326: Chapter 326 Crazy Upgrade! Breaking Two Levels in Succession, Approaching the Spirit King Realm

At the Peak of the iceberg, the cold wind cut like knives.

This was the place closest to the heavens, and also the place closest to death.

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged, bare-chested, on a flat black ice platform, but his current appearance was enough to make any trypophobia sufferer faint on the spot.

It wasn't that he was meditating and comprehending the heavens and earth; he was undergoing a brutal 'industrial modification.'

A full one hundred and eight transparent conduits, each as thick as a thumb, were densely inserted into the major acupoints on his back, along both sides of his spine, and even into the Jade Pillow acupoint at the back of his head, like a swarm of greedy tentacles.

The other ends of the conduits were connected to one hundred and eight ancient corpses with the most terrifying auras, buried deep within the iceberg.

In life, the weakest of these corpses were high-level Spirit Kings at Rank 45, and among them were even mixed three remains of Half-Step Spirit Emperors.

"Y-Young Island Master, are you sure this won't explode?"

Li Xiaoyao stood a hundred meters away, clutching several protective Talismans in his hand, his old face deathly pale. Watching Lu Sheng's back muscles, already distorted from being stretched, felt like watching a ticking nuclear bomb.

"Explode?"

Lu Sheng didn't turn his head, but his voice transmitted through the vibration of his bones, carrying a metallic, clanging echo.

"Even if it does explode, it'll be a firework set off by me."

He took a sudden sharp breath, his chest heaving violently like bellows.

"Open the gates!"

At his command, Dao Yi, responsible for operating the Formation, gritted his teeth and swung his horsetail whisk fiercely.

*Hummm—!!!*

The one hundred and eight ancient corpses trembled simultaneously.

A riot of colorful light surged madly along the conduits. It was the pure energy accumulated over ten thousand years, the 'corpse oil' repeatedly tempered by the abyss and divinity, carrying the unwillingness and lingering resentment of countless deceased, flooding into Lu Sheng's body like a bursting dam.

*Rip—*

In the first second, Lu Sheng's skin split open.

Not from being cut, but forcibly torn apart by the violently swelling muscle fibers beneath his skin.

The dark golden blood didn't even have time to flow before evaporating into a bloody mist from the scorching high temperature.

Pain?

This had already surpassed the limit of what pain receptors could convey. It was as if one hundred and eight burly men wielding sledgehammers were frantically renovating inside his body, dismantling and rebuilding his internal organs.

"So this is the will of ancient powerhouses?"

In Lu Sheng's Sea of Consciousness, it instantly became a slaughterhouse.

Countless illusory figures appeared out of thin air.

There was a Qin general holding a broken halberd, roaring at the heavens; a Taoist alchemist with a feather fan and silk scarf but a ferocious face; and a barbarian priest whose entire body burned with raging flames.

"Get out! Vile ant of later generations!"

"I am the Northern Suppressing Prince! Who dares refine my Origin!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Though these lingering thoughts were fragmented, the arrogance and shards of Laws belonging to powerhouses rampaged wildly in Lu Sheng's mind, attempting to turn the tables and possess this perfect Physical Body.

If it were an ordinary Spirit Ancestor, they would likely suffer brain death within half a breath, becoming a new walking corpse.

But Lu Sheng smiled.

In that chaotic Sea of Consciousness, he slowly opened his 'eyes.'

They were a pair of deathly gray, sky-spanning Cross-shaped Pupils.

"A bunch of old ghosts who've been dead for tens of thousands of years, whose bones have even been taken to be used as batteries, still putting on airs here?"

Lu Sheng's consciousness transformed into a towering golden giant, the manifestation of his martial will.

The giant raised its foot and, without the slightest respect for elders or care for the young, stomped down viciously on the group of lingering souls shouting the loudest.

"In my territory, even a Dragon must coil, and a ghost... must kneel before me!"

*Boom—!*

The Sea of Consciousness shook.

The lingering soul of the Northern Suppressing Prince who had been shouting didn't even have time to scream before being crushed into scattered points of light by this stomp.

This was Lu Sheng's Dao.

He sought no afterlife, revered no gods or ghosts.

He believed only in the spear in his hand, only in the flesh on his body.

The outside world.

Lu Sheng's body began to undergo astonishing changes.

As that vast, chaotic energy was forcibly suppressed, shattered, and kneaded together, his [ancient desolate heaven swallowing furnace] operated at its limit, emitting a roar like an aircraft engine.

[Ding! High-intensity Law energy injection...]

[Ancient Desolate Divine Body analysis progress increasing... 18%... 2%...]

[Multiple heterogeneous Law conflicts detected. Activating 'Violent Smelting' mode!]

*Zzzzt—*

On Lu Sheng's originally black-gold skin, strange bulges began to appear.

A lightning-wreathed eyeball grew on his left shoulder—the Thunder Law rule of the Grand Elder of the Thunder Spirit Ancestor;

His right arm was covered in a layer of diamond-like crystals—the defensive Divine Ability of some Earth-element Great Master;

His chest even ignited with a cluster of ghostly blue flame—the Origin of some evil cultivator who practiced Soul Refining.

At this moment, he looked like a patchwork monster—ugly, ferocious, filled with chaos and disorder.

"Messy, too messy."

Lu Sheng lowered his head to look at his own monstrous appearance, his brows furrowed into a deep ' river' character.

"I don't like this hodgepodge."

He suddenly extended both hands, actually plunging them directly into his own chest, grabbing the clusters of conflicting Law lights.

"For me... fuse!!"

*Roar—!!!*

Deep within the Dragon of his spine, the [Archaic Heaven Emperor Venerable] Dharmakaya seemed to sense its master's fury.

It no longer manifested outside his body but directly overlapped with Lu Sheng's Physical Body.

A grayish-white aura representing 'Termination' and 'Desolation' instantly swept across his entire form.

Even the most unruly lightning, the hardest and most stubborn crystals, could only obediently decompose before this power, transforming into the most primitive nourishment.

All flashy special effects disappeared.

Replacing them was a return to simplicity... purity.

Lu Sheng's body regained a human shape, but that black-gold luster became even deeper, even beginning to absorb the surrounding light.

He sat there like a human-shaped black hole.

The seawater within a ten-mile radius, unable to withstand this high-density energy radiation, began to vaporize on a large scale.

A vast expanse of white mist enveloped the entire iceberg Peak, impervious to sea breezes and thunder.

Only the sound of heartbeats like muffled thunder could be heard from within.

*Thump.*

*Thump.*

*Thump.*

Each beat made Li Xiaoyao and Dao Yi's hearts tremble in the distance, as if struck by a heavy hammer in the chest.

"Is this still a Spirit Ancestor?"

Dao Yi had unconsciously plucked half of his horsetail whisk bald. He stared blankly at the mist. "This level of physical pressure... even a Peak Spirit King is only this much, right?"

"Spirit King?"

Li Xiaoyao gave a bitter laugh and pointed at the sky above.

"Look up there."

Dao Yi looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.

The originally clear sky had, without notice, turned into an oppressive iron gray.

But that wasn't clouds.

It was... distorted space.

Merely by sitting there, the mass and gravitational field emitted by Lu Sheng himself had already begun to interfere with the physical Laws of the real world, bending light and space.

[Ding! Energy accumulation complete!]

[Rank barrier shattered!]

At the center of the mist, Lu Sheng abruptly opened his eyes.

Two gray rays shot out like sharp swords, piercing the firmament, reaching straight for the stars.

"Break!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a short, powerful syllable.

*Crack.*

It was as if some shackle inside him was completely shattered.

His aura erupted like a volcano, climbing steadily!

Peak Rank 38... broken!

Initial Rank 39... broken!

Mid Rank 39...

Peak Rank 39!

Only one step away from Rank 4 Spirit Ancestor Great Perfection, facing that watershed dividing Mortals from the transcendent—the Spirit King chasm.

Lu Sheng slowly stood up.

Now, his height had increased to about two meters three. His entire musculature was as smooth as a work of art, with world-destroying power flowing beneath every inch of his skin.

He casually retrieved a top-grade spirit crystal he had extorted from the Western Pantheon from his storage space.

This energy crystal, enough for an ordinary Spirit King to Cultivate for a month, he lightly rubbed between his fingertips.

*Poof.*

It turned into a wisp of smoke.

It didn't even increase his spirit source gauge by 0.1%.

"My appetite has grown."

Lu Sheng patted the powder off his hands with some regret. The energy consumption of this body now was simply a bottomless pit; ordinary resources could hardly satisfy him anymore.

With a slight thought, he summoned his system panel.

[host: Lu Sheng]

[Rank: Rank 39 Spirit Ancestor (Peak)]

[Physical Body Strength: 20% (Assessment: Has surpassed conventional Spirit King limits, touching the 'Half-Step Spirit Emperor' threshold!)]

[Special Status: Ten Thousand Laws Melted into Body (Resistance to all elemental Laws increased by 8%)]

The data was absurdly impressive.

But Lu Sheng's gaze was locked firmly on the flashing red exclamation mark at the very bottom of the panel.

It was the entry for [Talent: God-Tier Sequence—Dragon God].

Previously, the description was simply 'Ancient Dragon God Bloodline, capable of infinite evolution.'

Now, after he had devoured the Sea God's heart and refined the Immortal Qin ancient corpses, this line of text began to twist, reorganize, finally turning into a line of startling crimson characters:

[Talent True Name Unlocking...]

[Current Progress: 15%]

[Note: You think this is a 'Dragon'? No, this is a... bio-weapon created to hunt 'the starry sky' in that era.]

[Prerequisite Triggered: Please locate the 'Ark Core' quickly to restart the gene lock. Otherwise, when 'It' casts its gaze, you will have nowhere to hide.]

Lu Sheng looked at that line of text, silent for a long time.

"A bio-weapon, huh..."

Not only was he not afraid, the corner of his mouth curled into an extremely dangerous arc.

He raised his hand, looking at those slender, powerful palms that seemed capable of tearing the firmament.

"Perfect."

"I never wanted to be any savior."

"Being a blade..."

Lu Sheng suddenly clenched his fist. The air in his palm was crushed, emitting a deafening explosive sound.

"...is more suitable for cutting people down."

He turned and stepped out of the mist.

Below, Li Xiaoyao and Dao Yi looked at the man walking out like a Demon God, instinctively wanting to kneel in worship.

"Don't bow."

Lu Sheng's voice was cold as ice, spreading across the entire island.

"Old Man Li, pass down the order."

"Everyone stops Cultivating, polish all the cannons on the warships until they shine."

He looked up toward the distant horizon. There, the black ghost ship flying the one-eyed flag had already broken through the last of the mist, revealing its ferocious fangs.

"Guests have arrived."

Lu Sheng licked his lips, the gray light in his eyes blazing.

"And on this guest..."

"...is a piece of 'bone' I lost."