Chapter 251: I Want Your Version Fragment

Shack could hardly believe his eyes.

After all, Lu Yan had vanished without a trace in the Cyber Version years ago. It was precisely his disappearance that had indirectly caused Shack to be expelled from the power center of City Fourteen. Left with no choice, he had gone undercover within the Cosmic MegaCorp to preserve himself.

Upon entering the mega-corp, Shack had been exposed to an even vaster psionic-tech system and uncovered many deeper secrets.

But the more he learned, the more the mystery and awe surrounding Lu Yan in his mind began to fade.

Though Shack still often mentioned Lu Yan by name, deep down, he clearly knew how hard it had been for Lu Yan to kill even a single Supernatural Psionicist. There was no way he could compare to the mighty behemoth that was Cosmic MegaCorp.

Yet now, as the Tower of the Cosmos stood besieged by demons, he had just witnessed Lu Yan obliterate those terrifying monsters with thunderous force.

Demonic beasts on par with Supernatural Psionicists were crushed by Lu Yan’s casual blows. Even demon lords comparable to Archangels could not resist his power.

A newfound reverence welled up within Shack’s heart.

High in the sky, Lu Yan stood suspended, his gaze like lightning as it swept over the towering altar.

The altar rose like a sci-fi space elevator, carved from a crystalline substance that gleamed with a translucent luster. Yet it emanated an indescribable aura of horror, as if it were a wound splitting the heavens and earth.

Lu Yan vaguely sensed that this altar was a kind of special dao marker. Once completed, it would allow a terrifying existence to descend into this world.

“If I’m not mistaken, the target it connects to is Changsheng Heaven.

Thankfully, the altar is incomplete. If it were fully built, not even I could afford to face it head-on.”

He withdrew his gaze from the altar and focused on the demonic lords.

That earlier strike—empowered by the Supreme Divine Power Seed—had descended like a meteor, a golden beam tearing through the sky and vaporizing half the body of one great demon.

Flesh and bone vanished into nothingness, leaving only a bone-chilling wail echoing across the world.

And yet, even such a terrifying attack failed to completely destroy it.

Suspended in the air, the demon’s mutilated body began to regenerate. Black blood threads weaved across its flesh like webs, rapidly rebuilding what was lost.

Broken bones snapped and reformed with unsettling crunches. Meanwhile, the remaining four great demons emerged from spatial rifts with each step, causing space to quake. Every breath they took spread corrosive black mist.

More horrifying still, hundreds of Golden Core-level demon beasts surged like a tide. They came in all shapes—twisted humanoids, primeval monsters, and ever-shifting blobs of chaos. Each was capable of unleashing calamity, and yet now they gathered like ants, surrounding him.

From these beasts, Lu Yan caught a familiar scent once again.

“The source of the Demon Version’s True Law… But even more corrupted than before.

So the cultivation system behind the Demon True Law truly does stem from the Changsheng Version.”

Lu Yan’s brows furrowed, his gaze sharpening.

He reached into the void, and a black-gold Human Emperor Banner fell into his grasp.

The banner flapped in the wind as if sensing the slaughter to come. With a thought, the human emperor’s qi poured forth, and illusory visions filled the sky.

“Kill!”

It wasn’t a mere shout—it was a command invoking the might of the Underworld Legion.

The banner’s light flared skyward, tearing open a vast rift in the void. From within, endless yin energy surged like a black tidal wave, coalescing around Lu Yan.

In a flash, six thousand peak Foundation Establishment ghost soldiers emerged, clad in ancient armor and wielding soul-hooking chains. Any living being who laid eyes on them would instinctively feel a soul-level terror.

Behind them came six hundred Golden Core ghost generals, armored and riding ghost horses through the air.

So many Golden Core-level entities manifesting at once made the heavens themselves tremble.

Yet the void crack remained, and beyond it lay a vast realm—a reflection of the Underworld Minor World. Its overwhelming pressure descended upon every living soul.

“Formation!”

At Lu Yan’s command, the 6,600 ghost soldiers and generals shifted formations, forming the Nine Nether Profound Underworld Gale Array.

This was a fourth-rank formation, based on the Yin Wind Array and re-derived within the Underworld Minor World.

As it activated, underworld winds howled from the depths of the earth. Heaven and earth changed color, sun and moon lost their light. The black underworld gale surged like a tangible flood, sweeping toward the demon horde.

The Golden Core demons were like paper in a storm—easily torn and crushed. Their shrieks were soon drowned by an overwhelming deluge of blood, painting the sky with rain-like splatters.

Even the five great demons struggled. Though they barely resisted, the integrated formation left them unable to break free in the short term.

Beings that once stood at the apex of the Ruin World now found themselves mired like beasts in a swamp, their flesh torn and power stripped away with each strike from the ghost army.

They could only watch helplessly as the lower-ranked demons were slaughtered wholesale.

At last, the five Nascent Soul demon lords could bear it no longer.

They floated in the void, their grotesque faces twisted in pride and killing intent. The lead demon bared its fangs and spoke with a voice like screeching metal:

“Do you even know what kind of existence you’ve made your enemy?”

“Don’t think that having a little strength gives you free rein. In this domain, no matter how talented you are, you’re still just a frog at the bottom of a well!”

No sooner had it spoken than the world shifted.

On the sky-piercing altar, space rippled like disturbed water. Around the five demons, an unspeakable force began to descend. It had no shape, no substance, but it bent reality wherever it touched.

This was no ordinary energy—it was a rule-defying power from beyond the known multiverse, forcibly projecting itself into this world.

A suffocating pressure filled the air, as if unseen tendrils were writhing through the void. With each motion, the laws of reality cracked, ever so slightly, but irrevocably.

The demons began to change. Their skin revealed twisted Dao patterns—unwritten, uncarved—emerging from deep within their souls as if always present but now unveiled.

Lu Yan narrowed his gaze, instincts screaming.

The energy surrounding the demons reeked of chaos, bending the Dao itself into warped, broken shapes and reassembling them into something utterly unnatural.

The distorted Dao and inverted Order grew stronger with each breath. Malice filled the air.

Mortals on the ground who caught even a glimpse had those runes appear in their eyes, bleeding green-black tears as their bodies melted into unrecognizable masses.

“The Abyssal Realm…”

Lu Yan raised his brow in surprise.

To corrupt one’s body into a defiled foreign object—this was the hallmark of the Abyssal Realm stage of the Demon Version. But this was even more primal, more unspeakable.

It wasn’t just a rejection of order. It was a slice of anti-reality dragged from chaos itself—a twisted anomaly in a world it was never meant to touch.

From this, Lu Yan once more glimpsed the true essence of the Changsheng Version.

As the abyssal corruption flared, the five demon lords’ power surged severalfold. The formation could no longer hold them.

The lead demon stepped forward, facing the ghostly winds head-on. Its gaze, full of malice, locked onto Lu Yan.

“This was meant to usher in the arrival of Changsheng Heaven… But now we’ll use it on you instead. You brought this upon yourself!”

Lu Yan, unfazed, smiled slightly. A strange light flickered in his eyes.

He raised his head, speaking softly—but his voice rang like thunder in every heart.

“You don’t know who I am?”

That simple question struck like a stone into still waters. The demon lords froze, confusion flickering in their eyes.

“You went to all this trouble to summon Changsheng Heaven… Yet the target of its descent stands right before you. Pathetic.”

His words fell like divine lightning into their souls.

Their pupils trembled. The energies within them ran wild, thrown into chaos by some invisible hand. Shock twisted their already monstrous features.

“Impossible…” the lead demon muttered, fear creeping into its voice.

As a late Nascent Soul demon lord, he stood at the very peak of Changsheng Heaven’s hierarchy, just below the apex. He had suspicions about this mission.

But now, with Lu Yan’s revelation, terror gripped his heart.

“That being… How could…”

While they were stunned, Lu Yan’s ghost army shifted formation once more.

The void shattered like glass, revealing a realm of endless darkness.

A soul-piercing chill swept forth—Netherwind given form, born from the resentment of countless dead. Faces twisted in agony flickered through the black storm, wailing like damned souls.

The Netherwind surged toward the demons. Their defenses—hastily conjured—crumbled like paper.

Their powerful bodies could not stop the storm. Its cold struck their souls directly. They screamed, bodies disintegrating and rebuilding, unable to break free.

“Changsheng…” one demon howled in fear.

But in that instant, Lu Yan moved.

With a sweep of the Human Emperor Banner, the Underworld Minor World appeared in full view—crushing the five demon lords and dragging them in.

They struggled desperately, but it was like ants resisting a hurricane. One by one, they were devoured by the world and vanished.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Yan’s mind descended into the Underworld Minor World.

There, in a realm he had forged with his own hands, Lu Yan was a true god. He gazed coldly at the five demons trapped in the center.

Their strength was sealed, their movements sluggish, barely able to stand.

With a thought, the earth rumbled and the void shook. The human emperor’s qi condensed into divine rules, summoning a black-gold primordial mountain.

“Suppress.”

The towering mountain crashed down like heaven’s judgment.

The demon lords roared in despair, pouring forth the abyssal power of Changsheng Heaven.

But before Lu Yan’s authority, it meant nothing.

The mountain crushed them. Their barriers shattered. Their bodies broke apart.

Their blood and souls fell into the Yellow Springs, purified into raw energy and absorbed by the Underworld Minor World.

Lu Yan withdrew his gaze with satisfaction.

He could’ve killed them many ways—but this was a test of his current strength.

And the result pleased him greatly.

Even without the Five Great Ghost Gods, the ghost army could suppress five Nascent Soul demon lords—one of whom was late-stage.

He didn’t even need the Yellow Springs Rule. Just the Human Emperor’s Rule was enough.

At this level, only first-rate version factions or the enigmatic Changsheng Heaven could pose a threat.

With this thought, Lu Yan descended toward the version fragment below.

He was met by a Supernatural Psionicist, clad in sci-fi gear, retaining most of his human body. His gaze was filled with reverence and gratitude.

“The Tower of the Cosmos thanks you, sir. If not for your help, we would’ve been wiped out.”

“If you have any request, we will do our utmost to fulfill it.”

Lu Yan smiled faintly.

“As it happens, there is something I want.”

Hope lit up in the psionicist’s eyes. If they could fulfill Lu Yan’s wish, perhaps they could forge ties with the power behind him.

In the Ruin World, peak experts usually represented vast version factions.

If they could use Lu Yan as a bridge to reach his faction, it could take the Tower of the Cosmos to new heights—and help their AI god harvest more Rule Resources.

He thumped his chest.

“Just say the word, sir!”

Lu Yan’s gaze passed over him and fell upon the version fragment behind him—dense with psionic rules.

At its center stood a magnificent tower pulsing with technological might. Lu Yan could feel the vast computational power housed within.

“I want… your version fragment.”

(End of Chapter)