Chapter 170 – Completing Gene Amplification!
The Blood-Melting Divine Blade had not yet been retrieved.
Meanwhile, the puppet legion had just unleashed another powerful energy burst. The core's remaining reserves could only sustain one more such strike.
Unlike the Zerg royal warriors, puppets had clear limitations. After executing three combined attacks, they depleted all the stored energy in their cores and needed time to recharge before they could fight again.
This was why many mechanical races built specialized weapon fields to recharge their mechanical puppets while fighting, similar to the "Thunder Prison" or the "Nine Absolute Divine Kingdom."
Jiang Zhe himself possessed a half-finished project: the Purple Star Realm, still incomplete within his World Bracelet.
However, he always regarded "tactics based on sheer numbers" as a lesser path. His puppet legion was only for emergencies; he had no intention of pouring too much effort into developing it. Thus, he never planned to complete the Purple Star Realm's construction.
Returning to the matter at hand—on the surface, this seemed like Jiang Zhe's moment of vulnerability.
Moreover, with the death of a great enemy, his tightly wound nerves inevitably relaxed for a brief instant.
It was the perfect moment for an assassination.
Suddenly, the void around Jiang Zhe rippled as if a stone had been tossed into a calm lake, creating spreading waves.
From the center of those ripples, a shadowy figure abruptly emerged.
It was a three-meter-tall dark mantis, hunched over with grotesque posture. It raised its terrifying scythe-like arms and slashed out an X-shaped arc of eerie green light aimed straight at Jiang Zhe's neck.
Inside the umbrella's inner space, Chi Ying saw this unfold and quickly sent a mental message:
"Master, it's a demon duke from the Mu Kong—Void Reaver lineage. They're known as the 'strongest assassination race,' 'harvesters of life,' and 'masters of space.' Judging by its aura, it has an 88-fold life gene level. Its innate secret technique is [Void Walker], a type of spatial movement ability far more exquisite than my [Scarlet Shadow Flash] or even the orthodox 'teleportation' laws."
Orianna also reminded him through the mind link:
"It's roughly at the peak of Immortal Lord comprehension, equivalent to about 900 times a World Lord's power. This assassination strike is an all-out effort, but we're not sure how much godbody amplification it added."
"Master, at minimum, this strike carries the force of 80,000 times a World Lord's power!"
The sudden assassination left Jiang Zhe with no time to react. The intersecting blade light enveloped his head, neck, and upper torso, aiming to slice him into a mangled heap.
At the same time, an eerie giggle echoed as a surge of ghostly power bypassed his armor and invaded his body, launching a mental assault.
It was trying to locate Jiang Zhe's life core.
This old mantis—a Void Reaver—had not forgotten the dying words of its kin: Jiang Zhe was only a World Lord!
Its multifaceted jade-green compound eyes gleamed with excited hunger.
Shatter the body. Destroy the life core. His divine blade and umbrella will all be mine!
But reality proved harsher than its fantasies.
Jiang Zhe never neglected his defenses. Even after emerging from the Ding Wind Pearl, he still wore two layers of "turtle shell" armor.
When the eerie green blade light struck his violet gemstone-like armor, ripples of purple light coursed across its surface.
Blocked.
Force dispersed.
The armor, known as Panling, violently reduced the material impact to just one-thousandth of its original power.
Even though only the second form of the armor was active, it allowed Jiang Zhe to easily withstand the assassination attempt. He stood in the void like an immovable pillar, not retreating a single step.
"That hit just now…" Jiang Zhe roughly estimated.
"Master, you just endured an impact of around 300 times World Lord's power," Orianna promptly supplied. "By reverse calculation, that mantis demon likely has a godbody mass of 900 times a World Lord, 88-fold life genes, and nearly 4 times godbody amplification."
The mantis demon's strength was laid bare before them, with no secrets.
The ghostly energy invading Jiang Zhe's sea of consciousness was weakened by 90%, failing to shake his steadfast soul, and was obliterated by the black hole that rose in his mind.
"Damn it! This armor is another formidable treasure—I can't even break through!"
A hoarse, furious snarl rang out beside Jiang Zhe.
Then one of the mantis's blade arms hooked around, reaching for the Mixed Origin Umbrella strapped to Jiang Zhe's back.
It knew the value of treasures—but it was also remarkably stupid.
"Heh… so greedy. That greed will be your undoing!" Jiang Zhe sneered.
As soon as the blade tip touched the umbrella, twelve-colored divine light burst forth, spreading out like mist across a thousand kilometers, taking control of the surrounding space-time.
It was the innate secret technique [Abyss]—
a power that could command space-time itself.
Of course, since it was cast by his Candlelight Clone, who was only at the peak Universe level (albeit with perfect life genes), its strength merely equaled an entry-level World Lord.
Trying to fully control the mantis demon's space-time was impossible.
But with the umbrella's own space-time attributes aiding it, they managed to freeze time for an extremely brief moment—just enough for Jiang Zhe to act.
In that instant of stillness, a streak of blood-red lightning shot back from afar, slicing through the mantis demon's back. The blade tip burst out its chest, skewering it completely.
One strike—piercing the armor and body!
Blood poison—infused!
The mantis demon, who had been terrified just watching before, now experienced the despair of being struck by the Blood-Melting Divine Blade firsthand.
Agonizing pain seemed to erupt from every cell of its godbody.
"Get out! Get out of my godbody!"
It roared in torment. Complex, eerie green runes lit up all across its hunched, chitinous form.
This signaled the activation of an innate secret technique.
There was no spatial fluctuation, so it wasn't [Void Walker]. Jiang Zhe noted this and casually tossed out a heavy treasure bracelet from his wrist.
Twelve dim violet stars emerged and hovered in the air.
Inside the umbrella's space, Chi Ying promptly warned:
"Master, that's the innate technique [Plunder], the other famous ability of the Mu Kong demons. Together with [Void Walker], it's why they're called 'Void Reavers.' Its effect is…"
The explanation left Jiang Zhe slightly stunned, even slowing his hand for a moment—he couldn't predict what the mantis was trying to pull.
—It plunders the vitality of all things, storing it within itself for later use!
That was the power of [Plunder].
Eerie green runes blazed brightly. The mantis demon detonated all the vitality it had accumulated over the years, flooding every inch of its godbody.
It triggered an over-healing effect, trying to flush out the blood poison.
Unfortunately, it failed to save itself.
The vitality was wasted, and the excruciating pain from the blood poison did not lessen at all.
Driven to madness by pain, the mantis tightened its chest and back muscles, clamping down on the Blood-Melting Divine Blade.
Then it activated [Void Walker], hoping not only to teleport away but also to steal the divine blade with it.
But as soon as space began to fluctuate, Jiang Zhe sensed it.
He casually directed one of the dim violet stars to smash forward—shattering the mantis demon's godbody.
A streak of blood-red lightning broke free from the fragments, returning to Jiang Zhe's side and weaving around him like a playful fish.
The mantis didn't dare reform its body in front of Jiang Zhe. Instead, countless particles of its godbody surged away like a fleeing torrent.
"Run? Where do you think you're going? Let me show you the power of black holes!"
A sudden pull from all directions startled the mantis demon.
Only then did it realize that above, below, and on all sides, six of those dim violet stars had surrounded it, forming an airtight blockade.
At Jiang Zhe's command, the stars dimmed, shifting from their violet glow into a deep, pitch-black darkness that seemed to swallow even light—turning into mock "black holes."
Of course, given Jiang Zhe's current understanding of the laws, these weren't true black holes. But they looked the part.
The fleeing godbody particles were sucked in and obliterated.
"NO! My godbody!"
In just a few pulses of those six "black holes," the mantis demon lost over 8% of its godbody, wailing in agony.
Forced to reform itself, it barely pulled together a body—only for a flash of blood-red lightning to streak by. A moment later, it felt a piercing pain in its chest.
Its chitinous armor cracked as the curved blood blade sank deep.
Blood poison—corroding the godbody.
Second strike—wounding the soul.
The mantis demon's consciousness blurred under the agony. Its spiritual flame was quickly extinguished like a doused candle.
One of the deep stars floated over, resumed its jewel-like brilliance, and swallowed up the mantis demon's corpse into its internal space.
Then it joined the other eleven jewels, returning to Jiang Zhe's side to reform the bracelet around his wrist.
Jiang Zhe waved his hand, displaying the shattered godbodies of three demon dukes in the void before him. He reached out with a clawed, scale-covered iron hand, plunging it into each chest to extract their duke hearts.
"You demon dukes with peak King-level power are honestly easy for me to kill. But preserving your godbodies intact so I can harvest your hearts? That takes some effort."
"It's also fortunate that the Ninth Abyss prohibits all demons from self-detonating. Otherwise, my workload would have skyrocketed."
Jiang Zhe sighed, storing the three duke hearts in his World Ring, planning to fuse them once he had gathered enough.
Just then, Chi Ying sent a mental message from within the umbrella's space.
"Master, what are your plans for the next stage of hunting?"
"Hunting plans?" Jiang Zhe laughed. "Chi Ying, you've seen it yourself—the dukes here in the Ninth Abyss pose no threat to me. Why plan anything? I'll just hunt them down as I come across them."
Chi Ying shook her head.
"Master, you can't just hunt randomly—it will cause problems."
"What problems? Are there hidden rules in the Ninth Abyss? Tell me."
"Not hidden rules, more like unspoken ones. Pureblood demons that reach the level of the Toad Gods often get ganged up on, beaten into a source blood state, and sent back to the primordial blood pools to breed a new generation."
"This 'rule' applies even more to you."
"The more demon dukes you kill, especially as an outsider, the more it will alarm the pureblood demon marquises. They'll start organizing the dukes into factions—whether for mutual defense or to band together and hunt you. Either way, it'll be a headache."
Jiang Zhe frowned and nodded.
Demons devoured each other and rarely trusted one another. Small teams were already rare; large-scale alliances were almost unheard of. But with a high-ranking pureblood to pressure them and a common target like him, it was definitely possible.
Jiang Zhe didn't think they could kill him, but once they banded together, it would be much harder for him to hunt them.
Chi Ying advised:
"So, Master, you should hold back a bit. Specifically target the pureblood demons first, removing each potential 'leader.' That way, when the other dukes realize something's wrong and try to unite against you, they'll lack respected, powerful commanders. Even if they manage to form a coalition, it'll be fragile—a pile of loose sand easily shattered. They'll pose no real threat."
Jiang Zhe laughed.
"Excellent. That earns you a merit. We'll proceed as you suggest."
Afterward, Jiang Zhe found a secluded spot to enter seclusion. He reduced his power to 2,900 times World Lord level, effectively stripping out 100-fold life genes, which Orianna then divided into 100 clones to scour for pureblood demon traces.
Some clones would be lost along the way, but Orianna could cultivate them back, without permanently losing that 1-fold life gene level—though it did cost a lot of energy.
But for Jiang Zhe, energy was hardly an issue.
By the year 2265 of the Hanxia calendar, nearly five years had passed since he arrived in the Abyss World, with almost three years spent in the Ninth Abyss.
"I'm preparing for my clone plans. Luo Feng is receiving the inheritance from the Demon Voice God General. Hong and Thunder God have entered Chaos City for deep cultivation. The pioneers of Earth's Great Nirvana era are also receiving varying levels of support from Virtual Universe Company… we all have bright futures ahead."
Jiang Zhe looked up at the dim sun of the Ninth Abyss, chuckled as if joking to himself, then began tallying his accomplishments over these years.
"From the First Abyss to the Ninth, I've slain 34 pureblood demons in total, including:
6 Ghost Clan (metal)
4 Void Reavers (wood)
4 Six-armed Serpent Demons (water)
5 Flame Demons (fire)
2 Desert Lords (earth)
3 Infernal Thunder Dragons (lightning)
6 Toad Gods (wind)
2 Balo Demons (light)
2 Seraphs (light)
Good grief. Of the Ghost Clan—Chi Ying's own kin—aside from her, I've wiped out all the purebloods. Six source blood drops have returned to the pool to await rebirth, two were taken by Virtual Universe Company, and one is with Chi Ying."
"The Earth lineage has the fewest source bloods—only two drops. I'll need to kill a few more just to experiment properly…"
"But I can finally stop hiding my strength. It's time to freely hunt down demon dukes and complete my gene amplification."
So Jiang Zhe continued hunting demon dukes while waiting for news of more pureblood Desert Lords.
Four months later, Orianna led him to the main target.
Together, master and servant broke into a subterranean tomb beneath the desert sands, where a pureblood Desert Overlord was cultivating in seclusion.
It awoke—a hundred-meter-tall humanoid monster, with a barrel-like physique stacked with muscles, and a pair of huge ram-like horns curving backward from its head.
Even though it had a Marquis-level understanding of the laws and had forged itself an "immortal body," with over 800-fold life genes, it still fell under the puppet legion's combined assault and the Blood-Melting Divine Blade's strike.
From then on, Jiang Zhe focused exclusively on hunting demon dukes.
The Ninth Abyss held many demon marquises who had already maxed out their 100-fold life genes, yet remained here to hone and temper themselves, seeking even greater power.
Whether they could grow stronger from such harsh trials, Jiang Zhe didn't know.
He only knew it made it easier for him to complete his gene amplification.
By the year 2269 of the Hanxia calendar…
He continued on his path of conquest and evolution.
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