What? Did you all think I would die?" Lu Changsheng said flatly.
"No, we're just... we can hardly believe it."
The Yulong official quickly snapped back to his senses, stepped forward, and said with mounting excitement, "Mr. Lu, it's wonderful that you're unharmed! The Yanlong Federation deployed such a horrifying weapon—they intend to wipe out our kingdom! Right now, every citizen of the Yulong Kingdom needs you..."
Lu Changsheng gave neither approval nor denial. He knew exactly what the kingdom wanted.
"I originally intended to wait a little longer, but it seems there's no need," Lu Changsheng said coolly. "I will pay a personal visit to the Yanlong Federation. Have the Yulong Kingdom prepare to take full control of them."
"What?"
"Mr. Lu, you mean... take over the Yanlong Federation?"
Hearing those words, the official felt his heart leap into his throat.
Did Lu Yuan intend to single-handedly crush the Yanlong Federation?
No, it wasn't just crushing them—he intended to annex them!
Of course, Lu Yuan alone couldn't annex an entire federation; strong as he was, he was still just one man. But with the Yulong Kingdom backing him, things were different.
"Remember: prepare to take over the Yanlong Federation as quickly as possible..."
With those parting words, Lu Changsheng turned around.
*Bang!*
He kicked off with both feet and launched into the air like an artillery shell, rocketing away.
His trajectory pointed straight toward the Yanlong Federation!
***
Bincheng was a coastal city and one of the Yulong Kingdom's most prosperous seaports.
Now, however, the bustling port was a smoke-choked battlefield.
Half an hour after dropping the nuclear bomb, once the Yanlong Federation confirmed that Yudu had been devastated, they brazenly deployed ground forces and advanced into Bincheng.
The disparity in military strength was vast. Bincheng had fallen into the Federation's hands with almost no resistance.
Countless civilians were fleeing in panic.
Bodies littered the streets alongside heavily armed Federation soldiers.
The people of Bincheng were plunged into despair.
No one wanted war. Once war erupted, who knew how many lives would be lost?
"Look, what is that?"
Federation soldiers suddenly looked into the distance.
Far away, a figure bounded across the landscape, leaping hundreds of meters at a time, crashing heavily onto the ground before launching up again.
His heading was precisely the Federation's command post in Bincheng.
*Thud.*
Before the soldiers could react, the figure landed right in front of them.
"You—"
A soldier instinctively pulled the trigger.
A dense hail of bullets struck the figure, failing to leave even a scratch. Spent casings clattered everywhere.
"You... you're Lu Yuan!"
"The Yulong Kingdom's foremost evolver, the founder of the Limit Martial Dao style!"
"You're not dead?"
The soldier seemed to know something of what had happened.
Lu Yuan was still alive! It was utterly shocking.
"Lead me to your command post," Lu Changsheng said calmly.
Seeing that bullets couldn't even scratch him, and having heard the countless rumors surrounding him, the soldiers knew they had zero chance of harming him.
"Fine, we'll take you."
The soldiers lowered their rifles and obediently turned to lead Lu Yuan toward the command post.
However, reconnaissance was everywhere, and Lu Yuan was soon spotted.
Inside the Federation command post, officers stared at the footage of Lu Yuan in disbelief.
They knew full well that the primary target of the nuclear strike had been Lu Yuan himself; leveling Yudu had merely been incidental.
"Lu Yuan isn't dead?"
"Did he hide in an air-raid shelter beforehand?"
"That's possible."
"What is he trying to do now? Break our Federation army corps single-handedly?"
"Issue the order: kill Lu Yuan at any cost!"
The commanding officer barked the order.
Immediately, tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles trained their sights on Lu Yuan.
Bombers in the sky dropped bomb after bomb, accompanied by missiles.
Lu Changsheng faced the most furious firepower an entire army corps could muster.
"Come at me!"
Sharp light gleamed in Lu Changsheng's eyes.
Watching the incoming shells fill the sky, he surged forward instead of retreating.
*Boom!*
Lu Changsheng shot forward in a single stride, charging recklessly against the storm of munitions.
Bullets, missiles, and artillery shells slammed violently into his body, striving to halt his advance. Every step forward looked arduous, but he finally dropped into the heart of their positions.
Soldiers of the Yanlong Federation stared at Lu Yuan, terror evident in their eyes.
Tanks, armored vehicles, and rocket launchers were all aimed squarely at him.
Lu Changsheng swept his gaze across the surroundings.
Undeniably, he was encircled by heavy forces.
This was an entire army corps, boasting tens of thousands of elite troops and devastating weaponry.
"The world knows that the Limit Martial Dao allows one to step into the transcendent," Lu Changsheng murmured. "Yet none know what the realm of transcendence truly is. Today, I will show you what transcendence entails. Body refinement, too, wields transcendent power!"
He did not manifest his ten-meter-tall physique. Instead, he gently pressed a hand to his chest.
*Thump.*
A dull resonance reverberated in everyone's ears.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
A rapid succession of thumps followed, sounding like the beating of a heart.
Yet anyone who heard this terrifying heartbeat suddenly clutched their chest.
Agony!
Everyone felt unbearable pain, as though their hearts were being gripped and crushed by an unseen fist.
Faces contorted in agony. Many soldiers rolled across the ground, writhing in sheer torment.
It was too painful.
At that moment, a bizarre scene played out across the battlefield. Countless soldiers lay writhing and howling on the ground while Lu Changsheng strode forward step by step, strolling through the combat zone.
Moreover, the eerie heartbeat grew faster and faster.
As the rhythm accelerated, the soldiers trembled all over, their eyes filled with despair. They could already smell the stench of death.
"Transcendent!"
"This is the realm of transcendence!"
"How... how could he possess such terrifying methods?"
"This is truly the era of evolvers..."
Inside the command post, officers watching the surveillance feeds turned deathly pale.
Suddenly, one of the officers heard the eerie heartbeat in his own ears.
"No..."
He collapsed to the floor.
"It hurts...!"
One officer after another dropped to the ground.
The officers in the command post were filled with horror. They were ten kilometers away from Lu Yuan!
His ability could reach ten kilometers away—how could anyone fight that?
Lu Yuan walked step by step toward the command post.
In truth, his consciousness was vast, and he had detected the post long ago.
As for this "transcendent power," it was primarily effective against ordinary mortals and common creatures.
Yet against them, it was an utterly lethal strike.
These ordinary men controlled formidable weapons, but their own bodies were fragile. Lu Changsheng's display of transcendent power struck deeper terror into ordinary mortals than being invulnerable to blades or smashing a ten-thousand-ton warship with a single punch.
After all, no matter how powerful a weapon was, it required humans to operate it.
And Lu Yuan gave them no chance to operate anything at all.
However, Lu Yuan did not kill them.
He walked into the command post, looked at the officers sprawled across the floor, and said calmly, "Take me to the top leadership of your Yanlong Federation. Otherwise, every last person in your army corps dies."
The officers' eyes widened.
They immediately realized Lu Yuan's goal. If they brought him before the Federation's high command, with his bizarre and terrifying abilities, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Yet did they have a choice?
The lives of over ten thousand soldiers rested in their hands. Refusal meant death!
"Fine... I will take you..."
In the end, the commander agreed. He could not remain indifferent to the lives of over ten thousand men.
Besides, the Federation had instigated this war in the first place. Perhaps letting Lu Yuan have a "talk" with the leadership would bring an end to the fighting.
And so, without shedding a drop of blood, Lu Changsheng rode in a vehicle belonging to the Federation army corps all the way to Yandu, the capital of the Yanlong Federation.
By now, the Federation's high command had already retreated into an underground shelter.
They had known about Lu Yuan coercing the army corps from the start. His every move had been tracked by satellites and reconnaissance aircraft.
Of course, that was also because Lu Yuan had made no attempt to conceal himself; he had come openly and brazenly.
Yet his swaggering approach sent tremors through the Federation's leadership.
Even now, fierce arguments raged among them.
"We have already lost this war! Call a halt and sign a ceasefire with the Yulong Kingdom!"
"The era of evolvers is here! Even a nuclear bomb couldn't kill that monster—how are we supposed to stop him?"
"Who says a nuclear bomb can't kill him? Maybe he was just lucky enough to hide in a shelter! But now that he's come to Yandu, we can bomb him again! This time, he won't have any chance to duck into a shelter!"
"Are you insane? Use a nuclear bomb in Yandu? Do you understand what you're saying? Yandu has millions of people..."
"Ceasefire! We must call a ceasefire! You people have lost your minds..."
The Federation leadership was completely divided.
One faction advocated hitting Lu Yuan with another nuclear strike. As long as they killed him, the Federation could use their nuclear arsenal to annex the Yulong Kingdom and become the undisputed hegemon of the world!
The other faction thought they were utterly mad. To sacrifice millions of their own citizens in Yandu was the work of lunatics devoid of reason.
"Guards, arrest these people!"
"By my authority as President of the Yanlong Federation, I sign this presidential decree: the Federation enters a state of war, under full military rule!"
Guards immediately marched in and arrested those who favored peace talks with Lu Yuan and the Yulong Kingdom.
Evidently, the president had made his choice.
"This is the Yanlong Federation's sole opportunity, and we must not let it slip away!"
"Besides, the bomb is only devastating at ground zero. The outer perimeter won't suffer as many casualties; only the radiation will be troublesome. But once we succeed, we can relocate the capital."
"Lure Lu Yuan to the Federation Building. There are no shelters there. When he arrives, drop the bomb..."
The president methodically laid out the plan.
Meanwhile, Lu Changsheng was still in the vehicle, riding all the way to the Federation Building.
This was the most important location in the Yanlong Federation.
He stepped out of the vehicle and looked up at the towering structure.
"Hm?"
"Empty? There's not a single soul inside?"
Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
Not a person was in the Federation Building.
Was that normal?
Clearly not!
"A trap?"
Without question, it was most likely an ambush.
Before he could make his next move, Lu Changsheng suddenly raised his head.
An aircraft in the sky dropped a bomb.
The weapon looked all too familiar.
A faint sense of threat once again stirred in Lu Changsheng's heart.
"Again?"
Realization struck him instantly.
A nuclear bomb.
The Yanlong Federation had actually dropped another nuclear bomb!
And here, in Yandu, right over the Federation Building!
They had actually detonated a nuke here?
The Federation's leadership was completely insane.
They were truly determined to kill Lu Yuan at any cost.
"Move!"
Having experienced a nuclear blast firsthand, Lu Changsheng was seasoned.
He knew well that as long as he stayed clear of ground zero, the threat posed by a nuclear bomb was quite manageable.
However, the bomb descended rapidly.
He had only just started sprinting away when the bomb struck the ground.
*Boom!*
An earth-shattering roar erupted.
The Federation Building collapsed in an instant.
Terrifying flames burned fiercely, forming a gigantic mushroom cloud that rose steadily into the sky!
A nuclear blast had struck once more!
Only this time, it was not in the Yulong Kingdom.
It was in Yandu, the capital of the Yanlong Federation!
Chapter 263