Chapter 9: Annihilating Gods and Demons, Obliterating in a Single Strike

Zhou Yan's appearance transformed completely once the fusion finished.

Overall, it resembled his previous Tyrant Ghost-God form, but the scarlet armor plates had completely shifted into pitch-black scaled full-body armor. Additional silver-gray, overlapping plate armor was attached to his chest and other vital areas, while savage white bone spurs protruded from the outer sides of his arms and legs, highlighting a dangerous lethality.

The helmet appeared even more baleful than the previous Ghost-God helmet. On both sides of his forehead, large, curved horns extended upward, resembling the horns of a fiend or a malevolent dragon.

His face was shielded entirely by a faceplate, which itself took the shape of some draconic or demonic facial shell, featuring two rows of terrifying, ferocious fangs.

His entire eye area was completely covered by a silver-gray visor, rendering his ordinary eyes useless for vision.

Instead, he relied on two special vertical pupils—one located between his eyebrows and another on his chest—to grant him an even more powerful, specialized vision.

These two orange-yellow vertical pupils, one large and one small, looked precisely like the eyes of a malevolent dragon or some divine demon. As Zhou Yan walked, they continuously scanned left and right, feeding the imagery directly into his mind.

Ornate, eerie, wicked, terrifying—endless currents of chaos completely enveloped Zhou Yan.

An ordinary person would likely have their heart shattered out of sheer terror merely by witnessing his appearance.

[Fusion Complete]
[Fusing Destined Armor Form – Ghost-God Extermination Corpse]
[Combating in this form consumes an additional 90 Destined Armor durability per second]
[Gained additional attribute bonuses: Physique +184, Acuity +167, Spirit +179]
[Activated Technique 1 – Tyrant Cannon Strike (Consumes 10-500 Destined Armor durability per use)]
[Activated Technique 2 – Extreme Desire Evil Transformation (Consumes 100 Destined Armor durability per second)]
[Activated Technique 3 – Ash-Extinguishing Corpse Dragon Kick (Consumes 1000 or more Destined Armor durability)]

The information regarding the new form flowed before his eyes, instantly making Zhou Yan comprehend its immense power.

First was the bonus to his core attributes, which directly equaled the sum of what the two original materials could provide!

Right now, simply in this base state of multiple fusions—without activating any techniques, without channeling demonic power to enhance himself, and enjoying only the permanent bonus of the Dao path ability "Resonance"—his core attributes all comprehensively exceeded "400":

[Attributes: Physique 453, Acuity 404, Spirit 411]

Of course, the corresponding price for utilizing this form and enjoying these attribute bonuses was—nearly double the Destined Armor consumption.

The additional combat consumption of "90" points per second now exceeded the recovery amount granted by Zhou Yan's Evergreen Dao path ability "Endurance."

Fortunately, apart from enhancing attribute bonuses, "Resonance" also mitigated the corresponding costs, keeping his actual durability consumption well within the recovery range of Endurance.

However, if he wished to activate this form's enhanced state, "Extreme Desire Evil Transformation," it would cost an additional "100" points of durability per second. Even though it was reduced to "70" under the effect of "Resonance," he would still be forced to consume spirituality to replenish the durability expenses in order to maintain equilibrium.

Once the Destined Armor ascended to one-star, the rate of converting spirituality into durability increased to "100 points/second," which was just enough to keep up with these extra expenses with plenty to spare.

Yet, despite currently possessing nearly one hundred thousand spirituality, as a former gaming otaku who adored free-to-play sustain, he still preferred the previous state where almost zero spirituality was expended.

"If I can acquire a Dao path secret manual next time, I'll choose Evergreen again..." Zhou Yan made up his mind.

Zhou Yan's thought process was extremely rapid and did not affect his actions in reality.

He looked at Xu Tianfang, who was stunned by his drastically altered appearance, chuckled softly, and asked, "How do you want to die?"

In this Ghost-God Extermination Corpse form, his voice emanated through the row of wicked, dragon-like fangs beneath his helmet, influenced by the intense ghost-god desires and transformed into a voice completely unlike his own.

It sounded like the hoarse whisper of a demon.

"What—what are you?!" The Skinner, incarnate as Xu Tianfang, trembled uncontrollably, as if encountering an absolute supreme being and a terrifying natural predator.

He could only perceive that the creature opposite him was utterly horrifying. From its aura and ominous presence alone, he could tell that the opponent's strength was vastly superior to his own.

Just as Xu Tianfang was pondering how to smooth over the situation, Zhou Yan spoke indifferently:

"Answering a question with a question..." He shook his head slightly.

"I'll send you on your way right now."

"Wait!" Xu Tianfang cried out in alarm, gripping the weapon that had transformed back into a long mace to block in front of him, his voice trembling: "I am willing to offer—"

Swish!

His eyes widened as his words were abruptly cut short by Zhou Yan, who had suddenly appeared right in front of him.

Zhou Yan had already raised his left hand, aiming it directly at Xu Tianfang's face. The muzzle of the crossbow-cannon, seamlessly integrated with his armor on his arm, began to gather an ominous black glow.

"No!"

Miracles surged across Xu Tianfang's entire body in intense white light paths, and he rapidly turned around to sprint wildly.

His back suddenly bulged, transforming into a shape resembling a tortoise shell.

"Explode!" Zhou Yan's hoarse voice rang out.

Boom!

A black light bullet blasted forth, instantly slamming into Xu Tianfang's back with a terrifying explosion.

Trees toppled, figures flew, and the ground collapsed.

Xu Tianfang was instantly blasted flying dozens of meters away.

He sprawled on the ground, and the armor on his back—which had just transformed into a tortoise shell—exhibited obvious fractures and shattering.

"Damn it..." Xu Tianfang desperately propped his body up to kneel, blood gushing profusely from various parts of his body. "Why would such a powerhouse suddenly appear..."

"I must escape. As long as I can escape..."

He raised his head in resentment, only to shudder violently, his breath catching in his throat.

Zhou Yan was standing steadily right before him, head lowered, with the vertical demonic eyes on his forehead and chest gazing at him in silence.

"Quite interesting. You actually used a divine miracle to transform into a tortoise shell and withstand my attack," Zhou Yan chuckled softly.

"Then let's try this along the way..."

With that, under Xu Tianfang's terrified gaze, a terrifying black-purple aura surged across the surface of Zhou Yan's body.

Immediately following, a pair of enormous bat-wing-like black wings suddenly unfurled from the armor on his back.

From his tailbone region, a dragon tail completely covered in scales also rapidly extended outward from the armor!

Amplification Technique – Extreme Desire Evil Transformation!

Upon usage, he hadn't yet carefully studied the other effects, but the most direct one was that all three of Zhou Yan's core attributes increased by "200"!

Looking at the even more terrifying Zhou Yan before him, endless omens of death echoed through Xu Tianfang's mind. He shrieked and tried to beg for mercy.

"Thud!"

The next instant, amid a muffled sound, intense pain transmitted into his mind.

He stared blankly and lowered his head.

Zhou Yan's left fist had already shattered the divine miracle armor, blasting straight into his chest and abdomen.

"I..." A massive amount of blood gushed out from beneath his faceplate. He raised his hand with a tremor, attempting to do something.

Yet his gaze met the wicked, merciless vertical pupils on Zhou Yan's chest.

"Die!" A deep, hoarse voice sounded softly.

The cannon muzzle, which had blasted into the monster's body along with the fist, lit up with a terrifying black radiance.

Tyrant Cannon Strike!

Rumble—

A heaven-shaking explosion raged.

Amidst this matchless blast, the previously haughty Skinner was blown into a sky full of flesh and blood by the energy detonating from within its body.

Accompanying the shattered pieces was the black divine miracle armor that had covered its body.

However, after these fragments of the divine miracle were blasted away, they actually gathered instantly toward the black long mace, reassembling into a black box in its basic form.

[Killed "Skinner", acquired 1518 Spirituality]

The suddenly appearing information prompt gave Zhou Yan a mental boost. He then remembered that after completing his Destined Armor star-elevation and becoming an official Order Walker, [Order] had prompted him that killing rift monsters and closing rifts in the main world would both yield generous rewards.

"If that's the case, can I collect monsters as fusion materials in reality?" Zhou Yan raised an eyebrow and immediately reached down to pick up a chunk of flesh scattered all over the ground.

[Skinner]
[Type: Chaos Rift Projection]
[Description: A common monster in the Chaos Abyss. When Chaos Rifts appear in certain worlds, its projections randomly manifest within the rifts. It can devour living beings, transforming into the corresponding target after consumption to gain their physical attributes. If it devours organs used for thought and memory by the target, it can also acquire the target's personality habits and all memories.]
[Rating: Star 0, Tier 5]
[Attributes: Physique 56, Acuity 47, Spirit 25]
[Remarks: What is acquired are genetic traits, memories, and thinking habits, rather than the soul.]
[Detected a Chaos entity meeting the requirements. Would you like to record it as a material for the talent "Super Fusion"?]

[Remarks: During each "Calamity Realm Walk", materials can only be recorded or replaced once (this condition applies to the current world).]

"Fine..." Zhou Yan looked at the final remark and let out a light sigh.

The meaning of [Order] was very clear: bluntly put, he could only record one material in each world, and this rule applied to this current main world as well.

Given this setting, he naturally couldn't possibly waste this precious chance on a tiny trash mob.

Zhou Yan stood up and walked straight back beneath the tree where Luo Xuan had been placed.

Luo Xuan was still leaning against the large tree, her head drooping as she fell into a deep sleep.

Watching her serene appearance, Zhou Yan couldn't help but fall into a slight contemplation.

He was wondering—should he let Luo Xuan know his identity?

When Luo Xuan had drawn the Skinner away by herself earlier, Zhou Yan had already understood her attitude toward him.

Whether it stemmed from "her blind confidence in her own strength" or a sense of "justice," at the very least, this young woman was truly willing to risk her own life so that he could maximize his chances of survival.

For a girl capable of reaching this extent, Zhou Yan naturally regarded her as one of his own people.

Since she was one of his own, there seemed to be no need to conceal anything...

Yet ultimately, after deep consideration, Zhou Yan decided not to confess just yet.

The situation in this world still required further understanding on his part.

Judging solely from the information gathered so far, Luo Xuan, Wu Wanqing, and the skin-peeling demon he had just killed all possessed strengths roughly below the Grandmaster level.

Merely at this tier, utilizing the second-gear output of a divine miracle already granted such formidable combat prowess.

Above them, however, still existed powerhouses of the "True Realm."

He had even heard Wu Wanqing mention powerhouses of the "Mad Realm," who were supposedly even stronger than True Realm powerhouses, earlier?

To what extent could such powerhouses reach when utilizing divine miracles at full power?

Considering things from a longer-term perspective—

The twelve Order Walkers other than himself could be clearly confirmed during meeting communications to be people from this planet.

Although according to "One," prior to Zhou Yan joining the meetings, the few revealed walkers had only scheduled a total of eight meetings. Including the two meetings Zhou Yan subsequently attended, that made a total of ten meetings. To some extent, it could be deduced that the earliest time most participants obtained their official Order Walker status was roughly around a hundred days ago.

Yet even leading him by a hundred days, they should at least hold an advantage of three to five Calamity Realm Walks, right?

Even assuming other walkers lacked his powerful talent and grew slower than him, relying on those advantages in walk counts, they could probably bridge the gap in growth speed somehow.

Moreover, he could sense that several Order Walkers relied on more than just Destined Armor like him—their identities in the main world also seemed quite extraordinary, and their native strengths were presumably quite formidable. Perhaps among them were super powerhouses rivaling the True Realm and Mad Realm.

So, were Order Walkers natural allies? If they weren't allies, was it possible that other walkers were plotting to chew him, Zhou Yan, up and leave nothing behind?

Furthermore, aside from those few inferred to be dead, there were three entities who had never revealed themselves, named "Emperor," "Extreme," and "Nameless."

Were these three individuals also Order Walkers for only about a hundred days like the others?

Or had they actually been Order Walkers for a very long time, but deliberately chose not to attend these "exchange meetings" for certain reasons?

If they had been walkers for a very long time, to what extent had the strength of these three reached by now?

Would this planet harbor beings even stronger than these three walkers?

All of this remained unknown to Zhou Yan.

Therefore, embracing the worst and most cautious mindset, just to be safe, he should not expose his identity to others so early.

Even if this "other" was a trustworthy person of his own.

Because doing so would only make people of importance vulnerable to unnecessary danger without providing any benefits whatsoever.

Having figured this out, Zhou Yan smiled, dismissed the Super Fusion state, and restored his proper appearance.

Then, he hoisted the unconscious Luo Xuan onto his back.

Carrying her divine miracle in his right hand and the Skinner's damaged black divine miracle in his left, he walked step by step down the mountain.