Chapter 200: Invasion! Supreme Will

Lu Yan’s eyes narrowed, but a faint smile soon curved his lips.

“As expected.”

Including corpse kings, the vast majority of zombies had limited intelligence—enough to act but far from capable of complex planning. Under normal circumstances, they would never cooperate with human transcendents to orchestrate an ambush.

Especially not like this one—where the Shadow Corpse King had rallied a full seven Golden Core corpse kings.

It was important to remember: the gathering of zombies attracted more Lunar Qi. Powerful corpse kings typically monopolized their own territory to ensure an uninterrupted supply of this energy.

In a normal situation, even a large ruin-city with a million inhabitants might not have a single Golden Core corpse king. For two to appear in the same area was virtually impossible, as no corpse king would tolerate a peer siphoning off their Lunar Qi.

If a new corpse king stepped into an existing one’s territory, it was immediately taken as a provocation—let alone actual collaboration.

Even with a rare intellect like the Shadow Corpse King—capable of communicating fluently with humans—it should have been impossible to unite so many of his kind.

Such an anomaly could only mean one thing: external influence.

And in this Apocalypse version, aside from the pursuers who had once hunted him during the True Law contest, there was only one other likely culprit.

“It was the unknown existence behind the version invasion that ordered the Shadow Corpse King to coordinate with the other Golden Core corpse kings to ambush me!”

“Only the mastermind of the apocalypse invasion could interfere with these corpse kings—only such a being could unite creatures that were otherwise sworn enemies.”

And the reason? Obvious.

Lu Yan had reaped the souls of tens of millions of zombies, reversing the chaotic tide of the apocalypse. As the instigator behind the invasion, that hidden force would never allow him to continue slaughtering zombies and restoring order to the world.

To influence version mechanics itself—this confirmed that the other party had fully mastered the Heavenly Dao of their own world and attained the status of the sole apex existence of that version. The Solar Qi and Lunar Qi saturating this world were clearly their work.

In the eyes of that supreme being, Lu Yan was probably less than a speck of dust.

And yet, Lu Yan showed no fear in the face of this hostility. Instead, he wore a calm and even relaxed smile.

Because the unknown being’s desperate maneuver revealed one thing: they were at the end of their rope.

The invasion had only lasted thirteen years. The Apocalypse version’s Heavenly Dao still maintained a semblance of order, and the zombies born from the invasion were capped at early Golden Core.

Mobilizing corpse kings to ally with transcendents in an ambush—that was likely the full extent of what the unknown entity could currently muster.

This was the final resistance of the invasion. After this, Lu Yan would sweep through the apocalypse unopposed, harvesting zombies and building his foundation at will.

“The only pity is… my time in the Apocalypse version is running out.

“If I had more time, perhaps I could’ve completely eradicated the invasion’s roots.”

Lu Yan shook his head, a trace of regret in his expression.

Now that he had the answer he wanted, Lu Yan turned once more to the Shadow Corpse King, about to inquire further details—

—but just then, he noticed the Shadow Corpse King’s head had drooped into an eerie silence.

Thinking back, ever since that one sentence, the corpse king had remained utterly still.

Lu Yan frowned. Having been burned too many times by the Longevity version, his instincts immediately screamed danger.

His gaze sharpened like a blade as a chilling thought struck him.

“The Shadow Corpse King’s words were true…

“But because they were too true, that line was actually a direct repetition of the unknown entity’s command.”

“If that existence had truly attained singular supremacy within its version, then even its words would carry power—causal weight!”

“Which means… it could use that sentence as a medium to descend its strength!”

In an instant, the sun in the east began to rise at a visible speed—while in the opposite sky, the moon still lingered. Sun and moon coexisted, a rare celestial anomaly.

Lu Yan felt the dramatic shift instantly: the concentration of Solar Qi and Lunar Qi across the land multiplied dozens of times over.

“Kill him!”

With a tremor of his Soul Banner, Lu Yan issued the command while drifting backward like a specter.

The moment the order rang out, the Abyss God’s spatial lockdown expanded. The entire area solidified, transforming into amber-like space.

His fingers clenched.

The spatial amber imprisoning the Shadow Corpse King cracked apart, riddled with countless fractures. Each spatial rift glowed with power sharp enough to slice reality.

But just as space was about to collapse—

—the Shadow Corpse King abruptly raised his head.

His pale face was now fully consumed by unspeakable shadow, transformed into a bottomless abyss. Countless dark tendrils extended outward, forcibly freezing the collapsing space around him.

“Underworld?”

From his hollow eye sockets, two blood-red flames flared to life. Twisted shadows churned through the void, threatening to swallow the world into eternal darkness.

Around Lu Yan, all light visibly faded away. Even as he retreated, he could not escape the infinite abyss.

A voice ancient as the primordial era echoed through heaven and earth. In that instant, Solar Qi and Lunar Qi surged wildly, weaving together into the foundation of all transcendent laws.

“I…”

The moment the voice rang out, Lu Yan froze. He realized there was no escape—not from this abyss.

“You clinging old wretch!”

Lu Yan cursed through clenched teeth.

He unfurled his Soul Banner with a violent snap. On its surface appeared a continent shrouded in heavy mist.

A massive spatial rift opened in the sky. A vast illusion emerged between heaven and earth—as if an entire continent were descending from the heavens.

Gripping the Soul Banner with both hands, Lu Yan did not retreat. He charged toward the Shadow Corpse King head-on.

Like an ancient god of creation wielding a divine axe, Lu Yan tore open the void. Within the thick darkness, ghostly radiance from the Underworld spilled across the land.

“You senile bastards who keep trying to barge into other people’s worlds—get the hell out of this version!”

Lu Yan swung his Soul Banner down.

The phantom of the Soul Continent, carrying the might of creation itself, came crashing toward the earth.

The space around the Shadow Corpse King shattered inch by inch, exposing the abyss beneath. On his featureless void-face, countless chanting souls flickered—gathered willpower from across worlds rose to block the Soul Continent’s fall.

Even with Lu Yan’s trump card—his Soul Continent seized from the God of Intelligence—he could not dislodge the Shadow Corpse King. This had surpassed the Golden Core stage entirely.

“You—”

The great voice began again.

But Lu Yan interrupted it with a sneer.

“This move wasn’t meant for you. But since you insisted on sticking your nose in, leave something behind!”

As he spoke, a burst of flame erupted from Lu Yan’s body—an inferno of Xuanhuang Merit Fire engulfed him.

The supreme will glanced briefly at the flames, unmoved.

But then—

A golden wheel of merit, blazing like the sun, rose behind Lu Yan.

One… two… three…

Ten… twenty… thirty…

Behind Lu Yan, ninety-nine golden wheels of merit manifested, illuminating him like a celestial god.

If these had been human merit—born of saving lives and upholding righteousness—even ninety-nine such wheels would not have fazed the supreme will.

After all, a being who held the position of “the sole apex” in a version could never be moved by mere mortal virtue.

But these were not human merit.

They were Heavenly Dao Merit.

So vast a quantity of Heavenly Dao Merit could not go unnoticed—even in a version as broken as this apocalypse. The Heavenly Dao itself would inevitably turn its gaze here.

In that instant, Lu Yan could feel a vast and distant presence descending from the heavens.

Sun and moon vanished. The myriad laws returned to order.

Before the supreme will could even extract its strand of consciousness from this world, it was crushed—utterly—by the Apocalypse version’s Heavenly Dao.

The resistance against the Soul Banner vanished in an instant.

And in the next second, the artifact descended, Soul Continent’s might behind it, and struck the Shadow Corpse King head-on.

His lingering soul was obliterated in a flash.

And within the remains of his soul, a hidden trace of Supreme Will—smuggled from another version—was exposed before the Soul Banner.

Under normal circumstances, even the entire Soul Continent couldn’t shake such a will.

But now, bound by the laws of this version, under the suppression of its Heavenly Dao, even a transcendent essence could not endure.

As the Soul Banner descended, the Supreme Will from another world was crushed into stardust—its fragments absorbed into the banner’s core.

(End of Chapter)