275: Chapter 275 The side effect is that you might lose a little bit of your memory.

At the moment of contact with the flame.

No explosion, no loud noise.

That A-rank magic wolf, along with its dozen or so lackeys behind it, instantly... vaporized.

Yes, vaporized.

Not even ash remained; it went directly from solid to gaseous, as if erased from a drawing by an eraser.

Only a faint burnt smell remained in the air, proving they had once been there.

The remaining wolves slammed on the brakes, sliding several meters due to inertia, their claws grinding sparks into the ground.

They widened their eyes, looking at the empty area ahead.

Who am I? Where am I? Where are my brothers?

Where is the big group of brothers that was howling right there just a moment ago?

"Awooo... Awoo?"

The leading wolf king let out a trembling whimper, tucked its tail, and turned to run.

Is this even a human? This is simply a walking crematorium!

"Can you run away?"

Lin Yuan thought to himself.

Flame Imbuement!

He casually picked up a small pebble from the ground and flicked his finger.

"Whoosh—"

The pebble was coated with a layer of Origin Ember.

It instantly turned into a meteor, precisely hitting the wolf king's... chrysanthemum, a thousand meters away.

"Awoooooooo—!!!"

A miserable, winding, twisting scream containing endless pain and regret resounded through the sky.

The wolf king instantly turned into a huge fireball, burning to ashes as it ran.

"Tsk, not bad accuracy."

Lin Yuan blew on his fingers, "Is this the power of the 'Chrysanthemum-Exploding Finger'... ahem, 'Flame Finger Flick'?"

After clearing out the small fry, Lin Yuan continued deeper.

Soon, he arrived at the Core Zone.

That familiar black altar still stood there.

The surrounding spatial rifts were denser, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure.

Back then, it was here that the aura released by that Guardian Beast alone made the three of them feel suffocated.

"Old friend, I'm back."

Lin Yuan stood in front of the altar, hands in his pockets, his tone flippant.

Boom!

It seemed to understand Lin Yuan's provocation.

A roar of anger came from beneath the altar.

The earth trembled violently, and countless gravel stones rolled down.

Immediately after, a behemoth crawled out from underground.

It was a... terrifying creature that made one's sanity drop rapidly.

Its whole body was covered in pitch-black scales, each emitting a strange dark red light.

The joints were covered in dense eyes.

There were no whites, only pitch-black pupils, staring fixedly at Lin Yuan.

The huge sharp claws were engraved with scarlet runes.

Black corrosive mucus constantly seeped out, dripping onto the ground with a "hissing" sound.

What made one's scalp numb the most was that it was surrounded by strange whispers, as if countless mouths were speaking at the same time.

Lin Yuan looked at this monster that had once made him feel despair.

"Although it's still ugly, at least it has more presence than the last time, where only a claw was showing."

"However... this body full of eyes is simply a disaster for those with trypophobia."

"Roar—!" (Hiss hiss hiss...)

The Variant Dragon Beast let out a roar mixed with countless whispers.

The Variant Dragon Beast was enraged.

The hundreds of eyeballs on its body rotated simultaneously, staring fixedly at Lin Yuan, emitting an invisible mental shock!

Spiritual pollution!

If it were an ordinary person, or even an average S-rank expert, being stared at by so many eyeballs would probably cause their sanity to hit zero on the spot and turn them into a lunatic.

But Lin Yuan...

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a handsome guy before?"

He even made a peace sign at those eyeballs.

With SS-Rank Peak Spiritual Power, plus the "Mind Control" Superpower, this level of mental attack was like a breeze to him; he even felt a little sleepy.

The Variant Dragon Beast froze.

Its ultimate move... ineffective?

This human, something is wrong!

"Alright."

Lin Yuan took out an exquisite little bottle from his system space.

Inside was a drop of gold-red liquid, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure.

true dragon essence blood!

Lin Yuan tilted his head back and drank the true dragon essence blood in one gulp.

"Gulp."

The moment it entered his mouth, Lin Yuan felt that he hadn't swallowed blood, but a nuclear bomb.

Boom!

The violent energy instantly exploded inside his body!

Lin Yuan's face instantly flushed red, and veins bulged all over his body.

Excruciating pain!

It felt as if all the bones in his body were being smashed and reconstructed, and every cell was burning.

The blood in his body began to boil, emitting bursts of dragon roars.

"Ah!!!"

Lin Yuan couldn't help but let out a long howl.

On the surface of his skin, a layer of fine gold-red scales began to emerge, and the sides of his forehead slightly bulged, as if something was about to drill out.

A terrifying momentum erupted from within his body!

That was true dragon might!

The Variant Dragon Beast, which had been baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, felt this aura and instantly peed itself.

It literally peed.

A stream of yellow liquid flowed out from beneath it.

This was bloodline suppression!

Although it was called a "Dragon Beast," the dragon bloodline in its body was as thin as fake liquor diluted with a ton of water.

And what Lin Yuan had just taken was true dragon essence blood!

That was undiluted Maotai!

The Variant Dragon Beast turned to run, its hundreds of eyeballs filled with fear.

Is this even a human? This is simply an ancient fierce beast in human skin!

"Want to run?"

Lin Yuan suddenly opened his eyes.

His pupils had turned into vertical dragon pupils, flickering with golden light.

"Get down!"

His figure flashed and disappeared from the spot.

The next second, he appeared directly above the Variant Dragon Beast's head.

No fancy Superpower.

Just pure strength!

After the advancement to the half-dragon body, the strength attribute directly doubled!

Bang!

Lin Yuan punched the Variant Dragon Beast's forehead.

Rumble—!

A huge shockwave swept across the surroundings.

The Variant Dragon Beast's huge body, as if hit by a meteor, was smashed directly into the ground!

The ground collapsed, and dust rose.

"Awooo..."

The Variant Dragon Beast let out a weak scream; its skull was cracked by this punch.

"Awesome!"

Lin Yuan felt the explosive power in his body.

Now, he felt like he could punch a mountain to pieces.

He looked down at the dying Variant Dragon Beast under his feet.

"Weren't you quite arrogant just now? Weren't you glaring at me?"

"Get up and party!"

Lin Yuan stomped down again.

Crack!

One of the Variant Dragon Beast's tentacles was directly stomped into a pulp.

"Don't... don't hit me..."

At this moment, a weak mental fluctuation entered Lin Yuan's mind.

"Eh? You can speak?"

Lin Yuan stopped his foot, "You should have said you could speak a foreign language earlier; I wouldn't have hit you so hard."

The Variant Dragon Beast was crying without tears.

You didn't give me a chance to speak!

You started with a headshot; who could withstand that!

"Since you can speak, that makes things easier."

Lin Yuan squatted down and patted its huge dragon head.

"I'll give you two choices."

"One, turn into roasted squid... oh no, roasted dragon meat."

"Two, follow me from now on."

The Variant Dragon Beast shivered all over.

It looked at the cluster of dancing Origin Ember on Lin Yuan's fingertip, and its soul was trembling.

"I... I choose two..."

"Smart."

Lin Yuan nodded with satisfaction.

Just then, the system prompt sounded again.

【Ding! A-rank Nether Emperor Corpse Control Technique successfully upgraded to SS-rank · Nether Emperor Divine Might!】

【SS-rank · Nether Emperor Divine Might: 1. Absolute Enslavement: Can forcibly enslave corpses or creatures with damaged souls of SS-rank and below (ignores quantity limit, current limit: 100,000). 2. Undead Strengthening: Enslaved objects' total attributes increased by 50%, and they gain the "Undying" trait (as long as the core is not destroyed, they can regenerate infinitely). 3. Corpse Explosion: Detonate corpses, causing area-of-effect destructive damage. 4. Nether Emperor Manifestation: Summon the phantom of the Nether Emperor to suppress all spirits.】

"This name is domineering!"

Lin Yuan looked at the new skill and blossomed with joy in his heart.

This is simply a god-tier skill for the army-building style!

He looked at the Variant Dragon Beast under his feet, and his eyes became strange.

"But..."

Lin Yuan suddenly changed the subject, a "thinking of you" expression on his face.

"You are too badly injured now. Even if I take you in, you're a waste. To make you worthy of my status, I've decided to bestow upon you a more powerful strength."

The Variant Dragon Beast's hundreds of eyes lit up instantly.

There's such a good thing?

Not only are you not killing me, but you're also upgrading me?

This human is a great person!

"Wha... what strength?" it asked excitedly.

"Netherworld divine power."

Lin Yuan spoke nonsense with a straight face.

"By accepting this power, you will not only instantly recover from your injuries, but you will also gain an undying body and your strength will skyrocket. The only side effect... is that you might lose a little bit of memory."

"Lose memory?"

The Variant Dragon Beast hesitated for a moment.

"Yes, just a little bit of unimportant memory. Like how many times you wet the bed when you were little, or which female dragon you peeked at while she was bathing, and so on."

Lin Yuan tempted it step by step.

"Compared to powerful strength, what is this little bit of memory? A strong person doesn't need a past!"

The Variant Dragon Beast was tricked.

It felt that what Lin Yuan said made so much sense!

As long as it could become stronger, as long as it could survive, losing some memory was nothing!

"I... I am willing!"

The Variant Dragon Beast said decisively, "Hurry and bestow power upon me, Master!"

"Good! That's courage! I like beasts with motivation like you!"

Lin Yuan gave a thumbs up.

Then, he reached out and pressed it onto the Variant Dragon Beast's head, a devilish smile curving on the corners of his mouth.

"Then... enjoy your rebirth."

Boom!

A surge of pitch-black death energy instantly poured into the Variant Dragon Beast's sea of consciousness.

"Ah—!!!"

The Variant Dragon Beast let out a scream.

It felt its soul being torn, cleansed, and rewritten.

"No! This is not a little bit of memory! My consciousness... my self... you lied to me!!!"

It finally reacted.

Where is this losing a little bit of memory?

This is clearly erasing its soul directly!

Turning it into a walking corpse that only knows how to obey!

Lin Yuan shrugged.

"I said it was losing a little bit of memory, but in my opinion, except for obeying my orders, all your other memories are just redundant, little bits."

"No—!!!"

The Variant Dragon Beast let out its final wail in despair.

But soon, the wailing stopped abruptly.

Black energy completely devoured its soul.

A moment later, the Variant Dragon Beast stood up again.

Its eyeballs were no longer chaotic blood-red, but had turned into a unified ghostly green, emitting a cold, dead light.

Its carapace had become pitch-black, with strange Netherworld runes flowing on it.

The once cunning, greedy Void Overlord had completely disappeared.

Replacing it was Lin Yuan's most loyal SS-rank puppet.

"Master."

This time, its voice had no emotional fluctuations, as cold as a machine.

"Not bad, looks much more pleasing to the eye."

Lin Yuan examined his new pet with satisfaction.

"Since you're following me, you need to have a loud name."

Lin Yuan pondered for a moment.

"You look so unique, and I met you in this pit..."

"Let's call you 'Wangcai'."

Variant Dragon Beast: ...

It didn't understand the art of human naming.

But instinct told it that this name did not match its domineering appearance.

But under Lin Yuan's "nuclear" friendly gaze, it could only lower its head.

"Tha... thank you, Master, for the name."

"Let's go, take me to find the treasure in that altar."

While fighting earlier, he felt there was something under the altar.

Wangcai immediately stretched out its tentacles and diligently pried open the already broken altar.

Underneath, a hidden compartment was revealed.

Inside lay a black crystal, emitting rich spatial fluctuations.

【Void God Crystal: A crystal containing pure space laws, can be used to strengthen Space Ability, or as the core of a space teleportation array.】

"Good stuff!"

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.

If this thing is given to Luo Qinghan, her Space Ability will definitely be able to break through to S-rank, or even SS-rank!

He put away the Void God Crystal.

Lin Yuan stood on the ruins, overlooking the land that had once made him flee in embarrassment.

Now, the opportunities here had been scraped clean by him.

"Invincibility is truly lonely."

Lin Yuan sighed, then took out a pair of sunglasses from his system space and put them on.

"Wangcai, shrink down, we're going home."

"Yes, Master."

Wangcai's body twisted, shrinking into a... black little octopus?

Only the head was still in the shape of a dragon head, looking a bit like a Q-version Cthulhu figurine; it was actually kind of ugly-cute.

It jumped onto Lin Yuan's shoulder.

Lin Yuan hummed a little tune, and his figure instantly disappeared from the spot.

Only the mess on the ground and the lingering heat in the air proved that a one-sided ravaging had taken place here.

And at this moment.

Far away at Lin Yuan Shelter, Luo Qinghan suddenly sneezed.

"What's going on?"

She rubbed her nose, and an inexplicable premonition welled up in her heart.

"Could it be that guy is making trouble outside again?"

She looked out the window, her eyes complex.

Since her rebirth, everything had spiraled out of control.

Especially that man...

"Forget it, don't think about it."

Luo Qinghan shook her head and continued her work.

What she didn't know was that a big gift enough to change her destiny was on its way at high speed.