Chapter 478: One Punch (Complete Version)

"The north has completely fallen."

The woman in the red dress gazed into the distance, as if she could see the Glacial zone situated at the northernmost edge of the God Storage Land.

According to her senses, all the sleepers from that area down to the wilderness had vanished without a trace.

The man opposite her had his hair braided like hemp ropes. His body gleamed with a dark, steely sheen, and even the pupils in his eyes held a faint fiery hue.

Hearing her words, he frowned.

"What about Fang Xun?"

As a sleeper who guarded two regions single-handedly, Fang Xun's strength was by no means inferior to theirs.

The woman shook her head, her long, fiery red hair faintly glowing.

"I haven't sensed his presence since I awakened."

"Is he dead...?"

The man frowned.

Although they had been rivals thousands of years ago, hearing that someone of his generation had simply faded away into the River of Time still left him with a hollow sense of how much had changed.

It was an unpleasant feeling.

"Forget it. Let's ignore it for now and proceed with the plan."

The man spoke.

Having slumbered in this region for so long, their consciousness would occasionally awaken.

Because of this, they had laid down some preparations across these areas.

The God Storage Land was not actually dead and barren all the time. In fact, much like the volcano beneath their feet, it had its own fixed periods of eruption. The woman, who had awakened first, had conducted a dry run earlier, and the results had been quite good.

Now, all they had to do was fully trigger this eruption phase.

Only by entering this eruption phase could they maximize their advantage.

The three of them walked to the very peak of the volcano and arranged themselves in a triangle around the crater.

"Gold and The Vessel..."

"Soaring flames..."

"..."

The three chanted their respective verses. Continuous streams of white light surged from their palms, sinking into the volcanic crater before them.

In an instant, the magma deep within the crater—previously only slowly bubbling and popping—began to violently boil.

The entire volcano rumbled and trembled.

This tremor did not just last for a brief moment as it had in the past; instead, it grew increasingly violent. The terrifying vibrations spread from the base of the volcano, rippling out into the wilderness and then sweeping in every direction.

The tremors passed through wooden bridges, shook the dense forests, drifted across lakes, leaped over valleys, climbed stairs, scaled cliffs, pushed through valleys, and reached all the way to the Glacial zone in the far north.

The entire God Storage Land seemed to come alive in that very instant.

One figure after another emerged from the ground, the ice, and the caves.

These were the scattered divine souls, now completely activated, manipulating those twisted bodies as they writhed and twitched.

Their faces were blank and their eyes hollow, exuding a chaotic stupor. Yet their movements were blindingly fast and fully exposed their brutality. Sand, rocks, vegetation... they devoured everything they could touch, swallowing it all into their bellies.

But even after consuming matter far exceeding their own body mass, they did not stop.

Because they had yet to taste the 'food' that could truly satisfy their hunger.

Living creatures.

Some scattered players were completely stunned by the sight before them. In a moment of carelessness, they were instantly swallowed by the swarms of divine souls.

The three turned around and looked at their surroundings.

This was only the opening act.

Evading the activated divine monstrous progeny was quite simple. As long as one had divine souls in hand, they just needed to find a way to disguise themselves.

But what came next would not be so easy to survive.

"So, there are five groups in total," the man built like steel said.

"How should we deal with them?"

"I want that human."

Unexpectedly, the figure who had been silent all along pointed toward the dense forest.

The man frowned.

"That one seems to be the weakest."

"I'll kill one first." The figure paused, then added, "To warm up."

"Alright."

The man finally nodded and pointed toward the hills.

"Then I'll choose that human."

With a casual remark, he too picked a relatively easy target.

The woman opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing.

In truth, she had also wanted to pick that particular team.

For some unknown reason, that team had previously visited the summit, seemingly looking for her.

She had crossed paths with their leader and had more or less gauged their skill level.

Although that team had ultimately retreated, she felt confident that she could take them down.

However, she had a colder personality and was not adept at arguing.

In the end, she simply nodded.

"Alright."

"Then I..."

She looked into the distance, hesitating slightly.

She intentionally wanted to choose the target that was further away, but heading there would mean passing by the location of the person she did not want to pick. "Forget it, I'll just pick the closer one."

She ultimately chose to compromise.

Once the three had decided on their targets, the man with the hemp-rope hair spoke.

"The objective is simple. Devour them, and then return."

In the next instant, the three figures vanished from their spots.

Within the dense forest.

Wan Yicheng watched the figures crawling out from the surrounding earth. His expression was calm as he ordered, "Everyone on high alert! Anyone who comes within twenty meters, cut them down!"

The group nodded in unison.

Most of the divine monstrous progeny in the forest possessed long, slender bodies, like twisted snakes, yet they bore human faces. They either slithered across the ground or scaled the trees, hanging from the branches as they launched their assault on Yueyin's group.

Light suddenly erupted around the short-statured Xu Feng, and the hilt of his blade twitched slightly.

Purple, purple-black, black, black-orange, black-orange, orange-red, red.

Three Perfect, four Limit!

(Limit Ratio: Purple, purple-black, black, black-orange, orange, red, silver-red)

It was similar to the ratio of Jian Yi, the third member of Zhoulin.

Flashes of blade light lit up around Xu Feng. The divine monstrous progeny that rashly approached were sliced into pieces before they could even get within fifty meters of the group. But...

The number of the divine monstrous progeny far exceeded their expectations.

These were beings that had died in the God Storage Land. With their bodies completely controlled by divine souls, they would continue to drag themselves forward even if they were chopped apart.

Not only that, but perhaps because the God Storage Land had been fully activated, these severed body parts actually seemed to have a consciousness of their own. Like a simplified version of One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones, the pieces lunged and bit at the group.

As time ticked by, the divine monstrous progeny surrounding them only grew in number.

"Xiao Kai, try the method that woman mentioned earlier."

Wan Yicheng commanded, looking at the shifting layers of stacked flesh and feeling the light grow dimmer.

His gaze flicked toward a woman in green who was tightly bound with ropes.

Just earlier, under heavy torture, the woman in green had confessed the method of using divine souls to disguise themselves.

Hearing this, Zhou Kai's eyes flickered with hesitation.

This method came from the woman in green, and it had not been verified.

If it was a trap...

"If it's a trap, she will die instantly."

Wan Yicheng seemed to read Zhou Kai's thoughts and said, "Hurry up. We're running out of time."

Finally, with a dark expression, Zhou Kai fully suppressed the weird energy in his body. Then, he took a divine soul from his pocket and pressed it into his forehead.

Before coming here, the domain lord had explicitly warned them never to absorb divine souls casually.

Because of this, his movements were extremely cautious. He did not push the divine soul all the way in at once; instead, he edged it in slowly, carefully feeling out the changes in his body.

"How does it feel?" Beside him, Sheng Xia wore a solemn expression, ready to step in and rescue him at any moment.

However, Zhou Kai's face looked surprisingly relaxed.

"It seems... fine..."

He felt that once his weird energy was suppressed, the irritation the divine soul initially caused to his body disappeared, replaced by a nourishing energy.

It made him feel exceptionally invigorated.

Even so, he still maintained a final shred of vigilance toward this energy. He didn't absorb any more of the divine soul, stopping after just a taste. He nodded at the group.

"It should be fine."

He reached out and proactively stepped close to the frenzied divine monstrous progeny, only for them to completely ignore him.

Seeing this, the others immediately pulled out their divine souls, preparing to press them into their foreheads.

But at that moment, Wan Yicheng raised a hand.

"Wait a moment."

"There's no rush."

Zhou Kai's expression turned slightly ugly.

"Brother Wan, do you not trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you, Xiao Kai," Wan Yicheng explained patiently.

"It's just that under the current circumstances, we need someone to make a sacrifice. It's hard to say how long it takes for the side effects of this method to kick in. If there really is a problem, doing it this way ensures we don't suffer a total wipeout."

With Wan Yicheng putting it like that, Zhou Kai had nothing left to say.

Fortunately, while the tide of divine monstrous progeny was ferocious, with the inclusion of Shui Nianshuang and the constantly smiling vice-captain, they could still barely hold the line. "Start moving."

Wan Yicheng issued the order, and the group slowly began to shift outward, back-to-back.

Just then, the tightly bound woman in green lying on the ground suddenly let out a soft laugh.

Her cold, eerie laughter echoed within the encirclement of progeny, sounding exceptionally chilling.

"You will all die."

She spoke, butchering the language of the Surface World.

"Damn it! Are you tired of living?!"

Zhou Kai was already highly irritated. Ever since losing the last three-domain war, he and Shui Nianshuang had been overtly and covertly reprimanded by Wan Yicheng. Being used as a guinea pig just now had pushed his frustration to the absolute limit, and he kicked the woman in green hard.

Unexpectedly, this kick sent the woman in green rolling straight out into the horde of progeny.

She was swallowed up in an instant.

"Xiao Kai, what the hell are you doing?"

Wan Yicheng frowned. Ultimately, seeming to notice Zhou Kai's volatile mood, he held back his scolding and instead said, "Watch yourself next time."

"Everyone! Keep moving!"

But before the group could make it far, a massive gap suddenly parted in the previously impenetrable swarm of progeny.

A man with flowing long hair stepped out from the gap. He looked at them coldly and, upon opening his mouth, spoke in the unfamiliar language of the Surface World:

"Have you all... had enough fun...?"

The group's eyes narrowed. In the next second, Xu Feng and Shui Nianshuang exchanged a glance, and both of them charged forward directly.

Countless ripples spread through the air. Walking through them, Xu Feng's speed seemed to increase even further. He passed by like a phantom, his specific movements completely imperceptible, and the dagger in his hand landed squarely on the man's neck.

Slash!

It felt like chopping into a pile of gravel. Xu Feng's expression changed instantly. Already retreating, he suddenly felt half of his body lose all its strength, and he nearly tumbled to the ground.

Meanwhile, the spot on the opposing man's neck that had been struck instantly recovered.

"Heh heh."

The man let out a cold chuckle and extended his hand. Grayish-white gravel materialized in midair, and a terrifying fist pressure instantly formed in front of him.

He raised his hand and threw a punch!

Under that terrifying pressure, everyone within the encirclement of progeny felt their bones groan and creak.

"Die for me!!!"

As a strength-type fighter, Zhou Kai raised his fist. Light flashed around him as he forced the divine soul out of his body.

With the same ratio of four Limit and three Perfect, he threw a punch to meet the man's attack head-on.

The wind from their two fists collided.

A terrifying explosion detonated, blasting the swarm of progeny apart as if they had been carpet-bombed.

Zhou Kai's extended right arm suddenly stiffened. He felt as though the man across from him was a vast desert; his full-force punch had only managed to leave a single fist imprint on the opponent's body.

And the price he paid was that the bones and muscles of his right arm violently contracted and locked up, rendering it completely immobile for the time being.

In truth, everything had seemed fine at the moment his punch landed. Yet, for some unknown reason, a power that felt extremely familiar to him rose up from within the opponent's body. It was precisely because of that power that he was unable to deal much damage.

And in the very next second, his opponent reversed the impact, reflecting his own released power back onto him.

What kind of power was that?

Over in the hills on the other side.

The young girl holding the Dragon Doll now had blood smeared across her cheek. The playful mockery that had previously painted her face was entirely gone.

Beside her, apart from the hesitant-looking leader, everyone else had completely collapsed to the ground.

They were the number one and number two fighters on the team, yet at this moment, facing the tower-like man opposite them, they were practically helpless. "It's the power of a Deity. He absorbed a divine soul."

The young girl hugging the Dragon Doll wore a grave expression.

Before entering Yueyin, the higher-ups had specifically warned them never to absorb divine souls carelessly.

Absorbing a divine soul was highly likely to cause an overwhelming impact on one's consciousness.

And the consequence...

Was being reduced to a divine monstrous progeny.

Yet their opponent had actually absorbed the power of a divine soul!!

They were not even at the Summit. Comparing the two sides, the disparity was instantly obvious.

If she and Captain Zhong Yichen didn't both possess an ability related to Deities, they probably wouldn't have even been able to break through their opponent's defense.

"What do we do now...?"

The young girl holding the Dragon Doll bit her lower lip.

Their opponent could wildly wield the power of a divine soul, while they had to fight him and simultaneously fend off the onslaught of divine monstrous progeny.

How could anyone possibly manage that??

How were they supposed to beat this?

Where exactly was the solution to this Dungeon?

Yan Jing looked at the red-haired woman in the red dress who had appeared before him, a smile on his face.

"Hello, ma'am."

"I will fight you," the woman said flatly. "The loser dies."

"Alright."

Yan Jing nodded.

"When do we start?"

"..." The woman blinked.

"In five seconds."

"Alright."

Yan Jing calmly nodded again and stretched out his hand.

"Gangzi, the Pocket Watch."

"You got it."

Wang Gang placed the Pocket Watch into Yan Jing's palm.

"Start the timer."

Yan Jing pressed the start button on the Pocket Watch.

The woman's expression remained indifferent, but a faint trace of hard-to-catch appreciation hid in the depths of her eyes.

Her opponent wasn't bad.

She hadn't expected there to still be people in this era who so strictly observed the etiquette of a duel.

So, she was willing to wait.

One second... two seconds...

Suddenly, the woman noticed something was wrong.

Because the light radiating from Yan Jing's body was growing brighter and brighter.

At first, it had merely resembled the glow of a firefly, but after two seconds passed, it was already shining as brightly as the stars in the night sky.

Even Qi Ming and the others nearby had backed away several meters, no longer staying close to Yan Jing's side.

He was gathering momentum.

Her eyes narrowed.

Indeed, gathering momentum wasn't considered a violation of the rules.

This level of power was quite impressive, but she had the strength of a divine soul, so there was no need to worry too much.

Or so she thought...

But in the very next second, the light around Yan Jing's body seemed to grow even brighter.

The loose hair on his forehead floated upwards, shining as brilliantly in the darkening night as a full moon in the sky. Every muscle and every strand of hair on his body was glowing, as if galaxies of stars were flowing within them.

Something definitely wasn't right.

The woman's eyes widened. She subconsciously channeled the divine soul power in her body, beginning to build up her own strength.

But just when she finally managed to get ready...

The light around Yan Jing's body flared even more intensely!!

At this moment, he looked like a rising morning sun. He had already illuminated the surrounding several thousand meters, his body glowing so brightly that it was hard to look directly at him. This was wrong! This was completely wrong!

Looking at the timer that had yet to reach zero, the woman could no longer hold back.

She couldn't wait any longer!!!!

Flames surged around her body. Throwing the five-second agreement to the wind, she lunged toward Yan Jing, surrounded by countless motes of light, desperate to snuff out his momentum and stop him from gathering any more power.

But it was already too late.

At this moment, Yan Jing was like the morning sun. The dazzling light entirely banished the surrounding darkness, turning him into the only light source between heaven and earth. All the power in his body surged into a single punch in his right hand.

This was a punch containing the pure, unadulterated strength of his physical body.

It was also the absolute zenith of his power.

One punch!!

A blinding light burst forth!

The motes of light surrounding the woman were instantly scattered. Her rising flames were extinguished by the howling gale. Like a broken burlap sack, her body was sent flying backward as blood exploded directly from her chest.