HBWnovel Chapter 232: The Four Forces Perfected, Invincible!
Chapter 232: The Four Forces Perfected, Invincible!
A blood-red glow encased his body.Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes. He felt no panic of an impending bloody disaster, but rather a reassuring sense of power filling his entire being.
'Is this the Withering Battle Armor?'
The four fused skills seemed to have granted him an entirely unique ability.
Even more subtly, when he looked back toward the Light Gate, a faint, almost imperceptible sense of connection welled up in his heart.
It was precisely this connection that had just helped him firmly bind the Vitality energy, condensing it into the blood-red armor.
'Is Tan Ming helping me?'
As soon as this thought surfaced, Cheng Ye felt a chill run down his spine. He suddenly had a strong premonition that Tan Ming might not be completely dead. He might even be lurking in some underground corner, watching the every move of everyone in Shi Province.
Whether these Transcendents from the previous era were humans or ghosts, their very existence was incredibly bizarre.
While he pondered, the surrounding Vitality energy continued to be extracted, transforming into the purest life force.
The blood-red armor was actively devouring it, and the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse Trait within his body was also scrambling to absorb it.
After being filtered through both, only a tiny sliver of energy passed into his body. Yet, this mere sliver surprisingly gave him a satisfying sense of being completely full.
Furthermore, this energy was different from the Living Water Essence that could improve one's fundamental constitution. It was more like pure nutrition—although it could rapidly replenish exhausted Stamina, it could not be continuously absorbed by a human.
Boom!
A massive sound of tearing wind suddenly came from behind him, followed by a giant pincer smashing down with a foul stench.
Cheng Ye snapped out of his Vitality-extracting state. He suddenly understood why the blood-red figures were so easily besieged.
Once they entered the extraction state, their perception of the outside world sharply diminished, turning them into sitting ducks.
As he turned his head, he saw two rings of Crab-men surrounding him—a swarm of three to four hundred. The two Fusion Entities that had been guarding the Light Gate were still there, now joined by four new ones.
Six massive figures, nearly a meter tall, were scattered in different directions. Their bruised-black carapaces gleamed with a cold light as they stared at him with ferocious expressions, blocking all avenues of escape.
What shocked him even more was that a pale, middle-aged human face surfaced on the body of the largest Fusion Entity. As its lips parted, it actually spoke with a human voice, "Damned little bug, you can't escape this time!"
"You can speak?" Cheng Ye asked in a deep voice.
"Huh?" The Fusion Entity's smile froze. It was clearly taken aback, its tone carrying a hint of confusion. "How can you speak too?"
Cheng Ye didn't answer. Instead, he stared at that face and continued, "You are a resident of Yueye Shelter City. You died during the flash flood three months ago."
"What flash flood? Never heard of it!" the Fusion Entity's voice instantly turned volatile. "I think you're the one who's going to die!"
An invisible wave of mental energy suddenly struck. It was the Mental Pollution wave of the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch!
As expected, the cognition of these Crab-men was masked by the pollution, making it impossible to trigger the rules of the Death-Whisper Tentacle.
Furthermore, because Cheng Ye had proactively pointed it out, the pollution wave didn't dissipate. Instead, it gathered around him, ready to detonate.
However.
Another sense of connection transmitted from the Light Gate, instantly blanketing the blood-red armor.
In the next second, that Mental Pollution wave crashed into the armor as if hitting an impenetrable fortress of iron and copper. It could only hum futilely on the exterior, unable to seep in even a single drop.
"Tan Ming... is actually protecting me?"
Cheng Ye was completely stunned, but before he could dwell on it, the Fusion Entity that had just spoken charged forward. The massive pincer smashed down with a howling gale, leaving almost no room to dodge.
His pupils shrank, and he reflexively rolled on the ground.
Crash!
The pincer slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, forcibly gouging a half-meter deep crater into the solid rock ground and sending debris flying.
But just as he steadied his footing, another pincer attacked from behind. There was no time to evade.
Cheng Ye hastily got up and crossed his arms in an X-shape in front of him, preparing to take the blow head-on.
Clang—
A crisp metallic clash erupted, sounding like an iron hammer striking a steel plate.
Cheng Ye had braced himself to be driven to his knees by the impact, but when the force actually landed on him, he froze in disbelief.
Distinct ripples blossomed across the surface of the blood-red armor, completely neutralizing the pincer's impact just like a sponge absorbing water.
Although the armor's bloody glow dimmed slightly, he himself hadn't felt the slightest tremor!
"So that's how it is."
"I don't need to fear... your attacks!"
Astonished, Cheng Ye raised his head. A similarly ferocious smile slowly curled upon his face, which was covered in a black membrane.
Swish!
The Red Blade and Purple Blade twirled in his palms, their edges reflecting the surrounding Crab-men with a chilling gleam.
"A bunch of corpses that should have rotted in the dirt long ago."
"Even in death, you won't rest, insisting on wreaking havoc in the world of the living!"
As his words fell, the berserk killing intent brought on by the Tiger Force instantly collided in his mind, causing his gaze to turn abruptly piercing.
Two blade flashes—one fast, one slow—flickered simultaneously. The fast one was like lightning, the slow one like rolling thunder.
The pincer that hadn't yet been retracted abruptly snapped with a sharp crack, spraying dark green bodily fluids everywhere.
Right at that moment, Cheng Ye's body suddenly trembled.
Relying on the not-yet-fully-absorbed Eagle Power and Snake Force, both skills autonomously broke through at this exact instant!
The Four Forces, complete!
The Four Forces, perfected!
The Four Forces, thoroughly integrated into his physique!
A profoundly mysterious sense of interconnection surged from his limbs and bones, as if every inch of his body had been wired together.
His skill panel flashed suddenly. The Fish-Mimicking State was automatically unequipped, while the Iron Physique and Hundred Martial Arts Master jumped into the Skill Bar simultaneously.
He took a single step and entered the False Embryo stage, which was used to control the nerves and release power.
The feeling of interconnection swept through his entire body like an erupting volcano, even dragging the blood-red armor on his skin into its powerful pull.
In the next second, the supreme control granted by the Hundred Martial Arts Master amplified this perception by tenfold, a hundredfold!
Whoosh!
The bloody glow on the armor's surface abruptly flared into a raging blaze, as if its potential had been fully ignited. Even the air around him was dyed a dark red.
An indescribable sense of power swelled in his chest, practically threatening to burst from his throat.
Unable to hold it back any longer, Cheng Ye threw his head back and unleashed a furious roar:
"Come—and die!!!"
Before the roar even faded.
His figure dashed forward like a streak of blood-red lightning. Over a dozen blade flashes erupted and linked at the exact same moment, weaving an airtight net of blades.
Slash, slash, slash...
The sound of the blades was as dense as falling rain. The Fusion Entity that had lost a pincer barely managed to endure for a split second before the carapace over its chest violently split open, exposing the massive, violently pulsating heart beneath.
"Die!"
The purple blade flashed past, and black-red blood instantly spurted out.
The Crab-man Fusion Entity didn't even have time to react. It merely looked down at its hollowed-out chest, a hoarse sound like grinding iron plates scraping from its throat: "I'm dead?"
The moment the words left its mouth, its colossal body crashed to the ground, splitting in half from the chest.
The ground squirmed slightly as tiny spongy tentacles extended, seeming to want to devour and absorb the Fusion Entity's remains.
But right at that moment, another wave pulsed from the Light Gate, forcefully halting the tentacles' movements and leaving the remains exactly where they fell.
Tan Ming was still exerting his power!
"Your opponent is me!" A roar echoed from behind once again. The talking Crab-man Fusion Entity pursued him relentlessly, brandishing six iron-whip-like pincers behind it, whipping up gusts of foul-smelling wind.
Cheng Ye, however, had no intention of turning back to fight it. His figure suddenly flickered as he instead charged straight into the encirclement of ordinary Crab-men.
More and more Crab-men were swarming over to besiege him!
The Demonic Eye Sponge's gaze and the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch's Mental Pollution waves were converging madly around him. A prolonged battle would guarantee defeat.
Right now, the most sensible choice was to absorb more Vitality and strengthen the blood-red armor. That was the key to breaking this deadlock.
"Even the big guys couldn't stop me, yet you little runts dare to court death!"
As the figure blazing with blood-red light barreled in, the ordinary Crab-men frantically raised their pincers to block.
But the Red and Purple Blades in Cheng Ye's hands moved—one fast, one slow.
The fast blade shattered defenses like lightning, while the slow blade clove through armor like a heavy sledgehammer. The blade paths were so cunning that there was absolutely no way to evade or hide!
Accompanied by the crunching sounds of shattering shells, Crab-men heads flew high into the air. Under the empowerment of the perfected Four Forces, the ordinary Crab-men were riddled with weak points from head to toe.
In just over ten seconds, he ruthlessly carved a bloody path straight through the crab swarm.
However, during the slaughter, the blood-red armor had also been struck by pincers multiple times, causing its glow to dim noticeably.
After breaking out of the encirclement, Cheng Ye was just about to find an area rich in Vitality to absorb and recover when he saw three blood-red figures rushing toward him from a short distance away.
Upon entering a fifty-meter radius, the figures suddenly flashed and transformed into three streams of bloody water. They bounced on the ground a few times as if alive, before violently crashing into his armor.
The dimmed blood-red glow flared up instantly, its color even more condensed and solid than when it first appeared!
'Are these... teammates?'
Cheng Ye was bewildered. He hadn't expected to actually have teammates inside the Demonic Eye Sponge's Chamber, right within the domain of an Immortal Item.
He didn't have time to overthink it; he immediately extended his perception to absorb the surrounding Vitality.
Large trees withered and yellowed at a visible rate, while vines and moss quickly dried up and crumbled as their life force was extracted. If any environmentalists were present, they probably would have listed him as public enemy number one.
But before he could finish absorbing, the Crab-man army caught up with him once more, their densely packed dark silhouettes blanketing the ground.
At this moment, however, the bloody glow on Cheng Ye's body had practically solidified into a physical substance, radiating terrifying fluctuations.
"I can feast on the weeds. What can you eat?"
He turned around.
Pushing off the ground with both legs, he rammed into the nearest Fusion Entity like a wild bull.
Two pincers viciously hammered onto his armor, only to be instantly parried by the ripples of blood-red light.
Yet, the twin blades in Cheng Ye's hands were completely unimpeded by armor plating. A dazzling blade light erupted as he let out a hearty laugh, cleaving the opponent's heart to pieces.
Black-red blood splashed onto the battle armor, instantly evaporating into wisps of white steam.
Without waiting for the Fusion Entity to fall, Cheng Ye pivoted sharply. Crossing four or five meters in an instant, he reappeared beside another Fusion Entity.
He raised his hands and swung his blades. His movements were so fast that they left only afterimages in their wake.
Bang!!!
The carapace exploded, and the heart shattered.
His supreme defensive power, armor-piercing strength, and terrifying bodily control allowed him to bound and flicker among the Fusion Entities. No one could keep up with his speed.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!!!
It was already impossible to tell whether it was the Purple Blade or the Red Blade being swung.
For a time, the sounds of cracking carapaces echoed everywhere, accompanied by the constant sight of Crab-men heads soaring into the air and tumbling down.
After slaying three Fusion Entities in succession and wiping out nearly a hundred ordinary Crab-men, Cheng Ye finally sprinted toward a Vitality-rich zone, panting heavily, to drain energy once again.
At the same time, two more blood-red figures rushed over as reinforcements and merged into his armor.
His Stamina recovered rapidly, and the blood-red glow of the armor grew stronger than ever. The sense of connection he felt with Tan Ming in the direction of the Light Gate also became increasingly distinct.
Suddenly, Cheng Ye looked down at his armor, his pupils constricting.
A faint Rune had actually coalesced on the surface of the armor!
The moment the Rune appeared, the Chamber's runic power that had been constantly oppressing him began to rapidly dissipate!
"This is..."
Cheng Ye stared dumbfoundedly at the approaching army of Crab-men in the distance.
Under the gazes of all the Crab-men, his body began to swell and grow, as if it were being pumped full of air.
One meter... one point two meters... one point five meters... until he finally settled at one point eight meters!
In the blink of an eye, he had fully regained his normal height from the outside world. Moreover, the power inside him continued to climb, expanding from double to triple its original strength!
The Rune condensed on the armor's surface could actually neutralize the Demonic Eye Sponge's runic power used to shrink bodies!
Was one point eight meters considered a giant?
Cheng Ye looked at the swarm of forty-centimeter-tall Crab-men and the Fusion Entities that barely topped one meter before him.
Hahahaha!
A burst of seemingly manic laughter tore from his lips. Before the laughter could even fade, he launched a charge straight into the Crab-man army!
No longer running, he took the initiative to strike!
Bend the knees, twist the waist, whip kick!
With a single sweep of his leg, four or five Crab-men were struck, their upper bodies instantly exploding into a dark green mist of blood.
Reach out, horizontal cleave, blade lights surging!
As the Red and Purple Blades slashed past, six or seven Crab-men were cleaved in half on the spot, their heads separated from their bodies.
The talking Fusion Entity was thoroughly stupefied, watching helplessly as Cheng Ye charged up to it like a towering iron pagoda.
"Now, tell me, who's the... little bug?"
Blinding blade lights flashed. The Fusion Entity frantically tried to resist, but the gap in Strength between them was already a Heaven-Earth Difference.
Its four pincers had barely extended before they were slashed to pieces.
Before its legs, covered in hard armor plates, could even take a step, they were severed at the joints.
Cheng Ye reached out and grabbed the two tentacles on its back, lifting it entirely off the ground as if hauling up a wild pheasant.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The Fusion Entity was brutally slammed against the ground—left, right, left—the endless crunch of shattering carapace filling the air.
Once it had completely passed out, Cheng Ye laughed maniacally as he stomped directly through the dense throng of Crab-men without dodging or weaving.
Exhilarating!
Even if the fluctuations surrounding him right now were incredibly dense, so what?
Even if the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch had now completely locked its attention on him, this... little bug, so what?
This was Shi Province.
This was Happiness City's Shi Province.
This was... Tan Ming's Shi Province!
Immortal Items were merely artifacts forged by Transcendents of the previous era, but Tan Ming was a genuine Transcendent!
He was a monster born after the New Era—possessing power far greater and more bizarre!
Dragging the barely breathing Fusion Entity, Cheng Ye dashed into a secluded spot deep within the dense forest.
While dividing his attention to absorb the surrounding Vitality to keep the blood-red armor in peak condition, he delivered several hard slaps to the middle-aged man's face on the Fusion Entity, waking him up.
"Who are you?" Cheng Ye demanded in a deep voice, staring right into his eyes.
"Who am I?" The middle-aged man was somewhat dazed, his pale face full of bewilderment.
"You are a resident of Yueye Shelter City!" Cheng Ye emphasized, trying to awaken his residual memories.
"Yueye..."
Boom!
An invisible ripple suddenly struck. It was the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch forcefully interfering!
But at that exact same moment, the blood-red glow from the Light Gate skyrocketed, and Tan Ming's power erupted instantly!
The two waves violently collided high above the Rongdong cavern, actually coalescing into tangible, visible projections of light and shadow:
One was bright red, like burning clouds under a setting sun.
The other was an ethereal white, like thin wisps of cloud in a blue sky.
The two continuously tore at and neutralized each other. For a time, neither could overpower the other.
"Who are you?" Cheng Ye seized the opportunity and asked loudly once more.
"I am... Zhou Mazi." The middle-aged man finally muttered his own name, an expression of pain washing over his face.
"Are you dead?"
"I—" He barely squeezed out a single word before his face twisted in extreme agony. His throat bulged frantically, as if something was churning inside, threatening to burst out at any second.
"Damn it!"
Cheng Ye cursed under his breath. He hesitated no longer. Clamping one hand firmly around Zhou Mazi's jaw to keep his mouth from snapping shut, he reached straight into the man's throat with his other hand. His fingertips brushed against a slippery tentacle, and he violently yanked it outward.
Squelch.
Two wrist-thick tentacles were forcefully dragged out. Their surfaces were coated in slime and streaks of blood. At their ends clung shattered fragments of internal organs, along with foul-smelling black flesh.
The terrifying Infection Source—whose mere outburst had once been enough to frighten him—was now casually tossed onto the ground like a piece of garbage.
Without the tentacles attached, Zhou Mazi's complexion grew even paler, his lips entirely drained of color. However, his spirit jolted sharply awake. His cloudy eyes brightened a fraction as he stared at Cheng Ye, eagerly asking, "Who are you? Are you here to save me?"
"Answer my questions first," Cheng Ye deflected, his tone taut. "Zhou Mazi, where are you from?"
"I... I am... a resident of Yueye Shelter City," Zhou Mazi answered reflexively.
"On June 14th, at the broken bridge thirty kilometers outside Yun City, were you there?"
"June... 14th, the broken bridge?"
Zhou Mazi was stunned. He shook his head repeatedly. "No, I left the city on June 5th. The Infection Tide was coming, and we all had to leave. On the 14th..."
"The 14th..."
At this point, his voice suddenly halted. His eyes lost their focus, and his ghastly pale face inexplicably flushed with an unnatural red hue.
But this wasn't a final burst of vitality before death. Instead, a dense cluster of bloody spots began seeping through the surface of his skin, as if countless tiny beads of blood were trying to force their way out.
Zhou Mazi's body convulsed violently, and his voice turned hoarse, laced with a profound terror:
"June 8th, Snake Ridge Bridge!"
"Water Monsters, so many Water Monsters... We died... We... all of us died!"